Chapter 1102 Westward Advance (Part 2)

  The Starcha regiment's victory over Donetsk made the commanders and fighters of the other two regiments of the Guards Division extremely jealous. The battalion and company commanders found their regiment commander, hoping that he could get a new combat mission from the division commander.

Papchenko and Yersakov, who were marching with the troops, were so annoyed that they could only order the radio operator to send a report to Sokov, hoping that he could deploy combat missions to himself as soon as possible to appease his comrades. underlings.

   Sokov had just finished chatting with Belkin when he received a telegram from the two regiment leaders. He shook the telegram in his hand to Belgin, and said with a smile: "Comrade Commissar, you have seen it. Knowing that your regiment has achieved such great results, the other two regiments can't hold back. While the morale of the soldiers is high, , let us attack the enemy, I believe they will not let us down."

After finishing speaking, Sokov called a communications staff officer and told him: "Call back the two regiment commanders and ask the 125th regiment to speed up its march and rush to the Red Army Village to attack the enemies entrenched there. The 122nd Regiment followed closely behind as a reserve team, and if the 125th Regiment's attack failed, they would attack instead."

After receiving Sokov's call back, Ershakov immediately discussed with his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, according to our current marching route, even if there is a vehicle instead, it will take at least five hours to reach the Red Army Village. .I plan to adjust the marching route to shorten the time to reach the attack position."

The chief of staff of the regiment pointed to the map and said to Yershakov: "Comrade commander, according to the map, our convoy will drive about one kilometer forward, and there will be a fork in the road. The road on the right can lead to the Red Army Village. It is more than 70 kilometers shorter than our route to Donetsk and then to the Red Army Village."

"Chief of staff, on the battlefield, every minute is precious. If you can enter the battlefield one minute earlier, the enemy will have one minute less time to prepare for battle." Ershakov ordered the chief of staff of the regiment almost without thinking: "Immediately Signal the vehicles in front to turn right at the intersection ahead and drive quickly towards the Red Army Village."

  After hearing Yershakov's order, the chief of staff of the regiment asked hesitantly: "Comrade commander, do you need to ask the division commander for instructions on adjusting the marching route without authorization?"

"It's too late, and even if the division commander knows, he won't blame us." Ershakov said: "Chief of staff, execute the order." In this way, the convoy of the 125th regiment did not ask Sokov for instructions. Under the circumstances, the marching route was adjusted halfway and headed for the Red Army Village.

Sokov, who was staying in Donetsk, waited and waited until Vitkov and the Guards Division headquarters who stayed in Luhansk arrived. He hadn't seen the shadow of the 125th regiment before he realized Something is wrong. Quickly asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, did you see the troops of the 125th Regiment when you were on the road?"

"What, hasn't the 125th Regiment arrived yet?" Sidolin said with a look of surprise, "The convoy of the regiment started an hour earlier than us, even if the convoy was moving slower than us, we should have seen them on the road. But we walked all the way, did not find any troops?"

"Hell, what the **** is this Ershakov doing?" Sokov couldn't help being furious when he learned that the 125th regiment was missing, and quickly ordered Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, you should send a telegram to Ershakov immediately. Let him report the location of the troops."

  The telegram sent to the 125th Regiment waited for a long time without any reply. Under Sokov's order, a second copy was issued. Sokov said angrily: "We must find out the whereabouts of the 125th regiment. I don't believe it. Just say that there are no more than 5,000 people."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin asked Sokov for instructions: "If the 125th Regiment loses its direction and cannot participate in the battle to attack the Red Army Village, should the 122nd Regiment come to the top?"

   "How far is the 122nd Regiment from Donetsk?"

   "Because they are marching on foot, they are still more than 70 kilometers away from us." Sidolin said cautiously: "According to the current speed, they will not be able to reach Donetsk until noon tomorrow at the earliest."

"It's too slow. When they reach Donetsk and turn to the Red Army Village, it may be dark." Sokov said angrily, "Given the enemy such a long time, I'm afraid they have already prepared for battle. This Yershakov is simply disgraceful, if it is because of him that the warplane is delayed, I will definitely send him to a court-martial."

   "Comrade Commander," just as Sokov said this, a communications staff officer standing next to the telegraph turned around and shouted at Sokov: "The 125th Regiment has returned a telegram."

  Sidorin learned that the 125th Regiment had heard back, and quickly ordered the communications staff: "Quickly copy the telegram."

Two minutes later, the communications staff handed over the translated telegram to Sidolin. After seeing the contents of the telegram, Sidolin showed a shocked expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, the 125th Regiment has arrived at the Red Army Village and is on the way to the Red Army Village." Fight the enemy."

   "What, they have already started a battle with the enemy?" Sokov snatched the telegram from Sidolin's hand and browsed it carefully. After reading the above content, a smile appeared on his face: "This Colonel Ershakov is quite clever. In order to catch the enemy by surprise, he adjusted the direction of the march halfway, thus saving two hours. time."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin said to Sokov with a smile, "Since Colonel Ershakov has explained the problem to you clearly, can you avoid sending him to a military court?"

"I don't need to send him to court-martial, but when he comes back, I still have to criticize him well." Sokov said, "How can you not ask me for instructions on changing the marching route? Think about it, As commanders, if we don’t even know where our troops are, how can we command operations?”

"Comrade Commander, you are right." Regarding Sokov's statement, the group chief of staff Vitkov expressed his opinion: "I am afraid that he dared to act so boldly because he is your old subordinate. If The commander of the cluster is someone else, and he may have to wait for the approval of his superiors before he dares to adjust the marching route of the troops."

  ...

   At this time, on a high ground on the west side of the Red Army Village, the commanders and fighters of the 2nd Battalion of the 125th Regiment were attacking the German trenches under the cover of machine gun fire.

   When the commanders and fighters were more than 30 meters away from the trench, the machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles in the trench opened fire together, and the soldiers who rushed to the front suddenly fell down. Then, the German officers and soldiers kept throwing grenades, and for a while, the front of the position was shrouded in thick gunpowder smoke.

  (end of this chapter)