Sokov knew very well that the loss of personnel was unimaginable when the Stalingrad meat grinder was about to start operating. The average survival time of the soldiers who came here was no more than 24 hours, and the officers only had only 72 hours. It would be extremely difficult for him to replenish the troops in the future. Therefore, he had to try his best to enrich all kinds of troops in his troops while the soldiers were not too nervous.
For this reason, Sokov immediately agreed to Belkin's proposal: "Since the political commissar said so, Captain Goria will take your troops to stay." In order to prevent the other party from rejecting him, he immediately added, "Don't worry, comrade Captain, I will continue to keep your number. When the supplementary troops sent by the superiors arrive, your division will be rebuilt immediately."
"Keep the number?!" Goriya couldn't help but look surprised when he heard Sokov say this: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I want to ask, how can we keep our division's number?"
"Captain Goria, I will not break up your subordinates and be organized into various companies." Sokov said to him in order to reassure Goria, "Based on the original commanders and fighters of the 192nd Division, I will add two hundred more people to you and form a new battalion with the number 192nd Battalion, with you as battalion commander. How about it, no problem?"
After listening to Sokov's arrangement, the expression on Goriya's face became relaxed. He shook his head and replied: "No problem, comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I firmly obey your arrangement."
"Captain Goria, why are you still calling Lieutenant Colonel Comrade?" Belkin said with a smile: "From now on, you are already a member of our 73rd Infantry Brigade, and you should call him the brigade commander."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Captain Goriya immediately changed his name to Sokov: "I wonder where you plan to deploy our battalion?"
"Anyway, the training time of the guard company has been greatly reduced recently. That place is empty, so why not station your camp there first." Sokov said: "When the time is right, then adjust your residence."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, even if our camp now has only more than 300 people, at least sixty or seventy tents are needed to place them." Goria asked with some concern: "I wonder how many tents can the brigade department provide us?"
Since most of the infantry brigade's forces have now entered the tunnel, it turns out that the tents they lived in are empty. Sokov heard Goriya mention the tents and ordered Cydolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't we have many empty tents now? First, give eighty to the comrades of the 192nd Battalion so that they can have a place to rest."
Goria thought that after he made a request, Sokov could solve the problem of thirty tents for himself, which was already the limit. In his heart, he had already made plans to let ten soldiers squeeze a tent. Unexpectedly, the other party was so generous that he agreed to give himself eighty tents. He quickly said gratefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I am on behalf of the 192nd Division... No, I am all the commanders and soldiers of the 192nd Battalion. Thank you!"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," solved the accommodation question for the 192nd Battalion of Goriya. Sokov continued to tell Sidolin: "As soon as possible, no less than two hundred people were drawn from other battalions to enrich the 192nd Battalion to ensure that they can re-establish strong combat power in the shortest time."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I suggest adding the soldiers of the 192nd Battalion to be transferred from the First, Second and Fourth Battalions." As the chief of staff, Sidolin knew the best of the troops of each battalion in the brigade. After Sokov finished speaking, he took the initiative to ask the other party: "The third battalion has the least troops, so I think it will not be transferred for the time being."
Just as the soldiers of the 192nd Battalion were setting up tents for the area they arranged, the roar of the aircraft engine suddenly came from the air. When these soldiers who had just retreated from the right bank of the Don River heard this sound, they immediately instinctively looked for a place to hide.
The soldiers of the guard company who were temporarily drawn to help couldn't help laughing when they saw the embarrassing look of their new comrades. The kind of enthusiastic soldiers shouted to those comrades looking for hidden things everywhere: "Don't worry, don't worry, it's a German reconnaissance plane, there is no danger."
Hearing the shouts of the guard company soldiers, the soldiers in the frightened state gradually calmed down. They stood up from their hiding place, looked up at the air, and saw clearly the enemy planes hovering in the air. It was indeed an unarmed reconnaissance plane, and the heart hanging in their throats was put back in their stomachs.
Sokov heard the sound of the plane engine, walked out of the tent, looked into the air and asked Cidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy's reconnaissance planes have to visit Mamayev's hill every day. Do you think they have discovered the fortifications we have built?"
"The surface fortifications on the hillside must have been reconnaissed. The fortifications in the tunnel cannot be discovered unless the German pilot has a perspective eye." Cidolin said this and suddenly hesitated: "But..."
Seeing Sidolin's desire to speak but stop, Sokov asked anxiously: "But what? Comrade Chief of Staff, just say what you have at once, don't say half of it and leave half of it, which makes people anxious."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, the tunnel connecting the north and south slopes has not been completely completed so far." Cidolin replied: "The tunnel that uses the hidden excavation method has no problem. German pilots are absolutely unable to discover it. However, the tunnel that uses the open excavation method has been repeatedly reconnaissed by German reconnaissance planes. I am worried that once the battle starts near Mamayev Hill, the location of the tunnel will become the focus of German bombing."
Regarding Sidolin's concern, Sokov waved his hand and said indifferently: "Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff. Even if the enemy discovers the tunnel that uses open digging, they will not care. They may even regard it as a trench or anti-tank trench we dug, and will not waste their precious bombs at will."
Seeing the reconnaissance planes constantly circling over Mamayev hill, Sokov said to Sidolin and Belkin who were standing aside, "There is nothing to see, let's go back to the tent first."
The three of them had just walked into the tent when a rumbling sound of cannons suddenly sounded outside. Hearing this sound, Sokov's heart sank suddenly, thinking to himself: Could it be that the Germans started shelling Mamayev's hill, right? But he soon discovered that there was no vibration on the ground, and the sound of cannons came from the air.
