"I have ordered Colonel Gurdiev to launch a counterattack." After Sokov said this, he couldn't help but sigh: "But this is just a human effort. I have no idea whether they can regain the lost position. Having too high hopes.”
When Bely heard that Sokov actually said such depressing words, he couldn't help but said in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it is obviously impossible for us to retreat from the south. If we can't find a way to regain the position in the east, then our army will There is a possibility of being encircled by the German army."
Seeing that Bely also realized the seriousness of the problem, Sokov decided to reveal his true thoughts to him so that he could prepare in advance: "Colonel Bely, judging from the current situation, we have to start from the south or east Retreating may come at a huge cost. Therefore, we must choose a new direction."
"New direction?" Hearing what Sokov said, Bely couldn't help being stunned. According to his idea, if the troops cannot hold on in Orlovka and want to retreat, they can only choose to retreat south or east. , the other two directions are German territory, you can't lead your troops into the enemy, right? So he asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigadier, what direction should we choose?"
When answering this question, Sokov couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, because he knew very well that the clear language conversation between himself and Bely was likely to be eavesdropped by the Germans, so he said vaguely: " As for which direction to break out from, I will send someone to inform you later."
Bely was also a smart man. After listening to Sokov's words, he guessed that he must be worried that such important information would be eavesdropped by the Germans. He quickly replied: "I understand, Comrade Brigade Commander, I will wait for your notification."
After Sokov ended the call, he sat on the ground, took out a pen and paper from his satchel, put it on his briefcase, and prepared to break out north of Orlovka and rush to Little Ivanovka and Rokoso The matter of the rendezvous between the troops of Vysky was written down in detail. After writing, he folded the piece of paper, called a communications soldier, and asked him to rush to the small village immediately and hand over his plan to Bely.
After the messenger left, Sokov stretched, stood up and walked out of the temporary headquarters, preparing to go to the top of the hill to check the enemy's movements. Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something important. He stopped and asked Guchakov who was following behind him: "Guchakov, have you seen Major Yakov?"
Although Yakov went north with Sokov this time, because he did not stay with Sokov at all times, but moved around so often that Sokov always forgot his existence. When preparing for the breakout, Sokov suddenly thought of Yakov. If anything happened to Yakov during the breakout, he would not be able to escape his involvement.
Guchakov was stunned for a moment, and then replied: "Major Yakov seems to be in the defense area of the guard camp. Do you need me to call him back?"
"Yes, Comrade Guchakov." Sokov said without hesitation: "You immediately call Major Tenev in the guard camp and ask him to inform Yakov that I have something urgent to come to him and ask him to Come back immediately."
After Yakov came to Orlovka, he ran around because he felt he had nothing to do in the headquarters. In any case, Sokov has the final say in matters in the brigade, and he can only be regarded as a soy sauce character at best. Therefore, whenever he has free time, he likes to go to the grassroots units and stay with the commanders and soldiers. After receiving the call from Guchakov, he thought something had happened and immediately jogged back to the hill.
As soon as he looked at Sokov, he couldn't wait to ask: "Misha, why are you looking for me?"
Sokov looked up at him, nodded, took out a map, spread it on the ground, pointed at it and said to him: "Yakov, our current situation is not good. Although we are surrounded by troops, but we have lost contact with them.”
Yakov didn't know that the eastern position had been lost, and thought Sokov was talking about the southern position handed over to the 120th Guards Regiment, so he said disapprovingly: "Misha, the southern position is facing threats from the west at any time. With the strength of the 120th Guards Regiment, it will be very difficult to defend against the German attack from above. But you don’t have to worry, even if we cannot retreat to the south, we can still transfer our positions to the east and return to our defense zone."
After Yakov finished speaking, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Yakov, you don't know yet, but our position in the east has been lost."
"What, the position to the east is lost?" Yakov's face showed an expression of disbelief: "How is this possible? Misha, are you mistaken? We are not deploying on the position to the east. A battalion? I don’t believe that the strength of a battalion can’t stop the enemy’s attack for several hours?”
"Yes, the troops we deployed on the eastern position are indeed a battalion." Sokov said with a complicated expression: "But after a long battle, this battalion only has thirty or forty people left. It was simply beyond our capabilities to defend such a wide position. So as soon as the enemy launched the attack, they took control of the eastern position in a very short period of time and cut off our retreat."
"Our retreat has been cut off?!" Yakov had once been a prisoner of the Germans when his unit was surrounded. Now that he learned that the troop's retreat had been cut off by the Germans, his face suddenly turned pale and he murmured : "Misha, what should we do? I don't want to be a prisoner again."
After saying these words, Yakov pulled out the pistol from his waist, turned on the safety, looked at Sokov and said: "This time, I would rather shoot myself in the head than be a prisoner."
Seeing that his bullet was loaded, Sokov was afraid that the gun would go off, so he quickly grabbed his wrist and comforted him: "Yakov, don't worry, you will not be a prisoner, and I will not be a prisoner. I won’t be taken as a prisoner.”
Sokov's words cheered Yakov up again. He took the initiative to propose to Sokov: "Misha, I think we should organize a counterattack immediately to recapture the lost position. I will go to the 308th Infantry Division now and work with them to recapture the position from the enemy's hands."
"Yakov, don't get excited." Seeing that Yakov was about to turn around and leave after saying this, Sokov hurriedly stopped him: "Based on various signs, the enemy wants to surround us first and then eat us bit by bit. . Even if we launch a counterattack against the eastern position, it is unlikely that we can recapture it."
