As soon as Sokov led the commanders and fighters of the 42nd Guards Regiment into the tunnel in Beigan, Sidorin in the Nangang headquarters received the report. After he put down the phone, he smiled and said to Belkin, "Comrade Political Commissar, the brigade commander has returned. I believe he will appear at the headquarters in a few minutes."
"Thank God, he's finally back." Belkin crossed himself on his chest and said happily, "I just heard from the artillery observer that the factory area was attacked by the Germans. I'm really worried about what happened to him. "
Under normal circumstances, it would only take ten minutes at most for Sokov to appear in the headquarters. Unexpectedly, the two of them waited and waited, but Sokov never showed up. Sidorin couldn't sit still. "Comrade Political Commissar, what's going on with the brigade commander? Why hasn't he shown up yet?"
"Did something happen to him?" Belkin's speculation was rejected as soon as he said it. "It's impossible. There are all our people in the tunnel. What will happen to the brigade commander?"
"But, he hasn't shown up yet." Sidorin said worriedly, "Comrade Political Commissar, you and I both know that from Beigang to Nangang headquarters, even if he walks slowly, it only takes ten minutes. How is that possible? Why haven't you shown up for such a long time? No, I have to call and ask."
The information about Sokov's return to Mamayev Heights was given to Sidorin by Captain Brisky, commander of the fourth battalion. At this moment, in order to trace the whereabouts of Sokov, Sidorin first called the command post of the fourth battalion. Hearing Briski's voice coming from the receiver, Sidorin immediately asked impatiently, "Comrade Captain, did you really see the brigade commander enter the tunnel in Beigang just now?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Briski couldn't help but feel a thump in his heart when he heard Sidorin ask, and then asked, "Did something happen to the brigade commander?"
Belkin walked up to Sidorin, snatched the microphone from his hand, and then asked, "Comrade Captain, did you see the brigade commander coming back alone, or did someone come back with him?"
Briski replied without thinking, "The brigade commander did not come back alone. There was about a platoon of soldiers accompanying him."
After Belkin put down the phone, he said to Sidorin, "Captain Briski said that Comrade Brigade Commander brought back a platoon of soldiers. This is strange. When he left, there was not a single guard waiting around. Why did he come back?" , and brought back a platoon?”
Sidorin understood Belkin's doubts very well. You know, there is a serious shortage of troops everywhere. When all the commanders see the soldiers, their eyes light up and they want to recruit more people to their troops. Sidorin echoed, "Yeah, it's really strange. The reason why the brigade commander didn't bring anyone with him to the group army headquarters this time was because he was afraid that the people he brought would be left behind by the headquarters. You know, the commander brought him back two days ago. One of the security platoons that left has not returned to its original position."
The speaker is unintentional and the listener is intentional. Sidorin's casual words reminded Belkin of "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think the brigade commander brought back the platoon we lent to the commander last time?"
"This is impossible." Sidorin had been with Chuikov for a long time, so he naturally knew what kind of character the commander was, and how he would easily spit out the meat in his mouth. He shook his head and said, "You know , the headquarters paid a heavy price in this transfer. It would be nice if they no longer asked us for people. How dare we expect them to return the borrowed troops to us..." At this point, Sidorin Suddenly thinking of a possibility, he slammed his hand on the table and said angrily, "Damn it, why didn't I think of this possibility?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what's wrong with you?" Sidorin's strange reaction aroused Belkin's curiosity, and he quickly asked, "What happened?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Sidorin looked at Belkin and said bitterly, "I think I may know where Comrade Brigade Commander is now?"
"Where is the brigade commander?" Knowing that Sidorin knew Sokov's whereabouts, Belkin quickly urged, "Hurry up and tell me."
"I think the soldiers from the platoon who followed him back should be from the 42nd Guards Regiment." Sidorin explained to Belkin, "Their purpose of coming to Mamayev Heights is not only to protect the safety of the brigade commander. . More importantly, come here to get the weapons and ammunition they need."