"Hey, this is the anti-aircraft artillery deployed on the dock, firing at the enemy's reconnaissance plane." Sokov roared dissatisfiedly and rushed out of the tent, looking up at the air. Sure enough, he saw black smoke blooming around the reconnaissance plane, but it was soon blown away by the wind.
"Comrade Brigade Commander, what happened?" Belkin saw Sokov rushing out of the tent, and thought something had happened, so he rushed out. When he saw the smoke group blooming in the air, he couldn't help but smile and said, "It's great, our anti-aircraft artillery is really great. As long as they can kill the enemy's reconnaissance planes, no enemy plane will dare to appear above Mamayev hill in the future."
"How can anti-aircraft artillery fire casually?" After seeing the German reconnaissance plane being driven away by artillery fire, Sokov said angrily: "It's just a reconnaissance plane. There are at least five anti-aircraft artillery guns that are firing now. Isn't this expose the target?" He turned his head and asked Cidolin who had just walked out of the tent, "Chief of Staff, what is the number of anti-aircraft artillery deployed on the dock?"
"Report to the brigade commander," Cidolin quickly replied, "It is the 1077th Women's Anti-Aircraft Cannon Regiment, and the command is Lieutenant Colonel Gorman. His command is located in the building next to our health team."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, what do you want to do?" Belkin and Sokov had been together for a long time. After hearing his question, he guessed that he must have thought of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment and went to talk to the commander Gorman, and quickly stopped him and said, "The anti-aircraft artillery regiment is only adjacent to our defense zone, but has no affiliation. Even if you go, the other party will not pay attention to what you said."
"Once we have a fight breaking out here, the air defense must rely on them." Sokov straightened the steel helmet on his head and continued: "But if the anti-aircraft artillery regiment suffered unnecessary losses due to exposing the target too early, our officers and soldiers would have to squat in fortifications and be bombed every day!"
"Since that's the case, comrade brigade commander, I'll accompany you." Belkin was worried that Sokov had arrived at someone else's territory and got angry at the other party's commander for such a thing, so he took the initiative to go with him. "As for the matter in the brigade, let the Chief of Staff be fully responsible."
The anti-aircraft artillery regiment's headquarters is not far from Sokov's brigade headquarters, and it is within a dozen minutes' walk.
Two female soldiers were standing guard at the gate of the regiment command post. When they saw two friendly commanders coming over, they quickly blocked their way and asked politely: "Two commanders, comrades, who are you from? What's wrong with you here?"
"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and this is my political commissar Beerkin. Our troops are stationed in Mamayevgang." After Sokov introduced himself, he asked the female soldier who was standing in front of him: "I have something urgent to see your regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Gorman, is he in there?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, the regiment commander is resting inside." After learning about Sokov and Belkin's identities, the female soldier hurriedly said respectfully: "Please wait for a moment here, and I'll go in and report it."
Less than two minutes after the female soldier entered, she came out with her. There was also an elderly lieutenant colonel. Sokov raised his hand and saluted the other party, and said politely: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Gorman, I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, who came to visit you specifically. This is my political commissar Beerkin."
"Hello, comrades in command." Gorman raised his hand and returned the salute, and asked curiously: "I heard from my subordinates that you have something to do with me?"
"Yes, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have something to talk to you." Sokov glanced at the female soldier standing guard at the door from the corner of his eyes: "Can we go in and talk again?"
"Please come in, two commanders." Gorman asked the two to enter his room, and asked them to sit down on the bench beside the wall, clean up the somewhat messy camp bed, and then turned around and asked them, "Is there anything important to you who came to find me?"
"That's right, comrade commander." Belkin was worried that Sokov would talk to the other party directly and might make the matter fall apart, so he said first: "When the enemy's reconnaissance plane was reconnaissance over Mamayev's hill, your anti-aircraft artillery regiment used no less than five anti-aircraft artillery to bombard it."
"With this happening, we cannot let the enemy's reconnaissance planes run around the Volga River unscrupulously." Gorman was sleeping, but the rumbling sound of cannons woke him up. After he woke up, he went to the door to inquire and found out that it was his anti-aircraft gunner who was attacking the German reconnaissance plane, and went back to sleep with his head covering. "What, two commanders, is your arrival related to our attack on the German reconnaissance plane?"
"Yes, it's true." Sokov spoke this time, and he told Gorman: "The German reconnaissance planes fly to Mamayev's gang every day. I'm afraid that the reconnaissance has been almost done. However, you have opened fire without authorization today, and your anti-aircraft artillery positions have been exposed. Once the German army bombs the Mamayev's gang area, I'm worried that you will become the focus of the attack here."
After Sokov finished speaking, Gorman actually laughed. After laughing, he said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I think it is necessary to remind you that since we are anti-aircraft artillery soldiers, the only thing we can do for enemy aircraft that appear over the defense zone is to use guns to knock it down, or drive it away from a distance.
As for the area where you are worried that the enemy will use our place as a key bombing, it is great. We can take advantage of the opportunity of enemy bombers gathering to kill more enemy aircraft to ensure safety over the city.”
The meeting ended up in dissatisfaction. Sokov left in anger. After Berkin and Gorman had a few words on the scene, he followed him out. He caught up with Sokov and said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't be angry. The anti-aircraft artillery regiment is not under our jurisdiction. It is their freedom to fire the fire when they want to, and we have no right to interfere."
"I understand, comrade of the political commissar, I understand what you said." Sokov said helplessly: "Today, in order to drive out a reconnaissance aircraft, at least five anti-aircraft artillery positions of the anti-aircraft artillery regiment were exposed. What I am worried about is that in the near future, the German army will bomb here, and those exposed anti-aircraft artillery positions will be the first to be affected."
Chapter completed!