Among the nearly 100 soldiers rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp, more than 100 people had worked as tank soldiers and artillery soldiers. They were all incorporated into the tank company and artillery company by Sokov, and the remaining soldiers were also enriched into three infantry battalions. However, even so, if you want to defend a city as big as Kursk, your troops are still seriously insufficient.
After understanding this situation, Belkin suggested: "Comrade Brigade Commander, since the Front Command asked us in the telegram what difficulties we have, you can reply that our existing forces are difficult to defend Kursk, please ask reinforcements to arrive as soon as possible."
"I don't think this is necessary." Sokov said disapprovingly about Belkin's proposal: "Comrade Political Commissar, the importance of Kursk is better than you and me. They will never let such a city fall back into the hands of the enemy. I think reinforcements from all walks of life will arrive here as quickly as possible."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I think we have all ignored a fact." Belkin's expression suddenly became serious: "Although Moscow is only 550 kilometers here, there are many cities along the way occupied by the Germans, and reinforcements from Moscow cannot pass directly. They must find ways to bypass these German-controlled areas. In this way, the time spent on the road will be greatly extended. Now we can count on the 7th Tank Army sent by the Front Command."
Belkin's words made Sokov stunned. When he calculated the arrival time of reinforcements, he indeed ignored the German defense zone deep behind Kursk, which was nearly 100 kilometers deep in the enemy's backbone and Moscow. The reinforcements sent by the base camp could not pass through these areas, so he could only go to Yeretz, and then crossed the forest and swamp areas to move closer to Kursk. If reinforcements took this route, it would take as long as four or five days.
Sokov stared at the map that was spread out in front of him and thought in his mind: The Germans knew that Kursk was lost, and would mobilize heavy troops to rush towards him in the shortest time. With their mobility, if they are fast, they will be slow tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, and the troops will be at the city. According to their original idea, in the face of the German attack, the reinforcements can arrive as long as the troops hold on for one day. But at this moment, they must hold on for more than three days before they can wait for the arrival of reinforcements.
Belkin saw Sokov's embarrassment and said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there are currently only more than 1,400 people in the entire brigade. It is very difficult to block the enemy's attack."
"Yes, it's really difficult to keep Kursk." Sokov raised his head and looked at Belkin and said, "But we don't have the right to hand over the city to the Germans anymore, so we must find a way to keep it."
Belkin and Sokov have been together for quite some time. He heard him speak in this tone and guessed that he must have thought of some good idea. He quickly asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, have you thought of a good idea?"
"If the Germans want to seize this city, no matter which direction they come from, their troops will definitely not be short. If we deploy the troops around the city, the soldiers who are at a disadvantage in terms of number and equipment will not be able to stop the enemy's attack at all." Sokov took a few strokes on the map with his hand, and then said: "So I decided to arrange only a few guard forces around the city and place the main force in the city. Once an enemy attacks in any direction, the guard forces will first rely on the fortifications outside the city to fight the German attack, and we will use ready-made transportation to transport the main force to the combat area."
"This is a good idea." Sokov's thoughts made Berkin feel bright: "In addition to the large number of cars left by the German army, there are also many buses in the city. Once the battle begins, we can use these means of transportation to quickly send troops to the combat area. Not bad, not bad, it is indeed a good idea."
"But there are many shortcomings in this method." Sokov sighed and said, "If the enemy attacks the city from two directions at the same time, we can only support it by dividing troops, so that the defense will appear weak."
After talking for a long time, he returned to the issue of insufficient troops. After sighing, Belkin took the initiative to propose: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I think we should set up a recruitment station in the city immediately and recruit new recruits from the residents."
Although he had discussed the establishment of a conscription station, Sokov was worried that the new recruits would dilute the combat effectiveness of the troops after they were incorporated into the army, and he believed that reinforcements would arrive soon, so he was reluctant to set up a conscription station. He heard the re-introduction of the old story of Bellkin, he hesitated for a long time and finally nodded and said, "Okay, comrade political commissar, I will give you full responsibility for opening a conscription station. Remember, residents who have been militias or participated in military training can be given priority to recruiting the army."
After Belkin left, Sokov called the communications company commander Maxim, handed him a telegram he had drafted, and ordered: "Lieutenant Maxim, immediately send this telegram to the Front Command. At the same time, he will send a message to Captain Brisky who stayed in the Dym area, so that he could get out of contact with the enemy as soon as possible and rush to Kursk to join the main force."
When it was dark, Belkin, with a tired face, came back from outside. Before Sokov could speak, he reported to him first: "Comrade Brigade Commander, as soon as we opened several recruitment stations in the city, there was a long queue at the door, and the residents' enthusiasm was very high. According to incomplete statistics, in just over four hours, we recruited more than 5,000 new recruits."
"Are five thousand new recruits recruits recruited?" Although Sokov felt that Belkin would definitely be able to recruit a lot of new recruits. After all, Kursk has a population of about 200,000, but when he heard that he had recruited 5,000 people, Sokov was still shocked: "Are they all undergo military training?"
"Yes, comrade comrade commander." Belkin nodded and said in a positive tone: "The vast majority of people have participated in militias or received corresponding military training. After they are incorporated into the army, they can participate in formal combat after a brief training."
"Great, this is great." Sokov remembered that in the documentary that later generations watched, many of the city residents who participated in the defense of Stalingrad only learned how to use guns after entering the position, but it did not affect their enthusiasm for defending the motherland. The Kursk residents who participated in the Kursk have participated in some militia organizations or received military training, and they are much faster to form combat effectiveness. "With these more than 5,000 new recruits, we have greater confidence in defending the city."
