Although Cuikov expressed his intention to carry out counter-assaults in the area that was broken through by the German army as soon as possible, it took four or five days to mobilize and assemble the troops. On the evening of August 28, Sokov suddenly received a call from Cuikov. The trusted commander of the group army said on the phone: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, come to my command center immediately."
Sokov brought a guard squad to the 30th Independent Armored Train Battalion in the north factory area and found the Trekov command center located here.
When Sokov walked into the command, he saw several commanders in the room surrounding a table and heard what Cuikov was talking about. Sokov quickly came behind Cuikov, raised his hand and saluted, and said, "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, is ordered to come. I obey your order, please give instructions!"
Seeing Sokov coming, Trekov nodded to him and introduced the members of the command center as soon as he began: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, let me introduce you to the military committee member of the group army. This is Major General Krelov, Chief of Staff, Colonel Witkov, Deputy Chief of Staff. Colonel Gorokov, Commander of the 124th Infantry Brigade, and Colonel Borvinov, Commander of the 149th Infantry Brigade."
After the introduction, Cuikov called Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, come here to the map, I will introduce you to the current situation." After Sokov came to his side, he pointed to the northwest direction of the factory area. "According to the latest information we have, in the enemy's encirclement, the 54th Fortification Area belonging to the 4th Tank Army is still in a tenacious battle. Tell me, what should we do now?"
"Since we already know that friendly forces are surrounded by the enemy, we should rescue them." Sokov pointed to the location of the 54th Forest Area and said to Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, I think a force should be sent to carry out an assault in the Forest Area. In this way, not only can the besieged troops be rescued, but also can give the enemy troops who break through the defense line a headache, so that the cut off main force of the army will be restored to the city."
"Chief of Staff," Cuikov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and looked up at Krekov and said, "It seems that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's idea coincides with you."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, if I give you two infantry brigades," Cuikov turned to Sokov and asked, "Can you defeat the enemy in the northwest of the factory area, rescue the troops besieged in the 54th Fortification area, and reconnect with the main force of the army that was separated?"
"Comrade Commander," Sokov said with confidence about Cuikov's question: "If there is artillery fire and air force support, I think this task should be accomplished."
"The troops under your command have neither the support of artillery fire nor the cooperation of the air force during the attack." Cuikov said with a serious expression: "There are only two infantry brigades to attack the German armored division. How about it, are you confident?"
"Sorry, Comrade Commander." Sokov immediately released his opinion as soon as Cui Kov finished speaking: "This is purely for the soldiers to die. I'm sorry, I can't complete such a task."
Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Cui Kefu said firmly: "I think you are capable of completing such a task." Then he pointed at the two infantry brigade commanders and said to Sokov, "From now on, I appointed you as the commander of the 'Northern Cluster', commanding the 124th and 149th Infantry Brigades, and launching a counterattack against the enemy tomorrow morning."
The sudden appointment made Sokov a little stunned. He stared at Cui Kefu widened his eyes and thought to himself when it was already. Cui Kefu was still interested in joking with him and let him be the commander of the northern cluster. Isn’t this a joke for him to command two colonels?
Seeing Sokov staring at him and not speaking, Cuikov guessed the other party's intentions and said to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I did not joke with you. After discussion by the heads of the group army, it was decided to appoint you to command the troops of the 124th and 149th Brigades and launch an attack on the area occupied by the German army tomorrow morning."
Although Cuikov had already said this, Sokov did not dare to take on this task easily. Not to mention that there was no cooperation between artillery and air force during the attack, even if there was, it was an unknown whether the two colonels were willing to obey their orders. Thinking of this, his eyes were on the two colonels who were standing aside.
Gorokhov misunderstood Sokov's intention to look at him, and quickly took a step forward and reported loudly: "Report to the commander, the entire brigade of the 124th Infantry Brigade is full, and the political workers are mobilizing pre-war and can be engaged in battle at any time." The commander he called out was naturally not Cui Kov, but Cui Kov.
Seeing that Gorokhov had made his statement, Borvinov quickly followed and reported: "Comrade Commander, the 149th Infantry Brigade has made all combat preparations and can perform combat missions at any time."
Regarding the attitude of the two brigade commanders, Cuikov nodded with satisfaction, and then said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, look, both brigade commanders are ready. How do you, the commander, consider it?"
Sokov stared at the large-scale military map on the table, and thought in his mind how to use two infantry brigades to defeat the German Armored Division and Mojian Division. Even if the German army was less than his own in the area where the attack was carried out, their equipment could make up for this difference.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," saw that Sokov had been staring at the map and did not speak, Cuikov thought the other party was afraid of fighting, so he raised his voice and asked, "Didn't you hear what I said? I ask you, can you defeat the enemy and join the besieged troops?"
"Comrade Commander, I don't think the attack can be carried out tomorrow during the day." Sokov looked at Cuikov and said, "The artillery, tanks and air force that the enemy has can easily defeat our offensive forces, so we must adjust the attack time."
"The attack will be in the daytime tomorrow, and this is the deadline." After Cuikov finished speaking, he reminded him: "The attack date cannot be postponed any more."
