"Report to comrade brigade commander," Bely's calm voice came from the earphones: "In the bombing that just ended, only a dozen of our soldiers were injured, but the injuries were not serious and will not affect Their actions. As for the tanks, they did not suffer any losses."
When he learned that the tanks that played the leading role during the breakout were all intact, the boulder hanging in Sokov's heart fell to the ground again, and he repeatedly said into the transmitter: "Very good! Very good! Very good!"
After ending the call, Sokov said to Yakov with a smile on his face: "Yakov, you are right. During this bombing, except for a dozen soldiers who were slightly injured in the tank battalion, all the tanks were intact. , will not affect our breakout operation tonight."
Hearing Sokov talk about breaking out, Yakov frowned slightly and opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.
But Sokov noticed something strange about him, and asked curiously: "Yakov, do you have anything to say to me? With our friendship, what else can't be said?"
"Misha, you didn't report the breakout to Chuikov because you were worried about leaking the information. I understand this." Yakov said hesitantly: "But you plan to break out in the direction of Rokossovsky's troops. Why? You won’t notify them either?”
In fact, Sokov also considered for a long time whether to report the breakout to Rokossovsky, and finally decided that it was better to break out quietly without firing a gun. When I heard Yakov asking about this, I explained to him: "Yakov, the reason why I did not inform General Rokossovsky was because once they learned about our breakout plan, they would definitely send We need people to meet us. In this way, it is possible for the enemy to notice our intentions. Once they strengthen their defenses in these directions, even with the help of friendly forces, it may not be easy for us to successfully break through. "
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Yakov nodded thoughtfully and said, "Misha, you are right. If General Rokossovsky had been notified in advance, given his character, he would definitely send troops. Connect us. In this case, the enemy can detect abnormalities from their movements and strengthen their defenses in the corresponding direction, making our breakout operation more difficult."
When Yakov said this, he paused for a moment and then continued: "But if we don't notify them, where should we go to find General Rokossovsky's troops after we break through the German defenses?"
"After we broke through the enemy's defense line and jumped out of the encirclement, we marched all the way north." Sokov said confidently: "As long as we go north, we will definitely meet our own people." At this point, he couldn't help but He sighed, "I just don't know how many commanders and fighters can jump out of the German encirclement with us."
"Misha!" Yakov reached out and patted Sokov gently on the shoulder. "In war, someone will definitely die. Whether you and I can safely break out of the enemy's encirclement is also a matter of course. An unknown number." When he said this, his eyes suddenly stopped in one direction and said with some surprise, "Misha, which army is coming towards us?"
"Where?" Sokov looked in the direction of Yakov's finger, and sure enough he saw a group of commanders and fighters in the south, running in a scattered formation, bending over and running towards his position. He couldn't help but murmur in his heart: "The troops of the First Battalion and the Guard Battalion stayed in their positions without moving; while Colonel Gurdiev's troops were fighting the Germans in the southeast, and the direction was wrong."
Before Sokov could give the order, Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the commander of the third platoon at the foot of the hill, came forward with two soldiers. Looking at Samoilov's back, Yakov said to Sokov with emotion: "Misha, your guard platoon leader is good. Even though he is rarely by your side, he can't help but Silently block those who would try to do you harm.”
Regarding Yakov's evaluation of Samoilov, Sokov nodded slightly and said: "Yakov, you may not know, but Second Lieutenant Samoilov used to be from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. To him, Taking charge of security is a piece of cake.”
After Samoilov met the group, he exchanged a few words with the leading officer. Then, Sokov saw Samoilov settling the group of soldiers in a nearby trench and coming towards him with only the officer.
After Samoilov led the officers to Sokov, he straightened his body and reported: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is Captain Gsante, deputy battalion commander of the third battalion of the 120th Guards Regiment."
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Gsant obviously knew Sokov. He directly called Sokov's name without waiting for Samoilov to introduce him. "I am the 120th Guards." Captain Gesante, deputy commander of the third battalion of the regiment.”
