After Yelin and his troops left Mamayev Heights and headed for the garrison, Sidorin felt that he should have a good talk with Sokov. Although he had previously said that he would support some weapons for the friendly forces, the amount provided was too much.
, has exceeded my imagination.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Sidorin said to Sokov with a straight face: "I would like to ask, why do you provide so many weapons to the 42nd Guards Regiment?"
Sidorin's words stunned Sokov, "Comrade Chief of Staff, haven't we already made an agreement with General Rodimtsev to provide weapons for his troops?"
"But, you gave them too much equipment." Sidorin said with a look of dissatisfaction: "You know, the weapons they need should have been provided by the group army headquarters. For the purpose of helping friendly forces, we
Just give them two to three hundred guns, but who knows, you gave them enough equipment for a regiment."
After hearing this, Sokov finally understood the reason for Sidorin's displeasure, and looked at him and asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think the current situation of the group army headquarters can provide them with enough resources in the short term?"
Weapons?"
Sidorin frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said, "I don't think it can be done!"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seeing that Sidorin was going against him for a few weapons and ammunition, Sokov said displeasedly: "Didn't I tell you before that to win the battle to defend Stalingrad, it depends on us alone?
One brigade is not enough. We also need the support of friendly forces, and the 42nd Guards Regiment is the friendly force deployed on the right wing of our army. Only when their strength is strong can we concentrate on dealing with the enemy on the front. Do you understand?
?”
"Comrade Brigadier, don't get angry." Belkin, who was sitting aside, only realized at this moment that Sokov and Sidorin were having an unnecessary dispute over the batch of ammunition provided to the friendly forces, and hurriedly came out to smooth things over.
: "I think Comrade Chief of Staff is also worried that giving too much ammunition to friendly forces will cause us to encounter insufficient ammunition during the battle. After all, the supplies that can be transported into the city every day are limited, and the chance of us getting supplies will be very low.
"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Seeing Belkin coming out to be the peacemaker, Sokov took two breaths to control his emotions: "Our brigade now uses German equipment, and there are only a few soldiers who use our army's standard equipment.
Part of it. Rather than letting those weapons and ammunition sleep in a warehouse, we should support friendly forces to strengthen our strength."
After Sokov finished speaking, he paused for a moment. Seeing that Sidorin still seemed a little confused, he continued: "I don't know if you have a feeling that in the past two months of fighting, even though the number of troops in the city has
Quite a few, but I always felt like I was alone."
"That's right, Comrade Brigadier." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Belkin immediately echoed: "I often have this feeling too. Even though there are a lot of troop numbers in the city, it really has nothing to do with Germany.
When people started fighting, I felt as if we were the only one fighting in the whole city."
When Sidorin heard what Sokov and Belkin said, he couldn't help showing a surprised expression on his face, but he did not ask why, but quietly became a listener.
"Comrade Brigadier," Belgin glanced at Sidorin who was silent, looked at Sokov and asked, "Can you tell us the reason?"
Sokov nodded and said: "Although there were many troops in the city in the past, because they had no affiliation with us and were not familiar with each other, in battles, they usually beat theirs and we beat ours.
, there is no coordination at all with each other, no matter how many troops there are, they are just a mess..."
Sidorin waited patiently for Sokov to finish and then asked: "Comrade Brigadier, may I understand this. You provided so many weapons to the 42nd Guards Regiment just to find a reliable ally.
In the next battle, avoid the situation of fighting alone like before?"
"Yes, that's it." Sokov nodded and said affirmatively: "The troops of the 13th Guards Division have just entered Stalingrad and are in a state of darkness, coupled with the extreme lack of weapons and ammunition.
, if we provide them selfless help at this time, then they will regard us as their trusted partner. In this way, we can get more help on the battlefield."
Sokov's words finally convinced Sidorin. After he apologized to Sokov, he asked with some confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there is one more thing I don't understand. Why do you want Colonel Yelin?"
Do you want a new recruit? I wonder if he is a relative of some big shot, or does he have any special skills?"
"Chief of Staff, are you talking about Vasily Zaitsev?" Sokov knew in his heart that Sidorin would ask about Vasily sooner or later, so he quickly said the excuse he had prepared: "I have heard from others before.
I mentioned this soldier and said he was a pretty good marksman. I considered that the next battle in the city would be mainly street fighting, so I planned to form a sniper team to severely attack the Germans in street fighting.
people."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin asked tentatively, thinking that when Sokov was acting as commander of the 328th Infantry Division, he had formed a sniper team and had achieved considerable results, so he asked tentatively: "What do you plan to do back then?"
Like in the 328th Division, set up a sniper unit specifically to eliminate important enemy targets and characters?"
"Yes, that's what I think."
"However, a sniper can only play a limited role on the battlefield." Sidorin said with some concern: "No matter how accurate their marksmanship is, how many enemies can they destroy on the battlefield?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think it is necessary to remind you." Sokov said to Sidorin: "The role of a sniper is not to kill many enemies on the battlefield, but to lower the enemy's morale. Think about it.
, if our sniper kills an enemy from a long distance, and the enemy does not even see the shadow of our sniper, how much impact will it have on their morale?"
Regarding Sokov's statement, Sidorin thought for a long time and felt that it was still very reasonable. He nodded and said: "Comrade Brigadier, even if what you say makes sense, how do you know about this soldier Vasily?"
, can you be a good sniper?"
Sokov thought to himself, if you are like me and come from decades later, then you will feel how stupid the question you asked is. However, he did not make any more excuses, but simply said
: "As for whether this new soldier is suitable to be a sniper, it all depends on his subsequent performance."
