The third battalion, which attacked across the board, gained a lot in today's battle. In addition to hundreds of German officers and soldiers captured, three Panzer IV tanks and an assault gun were also captured, as well as five heavy artillery pieces that were lucky enough not to be blown up by the air force.
Sokov and Belkin also had a dispute about the disposal of these prisoners. Belkin believed that if so many enemies were let go, they would pick up weapons again to fight us when they went back, which would strengthen the strength of the German army in disguised form.
The reason why Sokov insisted on releasing these German prisoners was simple: the city did not have the capacity to accommodate prisoners. Sokov was unable to kill prisoners in large numbers; and integrating German prisoners into his own team was too unrealistic, so he thought it was better to let the prisoners go. After the prisoners returned to the army, even if After being re-armed, their fighting will cannot be compared with before. On the contrary, it will affect the German military morale.
Later, despite Belkin's objections, Sokov issued an order to Andrei in the name of the brigade commander, asking him to release all the prisoners he captured. Andre also had some resistance to this order, but since it was an order from a superior, he could only execute it unconditionally. After the prisoners left, he called a meeting with several company commanders below and said to them: "Comrade company commanders, I think you have all seen that the brigade commander asked us to let go of the prisoners we captured twice in a row. I now officially declare that our battalion will not keep any prisoners in battle from now on. Do you understand?"
The three company commanders also had emotions in their hearts about the release of the prisoners. When they heard the order given by Andre, they immediately replied loudly: "I understand."
Sokov didn't know that because of himself, Andrei had given the order to the company commanders of the third battalion not to take prisoners. He was handing over tasks to the artillery company commander and the tank company commander. He first said to Porochenko: "Comrade Lieutenant, in today's battle, the third battalion captured five 150mm howitzers. I will hand over these artillery pieces to your company. You must conceal these artillery pieces well." , to avoid suffering losses from German bombing."
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." Porochenko replied with a smile: "The artillery of our company are hidden in different alleys. When it is necessary to carry out shelling, they will be pushed to the street, and then according to the artillery observers The data provided enables accurate bombardment of the enemy."
"Well done." After praising Porochenko, Sokov turned to Alitai and said: "Lieutenant Alitai, your tank company suffered certain losses in today's battle. Several captured tanks Tanks and assault guns will be assigned to your company. What about, will the tank crews drive German tanks?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." Alitai waited for Sokov to finish and said with a smile: "Although they are different tanks, our tank crews can still drive them with ease. By the way, Comrade Brigade Commander, I heard that you can also drive a tank, I wonder where you learned that?"
Naturally, Sokov would not tell Alitai that he learned it in the Tank Museum next to Victory Square in later generations, spending hundreds of thousands of rubles in tuition. He could only say vaguely: "I used to work on a collective farm." I worked as a tractor driver and drove a crawler tractor, so I quickly learned how to drive a tank.”
Fortunately, many of the tank soldiers had been tractor drivers before, and their ability to quickly review tank driving skills was entirely due to their experience of driving a crawler tractor. Therefore, after listening to Sokov's far-fetched explanation, Alitai also believed that the brigade commander's proficiency in tank driving skills was entirely related to his previous history as a tractor driver.
Sokov thought that the tank company's two attack positions were both to the north of the third battalion's position. The Germans are not fools. They have suffered losses twice in a row. Before launching the next attack, they may strengthen their right wing defenses to prevent Soviet tanks from rushing out from the same direction again. So he said to Alitai: "Comrade Lieutenant, in these two battles, your company launched attacks from the left wing of the third battalion, that is, from the north. Right?"
"Exactly, Comrade Brigadier." After hearing what Sokov said, Alitai immediately guessed what he wanted to say, and quickly asked tentatively: "Are you worried that the enemy will focus on guarding against the direction of our company's attack next time? "
"Yes, that's how I think about it." In order to attract Alitai's necessary attention, Sokov emphasized: "If I were the German commander, before launching a new attack, I would definitely use artillery fire on your possible hidden targets. If this is the case, you will definitely suffer huge losses, so you have to move to a new attack position overnight."
In response to Sokov's reminder, Alitai nodded, and then asked carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I plan to move the tank company to the right wing of the third battalion. Is it appropriate?"
"I think it should be possible." Sokov said: "When the enemy attacked twice in a row, you attacked from their right wing. If they attack again tomorrow, the enemy will definitely think that you will attack from the same place. Attack. If you suddenly change the direction of the attack, I think you can catch the enemy by surprise."
"Comrade Brigadier," Alitai said after a slight pause after Sokov finished speaking: "The German tanks we captured were seriously short of fuel and ammunition, otherwise the Germans would not be able to escape when they escaped. These tanks will be thrown away. See if you can find a way to replenish us with fuel and ammunition."
"You don't have to worry about fuel and ammunition." When Sokov heard that Alitai was worried about this problem, he quickly said carelessly: "There are plenty of these things in the warehouse we occupied. I will immediately arrange for people to send them to you. Yes. Do you have any other questions?"
After Alitai and Porochenko looked at each other, they shook their heads at the same time and replied resoundingly: "No problem!"
After Sokov sent away the two company commanders, he was preparing to arrange manpower to send fuel and ammunition to Alitai's troops. The radio operator suddenly said to him in surprise: "Comrade Brigadier, I received a call from friendly forces here!"
Hearing that a telegram had arrived from friendly forces, Sokov couldn't help but feel ecstatic and quickly ordered the operator: "Receive the telegram immediately!"
After the operator agreed, he began to concentrate on receiving telegrams from friendly forces. Although the entire process of receiving reports and translating cables only took a short two or three minutes, for Sokov, it seemed as long as an hour or two.
As soon as he took the telegram from the operator's hand, Sokov couldn't wait to read it. It simply read: "The vanguard of the 7th Tank Corps will arrive in Kursk at around two o'clock tomorrow morning and join your troops."
