According to Sokov's idea, since the German troops in front of Mamayev Hill have been transferred to the north, the enemy will not be able to mobilize enough troops in a short period of time to attack Mamayev Hill again, so that he can gain a few
Days of breathing time to readjust deployment and improve defenses.
Unexpectedly, at dawn, Sokov, who was sleeping on the camp bed, was awakened by the vague sound of artillery outside. He sat up suddenly and asked Sidorin who was sitting at the table: "Chief of Staff,
What's going on, where is the sound of gunfire coming from?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you're awake." Seeing that Sokov had woken up, Sidorin walked up to him and reported: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we just received a report from the observation post that Beigan is being attacked by enemy troops.
Shelling.”
"What, Beigang is being bombarded?" Sokov asked with some confusion: "Aren't all the enemies in front of Mamayev Heights moved to the north? Why are there still artillery bombarding the Beigang position?"
"I don't know the specific situation yet." Sidorin shook his head and continued: "But according to Captain Golia's report, the shelling of their position was all 75mm artillery, and no heavy artillery was found."
"This is really strange. In the past, we used 105mm artillery to bombard our positions. Why are we using 75mm artillery today?" Sokov muttered in confusion: "Do they think that the position cannot be destroyed with 105mm artillery?
Can it be destroyed with a 75mm gun?”
"Yes, it is indeed a bit too strange." Sidorin also agreed: "Comrade Deputy Brigade Commander just heard the sound of artillery and rushed to the Beigang position to understand the situation. What is going on, I think
The answer will be available soon."
After Sokov got out of bed, he pointed upward with his hand and asked Sidorin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is the observation post on the top of the hillside still there?"
"Yes, yes," Sidorin nodded quickly and replied: "Although our defensive position has been moved from the top of the hillside to the front slope, the observation post on the top of the hillside is still retained."
"Well, you take charge of the overall situation here." Sokov reached out and picked up a pair of telescopes from the table, and said to Sidorin: "I will go to the top of the hillside to have a look."
Seeing Sokov leaving immediately, Sidorin quickly chased after him and asked: "Comrade Brigadier, do you want to send someone to go with you?"
Sokov said without looking back: "Just call Ancient Tsakov!"
After arriving at the top of the mountain from the passage, Sokov first checked the trenches built here and found that most of them were in good condition. Seeing that the enemy's shelling some time ago did not cause much damage to the positions on the top of the mountain, I really didn't understand.
, why did Vitkov insist on moving the defensive position from the top of the mountain to the middle of the mountain, causing unnecessary casualties in vain.
Sokov walked into the observation post, and the two observation posts who were observing the situation in Beigang quickly turned around and stood at attention. Sokov nodded to them and asked casually: "How is the situation over there in Beigang?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," upon hearing Sokov's question, a corporal quickly replied: "According to my observation, the enemy's shelling of Beigan is a bit strange."
"Comrade Corporal," Sokov glanced at the rank on the opponent's collar badge, walked to the lookout, raised his binoculars and looked toward Beigan, and asked, "What do you think is strange?"
"First of all, the enemy shelled Beigan today and used small-caliber artillery." The corporal took a step forward and stood behind Sokov and replied: "Secondly, the number of artillery used by the enemy was too small, probably no more than 24."
Hearing what the corporal said, Sokov also found it quite strange. When crossing the river in the early morning, the artillery used by the German artillery to bombard the crossing fleet was at least 105 mm, causing the first group of troops to cross the river to lose one-third.
But now when shelling the Beigang position, not only the caliber of the artillery has become smaller, but the number is obviously not as large as before. What is going on?
Before Sokov could figure out the reason, Guchakov ran over panting and said out of breath: "Comrade Brigadier, I didn't expect you to be here so soon..."
"Guchakov," Sokov interrupted him before he could finish his words, "You have also been a company commander. Come and see the situation in Beigan, and then tell me where
Something’s wrong.”
Guchakov took the telescope from Sokov's hand and looked towards the Beigan position opposite, silently calculating the impact of the artillery shells. After watching for a while, he put down the telescope and turned to Sokov
Said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, something is wrong. The enemy shelled the Beigang position today. They actually used small-caliber artillery, and the number was very limited. What on earth are they doing?"
Seeing that Guchakov was also aware of this problem, Sokov smiled faintly and said: "This is exactly the problem I want to figure out. The enemy's shelling today is really strange."
Hearing what Sokov said, Guchakov scratched the back of his head and suddenly raised a question: "Comrade Brigadier, don't you mean that the Germans, in order to prevent our army and friendly forces outside the encirclement, set up an unknown military base north of Orlovka?"
When we join forces on the high ground, do we transfer all the troops on the front? I want to ask, where did the enemy who is shelling us come from?"
Regarding the issue of the greatly reduced caliber and quantity of artillery, Sokov thought for a while, and then said to himself: "Could it be that those who are shelling the Beigang position are not Germans?"
Hearing that the artillerymen on the opposite side might not be Germans, Guchakov immediately blurted out: "Comrade Brigade Commander, since they are not Germans, are they from the Eastern Battalion?"
"Eastern Battalion?!" When he heard this word, Sokov had a similar thought, but he quickly shook his head and denied it: "I don't think it is possible. Even though there are so many Eastern Battalions serving the Germans,
But the Germans did not really trust them, so they rarely equipped them with heavy weapons. Although the caliber of the artillery shelling the Beigang position was not as good as usual, the Dongfang Battalion wanted to have so many artillery pieces.
possible."
Sokov thought to himself that the enemy would definitely launch a ground attack immediately after the bombardment. In order to figure out who the troops opposite him were, he turned the telescope and looked at the enemy's position a few kilometers away.
.
The enemy's position was quiet at first, and the entire position seemed deserted. But as more than a dozen tanks crossed the trenches and slowly drove towards Mamayev Heights, they emerged from the trenches.
Immediately, countless soldiers wearing khaki military uniforms and steel helmets appeared, following closely behind the tank in a dense formation.
"Hell, these are not Germans." Although the enemy was still several kilometers away, Sokov could not clearly see the enemy's military uniforms through the telescope, but he could tell from the color of the uniforms that the enemies rushing towards the position were definitely not Germans.
, but should be the army of a certain slave country. Sokov turned to Guchakov and said: "Call the chief of staff immediately and ask him which slave country is stationed near our defense area.
of the army.”
"Ah, it's not the Germans or the Eastern Battalion that are attacking?" Guchakov was also startled by what Sokov said. He quickly grabbed the phone, "I will call the Chief of Staff immediately and ask which battalion is nearby.
