After coming out of the museum, Porosukhin told the driver: "Let's go to the highlands and distribute the flags we just took out to the combat troops."
Hearing what Porosukhin said, the driver drove towards the nearest troop defense area without waiting for his instructions.
Soon, the jeep arrived at a defensive position where fortifications were being built.
After getting off the jeep, Porosukhin pulled a soldier passing by and asked: "Comrade soldier, where is your commander?"
The soldier looked around, then pointed in one direction and replied: "Over there, comrade colonel."
After thanking the soldiers, Poluo Suxin turned to the entourage behind him and said, "Let's go, let's go find their commander."
After saying that, Porosukhin took the lead and jumped into a half-man-deep trench and strode forward. Sokov and Porosukhin's guards, as well as several soldiers holding flags, followed closely behind him.
After passing through an unfinished shelter, the whereabouts of Boluo Suxin and his party were seen by the commander of the army. A short and fat commander ran over quickly, raised his hand to salute Boluo Suxin, and then reported according to the order.
: "Comrade Colonel, I am the political commissar of the battalion. We are a mixed battalion of the Moscow Military and Political School named after Lenin. There are a total of 600 people in the battalion, all of whom are party members."
Sokov knew very well that political commissars were generally regiment-level commanders, and would only appear in battalion-level organizations under special circumstances. The fact that there is a political commissar in this mixed battalion shows that this unit is not simple.
"Hello, comrade political commissar." Porosukhin took a flag from the soldiers behind him and handed it to the battalion political commissar: "I hand over this flag of the Glenakil Regiment (Grenadier Regiment) to you.
Protect it like our battle flag."
The battalion political commissar took over the battle flag, looked at Porosukhin and asked: "Comrade Colonel, I wonder when our battalion will be able to participate in the battle?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, your battalion is the second echelon, which is the reserve team of our division." Poluo Suxin said to the political commissar of the battalion: "When the battlefield situation reaches the most critical moment, I will put your battalion into the battlefield. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Colonel."
Then we went to the place where the flag was presented, which was the defense area of the 230th Preparatory Teaching Regiment composed entirely of Muscovites.
The leader of the regiment was a major. After Porosukhin waited for the other party to finish his report, he said loudly to the commanders and fighters who were still building fortifications: "Hello, Muscovites!"
Hearing Borosukhin's voice, the soldiers who were digging trenches stopped what they were doing, stood up straight, and shouted to Borosukhin in unison: "Hello!"
Porosukhin once again took a flag and handed it to the regiment leader: "Comrade Major, this is a flag used by the Moscow militia in 1812. I now officially hand it over to your regiment. I hope you can protect your own eyes.
Protect this glorious flag well."
The regiment leader took the flag, looked at it carefully, looked up at Porosukhin and said sincerely: "Thank you, Comrade Colonel, this flag is a very precious souvenir for us Muscovites." With that, he handed the flag over.
He handed it to a soldier beside him and continued, "Let me introduce you to our soldiers."
Polosukhin followed the regiment leader and walked along the edge of the trench being dug, and asked casually: "Comrade Major, where do all your soldiers come from?"
"Mainly from the 'Sickle and Hammer' factory." The regiment leader pointed to a middle-aged man wearing glasses in the trench and said: "This is Engineer Grigoriev."
The engineer whose name was called by the regiment leader quickly took off his glasses with mud on the lenses and said respectfully: "Hello, comrade colonel!"
"Hello!" Poluo Suxin nodded to the other party and continued walking forward.
When Sokov saw the engineers in the trenches, he couldn't help but frowned slightly. It was a waste to use the precious technicians in the factory as ordinary soldiers. But he was just a liaison officer sent by the headquarters.
Although the military commander who is not the military commander has different opinions in his heart, he cannot express his opinions casually, lest it affect the morale of the troops.
The regimental leader pointed to a very honest-looking man in the trench, and then introduced: "This is the electrician Huntal."
"Hello, Comrade Colonel." Huntal quickly stood at attention and greeted Porosukhin respectfully.
