As soon as the German artillery began to test fire, the commanders and fighters of the Guards Division hid in artillery holes or shelters in time to avoid the ensuing intensive bombardment. A few soldiers were supposed to be left to observe the enemy's movements, but Soko
As soon as the husband heard about the German artillery bombardment, he ordered everyone to withdraw into the bunker and hide.
Although it was unlikely that the enemy would launch an attack while taking advantage of the shelling, Sokov quickly ordered the third line of defense and the observation post on the top of the Mamayev Hills to closely monitor the enemy's movements.
If you find signs of an enemy attack, report it immediately to the division headquarters.
Regarding Sokov's arrangement, Sidorin nodded with a smile and said in agreement: "Comrade division commander, your idea is really good. When the enemy shells the second line of defense, the third line of defense or Mamayev
The observation post on the top of the hill monitors the enemy. Not only does it have a wide field of view, it can detect the actions of the German troops in time, but the observation post does not have to worry about being bombarded by the enemy."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, the phone on the table rang. Sidorin grabbed the phone and said loudly: "I am Sidorin, where are you?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I am the Chief of Staff of the 125th Regiment." An anxious voice came from the phone: "The Regiment Commander went to the second position to inspect and has not returned yet. I am afraid that he will be trapped by enemy artillery fire."
"What, Yershakov is on the second line of defense?" Sidorin frowned when he heard this: "What a mess. He didn't stay at the command post on the third line of defense. He ran away.
What are you doing out front?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," the regiment chief of staff quickly explained to Sidorin: "The regiment commander said that individual positions on the second line of defense had been destroyed by artillery fire when the enemy launched the first attack, and he was going to supervise the soldiers.
They repaired the fortifications. Unexpectedly, less than half an hour after arriving, the enemy's shelling began."
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin covered the microphone with his hand and asked Sokov for instructions: "The commander of the 125th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov, went to inspect the second line of defense and was trapped in the position by enemy artillery fire.
Go. What should we do?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy's shelling is so fierce. If Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov is forcibly ordered to leave, I'm afraid he will suffer unnecessary casualties." Sokov ordered without hesitation: "Let him stay in the cover of the second-line position.
Stay at the post and wait until the enemy's artillery bombardment is over before returning to the regiment command post to exercise command authority."
"Comrade Chief of Staff of the regiment," Sidorin said into the microphone: "The division commander ordered Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov to temporarily stay in the hidden part of the second line. After the enemy's shelling is over, it will not be too late to return to the regiment command post.
.”
"Chief of Staff," the regiment chief of staff said anxiously: "The enemy's shelling has caused the communication between us and the second-line positions to be interrupted. We still don't know the condition of the regiment commander."
Knowing that the communication between the 125th Regiment's command post and the front positions was interrupted, Sokov quickly walked over to take the microphone from Sidorin's hand and asked directly: "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Regiment, I will give you two orders now. The first
First, as soon as the enemy's bombardment ends, you must immediately send out communications troops to restore contact with the front positions; second, once your regiment commander is injured or sacrificed and withdraws from the battle, you will take over his command. How about,
can you do it?"
The question raised by Sokov made the regiment chief of staff silent for a long time before he responded hesitantly: "Comrade division commander, I have never commanded an army alone. If I were to take over the command of the regiment commander, I'm afraid..."
"What are you worried about?" Sokov didn't wait for the other party to finish what he said before interrupting him. "So far, you are the commander who is most familiar with the situation of the 125th Regiment. If I replace the regiment with someone else,
For a long-term position, he also needs to spend a certain amount of time getting familiar with the commanders and fighters below, which is very detrimental to commanding operations. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade division commander." The regiment chief of staff replied tremblingly: "In this case, I will take over the regiment commander's command if necessary."
Ivanov, who was standing nearby, couldn't help blushing with shame when he heard his old subordinate say this. He wished he could dig a hole in the ground and get in. He never dreamed that such a situation would exist among regimental commanders.
There is no one to take responsibility. After Sokov put down the phone, he asked with a blushing face: "Comrade division commander, if you are worried about the 125th Regiment, why not send me to take over the command of the regiment."
