In fact, there was no need for Yershakov to report the battle situation. Sokov had already learned about the battle situation of the 125th Guards Regiment through the observation post set up on the Beigang Water Tower. Knowing that they not only repelled the enemy's attack, but even recovered part of the lost positions, Sokov couldn't help but nodded with satisfaction and said to Ivanov with a smile: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I really didn't expect that, Yershako Lieutenant Colonel Husband is quite good at commanding battles."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Ivanov showed an embarrassed expression on his face: "Comrade division commander, to tell you the truth, during the battle to defend the Don River between our division and General Guryev's 39th Guards Division, Ye The Ershakov regiment was the first to be defeated by the enemy, which resulted in a huge gap in our defense line. We did not have enough strength to block the gap opened by the enemy, and had to be forced to move to Stalingrad."
Blocking the enemy in the Don River Valley and preventing them from approaching Stalingrad is a thing of the past for Sokov. What he was very curious about was, since the Yershakov regiment was defeated, why did he, the regiment leader, have nothing to do? He looked around and saw that Sidorin was assigning tasks to Second Lieutenant Maxim, so he lowered his voice and asked: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, why did Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov lose the battle and his superiors didn't punish him?"
Ivanov replied with a wry smile: "As soon as the battle started, Yershakov was injured and sent to the field hospital in the rear. The troops were commanded by the deputy commander. Afterwards, when the superiors investigated the responsibility, Yershakov was supposed to be arrested. Fortunately, the political commissar and I interceded for him, saying that not long after the battle started, he withdrew from the battle because of his injuries. What happened next had nothing to do with him, so he avoided going to the military. The fate of the court, but the military rank was reduced from colonel to lieutenant colonel.”
After learning that Yershakov had been demoted because he was jointly and severally responsible, Sokov became even more concerned about the fate of the deputy commander, and then asked: "How did the superiors deal with the deputy commander?"
"How else to deal with it?!" Anisimov, the division political commissar, said with a sneer: "The deputy commander was executed after being brought to the military court because of his unfavorable command of the battle, which caused the collapse of our army's defense line."
Sokov couldn't help but shudder when he learned that the deputy commander was executed by a military court because of his poor command. He thought that he was defending Mamayev Heights. If one day the position was lost due to lack of troops or other reasons, would the same fate be waiting for him?
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin came over with a telegram. Seeing Sokov sitting at the table in a daze, he called him and handed over the telegram in his hand: "Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov sent A telegram came in saying that their regiment successfully repelled an enemy attack and recovered part of its lost position."
Sidorin's voice woke Sokov out of his thoughts. He took the telegram, looked at it twice, handed it to Ivanov, looked up at Sidorin and asked: "Ask Papuchenko Colonel, when will his troops withdraw to Mamayev Heights?"
Although Papuchenko assured Sokov that they would fight to the last man. However, as soon as Sokov learned that the friendly forces on the right began to retreat, he decisively ordered Papuchenko to choose an opportunity to withdraw his troops from their positions and move to Mamayev Heights. He believed that there was no need to waste precious manpower and was not conducive to defense. of lot.
When Sidorin heard Sokov asking about the situation of the 122nd Regiment, he quickly replied: "The Papuchenko Regiment has successfully entered the Starcha Regiment's defense area. After a short rest, they will continue to move towards Mama and Ma." Yevgan retreats.”
"Chief of Staff, immediately inform Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko that when they evacuate the Starcha regiment's position, remember to take the wounded of the regiment with them." Sokov said to Sidorin: "Starcha The regiment will have to withdraw from its position soon, and if there are too many wounded, it will slow down their retreat."
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin finally asked Sokov after leaving: "When can the Nastarcha Regiment withdraw to Mamayev Heights?"
"Let's wait until after dark." Sokov sighed and said, "I don't know what kind of tasks the Army Headquarters will assign us. It will be much easier to move with a unit outside."
