At dawn the next day, the defensive positions of the 308th Infantry Division came under heavy shelling from the Germans.
Sokov stood on the hill, raising his telescope to observe the situation on the distant position. He saw only dazzling flames flashing in the position, and the thick smoke made it impossible for him to see clearly the situation of the position.
In order to understand the situation on the position, Sokov asked Gurdiev about the specific situation on the phone. However, because the sound of the shell explosion was too loud, he could not hear clearly what Gurdiev was saying.
Just after Sokov put down the phone in disappointment, Yakov came to him. After taking a look at him, he focused his attention on the position that was being shelled by the enemy. He said casually: "Misha, the enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, and Colonel Gurdiev and the others do not have a solid position. I am worried that their casualties during the artillery bombardment will not be small."
Sokov smiled bitterly and said: "I originally wanted to ask about the situation on the position, but the sound of the artillery was so loud that I couldn't hear what Colonel Gurdiev was saying at all."
"I guess Colonel Gurdiev is staying at his headquarters at the moment and doesn't know much about the situation outside than you do." Yakov curled his lips and said, "You'd better wait until the enemy's shelling ends. Gurdiev has calculated the losses, and it’s not too late to call him and ask him.”
Fortunately, the German shelling did not last long and stopped after only a quarter of an hour. Before the smoke cleared, the Germans launched an attack on the defensive positions of the 308th Infantry Division from the east and south at the same time.
Before Sokov could call again, Gurdiev's phone came first. On the phone, he didn't say any nonsense, but shouted straight to the point: "Comrade Brigadier, the situation here is very bad. The enemy attacked us from two directions at the same time. I ask for support. I ask for support."
Sokov only had Vanya's battalion and Tenev's guard battalion in his hands. The two battalions added up to about 300 people and were responsible for the defense of the west and south. He could not spare any extra strength to reinforce Gur. Tiev. Therefore, in the face of Gurdiev's request for help, Sokov could only bite the bullet and said: "Comrade Colonel, I repeat, I have no reserve. You must rely on your own strength to resolutely stop the Germans."
"Misha," Yakov said with some worry when he heard Sokov rejected Gurdiev's request for help: "The enemy launched an attack from the east and south at the same time towards the area defended by the 308th Infantry Division. I'm worried that the position may not be able to be defended. How about we allocate troops to support them?"
"No, the troops in our hands cannot be used." Sokov turned around, pointed to the west, and said to Yakov: "Yakov, don't forget, the Germans attacked us from the west yesterday. If I allocate troops to reinforce the 308th Infantry Division, the defense here will become weak. If the German army takes the opportunity to launch an attack, I'm worried that we won't be able to defend it at all. Once this place is lost, even if we concentrate all our forces in Gu Erdiyev won’t be able to hold on for long.”
"What should we do?" Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to send troops to support, Yakov couldn't help but asked anxiously: "Are we just going to watch Colonel Gurdiev's troops being eaten by the Germans one by one? ?”
In order to prevent Yakov from thinking that he was desperate to save him, Sokov specifically explained to him: "Yakov, it's not that I don't want to rescue Gurdiev. First, because the troops at hand are limited, if If we send troops to support, then the defense here will become weak, allowing the enemy to take advantage of it; secondly, it is because sooner or later we will have to withdraw to the small village in the northwest to join Colonel Bely and the others, Gurdiya If Colonel Hu cannot resist, you can retreat to us first and then move to the northwest."
Considering that his tone of rejecting Gurdiev just now was a bit too harsh, Sokov answered the phone at Gurdiev's division headquarters again and said into the phone: "Comrade Colonel, wait until the enemy's attack is stopped." After repelling, you immediately arrange for people to send all the seriously injured people to me."
In a recent phone call, Gurdiev heard Sokov rejecting his request so simply that he thought the other party was ready to give up on him. But when he heard Sokov asking him to send the seriously injured people over, he immediately realized that he might have wrongly blamed Sokov. Although Sokov had two battalions of more than 300 people, these troops were distributed between two Near hills and small villages, if reinforcements are really sent to them, their defenses will become weak. He quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander, after the enemy's attack is repelled by us, I will arrange manpower as soon as possible to send the seriously injured to you."
