Just after dawn, the sound of cannons rang out from the left bank of the Volga River broke the early morning silence on Mamayev Hill. More than 300 artillery pieces of various calibers deployed on the east coast began to shell the enemy positions in front of Mamayev Heights and the Red October Factory.
As soon as the bombardment began, Sokov and Ivanov arrived at the observation post on top of the south hill. Sokov raised his telescope and looked at the enemy position in the distance. He saw that the entire position was shrouded in smoke. He put down the telescope, turned to Ivanov and said: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, order the troops to attack!"
After hearing Sokov's order, Ivanov hesitated for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade division commander, when the troops attack, do they need to carry the military flag?"
"No need." In response to Ivanov's question, Sokov replied without hesitation: "Just let the soldiers use ordinary red flags, never the flags of the Guards Division."
Sokov's words aroused Ivanov's dissatisfaction. He frowned and asked displeasedly: "Comrade division commander, why can't we use the military flag of our division?"
The reason why Sokov did not intend to let the troops use the military flag when attacking was entirely because he had learned from previous mistakes. In order to avoid Ivanov having any bad associations, he specifically explained: "In the early days of the war, the 24th Infantry The division was deorganized because of the loss of the military flag, and the surviving commanders and fighters were punished. The leader of the downsized regiment, Comrade Belkin, was once a regiment political commissar of that division, and he was not punished because his superiors protected him. , and was placed in my army and served as my deputy."
Although Sokov's explanation was very simple, Ivanov still heard the implication. He immediately understood that if the flag of the 41st Guards Division was lost in this counterattack, which had little chance of winning, everyone would be at risk. All division officers may be court-martialed. In order to avoid this possibility, he no longer insisted on using military flags when the troops attacked. Instead, he made a gesture to the adjutant standing aside, telling him to send a signal to the troops at the foot of the mountain.
The adjutant saw Ivanov's gesture, nodded quickly, and then ran to the east of the hill, waving the red and blue signal flag in his hand to signal the troops staying at the foot of the hill.
Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, who was staying at the foot of the mountain, saw the signal from the top of the mountain. He immediately drew his pistol, turned around and shouted to the soldiers lined up neatly behind him: "Comrades, move forward!"
After shouting, Papuchenko held his pistol high and strode forward. The flag bearer standing next to him quickly raised a bright red flag high and hurried after him. The commanders and soldiers behind saw the red flag moving forward and started to move. The commanders and fighters constantly adjusted their formations as they marched. After walking more than fifty steps, the original dozen square formations turned into a dense formation of skirmishers.
When the skirmishers of the 122nd Regiment passed the top of the mountain, Ivanov saw Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko walking in the first row. He couldn't help being surprised and quickly ordered the adjutant: "Hurry up and get Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko." Call over."
The adjutant agreed, quickly ran to Papuchenko's side, and said loudly to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the deputy division commander asked you to come over."
Papuchenko stopped, glanced at the troops moving forward, turned around and followed the adjutant towards Ivanov's position. Still far away, he asked Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, our regiment is advancing towards the enemy's position. What instructions do you have?"
"Nonsense, absolutely nonsense." Ivanov shouted at Papuchenko: "You are the regiment commander, not the company commander. Who needs you to lead the troops to charge? Return to your command post immediately. Continue to command the troops in operations there."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Unexpectedly, after listening to Ivanov's words, Papuchenko still stood there without moving. He said in a humble and condescending manner: "I don't have a command post, and there is no place to build a command post, so I still ask Please give me permission to charge with my soldiers."
Not to mention that Ivanov was reluctant to let his regiment leader die, Sokov was equally reluctant. You know, cultivating an excellent regiment-level commander is not an easy task. This is not like promoting a company commander. Any veteran with rich combat experience from the army can be qualified. Therefore, seeing that Ivanov failed to convince the other party, Sokov stood up and said: "Papchenko Lieutenant Colonel, come here!"