"What, they are here to collect weapons and ammunition?" Belkin was shocked. "Last time we gave the 42nd Guards Regiment thousands of rifles and several light and heavy machine guns. Just a few days later, they came to us again. Come and collect weapons and ammunition. No, this is definitely not possible. I want to go to the underground ammunition depot immediately to find the brigade commander. I cannot let him give all our precious ammunition to the Guards Regiment."
Sidorin stopped Belgin, shook his head at him and said, "Comrade political commissar, it's useless. Don't talk about you and I can't stop this. I'm afraid even Comrade Brigade Commander can't stop it. If I'm not wrong, This matter must have been proposed by General Rodimtsev, and the brigade commander had no choice but to bring the soldiers of the Guards to collect the weapons."
"But we still don't know how long this battle will last." Belkin waited for Sidorin to finish speaking, then said a little uneasily, "And in the next battle, can we get supplements? It is also an unknown quantity. How can we just give away the arms in the warehouse to others? If we wait until our ammunition is exhausted, how will we fight this battle? Should we let the soldiers hold their bayonets and fight the Germans in hand-to-hand combat?" After finishing speaking, , and tried to walk outside the house.
Sidorin grabbed Belkin tightly and said helplessly, "Comrade Political Commissar, I advise you not to go. Even if you go to the ammunition depot, a lot has changed..."
"I won't go to the ammunition depot." Belkin said angrily. "Now that the German attack on Mamayev Hill has completely stopped, I will go to the top of the hill to have a look. Is that OK?"
Since Belkin did not go to the ammunition depot to stop the Guards soldiers, Sidorin let go of his hand and asked tentatively, "Comrade Political Commissar, do you need me to send someone to go with you?"
Belkin left on the front foot, and Sokov returned to the command post with a tired look on his back. Seeing Sokov entering, Sidorin hurriedly greeted him, "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are back!"
"I'm back." Thinking about the batch of munitions he had just given to the Guards, Sokov felt unmotivated. He asked feebly, "Did anything happen in the brigade while I was away?"
"The German army launched two attacks on the Mamayev Hills." Sidorin reported to Sokov lightly, "but they were repelled by us."
Sokov nodded slightly after hearing this. He glanced around the room, but did not see Belgin. He quickly asked, "Where did the political commissar go?"
Sidorin raised his hand and pointed upward, and said with some embarrassment, "Comrade Political Commissar has gone to the top of the hill."
"Hell, there are German planes in the sky. It's too dangerous for him to run up there." Sokov, who had just sat down, heard Sidorin say this and immediately stood up from his seat. "No, I have to go." Call him down."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, it's too dangerous up there." Seeing that Sokov also thought about the top of the hill, Sidorin quickly persuaded him, "I'll find another soldier to call the political commissar down."
From the expression on Sidorin's face, Sokov guessed that something must have happened, otherwise Belkin would not have run to the top of the hill to breathe for no reason, so he waved to Sidorin and said "It seems that the political commissar is in a bad mood. If we just send soldiers up, I'm afraid he won't pay attention. I'd better go up in person."
Sokov arrived at the top of the hill and found that the circular fortification he proposed had begun to take shape. Belkin was standing next to an unfinished trench, looking up at the sky. Sokov hurriedly walked over and shouted to Belkin from a distance, "Comrade Political Commissar, what are you doing standing there?"
When Belkin heard the shouting, he turned around and saw Sokov walking towards him. He grinned, pointed in the air with his hand, and said, "Comrade Brigadier, the German bombers are covering them with their fighter jets." Next, bomb the ships on the Volga River, our air force is launching an air battle with them."
Sokov looked up and saw that two Soviet Lager 3 fighter jets were fighting with four German fighter jets escorting the bombers. I saw a Lager 3 fighter numbered "47", just like a dexterous Petrel, shuttling among enemy bombers and fighters, shooting at the German aircraft ahead from all angles.
