Before any news came back from the search force, Chuikov's urgent telegram came. The content of the telegram was very simple, asking Sokov if he had found the tank brigade.
After calling Chuikov back, Sokov began to wonder in his mind that the troops of the 13th Guards Division were missing because the division headquarters was covered by a collapsed building, and the troops lost their unified command and were defeated by the enemy. They had to disperse to other areas to continue fighting. But what happened to the 67th Tank Brigade commanded by Colonel Hidjaev? After breaking through the German defenses, they actually lost contact with Rokossovsky. Could it be that they were all annihilated by the Germans?
"Captain Golya," Sokov saw that the only person around him who could discuss the issue was Captain Golya, so he asked him in a low voice: "Do you think Colonel Hidjaev's tank brigade can smoothly Join us?"
"It's hard to say." Golia said with some hesitation: "Logically speaking, it has been several hours since they broke through the German defenses. Such a short distance, with the advancing speed of the tanks, can only be covered in an hour at best. Arrive. But so far, we haven’t seen any tank troops nearby. I’m worried that something happened to them.”
"Comrade Captain," Sokov waited for Golya to finish and then immediately continued: "What you said makes sense. The tank brigade has not arrived at the designated position for a long time. In my estimation, some accident may have happened to them. ”
"Comrade Brigadier," after hearing what Sokov said, Golya immediately asked, "Tell me, what kind of accident will they encounter?"
"There are two possibilities." Sokov replied: "One is that they are not familiar with the terrain here and got lost." At this point, Sokov suddenly had an ominous premonition in his heart. The tank brigade has not yet arrived. After appearing, could it be that the entire army was destroyed under the siege of the enemy?
Seeing that Sokov only spoke half of what he said, Golia quickly urged: "Comrade Brigadier, what is the other possibility?"
Sokov looked at Goliath and said solemnly: "Another possibility is that after breaking through the German defenses, they quickly fell into the enemy's encirclement. After a fierce battle, they were completely destroyed. ”
"The entire army was destroyed?!" Golia repeated the word with a surprised expression on his face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, is this impossible? You know, the tank brigade has 35 tanks and an infantry company. The enemy It may not be an easy task to eliminate them.”
"Even if they lost their way after breaking through the German defenses, they should be able to keep in touch with their superiors, right?" Sokov said with a wry smile: "But now a few hours have passed, not only have we not discovered their Even General Rokossovsky was unable to make contact with this unit."
Although Goliya also agreed with Sokov's statement in his heart, he still said reluctantly: "I think maybe there was a problem with the radio on the car, so they lost contact with their superiors."
"Comrade Captain, the tank brigade has more than one vehicle-mounted radio," Sokov ruthlessly broke Golya's fantasy: "Even if there is a problem with Colonel Hidjaev's radio, his chief of staff and political commissar are The tank's radio can always communicate with its superiors, right? However, shortly after they broke through the German defenses, there was suddenly no message at all, as if they had disappeared from the world."
"If, Comrade Brigade Commander, I'm talking about if." Golia asked in a panic: "If something unexpected happens to the tank brigade, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? We can't stay here and wait for death, right?" Sokov said expressionlessly: "Since the troops we are going to support have been completely destroyed, there is no point in us staying anymore. The only thing we can do , that is, to immediately return to Mamayev Heights, hold the position there, and prevent the Germans from occupying the commanding heights of the city."
Sokov's voice was a little louder because he was so excited when he talked about it. The soldiers sitting in front turned to look at him. Worried that it would cause unnecessary panic, Golia quickly said to the soldiers: "Comrade Brigadier and I are just analyzing various possible situations. You are not allowed to go outside and talk nonsense. If I hear any rumors, All of you will be punished. Do you understand?"
The soldiers sitting in the armored vehicle waited for Golia to finish speaking and replied in unison: "I understand."
Sokov stared at the map spread out in front of him. After looking at it for a while, he said to Goliath: "Comrade Captain, I think we should focus our search on the north."
"Why?" Golia asked curiously.
"It's very simple," Sokov said, pointing to the map: "According to the intelligence provided to us by our superiors, after Colonel Hidjaev's tank brigade broke through the enemy's defense line, it chose the direction of attack in the south, which means that in our The direction they are in. If something happened to them on the road, it must be on the road leading to us."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." After listening to Sokov's words, Golya nodded vigorously, and then said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, then we will immediately transfer the armored vehicles in the east and west directions to the north. Go carefully search for the whereabouts of friendly troops."
"We are not using the search forces in the east and west directions for the time being." Sokov turned his head and glanced at the armored vehicle parked not far away, and continued: "Isn't there another armored vehicle on standby there? We Just order the armored vehicle to go north to search for the whereabouts of the tank brigade."
However, before the armored vehicle on standby went north, Sokov ordered the radio operator to contact the search forces in three directions to understand their search status. After learning that no movement of the tank brigade was found on the east and west sides, the armored vehicles on standby were ordered to rush to the north to assist the search troops in that direction.
Time passed by, but no reassuring news came from the four search forces. Every time Sokov ordered the radio operator to send them a report, their answer was the same: no sign of the tank brigade.
Chuikov, who was impatient, sent two telegrams during the process, asking Sokov about the whereabouts of the tank brigade. However, he received a disappointing reply: "The search is in progress, and nothing has been found yet."
