Soon after Sokov entered the tunnel, Sidorin and Ivanov got the news. They walked out of the headquarters and stood in the corridor waiting for him to be brought.
I originally thought that it would only take ten minutes at most to come from the Beigang Tunnel. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, Sokov did not appear. Ivanov was worried that something had happened, so he quickly said to Sidorin: "Staff
Comrade Commander, please call Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov in Beigang and ask him if he has seen the division commander."
"Yes." Seeing that Sokov didn't appear for a long time, Sidorin felt uneasy. After hearing Ivanov's instructions, he nodded, turned around and walked towards the headquarters, saying: "I
Just go and call Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov."
The call was quickly connected. As soon as he heard Yershakov's voice, Sidorin couldn't wait to ask: "Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov, have you seen the division commander?"
"I saw it." Yershakov replied excitedly: "Just now, he was at my regiment's command post and chatted with me for a while to learn about the defense situation of my regiment..."
After listening to Yershakov's words, Sidorin finally understood why Sokov had not shown up for so long. It turned out that he had gone to the regiment headquarters of the 125th Regiment. He put down the phone and came to the corridor to talk to Yershakov who was waiting here.
Vanov said: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, everything is clear. The division commander met Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov on the way and stayed at his regiment command post for a while."
After figuring out why Sokov was delayed, Ivanov's heart in his throat returned to his stomach again. Sidorin asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, I don't know when the division commander will be back."
, why don’t we go back to the headquarters first?”
"No need." Ivanov shook his head and said, "We have been waiting for so long, and we don't care about waiting a few more minutes. I think we should wait until the division commander comes back, and then we can enter the headquarters together."
Sokov did not know that Sidorin and Ivanov would be waiting for him outside the headquarters. After he left Yershakov's regiment command post, he was still thinking silently: Tonight is the German army's Christmas Eve.
Can we take the opportunity to make a move and turn the enemy's defense upside down?
When he was approaching the headquarters, Samoylov, who was walking in front, suddenly slowed down. Sokov suddenly bumped into him without noticing. Samoylov found that Sokov had bumped into him and hurriedly
Apologize and say: "I'm sorry, comrade teacher."
Sokov frowned slightly and asked displeasedly: "Why did you stop?"
"Look." Samoylov turned slightly to give Sokov a view: "It looks like the deputy division commander and chief of staff are waiting for you outside the door."
Sokov quickly looked in the direction of the headquarters, and sure enough he saw Ivanov and Sidorin standing outside the door, looking like they had been waiting for a long time. Sokov thought that he was in Yershako
I spent a lot of time at my husband's regimental command post. The two deputies must have been waiting for me here, so they quickly walked over.
Still far away, he stretched out his hand to the two of them and said apologetically: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'm really sorry for keeping you waiting for so long."
"Comrade Commander," the two men said with smiles on their faces as they shook hands with Sokov, "Welcome back!"
When Sokov and others walked into the headquarters, the staff officers and communications soldiers inside stopped what they were doing, raised their hands to salute Sokov, and shouted in unison: "Hello, division commander!"
"Comrades!" After returning the salute to everyone, Sokov nodded with a smile and said, "Let's continue working."
After Sokov sat down on a familiar seat at the table, he smiled at Ivanov and Sidorin: "It's still more comfortable to sit in this position. During the days when I stayed in Moscow, I missed this one of mine every day.
seat."
Hearing what Sokov said, Ivanov said jokingly: "Comrade Commander, are you worried that if you can't return to Stalingrad, this seat will be occupied by me?"
"Look at what you said, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Sokov replied with a smile: "Before the troops were merged, you were originally the commander of the 41st Guards Division. Even if you took over my position as division commander, you would only be regarded as a division commander at best.
The official was reinstated."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin poured a cup of hot tea and placed it in front of Sokov, and asked curiously: "Did you gain anything from going to Moscow this time?"
"Yes." Sokov said: "First of all, the newly developed self-propelled artillery has begun mass production. I believe it will not take long to equip troops on a large scale. In this way, our army's artillery will
Its mobility and battlefield survivability have been greatly improved."