"Misha, we still have tanks, which can guide the infantry to attack the enemy's defensive positions." Yakov said loudly what he was thinking: "You should bring back Colonel Bely's tank battalion. With their help, it shouldn’t be difficult for us to regain the lost position.”
"The tank battalion cannot move." Sokov said with a clear attitude: "If we want to jump out of the enemy's encirclement, then we cannot use the tank battalion."
"But without using the tank battalion, with the strength of the 308th Infantry Division, it is impossible to seize the enemy's position." Yakov knew very well that if it were not for the support of the tank battalion led by Colonel Bely, the 308th Infantry Division would not be able to break through the enemy. The defense line rushed over to join the infantry brigade. At this moment, the division launched a counterattack against the enemy. Without the cooperation of tanks, apart from increasing casualties, there was not much confidence in regaining the position.
"Whether heading south or east is not an ideal choice." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Yakov: "The enemy's defense line separates us from the friendly forces. In order to prevent us from joining the friendly forces, they will definitely strengthen it. Defense. In other words, if we want to break through their defense lines, we will definitely pay a heavy price."
"Misha, what's wrong with you? In the current situation, no matter how high the price we pay, we must join up with friendly forces." Yakov said anxiously: "Otherwise, what awaits us is the end of the entire army being destroyed."
"Yakov, it's not just the east and south that have our friendly forces." Sokov waited for Yakov to finish and then said calmly: "We can also choose to join up with friendly forces in other directions."
"Except for the east and south, where are there any friendly forces..." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Yakov blurted out. However, before he finished speaking, he suddenly guessed what Sokov was referring to. He couldn't help being shocked, and then asked in surprise: "Misha, don't you want to fight with Rokossovsky's troops?" Let’s meet up?”
Seeing that Yakov guessed what he was thinking, Sokov nodded slightly and replied with a smile: "Yes, that's what I thought."
"Misha, are you crazy?" Yakov was originally squatting. After hearing Sokov's answer, he suddenly jumped up from the ground, startling Guchakov who was standing next to him on guard. Jump. Yakov continued: "If the German defense lines to the north and west are so easy to break through, then why do your superiors order you to come and respond?"
"Yakov, I think about it this way." After Sokov called Yakov to squat down again, he patiently explained to him: "There are indeed enemy fortifications to our north and west. But these The defensive direction of the fortifications is aimed at the outside of the encirclement. If we launch a surprise attack from the inside, there should not be much problem in breaking through these positions."
When Yakov heard what Sokov said, he immediately understood why Sokov had just insisted that the tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bely could not be used. The tank battalion is placed in a small village. Whether it is an assault to the north or west, it is very convenient, and the possibility of breaking through the German defense line is still very high.
Wanting to understand this link, Yakov stared at the map and considered it for a while, and then asked tentatively: "Misha, when do you plan to attack the enemy?"
"Wait a little longer." Sokov said helplessly: "I don't know whether the enemy will launch an attack on Orlovka, so I have to wait a little longer and cannot act rashly. Otherwise, our army will launch an attack." At this moment, the large German army came towards us and soon they could eat us up until there was not even a scrap left."
Seeing that Sokov was still unable to decide when to launch an attack, Yakov raised a second question: "Which direction are you going to choose as our breakthrough point?"
"My initial consideration is to break out from the north." Sokov clicked on the map a few times with his hand: "As far as I know, General Rokossovsky's headquarters is located in Little Ivan in the north. Novka is only a dozen kilometers away from us."
"But this road is not easy to walk." Yakov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his opinion: "Misha, you see, there are not only forests, grasslands, but also rivers on this road. If the enemy Their fortifications were built by the river. After we break through their defenses, how can we cross the river to join the friendly forces? You know, although it has not snowed yet, the river has become bitingly cold. It is not a good idea to let the soldiers swim across. .”
"To the west, it's a bit too far, about 20 to 30 kilometers, and the German army has many defense points along the way." Seeing Yakov's objection to his plan to break out to the north, Sokov said with some embarrassment: "Last time, a tank brigade under General Rokossovsky broke through the German army from this direction. However, on the way to Orlovka, they were besieged from all sides. As a result, they were defeated midway. The whole army was destroyed.”
"Then what should we do?" Yakov sighed softly, frowning and asked: "Is it really the only way to stay here and let fate happen?"
From the map, Orlovka is already behind the German defense, but outside the German encirclement, there are densely packed Soviet troops. Unfortunately, Sokov's troops and technical equipment are very limited, otherwise If a center blooms, it will be enough to defeat the German troops in the north of the city.
"Simple defense will definitely not work." After a while, Sokov said in a hoarse voice: "Therefore, we must take the initiative and implement a breakout from the enemy's unexpected direction. I have just sent someone to help others. Colonel Lei sent a message asking him to send people to conduct reconnaissance northward to select a suitable location for our army to break out."
"Comrade Brigadier, Comrade Brigadier." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he heard someone calling him. He turned around and saw that it was the operator carrying a walkie-talkie, running towards him, and asked hurriedly: "Comrade operator, what's going on?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the radio operator ran to Sokov and said breathlessly: "This is Colonel Bely. He has important things to report to you."
Sokov took the headphones and put them on his head, then brought the microphone close to his mouth and said loudly: "Colonel Bely, this is Sokov, please tell me something!"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Bely's voice came from the earphones: "I have sent personnel to conduct reconnaissance. After obtaining the information, I will report to you immediately."
Although Bely's words were a bit meaningless, Sokov knew very well that Bely was afraid that his plain language conversation with him would be eavesdropped by the Germans, so he reported to himself in concise words, saying People have been sent to the north for reconnaissance and will report the latest information to themselves at any time.
