Red Moscow

"Their artillery regiment alone is far from enough." Rokossovsky said, staring at Kazakov and said, "Comrade Artillery Director, if the Germans send out armored forces to attack Volokolamsk, how many artillery pieces can you use to carry out interception fire on them?"

After Kazakov calculated silently in his mind, he said, "I can mobilize three artillery regiments to provide artillery support for the 316th Infantry Division."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Rokossovsky turned his gaze to Malinin again, "how is the situation in Borodino?"

"According to the report from the Fifth Army Headquarters, they have stubbornly held off the enemy's attack." Since the troops defending Borodino Heights were friendly forces, Malinin could not obtain detailed intelligence and could only answer in general terms: "I estimate that their casualties should be considerable, and it is hard to say how long they can hold out."

Rokossovsky nodded and was about to say something when the phone on the table rang. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ear: "This is Rokossovsky."

Romanchenko's voice came from the receiver: "Hello, Comrade Rokossovsky!"

"Hello, Comrade Romanchenko." Rokossovsky seemed very happy when he learned that the person who called him was Romanchenko, the director of the General Police Department. "The police detachment you sent has arrived. I am preparing to arrange work for them."

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Romanchenko sounded a little flustered: "They haven't been assigned to the front-line combat troops yet, right?"

"Not yet." Rokossovsky asked in confusion: "Why do you ask this?"

Romanchenko breathed a sigh of relief, then said: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I need to recruit a few people from the detachment assigned to you immediately."

"Why?"

Romanchenko was silent for a while, then said cautiously, "A special case happened in the city last night, and we need some experienced detectives to come back to help solve it."

"Has a special case happened in the city?" Everyone has a gossipy heart, so Rokossovsky couldn't help but ask curiously: "What case is it?"

After a brief silence, Romanchenko smiled bitterly and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Rokossovsky. The superiors have requested strict confidentiality for this case, so I can't tell you what the case is for now, but those senior detectives need to be recalled immediately."

"Okay, Comrade Romanchenko." After hearing what Romanchenko said, Rokossovsky realized the seriousness of the problem, so he did not continue to ask questions. Instead, he picked up the pencil on the table and prepared to take notes: "You tell me the name and I will write it down."

A few minutes later, Rokossovsky ended the call, called Malinin over and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, where is the police detachment sent from Moscow now?"

Malinin had just been studying the map with others and had not heard the conversation between Rokossovsky and Romanchenko, so he did not know what had happened. When he heard Rokossovsky's question, he quickly said, "They are at the headquarters. They have not yet been assigned to the frontline combat troops."

Rokossovsky handed Malinin a piece of paper with several names written on it. He said, "Find these people and have them return to Moscow immediately. Tell them that there is a special case and we need their help in solving it."

"A special case?" Malinin asked in surprise, "What case?"

"I don't know." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Our task is to stop the enemy and prevent them from getting close to Moscow. As for what happened in the city, the people of the General Police Department are responsible for it, so we don't need to interfere."

Malinin turned around and called a staff officer, handed him the note, and told him to find the head of the police detachment and ask the police officers on the list to return to Moscow immediately.

After doing all this, he tentatively asked Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, how do you plan to arrange these police officers?"

Rokossovsky pondered in his heart that, judging from the fact that Romanchenko had urgently recalled several criminal police officers, there were many people with special identities in the police detachment. It would be a waste of talent if they were sent directly to the front line and used as ordinary soldiers.

Thinking of this, Rokossovsky said to Malinin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, send them to Volokolamsk and put them under the command of General Panfilov. But you must remind Panfilov that the police detachment can only be used for activities behind enemy lines or to maintain public order in the city. Try not to use them as ordinary troops. Do you understand?"

"I see, Comrade Commander." Malinin nodded and said, "I will convey your message to General Panfilov."

Just as I had arranged the affairs of the police detachment, the communications officer sent another telegram.

After reading the contents of the telegram, Malinin reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, the telegram is from General Khomenko, commander of the 30th Army on our right wing. He said that they were attacked fiercely by the enemy's armored forces in front of their defense zone."

Hearing what Malinin said, Rokossovsky hurriedly lowered his head to check the map, and a solemn expression appeared on his face.

Romanov came over and said to Rokossovsky: "Comrade Commander, if the 30th Army cannot stop the German attack and is forced to retreat to the north of the Moscow Sea, then our right wing will be exposed to the enemy. It seems that we need to prepare early."

Rokossovsky agreed with Romanov's concerns: "You are right, Comrade Deputy Commander, we must make preparations early to prevent our flanks from being exposed to the enemy after our friendly forces are repelled by the enemy. Chief of Staff!"

Malinin immediately appeared before Rokossovsky and asked: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"

"From the current situation, the friendly forces on the right wing may be defeated by the German army, so we must take precautions as soon as possible." Rokossovsky ordered the other party: "You notify Dovator and ask his cavalry to strengthen the defense of the flank to ensure that there is no room for error."

"Okay, I'll call him right away."

Romanov looked at Malinin, who was on the phone, and said to Rokossovsky with emotion: "Comrade Commander, our forces are too few. It is not an easy task to defend such a large area."

"Yes, yes." Rokossovsky echoed, "The organized troops we have are only a cavalry army, two infantry divisions, and some scattered troops, but the defensive front is 100 kilometers wide. It is not easy to ensure that the defense line is not breached."

Romanov glanced at the map on the table and said thoughtfully: "Major Sokov has taken in a lot of troops in the past two days, which means that many of our troops trapped in the Vyazma area have escaped the enemy's encirclement."

