When Kusto saw Sokov arrange someone to pick up Ballshak, he seemed a little uneasy. He and Ballshak were colleagues from the same factory. Now he has escaped in such a mess. As a colleague, he must not be indifferent. He hesitated for a moment, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you don't object, I want to follow your soldiers to welcome Major Ballshak."
Sokov naturally would not refuse Cousto's request, so he nodded immediately and agreed. But before Cousto left, he stopped the other party and said politely: "Comrade in the workshop, can you arrange someone to pick up a telephone line for me? In this way, I can command the troops better."
"No problem, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Cousto stood on the track of the car for a long time and found that there was no telephone. It was really inconvenient to issue orders to the troops below. Although commanding in flag language can also be conveyed, not everyone knows the flag language. If the soldiers who understand flag language are not here, others will not know what the command is issued on it. Therefore, it is completely necessary to install a telephone line. Cousto nodded and said, "I will ask someone to lead you a direct telephone line immediately."
After Cousto got off the driving track, he immediately ordered his subordinates to seize the time to bring Sokov a direct telephone line. Fortunately, these communication equipment were ready, and less than ten minutes after Cousto's order was issued, the telephone line was pulled. Sokov tried the phone and felt that the effect was pretty good, so he said to Brisky beside him: "Comrade Captain, it's enough to have me here. You'd better go down and command the troops."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Brisky said unexpectedly when he heard Sokov's order: "Your injuries have not yet been cured, so I'd better stay here to observe the enemy situation. You can command below."
"My injuries are not in the way. I also have to command the anti-aircraft artillery battalion on the roof. If I can't understand the enemy's situation in time, how can I command the female soldiers?" Sokov waved his hand at the other party and said, "Okay, you don't have to say it, you'd better go downstairs quickly."
Brisky understood Sokov's personality and knew that once the other party decided on something, it would be difficult for him to change his mind. He did not persuade him, but raised his hand to salute and left with the signal soldier.
Ballshaq, with more than 20 soldiers, braved the enemy's artillery fire and retreated from the position to the assembly workshop. Due to the drag of the wounded, their retreat speed was affected, and two soldiers fell into the enemy's artillery fire. If the responding soldiers had not arrived in time and ran back with the wounded, more soldiers might have died.
Ballshak didn't know that Sokov led his troops into the assembly workshop. Because he was busy retreating, he did not ask the officers who came to pick him up the army, so he instinctively thought that these people were sent by Custo. Therefore, when he came to the factory of the assembly workshop, when he saw Custo who was a little impatient, he immediately gave the other party a big hug and said with mixed feelings: "Thank you, thank you, Comrade Custo! You not only called me to persuade me to retreat, but also sent someone to pick me up. I will always remember your friendship with me."
Hearing Ballshak say this, Cousto's face shows an embarrassing expression. After the two separated, Cousto raises his hand and points to Sokov standing on the track, and says embarrassedly: "Major Ballshak, in fact, letting you retreat and sending people to pick you up are all orders given by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."
"Ltd. Col. Sokov?!" Ballshaq said with this strange surname, looked up at Sokov standing above the factory, and couldn't help but ask Cousto curiously: "Where did this commander come out?"
"What came out from where?" Cousto said unhappily: "This is the brigade commander who is standing by Mamayev's hill, and he was ordered to lead the troops here to support us."
"Oh, so that's it." When Ballshak first entered the workshop, he saw many soldiers coming and going in and out, wearing new or old uniforms. He thought that the factory had drawn personnel from the assembly workshop to form a new fighter battalion. He thought that his fighter battalion had been established for a long time, but except for officers at all levels in uniforms, most of the fighters were still wearing casual clothes. He couldn't help but feel dissatisfied with the factory director Peter and felt that he was too biased. After listening to Cousto's explanation, he realized that he had made a mistake. He looked at Cousto and said, "Comrade Cousto, accompany me to meet this commander. I want to express my gratitude to him in person."
Unexpectedly, after Ballshaq followed Cousto onto the driving track and expressed his gratitude to Sokov, Sokov could only nod at him and said, "Comrade Major, the Germans have begun to attack. If you move a little slower, you may not be able to withdraw."
"What, the enemy has begun to attack?" Ballshaq was shocked when he heard Sokov say this. He hurried to the window, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. Through the smoke-filled position, he saw five or six German tanks sailing towards his original position, and behind these tanks were rows of scattered soldiers. He began to silently calculate in his mind how many infantrymen were following behind the tanks.
Sokov put down his telescope, turned his head to look at Ballshaq, and saw that he was muttering something in a low voice, he smiled faintly, and then said, "Comrade Major, don't count it. The German army dispatched at least one battalion of infantry. Not to mention that you only have twenty people left, even if the entire battalion is complete, it is impossible to block them."
If someone else said these words to Ballshak, he might be furious, but when Sokov said this, he nodded silently and agreed with Sokov's statement.
When the German tanks were more than 100 meters away from the smoke-filled position, they slowed down and immediately accelerated the speed, from fast walking to trotting, quickly crossed the open-circuit tank and rushed into the position of the destroyer battalion. The Germans were not ruthless at all, either shooting or killing them with bayonets, and had no intention of catching prisoners.
Seeing his troops being massacred by the Germans, Ballshaq's eyes were filled with tears and his teeth were chewing. Sokov heard Ballshaq's breathing became rapid and heavy, and knew that what the Germans had done had successfully angered him. He raised his hand and patted him on his shoulder, comforting him and said, "Comrade Major, this is a life-and-death war. Either we destroy the enemy or kill us. Since they are so cruel to our soldiers, we don't have to be ruthless to them. The blood debt must be paid with blood."
"That's right, right." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Cousto replied loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel is right. We should treat the Germans with eyes for eyes for teeth for teeth, so that they can repay their blood debts."