After introducing a few more soldiers, Sokov saw a pair of people who looked like a father and son. According to his memory, these two people should be Pavlov and his son.
Sure enough, the regiment leader said to Porosukhin: "Comrade Colonel, these are Pavlov and his son."
Hearing that they were a father and son, Porosukhin stopped, squatted by the trench, and chatted with the old man: "Old man, are you from Moscow?"
"Exactly, Comrade Colonel." The old man shrugged his shoulders and said, "My family has been living in Moscow since my great-grandfather, and it has been five generations since my son. It can be said that we are full-fledged Muscovites."
"How are you, are you ready to fight?"
"Of course." Old Pavlov replied: "We just hope that the Germans will come over soon so that we can teach them a lesson. But..."
"But what?" Porosukhin asked.
"A commander just came over and told me that I was too old to stay on the battlefield." Old Pavlov said with dissatisfaction: "I was even mobilized to leave the battlefield and go back to the factory to continue working."
Porosukhin did not answer the old man's question, but looked at the little Pavlov next to him and asked, knowingly: "Old man, who is this?"
"He is my son Pavlov." When talking about his son, the old man seemed very excited: "We all came here together. Who knew that he was promoted to a first class soldier this morning? His son is better than me.
The level is still high, it is simply unreasonable." He was complaining, but the slightly upward corners of his mouth showed that he was very proud of his son.
Porosukhin burst out laughing after hearing this. He raised his hand and patted Old Pavlov on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "It's okay, old man. When the Germans are driven away and you are promoted to sergeant, I will
I will personally look into the matter."
When he learned that he had a chance to be promoted to sergeant, old Pavlov's face was filled with joy. He proudly showed off to his son: "You heard it, comrade Colonel said personally that after the battle is over, he will personally
Promote me to sergeant."
Seeing the happy faces of the father and son, Sokov felt a trace of bitterness in his heart. He clearly remembered that on the first day of the battle in Borodino, the old man died and had no chance of being promoted to sergeant.
Luo Suxin's promise to him was nothing more than a blank check.
After leaving the defense area of the 230th Regiment, an accompanying staff officer said to Porosukhin: "Comrade Division Commander, not far ahead is the 20th Tank Brigade that entered the highlands early this morning. Shall we go over and take a look?"
"Let's go over and have a look."
Arriving at the area where the tank brigade was stationed, the whereabouts of Porosukhin and his party were immediately reported to the brigade commander, Colonel Orlenko.
Orlenko, wearing a short khaki fur coat, came to Porosukhin, saluted casually, and said politely: "Hello, Colonel Porosukhin, I am Colonel Orlenko, commander of the tank brigade. We
The brigade was ordered to assist your division in defending Borodino." He saw the flags held by the soldiers and couldn't help but curiously asked, "Comrade Colonel, what flags are your men holding?"
"These are the military flags I took from the museum," Porosukhin picked out a military flag and handed it to Orlenko: "This is the Kaldov cavalry flag of 1812. It is very suitable for your tank brigade. Now I
This flag is officially awarded to you. I hope your tanks will charge into battle like horses and strike hard at the enemy."
Orlenko took the flag and handed it to a commander beside him. He sighed softly and said: "Colonel Porosukhin, the number of tanks in our brigade is not as many as you imagined, only less than fifty.
Tanks, and most of them are old models, but there is still no big problem in dealing with German tanks."
Sokov secretly muttered to himself that Orlenko's tank brigade was in similar condition to Katukov's tank brigade, but the latter was able to kill 133 German tanks and shoot down two enemy planes in eight days.
, I only lost six tanks. I wonder what kind of results the 20th Tank Brigade can achieve when it enters the battlefield.
After distributing the battle flags taken out of the museum, Sokov followed Porosukhin back to the headquarters, where he prepared to see how Porosukhin commanded the troops.
Time passed by, and the division headquarters was extremely busy, with various messages constantly coming from different places. Following the latest information obtained, Porosukhin issued different orders to each unit in a timely manner.
