After the battle, Sokov planned to go to the command post in Beigang to convene the commanders for a post-war summary meeting. Unexpectedly, as soon as he walked into the command post, Vitkov said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you came just in time. The commander just called and asked you to go to his command post immediately."
"The commander is so anxious to let me go," Sokov asked Vitkov curiously, thinking that he could get some useful information from the deputy chief of staff of the group army: "Comrade deputy brigade commander, do you know what is going on?" ?"
Unexpectedly, Vitkov shook his head, shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said with a wry smile: "I don't know either. He just ordered me to go to the army headquarters with you."
Seeing that Vitkov wanted to go to the headquarters with him, Sokov guessed that it might be some big deal and did not dare to stay here longer. He quickly called Goliath and told him: "Comrade Captain, order your soldiers to hurry up." Use the time to collect usable weapons and ammunition, and when the next enemy attacks, you will have to fight with them with bayonets."
After hearing Goliya's promise, Sokov called Vitkov and walked outside. As soon as he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Comrade Captain, how many prisoners have you captured?"
"There are about two hundred prisoners, half of whom are wounded." Golia knew that Sokov would not ask about this for no reason, so he quickly asked: "How should we deal with them?"
"Now we are short of supplies and don't have that much medicine to treat the enemy's wounded." Sokov said without hesitation: "Let them go."
"What, let them all go?" Golya was startled by Sokov's words. He asked cautiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, are we going to let go of the prisoners we finally captured?"
If the German prisoners are captured, Sokov will definitely not let them go easily, but he has just witnessed the tenacious fighting spirit of the Romanian army, and he still admires these enemies. Mamayev Hill is not equipped to accommodate prisoners. He did not want to shoot them or send them to Siberia, so he decided to let them all go.
Of course, he did not let go of these enemies unconditionally, but ordered Goliath: "Let these prisoners go back and tell their commanders to immediately send people to collect all the corpses in front of the position. I assure them that our Soldiers will never shoot at soldiers collecting corpses."
On the way to the headquarters, Vitkov said approvingly to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you did the right thing. You should let the Romanians collect all their corpses. Although the weather is getting colder now, it is better to go up." Thousands of corpses piled up on a hillside can still easily cause disease."
"Colonel Sokov, I heard that your troops are fighting with the enemy with bayonets?" As soon as he walked into the army headquarters, Chuikov put down his work and came up to him and asked with concern.
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov quickly and respectfully replied: "It was the commanders and soldiers of the 192nd Battalion and the sailors of the Marine Corps Battalion who fought with the attacking enemy with bayonets."
"Colonel Sokov, why do you let the soldiers fight for bayonets?" A political worker sitting in the corner heard Sokov say this and couldn't help but interjected and asked: "Why don't you use bullets and artillery shells to eliminate them? , wouldn’t that be easier?”
Sokov looked at the political worker who was speaking attentively, and found that it was an unfamiliar face. He stared at the person intently, trying to control his emotions, and asked with steady luck: "I wonder what I should call this commander?"
"This is the deputy director of the political department of the 57th Group Army." When Chuikov introduced the other party's identity to Sokov, he did not know whether it was an oversight or intentionality. He only mentioned the other party's identity but did not mention the other party's name: "He was ordered to lead The 138th Infantry Division came to supplement ours."
"The 138th Infantry Division?" When he heard this number, Sokov hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Is it the unit commanded by Colonel Lyudnikov?"
"Yes, it's his troops." Krylov came over and added: "They will strengthen the defense of the barricade factory. The troops that originally stood there have been lost in the battles in the past few days."
"Colonel Sokov," seeing that Sokov and the others seemed to have forgotten him, the deputy director of the political department from the 57th Army became a little anxious: "You haven't answered my question yet, why do you want to let the soldiers and the enemy How about fighting with bayonets instead of destroying the enemy with shells and bullets?"
"Comrade Deputy Director of the Political Department!" Sokov turned to face the other party and said word by word: "If possible, I would rather have a hundred artillery shells and ten thousand bullets in exchange for the life of a soldier. However, because After a long battle, our brigade's ammunition has been exhausted, so that in the face of the tide of enemies, our soldiers can only bravely rush forward and fight with them in hand-to-hand combat and bayonets." He said with a burst of anger. If the person who said these words hadn't seen that the other party was a political cadre from a friendly army, his fist would have fallen on the other party's face.
Sokov's attitude frightened the deputy director of the Political Department. He involuntarily stepped back until his back hit the wall, then he stopped and said in a panic: "I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel, I don't know what your The ammunition was used up. I thought you were..."
"What do you think it is?" The person who spoke this time was the military commissar of the group army Gurov. He looked at the political worker with a hint of contempt on his face: "You think Colonel Sokov is trying to show his personal heroism? Did he just let the soldiers fight with the enemy with bayonets? Let me tell you, let alone our 62nd Army, even in the entire Stalingrad Front, there is no second commander who is better at fighting than him. He He is always good at achieving maximum results at the minimum cost, which is the main reason why he was promoted from corporal to colonel in less than a year."
Although the impolite words of this political worker made Sokov very angry, he also reminded himself. After Gurov finished speaking, he quickly asked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, in order to repel the enemy During the attack, we have consumed almost all the ammunition of the troops. Do you think you can replenish some for us? Otherwise, hand-to-hand combat like today will happen again, and I will not have so many troops to fight the enemy with bayonets. .”