Sokov took Papuchenko to the west side of the hillside, pointed to the foot of the hill and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you seen the dilapidated fortifications a few hundred meters away from the hill?"
Papuchenko looked in the direction of his finger and saw several trenches that had been blown out of shape by artillery fire a few hundred meters away from Nangang. There were also some destroyed firepower points and shelters in the trenches, so he clicked Nodding, he replied: "I saw it."
"It used to be the defensive position of the 1st Battalion, but later it could not withstand the enemy's heavy artillery bombardment, so I ordered them to withdraw." Sokov said to Papchenko: "Send your regiment command post later. , deploy there. After your troops seize the enemy's first line of defense, it will not be too late to move the regiment command post forward."
Sokov was afraid that Papuchenko would give another reason, so he said in a commanding tone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is my order, do you understand?"
Papuchenko originally wanted to say a few more words about charging together with his soldiers, in order to boost morale. But when he heard Sokov ordering him in such a stern tone, he could only agree, call several staff officers and communications soldiers from the regiment, and go to the defensive zone under the hillside to establish a regiment command post.
Seeing Papuchenko and several of his subordinates establishing the regiment command post at the foot of the mountain, Ivanov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He said gratefully to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, thank you!"
"Thank me, what's there to thank you for?" Sokov replied to Ivanov with a smile: "I am also a member of the 41st Guards Division now. Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko is not only your subordinate, but also They are also my subordinates. Isn’t it my duty as a teacher to love and protect my subordinates?”
After saying these words, Sokov shouted to the adjutant: "Comrade adjutant, please come here!"
When the adjutant heard Sokov's shout, he trotted over and asked cautiously: "Comrade division commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Go and tell the commander of the 124th Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, to establish a regiment command post at the foot of the mountain." Sokov told the adjutant: "Before his troops seize the enemy's position, the regiment command post cannot be established." Move forward.”
…………
When the skirmisher line of the 122nd Regiment was still more than 800 meters away from the enemy's position, the artillery on the left bank of the Volga River stopped firing, and the enemy's position shrouded in gunpowder smoke became silent again.
The commander who led the charge knew in his heart that the enemy on the position had not come back to his senses just after the bombardment stopped. Once they enter the shooting position, they will cause huge casualties to their own troops. So the commander sent a signal to the soldiers to speed up their advance.
Seeing the signal from the front, the soldiers all quickened their pace. The original long stride turned into a sprint, and soon the sprint turned into a trot. A minute or two later, the commanders and fighters of the 122nd Regiment sped up and rushed towards the enemy's position with weapons in hand.
When they were still more than a hundred meters away from the position, the enemies on the position started shooting. Bullets fired from sporadic firepower points made gaps one after another in the Soviet skirmisher line. But the warrior in front fell, and the warrior behind immediately made up for it. They stepped over their injured or killed comrades on the ground and rushed forward without hesitation.
No one stopped to check on the fallen soldiers, whether they were killed or wounded. Everyone was focused on rushing into the enemy's position as quickly as possible and fighting them in hand-to-hand combat. As for the injured comrades, there are naturally health workers following behind to take care of them.
Seeing that many soldiers fell during the attack, Sokov quickly put down his telescope and asked Ivanov on the side: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, many of our soldiers are injured. Let your health workers go."
Although there are many health workers in Mamayev Heights, Sokov did not deploy any of them in today's battle. Instead, all the original health workers of the 41st Guards Division were responsible for the battlefield rescue mission.
"Understood." Ivanov nodded, picked up the phone next to him, and called the captain of the health team who was hiding in the tunnel: "Comrade captain, take your health workers and attack!"
Seeing Ivanov about to put down the microphone, Sokov quickly stopped him and emphasized: "Comrade deputy division commander, tell the captain of the health team to let the health workers rescue the lightly wounded first on the battlefield."
