After Chuikov put down the phone, he thankfully said to Krylov and Gusev: "Comrade Chief of Staff and Military Commissar, Mamayev Heights was bombarded by German heavy artillery, especially the forward position located directly in front of Nangang. The key target of the German bombardment. Fortunately, Sokov did not obey my order just now, and privately ordered the main force of the 1st Battalion to withdraw from the position and move to the reverse slope of Nangang, thus avoiding heavy casualties."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Chuikov finished speaking, Gusev said with a straight face: "I think Sokov's wrong behavior should be punished and reported to the entire army."
"Punishment?!" Chuikov opened his mouth in surprise when he heard what Gusev said: "Comrade Military Commissar, why is this? You know, Sokov took the right measures to avoid heavy casualties in the troops. For We should reward him for his behavior!"
When Chuikov said this, he was still thinking secretly that maybe Gusev was so excited that he said the opposite. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Gusev continued: "Although Sokov's behavior prevented heavy casualties in the troops, what he did was disobedience on the battlefield. If every commander under our command, If we all learn from him, how can we command the troops?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, give me a cigarette!" Chuikov took out a cigarette from the cigarette case Krylov handed him and lit it. His mind began to think about what Gusev said. Sokov disobeyed his order. , privately withdrew the troops from the front line. Although heavy casualties were avoided, in any case, it was an act of disobedience on the battlefield. At least it would be sent to a military court, and at most it could directly enforce battlefield discipline.
Chuikov knew very well that in large-scale battles, military discipline must be strict, otherwise everything will be chaotic. Although Sokov's behavior has good intentions, it is also very bad in nature and must be dealt with, otherwise he will not be able to restrain his subordinates in the future. Thinking of this, he put out the cigarette butt in his hand, gritted his molars and said to Gusev: "Comrade Military Commissar, I leave this matter to you. But out of the protection of my own comrades, I feel that for him The punishment should not be too severe."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Chuikov agreed to his proposal, Gusev replied with a smile: "I will be careful."
…………
While Chuikov and the others were discussing how to deal with Sokov in the headquarters, the German shelling of Mamayev Heights continued. The 305mm heavy artillery is so powerful that when one shot is fired, there will be a crater 8 meters deep and 12 meters in diameter. After the explosion, no one near the explosion point could even find their remains. Fortunately, the firing speed of this kind of artillery was slow, only one shell could be fired every four minutes, so that in order to ensure the continuity of firepower, the German army had to use artillery of other calibers to fire at the same time.
Sokov stayed at his headquarters and kept receiving calls from the Second Battalion, saying that a certain surface fortification was destroyed by enemy artillery fire; a tunnel entrance somewhere was collapsed by enemy artillery fire, etc.
When Belkin heard this series of bad news, he couldn't help frowning and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, although the soil above our heads is more than ten meters behind, if the German heavy artillery continues to bombard us like this, I'm worried. The tunnel will be blown down."
Facing the German heavy artillery bombardment, Sokov's heart was pounding, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he could only bite the bullet and said: "Comrade Political Commissar, the German 305mm heavy artillery should be a rail gun. Its rate of fire is slow. And there won’t be too many shells, and they won’t be enough to destroy our fortifications, so please rest assured.”
"That's good, that's good." Belkin said with lingering fear: "As long as the enemy's artillery fire cannot destroy our tunnel, then they will never even think of rushing to Mamayev Hill."
"Chief of Staff," Sokov waited for Belkin to finish speaking, and immediately ordered Sidorin: "Ask the Second Battalion to withdraw all the commanders and fighters outside into the tunnel. As soon as the enemy's shelling stops, immediately organize manpower and blow up the bombs. We dug out the collapsed tunnels and quickly entered the position to block the enemies rushing towards our position."
However, Sokov did not expect that the cunning German army learned the lesson of the failure of the first attack. This time, they took advantage of the Soviet army's inability to observe during the shelling and transported the troops to a place only 300 meters away from the forward position. Hidden. As soon as the artillery fire stopped, they immediately launched an attack.
