After repelling the German attack, Sokov immediately called Chuikov and reported to him the situation here.
"Comrade Commander," Sokov said into the microphone: "According to my judgment, the German army wants to occupy Luhansk and cut off the Southwest Front's retreat to the east; at the same time, it uses this place as a new starting point for the attack on Stalingrad. "
After Chuikov learned about the battle in detail from Sokov, he asked thoughtfully: "Colonel Sokov, you only used one reinforced battalion to repel the attack of a German infantry reinforced by tanks. Judging from your record, are the Germans really capable of cutting off the Southwest Front's retreat? Don't you think that their counterattack is just to ensure that their main force can safely retreat to the other side of the Dnieper River?"
"Comrade Commander," Sokov knew very well in his heart that it was Chuikov's superior's optimism that misled Chuikov, so much so that Chuikov even doubted his own statement: "There is no doubt that, according to my judgment, The German troops in the Caucasus have completely gotten rid of our army and rushed to join Manstein's troops. In this way, they have formed a local advantage in strength and equipment, let alone against the Sixth Army and the Polish Army. With Bov's rapid swarming, even if the entire Southwest Front is severely damaged, there won't be much of a problem."
"As for our division using a reinforced battalion to crush the German offensive, it is not because the enemy is too weak, but because our troops have strong combat effectiveness." In order to make Chuikov agree with his point of view, Sokov specifically emphasized: "This Most of the commanders and fighters of the battalion are my old subordinates. They have superb technical and tactical levels, rich combat experience, and incomparable hatred for the German invaders. This is the reason for their victory."
After Chuikov patiently listened to Sokov's statement, he said helplessly: "Colonel Sokov, I can report the situation you analyzed to General Rokossovsky, and he will definitely report the matter to the superiors. . But with all due respect, even if we believe you, the superiors may not. As long as they don’t give Vatutin new orders, we can’t change anything.”
Chuikov's words gave Sokov a sense of powerlessness. He clearly saw that friendly forces were in danger and issued warnings many times, but nothing could be changed. He put down the phone, pondered for a long time, raised his head and said to Bely: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, it seems that it is unrealistic to help friendly forces get out of trouble. The only thing we can do is to report ourselves first. The layout of those fake fortifications The work must be done quickly and it must be completed before the next German attack begins.”
"Don't worry, Misha." As the deputy division commander, Bely naturally knew exactly what the situation was like near Lugansk. He nodded quickly and said, "I will arrange manpower to complete the work overnight."
Before dawn the next day, Sokov received a call from Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko. He reported: "Comrade division commander, our regiment's fake positions have been deployed. There are two fake tank positions and one fake tank position." The artillery position..." Before he could finish his words, the rumble of artillery came from the receiver.
"What's going on, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel?" Sokov heard the sudden sound of artillery, and immediately asked sharply: "Where did the sound of artillery come from?"
"I'm not sure, Comrade Division Commander." Papuchenko replied in a panic: "I will immediately send someone to find out where the gunfire came from."
Two minutes later, Papuchenko called again. He reported to Sidorin who answered the phone: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy is shelling our false position. According to the observation post report, the enemy has used at least fifty guns. The artillery, the positions that were bombarded, have been reduced to a sea of flames.”
"Misha, it seems that our false position really deceived the eyes of the Germans." After hearing the voice clearly coming from the receiver, Bely said excitedly to Sokov: "If the false position hadn't helped us Having attracted German artillery fire, I’m afraid the defensive positions will suffer considerable losses.”
"I really didn't expect that the Germans would deploy so many artillery pieces near our division's defense area." Sokov frowned and said, "If we don't eliminate them as soon as possible, I'm afraid they will cause us a lot of casualties."
"What the hell, what's going on?" Sidorin yelled into the microphone from the side: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where did the enemy's artillery come out from?"
Before Papuchenko could answer, Sokov interjected: "Chief of Staff, ask Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko if they can lock the German artillery positions?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the division commander asked me to ask you, can you lock down the enemy's artillery positions?"
Papuchenko hesitated for a moment and replied: "The enemy's artillery position should be to the west of our regiment's position, but the specific location and distance are not clear at the moment."
"Immediately send out scouts and artillery observers to find out the enemy's artillery positions." As soon as Sidorin heard Sokov asking about the German artillery positions, he immediately guessed his intention and directly gave Papuchenko an order: "Then destroy them with new rockets."
Papuchenko has witnessed the power of new rockets many times. After hearing the order given by Sidorin, he immediately replied excitedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I immediately sent scouts and artillery observers to find out the location of the enemy's artillery positions, and then use new rockets to destroy them .”
The German artillery fire had not stopped, and the scouts sent by Papuchenko had already found the location of the artillery position. Shortly after the coordinates were sent out, more than twenty rockets with long flame tails flew over the German artillery positions.
As soon as the rocket hit the ground, it exploded immediately. The explosive point exploded suddenly, and the shooting shrapnel and flying rubble intertwined with each other, like a sweeping tornado, blowing the cannon to pieces, throwing the artillery soldiers' stumps and broken arms high, and the black clouds rising up. The smoke envelops everything that was blown up, as well as the soil and gravel that was thrown up, and the sky and the sun are covered with the flash of fire.
As the German artillery positions were destroyed, the deafening sound of artillery suddenly stopped, and the entire battlefield became quiet. The soldiers hiding in the trenches unconsciously looked towards the smoke rising in the distance and listened to the faint sound of explosions.
Some recruits asked curiously: "Why did the enemy's shelling stop? Did our guerrillas get close to the enemy's position and blow up all their cannons?"
"It's not the guerrillas. With the combat effectiveness of the guerrillas, it is impossible to destroy the enemy's artillery positions in such a short period of time." A veteran who knew the inside story said lightly: "It should be that we used new rockets to destroy the enemy's artillery positions." position."