"No." Regarding Ivanov's request, Sokov refused without hesitation: "You are the deputy division commander, not the regimental commander. I can't let you take risks in the front."
Just after rejecting Ivanov's unrealistic request, the phone on the table rang again. Sokov thought it was the chief of staff of the 125th Regiment calling again, so he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear angrily.
Said: "Is there anything else?"
"Colonel Sokov, what happened?" Chuikov's voice came from the receiver: "Why are you so angry?"
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Recognizing Chuikov's voice, Sokov quickly stood at attention and asked respectfully into the microphone: "What instructions do you have?"
Chuikov did not immediately explain the reason for the call, but asked: "Tell me first, why did you get so angry just now?"
"That's it, Comrade Commander." Sokov quickly reported to Chuikov that Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov was trapped in the second line of defense by enemy artillery fire, and finally said uneasily: "I
I was worried that something unexpected might happen to him and it would affect the army's operations, so I couldn't help but be a little impatient." As for the fact that the regimental chief of staff was not qualified for the position of regimental commander, this was after all a "family scandal" of the Guards Division, so he did not tell Chuikov.
After figuring out what was going on, Chuikov said into the microphone: "Colonel Sokov, since it is a war, casualties are inevitable. Will the 125th Regiment stop fighting without a commander? Find someone to take over.
The position of regimental commander is enough. If you really don’t have the manpower, I will send you a commander from the headquarters. They all have rich command experience, and they should be more than enough to be a regimental commander."
Sokov knew very well that the commanders Chuikov mentioned should be brigade-level or above commanders whose troops had been wiped out. It would be too unfair for him to let them serve as regimental commanders. Therefore, Sokov politely refused to say
: "Thank you Comrade Commander for your kindness. I hope we can still find a suitable candidate in our division to take over the position of regimental commander."
After saying this, Chuikov remembered the purpose of his call and asked with concern: "I heard that the enemy is launching a fierce shelling on the second line of defense. How about it? Can you withstand it?"
Before heading to Moscow, Sokov had told Sidorin and Ivanov to reinforce the second line of defense, so he was full of confidence in holding this line of defense. When he heard Chuikov's question, he quickly replied: "Please
Comrade Commander, please rest assured that our soldiers can rely on ready-made fortifications to repel any size of German attack."
"The artillery on the left bank is ready and can provide you with artillery support at any time." Chuikov said with satisfaction: "I believe that under your leadership, the comrades of the Guards Division will be able to crush the enemy's attack."
Sokov reported the current situation to Chuikov a few more times. Just when he was about to put down the phone, he suddenly heard Chuikov say: "By the way, there is one more important thing. From now on, the Don River Army and the Stalingrad Front Army
Merge and form a new Stalingrad Front."
Knowing that the two front armies were merging at this moment, Sokov couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask who is the commander of the new front army?"
"The new commander of the front will be General Rokossovsky." After Chuikov finished speaking, before Sokov could ask again, he took the initiative and said: "As for Commander Yereomenko and Comrade Khrushchev,
Then there will be another appointment.”
Knowing that the new commander of the front army was Rokossovsky, Sokov felt a lot more at ease. To be honest, Rokossovsky's level of commanding operations is much higher than that of Yeremenko.
It is undoubtedly the best choice for him to be responsible for the clean-up work in the Stalingrad area.
After ending the call with Chuikov, Sokov said to Sidorin, Ivanov and the other three: "Comrades, I have important news for you. From now on, the Don Front Army and the Stalingrad Front Army will be officially merged.
The new Stalingrad Front was formed, and the commander of the front was General Rokossovsky."
Since the start of the Battle of Stalingrad, the numbers of the troops have changed several times. Sidorin and others are accustomed to this, so when they heard the news, their expressions did not change at all.
Seeing that everyone's reaction was different from what he had imagined, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. According to his idea, if the battle to eliminate Paulus continues to be directed by Yeremenko, it will have to wait until at least April or May.
