The Romanian officers and soldiers on the distant position watched as the two infantry battalions preparing to withdraw from the Workers' New Village became prisoners of the Russians right under their noses. The Soviet tank detachment and the two infantry battalions that attacked were under their own control.
With almost no casualties, thousands of prisoners were captured and a large amount of weapons and ammunition were seized.
Agavon leaned out of the turret and looked at the Romanian officers and soldiers with their hands raised outside. He couldn't believe that what he saw was real. Thinking back to when he saw the combat order Sokov gave him,
The first reaction was that the other party wanted to avenge Lieutenant Guchakov and simply let himself die.
But now, seeing the mountains of ammunition and the groups of prisoners, he finally understood that Sokov did not ask himself to die, but instead gave him a great achievement. He quickly retracted into the tank and passed through
The vehicle-mounted radio communicated with other tanks, allowing them to help the infantry drive the prisoners toward the Workers' New Village.
Papuchenko had been standing in his temporary observation post and witnessed with his own eyes the assault process of the tank detachment and infantry. He did not expect that the Romanian army was so vulnerable that it collapsed without even the slightest resistance.
Although he had not yet had time to tally the results, he felt that he should report the good news to the division commander immediately.
After the call was connected, Papuchenko tried hard to control his emotions and reported in a calm tone: "Comrade division commander, this is Papuchenko. I want to report to you that the assault we carried out has ended.
"
"Oh, it's over so soon?" As soon as Sokov heard Papuchenko's voice, he guessed that it must be related to the counterattack carried out in the evening, but it was still a bit beyond his expectation that the battle could end so quickly.
He quickly asked: "What was the result of this battle? How many casualties did our army suffer?"
"Comrade Division Commander, the battle has just ended, and the results have not yet been counted. However, according to my estimate, at least thousands of enemies were captured, and a large amount of weapons, ammunition and technical equipment were seized." Papuchenko said excitedly on the phone.
: "The casualties of our army are almost negligible."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov said into the microphone after waiting for Papuchenko to report the entire battle: "Your regiment kept the captured 75mm anti-tank gun for defensive use. As for other weapons
The ammunition was handed over to Captain Vasily, the commander of the new battalion who went to assist in the battle, and asked him to take it back to Mamayev Heights."
Papuchenko had no objections to Sokov's arrangement. Therefore, he knew very well that the weapons seized from the Romanian army were all German-style weapons. If his regiment wanted to use these weapons, he would still have to do so.
A large-scale change of equipment is necessary. In the process of becoming familiar with German weapons, it will definitely affect the combat effectiveness of the troops. In this case, it is better to be more generous and directly hand over the weapons to the new battalion that originally uses German weapons.
"Comrade division commander, this is good news." As soon as Sokov put down the phone, Sidorin said impatiently: "This should be reported to the headquarters immediately."
Sokov felt that Chuikov and the others must be waiting for his battle report, so he agreed with Sidorin's proposal. He casually asked: "Chief of Staff, should you report to the headquarters, or should I report to the headquarters?"
Although Sidorin was eager to report the good news to Chuikov in person, since Sokov, the division commander, was at the division headquarters, he could only handle the matter of reporting the victory. Therefore, Sidorin accompanied him and said with a smile: "Commander
Comrade, of course it is you who will report this good news to the headquarters." Seeing Sidorin's apology, Sokov was not polite to him. He immediately picked up the phone and asked the communications corpsman to call the group army headquarters.
The person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Krylov. As soon as he heard Sokov's voice, he asked impatiently: "Colonel Sokov, I want to ask why there was no counterattack in the counterattack plan you reported yesterday.
time?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov quickly replied: "In the counterattack plan, the reason why there is no counterattack time is because of confidentiality considerations."
Hearing what Sokov said, Krylov snorted coldly, and then asked: "Colonel Sokov, can you tell me now, when do you plan to launch a counterattack?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I called you just to report on the counterattack." Sokov said confidently: "Our counterattack against the enemy is over."
"What, the counterattack against the enemy is over?" Even if a cannonball fell and exploded next to Krylov at this moment, the shock it would bring to him would never be comparable to Sokov's words. He was surprised.
Question: "When did you launch your counterattack?"
"Just half an hour ago," Sokov said with some pride: "The whole battle lasted less than twenty minutes, and the counterattack troops completely wiped out the enemies attacking Workers' New Village, captured thousands of prisoners, and
A large amount of weapons and ammunition were seized."
