As soon as Sokov followed the major to the war room, he was blocked by a staff officer who came out of the room. The staff officer saw Sokov following the major and guessed that he must be the person the commander and the military commissar wanted to see, but he still said apologetically: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Sokov? Unfortunately, the commander and The Military Commissioner has important matters now and cannot see you yet. Please go to the next room and wait for a while."
The major waited for the staff officer to finish speaking, and immediately said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please come with me. I will take you to the next room."
When he came to the next room, Sokov found that the benches in the room were full of people. He was curious about who these people were, and was about to ask the major for advice. Unexpectedly, the other party had already approached him and said in his ear: "Chinese Comrade Colonel, these are the people who are waiting to be received by the commander and the military committee. You sit here and wait for a while. When the commander and others are finished, I will come to find you."
After Sokov waited for the major to leave, he saw a seat on the bench near the door, so he walked over and sat down to rest. As soon as he sat down, a lieutenant colonel sitting next to him stretched out his hand and said friendly: "Hello, let's get to know each other. I am Lieutenant Colonel Rusuf, chief of staff of the 76th Infantry Division."
"Hello!" Seeing that the other party was so proactive, Sokov was naturally unwilling to be rude. He quickly reached out and took the other person's hand. After shaking it twice, he introduced himself and said: "I am the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."
After the two men let go of their hands, Rusov casually asked: "Comrade Sokov, where are your troops stationed?" Now the 76th Infantry Division is stationed a few kilometers away from the front army headquarters. Sufu took it for granted that Sokov's troops should be nearby.
Rusov's question really stopped Sokov. His army was now divided into two. Almost all of his old subordinates were holding on to Mamayev Heights; while the newly added sailors and soldiers were still on the red line. October Town. For a moment, Sokov really didn't know how to answer Rusov's question.
Seeing that Sokov was still silent, Rusov thought that he was worried about leaking military secrets, so he smiled and said to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, we are all our own people here, and what we are talking about is not a military secret. You Just say it with confidence and boldness.”
Hearing what Rusov said, Sokov felt that it made some sense, so he nodded and said: "My original troops are still stationed at Mamayev Heights; while the newly added troops are currently stationed at the Red Army Base. Octobertown.”
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Rusov jumped up from his seat and shouted in surprise: "What, the heroic troops holding on to Mamayev Heights were commanded by you?"
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel Rusov." Sokov nodded and said in a humble tone: "Before the German army attacked Stalingrad, my troops had been stationed at Mamayev Heights. We did repel the German army. There were many ferocious attacks, but when it comes to heroic troops, I don’t think we are qualified.”
"Look what you said." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, a major stood up and came over to shake hands with Sokov and said in an admiring tone: "If your army is not a heroic army, then which army They are worthy of the title of heroic unit.”
"Yes, that's right." As soon as the major finished speaking, other commanders in the room started talking: "I heard that the Germans used planes, tanks, artillery, and more than 100,000 troops to seize Mamayev Hill. With the strength of two divisions, they still failed to capture Mamayev Heights."
"The current battle situation in the city can maintain the current stalemate entirely because of the troops guarding Mamayev Hill. If the enemy is allowed to occupy Mamayev Hill, then our defenders in the city will be defeated by the enemy. Completely separate!”
After everyone praised Sokov, a commander suddenly asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, aren't you supposed to be commanding the troops in the city? Why are you here?"
The commander's words aroused everyone's curiosity. Everyone focused on Sokov and wanted to hear his explanation. Considering that what he experienced was not an important military secret, Sokov should have no problem explaining it to these mid-level commanders. So he told the story in detail about how he was ordered to go north to meet the friendly forces, but after waiting for a long time for the friendly forces to arrive, and the enemy's retreat was cut off, he was forced to break out of the encirclement northward.
"It turns out that the German position north of Orlovka was broken through by your troops." Rusov said with emotion: "Before you came here, I was still discussing with everyone which troop was so brave and could actually Breaking through the enemy's solid defenses so easily."
Sokov thought that just half a day after he left the Don River Front, everyone here actually knew that the position north of Orlovka had been occupied by our army. He was about to ask when he heard a commander say: "When I came to see the commander, someone happened to report to him that the enemy had noticed that the position was lost and was organizing troops to counterattack. Comrade Commander was in a hurry to deal with it. The affairs over there sent me here."
