"General Vatutin, the Germans stopped attacking after attacking and occupying the crossroads here three days ago, and they had built strong fortifications on the opposite side, and it seemed that they had no intention of continuing the attack. In the trenches, a front-line commander pointed to the battlefield that had become a ruin not far away, and explained to Vatutin, the commander of the Moscow city defense, who had come to inspect the area: "We tried to reconnoiter that side at night, but we were driven back...... The opposing side has about 2 battalions nearby, and the firepower is quite cleverly arranged. ”

Vatutin looked away from the artillery mirror in the trenches, which were very hidden by sewer shafts and other places. Surrounded by rubble and ruins, the view is relatively wide.

Now any front-line activity on both sides must be careful of the other side's snipers and artillery observation posts, because if they are discovered, they may be subjected to all kinds of terrible attacks. The whole battlefield is full of gunmen, and every crater is probably buried with mines, and this is a hell, a hell to move on.

"The only reason the Germans didn't attack was because they wanted to wait for us to mess ourselves up and then go over and surrender. Vatutin looked at the officers who were following him, and continued with his hands behind his back: "The Germans do not want to increase the casualties of their own troops when they have already won, they still have some differences from us, and they are very concerned about their own lives. ”

Speaking of this, he didn't have the idea of continuing to speak, but took his followers and walked slowly along the trench not far away. He passed by a dozen Soviet soldiers leaning against the trenches and holding their rifles, listless enough to look up and stand up to meet their general.

Exhaustion and hunger had numbed the defenders, and they didn't have much interest in what was happening around them that wasn't related to the battle. These people sat pitifully there, unable to move their bodies except for the Germans attacking, or shells or something falling or something.

"Stand up! See what you look like? General Vatutin personally inspected the position, why don't you hurry up and salute?" One of the battalion commanders at the front felt that his soldiers were a little too loose, so he hurriedly opened his mouth and reprimanded, and he walked over in the hope that his soldiers would stand upright, and show more spirit than their ragged appearance.

"Comrade Commander...... Do you have extra soldiers to replace them?" Vatutin stopped the battalion commander, and then he slowly spoke, asking the battalion commander who actually had more than 310 soldiers left in his hands.

The battalion commander was stunned for a moment, then shook his head dejectedly, and replied: "Comrade General, I have no extra soldiers, and now there are still a few buildings on the defense line that need to rely on the Moscow Self-Defense Army to assist in the defense, and I can't draw a squad of reserves." ”

"I'm just like you, comrade. I don't have any extra soldiers to support you, so I'm glad to see that they now have a chance to rest. Vatutin looked at the soldiers who were sleeping on the ground next to each other, and said helplessly: "The Germans have slowed down the attack, so we have a chance to rest and recuperate, this is our opportunity, we must take advantage of it." ”

"Yes, Comrade General! I understand!" The battalion commander stood upright, saluted Vatutin, and said, "I will let everyone have a good rest, and the next time the Germans attack, we will meet them with the most invigorating spirit!"

Vatutin bypassed the soldiers, who were sleeping against the walls of the trenches, and looked at a hidden machine-gun position not far from them, and at the Makqin heavy machine gun with wheels removed from the sandbags.

"When this thing shoots with wheels, the shooter is too high, and it is easy for the opponent to suppress it...... So we removed the wheels, and when we moved, the two soldiers ran with them, and the speed was not too slow. The commander of the position, who was following Vatutin, opened his mouth to introduce himself. He basically has these obsolete weapons in his hands, Makqin and Mosin Nagant, and even the number of hastily mass-produced Bobosha is very limited.

"The soldiers are too hard, and there is no way to compare our weapons with the Germans' weapons......" Vatutin shook his head regretfully, and said to his staff officers beside him: "If there is still stock, try to distribute it, we don't have to leave anything, do we?"

In fact, of course, he knows that the lack of advanced weapons on the front line is still a tolerable problem, and the problem that really plagues the front-line troops is the consumables such as food and ammunition. Food began to become precious after the German army encircled Moscow, and now because the food supply and distribution department in Moscow has collapsed, even a set of statistics and distribution processes no longer exist.