"What, rescue the lightly wounded first?" It was obviously the first time Ivanov heard this statement, so he asked in confusion: "Comrade division commander, why is this?"
"The lightly wounded can return to the battle after being simply bandaged." Seeing that Ivanov was unclear about the rescue rules on the battlefield, Sokov explained to him: "The medicines and bandages carried by the health workers are limited. If there are too many If the land is used for the treatment of seriously wounded soldiers, it will affect the treatment of lightly wounded soldiers who can continue to fight. Do you understand?"
"But," Ivanov heard this and asked in embarrassment, "should we just leave the seriously wounded on the battlefield and ignore them?"
"How is this possible?" Seeing that Ivanov did not understand what he meant, Sokov could only continue to explain to him: "After the health workers have treated the injuries of the lightly wounded, they can find a way to carry the seriously injured back and send them to the hospital. The health team in the tunnel provides treatment. This not only saves medicine, but also greatly increases the chance of survival of the seriously injured."
After hearing this, Ivanov completely understood what Sokov meant. He quickly spoke into the microphone and repeated what Sokov had just said to the health captain who was about to lead the health workers to attack. Finally, he emphasized: " Comrade Captain, for those who are seriously injured, you must find a way to get them back as soon as possible for treatment. Do you understand?"
By the time Ivanov put down the phone, the commanders and fighters of the 122nd Regiment had already rushed to a place only thirty or forty meters away from the position. The soldiers threw the unstrung grenades towards the enemy positions one after another, and continued to charge forward while taking advantage of the smoke rising from the explosion. Before the smoke cleared, many soldiers jumped into the trenches and started close combat with the enemies inside.
Seeing that the battle had moved to the trenches, Sokov secretly thought: "The enemies in this area are all Romanian troops. I wonder if the soldiers of the 122nd Guards Regiment can win in hand-to-hand combat with them. "
Since the battle has already started in the trenches, there are almost no fire points shooting outside. The commanders and fighters of the 124th Regiment who followed them also speeded up. They changed from a trot to a sprint speed, aiming to rush through in the shortest time. Enter the trenches and cooperate with your comrades to eliminate the enemies in the fortifications.
"Comrade Division Commander." The phone hanging on the wall rang. Sokov picked up the phone and put it to his ear. He heard Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko's voice coming from inside: "My troops have rushed into the enemy. position, can my regiment command post move forward?"
"No, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko." Sokov rejected Papuchenko's request without hesitation: "The battle is still going on in the trenches. Can our troops successfully seize this position?" , is still an unknown quantity, and I cannot let a regiment-level commander take risks easily."
Hearing what Sokov said, Papuchenko said unconvinced: "Comrade division commander, it is precisely because my troops have not captured the enemy's positions that I feel that I should go to the front. I believe the soldiers see me The appearance of the enemy will definitely boost morale, and then there will be no problem in defeating the enemy."
Regarding Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko's statement, Sokov sneered, and then said disdainfully: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you ever thought about it, if you go to the battle site at this time, what if you are attacked by the enemy?" The snipers discovered that you were their target. What will your soldiers think once they see you being killed by the enemy's sniper? Not only will it not be able to boost the morale of the army, but it will even have the effect of destroying the morale of the army. .”
Sokov's words choked Papuchenko speechless. Seeing that the other party was still silent, Sokov emphasized to him again: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, remember, as long as the fighting on that position continues, you will stay in the current command post. You’re not allowed to go anywhere, do you understand?”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." If Papuchenko was on the high ground at this moment and saw Ivanov giving a thumbs up to Sokov, he might be so angry that he would vomit blood. But at this moment, he could only say honestly into the microphone: "I obey your order. Before my troops occupy the enemy's position, I will never move the command post forward without authorization."
"Comrade Commander, you are so awesome." Ivanov waited for Sokov to put down the phone and then said approvingly: "I didn't expect that they had been your subordinates for less than a day, but they didn't pay any attention to your orders. Dare to disobey.”