Sidorin and Ivanov have fully experienced the effectiveness of self-propelled artillery during this period. Therefore, they were overjoyed to hear that mass production of self-propelled artillery has begun: "If our artillery can equip a large number of self-propelled artillery,
Then we can better provide artillery support to the infantry."
Although Sokov learned some about the situation of the army through chatting with Yershakov, the other party was always a regiment commander. If he wanted to know more about the situation, he could only ask Sidorin and Ivanov.
: "How is the situation of each regiment?"
"The reduced regiment deployed on the right wing of the division has been the unit with the least fighting in the past month." Sidorin reported to Sokov: "Commander Belkin called me several times, hoping to mobilize some troops.
troops, but strengthen the defense in other directions."
"Why have they experienced the fewest battles?" Sokov heard this and asked puzzledly: "Don't the enemies know that as long as they break through their defense lines, they can separate our troops?"
"The enemy has certainly seen this, but they also realize that if they do this, they may also be cut off." In order to let Sokov understand the situation between the enemy and ourselves more vividly, Sidorin pointed to the map and said:
"Comrade division commander, you see, if the enemy attacks the defense area of the downsized regiment again, they may be attacked by our troops from the east. In this way, they will face the danger of being attacked from both sides. The German commander does not want this situation to occur.
"
"Tell Commander Belkin," Sokov said without hesitation: "Under no circumstances can his troops mobilize a single soldier." In order to let everyone understand what was going on, he pointed to the map and added
, "Even if the three regiments in front of Mamayev Hill cannot stop the German attack, they can still retreat to Mamayev Hill. But if the defense line of the Belkin Regiment is breached, the enemy can take the opportunity to cut off the three regiments.
retreat and supplies. Once the enemy from the front launches another fierce attack, their situation will become very unfavorable."
"Comrades, tonight is Christmas Eve." Sokov paused for a moment and then asked: "Should we take some action to trouble the Germans?"
"Christmas Eve?!" Hearing the words Sokov said, Sidorin showed a confused expression on his face, "Comrade Commander, what kind of holiday is it?"
"Christmas is held on December 25th every year in the West, and the night before Christmas is Christmas Eve." Sokov explained to Sidorin: "Christmas in our country is held on January 7th every year, but it has been
It has been banned for more than ten or twenty years. It is estimated that many young people have no idea what Christmas represents."
In fact, Sidorin and Ivanov both knew about Christmas, but they suddenly heard Sokov mentioning the already banned holiday, and they didn't react for a moment. Now they heard Sokov said that they were going to teach the Germans a lesson on Christmas Eve.
, Sidorin quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, what are you going to do?"
"What I mean is that each regiment sends troops to carry out night attacks." Sokov explained: "But the purpose of this operation is to disrupt the enemy and eliminate their effective forces. There is no need to capture their positions."
Knowing that Sokov would not allow the troops to occupy the enemy's position, Ivanov showed a bitter expression on his face: "Comrade division commander, if the enemy really wants to spend Christmas Eve tonight as you said, they must be on guard.
It won’t be too strict. In this way, the night attack we carry out will be able to take back more positions from their hands while destroying the enemy’s effective strength.”
"It is not difficult to seize the enemy's positions." Sokov waved his hand and rejected Ivanov's proposal: "The key is that we do not have so many troops to defend these positions. If we disperse our troops, we can defend the captured positions.
Once we have established our positions, the enemy can concentrate his superior forces and defeat us one by one in a leisurely manner. By then, not only will we not be able to hold on to our newly captured positions, we will even lose a lot of our original positions."
"I understand." Ivanov nodded, and then asked: "Comrade division commander, do you think you should summon the commanders of each regiment for a meeting, or give them combat orders directly?"
"Calling everyone together for a meeting will definitely waste time." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. "We don't have much time to use. I think we should just use the phone to issue night attack orders to each regiment."
