The Third Battalion, which launched an all-out attack, gained a lot in today's battle. In addition to capturing hundreds of German officers and soldiers, it also captured three Panzer IV tanks and an assault gun, as well as five heavy artillery pieces that were luckily not blown up by the air force.
.
Sokov and Belkin also had a dispute about the disposal of these prisoners. Belkin believed that if so many enemies were released, they would pick up weapons again to fight us when they went back, which would strengthen the German army in disguise.
Strength.
The reason why Sokov insisted on letting go of these German prisoners was very simple. The city did not have the capacity to accommodate prisoners. Sokov was unable to kill prisoners in large numbers. Instead, he incorporated German prisoners into his own team.
This kind of thing was too unrealistic, so he thought it was better to let the prisoners go. After the prisoners returned to the army, even if they were re-armed, their fighting will would not be comparable to before, and it would also affect the Germans'
Military morale.
Later, despite Belgin's objections, Sokov issued an order to Andrei in the name of brigade commander, asking him to release all the prisoners he had captured. Andrei also had some resistance to this order, but since it was
He could only carry out the orders from his superiors unconditionally. After the prisoners left, he called a meeting with several company commanders below and said to them: "Comrades, company commanders, I think you have all seen that we captured him twice in a row.
The prisoners and the brigade commander all asked us to let go. I now officially declare that our battalion will not keep any prisoners in battle from now on. Do you understand?"
The three company commanders also had emotions about the release of the prisoners. When they heard the order given by Andre, they immediately replied loudly: "I understand."
Sokov didn't know that because of himself, Andrei had given the order to the company commanders of the third battalion not to take prisoners. He was handing over tasks to the artillery company commander and the tank company commander. He first told Porochenko
Said: "Comrade Lieutenant, in today's battle, the third battalion captured five 150mm howitzers. I will hand over these artillery pieces to your company. You must conceal these artillery pieces to avoid them from being bombed by the Germans."
suffered a loss."
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier." Porochenko replied with a smile: "The artillery of our company are hidden in different alleys. When it is necessary to carry out shelling, they will be pushed to the street, and then according to the artillery observers
Use the data provided to accurately bombard the enemy."
"Well done." After praising Porochenko, Sokov turned to Alitai and said: "Lieutenant Alitai, your tank company suffered certain losses in today's battle. Several tanks were captured.
Tanks and assault guns will be assigned to your company. What about, will the tank crews drive German tanks?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander." Alitai waited for Sokov to finish and said with a smile: "Although they are different tanks, our tank crews can still drive them with ease. By the way, Comrade Brigade Commander,
I heard that you can also drive a tank, I wonder where you learned that?"
Naturally, Sokov would not tell Alitai that he learned it in the Tank Museum next to Victory Square in later generations, spending hundreds of thousands of rubles in tuition. He could only say vaguely: "I used to work on a collective farm."
I worked as a tractor driver and drove a crawler tractor, so I quickly learned the driving skills of a tank."
Fortunately, many of the tank soldiers had been tractor drivers before, and their ability to quickly observe the driving skills of tanks was entirely due to their experience of driving crawler tractors. Therefore, after listening to Sokov's far-fetched words, Alitai
After the explanation, I also thought that Comrade Brigade Commander's proficiency in tank driving skills was entirely related to his previous history as a tractor driver.
Sokov thought that the tank company's two attack positions were both to the north of the third battalion's position. The Germans were not fools. They had suffered losses twice in a row. They might strengthen their right wing defenses before launching another attack next time.
, lest Soviet tanks rush out from the same direction again. So he said to Alitai: "Comrade Lieutenant, in these two battles, your company launched the attack from the left wing of the third battalion, that is, from the north.
Right?"
"Exactly, Comrade Brigade Commander." After hearing what Sokov said, Alitai immediately guessed what he wanted to say, and quickly asked tentatively: "Are you worried that the enemy will focus on guarding against the direction of our company's attack next time?
”
"Yes, that's how I think about it." In order to attract Alitai's necessary attention, Sokov emphasized: "If I were the German commander, before launching a new attack, I would definitely use artillery fire on your possible hidden positions.
If this is the case, you will definitely suffer huge losses, so you have to move to a new attack position overnight."
In response to Sokov's reminder, Alitai nodded, and then asked carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I plan to move the tank company to the right wing of the third battalion. Is it appropriate?"
"I think it should be possible." Sokov said: "When the enemy attacked twice in a row, you attacked from their right wing. If they attack again tomorrow, the enemy will definitely think that you will attack from the same place.
Attack. If you suddenly change the direction of the attack, I think you can catch the enemy by surprise."
"Comrade Brigadier," Alitai said after a slight pause after Sokov finished speaking: "The German tanks we captured are seriously short of fuel and ammunition, otherwise the Germans would not be able to escape when they escape.
We will throw away these tanks. See if you can find a way to replenish us with fuel and ammunition."
"You don't have to worry about fuel and ammunition." Sokov heard that Alitai was worried about this issue, and he quickly said carelessly: "There are plenty of these things in the warehouse we occupied. I will immediately arrange for people to send them to you.
. Do you have any other questions?"
After Alitai and Porochenko looked at each other, they shook their heads at the same time and replied loudly: "No problem!"
After Sokov sent away the two company commanders, he was preparing to arrange manpower to send fuel and ammunition to Alitai's troops. The radio operator suddenly said to him in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I received a call from friendly forces here!
”
Hearing that a telegram had arrived from friendly forces, Sokov couldn't help but feel ecstatic and quickly ordered the operator: "Receive the telegram immediately!"
After the operator agreed, he began to concentrate on receiving telegrams from friendly forces. Although the entire process of receiving and translating telegrams only took a short two or three minutes, for Sokov, it was as long as an hour or two.
As soon as he took the telegram from the operator, Sokov couldn't wait to read it. He saw that it briefly read: "The leading troops of the 7th Tank Army will arrive in Kursk at about two o'clock tomorrow morning to meet with the
Your troops will gather together."
This chapter has been completed!