It was originally a happy thing that the German attack was repelled, but for Belkin and the troops under his command, it was another matter. After finally deploying the troops, the commanders and soldiers were gearing up and preparing.
He had a good fight with the German army. Unexpectedly, before the enemy got close to the position, he was beaten by a barrage of artillery fire from the rear and fled. He didn't even have a chance to fire a shot.
When they saw the enemy's retreat, the company commanders of each company called Belkin one after another to ask for a fight, saying that since the attacking enemy had been repulsed, should we take the opportunity to launch a counterattack and take back the lost areas in the factory from the enemy's hands?
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Although Belgin rejected this unrealistic request, he felt that the setback of the German offensive was indeed a good opportunity to counterattack, so he called Sokov: "Misha, Germany
The human attack was repelled by our artillery. Do you think we should take some action?"
Sokov and Belkin had been working together for a long time, so he naturally understood that the action the other party was talking about was definitely not for the soldiers to line up in neat formations and charge at the enemy with guns in hand, but for a night attack or something like that. So he asked back.
He said: "Comrade Political Commissar, are you planning to use the night to launch a counterattack for the enemy?"
"Counterattack doesn't count." Belkin replied: "I just plan to let the soldiers use the sewers to approach the area occupied by the enemy, and then throw a few grenades and the like to prevent them from sleeping well at night."
"Your idea is good." Sokov replied with a smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, just follow your idea. After dark, let the soldiers use the sewers to approach the enemy-occupied area, then throw a few grenades everywhere to let them
Get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom." Belkin laughed after hearing this, then put down the phone and assigned tasks to the company commanders.
Lyudnikov, who was sitting opposite Sokov, looked at Sokov in confusion and asked puzzledly: "Colonel Sokov, what do you mean by letting the Germans get up to go to the toilet in the middle of the night?
?”
"Oh, this is a joke between the political commissar and I." Sokov explained to the other party: "It is to send troops to carry out night attacks on the enemy so that they will not be able to sleep well at night."
"So that's what happened." After listening to Sokov's words, Lyudnikov nodded slightly, and then asked tentatively: "I want to ask, since you want to carry out a night attack on the enemy, can you
Take the opportunity to regain some lost positions."
"I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel." Seeing Lyudnikov looking at him expectantly, Sokov replied apologetically: "To recapture the lost positions from the enemy's hands is indeed nothing to us.
Big question. But after we capture it, we must divide our troops to defend it. Do you think we have enough troops now to defend more positions?"
Regarding Sokov's question, Lyudnikov was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head and replied with difficulty: "Our troops are only enough to hold on to the current area. If we divide our troops to guard, the strength of the troops will change everywhere."
If it is weak, there is a possibility that it will be defeated by the Germans one by one."
Seeing that Lyudnikov could understand the current situation of the army so clearly, Sokov was surprised. He had thought that the other party would be stubborn and insisted on regaining the lost positions, and even prepared a series of events in his mind.
He used rhetoric to persuade Lyudnikov. Unexpectedly, the other party did not insist on regaining his position, so the words he prepared were of no use.
However, in order to appease the other party, he reorganized the vocabulary in his mind and said to Lyudnikov: "Comrade Colonel, after a long period of offensive, the Germans have also suffered a heavy loss of their troops. Don't look at it now
They occupied most of the factory areas, but in order to defend these places, they had to disperse their forces. As a result, every place was guarded by troops, and every place faced a shortage of troops. As for us, we used all our forces to
Concentrating on this small area, we can launch an attack on the Germans anywhere at any time and achieve ideal results..."
"Colonel Sokov," Lyudnikov asked thoughtfully after listening patiently to Sokov's words: "If we have the ability to restore the lost position but fail to do so, if our superiors know about it,
What will they do with us?"
"If we care too much about the gains and losses of one city and one place, and use up all the troops we have, when the enemy launches another attack, where should we mobilize enough troops to defend these places? Countless sacrifices will be made by then.