Romanov's seemingly casual words reminded Rokossovsky. He stared at the map for a while, then nodded slowly and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, you are right. Misha was able to accommodate thousands of people in so many places, which means that there are quite a few troops that have escaped the German encirclement. But from the map, they should be concentrated in the Mozhaisk area. If General Potapov arranges personnel to recruit these breakout troops, perhaps their strength can be quickly expanded."

Lobachev, who seldom spoke, could not help but interrupt when he heard this: "We were also present when General Zhukov took over the post of commander of the Western Front. The defense zone assigned to us at that time was Mozhaisk. But not long after we left the headquarters, our defense zone was moved to the Volokolamsk area. If we had stayed in the original defense zone, I'm afraid we wouldn't be worried about the lack of troops at this moment."

Rokossovsky agreed with Lobachev's statement, but he also expressed his concerns: "Comrade Military Commissar, what you said makes sense. If we continue to stay in the Mozhaisk area, we may be able to quickly expand the strength of our army. But have you ever thought that although there will be many troops that escape the encirclement and enter our defense zone to enhance our strength, there may be Germans chasing after them. Before we complete the reorganization of these troops, they will attack us."

"I think what the commander said makes sense." Romanov continued, "You see, Major Sokov took in the troops only two days before the area where he was located was attacked by the Germans. You know, according to the original plan, after he completed the formation of the new troops, he would retreat to the vicinity of the headquarters for rest and recuperation, so that officers and soldiers from different troops could get to know each other and form a tacit understanding, thus ensuring that the troops could quickly form combat effectiveness. But the German attack last night disrupted our plan, and we had to let this newly formed unit fight the enemy face to face."

Malinin, who had just finished a phone call, quickly added after hearing what Romanov said: "Comrade Deputy Commander, although the infantry brigade has a lot of troops, their equipment is too poor. If the Germans choose them as a breakthrough point and continue to attack, I am afraid they will not be able to hold out for long."

"But the weapons and equipment we can provide them are limited." Romanov said in embarrassment: "Can we just watch them being defeated by the enemy?"

"We certainly can't just stand by and watch them get defeated by the enemy," Rokossovsky said seriously, "We must find a way to help them."

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"Comrade Commander, how can we help them?" asked Malinin.

"I remember that at the beginning of the war, a considerable amount of munitions transferred from Shepetovka in Ukraine were transported here and stored in hidden arsenals." Rokossovsky said slowly: "If we can find these hidden arsenals, we can use the weapons in the arsenals to strengthen the infantry brigades."

"That's a good idea." Romanov agreed and reminded Rokossovsky, "Comrade Commander, do you think we should send a telegram to the infantry brigade and ask them to send people to the nearby areas to search and see if they can find those hidden arsenals?"

"I think it's okay." Rokossovsky nodded in agreement with Romanov's proposal, then turned to Malinin and said, "Chief of Staff, send a telegram to the Infantry Brigade and convey our opinions to Major Sokov. Ask him to arrange for someone to search for those hidden arsenals nearby."

A few minutes later, Sokov received a telegram from the army headquarters.

"Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander." Cherkasov nodded, then picked up the phone and began to notify several battalion commanders to come to the meeting.

Several battalion commanders received the notice and rushed over immediately without knowing what had happened.

Seeing several panting battalion commanders entering the tent, Sokov asked them: "Comrade battalion commanders, what do you think of the troops' equipment?"

When the battalion commanders heard Sokov's question, they looked at each other in confusion.

Finally, it was Captain Yefim, the commander of the first battalion, who spoke first: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is of course necessary. We don't have any heavy weapons. Facing the German tanks, we have to sacrifice the lives of more than a dozen soldiers to destroy one."

"Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander." After hearing what Yefim said, Captain Nazorov, the commander of the third battalion, also said: "If our superiors cannot provide us with heavy weapons, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold out here for long."

"Why, are you scared, Captain Nazorov?" asked Deputy Brigade Commander Belkin coldly.

"How is this possible?" Facing the doubts of his old superior, Captain Nazorov could not admit defeat. He immediately raised his voice and said, "As long as we can stop the enemy's attack, it is worth it even if we make a great sacrifice. But if our superiors can support us with some heavy weapons, we can reduce the casualties of our troops during the defense and hold out longer."

Seeing Belkin glaring and about to get angry, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, the Third Battalion Commander is right. If we want to hold our position, it is far from enough to rely solely on the bravery of the officers and soldiers. Without heavy weapons including heavy machine guns and artillery, it will be difficult for us to deal with the German armored forces."

After hearing what Sokov said, Belkin slowed down his tone and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, our superiors asked us to solve the problem of weapons ourselves, but how can we solve it? Even if we build a military factory urgently, it will be too late to produce it."

"Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander, you may not know that there may be hidden arsenals near our defense zone." Sokov said to Belkin: "As long as we find these arsenals, our weapons and equipment will be improved."

After hearing this, Belkin grinned bitterly and said helplessly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our superiors have not told us where these arsenals are located. Where can we find them at this moment?"

Sokov had seen a map of the distribution of secret arsenals in later times. Although he didn't know whether it was true or not, he roughly remembered the location of the arsenals in the Volokolamsk area. He called several battalion commanders to a newly built wooden table with a map spread out on it. He picked up a pencil and drew a circle on one of the locations, saying to everyone, "There should be an arsenal at this location. Each battalion should send a platoon to search here."