…………
Vasily came to the entrance to the east slope of the south hill of Mamayev Hill. Seeing the two soldiers standing at the door, he asked hesitantly: "I'm sorry, my name is Vasily, and I was ordered to come here..."
"Do you have a pass?" one soldier asked.
"Yes, I have a military ID." Vasily took his ID from his pocket and thought to himself: "Why on earth did the colonel ask me to sit here?"
After checking Vasily's military ID, the soldier turned and shouted into the tunnel: "Comrade company commander, soldier Vasily is here."
Following the soldiers' shouts, a lieutenant walked out of the tunnel. He came to Vasily, who was wearing a brand-new military uniform, and asked, "Are you Vasily?"
"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant." After Vasily saw the other party's military rank clearly, he replied respectfully: "I am Vasily, and I came here by name."
"Comrade Company Commander," the soldier who checked Vasily's military ID card quickly handed the ID in his hand to the lieutenant, "This is soldier Vasily's military ID card."
The lieutenant who was called the company commander by the soldiers was the guard company commander Seryosha. He was ordered to come here to greet Vasily. He took the military ID card from the soldier's hand, looked at it carefully, nodded slightly, and then said to Vasily.
Sili said: "Comrade soldier, please come with me. Comrade Brigade Commander has been waiting for you for a long time." After saying that, he put his military ID card into Vasily's hand and turned around and walked into the tunnel.
As Vasily followed Seryosha toward the inside, he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, I would like to ask Comrade Brigade Commander if he has seen me before?"
"No, absolutely never." Seryosha, as Sokov's confidant, naturally knew a lot about Sokov, so after hearing Vasily's question, he immediately shook his head and said like a rattle: "As for
Why he wanted to transfer you from friendly forces, I don't know."
Seeing that Seryosha didn't know the reason why he was transferred to the 73rd Infantry Brigade, Vasily couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He thought to himself: "Maybe the brigade commander who transferred me here was mistaken. He must have thought that I was a soldier."
There’s another person with the same name.”
After arriving at the headquarters, Vasily saw a square table in the middle of the room. There were three people sitting around the table. Except for a political worker, the other two were lieutenant colonels. Vasily looked at the two people.
After scanning his body back and forth, he walked resolutely in front of the older Sidorin, raised his hand in salute and said: "Report to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, Vasily, a soldier of the 42nd Guards Infantry Regiment, has been ordered to come, please give instructions.
!”
"Hello, Comrade Vasily." Sidorin saw that Vasily had made the same mistake as Ye Lin. He couldn't help but said with a smile: "You are mistaken, I am the chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin. The person next to him
That’s the commander of the infantry brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov.”
Seeing that he had made a mistake, Vasily blushed with shame. He quickly faced Sokov and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I made a mistake. Because you really..."
"I'm really too young, right?" Sokov didn't wait for Vasily to finish, and said to him with a smile: "Comrade Vasily, it doesn't matter, you are not the first person to make a mistake, just a few days ago
Colonel Ye Lin also made a mistake an hour ago."
Sokov's approachable attitude and easy-going tone made Vasily seem very relaxed. After a moment of silence, he asked Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, may I ask why you want to transfer me to your unit?"
?"
"Comrade Vasily, I plan to form a sniper unit." Sokov looked at Vasily and said: "I heard that your marksmanship is good, so I discussed with Colonel Yelin and transferred you to our army."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasily said with some embarrassment after listening to Sokov's explanation: "I used to be a hunter. Although my marksmanship was passable, I only hunted wild animals and never killed anyone. I don't know myself.
Whether I am suitable for the profession of sniper, I am worried that I will live up to your expectations."
"Comrade Vasily, when you shoot at the Germans, don't treat them as human beings, but as two-legged beasts." Sokov noticed that Vasily had some psychological burden, so he comforted him and said: "You shoot at them.
When the time comes, it’s time to fight wild beasts.”
"If you are hunting wild animals," Vasily grinned and said, "then there will be no problem."
Seeing that Vasily agreed to his suggestion and was willing to be a sniper, Sokov couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then he asked the most critical question: "Comrade Vasily, I don't know your best weapon."
What is it?"
"I used to use Mosin-Nagant rifles for hunting." Vasily said hesitantly: "So I hope that the weapon I own can also be a Mosin-Nagant, preferably with a scope."
"Don't worry, Comrade Vasily, you will get the weapons you want. I will ask someone to accompany you to get the appropriate weapons later." When Sokov said this, he couldn't help but sigh secretly and said to himself.
Said: "I originally prepared a Mauser 98K rifle for you, but I didn't expect that you are still used to using Mosin Nagant."
Unexpectedly, after Vasily heard about Mauser 98K, his eyes lit up and he quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any sniper rifles used by the Germans here?"
"Yes, there are several." Sokov thought that his troops had killed many German snipers and seized several sniper rifles. He originally planned to save the best one for Vasily to use, but he did not expect that he
He actually wanted to use the Mosin-Nagant rifle, "If you don't want to use it, I'll hand it over to another sniper."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Vasily said when he learned that Sokov planned to hand over these sniper rifles to others, "With your permission, I would like to try the Mauser 97K to see if its performance is better than that of the Mosin
Nagant is better.”
"Seryozha!" Sokov called Seryosha to him and ordered him: "Take Comrade Vasily to the underground warehouse to choose weapons. Whether it is a Mosin Nagant or a Mauser 98K, you will get the same weapon.
Find a place for him to try the gun. If there are no problems, he, Zina, and Susanna will be incorporated into the sniper team of the guard company."
"Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander." Seryosha replied respectfully, and then said to Vasily: "Comrade Vasily, please come with me, and I will take you to choose a sniper rifle that you are satisfied with."
This chapter has been completed!