Samoilov returned to Mamayev Heights alone and reported the situation at the army headquarters to Sokov and others. Knowing that Chuikov and the others were safe and sound, everyone, including Sokov, could not help but breathe a sigh of relief. Sokov called the radio operator in front of him and ordered him: "Immediately send a report to the front army headquarters, saying that General Chuikov is safe and sound, but because of the bombing by enemy planes, all communication lines in the city have been destroyed, so temporarily We are unable to contact the outside world, so please rest assured.”
Although he learned that nothing happened to Chuikov and the others, Sidorin, as an old subordinate of Chuikov, still felt uneasy. He asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, can you let me go to the group army headquarters?"
"No, absolutely not." Regarding Sidorin's request, Sokov refused without hesitation: "The enemy planes outside are still bombing the city, and I can't let you take the risk." Seeing Sidorin With a disappointed expression on his face, he quickly added, "Second Lieutenant Samoilov went to the city with two soldiers, but he was the only one who came back alive. This shows how fierce the enemy's bombing was. "
After Yeremenko received the call from Sokov, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said to Khrushchev: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov sent a telegram, saying that Chuikov's communication system was damaged by the enemy's bombing. It has been damaged, so it is temporarily unable to communicate with the outside world."
Khrushchev took the telegram from Yeremenko, read it carefully, and confirmed that the information above was true. Then he said to Yeremenko: "Comrade Commander, we should immediately send people to the city." The situation, report to the headquarters of the Supreme Command and tell them that Stalingrad has not fallen and that our troops are still fighting in the city."
…………
Two days later, the fires ignited in Stalingrad due to bombing began to gradually extinguish. Sokov received a call from Krylov, asking him to rush to the army headquarters immediately, saying that Chuikov wanted to see him. Knowing that Chuikov wanted to see him, Sokov did not dare to neglect, and immediately took Samoilov and his third platoon and hurried to the location of the army headquarters.
As soon as he entered the city, Sokov smelled a nauseating pungent smell in the air. According to his experience, it was a mixture of the smell of burnt charcoal, burnt bricks and the smell of burnt corpses. . There was a thick layer of ash on the ground. After the vehicle passed over it, it immediately rose up, making people feel as if the ground was smoking.
The street trees on both sides of the street, without a single green branch on them, were all scorched by the fire. Are all that's left of the wooden houses just a pile of ashes and a solitary chimney? Even many of the solid stone buildings have been burned, their floors have collapsed, and only empty frames of doors and windows remain. Occasionally, I see one or two intact houses, and the residents living here are busy moving out their baggage and various useful items, preparing to transfer them to the dock.
Sokov also saw some soldiers responsible for clearing the rubble, sitting expressionlessly on the roadside, eating rusks and slices of cheese. Facing the convoy that passed in front of them and raised a cloud of ashes, they seemed not to see it.
However, after the convoy drove forward for a while, it had to stop. The piles of bricks and rubble on the street in front had blocked the road tightly, making it impossible for vehicles to pass. Sokov could only order the driver to stay and guard the vehicle, and he led the soldiers from the guard platoon to Pushkin Street on foot.
Although he received guidance from the traffic controller on duty at the intersection, Sokov still spent a lot of effort to reach Pushkin Street, which had been bombed into ruins. The sentry standing guard at the door probably received a notice from his superiors. When he saw the team led by Sokov walking towards the headquarters, he immediately called Klimov.
After receiving the call from the sentry, Klimov immediately walked out of the tunnel and stood on the roadside to greet Sokov and the others. When Sokov approached, he quickly stepped forward and saluted: "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, welcome to the army headquarters."
Sokov quickly glanced at Klimov's collar badge and unexpectedly discovered that the other man had changed to the rank of captain. He smiled and said: "Comrade Captain, congratulations on your higher rank."
Klimov grinned, and then said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the commander is waiting for you, please!"
