When Xu Rui's troops were marching, they encountered an obstruction. It turned out that they were blocked by a group of Red Army guerrillas. Both parties were very happy to eliminate the misunderstanding. Xu Rui asked: "Comrade Major, what is your name? Which part is it?”
The major said: "My name is Kosygin, I am the independent battalion of the 19th Army Groupщщш..lā"
"Isn't the 19th Army in Moscow? Why are you here?"
Kosygin said: "When the Germans attacked Smolensk, our battalion was ordered to cover the transfer of large troops. Later, the large troops successfully broke through, but our battalion was isolated here. There was no other way, so I had to lead the soldiers to fight guerrillas. , along the way, many scattered Red Army soldiers and people who were made homeless by the Germans joined us. Therefore, during this period, not only did we not weaken, but our number actually expanded, reaching more than a thousand people."
Xu Rui was very happy when he heard that. Among the more than a thousand people in Kosygin, a large part of them are regular troops, have combat experience, and have relatively high individual quality. If they can be persuaded to join their army, they can strengthen themselves. With his strength, he fought hard in Smolensk.
Xu Rui said: "Comrade Kosygin, we are the Wolf Fang troops directly under the headquarters. We were ordered to come to Smolensk this time to attack Smolensk. I need your help."
Kosygin's eyes widened when he heard this. He looked at the troops behind Xu Rui with disbelief and said hesitantly: "Just them?"
Xu Rui said: "Of course they alone are not enough, but it is enough if you are there."
Kosygin smiled bitterly and said: "There are many German servants in Smolensk, including Romanians, Italians, Spaniards, and the Russian Liberation Army. The total number of people is hundreds of thousands. If we go up there, we will die." .”
Xu Rui said: "If someone else leads the team, they may die, but with me here, we can definitely defeat the opponent."
"Comrade, you are..."
"I am Xu Rui, chief of staff of the Moscow City Defense Command."
"What? Are you Xu Rui?" Kosygin shouted excitedly.
Xu Rui asked: "Have you heard of me?"
Kosygin said: "Comrade Xu Rui, I am a veteran who participated in the Soviet-Finnish War. In the Soviet-Finnish War, you could beat the Finns back step by step with your wolf teeth.
During my time behind enemy lines, I also collected some newspapers. These newspapers always published your deeds of annihilating a certain German unit. I thought you were just a legend, but I didn't expect to see a living person today. "
Xu Rui said: "How was it? Are you disappointed?"
Kosygin said: "I'm not disappointed, you are more handsome than I imagined."
Xu Rui thought to himself that this Kosygin is quite good at talking.
Xu Rui said: "Comrade Kosygin, since you know my past, please believe me and act with us to attack Smolensk."
Kosygin said cheerfully: "As long as you are here, there is nothing to be afraid of. There are more than a thousand people in our independent battalion willing to obey your orders!"
Xu Rui said: "Okay, Comrade Kosygin, you will be the deputy commander of the Smolensk Independent Regiment directly under the headquarters."
Kosygin was very happy when he heard this. He thought that he had been promoted from battalion commander to deputy regimental commander.
Leng Tiefeng on the side quietly asked Xu Rui: "Old Xu, why haven't I heard of the Smolensk Independent Regiment?"
Xu Rui said: "I just established it."
"Ah? Did you order a number for yourself?" Leng Tiefeng suddenly felt dumbfounded.
Xu Rui said: "Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures. In order to unite Kosygin, he must be promoted. Besides, our two or three thousand people must put up a banner, otherwise the division will be unknown and it will not be conducive to uniting people. As for the issue of numbers, I Then I will report to Zhukov and there will probably be no problem."
When Leng Tiefeng heard Xu Rui's words, he thought it was the same and immediately nodded in agreement.
In this way, Xu Rui recruited Kosygin's battalion near Smolensk. Speaking of which, Kosygin's battalion was very shabby. Most of the people had Mosin automatic rifles, no submachine guns, heavy machine guns and forced assault rifles. There were no artillery pieces, only two light machine guns. This shows that they had a difficult time fighting guerrillas in Smolensk during this period.
Xu Rui immediately gave them some of the excess weapons brought from the Italian warehouse. In this way, the strength of Kosygin's battalion was greatly increased, and Kosygin was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.
The group continued to move forward, and when they arrived at the edge of Smolensk, Xu Rui ordered not to move forward.
Kosygin asked: "Comrade Xu Rui, why don't we move on?"
Xu Rui said: "Look, Smolensk is ahead. If we are so hasty, we will only be annihilated."
"Then when are we going to attack again?"
Xu Rui said: "Let's do some reconnaissance first."
At that moment, Xu Rui sent Minglu, Shi Xiaoqian and Ergazi to the front for reconnaissance. After more than an hour, the three men returned and reported the situation to Xu Rui.
