Sokov was eager to lead his troops to Orlovka and join Bely's troops, so he naturally agreed with Guryev's proposal. He asked Vanya to leave a platoon on each of the two lines of defense to wait for the Guardsmen.
Troops from the 39th Division came to take over the defense, and then he hurried to Orlovka with the remaining troops.
He never dreamed that the result of this would be that his troops would be surrounded by the German army. In the end, he had to pay a very heavy price to escape from the German army's encirclement. But at this moment, what he was thinking about was
He rushed over as quickly as possible to meet up with Bely.
When I arrived at Orlovka and saw Bely, the commanders and soldiers who had arrived here earlier were carrying out construction work to strengthen the defenses here. After Bely and Sokov said hello, he said with a sad face: "Comrade Brigade Commander,
Although we arrived at Orlovka successfully, this is really not an area suitable for defense."
In order to give Sokov a more vivid understanding, he took Sokov to a hill, pointed around with his hand, and said: "Except for a few commanding heights, the rest here is open.
Grassland. We have no permanent fortifications that we can use. The existing field fortifications are being built around these commanding heights. If the Germans use armored assault, we will not be able to stop them at all."
"Where's the air defense?" Sokov felt that it was unlikely that the German army would dispatch armored troops to attack Orlovka in a short period of time. After all, a fierce battle was going on in the north of the city, and a large number of German troops were contained by the Soviet army. They wanted to
It is obviously impossible to mobilize enough force to attack Orlovka. The most likely possibility is to dispatch the air force to carry out air strikes on the defensive zone occupied by him. Therefore, he reminded Bely: "I think the enemy
The air force may be dispatched to carry out indiscriminate bombings here to destroy fortifications and kill soldiers."
Sokov's words made Bely break into a cold sweat. After occupying this area, he had carefully inspected it. There were only simple field fortifications. In addition to a handful of civil firepower points, there were also very few bunkers for the defenders.
Poor. After being reminded by Sokov, he immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I will arrange for the soldiers to build air-raid shelters right now."
"Wait a minute, Colonel Bely." Seeing Bely turning to leave, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Leave this matter to Vanya and Tenev, so you don't have to do it yourself.
.”
"Guchakov," Sokov called Guchakov, who was standing not far behind him, and ordered him: "Go and inform Captain Vanya and Major Tenev so that they don't forget to dig air-raid shelters.
To reduce the losses of troops when bombed by the enemy."
Bely looked at Guchakov's back and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, I have always wanted to ask you why Lieutenant Guchakov does not command the troops, but acts like an ordinary soldier at any time.
Follow you?"
Although Guchakov was dismissed from his position as company commander and his military rank was reduced to corporal, he still wore the rank of lieutenant, so Bely asked again. Sokov grinned silently and replied: "
He made a small mistake, so he was removed from his position as company commander, demoted to a corporal, and stayed with me as a guard."
"Made a mistake?" Hearing what Sokov said, Bely couldn't help but asked curiously: "Comrade Brigadier, can you tell me what mistake he made?"
Seeing that Bely wanted to know the story of Guchakov, Sokov told the reasons for Guchakov's dismissal in detail, and finally said: "Because he has been captured before, so in dealing with him
We have to be cautious. Logically speaking, he should be sent to a military court, but since it is the time to employ people, I decided to keep him with me to see the consequences."
After figuring out the reason for Guchakov's dismissal, Bely couldn't help but sigh. After a while, he asked Sokov again: "Comrade Brigade Commander, did the superiors say how long we need to hold on here."
Regarding this question, Sokov also wanted to know the answer very much. Chuikov simply ordered him to lead his troops to occupy this place and hold on until the arrival of friendly forces. However, when friendly forces would arrive, even Chuikov himself did not know. Since Bely asked at this moment
, he could only say with a wry smile: "Colonel Bely, I don't know when the friendly forces outside the encirclement will arrive. What we can do now is to strengthen the defenses and wait here for the arrival of friendly forces."
"Our troops are too small." Bely said with a grimace: "With these hundreds of men and a dozen tanks, it is very difficult to defend this place."
After listening to Bely's words, Sokov quickly turned around and said to the radio operator who was squatting in a bomb crater: "Radio operator, send a report to the group army headquarters, saying that our troops are insufficient and asking them to send us a reserve team."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Bely heard Sokov's intention to ask for help from the headquarters and quickly stopped him and said cautiously: "I think even if we send a telegram asking for help, I'm afraid we won't get the support of a single soldier.
After all, the headquarters has sent us all the troops it can." After saying that, he pointed towards the location of the busy guard camp at the foot of the hill.
Looking at the busy soldiers of the guard camp at the foot of the hill, Sokov also fell silent. He knew that this unit was originally responsible for protecting the safety of the headquarters, but in order to strengthen his assault force, Chuikov did not hesitate to hand over the unit to him.
.However, after being silent for a long time, he felt that he should try his luck, so he said to the operator who was waiting for the order: "Continue to send the message!"
When the radio operator began to send a message to the headquarters, Sokov explained to Bely: "Comrade Colonel, I know that there are no reserves at the Army Group Headquarters. But the Orlovka we are holding on to is a question of whether our army can
The key to breaking the German blockade is to obtain a supporting force, which will be very helpful for us to hold on to this place."
After saying these words, Sokov raised his telescope and looked around to observe the nearby terrain. After looking for a while, he suddenly found a small village in the northwest. He quickly put down the telescope and said to Bely: "Comrade Colonel,
You see, there is a small village in the northwest, about five or six kilometers away from us."
After hearing what Sokov said, Bely quickly raised his telescope and looked into the distance. After observing carefully for a while, he put down the telescope and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, I immediately asked Captain Seleda to send two
Let a tank go over and check to see if there are any enemies in the village."
