Hearing that nearly a thousand comrades had been rescued, Andrei and Vasily both had expressions of surprise on their faces. Compared with the recruits added by their superiors, they liked this kind of rescued from prisoner-of-war camps more.
A soldier with certain combat experience and a deep hatred for the Germans. Thinking of Sokov's tradition of adding prisoners of war to the army, the two of them mentally calculated how many they could get this time.
Sokov saw what the two were thinking and said with a smile: "Don't worry, two comrades, company commanders. After this addition, both of your companies can reach the size of a battalion."
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Andrei waited for Sokov to finish and asked impatiently: "Why should we start replenishing troops? You know, our company is responsible for the defense in the east of the city, and the troops are far from enough..."
"Captain Andrei," Sokov interrupted Andre before he could finish his words, "not only is your company short of troops, but the other two companies are also short of troops. You know,
Your company is only responsible for the defense on the east side, while Vanya and Andre's companies are not only responsible for the defense on the north, west, and south sides, but also allocate forces to maintain order in the city. Even if these nearly a thousand soldiers are
Even with additional troops, our defensive strength is still far from enough. As long as the Germans send one or two battalions to attack Kursk, it will be difficult for us to stop their attack."
"Then what should we do?" Andrei originally planned to ask Sokov for reinforcements when he was attacked by the Germans and ask the First and Second Companies to help him, but now it seems that this has become a luxury hope.
So he asked worriedly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, how long will it take for our reinforcements to arrive?"
"We are more than 550 kilometers away from Moscow, and the roads have been severely damaged due to frequent bombings." Sokov tapped the map lightly with his finger a few times, and said with a serious expression: "Even the reinforcements are on board
By car, it will take at least two or three days to reach Kursk."
"What, two or three days at the fastest?" Hearing what Sokov said, Andrei said bitterly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, signs of German activity have been found in the east. I estimate that their large forces
It will soon come from the east. If our main force has not arrived when the enemy launches an attack, then the city may fall again."
"Comrades, our superiors have ordered us to resolutely defend Kursk." Sokov, who originally wanted to make a fortune in the German warehouse in Kursk, now began to think seriously about how to defend the city: "I
We don’t know how many reinforcements our superiors will send us and when they will arrive, so we must rely on our own strength to defend the city."
"Kursk is a medium-sized city. To defend this city, we need at least one division of troops." The next speaker was First Company Commander Vanya. He had a conversation with Sokov before the meeting and understood
Sokov's next idea, so he said to the other two company commanders: "In view of the fact that the reinforcements sent to us by our superiors will be difficult to arrive before the enemy attacks, we can only find ways to supplement the troops ourselves. In addition to the reinforcements from prisoners of war,
In addition to the nearly a thousand soldiers in the battalion, we can also set up a recruitment office in the city to recruit residents to join our army."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I have another question." Andre continued to ask: "The comrades who were rescued from the prisoner of war camp were all with bare hands. If we recruit more residents into the army, we dare not say that there are thousands of them.
There must still be some. I want to ask, how to deal with their weapons?"
When Sokov heard Andrei's worries, he couldn't help laughing. He turned to look at Vasily and said: "Captain Vasily, your company occupied the German warehouse. Please tell Captain Andrei the situation."
"Captain Andrei, have you forgotten?" Vasily thought that there was some great event that would embarrass Andrei. After he heard clearly what the other party was worried about, he said: "I once said that in the warehouse
The supplies were enough to equip two German divisions, including twenty tanks and hundreds of artillery pieces of various types."
After introducing the situation to Andrei, Vasily said sternly to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I have a suggestion. After the army completes the replenishment, can it restore the original tank platoon and artillery platoon organization and use warehouses?
Arm them with the tanks and artillery captured there. In this way, whether the next battle is defensive or offensive, our strength can be improved."
"Captain Vasily, what you said makes perfect sense." If it hadn't been for Vasily's reminder, Sokov would have almost forgotten that there were tank platoons and artillery platoons in the battalion before. He walked quickly to the door and rushed
Someone shouted outside: "Here comes someone!"
Following his shout, Seryosha came in from outside and asked: "Comrade Major, what are your instructions?"
Since Sokov had been away from the army for a period of time, and because he did not know whether the two platoon commanders were still alive, he tentatively asked: "Seryozha, do you know where the original artillery platoon commander and tank platoon commander are?"