"Commander, in front of you is Smolensk. It is guarded by the Russian Liberation Army in the north, the Romanian army in the south, the Finnish army in the west, the Italian and Spanish troops in the south, and a German regiment stationed in the middle, which is the defense of the entire Smolensk. Core."
After hearing this, Xu Rui had a plan in his mind. He called Leng Tiefeng and Kosygin to his side and explained the situation to them. Kosygin said: "We have fought against the Finnish army and the Romanian army. Although their combat effectiveness is not as good as The German army is strong, but not bad, and difficult to deal with.”
Xu Rui said: "Kosygin is right. Among the entire Smolensk garrison, the German army has the strongest combat effectiveness. However, the German army is not large in number, only about two thousand people. If we can win by surprise and eliminate the German army first, With this regiment of men, the morale of the rest of the servant army must be in chaos, and if we take advantage of the chaos to attack, we will definitely achieve significant results."
Kosygin said: "The Germans are stationed in the middle area so that they can provide support from all directions at any time. It is not easy to lure them out."
Xu Rui said: "We must lure the Germans out and annihilate them. As long as the German defenders are eliminated, everything will be alive. If the German defenders cannot be eliminated, then the enemies of Smolensk will use the German army as the axis to launch attacks on us. We only have a few thousand people to attack, while the enemy has hundreds of thousands. By then, we will only fail."
Leng Tiefeng said: "I have a way to lure the Germans out."
Everyone looked at Leng Tiefeng, and Leng Tiefeng said: "Judging from the battle with the Italian army, the Italian army's combat effectiveness is very poor. Therefore, we can attack from the south where the Italian army is stationed. The Germans will definitely come to help, and then we will …”
"Surround the spot for reinforcements? Veteran, your idea is a good one." Xu Rui said.
Leng Tiefeng said: "Yes, we will surround the point for reinforcements, but our troops are too thin."
Kosygin said: "There are two guerrilla groups operating near here. They are both units of our 19th Group Army that have not broken out. Each unit has six to seven hundred people. I can find them to help us. "
"Kosygin, this matter is left to you. You contact them immediately and ask them to meet here." Xu Rui said.
"I'll contact them on the radio now and they should arrive soon," Kosygin said.
"Okay, then this time we will gather around the spot to help!" Xu Rui finally made up his mind...
Kosygin quickly contacted two other Red Army guerrilla groups, but these two guerrilla groups only had a few hundred people. Although they were small in number, they were all time-tested warriors who had experienced the battle in Smoleng. After months of hard work in the Skok region, those who could persist to the end and survive were the best of the best. Xu Rui was very satisfied when he saw the spirit of the soldiers. He could completely see that these two guerrillas They are all elites in a hundred battles. In this way, Xu Rui feels more confident.
The leaders of these two guerrilla groups were Captain Paul and Major Molov. Both of them were in their twenties and looked heroic. Seeing the newly issued light and heavy weapons of Kosygin's team, they Paul and Moloff almost drooled to the ground.
"Brother Kosygin, I haven't seen you for a few days. Why are you so rich and have so many heavy weapons?" Paul said.
Molov also said: "Koshygin, you are living a good life in your little life."
Koxijin Yile said proudly: "Since I joined Comrade Xu Rui, I have also improved. Not only have the weapons of the army been changed, but my position has also become deputy commander."
Molov and Paul looked envious when they heard that Kosygin had become the deputy commander.
Kosygin brought the two men to Xu Rui. Xu Rui directly appointed the two as the commander and deputy commander of the second and third battalions of the Smolensk Independent Regiment, while Kosygin was directly promoted to the commander and deputy commander of the Smolensk Independent Regiment. The commander of the first battalion.
Xu Rui also promised to change the clothes of the second and third battalions after the battle. In this way, everyone was very happy and felt like they had climbed to a high branch and followed Xu Rui.
After recruiting two guerrilla groups again, Xu Rui's troops have expanded to more than 5,000 people, half of whom are Red Army guerrillas with rich combat experience, which greatly increases the strength of Xu Rui's troops.
The sky gradually darkened, and after the soldiers had a good meal, they began to take action. Their target was directly locked at the Italian barracks on the southern outskirts of Smolensk.
In the southern suburbs of Smolensk, where the Italian military camp is located, the Italian commander Major General Lentini is listening to music leisurely in his office. Lentini is the best friend of Italian Prime Minister Mussolini. He has no military talent, but because of his opposition to The prime minister rose through the ranks due to his loyalty and became a general, leading 30,000 Italian troops to support the Soviet-German battlefield.
However, because the performance of the Italian army was so poor, Lentini's troops were sent to Smolensk to maintain the German logistics supply line. Not only was Lentini not ashamed of this task, but he was very satisfied. In his opinion, , In this way, the losses of the troops are reduced, and one can live a stable life.
But in the past two days, Lentini's life has not been so easy...