The positions captured by the commanders and fighters will be recaptured by the enemy." Sokov explained to Lyudnikov in a simple and easy-to-understand way the principle of "if you save people and lose land, you will save everyone; if you save land and lose people, you will lose both people and land": "
But if we voluntarily give up some positions and preserve our troops, when the counterattack begins, we can use these preserved troops to attack the enemy and regain the lost positions."
"Colonel Sokov, I have to say, what you said is very reasonable." Sokov's words obviously convinced Lyudnikov. After listening, he nodded and said: "Although this kind of tactics is different from what I used to say."
The tactics you are familiar with are completely different, but it is obvious that the tactics you mentioned are more suitable for the situation at hand."
"Comrade Division Commander," while the two were talking, an officer came in from the door and reported to Lyudnikov: "Two strange tanks came from the south and were parked outside."
"A strange tank?" After listening to his subordinate's report, Lyudnikov asked strangely: "What a strange method?"
"Comrade division commander, I have never seen such a tank before." The officer replied: "It is just a cannon installed on the base of a tank..."
Before the officer finished speaking, Sokov jumped up from his seat. He grabbed the other person's arm and asked curiously: "Where is the strange tank you mentioned? Take me there quickly." Seeing the officer,
With a blank look on his face, he said to Lyudnikov, who was also puzzled across from him, "It should be the automatic artillery that Factory Director Peter gave us."
After Lyudnikov figured out what was going on, he said to the officer: "Didn't you hear what Colonel Sokov said? Why don't you take him to see those two strange tanks?"
…………
After dark, Captain Paulkoski, the commander of the first company, led 20 soldiers into a sewer in the area they were defending. After entering the sewer, they were led by a guide towards the No. 6 production workshop.
Touch where it is.
The soldier who acted as the guide came from the Lyudnikov Division. His company had fought in the No. 6 Production Workshop and was familiar with the terrain there. Knowing that friendly forces would launch an attack on the enemy occupying the No. 6 Factory, he volunteered.
, took the initiative to act as a guide for this small force.
On the way, he curiously asked Paulkoski: "Comrade Captain, there are at least more than a hundred Germans in Factory Building No. 6. Can you deal with them with just this small number of people?"
After listening to the guide's question, Paulkoski smiled and replied: "Comrade soldiers, if we were to attack them, I'm afraid we wouldn't be able to squeeze enough people into their teeth. But now we are just going to sneak attack them and deal with them."
There will be no problem.”
Paulkoski thought he could successfully enter Factory Building No. 6 by following the sewer. Unexpectedly, as he walked, he suddenly discovered that the sewer in front had collapsed and the road was blocked by falling gravel. They tried to
After bypassing the blocked area, I took several detours and found that the sewers leading to the factory were also blocked.
When he saw that the first sewer was blocked, Paulkoski thought it was shelling or bombing that caused the sewer to collapse. But when he saw that all the sewers were blocked, he knew in his heart that the Germans were probably worried about the defenders.
They used sewers for a sneak attack, so they blew up all the sewers leading to the defense area.
"Comrade Company Commander," seeing that the road was blocked, the soldiers following Paulkoski became a little anxious, so they asked Paulkoski in a low voice: "The road is blocked by the Germans, what should we do next?"
?”
"Comrade soldier," Paulkoski turned to ask the guide: "How far is our location from the defensive position outside the factory?"
The guide did not speak. He crawled out from a gap nearby and observed for a while. Then he crawled back and reported to Paulkoski: "Comrade Captain, there is still about a hundred meters away from the enemy's position."
"More than a hundred meters away." After hearing the distance mentioned by the guide, Paulkoski began to think about it. It was obviously unrealistic to drop bombs towards the enemy's position from such a long distance. Although the grenades currently equipped
, were customized by the division commander from the Red October Factory. They were lighter than commonly used grenades, but it was obviously impossible to throw them a hundred meters away. In order to blow up the enemy, they had to get closer. Thinking of this, he felt sorry for himself
His subordinates said: "Comrades, the sewer leading to the enemy's position has been blocked by the enemy. If we want to complete the mission, we can only return to the ground and get close to the enemy's position before dropping bombs."