Sokov asked Samoilov and the soldiers of the guard platoon to stay in the street, while he followed Klimov towards the tunnel. As soon as he entered the tunnel, Sokov felt dizzy. He stayed in the tunnel at Mamayev Ridge for a long time and immediately judged that this was a sign of hypoxia.
Seeing that Sokov was staggering, Klimov quickly supported him and said apologetically: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm sorry, our tunnel has only two exits, and they are not in a straight line, so the air is difficult to Convection is formed, so feeling stuffy is inevitable, but you can get used to it after a while.”
With Klimov's support, Sokov came to Chuikov's headquarters. When Chuikov saw Sokov walking in with the support of Klimov, he quickly asked with concern: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, Comrade Commander." After Sokov found a seat at the table and sat down, he tried his best to put a smile on his face and said, "I think I will be able to adapt to the environment here soon."
Chuikov nodded and returned to the topic: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, take a look at the map of Stalingrad. This city is built on the banks of the Volga River and is sixty-five kilometers long, but the widest part is only Five kilometers. Now the troops we can use are limited, but they have to be distributed on such a wide front for defense. As long as the German army concentrates its forces to attack any point, it can cut our defenders in the city into two sections. Other places are lost. The impact on our overall defense will be very limited, but if the Germans occupy Mamayev Heights, our army will be in catastrophe..."
Sokov patiently listened to Chuikov introducing him to the current situation in Stalingrad, and thought to himself: Chuikov has told me so much, so I can't help but hold Mamayev Heights. In fact, this kind of thing only requires a phone call, so why bother calling yourself to the city?
But before he could ask his question, he heard Chuikov say: "Our superiors have provided us with a batch of bullet mines. As long as the enemy steps on them, they can penetrate the soles of the enemy's feet. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you should know , sometimes it is better to injure an enemy on the battlefield than to kill him. When a soldier is injured, his companions cannot ignore him. In order to help him leave the battlefield, several soldiers are often needed to assist him. In this way As soon as he came, it was equivalent to reducing the enemy's strength by several men.
Our superiors have allocated a thousand bullet mines to us, and I plan to give some of them to you so that you can use them on the battlefield to defend Mamayev Heights. The warhead of this kind of bullet mine is a bullet, which looks like an iron nail and is hollow inside, equipped with a firing pin, a firing pin spring and a simple safety mechanism. Before use, you need to press the mine shell into the ground, and then press the bullet into the mine shell. When you hear a 'click' sound, it means that the firing pin has been pressed into place, and the safety mechanism blocks the firing pin. When the enemy steps on the bullet mine, the safety The mechanism releases the firing pin to strike the primer of the bullet, penetrating the enemy's feet. …”
In later generations, Sokov once read in an online novel that bullet mines were very convenient to use. They only needed to be sprinkled on the ground and covered with soil to be used. However, after listening to Chuikov's introduction to the installation and use steps of bullet mines, he found that these miniature mines were useless. Even if they were placed in front of his own position, they would not be of much use. A single burst of enemy artillery fire would clear most of them away. . Maybe in the end, the enemy didn't get hit by the explosion, but instead blew up one of his own.
In order not to make Chuikov angry, he explained with high-sounding reasons: "Comrade Commander, this kind of bullet mine is really good, but I think the troops in the city need it more than me, so I'd better allocate it to them first. As for You don’t have to worry about the defense of Mamayev Hills, I have plenty of ways to deal with the enemy.”
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Krylov, who stood silently beside Sokov, was a little unhappy when he saw that Sokov rejected Chuikov's kindness: "Do you know that your superiors sent someone to send us a bullet mine?" After that, many troops rushed to get it, but Comrade Commander didn’t even give it to you. It was specially left for you, but you didn’t know you didn’t want it.”
"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." Chuikov heard from Sokov's tone that he was not willing to take these bullets and mines, and he did not force him. Instead, he said to Krylov: "Since Lieutenant Colonel Sokov If you don’t want these bullets and mines, then leave them to the troops directly under the group army for use.”