The smoke of gunpowder on the battlefield made the sky seem to be cloudy. Sokov looked up at the sky, feeling that even under the current circumstances, even if the German army dispatched the air force, it would be difficult for the German pilots to see the target on the ground clearly in the air. So he picked up the phone aside and asked the operator to connect to the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion on the roof.
As soon as he heard Ulanova's voice, Sokov immediately said: "Lieutenant Ulanova, it seems that the Germans cannot dispatch planes today. You can use all the artillery fire to destroy the enemy's tanks and infantry."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Ulanova replied loudly, "We are ready to fight and can open fire at any time on the invading enemy."
"Don't worry, Lieutenant Ulanova." Sokov saw that the German army was still on the edge of the factory wall at this moment, and was still nearly one kilometer away from the factory. Although it could destroy German tanks at such a distance, it was easy to waste ammunition. Sokov ordered: "Without my order, no one is allowed to open fire, and wait until the enemy approached before firing. Do you understand?"
"clear!"
Kusto knew that Sokov had the intention of using anti-aircraft guns to hit the tank. When he heard the conversation with Ulanova, his expression on his face was normal, but Ballshak didn't know about it. After Sokov put down the phone, he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I want to ask, why do you use anti-aircraft guns to hit the tank?"
"Comrade Major," Sokov didn't expect Ballshaq to suddenly ask such words. He wanted to ask back: Have your superiors told you that you can use anti-aircraft guns to hit tanks? But out of politeness, these words came to his mouth and were swallowed back by him. Instead, he said tactfully: "We do not have anti-tank guns, so we can only use anti-tank guns instead of anti-tank guns to destroy the enemy's tanks."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I want to ask you something." As soon as Ballshak and Sokov finished speaking, they said without hesitation: "Have you ever thought that if anti-aircraft guns were used to attack tanks, it would affect our air defense."
Seeing that Ballshaq was so stubborn, Sokov said bluntly: "If the German tanks rushed into the factory, what's the point of our air defense on the roof?" He paused for a moment and continued, "Also, even if we don't use these anti-aircraft guns to attack enemy tanks, the German army will still send planes to eliminate the air defense fortifications on the roof. Anyway, the anti-aircraft guns on the roof will not take long to be destroyed by the German aircraft. We might as well let it play its best."
Ballshak was not convinced by Sokov's words, but considering that the other party's military rank was higher than him and was responsible for commanding all the troops here, it was very unwise to sing a counter-topic with him. Thinking of this, Ballshak shut up and agreed to Sokov's decision.
Sokov held the microphone in his hand, staring quietly at the tanks coming from afar and the infantry following behind, thinking about when they could open fire. When the German tanks were still four or five hundred meters away from the factory, Sokov suddenly shouted at the microphone: "Fire the gun, fire the enemy tank immediately!"
With the order issued, six anti-aircraft guns on the roof opened fire at the same time. Although the 37mm anti-aircraft gun was not as powerful as the 85mm anti-aircraft gun, the rate of fire was amazing, and it could fire at least sixty or seventy shells per minute. Sokov soon saw that the tanks were surrounded by the tanks, and soon a tank was hit. The ammunition in the car caused a death explosion. Not only did it directly lift the turret, but the flying shrapnel also knocked down the soldiers following behind.
There was also an anti-aircraft gun. I don’t know if the gunner’s skills were too poor or intentional. She did not attack the German tanks, but bombarded the German infantry following behind the tank. The 37mm high-explosive armor-piercing bomb hit the man, and immediately broke the man into two pieces. Sokov saw seven or eight German soldiers, and his upper body was knocked out in an instant, and he couldn’t help but tremble all over, thinking that this was probably the legendary “no corpse of death”.
Under the intensive fire of anti-aircraft guns, the German tanks turned into burning torches one after another, stopping on the charred land. Due to the strong firepower of the 37mm anti-aircraft gun, some German soldiers used their companions' bodies to block them in front of them, trying to resist the attack of such high-explosive armor-piercing bombs. However, everything they did was futile. As long as they were hit, they would either be beaten into two pieces or lack arms or legs.
For the Germans, this battle was simply impossible. Not to mention that the tanks that covered their attack were all killed by the Soviet artillery fire, because the distance was too far, the opponent's anti-aircraft guns could hit him, but the rifles and submachine guns in his hand could not hit him. Some soldiers could not stand this bloody scene, shouted, turned around and ran back. The officer tried to stop the soldiers from escaping, and stopped them with pistols, but they were pushed to the ground by the soldiers who were eager to escape. Before he could stand up, countless feet stepped on him, which almost vomited blood.
Seeing that all the soldiers under him had fled, the officer knew that it would be meaningless to continue the attack. He climbed up from the ground with his hands and feet, rolled and crawled, and fled backwards with the crowd.
When Ballshak saw Sokov repelling the German attack so easily, he couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. He never dreamed that the war could still fight like this, not only to beat the enemy without any strength to fight back, his side had no casualties, but had consumed some high-explosive armor-piercing bombs originally intended to be used to hit the plane.
"Ltd Colonel," Cousto pointed to the wounded soldiers who were still rolling and howling on the ground on the battlefield, and asked Sokov for advice: "Although the Germans retreated, they still left many wounded soldiers on the battlefield. How should we deal with it?"
Sokov first glanced at Ballshaq, and then said to Cousto meaningfully: "Comrade in the workshop, how did the Germans deal with the wounded in the fighter battalion just now? I think you saw it?"
"Yes, I saw it." Cousto said gritting his teeth: "They killed all the wounded people left on the position without leaving any remaining."
"Since you've seen how the Germans treat our wounded," Sokov said with a serious expression: "Then, it's our turn to treat their wounded in the same way."
Chapter completed!