Considering that Sokov planned to use the cover of night to secretly go to the third battalion in the old city in the south of the city, Sidorin was worried about his safety. While he was still preparing to leave, he asked tentatively: "Comrade division commander, I was responsible for protecting you before.
Second Lieutenant Samoilov, who is safe, has gone on a mission behind enemy lines with Lieutenant Guchakov. Who do you plan to let go to the city with you tonight?"
"Chief of Staff, call Seryosha." Considering that on the way to the third battalion command post, he might encounter the enemy and must find a trustworthy person to protect him, Sokov thought for a moment and decided to choose his old friend.
Friend Seryozha: "Let him come with me to the city."
In a short time, Seryosha came in from the outside after receiving the order. After saluting Sokov and Sidorin, he reported: "Report to the division commander, comrade chief of staff, and commander of the guard company, Lieutenant Seryosha.
I have been ordered to come here, please give me instructions!"
"Comrade Lieutenant," Seeing Seryosha coming, Sidorin assigned him a task: "The division commander is going to Captain Andrei's command post, and you will lead the troops to protect his safety."
Knowing that Sokov planned to go to Andrei's command post, Seryosha's pupils could not help but shrink. He asked in a panic: "Are you going to the Old City tonight?"
"That's right, we'll go tonight." Seeing that something was wrong with the expression on Seryosha's face, Sokov asked curiously: "What, is there any problem?"
After Seryosha stared at Sokov for a while, he reminded him: "Comrade division commander, there are ruins everywhere on the way to the command of the third battalion. There may be German automatic gunners or snipers hiding in any of the ruins. For your sake,
For your own safety, I think you should change into a soldier's military coat."
"Yes, Comrade Commander, Seryozha is right." As soon as Seryozha finished speaking, Sidorin echoed: "For your safety, you should change into a soldier's military coat when you set off."
As he spoke, his eyes drifted to the corner, because there was a military coat hanging on the wall, which was lent to Sokov by factory director Peter.
Sokov saw where Sidorin was paying attention, shook his head and said: "Chief of Staff, thank you for your kindness. I wore a soldier's military coat, concealed my identity and quietly went to the old city, which can indeed minimize the risk.
.But have you ever thought that the soldiers you met along the way would think they were just an ordinary squad and would not know that the person coming was their division commander? In this case, what else would I do if I went to the third battalion defense area to inspect the area?
significance."
Half an hour later, Sokov and Seryosha left Mamaev Hill with a guard platoon, and quietly headed to the third battalion's defense area under the cover of darkness.
On the way, Seryosha scolded Sokov in a low voice: "Misha, you are taking too much risk, wearing a big-brimmed hat and an officer's military coat. If there are German automatic gunners or snipers in the ruins along the way,
, you will definitely become their target."
"Seryozha, you are worrying too much." Sokov felt that even if there were German automatic gunners or snipers along the way, it would not be easy to kill a person with the halo of the protagonist. But considering Xie
Liao Sha also said this out of concern for himself, and said tactfully: "As long as our luck is not too bad, we should not encounter enemies along the way."
"I hope so." Seryosha heard what Sokov said and replied angrily: "Misha, you are now a division commander. Can you stop acting like a company commander and go to the most dangerous place if nothing happens?
Run? If Asia knew that you were going to the old city again today, she would still be worried."
Seryosha's words made Sokov not know how to respond for a while. He knew very well that if Asya really knew that he had gone to the front for inspection again, he would definitely be very worried. After a long silence, he said seriously
He said to Seryosha: "Seryosa, I remind you that you must not tell Asya about this matter, do you understand?"
"Understood, Misha." Seryosha sighed softly and said: "To be honest, in the entire city defense battle, our division's casualties were the lowest among the entire group army. But if something unexpected happens to you, we will
The division will become a joke. Even if the division commander is sacrificed, no matter how low the overall casualties are, what's the point?"
Sokov raised his hand and patted Seryosha gently twice on the shoulder, and whispered: "Don't worry, Seryosha, I will be fine. I not only want to see with my own eyes the enemies attacking Stalingrad."
