Sokov looked at Yakov and said seriously and sincerely: "Yakov, if you want to fight side by side with me, there will be many opportunities in the future, but the task I give you now is to escort the wounded across the river quickly." He was deeply afraid that Yakov would have his own way, and specifically emphasized, "The presence of a large number of wounded will greatly slow down the movement of the troops. If we cannot stop the enemy, you cannot let us leave these wounded to the Germans." Bar?"
Yakov had once been a prisoner of the Germans, and he knew very well what fate would happen to these wounded soldiers once they fell into the hands of the Germans. Therefore, even if he was unwilling to leave, he could only unconditionally carry out the order given by Sokov.
Just as they were talking, Vanya and Tenev rushed over with their troops. Sokov quickly called the two men in front of them and said to them: "Captain Vanya and Major Tenev, from now on, you The two accepted the command of Major Yakov and assisted them in transporting the wounded safely to the other side of the river."
At last night's meeting, Vanya knew that there was no bridge on the river, so after hearing Sokov's order, he asked with a grimace: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it's not that there is no bridge on the river, how can we put it there?" Send the wounded over?"
"I just took a closer look. There are some wooden boats that have not been sunk on the shore. With a simple repair, they should still be usable." Sokov looked at Vanya and said: "After you repair these boats, you can The wounded were sent to the other side."
When Yakov led the soldiers of the First Battalion and the Guard Battalion to carry the wounded down the hillside and went to the river to repair the wooden boats, Sokov said to the remaining commanders: "...the terrain here is easy to change. It is difficult to attack and defend, and there is a lack of defensive depth. Once the German army uses armored troops to launch an assault, it will only take a short time to drive us all into the river. Therefore, we must seize the time to build more fortifications in the south... This way we can wait for the enemy When launching an attack, we can rely on preset fortifications, deep deployment of positions and firepower to carry out echelon defense."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Gurdiev said with some embarrassment: "Our manpower is limited. I'm afraid it will be difficult to build a large number of defenses in a short period of time."
"Colonel Gurdiev," Sokov did not answer him directly, but asked: "How many more people do you have?"
Gurdiev did not expect that Sokov would actually ask him this question, and his face turned red. When reporting the number of troops the night before, he was worried that Sokov would transfer his men, so he underreported the number. There were three hundred people. At this moment, when Sokov asked this question again, he hesitated and said: "There are still more than 1,100 people in the division."
"Using the regiment as a unit, divide the entire division into three echelons." After learning about the actual number of the 308th Infantry Division, Sokov gave the order straightforwardly: "Adopt a rotating operation method, south of the existing position, Dig two to three trenches. After the trenches are completed, we will decide whether to build civil fire points based on the specific conditions."
Regarding Sokov's arrangement, division political commissar Sverin said cautiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, once the enemy discovers that we have built a defense line here, they will definitely use artillery and bombing to destroy our fortifications. I'm worried about our The fortifications cannot withstand the enemy’s shelling and bombing.”
"Commissar Sverin, I understand what you mean. You are worried that the defensive troops will suffer heavy casualties in the enemy's shelling or bombing." Sokov guessed what Sverin was worried about, so he comforted him and said: "After the trenches are dug, several more communication trenches must be dug to connect them to the original German trenches. Once shelled, except for a few observation posts left to monitor the position, the rest of the commanders and fighters will withdraw to the trenches behind through the communication trenches. After the enemy's shelling is over, return to the trenches in front."
"This is a good idea." Sverin nodded after hearing this, turned to Gurdiev and said: "Comrade division commander, let's start building fortifications now. Maybe the Germans will come up soon."
…………
While the 308th Infantry Division was building fortifications and the First Battalion and the Guard Battalion were repairing boats on the river, Second Lieutenant Samoilov, leading a small team, had arrived outside a forest five or six kilometers away from the river. Just as they were about to enter the woods, they suddenly heard the sound of a gun being pushed, and then heard a loud voice asking sternly: "Stop, who are you?"