As soon as the shelling stopped and before the smoke cleared, the German troops hiding nearby began to charge. At a distance of more than 300 meters, it took the German officers and soldiers only two minutes to rush into the Soviet forward position. The defenders who stood firm on their positions were killed or injured by the heavy German artillery bombardment. Before they could crawl out of the void, groups of German troops had already jumped over the trenches and continued to rush towards the south hill.
The German officers and soldiers responsible for occupying the trenches stood above the incomplete trenches with submachine guns or rifles, staring at the floating soil in the trenches. If they saw any movement, they would immediately sweep over and kill those who were trying to climb out of the void. All the soldiers were killed.
The forward positions were quickly occupied by the German troops, and the situation on Nangang was similar. All the surface fortifications were destroyed by artillery fire, and the trenches were blown into shape. The exits to these trenches and fortifications also collapsed under German shelling. The Second Battalion staying in the tunnel realized that the shelling outside had stopped, and immediately organized manpower to clear the soil, trying to occupy the outside position in the shortest possible time, preparing to meet the enemy's attack.
Unexpectedly, before they could dig the tunnel, the enemy had already surged up the hill, and even rushed directly to the top of the hill. Fortunately, the artillery batteries and artillery observers of the artillery company had already hid in the tunnel and covered the roof in time, otherwise the entire army would have been destroyed.
The German troops who rushed to the top of the mountain saw the crossing of the Volga River from a distance and cheered immediately. Although the trenches built by the first battalion on the reverse slope were discovered by them, the Germans did not pay any attention to them. They thought that as long as they rushed from a high position, these trenches were not easily accessible.
But when the Germans charged, they discovered they were wrong, and very wrong. The defenders hiding in the trenches did not show their heads, but hid in the fortifications and threw grenades. The shrapnel produced by the grenade explosion flew upwards, and the grenades exploded in pieces, making the soldiers standing on high places howl like ghosts.
While the Germans were in chaos, the troops in the trenches decisively launched a countercharge. They first threw a batch of grenades, and while they were exploding, they stood upright and fired upwards with their guns. When they saw groups of enemies falling and then rolling down the slope, they jumped out. They entered the trenches and launched a charge towards the top of the mountain.
The Germans, whose foothold was not stable, never expected that the Soviet army would launch a charge at this time, and they were caught off guard. Of the more than two hundred German soldiers who rushed to the top of the mountain, after a scuffle, no more than twenty escaped, and the rest were either killed or taken prisoner. The Soviet army that launched a counterattack suffered no more than thirty casualties.
When Sokov heard the battle report from Vasily, he was stunned for a moment, and then asked in an unbelievable tone: "Comrade Captain, did I hear you correctly? You have killed two hundred German soldiers, and your own casualties have not been More than thirty people?”
"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Captain Vasily replied in an affirmative tone: "To be precise, twelve soldiers were sacrificed and thirteen were wounded. The enemy was killed more than one hundred and fifty, and More than thirty people were taken prisoner.”
"This is a great victory." After Sokov put down the phone, he said to Sidorin and Belkin: "We must report to the army headquarters immediately."
"Comrade Brigadier, what you said makes sense." Sidorin also didn't expect that not long after the German army occupied the hill, they were driven down by the first battalion of troops and paid a huge price, so he strongly agreed with Solin. Cove's opinion was to report the victory to the Army Headquarters: "We need to report this victory to the Army Headquarters."
Usually, Sidorin was responsible for reporting victory to his superiors, so after he finished speaking, he immediately picked up the phone on the table and asked the communications soldier to help him connect to the army headquarters. After hearing Krylov's voice from the receiver, Sidorin immediately smiled and said: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Sidorin from the 73rd Infantry Brigade!"
