From Taflin's words, Mihiga heard that the other party had already prepared a countermeasure, and quickly asked: "Comrade Sergeant, please tell me quickly, do you have any way to prevent the enemy from getting here?"
"It's very simple," Tavlin pointed to the map on the table and said to Mihiga: "We will build another minefield for the enemy five kilometers away from the station to make it difficult for them to move."
"Is it possible to make it in time?" After listening to Tavlin's suggestion, Mihiga said hesitantly: "I'm worried that even if we send people over now, the enemy will have arrived before they have laid the mines. Let's go and bury them then. Lei’s comrades will be in danger.”
"Comrade Captain," Taflin smiled faintly at Misiga's worries, and then said: "Have you forgotten that Captain Guchakov gave me two armored vehicles? We can use the armored vehicles to transport a group of team members and mines. Go over there. When they start laying mines, the armored vehicles return to load more mines..."
If Tavlin hadn't reminded him, Mihiga would have really forgotten the two armored vehicles operating together this time. He glanced at the armored vehicle parked outside the house and said still uneasily: "Comrade Sergeant, I'm still worried that the enemy will come too fast and our comrades who laid the mines will be in danger."
"This is easy to handle." Tavlin said confidently: "We will first send an armored vehicle, drive as far east as possible, and then lay a batch of mines. If the enemy who is rushing in in a hurry steps on the mines in the new area, The march speed will definitely be slowed down and demining will be carried out again, which will buy valuable time for our comrades laying mines."
"Comrade Sergeant, your idea is good." Tavlin's suggestion made Mihiga's eyes light up. He continued: "The enemy has already been frightened by the landmines at Beard. As long as he steps on it again on the road, If they land mines, they will immediately stop advancing and call in engineers to clear the mines, which will inevitably slow down their marching speed. And the group of comrades we sent out to lay mines will have sufficient time to clear the mines in a wide enough area. The area is mined. Anyway, when we captured the station, we captured several thousand mines alone. We only need to bury some of them on the road, which is enough for the enemy to drink a pot."
"Here comes someone!" After Mishiga finished speaking, he ran to the door and called Platonov who was wandering outside, and ordered him: "Comrade Platonov, you take five soldiers and carry thirty landmines. , take an armored vehicle and head to the east of the station. Choose a location close to the railway embankment, plant all these mines, and then return immediately."
After listening to Michiga's order, Platonov asked: "Comrade Vovka, aren't you going to leave someone there to observe the effect?"
"No need." Considering that Platonov was his old friend, Michiga did not hide it from him: "Actually, our real mine-laying location is closer to the station than the mine-laying location I arranged for you. .The minefields you temporarily deployed are just to slow down the German army's advance."
Platonov understood Michiga's intention, immediately turned around and walked out of the room, gathering people to prepare to lay mines at the designated location.
…………
After receiving the telegram from Guchakov, Sokov was worried about how to deal with the supplies in the station. It stands to reason that the two stations occupied by Guchakov and his colleagues were both deep behind the enemy's rear, and there was no way to transport the captured materials back. The last resort was to burn them down so that the Germans would get nothing.
But as a person from later generations, Sokov knew clearly that in about ten days, the Soviet army would launch a full-scale counterattack against Paulus's troops. If a batch of supplies could be hoarded behind enemy lines, then in the next It can be of great use in the counterattack.
However, he did not make any hasty decision, but looked at Ivanov and Sidorin and asked: "Deputy division commander, chief of staff, I want to ask you. If you are asked to make a decision, what do you plan to do? These mountains of supplies.”
After the two heard Sokov's question and looked at each other, Ivanov spoke first: "How should I put it, comrade division commander. To be honest, five divisions have been stockpiled in the two stations within a month. The supplies and ammunition required make people jealous just looking at them. If possible, I really want Captain Guchakov to transport all these supplies back. In this way, our division will not have to worry about ammunition and ammunition within half a year. There is a shortage of supplies.”
