When Sidorin and Sokov put down the microphone, he kindly reminded him: "Comrade Commander, if you ask for instructions, you will directly ask the factory to produce grenades for us. If your superiors know, you may blame you. See if you report this to Commander Cuikov, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble in the future."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time. Seeing that it was already early in the morning, he shook his head and said, "It's too late, I think I'd better wait until dawn."
Next, the three of them carefully studied the defense issues in Mamayev and the surrounding areas. Just as everyone saw that there was nothing and was about to go to rest, the phone ringing on the table rang. Sidorin glanced at the phone that kept ringing and said to Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Commander, it's not the commander who called you to indict you, right?"
Sokov stared at the phone and said to Sidolin guiltily: "Chief of Staff, please answer the phone. If the commander calls and scolds people, please explain it to me first." The reason why Sokov pushed Sidolin out was that he had a good personal relationship with Cuikov, so he would be better than himself.
2.0 Sidolin guessed Sokov's thoughts, but did not expose him. Instead, he picked up the microphone and put it in his ear and said, "I am Chief of Staff Cidolin, where are you?...Ah, it's you, Comrade Colonel! Hello... You are looking for the division commander, he is here, please wait, I will let him answer the phone immediately." Sidolin covered the microphone with his hand and whispered to Sokov, "It's Colonel Bere, he said there is something important to come to you."
"Col. Bilei is looking for me?" Sokov thought to himself that since Bilei went to the Red October factory, he had almost no contact with him. What would happen if he called himself at this time? He took the microphone in confusion, "Hello, Col. Bilei, I am Sokov."
"Hello, Misha!" Bi Lei asked with a smile on the phone: "I didn't disturb your rest."
Sokov quickly glanced at the watch on his wrist and saw that it was already three o'clock in the morning. "No, I'm not asleep yet. Colonel Billy, you call me at this time, don't know what happened?"
"Misha, you may not know yet that my troops are no longer in the Red October factory..."
"What, not at the Red October Factory?" Although Sokov passed by the Red October Factory during the day, he had no time to understand where the tank troops were stationed. At this moment, he heard Be Lei say that he had already adjusted his defense, so he asked curiously: "Col. I wonder where the superiors have transferred you?"
"At Derzhinsky Tractor Factory, from the daytime situation, it was the focus of the German offensive." Berley said in a serious tone: "Because the troops defending there lacked effective anti-tank weapons, the commander transferred all of our brigades to fight against the enemy's tanks."
"Col. Bilei, if you say this, there will be no tank troops in the Red October factory?" Considering that Bilei was not under his command, the establishment of the tank troops was restored from the battalion to the brigade, Sokov asked with a hint of luck: "Are there no one?"
"No more." Bere replied with a wry smile: "There are less than forty tanks in our entire brigade now, and it is not enough to arrange them in the Derzhinsky tractor factory. Where can there be any excess tanks left elsewhere."
"The Derzhinsky Tractor Factory is now the largest tank manufacturer in our country," Sokov asked strangely: "Can't they provide you with the tanks you need?"
"If it were a few days ago, there would be such a possibility." Bere complained to Sokov: "Now the enemy has rushed to the vicinity of the factory, and the shells fired by their tanks may fall into the production workshop at any time, so that all production in the factory has to stop."
Sokov pinched his chin with his hand, thinking to himself: Bilei called himself in the middle of the night, there must be something important. Now he talked so much to himself, just to lay the groundwork for what will happen next. Thinking of this, he yawned and said to the microphone: "Col. Bilei, do you have anything important? If not, I want to go and rest. I have severely lacked sleep in the past few days, and it has been less than ten hours in total."
When he heard Sokov say he was going to rest, Bi Lei stopped going around and got back to the point: "Misha, I'm calling you this to ask for help Lieutenant Agafeng!"
"Lt. Agafeng?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard this strange name: "Col. Bilei, who is he? I have never heard of this name."
"Misha, stop kidding." Sokov's answer surprised Bere. He quickly reminded: "You sent someone to take him to the Army Command, how could you not know who he is?"
Bere's words reminded Sokov suddenly of a person. He quickly covered the microphone with his hands and asked Sidorin and Ivanov who were sitting opposite him: "What is the name of the tank lieutenant who was sent to the headquarters by me?"
"Agafon!" Cidorin and Ivanov said in unison: "Lt. Agafon."
After figuring out what the name of the tank lieutenant was, Sokov immediately understood what the purpose of Bellei calling him in the middle of the night. He let go of his hand covering the microphone and asked, "Col. Bilei, are you trying to plead for him?"
"Yes, Misha, I do want to plead for him." Seeing that Sokov had seen through his intentions, Bere stopped hiding it, but nodded and said, "He is a subordinate I value more, and I don't want him to be sent to the military court."
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov said with a stern face: "I think you should already know what he did, because he was afraid of death, and as a result, more than a dozen or twenty commanders and soldiers were captured by the German army..."
"Misha, you're right. Lieutenant Agafeng did make mistakes before." Bere tried his best to defend his subordinates: "It was his first time participating in a battle. He had no combat experience and was afraid... It was normal for him to be afraid..."
"Don't Colonel Lei..."
