Hearing Sokov's question, Ataman hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade Colonel, our troops cannot arrive here until dark at the earliest to take over the defense. anwenA`ｏｍ”
After Ataman said these words, he saw Sokov's face full of doubts and quickly added: "Don't get me wrong, it's not that we deliberately delay the time, but because we have to take over the defense troops, We are still fighting the Germans, and we will not be able to withdraw from the battle for a while."
Although Sokov's stay in Stalingrad was not short, except for fighting at the Red October Factory for a period of time, he spent the rest of his time either leading his troops to fight fires or staying at Mamayev Heights. So far, He couldn't even figure out the exact locations of the barricade factory and the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory.
He held a pen and paper, pushed it in front of Ataman, and said with a smile: "Comrade Captain, can you draw for me the locations of the barricade factory and Dzerzhinsky factory, as well as the defense area of your division?"
Ataman was very cooperative with Sokov's request. He took the pen and paper and quickly drew a sketch. While drawing, he introduced to Sokov: "The barricade factory is on the west side of Liumian Street. And the Dzerzhinsky factory is directly north..."
After Ataman's explanation and Sokov's comparison of sketches and maps, he finally roughly ordered the locations of the three positions, as well as the respective defense areas of the 95th Infantry Division and the 138th Infantry Division. His position was quite close to the Dzerzhinsky Factory. Unfortunately, the 37th Guards Division was caught in a bitter battle and could not allocate its strength to take over the defense here, so Chuikov had no choice but to settle for the next best thing. Lyudnikov's troops were sent.
After figuring out the general situation, Sokov said reasonably: "Understood, Comrade Captain, before your troops arrive here, we will definitely hold on to Six Sides Street and never let it fall into the hands of the Germans." inside."
"Do you allow me to leave?" Seeing that his mission had been completed, Ataman said goodbye to Sokov: "I want to go back and report to my superiors that I have established contact with you and will bring the troops to Come here to take over the defense.”
"Permission, Comrade Captain." Sokov nodded and asked with concern: "I guess it won't be too safe on your way back. Do you need me to send a few soldiers to escort you back?"
"Thank you for your kindness." Ataman waved his hand and said, "I brought two soldiers with me. Even if we encounter sporadic enemies on the road, we are fully capable of dealing with them."
After Ataman left, Sokov immediately picked up the phone and told Aglanov: "Comrade Captain, the friendly forces coming to take over our defense will arrive after dark. Before that, you must do whatever it takes, Guard Liumian Street, do you understand?"
"Don't worry, comrade division commander." Aglanov looked out the window at the German soldiers who were beaten by artillery and fled, and said confidently: "Judging from the current situation, let alone persisting until dark, even if we persist until dark, Tomorrow dawn will be fine for us."
"Comrade Captain," even though Sokov had been staying in his headquarters, he could judge from the sound of gunfire outside that these two repelling German attacks were the work of the artillery company and the work of the infantry. The effect was limited, so he reminded Aglanov: "Although we have repelled the enemy's two attacks, they are absolutely unwilling to fail. It won't be long before they launch a third and fourth attack. Can you You can’t take it lightly.”
Sokov not only reminded Aglanov in this way, but also reminded Seryosha. After doing all this, he was about to ask the telegraph operator to call Sidorin and ask if the people sent by Orel had reached Mamayev Heights. But the radio operator handed him a telegram first: "Comrade division commander, this is the telegram just sent by the chief of staff."
Sokov worriedly said that if Sidorin called me at this time, what would happen? Full of questions, he took the telegram from the operator and only glanced at it a few times before frowning tightly. It turned out that Sidorin informed him that the German army was shelling the tank whose crew had been killed, and seemed to want to destroy it to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Soviet army.
After seeing the telegram, Sokov's heart immediately became heavy. He held the telegram tightly in his hand and walked back and forth in the room, thinking quickly about what measures he should take to prevent the Germans from destroying the tank.