"Yes, what the deputy division commander said is what I think in my heart." As soon as Ivanov finished speaking, Sidorin echoed: "But the two stations are hundreds of kilometers away from us, and there are With all the layers of defense the Germans have built, it is simply impossible to transport supplies back. In my opinion, it is better to burn them all so that the Germans will get nothing."
"Burning the supplies hoarded in the station is undoubtedly the easiest way." Sokov waited for the two people to express their opinions before continuing: "But in order to ensure that we seize the station, the base camp even sent out the Don River Front Army We seized the troops and launched a feint attack on the German army to attract the enemy's attention. If we really burned all the supplies with a fire without any explanation, I'm afraid the base camp would be dissatisfied."
"Then what should we do?" Sidorin heard what Sokov said and immediately realized what the other party might have in mind, so he asked tentatively: "You know, no matter how useful those materials are to us, they cannot pass through the enemy's If the defense line is brought back, what’s the use?”
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I have never thought about transporting this batch of supplies back." Sokov looked at Sidorin and said: "But since so many supplies have been seized, it would be a pity if they were really burned. So I plan to..."
Before Sokov could finish speaking, Ivanov rushed to ask: "Comrade Commander, what are you going to do?"
"The equipment of the guerrillas is too poor. We can use the captured weapons and ammunition to re-equip them. This will make it easier to supply in the future." Seeing that both of them were eager to hear his thoughts, Sokov took his time. Said: "Other useful supplies, such as food and medicine, etc., were moved to nearby forests to hide in the guerrillas. The German military coats and bedding were all set on fire. I would like to Look, the Germans don’t have these winter clothes, how do they survive this cold winter.”
In addition to the heroic tenacity shown by the Soviet army in defending the motherland, the victory of the Moscow Defense Battle was also due to the weather. So after hearing what Sokov said, Sidorin and Ivanov nodded thoughtfully. They were even thinking about whether the Germans would cope with the severe cold after all the winter clothes in the station were burned. There were massive non-combat attrition.
After Sokov finished explaining his plan, he told Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, you have to do two things now. One is to immediately send the plan I just proposed to Captain Guchakov via telegram and ask him to Dispose of all captured materials according to my orders; secondly, report the matter to Commander Chuikov."
…………
Guchakov, who was staying at the Kotluban station, finally waited for Sokov's telegram after looking through the doubts. After reading the contents of the telegram, he immediately handed the telegram back to the operator and ordered him: "Immediately forward this telegram to Sergeant Tavlin and ask him to follow the order."
While the operator was ticking the electricity, Guchakov told Vovka the contents of Sokov's telegram, and then said to him: "Comrade deputy captain, please ask someone to open the ammunition immediately. Ku, replace all the weapons of the guerrillas with German-style weapons."
"This is great, Comrade Commander." Vovgar was overjoyed when he heard what Guchakov said. As early as when he occupied the station, he couldn't wait for his men to open the ammunition depot and give it to all the guerrillas. The team members changed equipment, but were stopped by Guchakov. When he heard the official order to change his uniform, he immediately called a team member and told him: "Call all the guerrilla captains here immediately."
After the team members left, Vovka turned around and asked Guchakov: "Comrade commander, is there anything else besides changing clothes?"
"Mobilize all available manpower to transport the food and medicine in the station to the camp where the guerrillas are hiding." Guchakov continued: "As for the military coats and bedding in the warehouse, all are set on fire. Let the Germans have no winter clothing to keep out the cold, and they will all freeze to death.”
The guerrilla captains were quickly summoned. They gathered outside the stationmaster's room and asked Vovka in all directions: "Vovka, why did you call us here?"
"Comrades, please be quiet!" Guchakov couldn't help frowning when he saw the noisy captains. He raised his hands, pressed them down a few times, and said loudly: "I have something to tell you."
These guerrilla captains were dissatisfied with the deputy captain Vovka, otherwise no team would have acted without permission before attacking the station, causing unnecessary casualties. But now that they saw that the commander from the regular army wanted to speak, everyone shut their mouths in a wise manner, and the room outside the stationmaster suddenly became quiet.