The difficulty of the task increased, and Paulkoski felt it was necessary to report the situation immediately so that Belkin could grasp the real situation in the factory. He quickly ordered the accompanying telegraph operator to send a report to the regiment headquarters to report the situation near the German positions.
Report to Belkin that the sewer is blocked.
The telegram soon appeared in Belkin's hand. After reading the telegram, he looked up at the regiment's chief of staff, Captain Vanya, and asked: "Comrade chief of staff, in addition to the situation where the sewers are blocked in the first company, the other two
How is the situation of the company?"
"Comrade Commander, I have not received telegrams from the other two companies yet." Vanya replied respectfully: "But according to the situation reported by the first company, the enemy may have been on guard against our possible use of the sewers.
We sneaked into their defense area and made a sneak attack, then blew up the sewers near the defense area to prevent us from using the sewers to enter their defense area."
"Is there any solution?" Belkin asked.
If they were near Mamayev Heights and encountered such a situation, Vanya would definitely persuade Belkin to cancel the night attack plan without hesitation. But now they are at the barricade factory, and Sokov is not the only one who has the night attack plan.
I know that even Lyudnikov, the friendly division commander, knows that if the troops are unable to enter the enemy's defense zone as planned because the sewers are blocked, and they directly cancel the plan, I am afraid they will be laughed at.
It was out of this consideration that after thinking about it, Vanya replied: "Comrade Commander, I think we should call back the team that carried out the sneak attack mission. Since the sewer is blocked by the enemy, we should approach the enemy from the ground."
position, according to the original plan, we threw grenades and then retreated."
"Well, let's do it like this." Belkin nodded and replied: "Call back the team immediately and ask them to carry out a sneak attack on the enemy according to the original plan. No unauthorized withdrawal is allowed before the mission is completed."
Vanya agreed and was about to instruct the operator to send the report. But he quickly remembered something and asked Belkin tentatively: "Comrade head, the enemy situation in the factory has changed. Do you need to report to the division commander?"
"
"No. There is no need to tell the division commander about such a trivial matter." Belkin waved his hand at him and said: "When the small team we sent completes the task and reports the results, just mention this to him."
Paulkoski knew that no matter what accident happened, the sneak attack mission assigned to him by the regiment would be impossible to cancel. Without waiting for a call back from the regiment, he climbed out of the sewer with the members of the squad and left the sewer.
Afterwards, he called a sergeant and told him: "Comrade Sergeant, you stay with three soldiers to serve as security here. Once we retreat and the Germans catch up, you will be responsible for covering our retreat."
,Understand?"
"Understood, comrade company commander." The sergeant replied quickly: "We will definitely cover your retreat."
Seeing the sergeant leading three soldiers into two nearby craters, he set up his submachine gun and aimed at the German position in the distance. Paulkoski nodded and led the remaining soldiers toward
Climb forward towards the enemy's position.
When he was still about twenty meters away from the enemy's position, Paulkoski made a gesture to order the soldiers to stop. He listened carefully to the trench not far away and found that it was quiet and there was no movement at all. He quickly grabbed
A soldier who lived next to him came close to him and whispered in his ear: "Go to the trench and see what is going on inside. Why is there no movement from the enemy at all?"
The soldier agreed softly and crawled towards the enemy's position on his hands and knees. When he reached the edge of the trench, he cautiously poked his head in and took a look. Seeing that there were no enemies in the trench, he turned over and jumped in, holding his gun.
Search carefully along the trench.
After waiting for about two or three minutes, Paulkoski saw the soldier running out of the trench again. He did not crawl toward him, but bent over and trotted over. The soldier ran to Paulkoski's side.
He knelt down next to him and reported in a low voice: "Comrade company commander, I looked carefully and there is no enemy in the trench, and I don't know where they are hiding."