We will destroy them, and we will have to see the enemy driven out of our territory and see the Soviet red flag flying over Berlin. Until then, nothing will happen to me."
Seryosha did not expect that Sokov was so confident of victory, and he couldn't help but be stunned. After a long time, just when he was about to speak, there was a burst of rapid footsteps in front of him. It sounded like there was more than one person.
, he quickly shouted in a low voice to the soldiers around him: "Hidden."
As soon as everyone took cover in the nearby ruins, Seryosha heard a familiar voice calling him in a low voice: "Comrade Company Commander, Comrade Company Commander, where are you?"
Hearing that the person shouting was a soldier he sent to explore the way ahead, Seryosha quickly stood up from behind a broken wall and said to him: "I'm here, what happened?"
"Comrade Company Commander," the soldier came to Seryosha and reported to him: "We met several soldiers from the Third Battalion in front, so we brought them over."
When Sokov heard that it was a soldier from the Third Battalion, he also came out of his hiding place and asked the soldier, "Where are they?"
After hearing Sokov's question, two soldiers with rifles in their hands walked out of the darkness, came to Sokov and Seryosha, and reported to them: "We are here, comrade commander.
"
Sokov glanced at the rifles in the hands of the two men and found that they were all wrapped in cloth. After a brief surprise, he thought of a possibility and asked tentatively: "Are you snipers?"
Seeing that Sokov recognized his identity at a glance, the two of them replied with some embarrassment: "Yes, Comrade Commander, we are the snipers of the Eighth Company. We are hiding in the ruins on duty when we see our comrades coming.
, in order to prevent any misunderstanding, I came out to say hello."
After confirming the identity of the opponent's sniper, Sokov immediately became interested: "Comrade soldier, I would like to ask, how many snipers are there like you?"
Although the sniper saw Sokov wearing a big-brimmed hat, he didn't see clearly who he was. After hearing this question, he seemed a little hesitant, wondering whether he should answer truthfully. Seeing that the two of them were still silent, Seryosha said
Immediately guessing what they were worried about, he grinned and said to the two of them: "This is our division commander, Colonel Sokov. Whatever he asks you, just answer it truthfully."
The two snipers were stunned when they learned that the commander standing in front of them was actually the division commander. After a long time, one of the older snipers replied nervously: "I'm sorry, comrade division commander, I don't know.
It's you..."
"Comrade sniper," Sokov was eager to know how many snipers the Third Battalion deployed in the old city, so he interrupted the other person's words and urged: "You haven't answered my question just now, how many snipers are there in this area?
Your sniper?"
"I don't know the specific number of people, Comrade Division Commander." The sniper in question scratched the back of his head and replied: "The battalion commander mobilized all the sharpshooters in the battalion and formed a sniper team. The total number of people is about
There were dozens of people. Two people worked as a team and were responsible for sniper missions on a street or several houses. Once they saw the Germans appearing, they would immediately shoot them."
The sniper's words aroused Sokov's strong interest. He looked at the sniper and asked: "I want to ask, how many enemies have you killed so far?"
"Nine, comrade division commander." The sniper replied: "Two of them were achieved by my companions and I during the day today."
"Good job." Sokov nodded at the other person, then turned to ask another sniper: "What about you, how many enemies have you killed?"
Hearing Sokov's question, the young sniper said with some embarrassment: "I only killed four enemies."
"Well done, comrades, you are all well done." After learning about the results of the two men's battles, Sokov said happily: "The two of you have eliminated thirteen enemies. If each group can obtain
With your results, how many enemies can be eliminated by ten or twenty groups? Maybe one day when the enemy headquarters is about to assemble the troops, they will find that more than half of their soldiers have been reduced, and they have all been killed by our snipers.
Destroyed."
Sokov's words caused a burst of laughter. The two snipers quickly expressed their stance to him: "Comrade division commander, please rest assured that we will definitely eliminate more enemies in the next battle."
