After Sokov and other commanders left, he looked at Bergin who was still sitting at the table and asked: "Comrade Political Commissar, it's too dangerous here. I think you should go back to Mamayev Hill."
"Comrade Brigadier, you are not afraid of danger, so what do you have to fear from me?" Belkin looked at Sokov and reminded him: "Don't forget, before I partnered with you, I also served as a military officer.
, competed with the enemy on the battlefield." He didn't want to waste time on this issue, so he took the initiative to change the subject, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think we have the strength to defend the factory?"
Sokov found it difficult to answer Belkin's question. In real history, three-quarters of the factory area was occupied by the Germans. Due to the appearance of this butterfly, less than a quarter of the area has been lost today.
1. Therefore, he said in an uncertain tone: "If the enemy still maintains today's offensive intensity, I think we can still defend it."
When Sokov said this, he suddenly thought that he had asked Guryev for help two or three hours ago. Now that the battle was over, the friendly forces would be in vain when they arrived. In order to prevent the friendly forces from taking the wrong path, he quickly picked up the
The caller asked the factory operator to put the call into the headquarters of the 39th Guards Division.
"This is the headquarters of the 39th Guards Division." The voice of Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Zaldyuk spoke very fast through the receiver: "I want to know who I am talking to?"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." From the tone of the other party's words, Sokov guessed that fierce fighting should still be going on in the area defended by the division, so he quickly replied: "It's me, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov!
"
Zalyzyuk thought that Sokov was calling to inquire about the urban area of reinforcements, so he said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the German army is attacking our division's defensive positions from several directions at the same time. We
We are temporarily unable to mobilize troops to reinforce you, so you can only find ways to block the enemy on your own."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you misunderstood." Sokov heard the faint sound of gunfire from the receiver, and knew that Zaldyuk was not lying, so he kept the story short: "I am not calling you to urge you to send troops, but to urge you to send troops.
I want to tell you that there is no need to send reinforcements to us, we have enough strength to defend the factory area."
"No need to send reinforcements to you?!" Zalijuk asked in confusion: "Where did you get the reinforcements?"
In order not to cause trouble for Chuikov, Sokov avoided talking about the reinforcements that were about to be sent by the headquarters. Instead, he said lightly: "I considered that I had too few troops, so I transferred them from Mamayev Heights.
A battalion was brought over to strengthen the defense."
"Oh oh oh, that's it!" Zaldyuk heard that they were reinforcements transferred from Mamayev Hill, so he didn't ask more questions, but said casually: "Then I wish you good luck."
"Comrade Brigadier," Belkin asked curiously when Sokov put down the phone, "Apart from the first battalion, do you also want to ask for help from other troops?"
"Yes, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov nodded and said: "Before you came, the German army launched an attack on us. I was worried that the troops were limited and could not hold the position, so I reported to Guri, commander of the 39th Guards Division.
General Yev asked for help, hoping that he could send troops to reinforce us. However, because they were also attacked by the German army, they were unable to send manpower to support us for the time being, so we could only estimate the battle. Now, we have a battalion of several hundred
Soldier, our defense force here has been greatly strengthened..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. He put the phone to his ear and immediately heard the observation post reporting to him: "Comrade Brigadier, a group of hundreds of people appeared in the west.
The troops are coming towards us."
As soon as the observation post finished speaking, Sokov nervously asked: "Have you seen clearly, are they our people or the Germans?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I can see it very clearly." The observation post replied: "They are our people, about three to four hundred people."
Hearing what the observation post said, Sokov immediately thought that this troop might be the reinforcements sent to him by Chuikov. When he was about to put down the phone, he suddenly remembered that the air battle outside was not over yet. If the enemy plane discovered this troop moving on the ground,
If the troops drop a few more bombs or shoot wildly, the troops will suffer huge losses, so he quickly asked: "Is the air battle outside still continuing?"
"No, it's over." The observation post replied dryly: "Our fighter planes also withdrew one after another after the enemy planes retreated."
After confirming that the air battle outside was over, Sokov suddenly felt more at ease. In this way, he could fully accept the reinforcements and not be like the first battalion, without even seeing the enemy's face.
, there were a lot of casualties. He said to the observation post: "Listen, those are the reinforcements given to us by our superiors. You will send someone to bring the commander to me later. Do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander." the observation post replied briefly.
