It took Sokov and Asya only an hour to get to the city. But when he returned to Mamayev Heights, he found that the trenches on the south slope had already begun to take shape.
Asiya looked up at the fortifications on the hill and said to Sokov: "Misha, if nothing happens, I will go back to the health team. There are still many wounded people waiting for my care."
"But Asiya." Seeing Asiya leaving in a hurry, Sokov asked in confusion: "Didn't your captain arrange for you to be monitored here and treat soldiers injured during construction at any time?"
"Misha, you said it yourself. It was because the captain saw that I was too tired from work and wanted to take care of me." Asiya approached Sokov, kissed him quickly on the face, and then said: "I Let’s go back to the health team first. When you miss me, remember to come to the health team to see me.”
Belkin walked over from the side, looked at Asiya's leaving figure, and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, did you just go shopping in the city?"
Hearing Belkin's question, Sokov smiled faintly and said: "Comrade Political Commissar, the war is coming. Trenches are being dug and bunkers are being built everywhere in Stalingrad. Even if you want to go shopping, there is nowhere to go." When he said this, he saw a puzzled expression on Belgin's face, so he added: "I went to the city to see the construction status of the fortifications."
Belkin knew that there were many troops heading towards Stalingrad through various means of transportation and that the war was about to break out. Therefore, he was extremely concerned about the construction of fortifications in the city: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how is the situation?"
"It's very bad." Sokov looked at Belgin and said: "Although trenches and bunkers are being dug everywhere, many of them are superficial. For example, the department store we went to, the second floor of On the rooftop, if fortifications were built, an entire street could be blocked off. But when I went up to check, sandbags used for fortifications were thrown everywhere, but no one thought about piling them into fortifications."
While the two were talking, Ozor, who was covered in mud, came over. He raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are back. I have something to ask you."
Sokov thought to himself: Could it be that the number of people I sent is not enough, and he wants to ask me for more people? He quickly put a smile on his face and asked: "Major Ozor, what's the matter?"
Ozor said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since you plan to station all the troops in the tunnel, I would like to remind you that there are many issues that must be considered before construction. To avoid having to rework after the construction is completed, then our The amount of work is huge.”
Sokov humbly asked Ozor for advice: "Comrade Major, what are the issues that we need to consider in advance?"
Ozor twirled his fingers and said to Sokov: "First, there is the issue of storage of ammunition, food and drinking water. If a war breaks out, the troops will have to stay in the tunnels for a long time, so special tunnels must be opened. area to store required ammunition, food and water.”
Sokov took out his notebook, wrote down Ozor's words, and said to him: "Comrade Major, you are right. Once the battle starts, the situation will be more serious than you think, and we must open up a special area. , for storage of ammunition, food and water. Are there any other problems besides that?"
"Communication! Another issue that needs attention is communication." Ozor continued: "There is no signal in the tunnel, which makes the intercom unusable. And if the telephone line is laid, it will be easily blown up by enemy artillery. Once the telephone line is If it blows up, your connection with the outside world will be cut off."
Regarding the communication problem raised by Ozor, Sokov tried hard to recall it. He remembered that the volunteers who invented the tunnel fortifications used antennas at the entrance of the cave to solve the problem of poor signal signals for walkie-talkies in the tunnel. After thinking of a way, he said to Ozor: "Comrade Major, all the problems you are worried about can be solved. We can install an antenna at the exit of the fortification on the back of the hill to solve the problem of poor signal signal of the walkie-talkie in the tunnel. Good question. As for the telephone line, I think it should be laid. After all, walkie-talkies are not always reliable. We have to prepare for the worst. You are worried that the telephone line will be blown up by enemy artillery fire. This is not a problem. We Just lay the phone lines on the back of the hill. No matter how powerful the enemy's artillery fire is, it is not that easy to blow up a few phone lines over the hill."
After Sokov stated the solution he had come up with, he asked: "Comrade Major, do you have any more questions?"
"No more." Ozor shook his head and said, "I will go back and arrange it now."
Seeing Ozor about to leave, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Comrade Major, please wait a moment, I have one more thing to explain to you."
"What's the matter?" Ozor stopped.
Sokov bent down and drew a sketch of the tunnel entrance on the ground, and said to Ozor: "Comrade Major, what I want to tell you is that the tunnel entrance cannot be straight, but should be curved."
Regarding Sokov's strange request, Ozor asked curiously: "Why?"
"Comrade Major, if the entrance to our tunnel is straight, the German army only needs to mount a machine gun or a flamethrower in the tunnel to cause heavy losses to the commanders and soldiers in the tunnel." Sokov gestured and said: "If it is the entrance If it is curved everywhere, the enemy's machine guns will not be able to pose much threat to the soldiers in the tunnel. At the same time, such a tunnel will slow down their advance, giving our commanders and soldiers more time to respond."
"I remember, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ozor looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "I think if you come to be an engineer, you will have more wonderful ideas." Ozor finished. , raised his hand and saluted Sokov, turned around and walked towards the hill, probably preparing to assign tasks to his men.
Belkin looked at Sokov and said curiously: "Comrade Brigadier, I sometimes wonder, what kind of person are you? Why do you know so much? Even professional military engineers admire you so much."
"Comrade Political Commissar, don't you know what kind of person I am? Sometimes I can come up with some weird ideas and scare others into a daze. But if I am really asked to be responsible for something, maybe I can still It will mess things up." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, smiled and said to Belkin: "Comrade political commissar, lunch time is already early, but I haven't had lunch yet. Come on, come with me. Eat some."