The soldiers searched for all kinds of food to satisfy their hunger in the ruins and houses, and at the beginning, because of the time constraints, they could also find all kinds of food to eat, and even when they were lucky, they could get a luxurious meal...... However, now that the siege of Moscow has been fought for several months, and the food available in the whole city is becoming scarcer and scarcer, the problem of the food distribution system without supporting management has been infinitely highlighted.

Army-level units have already begun to raise their own food in a chaotic manner, not to mention divisional and regimental-level troops, who scrape any resources that can be scraped nearby, including some shopping malls and any places where food may exist. If the army is still like this, it is possible to imagine the embarrassment of civilians, many places have been cut off from food supplies, and starvation deaths are not uncommon here.

Ammunition is even more of a problem, even with only light weapons, the amount of ammunition consumed in street fighting in Moscow is a very large number for the Soviet defenders in the city. Although everyone began to desperately accumulate the ammunition hoarded in the city before Moscow was under siege, after months of consumption, there is indeed not much left.

The ammunition of the 8 remaining movable tanks of the 2nd Separate Armored Brigade of the Moscow City Defense Force was only about half of the ammunition, and they were not replenished, and everyone would try to carry the ammunition out of the tanks and leave it in the rear every time they fought, because many tanks would be destroyed, and the remaining ammunition could be distributed among others.

"Comrade General, I think we can fight until the last moment, but a large number of civilians are not obliged to die with us. A front-line officer looked at Vatutin and said to his commander with a look of hope: "I heard that the Germans are offering refugee resettlement and food...... We can get civilians to hand over what they have to eat, and then let them take refuge in the German war zone......"

Vatutin nodded when he heard this suggestion, and then shook his head again: "Comrade Stalin would not approve of such an idea, and if civilians are allowed to go to Germany, how can we count these people after the war? According to the law, such people are guilty of treason and must be hanged or shot." ”

He smiled wryly as he spoke: "Although we can now ignore any laws such as treason, at least we probably won't have to enforce these laws against them - but, have you ever wondered how many 'Moscow Self-Defense Forces' we still have, and once the civilians are released, how many of these Self-Defense Forces will be left?"

In fact, this is the reason why Vatutin really cares and is a little afraid to try to let the civilians go, because once the civilians are no longer restrained, then the Moscow Self-Defense Army, which is composed of women, children and the elderly, may really have nothing left at once. Vatutin knew that the real reason why those people hadn't collapsed now was because there seemed to be no way out in front of them. As soon as there was hope, these people, who were basically civilians, immediately laid down their arms and fled to the Germans.

"But, Comrade General, these civilians have no effect at all, they waste our supplies and food, and when the Germans really fight, they will only live on the road and be beaten into a sieve by bullets. The commander continued: "Let them go, at least, let those who are useless get out of here." ”

Vatutin was silent, he knew that as a Soviet officer, he should let civilians who did not have any combat power leave the city that had become a ruin. But he knew that once he gave such an order, in a few hours, the Moscow Self-Defense Forces, which were acting as a human wall or could do some role, would really fall apart.

"I can only give you one suggestion, and that is that your troops can not fire ...... when civilians are walking towards the positions of the Germans on the opposite side," and finally, Vatutin said: "I have no right to say anything more." ”

He didn't know how many lives of Moscow civilians would be saved by his order, but he felt that he should do something, and if he could save one, he would have one more. And what he didn't know was that Zhukov was already doing this kind of thing in the southern region of Moscow, where the troops turned a blind eye to the departure of civilians from Moscow, allowing the old people and children, who were supposed to be the Moscow Self-Defense Forces, to seek refuge on the side of the Germans.

I think it is a great honor for us to be able to persevere here for our motherland and to stand with you to the end. The officer saluted and said to Vatutin.

"No, child......" Vatutin looked at the young officer, shook his head, and said, "For you, survival is the most important thing. ”――

Recommend a novel written by a friend Tianyou: drink the strongest wine, sleep with the most beautiful girl, hold a steel gun, and win the favor of beauties. "The Strongest Soul"