After Seryozha waited for him to finish speaking, he nodded vigorously and replied: "I know, comrade battalion commander, the two of them are in our guard platoon now."
When he learned that both platoon leaders were still alive, Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed, and quickly ordered Seryosha: "Hurry up and call them here. I have something to tell them."
Only a few minutes later, two platoon commanders appeared in front of Sokov. After raising their hands in salute, they said: "Comrade Battalion Commander, Second Lieutenant Porochenko (Alitai) has been ordered to come, please give instructions!"
Sokov looked at the two men and said: "Two platoon commanders, comrades, I called you here today because we captured German tanks and artillery when we captured Kursk, so I plan to rebuild the tank platoon and artillery platoon.
."
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Porochenko, the former artillery platoon commander, waited for Sokov to finish and said with some embarrassment: "Even with tanks and artillery, it is impossible to rebuild the tank platoon and artillery platoon."
"Why?" Seeing Porochenko pouring cold water on himself, Sokov said with some displeasure: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, tell me your reasons."
"Comrade Major, let me report this matter to you." Seeing the helpless looks on his two men's faces, Seryozha quickly said: "In the last battle to cover the friendly forces' breakout, the tank platoon
and the artillery platoon suffered huge losses. In the end, there were only six people left in the two platoons, and they were all later incorporated into the police communication platoon."
Of the nearly a hundred soldiers in the two platoons, only six were left. This situation was indeed beyond Sokov's expectation. He frowned and thought about it, and then said to the two of them: "Captain Vanya, the commander of the first company, came from the south of the city.
Nearly a thousand soldiers of our army have been rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp, from whom you can select some soldiers who have served as artillery and tank soldiers to join the new tank platoon and artillery platoon."
When Sokov was assigning tasks to the two platoon leaders, he suddenly saw Belkin hurried in from outside. There was an uncontrollable excitement on his face.
"Comrade Belgin, you are back." Sokov did not expect that Belgin, who was responsible for distributing food to the residents in the warehouse, would come back so soon, so he asked with concern: "The work of distributing food to the residents
Is it all over?"
Belkin said: "Second Lieutenant Grisa, commander of the 1st Platoon of the 2nd Company, is in charge of distributing food. I am rushing back because I have something important to inform you. Congratulations, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov!"
"What Lieutenant Colonel?" Sokov looked at Belkin and asked in confusion: "Are you kidding?"
Belkin took out a square piece of paper from his satchel, handed it to Sokov, and said: "Comrade Brigadier, there was a plane from Moscow not long ago in the open space near the warehouse.
After landing, the pilot sent this order from the base camp. Take a good look at it yourself."
Sokov was eager to read the order that Belgin handed him. He seemed not to notice that his title of his position had changed from "battalion commander" to "brigades commander." But the three company commanders on the side listened.
Clearly, the three of them looked at Belgin in surprise, trying to figure out what happened.
The content of the order is very simple: in order to facilitate combat, from now on, the original "Istria Battalion" will be reorganized into the "73rd Infantry Brigade". Sokov will be appointed as the brigade commander and promoted to lieutenant colonel; the brigade political commissar will be Ber
As Jin, the rank of political worker was promoted from first-level political instructor to deputy battalion-level political commissar. There are four battalions under the brigade. The appointment of company-level commanders of each battalion and the promotion of military ranks below the school level are all decided by Sokov and Belkin.
.
After reading this order from the base camp, Sokov smiled and said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, from now on, our Istria Battalion will be renamed the 73rd Infantry Brigade, with me as the brigade commander, and Bel
Comrade Jin serves as the brigade political commissar. Comrades three company commanders, I congratulate you. From now on, you will be battalion commanders with the rank of captain."
Seeing the happy faces of the three newly promoted battalion commanders, Sokov said to Porochenko and Alitai in front of him: "As for you, from now on, you will serve as the newly formed artillery company commander and tank company commander respectively.
position."
Porochenko and Alitai never dreamed that they would be hit by a pie falling from the sky. After the two were stunned for a while, Porochenko asked stupidly: "Batalion Commander, no, brigade commander"
Comrade, is everything you said true?"
"Of course it's true." Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "From now on, you two will be company commanders, and your military rank will be promoted from the current second lieutenant to a lieutenant. You should immediately select suitable candidates and enrich them.
Go to the troops, maybe we will soon start a fierce battle with the Germans, without the support of tanks and artillery, our troops will suffer heavy losses."