Next, after Chuikov explained some precautions to Sokov, he waved to him and said: "Okay, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you have nothing to do here. You can go back to Mamayev Heights." Sokov agreed, raised his hand in salute, turned around and walked out of the headquarters.
Seeing Sokov coming out of the cave, Samoylov immediately went up to him and asked: "Comrade Brigadier, shall we go back to Mamayev Heights?"
As he walked along the street, Samoilov couldn't help but asked Sokov curiously: "Brigadier Commander, I wonder what tasks Comrade Commander has assigned to you?"
"What other missions can there be?" Sokov said with a wry smile after hearing Samoylov's question: "Let's do everything we can to defend Mamayev Heights and prevent the enemy from occupying it. …”
While Sokov and Samoylov were talking, they turned a corner and inadvertently saw a group of soldiers wearing gray military uniforms, German-style steel helmets, holding Mauser rifles or P40 submachine guns, forming a detachment on the opposite side. shape, slowly searching and moving forward in the direction of where you are.
"It's the Germans." As soon as Sokov shouted these words, he held the assault rifle slung on his shoulder in his hand and pulled the trigger first towards the German army on the opposite side. Just two bursts of fire knocked down one of the soldiers walking at the front. The rest of the soldiers crouched down or hid in the ruins to avoid the bullets flying from the front.
After the sound of Sokov's gunshot, Samoilov was stunned for a moment, and then he also discovered the bullet in front of him, and quickly shouted: "There are Germans in front, destroy them." After shouting, he pulled out the bullet from his waist Pistol, fired two shots at the German hidden position.
The guard platoon following behind heard that Germans had appeared in front, and they also rushed forward with cheers. In such an emergency situation, they did not even think of using the terrain to hide. Instead, they subconsciously used the weapons in their hands to fire at the enemy's hiding place, hoping to rely on their own firepower to suppress and eliminate the opponent.
The Germans had already found a hiding place. Facing the hail of bullets from the guard platoon, their casualties were almost negligible. On the contrary, the crowded guard platoon soldiers became their shooting targets. After a burst of gunfire, seven or eight soldiers fell around Sokov.
Seeing that the situation was not good, Sokov quickly shouted: "Get back quickly and find a place to hide."
Hearing Sokov's shout, the soldiers from the guard platoon slowly retreated back while fighting. Sokov stayed at the back, shooting while retreating, using the powerful firepower of the assault rifle to cover the retreat of the soldiers.
After retreating to the corner, Sokov's assault rifle ran out of bullets. He hid behind a broken wall, calmly replaced a new magazine, and then ordered Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, immediately Send someone to inform the army headquarters, saying that the Germans have entered the city, we are blocking them, and ask them to move as soon as possible or prepare for battle."
As soon as the soldiers sent by Samoilov left, the German army launched an attack. They were deeply afraid that the Soviet army would hide behind the corner and shoot coldly, so before charging, they threw a few grenades from the other side of the corner. When Sokov saw the white-smoking grenades falling to the ground one after another, he quickly shouted: "Grenade, hide quickly." After shouting, he quickly squatted down and hid behind the low wall.
Amidst the continuous explosions, Sokov heard screams not far away. It should be those soldiers who were not well hidden and were injured by grenades. But at this time, he had no time to pay attention to the condition of the wounded. As soon as the explosion ended, he immediately stood up straight and pointed the muzzle at the corner. Seeing several shadowy figures in the smoke, he pulled the trigger without hesitation and fired several bursts in succession.
After those figures fell down, gunshots like popping beans rang out all around. It was the soldiers of the guard platoon who were shooting at the German troops who were trying to rush over. The intensive firepower of more than fifty submachine guns and rifles blocked the corner. As long as the German troops rushed out from the corner, they would be beaten to pieces by random gunfire.
"Comrade Brigadier," Samoilov rushed to Sokov's side and said loudly to him: "It's too dangerous here. You'd better go to the army headquarters to take shelter first. Leave the enemies here to us. Handle."