Chuikov originally thought that Sokov would want to ask for reinforcements from him. Now he is also worried about the shortage of troops. Where can he find the extra troops to supplement them. At this moment, when I heard that Sokov only asked for more ammunition, I was secretly relieved, and then said: "Don't worry, Colonel Sokov, other troops captured a large number of weapons and ammunition during the battle. Since these ammunition are German Unless our troops change their equipment, they will not be of much use. I will ask the Minister of Logistics, Major General Lobov, to arrange for the personnel to be sent to Mamayev Heights later."
"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." Seeing Chuikov so readily agreed to replenish ammunition for himself, Sokov was overjoyed. He thanked him repeatedly and said: "A person can bear hunger, but if a gun Without bullets in it, we won’t be able to hit the enemy hard.”
After Krylov took out a pen and paper, he looked at Sokov and asked: "Colonel Sokov, in the battle that just ended, how many enemies did you destroy and how many weapons and ammunition did you capture?"
Sokov was stunned by Krylov's question. He hesitated for a moment and then replied with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I really can't answer your question. Because I haven't had time yet." To tally the results, I came here with Colonel Vitkov.”
"What about you, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Seeing that Sokov could not answer his question, Krylov turned to Vitkov who was standing aside: "I know that you were staying at Beigan when the battle happened. In the command post, you can always answer the questions that Colonel Sokov cannot answer, right?"
When Vitkov heard the question from his immediate superior, he quickly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the specific results of the battle have not been calculated yet, but according to my estimate, the number of Romanian officers and soldiers killed by our army should be between 1,500 and 1,500." Between 1,800 and 1,800; as for the seizures, there are two German Panzer III tanks, which are basically complete and can be used by tank crews; in terms of guns, there are five heavy machine guns and more than 20 light machine guns, as well as thousands A rifle..."
If anyone had reported to Krylov with such vague figures in the past, he would have been scolded. But today, when he heard the report from his subordinate Vitkov, Krylov always had an expression on his face. smile. After recording what the other party said, he said reasonably: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, remember to report the detailed results of the battle when you go back later."
After reporting the situation on Mamayev Heights, Sokov asked Chuikov about the reason for recruiting him here: "Comrade Commander, you said there was an emergency and asked me to rush to the headquarters immediately. I don't know if the superiors are planning to send him here." What arduous and glorious task should we entrust to our brigade to complete?"
"It's like this. I just received a report from the front army headquarters. Two to three divisions will gradually enter the city in the near future." Since there were no outsiders in the headquarters, Chuikov said straight to the point: "Wait until the troops arrive. After that, we will launch a new round of counterattack against the enemy from the direction of Mamayev Heights. I called you here, firstly, to hear your thoughts on this counterattack, and secondly, I hope you can help us formulate a detailed plan. counterattack plan."
As soon as he heard that Chuikov asked him to help formulate a battle plan, Sokov couldn't help but feel a headache. You know, the sky above Stalingrad is now controlled by German aircraft. When the troops attack, they do not get air support at all. Even if they can get artillery support from the east coast, the range of the artillery fire is limited. After the troops advance to a certain position, , the artillery support was automatically terminated.
Seeing Sokov's delay in speaking, Chuikov asked again: "Colonel Sokov, I know you have known about this counterattack for a long time. Tell me, what do you think?"
What can I say? This kind of ill-prepared counterattack is not only difficult to achieve the desired effect, but also unsustainable. It can only continuously lose precious back strength. Sokov could only think about these truths in his heart, but he did not dare to speak them out casually, otherwise he might be killed.
However, seeing Chuikov asking himself again and again, Sokov knew that it would be impossible not to express his position, so he could only cough lightly, clear his throat, and said: "Comrade Commander, I think we need to launch a counterattack in the direction of Mamayev Heights. First, we must get cover from the air force and long-term support from ground artillery fire, so that we can break through the enemy's position. Otherwise, once our attack is frustrated, the counterattack force will be blocked in front of the enemy's position, and the enemies from the north and south will turn around. Come on, this counterattack will probably end in failure."
"I'm sorry, Colonel Sokov, the air cover you mentioned cannot be provided." Chuikov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, then said bitterly: "Even the artillery we deployed on the east coast can only provide We can provide you with limited artillery support in the early stages of your attack. Once you move out of the range of the artillery fire, the artillery support will also stop."
Without strong support from the air force and artillery, Sokov could only pin his hopes on the tank troops. He asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, what about the tanks? Can our offensive force be supported by tanks?"
"Tank, I can find a way to get some of it for you." Chuikov displeased Sokov this time, but posed a new problem to him: "But tank driver, you need to solve it yourself."
Solving the tanker problem on his own is not a problem for Sokov. After all, Colonel Bely is still on Mamayev Heights. Although many of his tank crews had died in the battle some time ago, there was still no big problem with the remaining men forming a powerful tank assault team.
Thinking of this, he asked Chuikov again: "Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, how many tanks can you provide us?"
"I can't answer this question now." Chuikov shrugged his shoulders and said, "But Peter, the director of the Red October Factory, will also come over later. You can ask him personally how much he can provide you. tank."
Knowing that Peter was coming here, Sokov couldn't help but feel guilty. Some time ago, he managed to get more than 40 tanks from Peter, but in less than a month, all these tanks were dead or injured. If Peter asked him more questions later, I still didn't know how to answer him.
The more you worry about something, the more likely it will come. When Sokov was worried about seeing Director Peter and didn't know how to explain the borrowed tanks to him, a staff officer came in and reported to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, Director Peter of the Red October Factory is here, and now Right outside the door!”
Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