After listening to Sokov's words, Sidorin nodded, turned around and went to make a phone call. And Ivanov asked curiously: "Comrade division commander, what other tasks do you think the group army headquarters will assign to us?"
"I don't know." Sokov shook his head, but seeing the usual expression on Ivanov's face, he added: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, haven't you noticed that the superiors regard our division as a battlefield fire brigade?" Do you want to use it? Wherever the situation is critical, let our troops rush there to provide support."
Hearing what Sokov said, Anisimov couldn't help laughing: "Comrade division commander, the superiors use our troops as battlefield fire brigade, which means that in their minds, our combat effectiveness is the strongest. Other troops , maybe I want to get recognition from my superiors, but I’m afraid I won’t have this opportunity.”
"Comrade Political Commissar," Sokov didn't think it was a good thing that his superiors were optimistic about him. He said to Anisimov with a grimace: "Our task is to hold on to Mamayev Heights so that the enemy cannot separate our north and south defense lines; We cannot seize the central ferry and cut off our connection with the outside world. If we consume too much of our troops in other areas, then what force will we use to defend this place in the future?"
"Comrade Commander, according to your statement." Anisimov said thoughtfully after hearing this: "It is completely necessary for us to find ways to preserve our strength."
"Yes, it is quite necessary." Sokov said with a serious expression in order to get everyone to unify their thoughts: "As long as the enemy cannot capture Mamayev Heights, our connection with the outside world will not be interrupted. In this way , we will have the opportunity to slowly accumulate strength, wait until the right time, give the enemy a thunderous blow, and completely crush their siege of Stalingrad."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Ivanov and Anisimov fell silent. Seeing this, Sokov asked with some confusion: "What, did I say something wrong?"
"Comrade Commander, I want to hear your truth." Anisimov looked around and saw that everyone else in the room was far away from them, so he couldn't hear what they were saying, so he asked cautiously. : "Can we really hold Stalingrad?"
In response to the question raised by Anisimov, Sokov smiled lightly and then said: "Comrade Political Commissar, I think we will be able to hold Stalingrad. Don't you have confidence?"
"How could it be possible?" Anisimov did not expect Sokov to ask such a question, and replied in a panic: "I have always been confident of defending this city..."
Although Anisimov kept explaining, Sokov knew very well that his hope that the Soviet army could hold the city was getting smaller and smaller. Sokov coughed lightly, cleared his throat, and said to Anisimov: "Comrade Political Commissar, although the price we may pay to defend this city is a bit high, I always firmly believe that we will never Let the enemy capture this city named after the Supreme Commander himself.”
"Aren't you worried that..." Anisimov deliberately lowered his voice when he said this: "The troops holding on to Stalingrad will end up with the tragic fate of those troops holding on to Kiev?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," seeing that Anisimov was not confident enough to hold on to the city, while Ivanov sat silently aside, he obviously agreed with Anisimov's view. In order to dispel the concerns of the two men, Sokov said pleasantly: "In the Battle of Kiev, our army lost hundreds of thousands of troops, but that happened under specific historical conditions. At that time, most of our commanders and fighters had no combat experience. Facing an enemy with rich war experience, defeat is inevitable. The war has been going on for more than a year now, and our commanders and fighters have grown up in the war. They have not only learned how to fight enemies who are armed to the teeth, Also learned how to defeat them.
Even though our current situation seems very bad, the enemy is equally difficult. The counterattacks we carried out time and time again, although they failed to achieve the desired results, they also successfully disrupted the enemy's offensive steps, preventing them from occupying the city. As long as we delay for a while, the enemy's combat effectiveness will gradually weaken, and then it will be time for us to launch a major counterattack. "
Sokov's words gave Ivanov and Anisimov enough confidence. They lowered their heads and raised their heads again, and their frowns relaxed. Ivanov even looked at Sokov and said: "Comrade division commander, if you want to send people to support the Yershakov regiment on the right, please let me lead the team to carry out this task."
