Although the German attack was repelled, Sokov was very uneasy. He would not naively think that the German army endured for several days in a row just to launch a round of attacks with a sharp start. There must be some conspiracy. After talking to Saviev, he explained a few words to Belkin and took two guards to the high ground.
Although Sokov came to the high ground a lot, he was a little stunned when he came up this time. The fortifications he was familiar with had long disappeared under the attack of the German intensive artillery fire, leaving only dark bullet craters and thick layer of empty soil. He walked on the position for a while, but he didn't find the company's command post, so he called a passing soldier: "Comrade Warrior, where is your company's command post?"
The soldier stopped, pointed his fingers to the ground, and shouted to Sokov: "Comrade Major, you can find the company's command post by following the telephone line."
Sokov looked down and saw that there was indeed a telephone line on the ground. Although several sections were buried in the empty soil, he could barely see the direction of the line. He followed the telephone line to the door of the company command post. The company commander Saviev was sitting in a half-collapse bunker and asked a health officer to bandage the wound on his right arm.
When Sokov saw Saviev's head and arms wrapped in thick bandages, he couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Comrade Captain, why are you injured?"
"Some skin trauma." Seeing Sokov's arrival, Saviev wanted to get up to salute, but because of the injury on his leg, he did not stand up for a while. He could only smile apologetically at Sokov: "The injury on his leg was injured by shrapnel from the shells; the head and shoulders were scratched by bullets."
Seeing that Saviev was injured in many places and that the commander Stepan did not see anyone, Sokov was worried that he would have an accident and asked quickly: "Where is the instructor?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Battalion Commander." Saviev knew what Sokov was worried about and quickly replied: "He was not even injured in the battle, and was taking the soldiers to repair fortifications."
"Sanitation officer, send Captain Saviev to the health team immediately." Although Saviev pretended to be dissatisfied, in Sokov's eyes, his injuries were not light. He planned to order him to leave the high ground first and go to the health team for treatment. Since he knew Stepan was safe and sound, he said with the flow, "The instructor will be responsible for commanding the high ground."
"No, Comrade Battalion Commander." When Sokov said he wanted to let himself leave the position, Saviev immediately said stubbornly: "My injuries don't matter, let me continue to stay here to command."
Sokov ignored him, but turned to the guards following him and said, "You two stay here, and after the sanitary officers have finished bandaging, they will send Captain Saviev to the health team." After ordering the soldiers, Sokov walked towards the south slope with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
When Sokov saw Stepan, he was taking more than 20 soldiers on the south slope to collect weapons and ammunition from the killed German troops. Sokov stood in the trenches that had just been cleared, raised his telescope and looked at the German positions in the distance for a while, and saw that it was a busy scene, probably preparing for a new attack. After putting down the telescope, he leaned over to stepan on the hillside and shouted: "Hey, Instructor Stepan, come to me."
Stepan was bent down to pick up the ammunition from the German corpse, but he didn't hear Sokov's shout. After a warrior reminded him, he found Sokov, who was standing in the trench, quickly stuffed the ammunition to the soldiers, and trotted to Sokov and asked in surprise: "Comrade Battalion Commander, why are you here?"
"I'll take a look," Sokov glanced at the hillside full of German corpses and said to Stepan: "Instructor Stepan, because Captain Saviev's injuries are not light, I have ordered people to send him to the health team. From now on, I will leave you to take charge of the defense work of the highlands. The Germans will soon launch a new attack, and you must prepare for the battle as soon as possible."
"I understand, Comrade Battalion Commander." Stepan replied with his head raised and his chest raised: "No matter how fierce the enemy's attack is, we will never take a step back."
To Stepan's answer, Sokov nodded with satisfaction and then asked, "Do you have any difficulties?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Stepan asked tentatively with a bitter face: "Comrade Battalion Commander, in the battle that just ended, the tanks parked at the foot of the mountain caused considerable casualties to our company. I heard that there was an anti-tank gun in the battalion, and I wonder if it could be deployed on our position? In this way, the threat of German tanks to us can be greatly reduced."
If Stepan made another request, maybe Sokov would do his best to satisfy him. But Sokov refused without hesitation about his request for anti-tank guns: "No, the entire battalion has only one anti-tank gun, and there are few shells. The area they are defending now is very important and cannot be adjusted casually."
When Stepan learned that Sokov was unwilling to assign anti-tank guns to the third company, he showed a disappointed expression on his face. But he still said with a reasonable attitude: "Well, Comrade Battalion Commander, although we cannot equip us with anti-tank guns, we will still do our best to guard the nameless highlands."
In order to strengthen Stepan's confidence in holding his position, Sokov said to him: "Don't worry, comrade instructor, you are not fighting alone. Captain Vasily's machine gun company is ready to support you at any time. If you can't withstand the enemy's offensive, call me, and I will immediately adjust the machine gun company to reinforce."
Originally, Sokov wanted to stay on the position for a while, but the correspondent soldier from the third company came to report to him: "Comrade Battalion Commander, you have your phone number in the company command post, and it was called by the Deputy Battalion Commander of the Political Department."
Sokov knew that there was no urgent matter and Berkin would not call the high ground. He quickly followed the communications officer to the company's command post, picked up the microphone hanging on a wooden pillar, and asked loudly: "Hey, Deputy Battalion Commander, I am Sokov, what happened there?"
"The division commander just called to find you." Belkin said: "Let you give him a call immediately and have important combat missions to arrange for us."
Chapter completed!