However, he racked his brains and thought for a long time, but could not find a proper solution. He shook his head, stopped, and said helplessly to the operator: "Operator, call back to the chief of staff and ask him to closely monitor the enemy's movements. If anything happens, If there are any new changes, report them to me immediately.”
Watching the operator ticking the newspaper, Sokov secretly regretted it. He felt that when he came out, he should have brought a few more communication soldiers to lay a telephone line from Liumian Street to Mamayev Heights. As soon as he comes, he can remotely control the battle in the direction of Mamayev Heights from Liumian Street.
While he was anxious, Sokov suddenly thought of the phone in the room and could contact Chuikov. He was unable to suppress the enemy's long-range artillery fire, but Chuikov could. Thinking of this, he quickly picked up the phone and connected to the group army headquarters. As soon as there was a voice on the phone, he immediately said: "I am Colonel Sokov. Please help me find Commander Chuikov. I have important information." The matter needs to be reported to him.”
The staff officer who answered the phone heard that it was Sokov, commander of the 41st Guards Division, who wanted to find the commander. He did not dare to neglect and quickly informed Chuikov. Chuikov picked up the phone and asked, "Colonel Sokov, what do you want from me?"
"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Sokov was worried that Chuikov would be disapproving of the Tiger tank like Krylov, so he said bluntly: "Our troops at the Mamayev Hills captured A new German Tiger tank had no one who knew how to drive a tank, so it could only be parked at the foot of the mountain in Beigang..."
Before Sokov could finish speaking, Chuikov interrupted: "General Orel has already reported this to me, and he has also sent people to receive this tank. What, is there any problem?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin just reported to me that the enemy is shelling this tank and seems to want to destroy it to prevent it from being captured by our army." Sokov asked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, this is a new type of tank. Tank, if our military industrial personnel get it, it will be very helpful to improve our army's weapons and equipment. I hope you can find a way to stop the German artillery fire."
"Stop, how can I stop the enemy's shelling?" Chuikov said dissatisfied: "The enemy's artillery does not obey my command. If I don't let them continue the shelling, can they stop?"
"The artillery on the east coast can be used to suppress the enemy so that they cannot continue to bombard the Tiger tanks. This will give the people sent by General Orel the opportunity to drive the tanks to a safe place and hide them."
"But the artillery on the east coast doesn't know where the enemy's artillery is." Chuikov said hesitantly: "How do they suppress the enemy's artillery fire?"
"There are also several artillery observers at Mamayev Heights. I think they can provide firing parameters to the artillery on the east coast and guide the artillery fire to suppress the enemy's artillery positions."
If Sokov hadn't reminded him, Chuikov would have forgotten that there were special artillery observers stationed on Mamayev Hill to indicate the firing direction for the artillery on the east coast. Chuikov nodded and said: "Okay, I will contact the artillery commander of the group army immediately and let him handle the matter."
They had just negotiated with Chuikov on how to deal with the German artillery, and the operator handed Sokov another telegram: "This is the telegram just sent by the chief of staff."
In the new telegram, Sidorin reported to Sokov that the personnel sent by General Orel to receive the tank had arrived. Because the enemy's artillery fire was too fierce, two tank soldiers tried to rush into the Tiger tank, but they failed. He fell under gunfire.
Seeing this content, Sokov was startled. He didn't know how many tank soldiers Orel sent over, but if he forced the tank soldiers to rush towards the Tiger tank despite the enemy's fierce fire, it would be as close as death. What a difference. Moreover, the enemy's artillery fire was so fierce that even if one or two tank soldiers were lucky enough to get into the tank, it was still unknown how far they could drive the Tiger tank.
In order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, he once again asked the radio operator to send a message to Sidorin: before the enemy's artillery position was suppressed by our artillery fire, it was strictly forbidden to send tank troops to rush towards the tanks under the enemy's artillery fire.
Sidorin was probably guarding the telegraph machine. Less than two minutes after the telegram was sent, his reply arrived: "The order has been received. The tank crew has stopped taking risky actions and is waiting for our artillery to suppress the enemy's attack." Artillery emplacement.”