Sokov almost blurted out his objections, but considering that Ivanov had just regained his confidence, pouring cold water on him would make his enthusiasm disappear again, so he nodded and said: "Okay, Deputy Comrade Division Commander, if I want to send someone to support the Yershakov Regiment, I will definitely give you this important task."
…………
The troops of the Gurdiev Division and the Gorishny Division were bombed by enemy planes during their retreat. In order to withdraw the troops to the Red October Factory as soon as possible, both of them issued the same order at the same time, asking the troops to withdraw to the starting position as quickly as possible regardless of casualties.
The enemy in the north, seeing that their bombers were bombing the retreating Soviet troops, also launched a new attack. This time, for the sake of safety, the German army dispatched three Tiger tanks and five Panzer III tanks in an attempt to break through the Yershakov regiment's position and cut off the retreating Soviet army's retreat.
Yershakov saw that the enemy had dispatched another tank, and quickly called a battalion commander and asked loudly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I saw that the enemy had dispatched another tank, and it seems that one of them contains that new type of tank. How about it?" , can you stop them?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." The first battalion commander said confidently: "Since we were able to destroy the enemy's tanks just now, we can also destroy these tanks."
The first battalion commander put down the phone and left the command post. He bent down and walked along the trench to the forefront and found the anti-tank company commander. He asked the other party: "Comrade company commander, are you confident in destroying the enemy's tanks?"
"No problem." It may be that the process of destroying six enemy tanks just now was so easy that the anti-tank company commander underestimated the enemy. He felt that the enemy's tanks were nothing more than that. As long as there were anti-tank guns on the position, how many enemy tanks could there be? Just destroy as many of them as possible: "We will definitely destroy all the enemy tanks in front of our position."
Seeing that the anti-tank company commander was so confident, the first battalion commander was relieved. Before returning to his command post, he specifically warned the other party: "Comrade company commander, remember, after repelling the enemy's attack this time, you cannot lead the troops to attack casually, otherwise it will disrupt the defense deployment of your superiors. Do you understand? ?”
If you take the lead in the charge, not only will you not praise, but you will also criticize. The commander of the anti-tank company felt dissatisfied when he heard the first battalion commander speaking to him in such a tone. But on the surface, he pretended to be very cooperative and said: "Don't worry, after repelling the enemy this time, I will stay on the position honestly and will never attack without permission."
The enemy tank quickly rushed to a place three hundred meters away from the position. Seeing that the enemy tank had entered the shooting range, the anti-tank company commander immediately gave the order to fire. Following his order, the 18 surviving anti-tank guns on the position opened fire at the same time. In an instant, two Panzer III tanks were destroyed. However, the armor-piercing bullets hitting the Tiger tank's armor turned into ricochet and did not penetrate the target at all.
Seeing this, an anti-tank gunner quickly turned to the company commander and shouted: "Comrade company commander, the enemy's heavy tank armor is too thick and my anti-tank gun cannot penetrate its armor. What should I do?"
"Keep shooting!" The company commander saw that the Tiger tank was still approaching him aggressively, so he shouted at the anti-tank crew: "Don't panic, the closer it is to us, the greater the chance of penetrating its frontal armor! "
Not only was the anti-tank man next to the company commander found that the Tiger tank could not penetrate, but the other anti-tank men who shot at the Tiger tank also discovered the same problem. They wanted to ask the company commander how to deal with this kind of tank, but when they heard the company commander order them to keep shooting at the tank, they quickly reloaded and continued to shoot the approaching Tiger tanks with anti-tank guns.
A Tiger tank rushing at the front became the key target of the anti-tank fighters. In the short journey of one hundred meters, it was hit by at least fifty armor-piercing incendiary bombs fired by anti-tank guns, but none of them penetrated its frontal armor.
Seeing that the armor-piercing bullets hit the armor plates of the enemy tanks but were unable to effectively penetrate the armor, the anti-tank fighters seemed a little panicked and shouted at the company commander: "Comrade company commander, the enemy tanks can't penetrate the armor. What should we do?" manage?"
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