At noon the next day, Sokov took Seryosha to the fortifications on the south slope, found an open place, raised his binoculars and looked at the soldiers digging traps in the distance.
Seryosha looked around and found that no one could be seen in the trench except himself and Sokov. There is a reinforced concrete fortification nearby, and all the soldiers on duty should have gone there. Seeing that there were no outsiders around, he leaned into Sokov's ear and asked tentatively: "Misha, will the Germans really storm into the city?"
When Sokov heard Seryosha ask, he put down the telescope in his hand, turned to look at him, nodded and said: "Yes, Seryosha, the Germans will rush into this city sooner or later. Otherwise, I won't I will urge Ozor every day to speed up the progress of building fortifications. I only hope that when the Germans rush to Mamayev Heights, we can rely on complete defenses to resist their ferocious offensive."
Seryosha, as the security company commander of the brigade, had heard Sokov say on different occasions that the enemy would rush into the city, but he was always skeptical. When asked in private today, when Sokov still said the same thing, his heart suddenly became heavy.
After a while, Seryosha said: "Misha, you must still remember the Battle of Kiev. The Germans besieged the troops of the Southwest Front in Kiev. In just one month, they annihilated 700,000 of us, and We have captured more than 600,000 people, tell me, if we hold on to Stalingrad, will we become the second Kiev?"
Regarding Seryosha's worries, Sokov smiled faintly, and then said: "Don't worry, Seryosha, even if the Germans rush into this city, it will still be impossible for them to completely occupy this city. Mission. When the time is right, we can launch a counterattack and defeat them."
After these few months of getting along with each other, Seryosha admired Sokov's various judgments, so when he heard what he said, he felt much more at ease. He then asked: "Misha, how long will it take for us to drive away the enemies who rushed into the city?"
"In my estimation, this time will not be too short." Sokov calculated in his mind. From the German army rushing into Stalingrad to the Soviet army launching a full-scale counterattack, the interval was more than two months, so he was vague. He said rhetorically: "It will take about three months."
"Three months?!" After listening to the time mentioned by Sokov, Seryosha calculated in his mind, and then asked cautiously: "Misha, you said that with our existing troops, we can support three Moon?"
"It's very annoying." Sokov pointed at the soldiers who were digging traps in the distance and said: "Seryozha, you have seen that we lack enough anti-tank weapons. If we want to block the German tanks, we can only use various methods. We will use this method to prevent German tanks from getting close to Mamayev Hill."
"Comrade Brigadier," Sokov had just finished speaking. A soldier emerged from the reinforced concrete fortification not far away. He said loudly to Sokov: "I have your phone number."
Sokov quickly walked into the fortification, picked up the microphone on the table, and put it to his ear. Belkin's voice came from the receiver: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the anti-tank troops assigned to us by our superiors have arrived. Come back quickly."
Hearing that they were anti-tank troops, Sokov's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly replied: "I'll go back right away."
Seryosha heard the call between Sokov and Belkin. On the way back to the brigade, Seryosha kept asking: "Misha, did Comrade Political Commissar tell us what kind of person the superior sent us?" Anti-tank troops?”
"You ask me, who should I ask?" Sokov said to the impatient Seryosha as he walked: "Won't you know when you get back to the brigade headquarters?"
When the two walked into the tent where the brigade headquarters was located, Sokov saw Belkin talking to an unfamiliar captain, and hurriedly asked: "Comrade Political Commissar, where are the anti-tank troops you mentioned?"
Belkin pointed at the captain and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, let me introduce to you. This is Captain Oshanin, the company commander of the anti-tank dog company."
"Oshanin?!" When he heard this surname, Sokov was stunned for a moment and thought to himself: "This surname sounds very familiar, as if I have heard it somewhere."
"Hello, comrade brigade commander." Oshanin heard that the lieutenant colonel in front of him was the brigade commander of the infantry brigade. Although the other person looked a few years younger than him, he still stood at attention and saluted respectfully. Said: "I am Captain Oshanin, commander of the anti-tank dog company. From now on, I will obey your orders."
Oshanin's words reminded Sokov of how during the Great Patriotic War, Zhukov had formed several anti-tank dog companies to carry explosives to blow up German tanks, and achieved good results. Now that there is such a dog company in the brigade, it has a better chance of winning against German tanks.
After Sokov asked Oshanin to sit down, he asked politely: "Comrade Captain, I wonder how many people and how many military dogs there are in your company?"
Oshanin, who had just sat down, stood up quickly and replied respectfully: "Report to Comrade Brigade Commander that our company has 150 people and 125 military dogs."
Sokov originally thought that a military dog company could have at most fifty or sixty military dogs, which would be pretty good, but he didn't expect there to be so many. He turned to look at Belkin sitting beside him and said with some surprise: "I didn't expect there to be so many?"
"Comrade Brigadier, we have formed four anti-tank dog companies here." Oshanin straightened his body and reported to Sokov: "Each company has the same number of troops and dogs."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov asked curiously after Oshanin finished speaking: "I would like to ask, how far is the attack distance of the military dog?" In Sokov's imagination, but the military dog trainer saw When a German tank appears, it will definitely set off explosives immediately, causing military dogs to rush to the bottom of the German tank and blow it up. If this method is used, the burning time of the fuse must be very limited, so the attack distance must be very short.
But Oshanin didn't seem to understand the question Sokov wanted to ask. After hesitating for a while, he said with some embarrassment: "Comrade Brigadier, can you repeat your question? Please forgive me, I didn't listen just now." Very clear."
Before Sokov could speak this time, Belkin had already said first: "Comrade Captain, the brigade commander wants to ask, when you go on a mission to blow up tanks, how far away from the tanks should you attack."
