In the temporary command center of the village, the deputy battalion commander Belkin and the company commanders surrounded a long wooden table, staring at a map placed on it. Sokov was walking back and forth around the house with his hands behind his back, thinking about how to fight the next battle.
I don’t know how long he walked, but he finally stopped, turned to face the table, stopped his eyes on Andre, and asked, “Captain Andre, I ask you, can your second company continue to fight?”
"Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander!" Hearing Sokov clicked his name, Andre quickly took two steps forward and replied loudly: "Although I lost one-third of the commanders and fighters in the battle of Jiefang Village, my overall combat effectiveness was not greatly affected, and we can continue to take on the main offensive mission."
Sokov nodded, "Well, since you are so confident, I will hand over the task of seizing the No. 2 village to your company." Seeing the other company commanders eager to try, he continued to assign tasks: "Saviev's third company stayed in the village, the No. 3 village is the first company of Wanya, and the No. 4 village is captured by Vasily and I and Vasily lead the machine gun company to seize it. The two artillery companies each draw half of their troops to assist the First Company and the Second Company. Once the No. 2 village is captured, after the No. 3 village, except for the necessary guard troops, the rest will rush to support the No. 4 village. Does anyone have any questions?"
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I have a problem." Saviev asked aggrievedly: "Why do we have to stay in the village of the third company? Our company can carry out more difficult tasks."
"Captain Saviev," Sokov looked at him and said, "You even lost 70% of your troops when you were defending the nameless highlands. You have basically lost the ability to attack, so I decided to let you all stay in the village. Apart from the third company commander, who has any questions?"
"I'll say a few words," Belkin interrupted, "Comrade Battalion Commander, after successfully seizing Village No. 1, Village No. 2, No. 4 and No. 3 will be captured in a clockwise direction in sequence. But you suddenly adjusted the combat plan to disperse the troops of my battalion. In this way, will it lead to the inability of the task of occupying the village smoothly in several directions?"
Regarding Belkin's question, Sokov walked to the table and pointed to the map and said to everyone: "The German army's troops in these four villages are very weak and cannot stop our attack at all. This can be seen from the battle that just ended. In addition, everyone should also see that because the front of the attack is too narrow and cannot deploy too many troops, one company can only be invested at a time, and the rest of the companies can only stare at the side. This is one of the reasons why I want to divide my troops to attack."
"Reason 2: If we continue to attack clockwise according to our original deployment, and after the Germans master our rules, they will mobilize troops to strengthen the villages that are about to be attacked by us to increase the difficulty of our attack. In this way, after we pull out villages No. 2 and No. 4 in turn, facing villages No. 3, which is waiting for us to work, we will be unable to launch a new attack.
We are now attacking three villages at the same time. The German soldiers dare not take the initiative and cannot support each other. They can only stay in the village honestly and wait for us to beat him. Do you understand what I said?”
After listening to Sokov's explanation, the company commanders who were already confused immediately understood Sokov's intention and replied neatly: "I understand, Comrade Battalion Commander!"
"Since you understand, then go back to your respective troops immediately." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said, "The attacking troops will set out in half an hour. Everyone should hurry up and prepare."
After the company commanders left the command post, Belkin tried to persuade Sokov to stay and let himself and the machine gun company go to capture the No. 4 village: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I think you should stay in the command post. I will go to attack the No. 4 village with the machine gun company?"
"No," Sokov unequivocally rejected Belkin's proposal: "Based on the information we have, the defense of village No. 4 is the most stringent, and with your command ability, I'm not at ease."
If someone else said that his command ability was not good, Belkin would definitely fight with the other party and blushed, but since Sokov said this, he just smiled faintly. After all, countless facts have proved that Sokov's command ability was indeed beyond his reach.
Half an hour later, when Sokov came out of the command post, he found that the troops of the first and second companies had already set off, and the machine gun company led by Vasily was lined up in the open space not far away.
When Vasily saw Sokov coming towards him, he quickly shouted: "Everyone listens to my command: stand at attention!" Then he trotted to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted, "Comrade Battalion Commander, the machine gun company has been assembled, please instruct!"
Sokov glanced at the neatly lined up in the distance, and then ordered Vasily: "Let's go!"
As soon as the team of the machine gun company arrived at the entrance to the north of the village, a soldier standing guard at the entrance of the village suddenly ran over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we found two children outside the village."
"Child?" Sokov was stunned when he heard the soldiers say this. Therefore, after occupying the village, he ordered people to search carefully. No villager noticed where did the two children emerge? In order to figure out this problem, he immediately ordered the soldiers, "bring them here."
After a while, the soldiers brought back two little boys, one tall and one short, and came to Sokov. Sokov squatted down and asked amiably: "Child, can you tell me what your name is and which village is from?"
The tall boy did not immediately answer Sokov's question, but asked back: "Are you the Red Army?"
"Yes, we are the Red Army." Sokov pointed at himself and said, "Did you see my uniform? This is the uniform of the Red Army."
After hearing Sokov's answer, the tall boy replied, "We are from Yuriya Valorda Village. My name is Valora, and his name is Anton."
Chapter completed!