After the meeting, Sokov took Ivanov back to his headquarters. Seeing Sidorin and Belkin there, he greeted them and then introduced to Ivanov: "Comrade Colonel, let me introduce to you. This is my brigade political commissar Belkin, who is now the head of the drawdown regiment; this is the brigade chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, who is now the division chief of staff."
Ivanov waited for Sokov to finish introducing his identity to the two, and then asked Sokov with a frown: "Comrade division commander, is it appropriate to let a political worker serve as the leader of the drawdown regiment?"
Sokov had already guessed that Ivanov would ask this question, so he replied with a smile: "Don't worry, comrade colonel, Belgin served as a military officer in the early years, and later became a political cadre. During his partnership with me, he also had a very good understanding of the various tactics I used, and I am confident that he will be a qualified team leader."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Ivanov did not express any opinion on this matter, but looked at Sidorin and asked, "Where are the commanders of my regiments?"
"They are resting in the next room." Sidorin quickly replied: "Do you need me to call them?"
"Call them over," Ivanov nodded and said, "Let them get to know the division commander, and by the way, assign them combat missions after dawn."
The three regiment leaders were next door, and the men sent by Sidorin came over as soon as they called. The three of them walked into the headquarters and came directly in front of Ivanov. When they were about to raise their hands to salute their division commander in accordance with the regulations, they were stopped by Ivanov. He pointed with his hand at Sokov, who was standing next to him, and said, "This is our new division commander, Colonel Sokov. Please report to him."
Although the three regiment commanders were full of resentment about their division commander's demotion, they still showed due respect when facing Sokov, the new division commander. The three people raised their hands in order and saluted, and said: "Comrade division commander, the commander of the Guards Regiment is reporting to you. We are waiting for your orders, please give instructions!"
After Sokov lowered the hands of the three of them, he also raised his hand to return a military salute to them. Then he turned to Ivanov and said: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, can you introduce to me the three regiment commanders? They just They spoke too fast and I didn’t hear their names and military ranks clearly.”
Ivanov had no objection to Sokov's request. He nodded, pointed at the three regiment commanders standing in front of him, and began to introduce Sokov: "Comrade division commander, please allow me to introduce the division to you." The three commanders here are Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, the leader of the 122nd Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, the leader of the 124th Regiment, and Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov, the leader of the 125th Regiment. They all have rich A commander with combat experience, I believe that in the battle after dawn, we will achieve results that satisfy you."
Sokov nodded, and after introducing Belkin and Sidorin to the three regiment leaders, he said: "Comrade regiment leaders, in the battle at dawn, you will attack the enemy without any cover. Charge into the enemy's defensive position. You are all commanders with rich combat experience, so I won't say any more nonsense. I just hope that when the battle ends at dark tomorrow, I can see that you are all still alive."
Sokov's words made Ivanov and the three regiment leaders look at each other. After a while, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, the leader of the 122nd Regiment, asked cautiously: "Comrade Commander, I don't quite understand what you mean. Can you explain it to us?"
"Comrades, commanders," Sokov said, looking at Ivanov and his three subordinates, "fighting requires not only bravery, but also wisdom. Our soldiers are not afraid of sacrifice, but they cannot be allowed to do so. A unnecessary sacrifice." He pointed to his head, "In battle, we as commanders must use our brains more, try to minimize the casualties of our troops, and achieve the greatest victory at the smallest cost."
"Comrade Division Commander," as soon as Sokov finished speaking, the commander of the 124th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, said with a confused look on his face: "If I remember correctly, I have not criticized the idea of winning with less bloodshed before. Are you saying that this is a wrong view that has always been incorrect and led the army to dream of an easy victory?"
"Yes, in the past, the army did criticize this view of less bloodshed in battle," Sokov said with a normal expression: "But after more than a year of war testing, the bloody facts tell us that if Commanders waste the precious lives of soldiers without restraint during battle, causing countless unnecessary casualties and doing nothing to reverse the situation on the battlefield."
