"Okay, Yakov." Seeing Yakov's resolute attitude, Sokov knew in his heart that if he was not allowed to follow him, it would definitely not work. The only way was to find a way to ensure his safety. So he said: "But you need to follow me all the time, can you do it?"
"No problem." Seeing that Sokov agreed to his request to participate in the war, Yakov readily agreed: "Misha, I will always fight side by side with you."
Since Bely's tank driver had sobered up and Sokov was no longer needed as a driver, Sokov took advantage of the fact that the 117th Guards Regiment had not returned yet, and obtained it from Vitkov of Mamayev Ridge. Contacted him and ordered him to send someone to deliver the armored vehicle hidden in the underground garage.
Fortunately, Mamayev Heights is not far from the Red October Factory, and the armored vehicle Sokov wanted arrived quickly. Because the German cross paint still remained on it, in order to prevent misunderstandings, the soldiers also tied a red flag on the vehicle for identification.
Fortunately, a red flag was tied to the car. The Guards soldiers who were stationed in this area did not regard the car as an enemy armored vehicle. They also enthusiastically pointed out the road to the driver.
Seeing the armored vehicle coming, Yakov asked Sokov impatiently: "Misha, when will we set off?"
"Wait until the main force of the 117th Guards Regiment comes back." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. More than an hour had passed since Chuikov gave him the order. No matter how slow the movements of the 117th Guards Regiment were, it was almost the same. arrive. "I want to ask the regiment commander about the enemy's defense situation."
After a while, an army appeared in the distance. Sokov guessed that the 117th Guards Regiment might have returned, so he took Yakov to greet them. Unexpectedly, after seeing the opposite side clearly, he couldn't help but be shocked. Is this the 117th Guards Regiment that is going to take over his defense? Why does it look like a defeated army?
A colonel whose face was darkened by gunpowder smoke came to Sokov, nodded to him, and asked politely: "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel. It's me!"
"I am the commander of the 117th Guards Regiment," the colonel said expressionlessly, "We have been ordered to take over your defense."
"Comrade Colonel, I want to ask." Yakov asked curiously when he saw that there were seventy or eighty stretchers among the returning troops, and most of the soldiers walking had some injuries on their bodies. : "Are your casualties a bit too high?"
The colonel glanced at Yakov, nodded, and said listlessly: "After the fierce battle in our regiment, except for the one battalion that stayed here, the other two battalions and the troops directly under the regiment suffered more than two-thirds of the casualties. Now, There are only five to six hundred warriors left in the entire regiment who can fight."
Sokov did not expect that the casualties of the Guards Division would be so heavy, and he quickly asked with concern: "Comrade Colonel, I would like to ask, what combat mission are you performing, and why do you pay such a heavy price?"
"What other missions can there be?" The colonel replied with a wry smile: "I was ordered to launch an attack on the enemy's defensive positions."
"To be able to cause such heavy casualties to your regiment, could it be that the enemy has strong fortifications?" Sokov considered that his troops would soon be dealing with the same group of German troops, so he asked in particular detail: "How many troops do they have for defense?" ?”
"The Germans are the attacking party. How strong are their defenses?" The colonel said angrily: "They can only pull up a few barbed wire fences and lay a few minefields in front of the position."
When Sokov heard this, he felt even more strange. There were barbed wire fences and minefields in front of the position. That was a normal thing. Why did the 117th Guards Regiment suffer such a heavy price? He asked curiously: "Comrade Colonel, did your regiment suffer heavy casualties in front of the enemy's minefields and barbed wire fences?"
"We did pay a price in front of the minefields and barbed wire fences." The colonel replied: "In fact, our biggest casualties were during the distance when we attacked the German positions. Since there was no cover from artillery fire, our soldiers could only We braved the enemy's bullets and charged forward until we sacrificed our lives. During the charge, we were not only intercepted by German artillery fire, but enemy aircraft also appeared in the sky. They swooped down from high altitudes and aimed at our targets. The soldiers dropped bombs and fired, causing huge casualties to our army."
After learning that the German air force was assisting in the battle, Sokov realized that this battle was not going to be easy. After he asked the colonel for some details, he arranged for Vanya to hand over defense to the other party. After getting into the compartment of the armored vehicle, he said to the radio operator sitting inside: "Send a report to the Air Force and order them to rush to the northwest of the Red October Factory immediately to provide us with air cover."
Sokov's order to the Air Force was a little late. Colonel Khostnikov thought that there would be no combat missions today, so all the aircraft were hidden. After receiving Sokov's notice, he quickly ordered the aircraft to be pushed out of its hiding place, refueled urgently, hung bombs, and prepared for attack.
Since it takes time to refuel and attach bombs, Sokov's troops had already arrived at the area where the 39th Guards Division was fighting before the fighter jets of the flight group took off, and were bombed by a group of German aircraft.
The three tanks leading the way and the two dozen soldiers sitting on the tanks were spotted by enemy planes circling in the sky. Enemy planes swooped down from high altitudes, dropping bombs and strafing at the speeding tanks. Although the tank crews used maneuvers to avoid the bombs dropped by enemy planes, the flying shrapnel knocked the soldiers sitting on the tank off the body.
After the tanks that opened the way got rid of the enemy planes' pursuit, the three tanks were already scarred, but almost all the infantrymen sitting on the vehicles were killed.
After Sokov arrived at the battlefield, he saw a group of wounded people being moved backwards, and asked them loudly: "Comrades, which unit are you in?"
Upon hearing Sokov's question, most of the soldiers looked up at him expressionlessly, and then moved back along the road in silence. Fortunately, one of the health workers couldn't stand it any longer, so he replied loudly: "Comrade commander, we are from the 39th Guards Division."