"Comrade Brigadier," Belkin asked curiously, "What's going on with this reinforcement force?"
"The commander lost his temper with me when he learned that I took the initiative to attack the enemy today. But considering that our defense strength here is insufficient, he specially sent me a mixed regiment." Sokov told Belgin.
Explained: "This force may be the reinforcements sent by the commander."
When the observation post entered the room with two commanders, Sokov felt dumbfounded. Chuikov was kidding me. He actually sent him another colonel, and the political worker who accompanied him was also a colonel.
Regiment-level political commissar.
Sokov and Belkin stood up quickly and raised their hands to salute the colonel and regimental political commissar who walked in. Before Sokov could speak, the colonel raised his hand to return the salute and said first: "Hello, Soko
Lieutenant Colonel Husband, I am Colonel Koida, commander of the 184th Infantry Division, and next to me is Mashkov, the regimental political commissar."
When Sokov heard this, he found out that he was the division commander and political commissar of the 184th Division. No wonder the military rank was higher than that of himself and Belkin. He quickly shook hands with the two of them one by one and said politely: "Comrade commanders, you are welcome here.
Come and fight side by side with us."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Koida said expressionlessly: "I was ordered to lead a mixed regiment here to accept your command. Please arrange combat missions!"
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov already had several colonels under his command, and he didn't care about one more Colonel Koida, so he asked with a normal expression: "How many people are there in your regiment?"
"There are still 419 people in the whole regiment." Koida replied: "Except for more than 100 old subordinates of mine, the remaining commanders and fighters are all from the infantry divisions that have been withdrawn to the rear for replenishment.
.”
When he heard that there were only more than 400 people left, Sokov felt somewhat disappointed. However, he immediately became energetic when he heard that these soldiers were all from combat troops. This meant that they were all veterans with combat experience. Even if
There are only about 400 people, but they are definitely better than the 4,000 temporarily armed workers. They can stay as a reserve team and wait for the critical moment to send them in.
"Colonel Koida," Sokov said to Koida: "You have traveled such a long way, and the soldiers must be very tired. Why not rest in the basement first, and I will come back when you are needed to participate in the battle."
Notify you."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Mashkov saw that Sokov didn't seem to pay much attention to his unit, so he took a step forward and said with a slight dissatisfaction: "We are here to participate in the battle, not to rest. Please give me some help.
Let’s arrange combat missions.”
Mashkov's words stunned Sokov for a moment, but he soon realized that the other party had misunderstood what he meant. He quickly explained with a smile: "Comrade regimental political commissar, you have misunderstood. There are several exits in the basement.
It is connected with the trenches by communication trenches, and our soldiers can enter the position directly from the basement."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Mashkov realized that he had wrongly blamed the other party. When he was about to apologize, he saw two captains walking in from outside. Sokov called the two over and told Koida and Ma
Shikov said: "Colonel, comrade regimental political commissar, let me introduce to you. They are Captain Vanya, commander of the first battalion, and Captain Briski, commander of the fourth battalion." Considering that Briski was familiar with the basement, he
He was told: "Captain Briski, you will be responsible for arranging where the colonel and the regiment-level political commissar's troops will live."
Briski nodded, then walked up to Koida and the others, first made a gesture of invitation, and said politely: "Comrade commanders, please come with me, and I will arrange accommodation for you."
After Koida and Mashkov left with Briski, Belkin shook his head and said: "Comrade Brigadier, I think this arrangement by the commander is really inappropriate!"
"Inappropriate?" Belkin's words confused Sokov: "Comrade Political Commissar, I don't understand what you mean."
Belkin sneered and said: "First, Colonel Vitkov, the deputy chief of staff of the group army, was sent as your deputy, and then Colonel Belkin was appointed as the tank battalion commander. Colonel Khostnikov, the commander of the 437th Fighter Regiment, returned
You take command, and now there is another Colonel Koida. You, a lieutenant colonel, command so many colonels, what will others think?"
Sokov scratched the back of his head and laughed twice: "If I don't want others to gossip, I can only consider asking my superiors to promote me to a military rank. I'm not greedy either. A major general is enough. In this way,
I can justifiably command these colonels." Sokov's joke caused Belkin and Vanya to burst into laughter, and even the radio operator sitting in the corner couldn't help but laugh.
Suddenly a voice came from the door: "Comrade commander, what are you laughing at?"