"Hello, Comrade Captain." Sokov reached out and shook hands with the other person, and asked curiously: "I want to ask, where did you come from?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the situation is like this." Gesante explained to Sokov: "Yesterday the German army launched fierce attacks on our defensive positions again and again. After asking the division commander for instructions, the battalion commander decided to abandon the position and retreat. . So we left a few engineers behind to detonate the explosives buried in the position, while the rest of the troops broke out to the south."
Hearing what Gsante said, Sokov couldn't help but think of the mushroom cloud he saw yesterday. At that time, he thought that all the troops holding on to the position had died, except for those commanders and soldiers who defected to Gurdiev. . Unexpectedly, a bunch of survivors appeared now. He asked again: "Comrade Captain, since you chose to break out south, why are you here again?"
Gesante sighed and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you don't know something. The retreat to the south has been completely blocked by the Germans. Several charges we launched were repelled by the Germans. The entire battalion was lost. Two-thirds of the troops, including the battalion commander, were unfortunately shot and died."
"Comrade Captain, how many people do you have?" Sokov asked briefly.
"There are 57 more people." Gesante quickly replied: "They are all fighters with rich combat experience."
"How is your equipment?" Sokov continued to ask.
Gesante smiled bitterly and replied: "We are equipped with rifles, no machine guns or submachine guns, and there are very few bullets. Each gun only has five or six bullets on average."
"What, each gun only has five or six bullets?" Sokov was stunned by this answer: He immediately realized how wise it was for Gessant to make the decision to lead his troops north to join him, otherwise he would have been With the weapons and ammunition they possess, it is only a matter of time before they are wiped out by the Germans.
"That's right," Gesant nodded and replied affirmatively: "We consumed a lot of ammunition during the battle and failed to get it replenished in time. The result is what we are now."
Sokov considered that his own strength was seriously insufficient, and with the addition of Gsante and the others, his strength was improved to a certain extent. However, in order for this small surviving force to be effective in the breakout battle, they must first be replenished with weapons and ammunition.
He said to Gesante: "Comrade Captain, your equipment is too poor, you can't fight like this. Let me have someone replenish you with a batch of ammunition and give you two rotary machine guns..."
Gsant did not expect Sokov to be so generous and promise to give him so many things as soon as they met. He couldn't help but beam with joy and expressed his attitude to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, with these weapons and ammunition, you can look at us Let's show off. As long as one of us is alive, we will never let the enemy rush into our position."
"Comrade Captain, there will be plenty of opportunities to fight after the defensive battle." Sokov smiled and said to Gesante: "The first thing we have to consider now is the issue of breakout."
"Breakthrough, in which direction?" Gesante heard Sokov mention the breakout, and his face immediately turned livid: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please forgive me, it is definitely impossible to breakout to the south, the enemy is gathering there. Heavy troops, unless you can get support from artillery and tanks, will it be possible to break through the enemy's defenses and get back to our own people."
"As for which direction we are going to break out, you will know after dark." Although Sokov has already accepted Gesante and others, he still maintains the necessary vigilance for this small force that suddenly appeared. , so even if they were replenished with weapons and ammunition, they did not tell the other party the direction of their breakout. He called Samoilov and said: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, please take Captain Gsante and his men to get weapons and ammunition."
After Samoilov left with Gsante, Yakov couldn't help but said with emotion: "It is simply a miracle that so many people survived such a large-scale explosion yesterday."
Sokov did not agree with Yakov's statement: "Yakov, you can't say that. Maybe when the engineers laid down the explosives in the concealed position, Gsant and the others had already moved away from the explosion area. In this way, Only then can one survive.”
"The arrival of this unit is a bit strange." Yakov didn't seem to be optimistic about Gsant and the others, so he specifically reminded Sokov: "Isn't it true that some of Colonel Gurdiev's troops have withdrawn from the fourth line of defense? Commanders and soldiers, you might as well ask them to come over and identify them to see if these people are their comrades-in-arms."
"Yakov, you mean, there is something wrong with this group of people?" Sokov was a little surprised when he heard what Yakov said, "You don't think they were sent by the Germans, do you?"
"The Germans are very cunning," Yakov sneered and said, "I heard that they recruited many people from our army's prisoners of war and formed several Eastern battalions to fight against our army. In order to To be on the safe side, let’s ask Colonel Gurdiev to send someone to verify.”
