The battle in the east of the city lasted for more than two hours. Under the cover of tanks and artillery, the German infantry launched three charges to the position of the Third Battalion, but were all repelled by the commanders and fighters of the Third Battalion. Seeing that the first, second and 13th companies who were responsible for the offensive mission were suffering heavy casualties, Colonel Weber could only sigh and ordered the troops to retreat first to rest.
Seeing the enemy retreating, Andrey breathed a sigh of relief, then picked up the phone on the table and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the German attack was repelled by us."
"If the Germans will attack again at any time, you must hurry up and repair the fortifications." Sokov said expressionlessly: "I have sent a tank company to hide on your left wing. When the enemy launches an attack again, they will launch an assault from the flank of the German tanks. As long as the German tank troops are eliminated, it will not be so easy for the enemy to seize the position of your battalion."
"Comrade Brigade Commander." After hearing Sokov's words, Andrei was silent for a moment and asked, "If I were talking about it, what if our camp could not hold its position under the fierce attack of the German army?"
"Alternately cover the retreat into the city." Sokov had an answer to Andrei's question: "The political commissar has already organized the residents to build fortifications in the city. After you retreat into the city, you must use these fortifications to break them into pieces and engage in street battles with the enemy, and consume a lot of their living power."
"Work street fighting in the city?" Andrei thought that Sokov would order him to defend the outer positions at all costs, but he did not expect that the other party would allow him to lead the troops to retreat to the city when he could not support it. He asked with some concern: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there are too many new recruits in my camp. If I keep holding the position outside the city, because there are veterans around them, they can still hide in fortifications and shoot at the Germans rushing up. But once they return to the city they are familiar with and turn them into small battles, will there be a large number of deserters appear?"
"Captain Andre, you must strictly enforce military discipline." Hearing the possibility mentioned by Andre, Sokov said seriously: "As long as you find deserters, no matter what the reason is, you will be executed on the spot. Do you understand?"
When Andrei heard Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone for the first time, he hurriedly replied: "I understand, comrade brigade commander, I will never be lenient with the cowards that appear in the camp."
After hearing Andrei's statement, Sokov slowed down and said: "Captain Andrei, you should strengthen the political and ideological work in the camp and tell every soldier that they are not only defending the motherland and Stalin, but also protecting their own homes and their relatives. I think if they understand this truth, they can re-inspire their courage to fight the Germans."
After Andrei's call, Sokov stared at the map and began to consider how to carry out street fighting. He planned to form combat teams in platoons and allocate them to each building. As long as each team is equipped with snipers, machine gunners and anti-tank soldiers, they can pose great danger to the German army in the areas they defend.
Snipers can snipe German commanders, machine gunners, and gunners at long range; machine gunners can continue to fire at the gathering of enemies, causing them major casualties; and the anti-tank operator's mission is to destroy the tanks that cover the infantry attack by the German army, so that the machine gunners can give the enemy the maximum damage.
In the evening, Belkin returned to the command post and reported to Sokov about the construction of fortifications in the city: "...We have built barricades at every intersection; the windows facing the street are piled with sandbags so that our soldiers can kill the enemies on the street from a high place..."
After the report, Berkin sat down and took a sip of tea, and said with a worried look: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do we really want to fight street fights with the Germans?"
"That's right," Sokov nodded after Berkin finished speaking, and replied: "Although our total force now exceeds six thousand, our combat power is greatly diluted. It seems impossible to block the enemy outside the city, so we can only retreat to the city and fight streets with the enemy?"
"What should the residents in the city do?" Belkin suddenly raised his voice and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, have you ever thought that once street fighting is opened in the city, how many residents will die in the battle? Ten thousand, twenty thousand, or fifty thousand, or eighty thousand?"
Belkin's words stopped Sokov. He remembered that in a document he had read, he mentioned that before Stalingrad was in danger, Stalin issued an order to prohibit evacuation in order to prevent panic. As a result, tens of thousands of civilians died in such a war that shocked the world. There are now more than 200,000 people in Kursk. If he really fought street battles with the enemy in the city, the casualties of civilians would be an astonishing number.
Seeing Sokov silent, Belkin continued: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have considered it. In order to avoid hurting innocent citizens in the next street fighting, I suggest evacuation immediately. We will distribute food to each residents for a week and let them leave Kursk immediately and go to a safe place."
"Go to a safe place?" Sokov couldn't help but sneer when he heard Belkin say this, and then asked back: "My political commissar, have you forgotten that Kursk is a city deep behind enemy lines. Where did you let our residents retreat and let them all hand them over to the Germans?"
Sokov's rebuttal made Belkin speechless. He only thought that in order to avoid unnecessary casualties in street fighting, he should evacuate as soon as possible, but ignored that the city is still in the rear of the enemy. Even if the residents leave the city, they may not be able to escape from danger, but they do not say how they pass through the enemy's defense zone, and even if they encounter enemies on the road, they may be killed.
"Comrade Political Commissar, if we want to reduce casualties among the residents in the city, we can only work hard to control the battle in the suburbs of the city." Sokov looked at Belkin and said, "As long as we take all measures to block the enemy outside the city, the residents in the city can avoid this catastrophe."
Chapter completed!