"Two to three hundred meters should be no problem." Oshanin was afraid that Sokov and Belkin wouldn't understand, so he explained specifically: "Actually, it's okay to attack at around 500 meters. But we are worried about the presence of military dogs. On the battlefield, we will lose control amidst the continuous sound of gunfire, so we set the optimal attack distance to two to three hundred meters."
"The distance may be different, maybe the length of the fuse is also different." Sokov humbly asked Oshanin for advice: "If it is too short, it will explode before the military dog can rush in front of the German tank; if The fuse was too long, and the German tanks might have driven over the dogs' heads before the explosive exploded."
"Wrong, Comrade Brigadier, you are mistaken." Unexpectedly, as soon as Sokov finished speaking, Oshanin shook his head and said: "The detonation mode of the explosives on the back of the military dog is different from what you imagined. "
"Different?!" Sokov asked in surprise: "Captain Oshanin, I would like to ask, if you don't use the method of pulling the fuse in advance, how do you plan to detonate the explosives on the military dogs? ?”
After listening to Sokov's words, Oshanin grinned and said: "Comrade Brigadier, if you allow me, I will bring a military dog here and introduce it to you and the political commissar in detail."
Sokov and the others came outside the tent. Oshanin waved his hand in the distance, and immediately a trainer came over with a military dog. The military dog came in front of a few people and immediately sat down in a polite manner following the handler's order. Oshanin then introduced the explosives tied to the military dog to Sokov and Belkin: "Comrades, brigade commander and political commissar, please take a look. This thing tied to the military dog is called a canvas hanging bag. On its back It is an iron box containing a fuse. The wooden stick with a spring on top of the iron box is called a wooden trigger rod. When a military dog gets into the bottom of a German tank, the trigger rod will press down, triggering the explosion of the explosive package. …”
When Belkin heard this, he couldn't help but interjected and asked: "Comrade Captain, can this small amount of explosives blow up the enemy's tank?"
"Absolutely." O'Xianing pointed to the square leather bags on both sides of the canvas bag and continued: "This is the explosive bag. It is connected to the detonating bag with a fuse. As long as the detonating bag explodes, it will cause a chain Explosion, blowing up the enemy tanks.”
Sokov saw Oshanin's hand hanging around the wooden trigger lever, and he couldn't help but feel guilty. He was afraid that Oshanin might accidentally press the trigger lever, causing the military dog's back to be damaged. The explosive pack exploded, blowing everyone around to pieces. Just as he was about to take a few steps back, he heard Oshanin continue: "There is a safety pin on the iron box. As long as we don't pull it out, no matter how we touch the wooden trigger rod, it will not cause an explosion. But As long as the iron ring is removed, the wooden trigger rod will explode in an instant when it collides."
"Comrade Captain," Belkin continued to ask curiously: "I would like to ask, how did you make the military dogs charge directly at the enemy tanks?"
"This is very simple," Oshanin explained: "From the beginning of our formation, we always feed military dogs near German tanks. As time goes by, military dogs know how to take the initiative to rush towards German tanks. Even if there are some Even if military dogs don’t charge, our handlers can order them to charge..."
When Oshanin was telling the two men endlessly, Sokov was thinking to himself: "Listen to Captain Oshanin, it was Zhukov's idea to form an anti-tank dog company. In order to achieve this goal, he must have touched A lot of nails. You know, dogs are human friends in Russia. This is not a slogan, but an ironclad fact. Although stray dogs can be seen everywhere on the streets, they are all well cared for and provided with enough Food. Now that these 'friends of mankind' are asked to carry out such a cruel task, there must be many people who oppose it."
After Sokov waited for Oshanin to finish his story, he asked curiously: "Comrade Oshanin, I would like to ask, if all the military dogs in your company are exhausted in the battle, what will you do next?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Oshanin looked at Sokov with a blank expression and said with some confusion: "Does this need to be said? If the military dogs are exhausted, you can adapt us into infantry. Don't look at it. We are both military dog handlers, but there is no problem if we change careers to become infantry soldiers.”
"What? You want me to use military dog trainers as infantry?" Sokov frowned and asked: "Don't you have to go back to the rear and retrain new military dogs? You know, you are now the precious resources of our infantry brigade. Wealth, even if all the military dogs are used up, I can’t use you as infantry.”
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you don't know something." Oshanin said to Sokov with a serious expression: "The four newly formed anti-tank dog companies are already at their limit. Whether they are supplementary trainers or military dogs, It will be very difficult. Instead of letting us return to the rear and wait for the replenishment of military dogs after all the military dogs are sacrificed, it is better to pick up weapons and fight the Germans face to face."
After a few more chats, Oshanin ordered the soldiers to take away the military dogs, and followed Sokov and Belkin back to the tent. Belkin looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "Comrade Brigade Commander, with these 125 military dogs that can blow up German tanks, our defense tasks will be greatly eased. The Germans must have never dreamed of this. We would send military dogs carrying explosives to blow up their tanks."
Sokov nodded slightly, and then said to Oshanin: "Captain Oshanin, since this war will not end in a very short time, I hope you can be mentally prepared and prepare for a long-term battle. Understand. ?"
"Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Oshanin nodded and said affirmatively: "I understand what you mean. You are worried that we will use all our military dogs to blow up German tanks in the early stages of the war. Don't worry. , I know exactly how to use these anti-tank dogs."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then smiled and said to Oshanin: "Captain Oshanin, you have worked hard all the way. I will ask someone to take you to your place of residence. You will have a good rest for two days first, and you will have enough time to train." You can take it easy a little. Seryosha!"
Hearing Sokov calling his name, Seryosha quickly took two steps forward, straightened his body and replied: "Yes!"
Sokov pointed towards Oshanin and said to Seryosha: "Take this captain and his men to rest in the tent that has been prepared for them. Whatever needs they have, try your best to satisfy them."