, can the German Sixth Army be annihilated. With Rokossovsky under the command, this goal can be achieved in early February. However, in order to completely annihilate the Paulus Group Army in February, Sokov can only kill him.
In his stomach, he couldn't tell anyone, which made him feel very depressed.
The German shelling lasted for more than half an hour and finally stopped.
The chief of staff of the 125th Regiment, who had been criticized by Sokov, immediately sent out communications troops to repair the telephone lines in front of him before the smoke cleared, trying to restore contact with the second line of defense in the shortest possible time.
The communication soldiers knew that they had a heavy responsibility. After receiving the order, they immediately set off carrying the coil on their backs.
Seven or eight minutes later, the regiment chief of staff received a call from Yershakov from the second line of defense. Only then did he learn that the enemy's artillery fire not only blew up the telephone line, but also blew up the shelter where Yershakov was hiding.
. If the enemy's shelling had not been short-lived and the soldiers in the shelter could come out in time to rescue him, Yershakov might have been suffocated to death in the collapsed shelter.
When the regiment chief of staff learned that Yershakov was still talking, he quickly asked with concern: "Comrade commander, are you not injured?"
"My arm was slightly injured, but it doesn't matter." Yershakov said to his chief of staff: "The commander of the second battalion was killed in the enemy's shelling. I plan to stay here to take over his command. Regiment Commander
I will leave the responsibility to you."
The regiment chief of staff lacked the ability to take charge of his own affairs. After hearing Yershakov's order, he couldn't help but became anxious: "Comrade regiment leader, I think you should let the deputy battalion commander of the second battalion command the troops. You can return to the regiment command post as soon as possible."
Come on. Otherwise, I can't bear the blame from the teacher."
When Yershakov heard what the regiment chief of staff said, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "What, the division commander also knows about me on the second line of defense? Who told him?"
"I told him." The regiment chief of staff said with some embarrassment: "I lost contact with you at that time. I was worried that something would happen to you, so I reported the matter to the division headquarters."
"Chief of Staff, you are really wasting your efforts." Yershakov said, somewhat dumbfounded: "When the enemy shelled me, I hid in the shelter of the second battalion. What could happen?"
"But wasn't the shelter you were in blown up by enemy shells?"
"That...that was just an accident." Yershakov replied: "Don't you think I'm still fine?"
"Comrade commander, I think you should go back to the regiment command post." The regiment chief of staff suggested to Yershakov again: "Otherwise, I can't bear the blame from the division commander."
"Okay, okay," seeing the regiment's chief of staff repeatedly bringing Sokov out to talk about the matter, Yershakov could only say helplessly: "I'll explain it to the deputy battalion commander of the second battalion and return to the regiment command post immediately.
.”
After the bombardment ended, the German army launched another attack on the second line of defense of the Guards Division. Since Soviet commanders and fighters had built strong fortifications here, and the enemy did not understand the distribution of Soviet firepower, their intensive shelling
It did not have much impact on the combat effectiveness of the defenders.
Under such circumstances, their attack on the second line of defense of the Guards Division naturally did not gain much advantage. After an hour of fierce fighting, the attacking German troops were forced to retreat to the starting point of their attack.
After being repelled twice by the Soviet army, Lensky was surprisingly angry. He personally called Paulus and pleaded with him: "Your Excellency, Commander, please order the artillery to shell the Russian positions again. I
Ready to try again."
"General Lensky." Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Paulus said in a stern tone: "Immediately stop attempts to attack the Russian positions, order the troops to move to defense on the spot, and strengthen the existing defenses.
To cope with possible Russian counterattacks."
"Ah, turn to defense on the spot?" When he heard this order, Lensky's first feeling was that he had heard it wrong. He specifically reminded Paulus: "Your Excellency, Commander, the Russians' current military strength is limited.
How can they attack us if they can hide in fortifications for defense?"
"The Russians opposite you do not have the ability to counterattack you. But what about the Russians behind you?" Paulus said on the phone: "According to the intelligence just obtained, the Russians have approximately one infantry division and one tank brigade.
, are storming our position, trying to rush to Mamayev Hill and join forces with the Russian troops holding on there."