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin!" When Krylov heard that the caller was Sidorin, he couldn't help but glance at Gusev, who was drafting a punishment order for Sokov opposite. Awkwardly he asked: "What's the matter with you?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I report to you." Sidorin did not notice Krylov's abnormality. He continued: "A few minutes ago, a group of German troops rushed to Nangang and occupied the surface of our army. position……"
"What, the enemy has occupied your superficial position?" After learning that the German army had occupied the superficial position in Nangang, Krylov immediately interrupted Sidorin before he finished speaking: "Then what measures have you taken and what are your plans? How to regain the position from the enemy?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seeing Krylov's impatience, Sidorin said a bunch of words before he could finish his words, and quickly explained: "The enemy did occupy the surface position of Nangang not long ago, but he did not pass After a while, the commanders and fighters of the first battalion decisively launched a counterattack and regained the position."
"The position has been retaken!" Krylov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief when he learned that the position had been retaken, and said with emotion: "Your actions are quite deft."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't know something. If the brigade commander hadn't decisively ordered the first battalion to withdraw to the reverse slope and build fortifications there, we would have to pay heavy casualties if we wanted to regain our position." General Sidorin asked. How Kokov arranged for the first battalion to establish a counter-slope position, and how the commanders and fighters of the first battalion decisively launched a counterattack when the enemy occupied the top of the hill, and retaken the position from the enemy, gave Krylov a five-point explanation. Said it ten times. He finally said: "If the brigade commander had not adjusted his deployment in time, I am worried that our army would have suffered huge losses under the German shelling today, and at the same time, Nangang might have been lost..."
After listening to Sidorin's report, Krylov said: "I understand, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, I will report to Comrade Commander as soon as possible. Regarding the major victory you have achieved, on behalf of the Army Commander The Ministry congratulates you.”
After Sidorin put down the phone, he said to Gusev, who was writing a letter at his desk: "Comrade Military Commissar, I think the punishment decision we discussed on Lieutenant Colonel Sokov can be cancelled."
When Gusev heard what Krylov said, he quickly raised his head and asked with some surprise: "Chief of Staff, why do you want to cancel?"
Since Chuikov came to the Tsaritsyn Caves, he quickly developed eczema because it was too humid. When Krylov answered the phone just now, he was lying shirtless on the cot, asking the military doctor to give him medicine. Hearing what Krylov said at this moment, he didn't even bother to put on his clothes, so he walked out and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did the infantry brigade just report to you, so that you actually made the decision to cancel the punishment?"
Seeing that both Gusev and Chuikov wanted to know what happened, Krylov told them in detail what Sidorin had just reported, and finally said: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, I am like this Considered. If Sokov had not disobeyed, the 1st Battalion would have remained in the forward position and allowed themselves to be ravaged by German artillery fire. When the German offensive began, they would have suffered heavy casualties and allowed the Germans to occupy their position.
In that way, the German army could easily occupy the southern part of the Mamayev Hills and send troops quickly to the crossing of the Volga River, causing huge casualties to the civilians and troops stranded there.
This worst-case scenario was avoided because of Sokov's timely changes in defense deployment. And judging from the current situation, it is not easy for the German army to occupy Nangang again. Because of this, I think the penalty decision against Sokov should be cancelled. "
After Chuikov waited for Krylov to finish speaking, he said helplessly: "But we have already made a decision. If we change it again, I'm afraid it will be a bit bad..."
Before Chuikov finished speaking, Gusev had torn the unfinished order into pieces. He stood up and said to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, I agree with the Chief of Staff. In view of the results achieved by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, We should not impose any form of punishment on him, lest it affect the morale and morale of the troops."
Seeing that Gusev took the initiative to cancel Sokov's punishment, Chuikov felt a little incredible. Based on his understanding of Gusev, the other party was a very principled person. How could he do it because of Krylov's few words? , what about taking the initiative to cancel the punishment decision made by the head of the group army? Thinking of this, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Military Commissioner, can you tell me the reason for canceling the punishment?"