The German troops launched simultaneous attacks from two directions. Without the cover of tanks, it was difficult for them to easily seize the position in the face of the tenacious Soviet resistance. After the battle lasted for more than an hour, the German commander saw that the troops were still unable to break through the Soviet defenses, so he issued a retreat order, preparing to go back and regroup before launching an attack on the Soviet troops.
Seeing the enemy receding like a tide, most Soviet soldiers breathed a sigh of relief. Gurdiev called Political Commissar Sverin in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Political Commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov just called me and asked us to immediately send the seriously wounded to the enemy after the enemy was repulsed. There he is. I will leave it to you to take charge of this matter."
"Don't worry, comrade division commander." Sverin nodded quickly and replied, "I will send these wounded soldiers safely to the brigade headquarters."
In order to transport this batch of wounded soldiers, Gurdiev specially deployed a hundred soldiers and dozens of lightly wounded soldiers to carry the seriously wounded soldiers towards Sokov's position. Many wounded people breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that they were going to evacuate to Sokov's position. They found that there seemed to be no fighting there today, and they thought that as long as they got there, they would be safe.
Sverin led the soldiers carrying the stretcher, and after an hour's march, they finally arrived at the hill where Sokov was located. He straightened his body and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the 39 seriously wounded members of our division are here. Please take good care of them."
"Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov said to Sverin with a smile on his face: "We will settle them properly. By the way, what are you going to do next, stay here or return to the position?"
"Of course Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has returned to the position." When Sverin spoke, his eyes were fixed on the position where the smoke was still rising. "Colonel Gurdiev and I are old partners. We can't have him at the front with us. The enemy is fighting tooth and nail, but I should stay far behind."
Seeing that Sverin was unwilling to stay, Sokov did not force him. On the contrary, he urged him: "Comrade Political Commissar, if you are determined to return to the battlefield, please go there immediately, otherwise you will not think about it again when the enemy attacks again." It wasn’t that easy in the past.”
Sverin nodded and walked back to the troops he brought. After scanning everyone's bodies one by one, he said: "Comrade wounded, you have fulfilled your obligations in the past day and night. Next, you will all be sent to the field hospital for arrangements. You are treating your injuries in our hospital. ... Now, I am going back to the front line. Who is willing to go back with me?"
The hundred soldiers carrying stretchers immediately shouted without hesitation: "We are willing to return to the front with you."
In addition to these soldiers, some seriously injured people lying on stretchers also shouted boldly: "Comrade Political Commissar, I am willing to go back with you."
"Comrade wounded," Sverin's eyes couldn't help but moisten when he saw many seriously wounded who wanted to follow him back to the front. He raised his hand and wiped it on his face, and then said loudly: "Leave the seriously wounded behind. If the lightly wounded are willing to go back with me, let’s set off together.”
When Sverin left, in addition to the 100 soldiers, there were more than 20 lightly wounded people. He also made a decisive decision to follow Sverin back to the front and continue to fight the Germans.
When Gurdiev saw Sverin coming back with many wounded people, he couldn't help but curiously asked: "Comrade Political Commissar, I asked you to take the wounded to the back, why did you bring them back again?"
Sverin turned his head and glanced at the wounded who had followed him back, grinned and said, "Comrade Commander, since they want to come back and continue to attack the Faxi Temple invaders, we can't dampen their enthusiasm."
"Since they are back, let them all stay." Gurdiev was having a headache because of his lack of troops. Seeing that so many wounded were willing to stay and continue fighting, Gurdiev followed suit and said, "Let them go back to their respective places." If the troops go, the battle may start soon."
"Comrade Commander," Sverin recalled what Sokov had said to him in private, and quickly stopped Gurdiev and said to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said that if we can no longer hold on here, Just give up your position decisively and rush over to join them. Don't stay here to confront the enemy head-on and fight a war of attrition that won't pay off."
Gurdiev nodded vigorously and said: "Don't worry, comrade political commissar. Our division has dropped sharply from more than 10,000 people to just a few hundred people now. I definitely hope that more soldiers will survive and contribute to our infantry." The 308th Division should save more seeds. I will never do anything stupid like confronting the enemy head-on again."
Having said this, Gurdiev raised his hand and patted Sverin on the shoulder twice, and said with concern: "Comrade Political Commissar, you must be tired after running back and forth for such a long distance. Go back and rest first. I can take care of things on the battlefield."