"How is this possible?" Krylov said in an unbelievable tone: "A battle that captured thousands of enemies actually lasted less than twenty minutes? Colonel Sokov, this joke is not funny."
"I'm not kidding, Comrade Chief of Staff." Seeing that Krylov actually thought he was joking, Sokov replied with a bit of laughter and laughter: "The results of the battle are being tallied now. I believe that otherwise, I can provide you with detailed results.
"
Krylov was about to say something more when Chuikov came over and took the microphone from his hand. Chuikov asked into the microphone: "Colonel Sokov, tell me the story of your battle in detail.
.”
When Sokov heard that Chuikov wanted to know the details of the battle, he repeated to Chuikov exactly what Papchenko had reported to him, and finally emphasized: "Comrade Commander, everything I said is true.
I will send someone to send the prisoners to you soon."
"What do I want these prisoners to do?" Chuikov said unexpectedly: "Now there are supply difficulties in the city. We don't have so much food to feed the prisoners; and the number of ships transporting residents and wounded to the other side every day is also increasing.
Gradually, we are unable to transport these prisoners to the prisoner of war camp on the other side."
"What should we do?" Seeing that Chuikov actually didn't want the prisoners, Sokov felt a headache: "You know, there are thousands of prisoners, I can't shoot them all, right?"
In response to the question raised by Sokov, Chuikov smiled slyly and said: "What to do with the prisoners is your business, I don't want to interfere. By the way, have Lieutenant Grisa and the others come back? The Military Commissar and I are going to award them with honors.
Woolen cloth."
"Not yet, they should still be on the way." After confirming that the enemy's ammunition depot was destroyed, Sokov immediately issued a retreat order to Grisa. However, daytime was not conducive to retreat, so the team has not yet
Returning to Mamayev Heights, "I guess I won't be able to come back until the evening at the earliest."
"Well, the Military Commission and I rushed to Mamayev Heights after dark." Chuikov said with a smile: "When you get there, remember to say hello to the defenders along the way, so that we will not be stopped halfway.
Come down."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Sokov replied: "I will say hello to the defenders along the way."
"Then I'll see you tonight." Chuikov said, "I wish you good luck!"
"Comrade Commander, can I ask you a question?" Ivanov asked cautiously when Sokov ended the call with Chuikov.
"Okay." Sokov stared at the deputy in front of him and said with some confusion: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, you are not an outsider. If you have anything, just ask. There is no need to be so polite."
"Comrade Commander, I want to ask you." Ivanov frowned and asked: "Why did you choose the time to counterattack in the evening? Have you ever thought about how our counterattack would be carried out if the enemy did not retreat?
Could it turn into a fierce battle?"
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," after Ivanov finished speaking, Sokov replied with a smile: "I have indeed considered the question you raised. What if the troops attacking Workers' New Village were not Romanians but Germans?
, our adoption of this tactic is obviously inappropriate. As long as the Germans occupy a place, they will stick there like nails and start repeated battles with us. The Romanian army is different. Their night fighting capabilities are poor.
"We are worried that the troops stationed in Workers' New Village will be eaten by us at night, so they must withdraw to their original starting position before dark."
While formulating the battle plan last night, Ivanov had always had doubts in his mind. He felt that Sokov's plan was too risky. If he could not defeat the enemy in a short time, he would have to fight the enemy at night. If
If the battle cannot be resolved at dawn, the participating troops will face fierce enemy shelling and bombing, and will inevitably suffer heavy losses. But in order to take Sokov's face into account, he did not raise any objections at the time. After listening to Sokov's explanation, he
Only then did he realize in his heart that he was indeed not as good as Sokov.
After Sidorin waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he asked cautiously: "Comrade division commander, the commander just said on the phone that we don't want to take prisoners. Do we really shoot all these prisoners?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov turned to Sidorin and said: "If we kill thousands of enemies in the battle, that is a glorious result; but if we shoot thousands of prisoners who have laid down their weapons, that is
It was a unilateral massacre, I will not issue such an order."
Hearing that Sokov did not intend to shoot these prisoners of war, Sidorin secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then asked: "Then what should we do with them?"
"Let go, let go of all the prisoners of war." After thinking for a moment, Sokov said to Sidorin: "But before we let them go, we must let them work as free labor. Chief of Staff, please inform Pagoda immediately.
Lieutenant Colonel Puchenko, let these prisoners of war move all the weapons and ammunition to the central square of Workers' New Village, and then release them all."
