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Although the German attack was repelled, Sokov felt very uneasy. He would not naively believe that the German army had been holding back for several days just to launch a round of attacks that ended in an anticlimactic manner. There must be some conspiracy in this. . After talking to Saviev, he explained a few words to Belkin and went up to the high ground with two guards.
Even though Sokov had come to the highlands quite a few times, when he came up this time, he was a bit dumbfounded. The fortifications he was familiar with had long since ceased to exist under the intense German artillery fire, leaving only dark craters and a thick layer of empty soil. He walked around the position for a while, but when he didn't find the company command post, he stopped a passing soldier: "Comrade soldier, where is your company command post?"
The soldier stopped, pointed to the ground, and said loudly to Sokov: "Comrade Major, you can find the company command post by following the telephone line."
Sokov looked down and saw that there was indeed a telephone line on the ground. Although several sections were buried in the soil, he could still barely see the direction of the line. He followed the phone line to the door of the company command post. Company Commander Saviev was sitting in the half-collapsed bunker, letting a health worker bandage the wound on his right arm.
Seeing Saviev's head and arms covered with thick bandages, Sokov couldn't help but asked worriedly: "Comrade Captain, what, are you injured?"
"Some skin injuries." Seeing Sokov's arrival, Saviev originally wanted to stand up and salute, but because of the injury on his leg, he did not stand up for a while. He could only smile apologetically at Sokov: "Leg The wounds on his body were caused by shrapnel from artillery shells; the wounds on his head and shoulders were caused by bullets."
Seeing that Saviev was injured in many places and the commander Stepan was nowhere to be seen, Sokov was worried that something had happened to him and quickly asked: "Where is the instructor?"
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." Saveyev knew what Sokov was worried about, and quickly replied: "He was not even injured during the battle, and he is leading the soldiers to repair the fortifications."
"Hygienist, send Captain Saviev to the health team immediately." Although Saviev pretended to be disapproving, in Sokov's eyes, his injury was not light, and he planned to order him first Leave the highlands and go to the health team for treatment. Now that he knew that Stepan was safe and sound, he said smoothly, "The instructor will be responsible for commanding on the high ground."
"No, comrade battalion commander." After hearing Sokov's words to leave the position, Saviev immediately said stubbornly: "My injury does not matter, let me stay here to command."
Sokov ignored him, but turned around and said to the guards following him: "You two stay here, and after the health workers have finished bandaging, send Captain Saviev to the health team." After giving instructions to the soldiers, , Sokov walked towards the south slope one step at a time.
When Sokov saw Stepan, he was leading more than 20 soldiers on the southern slope, collecting weapons and ammunition that could still be used from the dead German soldiers. Sokov stood in the newly cleared trench, raised his telescope and looked at the German positions in the distance for a while. He saw a busy scene there, and they should be preparing for a new attack. After he put down the telescope, he leaned over and shouted to Stepan on the hillside: "Hey, instructor Stepan, come to my place."
Stepan was bending down to pick up the ammunition from the German corpses and did not hear Sokov's cry. After being reminded by a soldier, he discovered Sokov standing in the trench and quickly gave the soldier the ammunition in his hand. , trotted up to Sokov, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Battalion Commander, why are you up here?"
"I came up to take a look," Sokov glanced at the hillside filled with German corpses and said to Stepan: "Instructor Stepan, since Captain Saviev's injury is not serious, I have ordered him to be killed. Send it to the health team. From now on, I will leave it to you to be responsible for the defense of the highlands. The Germans will launch a new attack soon, and you must be ready for battle as soon as possible."
"Understood, Comrade Battalion Commander." Stepan replied with his head held high: "No matter how fierce the enemy's attack is, we will never take a step back."
Regarding Stepan's answer, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "Do you have any difficulties?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Stepan asked tentatively with a grimace: "Comrade Battalion Commander, in the battle that just ended, the German tanks parked at the foot of the mountain caused a lot of casualties to our company. Listen. He said that there is an anti-tank gun in the camp. I wonder if it can be deployed on our position? In this way, the threat to us from German tanks can be greatly reduced."
If Stepan made other requests, maybe Sokov would try his best to satisfy him. But for his request for an anti-tank gun, Sokov refused without hesitation: "No, the whole battalion only has one anti-tank gun, and there are few shells. The area they are defending now is very important and cannot Feel free to make adjustments.”
Learning that Sokov was unwilling to assign anti-tank guns to the third company, Stepan showed disappointment on his face. But he still said very measuredly: "Okay, comrade battalion commander, although we cannot equip us with anti-tank guns, we will still do our best to guard the unknown high ground."
In order to strengthen Stepan's confidence in holding his position, Sokov said to him: "Don't worry, comrade instructor, you are not alone. Captain Vasily's machine gun battery is ready to support you at any time. If you resist If you can’t hold off the enemy’s offensive, call me and I will immediately send in the machine gun battery for reinforcements.”
Originally, Sokov wanted to stay on the position for a while, but unexpectedly, the communications soldier of the third company came to him and reported: "Comrade Battalion Commander, there is your phone number in the company command post. It is from the political deputy battalion commander. .”
Sokov knew that Belkin would not call to the high ground if there was no emergency. He quickly followed the communications soldier to the company command post, picked up the microphone hanging on a wooden post, and asked loudly: "Hey, Deputy Battalion Commander, I am Sokov, what happened to you there?"
"The division commander just called you." Belkin said: "I want you to call him back immediately. There are important combat tasks assigned to us."
At present, communication with the division headquarters mainly relies on walkie-talkies, either sending telegrams or making calls in plain language. But there was no radio station on the high ground, so Sokov had no choice but to return to the battalion command post to communicate with Chernyshev, so he said unambiguously: "I understand, I will rush back to the battalion command post immediately."