After another five or six minutes, rumbles of artillery sounded from the east bank. This was the group army's artillery suppressing the enemy's artillery positions based on the data provided by the observers on Mamayev Hill. The German artillery fire that was shelling the Tiger tanks suddenly stopped. Seeing that the time was right, the tank soldiers hiding on the hill quickly rushed towards the foot of the mountain in groups of two without waiting for the alarm to be lifted.
Since there was no enemy fire to intercept them, they successfully entered the interior of the Tiger tank. After simple exploration, they mastered the driving of the Tiger tank. However, not long after they drove out, they were blocked by a bomb crater in front of them. In desperation, one of the tank soldiers got out of the tank and ran to the hill. The infantry called for reinforcements.
The 125th Guards Regiment of Yershakov was guarding the northern post. He learned that the tank was blocked by a bomb crater. Without saying a word, he sent a company and asked the commanders and soldiers to carry tools, but he adjusted the bomb crater so that the tank could escape. can pass smoothly. At the same time as the troops set off, he also called and reported the matter to Sidorin.
After hearing this, Sidorin asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov, how long will it take to fill those craters?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Yershakov said with some embarrassment as he had seen the craters at the foot of the mountain with his own eyes: "There are about twenty bomb craters from where the Tiger tanks are parked to the passable road. . It will take at least five or six hours to fill in all these craters."
"What, it takes five or six hours?" Sidorin was unhappy when he heard that it would take so long. He said to Yershakov in a stern tone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, one hour is the most I can do." I can only give you one hour, and you must fill up all the craters. Do you understand?"
Knowing that this was an impossible task, Yershakov had no choice. He could only bite the bullet and replied: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, fill all the craters within an hour. To allow tanks to pass."
However, the Germans were not willing to let their Tiger tank fall into the hands of the Soviet army. Since the artillery bombardment had no effect, they dispatched bombers to try to blow up the Tiger tank that was about to be transferred.
Seeing the four bombers appearing in the sky, Yershakov guessed the enemy's purpose and quickly ordered the soldiers to light fires around the tank, trying to make the enemy planes think that the Tiger tank had been hit by bullets and caught fire during the bombardment.
At the beginning, due to the heavy smoke on the ground, the enemy planes could not see the target clearly, and they really thought that the Tiger tanks they were ordered to attack had already been hit by bullets and burst into flames. However, the German observation posts on the ground found that the tank was still intact, so they reported this information to the public.
The enemy plane received a notification from the command center and learned that the target it wanted to attack was still intact. The fire and smoke it saw were just tricks by the Russians. As a result, the four enemy planes lowered the high ground and dived towards the location of the Tiger tank.
Although it was difficult for the German pilots to hit the target accurately due to the obstruction of the smoke, the bombs they dropped still caused great casualties to the commanders and soldiers who were filling the bomb craters. Seeing this, Yershakov quickly ordered several machine guns on the top of the mountain to fire into the air. He did not expect to shoot down the enemy plane, but only hoped to drive the enemy plane away to prevent the commanders and fighters from suffering greater losses.
At the beginning, due to the heavy smoke on the ground, the enemy planes could not see the target clearly, and they really thought that the Tiger tanks they were ordered to attack had already been hit by bullets and burst into flames. However, the German observation posts on the ground discovered that the tank was still intact, and reported this information to the public.
The enemy plane received a notification from the command center and learned that the target it wanted to attack was still intact. The fire and smoke it saw were just tricks by the Russians. As a result, the four enemy planes lowered their heights and dived towards the location of the Tiger tank.
Although it was difficult for the German pilots to hit the target accurately due to the obstruction of the smoke, the bombs they dropped still caused great casualties to the commanders and soldiers who were filling the bomb craters. Seeing this, Yershakov quickly ordered several machine guns on the top of the mountain to fire into the air. He did not expect to shoot down the enemy plane, but only hoped to drive the enemy plane away to prevent the commanders and fighters from suffering greater losses.