From everyone's conversations, Sokov roughly understood the current situation. The 98th Division that took over his defense had been noticed by the enemy and was violently attacked. But what puzzled him was that it was the Don River Front that was currently engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. What did it have to do with his Stalingrad Front?
Rusov raised his hand and patted Sokov twice on the shoulder and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you may not know that the division commander sent me here to accept the mission."
"Accept the mission, what mission?" Sokov asked curiously.
"Don't you understand this?" Rusov explained to Sokov when he saw that he was confused: "According to the information I got, the superiors are planning to send our division into the city to ask Orlov Attack forward and join the friendly forces there."
In the past, Sokov was not optimistic about the rendezvous in the Orlovka area, but now that the friendly forces have laid a wedge in the north, the rendezvous of the two forces is possible. Thinking of this, Sokov asked curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Rusov, I wonder when your division will enter the city?"
"I don't know." Rusov shook his head and said: "The enemy is storming the friendly positions north of Orlovka. Once the enemy consolidates the defense in that area, even if our division enters the city, it will be of little use. Therefore, I think the superiors will delay our division’s entry into the city.”
Sokov was talking to Rusov, and the major who was leading him came in from outside again and said politely to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Commander and Military Commissioner, please come over!"
Knowing that the commander and the military commissar were going to summon Sokov, everyone cast envious glances at him. Rusuf also pulled the major's clothes and asked: "Comrade major, I don't know when the commander and the military committee can see me."
"The commander and the military committee are very busy." The major replied impatiently: "They will naturally meet you when they are free. Just wait patiently here."
As soon as he entered the war room, a major general came over and asked with a smile: "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Sokov?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov quickly stood at attention, straightened his body and replied: "I am Sokov!"
"Hello!" The general stretched out his hand to Sokov and introduced himself: "I am Major General Varennikov, Chief of Staff of the Front Army. Nice to meet you."
"Me too!" After Sokov said politely, he asked directly: "Excuse me, do you have any important instructions for calling me here?"
Valennikov pointed to the room with black curtains hanging next to him and said: "The commander and the military commissar are in the room. They are waiting for you. You should go see them quickly."
Sokov followed the direction of Varennikov's finger, came to the curtain, and shouted loudly: "Report!"
"Come in!" Khrushchev's familiar voice came from the room.
After lifting the curtain and walking in, Sokov found that the room he was in was very small, with only a small simple wooden table in the room. On both sides of the table, there is a person sitting on each side. The one on the left is wearing a military uniform with four gold stars on the diamond-shaped collar badge; while on the right is a bald man wearing gray casual clothes. Sokov recognized at a glance that these two people were General Yeremenko, commander of the Stalingrad Front, and Military Commissar Khrushchev.
After raising his hand in salute, he reported in accordance with the regulations: "Report to the Commander, Comrade Military Commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, came to report. I follow your orders, please give instructions!"
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." On this occasion, Khrushchev still called Sokov by his surname and military rank very formally. He stood up and walked to Sokov, held his hand and said: " Our hero, welcome back!"
"Hero?!" Hearing Khrushchev call him that, Sokov couldn't help but be confused. He quickly said humbly: "Comrade Military Commissar, I don't deserve this title!"
"There is nothing unworthy. The merits you have established and the results you have achieved are fully worthy of this title." Yeremenko stood up, supported his body with his cane, walked a few steps towards Sokov, and put his hand He handed over a brocade box inside and said with a smile: "Take it, this is the medal awarded to you by your superiors!"
"Medal?!" Sokov took the brocade box from Yereomenko's hand with some surprise, opened it and saw a shining Red Flag Medal lying inside. Although Sokov already had two medals, this was the first time he received the Order of the Red Banner. He quickly thanked Yeremenko and Khrushchev for conferring such an honor.
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Khrushchev waved his hand and said: "We originally applied to our superiors to award you the title of 'Hero of the Soviet Union' and the Gold Star Medal, but unfortunately our superiors failed and only gave us the Red Banner Medal. Put it away, you deserve the honor."
Sokov quickly closed the brocade box, straightened his body and said loudly: "Serve the Soviet Motherland!"
Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