"Where is your division commander?" Sokov confirmed that these wounded were from the 39th Guards Division, and quickly asked: "Where is your division headquarters?"
The health worker pointed sideways to the back and continued to speak loudly: "Go forward along this road, about a few hundred meters, and you will find our division headquarters in the woods on the roadside."
After thanking the health worker, Sokov told the driver: "Keep going!"
The Soviet soldiers guarding outside the woods heard the sound of armored vehicles driving on the highway. They instinctively looked in the direction of the sound. When they saw it was a German armored vehicle, they all got ready for battle. At the critical moment, a soldier saw clearly the red flag tied to the car and shouted loudly: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, it's one of our own, one of our own."
The armored vehicle stopped by the woods, and Sokov asked the soldiers: "Comrades, is your division headquarters here?"
A sergeant asked warily: "Comrade commander, who are you? What do you want from our division commander?"
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade." After identifying himself, Sokov said bluntly: "I have important matters and I need to see your division commander immediately."
When the sergeant learned that the commander in front of him was a friendly force who came to assist his attack, his attitude immediately became enthusiastic. He quickly said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you have no objection, I am willing to act as your guide."
"Please, Comrade Sergeant." Sokov smiled slightly when he heard what the Sergeant said, and then said: "Please take us to your division headquarters."
Guryev's division headquarters is located in a simple tent in the woods. Seeing Sokov's arrival, Guryev's frown relaxed. He stepped forward and took the initiative to hold Sokov's hand, and asked impatiently: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are finally here. I wonder if you brought How many troops?"
"One tank battalion and one infantry battalion." Sokov replied dryly: "We were ordered to advance towards Orlovka and establish a fire support point there to wait for the arrival of friendly forces."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the situation is very serious." Guryev pointed to the map in front of him and said to Sokov: "Our division has only advanced two kilometers after fighting for several hours. According to this At this speed, it will take us at least ten days to reach Orlovka.”
"Comrade General, I would like to ask," Sokov felt that the terrain here should be very conducive to the deployment of tank troops, so he asked tentatively: "Does the enemy have many anti-tank weapons?"
"Anti-tank weapons?" When he heard this question, Guriyev was stunned for a moment, and then remembered that Sokov said that the troops he led were an infantry battalion and a tank battalion. He secretly thought that maybe Sokov had a limited number of tanks and was worried that he would not be able to complete the next mission if they were all destroyed by the enemy. So he answered solemnly: "According to my observation, the Germans don't seem to have any anti-tank weapons."
When Sokov learned that the enemy had no anti-tank weapons, he felt much more at ease. He felt that the tactic of using tanks to attack and infantry to follow up would be able to successfully break through the German defenses. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the battle, he asked Guryev again: "Comrade General, can you brief me on the situation on the battlefield?"
Guryev nodded and said: "According to the information we have, the enemy on the frontal position only has two companies and no heavy weapons. However, due to their favorable terrain, coupled with the minefields and minefields in front of the position, The barbed wire fence caused several consecutive attacks we launched to end in failure."
In order to allow Sokov to have a more vivid understanding of the situation between the enemy and ourselves on the battlefield, Guryev even personally took a few people to the front line. Arriving at an observation post, Guryev pointed to the German position on the opposite side that was still smoking, and said with a grimace: "Although we had prepared artillery fire before the attack. During the artillery attack, the Germans on the position made no movement. None, but once we launch an attack, they seem to emerge from the ground and use various weapons to block our attacking troops."
Sokov thought silently in his heart: The attacks commanded by Guryev all allowed the infantry to attack the German positions without artillery cover. You know, no matter how heroic the soldiers are on the battlefield, how can their flesh and blood bodies block the enemy's shells and bullets?
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Guryev asked a little uneasily when he saw Sokov was silent, "I want to ask, how do you plan to attack?"
"Comrade General," Sokov pointed to the German position opposite and said to Guryev: "Since there are no anti-tank weapons or anti-tank trenches on the German position, I plan to order the tanks to rush up first, and then Stop in front of the German trenches, suppress the enemy with firepower, and cover our infantry as they rush forward."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Guryev quickly reminded him after learning that Sokov planned to lead the battle with tank troops: "Although I have not found any anti-tank weapons on the enemy, if they find out that you have so many tanks, Artillery fire interception may be called, or even air force bombing may be dispatched.”
Hearing Guryev say this, Sokov wanted to answer the other party: Labor and management also have aircraft, which can knock down the enemy's bombers. But he just thought about it silently in his heart, but did not say it out loud. He knew that Guryev's reminder was very reasonable. When a tank soldier stayed in the tank, his field of vision was too narrow, and many places were blind spots for observation. If the enemy really wanted to blow up the tank, it would only take one or two cluster grenades to do it.
He turned to Guryev and said: "Comrade General, please rest assured, I am confident that we will capture the German positions in front of us in the shortest possible time."
"Secure the opposite position in the shortest time?" When Guryev heard what Sokov said, he almost cursed. He had suffered more than two thousand casualties and could not break through the position. He had an infantry battalion and a tank. Can the camp do it? However, in order not to dampen Sokov's enthusiasm, he sighed softly and said a little sincerely: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, since you are so confident, then I wish you good luck!" After that, Still he reached out and shook Sokov's hand.
When Sokov walked out of the observation post, a soldier immediately ran over and reported to him: "Comrade Brigadier, Colonel Bely and Captain Vanya are here. They are waiting for you in the woods."
Sokov thought about the upcoming battle, in which the tank battalion would play a leading role, and was about to discuss the matter with Bely. When he heard the soldier say this, he quickly told the other party: "Hurry up and take me to see them."
The soldier quickly agreed: "Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander, please come with me." After saying that, he turned back, bent down and walked forward along the trench to lead the way for Sokov.
Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