Although Starcha did not fully agree with what Sokov said, he still said vaguely: "I understand, comrade division commander! I will find ways to reduce the casualties of the troops in the battle."
They all got to know each other, and then Sokov began to assign tasks to the three regiment commanders: "In the battle after dawn, the 125th regiment will be the first echelon to attack the enemy's position; the 125th regiment will be the first echelon to attack the enemy's position; The second echelon, after the first echelon breaks through the enemy's defense line, immediately enter the battle to consolidate the breakthrough..."
After assigning the task, Sokov considered that the commanders and fighters of the 41st Guards Division were still using old tactics, so he added: "Before tomorrow's attack begins, the artillery of the group army deployed on the left bank will carry out semi-attack on the enemy's positions. Hours of artillery preparations. According to past practice, our troops only attack the enemy's position after the artillery bombardment. However, I plan to adjust the steps of the attack. As soon as the artillery bombardment begins, our first echelon will directly attack the enemy's position. Depart from enemy positions.”
"What, just set off towards the enemy's position when the shelling started?" Sokov's words startled Ivanov, and he quickly reminded Sokov: "Comrade division commander, in this way our soldiers may be attacked by our own people. hit by artillery shells."
Sokov did not answer his question immediately, but quickly came to the wall and called to everyone: "Everyone come to me!" After everyone gathered around him, he took a stick and explained Stick, pointed at the map on the wall, and said to everyone, "Look at the map, everyone, there is a distance of almost four kilometers from Mamayev Heights to the enemy's first line of defense. According to the normal traveling speed, we have to walk this distance. It takes almost forty minutes to cover a distance of four kilometers. Think about it carefully, if you are bombarded by the enemy, how long will it take for the soldiers to re-enter the shooting position after the bombardment ends? "
After this question was raised, everyone immediately frowned and started thinking. Soon, Ivanov figured out the answer: "I think in five minutes at most, I can get all the fighters into shooting positions."
"That's right." Sokov nodded and said: "If our soldiers wait for the shelling to end before leaving their positions and advancing towards the enemy's positions. Before they approach the positions, the enemy has already made all preparations for battle. If our soldiers go up, they will only be targets for them."
After Sokov's explanation, the four commanders, including Ivanov, all understood that in order to fight here at Mamayev Heights, some old tactics had to be adjusted. Ivanov said cheerfully: "Comrade division commander, I understand. After that daybreak, when the cannon fire from the other side sounds, I will order the troops to attack the enemy's position."
At the military meeting held at the headquarters, Sokov noticed that neither Chuikov nor Krylov mentioned the enemy's troop deployment. Perhaps it was because time was too short and there was no time to send people to conduct reconnaissance. Therefore, Sokov felt that in this regard, it was necessary to give Ivanov and others a warning: "Also, the headquarters does not seem to understand the enemy's troop deployment at all."
Starcha asked with a grimace: "How can we attack if we don't know the enemy's troop deployment?"
"According to my estimation, the commander will ask the troops to send a battalion to conduct reconnaissance on the enemy's defense line before attacking." Sokov thought of Chuikov's favorite tactic in the later stages of the war, which was to send a reconnaissance battalion to detect the enemy's defense lines. Conduct fire reconnaissance near the position. If the enemy is not strong, a breakthrough will be made directly; if the enemy is too strong, the reconnaissance aircraft will switch to defense on the spot and request reinforcements from the rear. "Then based on the battle progress of this battalion, we can judge the enemy's troop deployment."
"Damn it," Ivanov had just transferred from the First Guards Army and naturally didn't understand Chuikov's combat style at all. When he heard that Chuikov would send out a reconnaissance battalion to test the enemy's firepower and troop deployment At this time, he couldn't help but complained: "If the reconnaissance area happens to catch up with the enemy's massed heavy troops, wouldn't it be a waste of a reconnaissance battalion? Moreover, our army's offensive intentions will be exposed to the enemy."