Seeing such a message, Chuikov couldn't help but frowned. He looked at Krylov and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have an idea. Although the Stalingrad Front informed us that Colonel Hiddeaev's The 67th Tank Brigade had successfully broken through the German defense line and rushed towards the location of Orlovka. However, Sokov and his team had already spent more than half a day searching in the Orlovka area. But there were no clues at all. I thought maybe there was no tank brigade breaking through the enemy's defenses at all."
"Comrade Commander," Krylov countered Chuikov's conjecture: "This matter is of great importance. I think the comrades of the Stalingrad Front may not lie to us on this matter. Bar?"
"I don't think this possibility can be ruled out." Chuikov said with a straight face: "The base camp has been urging the Stalingrad Army to launch attacks from the enemy's side and rear in order to eliminate the enemy's threat to the city as soon as possible. I am worried that they will not be able to break through the enemy. defense, they fabricated the fact that a tank brigade broke through the German defense lines to cope with the accusations from the base camp."
After listening to Chuikov's analysis, Krylov said with some laughter and tears: "Comrade Commander, I think the possibility you mentioned does not exist at all. You know, if General Rokossovsky is really like this It will not do him any good, and on the contrary, he may be sent to a military court."
"Then tell me," Chuikov asked with some dissatisfaction: "Where is Colonel Hidjaev's tank brigade now? There are dozens of tanks and an infantry company. It's not just that they are gone."
"Comrade Commander, I think it may be that after the tank brigade broke through the enemy's defense, it lost its way due to unfamiliarity with the terrain." Krylov said optimistically: "Maybe in a while, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov will Sent you a telegram saying they have found the tank brigade."
"If so, that would be great."
While Chuikov and Krylov discussed the whereabouts of the tank brigade, Sokov received a report from the search party to the north. The first company commander who led the team reported directly to Sokov in plain language: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we have found the tank brigade."
"What, found the tank brigade? This is great." After a long wait, Sokov heard the report from the company commander that he had found traces of the tank brigade. He was overjoyed and quickly asked: "They are far away from us. how far?"
"We found the location of the tank brigade, which is about ten kilometers away from your position." The company commander said in a serious tone: "However, they have no hope of joining us anymore."
When he learned that the location of the tank brigade was only ten kilometers away from him, Sokov felt ecstatic in his heart, but when he heard the words from the first company commander, he couldn't help but frowned: "First company commander, what do you mean?"
After Sokov finished asking, there was silence in the earphones, and no one could be heard at all. He thought there was something wrong with the radio station, so he quickly asked the operator: "Operator, is there something wrong with the radio station? Why can't I hear the first company commander?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the operator looked up at Sokov and said with an aggrieved face, "There is nothing wrong with the radio. The reason why you can't hear anything is probably because the other party didn't speak."
Hearing what the operator said, Sokov knew that he had wrongly blamed the other party. He smiled apologetically at the operator, then raised his voice and asked into the microphone: "First company commander, what happened? Why don't you speak?" ?”
"Comrade Brigadier," the deep voice of the company commander came from the earphones: "We did find the 67th Tank Brigade, but all the tanks in this brigade have been destroyed. There were many tanks around several burned tanks. The remains of our army’s commanders and fighters are lying all over the place. According to my observation, these soldiers should be infantry fighting with the tanks.”
"First company commander, what did you say?" The information reported by the first company commander shocked Sokov: "Both the friendly tank brigade and infantry company have been completely destroyed?"
"I think so, Comrade Brigade Commander." The first company commander replied with difficulty: "Currently I am sending people to search nearby, hoping to find survivors."
"I understand, First Company Commander." Sokov confirmed that what the First Company Commander said was true, and specifically told him: "Even if no survivors can be found, we must try to find the body of Colonel Hidjaev. .Understand?"
"Comrade Brigadier," the first company commander said hesitantly in response to Sokov's order, "I can only do my best. You know, many of the burned tanks contain the remains of our tank crews. I don’t know if Colonel Hidjaev’s body was among them, burned beyond recognition by the fire.”
After Sokov handed the earphone and microphone back to the operator, he said to Golya seriously: "Comrade Captain, according to the report of the first company commander, they have discovered the wreckage of the destroyed tank of the tank brigade. It seems that it is a tank." After the brigade broke through the enemy's defense line, it was immediately pursued and intercepted. After a tenacious battle, they were completely destroyed because they were outnumbered."
"Comrade Brigadier, what should we do now?" After learning that the tank brigade to be supported had been completely destroyed, Golya immediately became depressed. He asked Sokov tentatively: "Stay here and wait for the search. Should the troops return, or should they move immediately and let the search troops go to the designated location to look for us?"
"Those search teams are on their way back, and we can't leave them alone." Sokov replied decisively: "So we must stay here and wait for the search teams to return before returning to Mamayev Heights." Not too late."
As the tank brigade was annihilated by the enemy, Golia, who was originally confident, became a little panicked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if we continue to stay here, it is very likely that we will be heavily surrounded and suppressed by the German army."
"Comrade Captain, you are worrying too much." Sokov raised his hand and patted the German uniforms on his body, and said with a relaxed expression: "We are wearing German uniforms. Even if there are German soldiers passing by nearby, they will not see what we are wearing." Dress up and continue to treat us as one of their own."
"Even if we are wearing German uniforms, we can easily be seen through by the enemy during the day." Golya suggested to Sokov: "We immediately ordered the search teams to return so that we can return to Mamayev Heights as soon as possible."
Sokov raised his hand to look at his watch, and then comforted Goliath: "Don't worry, Comrade Captain. Our search team can return here in half an hour at most. When they all come back, it won't be too late for us to move." .”
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