At this time, a phone call came. After answering the call, the chief of staff said to Porosukhin: "Comrade division commander, I just received a report that a large army has appeared a few kilometers away from our division's defense area."
When Porosukhin heard this, he immediately frowned: "Are they German?"
The chief of staff shook his head: "No, it's our own troops. They are marching north on foot a few kilometers away from us, and they seem to be rushing to a certain assembly point under orders."
"Major Sokov," after Porosukhin and the chief of staff finished reporting, he walked up to Sokov and asked, "Do you know what kind of unit this is?"
Sokov knew very well that the reason why Porosukhin asked him was probably because he thought that as a member of the headquarters, he should know something about this sudden appearance of the troops. He was deeply afraid that the other party would misunderstand, so he quickly explained: "I'm sorry.
, Comrade Colonel, I don’t know what is going on with this unit. But since our army is going to have a decisive battle with the German army here, it is inevitable that some troops will be mobilized in the nearby area."
Porosukhin agreed with Sokov's statement: "Major Sokov, it seems you are right. This unit that is moving north should have just been transferred by the superiors." After a pause, he
Continued: "I will now send you over to fight with this force.
Contact us to see if we can get them to change direction and join up here? You know, our division plus some friendly forces have a total strength of only more than 16,000 people, and the number of Germans is at least twice as many as ours.
If you want to stop the enemy, you need more troops."
Sokov didn't know what was going on with the unit mentioned by the chief of staff, but since Porosukhin made a request to him, he must go and see what was going on. He nodded and said: "Okay
, Comrade Colonel, I will take people to check immediately."
According to the location provided by Porosukhin, Sokov led a dozen soldiers in a jeep and a truck and rushed over as quickly as possible.
Ten minutes later, Sokov arrived at the place.
Here, he indeed saw a large number of troops, commanders and fighters wearing short khaki fur coats, marching north along the road between the forests.
Sokov ordered the driver to stop the car, then opened the door and jumped out, grabbed an officer, and asked politely: "Comrade Captain, which unit are you in?"
The officer glanced at Sokov and did not immediately say the unit number. Instead, he asked: "Which unit are you in?"
"I am a staff member of the 5th Army Headquarters." After Sokov made up an identity for himself, he continued to ask: "Now can you tell me which part you are in?"
"We are from the 316th Infantry Division."
"What, you are from the 316th Infantry Division?" To others, what the officer said was just a number, but to Sokov, the name of this unit was like thunder. Just one month later,
This unit will be awarded the honorary title of "Eighth Guards Rifle Division" by the Supreme Command, and is also known as one of the most capable units in the Soviet army. He asked cautiously: "Is it the infantry of General Panfilov?"
The 316th Division?”
"Yes, our division commander is General Panfilov." The officer asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Major, do you know our division commander?"
At this moment, a bold idea suddenly came to Sokov's mind. Can he find and convince Panfilov to let his troops stay in the 5th Army's defense zone to strengthen the defense here?
"I have heard about your division commander." Sokov asked the officer with some lack of confidence: "Comrade Captain, do you know where your division commander is?"
"He and the political commissar are behind." Although Sokov identified himself and said Panfilov's name, the officer still maintained the necessary vigilance when he heard the other party directly ask where the division commander was:
"Do you have anything to ask them about?"
Sokov raised his eyebrows: "It turns out that General Panfilov and Political Commissar Yegorov are together. I have been famous about them for a long time. I wonder if you can take me to see them?"
Seeing Sokov easily naming Panfilov and Yegorov, the officer hesitated a little. After all, people who could easily name division commanders and political commissars must not be ordinary people. He was in trouble for a moment.
I wonder if I should tell the major in front of me where Panfilov is.
Just when he was in trouble, he suddenly heard someone calling his name, and then a young political worker came to him: "Captain, who is this major?"
"Comrade first-level commander," the officer said to the man quickly: "This comrade major asked me where the division commander and political commissar are."