The Third Battalion, which attacked the entire line, gained a lot in today's battle. In addition to capturing hundreds of German officers and soldiers, they also seized three No. 4 tanks, one assault gun, and five heavy artillery that were lucky enough not to be blown up by the Air Force.
Sokov and Belkin also had a dispute over the handling of these prisoners. Belkin believed that if so many enemies were released, they would pick up their weapons and fight us when they went back, which was equivalent to enhancing the strength of the German army in disguise.
The reason why Sokov insisted on letting go of these German prisoners was very simple. The city did not have the ability to contain prisoners. Sokov could not do the task of shooting a large number of prisoners; and it was too unrealistic to incorporate German prisoners into his own team, so he thought it would be better to let go of the prisoners. After the prisoners returned to the army, even if they were re-armed, their fighting will not be compared with before, and instead would affect the morale of the Germans.
Later, despite Belkin's opposition, Sokov issued an order to Andre in the name of the brigade commander, asking him to let all the captured prisoners be released. Andre also had some resistance to this order, but since it was the order of his superiors, he could only execute it unconditionally. After the prisoners left, he summoned several company commanders below to meet and said to them: "Comrades, I think you have seen it. The brigade commander who we caught twice in a row have let us release them. I now officially announce that in the future, our battalion will not leave any prisoners in the battle. Do you understand?"
The three company commanders were also emotional about the release of the captives. When they heard the order issued by Andre, they immediately replied loudly: "I understand."
Sokov didn't know that because of his own, Andrei gave the company commanders of the Third Battalion the order not to keep the prisoners. He was giving the task to the artillery company commander and the tank company commander. He first said to Porochenko: "Comrade Lieutenant, in today's battle, the third battalion seized five 150mm howitzers in the battle, and I will hand them all to your company. You must conceal these artillery well so as not to suffer losses in the bombing of the German army."
"Don't worry, comrade comrade commander." Porochenko replied with a smile: "The artillery of our company is hidden in different alleys. When it is necessary to be bombarded, it is pushed onto the street, and then accurately bombard the enemy based on the data provided by the artillery observers."
"Good job." Sokov praised Porochenko and said to Alitai: "Lieutenant Alitai, your tank company suffered a certain loss in today's battle. The seized tanks and assault guns will be allocated to your company. How about it, can the tankers drive German tanks?"
"Don't worry, comrade brigade commander." Alitai said with a smile and said, "Although it is a different tank, our tank hands can still be easily driven. By the way, comrade brigade commander, I heard that you can drive tanks as well. I wonder where you learned it from?"
Sokov naturally would not tell Alitai that he had learned it in the Tank Museum next to Victory Square in later generations, spending more than 100,000 rubles to pay for tuition. He could only say vaguely: "I used to be a tractor driver in a collective farm and drove a crawler tractor, so I quickly learned the driving skills of the tank."
Fortunately, many tank soldiers have been tractor drivers before. They can quickly look at the driving skills of the tank, which is entirely due to their experience of driving a crawler tractor. Therefore, after listening to Sokov's far-fetched explanation, Alitai also thought that the brigade commander could master the driving skills of the tank, which was completely related to his previous history of being a tractor driver.
Sokov thought that the two attack positions of the tanks were in the north of the third battalion's position. The Germans were not fools. They had suffered losses twice in a row. Before launching another attack, they could strengthen their right wing's defenses to prevent the Soviet tanks from rushing out from the same direction. Therefore, he said to Alitai: "Comrade Lieutenant, your company launched an attack from the left wing of the third battalion, that is, the north in these two battles. Right?"
"It's totally correct, comrade comrade commander." Alitai immediately guessed what he wanted to say when he heard Sokov say that, and asked tentatively: "Are you worried that the enemy will focus on preventing the direction of my company's attack next time?"
"Yes, that's how I thought about it." Sokov emphasized in order to attract the necessary attention of Alitai: "If I were the German commander, I would use artillery fire to bombard the potentially hidden places before the new attack was launched. If this is true, you will inevitably suffer huge losses, so you must move to the new attack position overnight."
Alitai nodded in response to Sokov's reminder, and then asked carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I plan to transfer the tank company to the right wing of the Third Battalion. I wonder if it is appropriate?"
"I think it should be possible," Sokov said, "When the enemy attacked twice in a row, you attacked from their right wing. If they attacked again tomorrow, the enemy would definitely think you would attack from the same place. If you suddenly change the direction of the attack, I think you can catch the enemy off guard."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Alitai paused for a moment after Sokov finished speaking, and said, "The German tanks we seized were seriously insufficient in terms of fuel and ammunition, otherwise the Germans would not throw away these tanks when they escaped. Look, can we find a way to replenish our fuel and ammunition."
"You don't have to worry about fuel and ammunition." Sokov heard that Alitai was worried about this problem, and quickly said carelessly: "There are more of these things in the warehouses we occupied. I will arrange people to send them to you immediately. Do you have any other questions?"
After Alitai and Porochenko looked at each other, they shook their heads at the same time and replied loudly: "No problem!"
After Sokov sent the two company commanders away, he was about to arrange personnel to deliver fuel and ammunition to Alitai's troops. The radio operator suddenly said to him in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have received a call from friendly troops here!"
When Sokov heard that it was a friendly army who sent a telegram, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic and quickly ordered the radio operator: "Receive the telegram immediately!"
After the radio operator agreed, he began to receive telegrams from friendly forces with all his heart. Although the entire process of receiving and translating newspapers was only two or three minutes, it was as long as one or two hours for Sokov.
Chapter completed!