As the two were talking, a noise suddenly came from outside: "I want to see the commander, I want to see the commander..." Sokov listened and heard it, several women were talking, and he couldn't help but frown and shouted outside the door: "Come here!"
With the shouting, the guard company commander Xie Liaosha walked in: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"What happened outside? Why is it so noisy?" Sokov was worried that the soldiers below had violated military discipline, so the victim came here to complain, so he said to Selyosha with a stern face: "You go out and take a look and bring the quarrels in."
After a while, Selyosha walked in with two young girls wearing headscarves. Selyosha came to Sokov, raised his hand to salute, and said to him: "Report to the brigade commander, these two girls want to see you, but our sentry did not allow them to come in, and they started arguing."
Seeing that the two girls were coming, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little stumbled. He thought to himself that someone had really violated the military discipline. They came to complain as victims, right? Thinking of this, he pretended to be calm and asked: "Two girls, I wonder what I can serve you?"
A tall girl looked Sokov up and down and found that the other party was a little too young, so she asked in a suspicious tone: "Are you the highest commander here?"
"Yes, I am the supreme commander," Sokov replied truthfully; "all the troops in the city are under my command."
"Comrade Commander," the tall girl grabbed Sokov's hand and said excitedly: "I want to accuse someone from you."
The girl's words made Sokov tremble. He thought more and more that his subordinates must have violated the military discipline. Otherwise, how could this girl use the word "accusation"? He pretended to be nothing and asked: "This girl, I don't know which subordinate of my offended you. Just tell me the truth, and I will definitely punish him severely."
"This girl, your name is Jina, right?" Unexpectedly, Belkin, who was standing behind Sokov, stepped forward and said to the girl: "If I remember correctly, you should be calling this name, right?"
The tall man looked at Belkin and said lightly: "Yes, you remember correctly. My name is indeed Ji Na."
"I think, I am the one you are going to sue, right?"
"Yes, it's you!"
The conversation between the two confused Sokov. If the girl wanted to accuse someone else, Sokov would never have any suspicion, but at this moment her accusation was actually Belkin, which was incredible. Sokov hurriedly interrupted and asked, "Who can tell me what's going on?"
Ji Na pointed his hand at Beerkin and said angrily: "My friend and I wanted to sign up for the army, but he refused mercilessly."
Hearing this, Sokov immediately understood that it was the two girls who wanted to join the army, but they were rejected by Belkin. They were not convinced and found themselves here to seek justice. Sokov said to Belkin with a side face: "Comrade Political Commissar, I remember that the relevant departments once sent a general mobilization to the girls in the Soviet Union, calling on them to take off Braj, put on military uniforms, and use their youth and blood to defend the country. Why do you refuse their request for joining the army?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin explained to Sokov: "I once suggested that they go to the health team or join the air defense force, but they refused. They thought that the frontier was like male soldiers, fighting face to face with the enemy. But you also knew that I had no right to let my future mother die, so I refused their request for joining the army."
After figuring out what happened, Sokov said to Ji Na: "Comrade Ji Na, I think the political commissar is doing a good job. A big war will soon be fought. We cannot let untrained people go to the battlefield to die, let alone a few young girls. I will give you two choices now: one is to go to the health team or the air defense force; the other is to go back and continue to be your common people."
"What if we don't choose either?" Ji Na said disdainfully: "What if we have to go to the combat troops?"
"If you don't choose either, then no one will accept you in my defense zone." Sokov brought out what Belkin said in order to increase his persuasion: "You are future mothers, and your duty is to reproduce Russian life, rather than to run to the enemy's gun to die. I will be responsible for your safety."
"Comrade Commander," another girl of medium size saw that the two of them became more and more stiff, and quickly interrupted, "Please forgive Ji Na's recklessness. Her mother, sister and brother were all dead at the hands of the Germans. She wanted to avenge her family, so she wanted to join the front-line combat troops."
After the girl finished speaking, the room fell into silence. After a long time, Belkin said, "Comrade Ji Na, I understand your mood. Many people have lost their relatives in the war. But we have no right to let you take risks and let you stay at the most dangerous frontier like a male soldier."
Seeing the tragedy of Ji Na's family, the two commanders were still unable to impress. After a moment of silence, the girl continued: "Comrade Commander, Ji Na and I were shooting athletes before the war, which can be considered as military training. Please, let us join the combat force!"
"What, you used to be shooting athletes?" Sokov originally wanted to refuse their request to join the army again, but when he heard that the two were shooting athletes, he immediately changed his mind. However, for the sake of safety, he specifically asked: "Have you participated in the competition and won the ranking?"
"Of course I've won the ranking," the girl heard Sokov's question and immediately realized that something had turned around. She proudly said: "We won the top two in the shooting competition held in Kursk Region last May." She glanced at Ji Na who was angry beside her and added, "Jina is the champion, I am the runner-up."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he immediately asked, "Girl, what's your name?" When he learned that the two were the champions and runners-ups in the shooting competition, he had already made up his mind to organize them into the sniper team.
"My name is Susanna." After saying her name, the girl asked Sokov nervously: "Comrade Commander, can you accept us?"
"Seryosha," Sokov called his guard commander over and told him: "Take them both to try the guns. If the shooting skills are good, stay and join the sniper team in your company."
Seryosha was confused by Sokov's words: "Comrade Brigade Commander, but we don't have a sniper team in our company?"
Chapter completed!