The sudden sound startled Samoylov. He almost picked up the submachine gun in his hand and fired a shuttle into the woods. But fortunately, he controlled his emotions in time, because he heard that the people in the woods spoke proficient Russian, and they should not be enemies. He hurriedly replied loudly: "Don't shoot, they are one of our own!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the click of feet stepping on dead branches and the rustling of bushes being pushed aside from the forest. Then two soldiers holding Mosin-Nagant rifles carefully walked out of the forest. Come out of the woods. Although they saw several soldiers wearing Soviet uniforms appearing in front of them, and the officer leading the team also wore a blue big-brimmed hat, which represented his identity as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the soldiers still asked cautiously: " What part are you from and why are you here?"
"Comrade soldiers," Samoilov felt a little disappointed when he saw two ordinary soldiers walking out of the woods, but he still explained patiently: "We are from the 73rd Infantry Brigade. We just came from Breakout in the direction of Orlovka, the brigade commander sent us to this area to look for friendly forces, can you take us to meet your superiors?"
When the two soldiers heard what Samoylov said, they gathered together and murmured a few words. Then an older soldier said: "Well, since you are our own people, then follow me. Come on." After saying that, he turned and walked towards the woods, leaving his companion behind.
When Samoilov and others followed the soldier towards the woods, the soldier who had been standing still followed them. He walked behind Samoilov and the others with a gun in his hand, vigilantly monitoring every move of these people, intending to shoot without hesitation if he found any unusual movement on the other side.
The radio operator walking beside Samoilov noticed that there were soldiers following him with guns in hand as if escorting prisoners, so he said to Samoilov with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, something seems wrong. , another soldier followed us with a gun, obviously treating us as enemies."
After hearing what the operator said, Samoilov sneered and said: "Comrade operator, if you were in that soldier's position and saw a group of unknown people appearing in front of you, you would remain vigilant. .”
They came to a clearing among the trees and saw a dozen tents neatly arranged. The soldier who led the way guided them to a tent. After asking them to stop, he walked to the door of the tent and shouted loudly: "Report!"
After a while, the curtain was opened from the inside, and an officer with the rank of captain walked out. He looked at the soldier who was calling the report and asked: "Is there something wrong?"
"Report to Comrade Company Commander," the soldier quickly straightened up and replied, "We found a few suspicious people near the forest and brought him here."
Seeing the soldier reporting to the captain, Samoilov guessed that he might be the person with the highest military rank here, so he took a few steps forward, walked up to him, and said bluntly: "Comrade Captain, I am from the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Guard platoon leader Second Lieutenant Samoilov, I have something important to contact your superior, please take me to see your superior."
When the captain saw someone interrupting the conversation between himself and his subordinates, he was originally unhappy, but when he saw the blue big-brimmed hat on Samoylov's head, his face couldn't help but change, and then he replied in a panic: " Comrade Second Lieutenant, please wait a moment, I will report to my superiors immediately!"
"Go and report!" Samoylov waved his hand and said, "It would be best if we could report our situation to your division commander."
"I understand." Although Samoilov's military rank was lower than his own, the captain still nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, I will give you a reply soon."
The captain returned to the tent and called for instructions. Only a few minutes later, he emerged from the tent again and said to Samoilov with a smile: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I have been ordered to take you to the division headquarters. Please come with me." Bar."
There was a covered truck next to the camp. The captain invited Samoilov to sit in the cab with him, and then let the other soldiers get into the car behind. After everyone got on the bus, the captain ordered the driver: "Drive, go to the division headquarters!"
On the way, the captain asked Samoilov curiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, can I ask you where you are from?"
Regarding the question of where he came from, Samoilov did not intend to keep it secret from the captain, so he answered truthfully: "We broke out from Orlovka."
"Breaking out of Orlovka?" After listening to Samoilov's words, the captain couldn't help but widened his eyes in surprise: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I would like to ask, how did you cross that river? "
Samoilov looked at the captain and replied confusedly: "We broke through the German defense line and reached the river smoothly. There happened to be a complete wooden boat by the river, and we took that boat to cross the river. "
Hearing Samoylov speak in such an understatement, the captain couldn't help taking a breath of air. He said cautiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, you may not know that in the past two days, in order to cross the river and break through the German defenses, we rushed Heading to Orlovka to join forces with friendly forces, one of our divisions was almost completely wiped out by the river, and only a dozen people survived."