"You are right, this method of reconnaissance does more harm than good." Sokov agreed with Ivanov's statement, but he also said helplessly: "But the counterattack to be implemented this time It was so hasty that our army didn't even have time to conduct basic reconnaissance, so we could only use this method to get a rough understanding of the enemy's troop deployment."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Belkin, who had never spoken, said at this moment: "Because the friendly forces have taken active actions to the north of Orlovka. In order to block their attack, the Germans did not let the friendly forces and the city The defenders joined forces and transferred all the troops originally stationed near Mamayev Hill to Orlovka in the north. Now, the enemy opposite us is the Romanian army."
"What, the enemy on the opposite side is the Romanian Army?!" When he heard that the enemy he faced was not the Germans, but the Romanian Army of the slave country, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko couldn't help but shine: "Comrade Division Commander, what if We are really facing the Romanian army, and I can assure you that my troops will defeat them easily."
"Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, even if we are facing the army of a slave country, we cannot underestimate the enemy." In order to prevent the other party from causing unnecessary losses due to underestimating the enemy, Sokov specially reminded Papuchenko: "Papuchinko Lieutenant Colonel Co., in the battle the day before yesterday, our northern hillock was attacked by the Romanian army. After the enemy rushed to our army's position, they started a hand-to-hand combat with our soldiers. I witnessed it all with my own eyes. Speaking from my own heart. , the fighting will of the Romanian army officers and soldiers is still very strong. They and our defenders were like medieval warriors, fighting with bayonets on a position several hundred meters wide. Although we finally repelled their attack, Beigang The defenders also suffered almost all casualties."
Sokov's words forced Papuchenko to put away his contempt for the Romanian army. He said cautiously: "I didn't expect that the troops of these slave countries would have the courage to fight with our soldiers with bayonets. Look. When we fight against them, we must remain vigilant, otherwise we will easily suffer losses."
"Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko," Sokov kindly reminded the other party after waiting for Papuchenko to finish: "When you are attacking the Romanian army's position, if you are intercepted by their machine gun fire, do not let it go. The soldiers rushed forward blindly, but they should immediately establish several machine gun positions to suppress the firepower points on the enemy's positions and cover the soldiers to continue the attack."
If Sokov had said this a few minutes ago, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko might have disapproved of it, but at this moment he knew very well that this was Sokov teaching him valuable battlefield survival experience, so he said gratefully: "I understand, comrade division commander, I will never let the soldiers make unnecessary sacrifices."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. Seeing that it was already getting late, he said to the three regiment commanders: "Comrade commanders, it's getting late. You should all go back to your respective units. It's still possible before the battle starts." You have five or six hours, so take the time to take a good rest.”
After the three group leaders left, Sokov felt that something was wrong. He stood up and looked around the room, and suddenly remembered that he had been back for so long, but why didn't he see the division political commissar Anisimov? He quickly asked Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, where is the political commissar? Why didn't I see where he was?"
Ivanov shook his head and replied: "In order to prevent the troops from suffering serious losses under the enemy's artillery fire, the political commissar and I took a different barge when we set off. And as soon as I got off the boat, I received a call to the headquarters for a meeting. Notice, so I don’t know where he is now.”
After the two of them finished speaking, Belkin asked tentatively: "You mean the battalion political commissar Anisimov, right?"
"That's right, that's him." Sokov and Ivanov nodded at the same time and asked in unison: "Do you know where he is?"
"I know!" Belkin nodded vigorously and said in a positive tone: "When Political Commissar Anisimov got off the ship, his leg was scratched by the iron on the ship and he bled a lot. After he got here, , I saw that his leg had been bleeding, so I took him to the health team for bandage. Since I didn’t know when you would come back, I saw that his injury was not serious and he was still very tired, so I asked him to stay with the health team to rest. .”