After saying that, Bely turned around and walked down the hill. Sokov turned and shouted at his back: "Comrade Colonel, take two more squadrons of infantry with you. If you find the enemy, destroy them resolutely."
"Understood." Bielei said without looking back: "If there are enemies in the village, I will never let them go."
Not long after Bely left the hill, the radio operator reported to Sokov with a face of surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the headquarters called back. They have ordered Colonel Gurdiev's 308th Infantry Division to actively move westward.
Movement, prepare to go out to Orlovka to join us."
"What, the 308th Infantry Division is coming to join us?" When Sokov heard what the radio operator said, he rushed over and asked impatiently: "How many troops do they still have, and how far away are they from us now?
"
In response to the questions raised by Sokov, the telegraph operator shook his head and replied with some embarrassment: "Comrade Brigade Commander, these questions you asked were not mentioned in the telegram."
"Send another telegram to the headquarters." Seeing that the telegraph operator didn't know anything, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He ordered the other party: "Ask for the contact code of the 308th Infantry Division, and we will contact them directly.
"The reason why Sokov ordered the radio operator in this way was because he considered that if the two troops wanted to communicate through the radio station of the group army headquarters, it would inevitably delay the fighter planes, so he decided to contact the friendly forces directly.
Not long after, the radio operator reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have obtained the contact code of the 308th Infantry Division. Are you going to send them a message or call them directly?"
"Let's call directly." Sokov considered that if he contacted the other party by telegram, he didn't know when he would receive a reply, so he simply used plain language to communicate. The Germans love eavesdropping, so let them eavesdrop.
Anyway, the task after the two forces join forces is to hold on to Orlovka. Sooner or later, the Germans will be aware of the real situation. "Make a call immediately."
The radio operator shouted into the microphone for a long time, and finally contacted the headquarters of the 308th Infantry Division. Sokov put on the earphones, squatted next to the radio operator, and said loudly into the microphone: "I am Sokov
Lieutenant Colonel Kov, please speak to your division commander, Colonel Gurdiev."
A voice soon came from the earphone: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov! I am Colonel Gurdiev. Our division has been ordered to accept your command, please give instructions!"
After learning that another division was under his command, Sokov couldn't help feeling ecstatic. He knew very well that the more troops he had, the greater the noise he would create in the Orlovka area. He quickly asked
"Comrade Colonel, let me ask you, how many troops do you still have on hand, and how far are they from Orlovka?"
"Report to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Although he was reporting to a commander with a lower military rank than himself, Colonel Gurdiev was very cooperative: "There are still more than 1,500 people left in our division. The current distance is
There are still six kilometers to Orlovka. In front of us, there is a German defensive position. As long as we can break through the enemy's defense, we can rush over and join you as soon as possible."
Sokov heard that the opponent was only six kilometers away from him, so he stood up and looked around. He heard gunfire coming from the north, east and south, and could not tell where the 308th Infantry Division was, so he looked around.
He picked up the microphone and asked: "Colonel Gurdiev, in which direction are your troops?"
"To the east, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Gurdiev replied: "We are launching an attack on the enemy's defensive positions to the east of you."
"I understand, Comrade Colonel." Sokov turned his gaze to the east and listened attentively. As expected, there was intensive gunfire from that direction. It seemed that Colonel Gurdiev's troops were fighting with the enemy.
, he quickly said into the microphone: "I will send tanks to support you."
"What, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you have tanks there?" Colonel Gurdiev heard that Sokov planned to send tanks to support him, and couldn't help but be overjoyed: "If we can get the cooperation of tanks, I believe we can soon
Break through the enemy's defenses."
"Come here!" Sokov shouted to the guard standing not far away: "Call Colonel Bely to me immediately!"
"Yes!" the guard agreed, turned around and ran down the hill.
Not long after, Bely followed the guards and ran up from the hill. He came to Sokov and asked breathlessly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have sent out the tanks, do you have any other instructions?"
"
Sokov handed the microphone and earphones back to the operator, stood up and said to Bely: "Colonel Bely, we just received a telegram from the group army headquarters. Colonel Gurdiev's 308th Infantry Division
, are coming towards us from the east. Now they are six kilometers away, engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. I now have a new task for you."
Before Sokov could finish speaking, Bely said first: "I understand, Comrade Brigade Commander. I immediately took a few tanks and rushed to support them and help them seize the enemy's position."
Sokov knew that Bely led the tanks to attack from behind the enemy and would definitely be able to successfully break through the German defenses and join the 308th Infantry Division. So he nodded and said: "Colonel Bely, you are breaking through the enemy's defense line and fighting with the 308th Infantry Division."
After the friendly forces join forces, we must bring the troops here as soon as possible."
After listening to Sokov's order, Bely frowned slightly and asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, may I ask how many troops the 308th Infantry Division still has today?"
"According to Colonel Gurdiev, the commander of the division, they still have more than 1,500 people." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Even if they break through the enemy's defenses, they will pay some casualties. Wait for them
When we arrive here, there will be almost a thousand people. In this way, we will have enough troops for the defense of the Orlovka area."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Bely expressed disapproval of Sokov's statement: "Have you ever thought that the defensive position here is too small. If so many troops are crowded together, once they are attacked,
If we encounter German bombing or shelling, what price will we pay?"
Regarding Bely's statement, Sokov asked noncommittally: "Colonel Bely, according to your opinion, where should Colonel Gurdiev's troops be deployed?"
"This is what I think about it. After we broke through the German defenses, except for part of the division's troops that were used to strengthen Orlovka's defenses, the rest of the troops stayed in the newly occupied positions," Bely said cautiously.
: "In this way, even if we cannot defend Orlovka, we can retreat eastward, pass through the positions occupied by the division, and return to our original defense zone."