"Comrades captains," Guchakov continued after seeing that the captains stopped talking, "I just received a telegram from the division commander. He ordered me to immediately open the captured ammunition depot and give it to all guerrillas. Replace them with all-German weapons to enhance your combat effectiveness."
When the captains heard what Guchakov said, they were stunned for a moment, and then cheered. Outsiders say that the combat effectiveness of the guerrillas is poor. Of course, it is related to the complexity of the guerrillas and many of them have not received systematic military training. But more importantly, the weapons and equipment of the troops are so poor that some people even use Napoleon weapons. An old weapon from the invasion of Russia. Nowadays, it is naturally a joyful thing to change everyone's clothes.
After the cheers ended, a captain asked on behalf of everyone: "Comrade commander, what new combat tasks will our troops have after changing their uniforms?"
"In addition to ordering me to change your clothes, my division commander also hopes that you can transfer a batch of supplies from the station to the camps where your respective guerrillas are hiding."
As soon as Guchakov's words came out, he immediately became silent again.
Seeing the embarrassed expressions on everyone's faces, Guchakov guessed what everyone was worried about and quickly explained: "Listen, the supplies my division commander asked you to transfer to the camp are food and medicine. Even our troops If you don’t need it, don’t you usually use it?”
Everyone had just heard that Guchakov said that he wanted to transfer supplies to his camp, and they were worried that it would cause retaliation from the Germans, so they couldn't help but feel worried. Once it became clear that what was to be moved to the camp was food and medicine, everyone's attitude changed 180 degrees. They all expressed that they would try their best to move more supplies to their camps. As for the fear of German retaliation, no one mentioned it again.
Seeing how quickly everyone's attitude changed, Guchakov asked intentionally: "Comrade captains, you have moved so many supplies from the station to your camp. Aren't you worried about the Germans' retaliation?"
"There is nothing to worry about." A tall and lanky captain said: "In two days, heavy snow will cover the forest. If the Germans want to enter the forest and wipe out us, it will not be so easy."
"Since no one is worried, there is no problem." Guchakov waved his hand to everyone and ordered: "Go back and arrange for manpower to transport supplies."
"Comrade Commander, I have another question." The captain raised his hand again and asked: "I see there are a large number of military coats and quilts in the warehouse. Do you think you can let us move them back to the camp?"
As the weather turns colder, not only the Germans lack winter supplies, but also the guerrillas operating behind enemy lines lack sufficient winter supplies. Therefore, the captain's words immediately resonated with everyone. Everyone turned their attention to Guchakov, waiting for his final reply.
Vovgen was afraid that Guchakov would casually agree to the request of these guerrillas, so he leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Comrade commander, your division commander ordered in the telegram that all these military coats and quilts should be removed." Burn it. If you distribute it to various guerrillas and later return to Mamayev Heights, how will you explain it to your superiors?"
"Comrade Vovka, we commanders cannot obey the orders of our superiors mechanically. We must execute orders according to the actual situation." After Guchakov answered Vovka, he looked at the captains and said: "Comrade captains , according to the orders of the superiors, all these military coats and quilts were originally to be burned, so that the Germans would have a large number of non-combat attrition in the severe cold because they did not have supplies for the winter. Since everyone wants military coats and quilts, then I I will make an exception and distribute some to everyone."
The captains whose demands were met rushed back to their respective guerrilla groups to arrange for the team members to change gear and carry supplies. Vovka looked at their retreating backs and asked Guchakov worriedly: "Comrade commander, if you distribute military coats and quilts to these guerrillas, will you really not be criticized by your superiors?"
Guchakov turned to look at Vovka and said with a normal expression: "Comrade Vovka, I don't know whether you will be criticized by your superiors in other troops. But in our 41st Guards Division, I I can assure you that this will never happen, and maybe the teacher will praise me because I know how to adapt to changes."