"Misha, don't talk first, listen to me finish my words." Sokov was about to refute, but he was interrupted by Brethres's words: "Even if Lieutenant Agafon did something wrong, it was the past. Over the past year, he has made countless achievements under my command. It is precisely because of his outstanding military achievements that I sent him to be responsible for the security of the headquarters. Not to mention it, in order to drive the German tank you seized to a safe place during the day, only seven of the sixteen soldiers he brought to survive."
To be honest, Sokov was indeed very angry when he heard Guchakov accusing Agafon of what he did. But as time went on, he felt that under the conditions at that time, Agafon might have participated in the battle for the first time, and was scared by the enemy's strength, so he fled in a hurry.
Regarding the process of capturing the Tiger tank, Sokov heard from Sidolin that it would take great courage to bravely rush to the tanks near the bombing point by bravely attacking the enemy's shelling and bombing. It would be inappropriate to send him to a military court just because of some mistakes made by Agafon before.
"Col. Bie Lei." Sokov did not rush to express his opinion, but asked back: "What do you think should be dealt with?"
"There are few tank soldiers like him now in my brigade." Bellei said in a negotiating tone: "Misha, see if you can tell the commander, let him down and leave him to continue commanding the troops."
If someone else talked about this, Sokov might refuse, but Bellei was a comrade-in-arms who had fought side by side. He finally made a request to himself, and even if he wanted to refuse, he didn't know how to speak. After a long time, he said, "Col. Bilei, I have sent someone to take him to the Army Command. Is it too late to say hello to the commander?"
"No, it's not too late." Beret heard Sokov's plan to open the door and said excitedly: "As long as you don't pursue it, I will negotiate with the commander in person."
"Okay." Sokov decided to give Lieutenant Agafeng a way out when he saw Bere's face, and then said readily: "I would like to express my opinion on behalf of the division. We will no longer pursue this matter. As for how the Army Command deals with it, you will negotiate."
When Sokov talked with Bere, Sidolin and Ivanov, who were sitting aside, heard it. As soon as Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Commander, are you really not going to pursue this matter?"
"I won't pursue it." Sokov waved his hand and said, "Since Colonel Bie Lei calls us personally to plead with you, you must give him this face. As for Guchakov, he will hide it from him for the time being. After a long time, he will naturally forget about this matter."
After Sokov finished speaking, he raised his hand and looked at his watch, yawned again, and said to the two of them: "It's getting late, so you should hurry up and sleep for a while. Otherwise, when it's dawn, you even want to sleep and you won't have a chance."
As soon as Sokov lay down on the camp bed at the corner of the wall, he heard the harsh phone ringing again, shocking his sleepiness without a trace. Just as he was secretly considering whether to change the room and continue to sleep, he heard Cidolin, who had just picked up the microphone, say to him: "Comrade Commander, your phone call was called by the commander."
"The commander called?" Sokov heard Sidolin say this and immediately jumped out of the bed, and didn't even bother to wear boots, so he ran over barefootly: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am Sokov, what instructions do you have?"
"Col. Sokov, I think you have received a call from Bere, right?" Cuikov said hesitantly on the phone: "Lt. Agafon, who sent someone to the headquarters, has been carefully interrogated by General Orel. After our repeated research, we feel that his practice of throwing away friendly troops and running away without permission under the circumstances at that time was extremely wrong and should be severely criticized. However, it is inappropriate to send a commander who has made many military achievements and rich combat experience to the military court because of a past incident."
When Sokov heard this, he secretly felt fortunate that he decided to give this Lieutenant Agafeng a digit for the sake of Be Lei. Otherwise, even if he rejects Be Lei, he would not be able to refuse Cui Kefu, and he would offend Be Lei. He quickly asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, don't know what you plan to deal with him?"
"Under the current situation, I think it's enough to keep him in a tight position for two days," said Cui Kefu. "After all, we need a large number of commanders with combat experience now."
"Comrade Commander," Sokov waited for Cuikov to finish his speech and immediately expressed his attitude to him: "Col. Borei called me just now and also mentioned this Lieutenant Agafeng. At that time, it was probably the first time he participated in the battle and was frightened by his powerful enemy, so he did the wrong thing to abandon his friendly forces. I believe that for such a long time, he probably didn't feel good, and he must have been blaming himself in his heart. Since this is the case, we might as well give him a chance to reform..."
Listening to Sokov's talk, Cuikov found that a series of speeches he had prepared had not been used. After Sokov finished speaking, he changed the topic in time: "Col. Sokov, a few hours ago, Director Peter called me and said that you asked him to produce a batch of grenades for you. Is this a matter?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov originally planned to report to Cuikov after dawn. Since he asked him to ask Peter to produce grenades for him, he took the opportunity to say, "I think the grenades we use now are not as good as the Germans, so I asked Director Peter to copy a batch for us so that we can better attack the enemy."
Cuikov was not angry about Sokov passing by himself and directly letting the factory produce grenades. He was just curious about why Sokov wanted to imitate German grenades: "Col. Sokov, can you tell me why you asked Director Peter to imitate German grenades?"
"Comrade Commander, don't you think the wooden handle grenade used by the Germans is better than the grenades used by our army?" Sokov's mind appeared in some movies, and countless Soviet commanders and fighters launched an attack on the enemy's positions. Because of insufficient weapons, many people held a huge grenade in their hands. Many times they did not throw it out to explode the enemy, but were preparing to use grenades to kill the enemy during close combat. "And our army's grenades need special training to ensure that they do not blow up when throwing."
Chapter completed!