"I believe in you." Sokov raised his hands, patted both of them on the shoulders at the same time, and said: "When we drive the enemy out of Stalingrad, I will personally award you with medals."
Just when the two snipers were in an extremely excited mood, they suddenly heard Sokov ask: "I want to ask, you were not on duty in this area yesterday, right?"
"No. We all stayed in the basement to rest last night and did not come out to perform the mission." The two snipers shook their heads and reported last night's whereabouts to Sokov. The older sniper even sounded regretful.
Said: "It is said that several German armored vehicles passed through here last night, and the one on duty was a worker from a factory. He had no combat experience. He even fired a few shots but failed to hit the target, and his grenade was also missed."
The sniper said this in a regretful tone, but Sokov was secretly glad in his heart. He thought to himself: Fortunately, these two soldiers did not know about it last night, otherwise Guchakov's team would not have known about the casualties.
how many people.
After sending the two snipers away, Sokov and the others continued on their way. Seryosha saw that Sokov seemed to have something on his mind and quickly asked: "Misha, what are you thinking about? I see that you seem a little absent-minded."
"
Considering that Seryosha was still unaware of the attack yesterday when Guchakov's troops passed through here, Sokov lowered his voice and said to him: "Yesterday, I ordered Guchakov to lead a small detachment and take the
The German armored vehicles passed through here and rushed to the enemy's rear. As a result, they were ambushed by our own people when passing through this area. Fortunately, the soldier on duty had just picked up the weapon and his marksmanship was not accurate, otherwise we would not have known.
How many casualties will it cause to the squad?"
Seryozha just heard from the sniper that the German troops passed by here last night. When the soldiers' marksmanship was too poor and they did not cause any casualties to the enemy, he felt quite regretful and even considered that if he had been here last night, he would at least be able to
Killed five or six people from the other side. When I heard that the small German unit was actually disguised by Guchakov and the others, I couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. I said to myself that it was lucky that I was not there at the time, otherwise I would have been Misha's friend.
He may also have himself court-martialed.
Just as Seryosha was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard Sokov's voice again: "Seryosa, how far are we from the command post of the third battalion?"
Seeing that the surrounding terrain was already different from the last time he came here, and how could he judge the distance from the command post, Seryosha called a soldier beside him and ordered him: "Go to the front and ask
Leading the way, how long does it take for us to reach the third battalion command post?"
Before the soldiers could run away, there was a series of footsteps in front of them. It seemed that there were quite a few people coming. Although the people who appeared nearby might be his own people, for the sake of safety, Seryozha ordered the soldiers around him to
Take cover on the spot and be ready for battle. As soon as you find anything wrong, you will open fire immediately.
"Hey, comrades." Just after they took cover, they heard the footsteps in front of them stop, and then a voice asked: "Are you coming from Mamayev Hill?"
Seryosha felt that the voice of the speaker seemed familiar, so he stood up from behind the bricks where he was hiding and asked the other person: "Yes, we are from Mamayev Hill. Who are you?"
"I am Lieutenant Yegor, commander of the eighth company. I am here to greet the division commander on the order of the battalion commander." After the other party revealed his identity and purpose of coming, he asked: "Comrade division commander, are you with you?"
"It turns out to be Lieutenant Yegor. No wonder the voice is so familiar." Seryosha first turned around and whispered to Sokov, "It's okay." Then he walked around the pile of bricks and stones and walked in the direction of the sound:
"I am Grisa, escorting the division commander to your battalion command post."
"Hello, Lieutenant Seryosha!" Yegor stepped forward and shook hands with Seryosha, and asked with concern: "Can I ask where the division commander is?"
"I'm here." After confirming that there was no danger, Sokov also stood up from his hiding place, walked towards Yegor with long strides, and raised his voice and asked: "How far away is your battalion command post from here?"
Far?"
"Hello, comrade division commander." After Yegor saw clearly that the person coming was Sokov, he straightened up quickly and replied: "The battalion command post is only one street away from here. Please allow me to act as your guide."