"Will the Belkin regiment also participate in tonight's operation?" Sidorin asked tentatively.
"Yes." Sokov nodded slightly and said in a positive tone: "Anyway, tonight's night attack is not aimed at seizing the enemy's position, but only to disrupt the enemy and eliminate their effective strength."
Sidorin quickly conveyed Sokov's order to the regiments truthfully, ordering them to dispatch the necessary troops to carry out sneak attacks on the German positions based on the actual situation. Finally, he also emphasized: "Comrade commanders,
Please remember that tonight’s night attack is only to disrupt the enemy and eliminate his effective forces, not to seize the enemy’s positions, because we simply do not have that many troops to defend these positions. Do you understand?”
"Understood." Several group leaders replied one after another.
"By the way," before Sidorin put down the phone, he caught a glimpse of Sokov sitting aside, looking down at the map, and quickly added: "The division commander has just returned to the division headquarters, and he personally issued the order for the night attack.
Yes, I hope you will not live up to his expectations of you."
Except for Yershakov, this was the first time for the other regiment leaders to hear the news of Sokov's return, and they couldn't help cheering. When Sidorin heard the cheers of the regiment leaders, he quickly asked: "You guys
What are you yelling about?"
"I'm happy to hear that the division commander is back." Lieutenant Colonel Papuchenko, commander of the 122nd Regiment, quickly replied: "With him, we will be more confident in winning."
"Okay, don't talk nonsense, hurry up and arrange the troops for the night attack." Although it is a happy thing that everyone supports Sokov, time is running out at this moment, and Sidorin urged everyone: "The division commander is still here."
I’m waiting for your good news.”
When the sneak attack troops sent by each regiment sneaked close to the enemy's position, they found that the German army's defense was extremely lax. Except for a few listless sentries, most of the soldiers were sitting around the fire eating and drinking.
The commander responsible for leading the team immediately reported the situation to his regiment commander. The commanders of each regiment also felt that the division commander should be informed of the situation on the front line in a timely manner and reported the matter.
Knowing that the enemy was eating and drinking next to the fire, Sokov felt that the chance of a successful night attack had been greatly improved. However, to be on the safe side, he asked Sidorin to tell the commanders of each regiment: "Tell them to allow a sneak attack."
The troops will wait until the German soldiers sitting by the fire and drinking are unconscious before attacking the enemy, so that the casualties of our troops can be minimized. Do you understand?"
"Understood." Sidorin nodded quickly and replied: "I will call the commanders of each regiment and ask the troops to launch the attack later."
After receiving Sokov's order, the troops that originally wanted to launch an offensive temporarily stopped. The commanders and soldiers hid two to three hundred meters away from the enemy's position, quietly watching the German soldiers who were eating and drinking, and waited patiently until they
The superior issued the order to attack.
Time passed by, and just when the lurking soldiers were about to freeze, the German bonfire party was coming to an end. From the swaying posture of the German soldiers, even a blind man could tell that they were all drunk.
The commander at the forefront felt that the time to attack had come, and quickly asked the regiment leader again for instructions whether to launch an attack immediately.
This time there was no need for Sokov to issue orders. The commanders of each regiment knew exactly what to do. They all decisively sent the signal to the troops to attack: "Do it!"
Not long after the order to attack was issued, three red signal flares were raised in the sky, signaling the attack to the Soviet commanders and fighters lurking in different locations.
Due to the lurking position of the troops, which was only two to three hundred meters away from the German positions, as the signal flares took off, the commanders and soldiers who had been lying on the ground for several hours jumped up from the ground and rushed towards the enemy with weapons in hand.
Soon, intensive gunshots rang out in these areas. Many German officers and soldiers were already drunk. When they heard the sudden gunshots, they couldn't think of how to fight back. Instead, they held bottles of wine and watched.
A place filled with gunshots and explosions.
The commanders and soldiers who rushed over shouted, but no matter whether the Germans were sober or drunk, as long as they saw those who did not raise their hands, they would immediately shoot them down. If nothing happened, they would add another bayonet.