Less than two minutes later, a German bomber puffed out black smoke, plunged into the fast-flowing Volga River, and exploded to pieces with a loud bang. After Fighter No. 47 shot down a bomber, he was immediately bitten by a German fighter jet. The Soviet pilot quickly pulled up, performed a beautiful backflip in the air, landed lightly behind the German fighter jet, and fired decisively from behind, causing the German fighter jet to drag a long line of black smoke toward the distance. Fly down diagonally.
"This pilot is really great!" Seeing that the pilot shot down and damaged one enemy aircraft in such a short period of time, the soldiers watching the battle on the top of the hill couldn't help but cheered. Even Belkin, who looked depressed, smiled and said to Sokov, "If we have more fighter jets, we might be able to shoot down all these enemy planes."
However, although the Soviet pilots performed heroically, the two fighter jets faced off against the German four fighter jets and eight bombers. The disparity in strength between the two sides was too great. After the two fighter jets shot down three bombers and damaged one fighter, the Lager 3 fighter serving as the wingman was shot down, and the remaining No. 47 fighter also became the target of siege by German aircraft.
Seeing that the only remaining Soviet aircraft was besieged by eight enemy planes, Sokov's heart couldn't help but rise to his throat. He deliberately ordered the soldiers to help their comrades in the Air Force, but because the distance was too far and the range of the 34 machine gun was not enough, he could only hope and sigh.
After Fighter No. 47 shot down a German bomber again, the ammunition it carried was exhausted. Logically speaking, in this case, he should return immediately, but seeing that the German bombers were still bombing the ships on the river, the pilot changed his mind and bravely crashed into the German formation leader.
The German pilot never dreamed that the Soviet plane that had run out of ammunition would suddenly collide with him, and he quickly pulled up to try to get away from fighter No. 47. Although the German pilots tried their best to avoid the collision, the propeller of the Lager 3 still cut off the wings of the BF109 fighter jet. The German formation leader then lost control and spun and fell from the sky. The German pilots did not even have time to parachute, and the plane fell. It hit the ground and there was an earth-shattering explosion.
Fighter No. 47, which knocked down the leader of the German formation, lost its propeller and rushed towards Mamayev Hill. Seeing the plane rushing towards the hill, Sokov suddenly broke into a cold sweat. He quickly shouted to the soldiers who were still watching the excitement, "Hide, hide quickly."
Fighter No. 47 rushed diagonally to the top of the hill and hit the piled sandbags heavily. The huge impact broke the sandbags, and the raised sand blocked everyone's sight.
As soon as the sand fell, soldiers hiding nearby rushed forward to treat the pilot who was still in the cabin. With the help of his companions, a soldier climbed onto the plane on his hands and knees. He struggled to open the hatch and saw the pilot's head tilted to the side with blood on his face. He quickly put his hand under the pilot's nose and found that When he was still angry, he quickly turned to Sokov who was walking towards the plane and shouted, "Comrade Brigadier, he is still alive, he is still alive!"
"Hurry up and get the pilot out." Sokov saw black smoke coming from the direction of the nose of the plane, and quickly shouted to the soldiers, "Hurry up, the plane is going to explode."
It was still covered in mud and sand in the direction of the nose of the plane. The plane only smoked but did not burn. Several soldiers climbed onto the fuselage of the plane and hurriedly got the pilot out of the cabin. When they carried the pilot to Sokov, the soldier who climbed onto the plane first handed Sokov a military ID card. Sokov opened it and saw it read "Captain Sergei Danilovich Lugansky, commander of the 270th Fighter Aviation Regiment."
"What an amazing pilot." After Sokov said this, he handed the military ID to Belkin and ordered the soldiers carrying Lugansky to "immediately send the captain to the health team and tell Pav Military Doctor Love, we must revive him."
Belkin glanced at the military ID Sokov handed him and asked tentatively, "Comrade Brigadier, should we report this matter to our superiors immediately?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, you are right. We should report the pilot's condition to our superiors immediately." After hearing this, Sokov nodded and said, "As for the pilot himself, let's wait until the wound is treated."