"No, Comrade Commander, you're wrong. I'm not going to postpone the attack date, but I'm going to turn the strong attack into a sneak attack." Seeing that Cuikov misunderstood his meaning, Sokov quickly explained: "Day attack is very unfavorable for our army, because we will have to face the German tanks, and their tanks will easily defeat our infantry. But if the battle occurs at night, the enemy will lose their advantage in tanks and air force, so that our troops can easily approach the enemy and force them to fight melee, even machine guns, submachine guns, rifles, grenades and the enemy, or even hand-to-hand combat..."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, your plan is good. I agree, and I will fight this battle according to your ideas." Cuikov said, reaching out to Sokov, "I wish you success!"
…………
Although Sokov was the commander of the temporary Northern Cluster, he did not place all his hopes on the two infantry brigades. When he headed to the location of the new command, he called Andre and transferred his third battalion to the other. In this way, even if the two infantry brigades were defeated and suffered a crushing defeat, he could use the commanders and fighters of the third battalion to break out of the enemy's encirclement.
While several troops were secretly mobilized, Sokov and two other brigade commanders came to the new command center, which was only one kilometer away from the place where the battle was about to take place. Although it was possible to better observe the situation on the battlefield, once the German army was attacked and counterattacked, they could rush outside the command center in a very short time.
However, the commanders who were staying in the command center did not seem to care about their own safety, but sat together to discuss the upcoming attack. Gorokhov first said: "Comrade Commander, my brigade has entered the attack position. After the battle begins, they will immediately pounce on the 54th Fortress area, contact the troops that are standing there, and help them withdraw from the enemy's encirclement."
Just when Borvinov was preparing to make a statement, Sokov raised his hand to stop him: "Col. Borvinov, please wait a moment. I have something to say to Colonel Gorokov. Colonel," Sokov said to Gorokov: "I think it's enough to send a battalion to rescue the troops in the 54th Fortification area. The other three battalions and Colonel Borvinov's 149th Brigade will jointly launch an attack in the southwest direction, find ways to break through the German defense line there and re-establish contact with the main force of the separated army."
After the mission was deployed, the two brigade commanders did not leave immediately. On the contrary, Bolvinov asked a little nervously: "Comrade Commander, do you think our counterattack will be successful?"
"Sorov once said: A surprise can win!" Sokov said to him with a smile: "The enemy may have been blinded by the recent victory and therefore became careless. They may never dream of us, in this case, in which case we will definitely be defeated."
After Sokov said this, he saw that the two brigade commanders were still hesitant, so he coughed heavily and said to them: "Two brigade commanders, I don't know if you have discovered a phenomenon. After the Germans broke through the junction of our army and the 4th tank army, the attack suddenly became slow. Tell me, what is the reason?"
Hearing Sokov's question, both brigade commanders frowned for a while, and then Gorokov replied: "I think it must be the German officers and soldiers who have become exhausted after a long battle, so the German commander slowed down the attack so that the soldiers could have a good rest."
Bolvinov had another idea: "Can we be the guerrillas behind enemy lines that restrain the enemy?"
"The German army is advancing too fast. Even if our army wants to form guerrillas in their rear, it will have to wait at least after September." Sokov commented on the analysis of the two brigade commanders: "As for the German officers and soldiers becoming exhausted, the commander slowed down the attack speed in order to allow them to rest, this statement is not reliable."
"Comrade Commander," seeing that the reasons he guessed were denied by Sokov, Gorokov couldn't help but ask curiously: "What do you think the enemy slowed down the attack speed?"
"Supply, if I don't estimate the error, the Germans must have been too long to provide sufficient supplies to the attacking troops ahead." Sokov said confidently: "The enemy advancing towards Stalingrad, because of the difficulties in supply, had to slow down their attack speed to wait for supplies from the rear."
"If so, that would be great." Gorokov immediately showed a joyful expression on his face when he heard Sokov say this: "If there is a problem with the supply of the German army, then we can achieve greater results."
The attack began at three in the morning, and this was the most tired moment for people. After winning consecutive victories, the German army had become underestimated by the enemy. They felt that the Soviet army now wanted to have two more legs when they saw it, so they dared to provoke them. Therefore, except for a few posts, the remaining officers and soldiers were sleeping soundly in the tent.
But when the patrol team in the camp exchanged fire with the Soviet troops rushing in, there were only a handful of people who woke up from their sleep. It was not until the sound of gunfire and explosions were heard that the German soldiers sleeping in the tent were awakened. They did not care about putting on their clothes, so they picked up their weapons and rushed out of the tent, trying to stop the Soviet troops rushing into the camp.
However, after rushing out of the tent, I saw fire everywhere and people running around. Without unified German soldiers, they could only panic and put guns around, regardless of whether the bullets could hit the target after they flew out.
After the first battalion of the 124th Brigade quickly drilled through the German camp, a company was left here to continue to entangle with the chaotic German army, and the remaining two companies rushed to the 54th Fortification area quickly.
The Soviet army stationed in the fortification area now has only a dissatisfied infantry battalion, and a machine gun company with a pitiful number of people. The soldiers who were waiting for the battle were first caught in the enemy's camp in the distance, and then heard gunfire and explosions, guessing that the enemy must have been attacked. Because they were confused, the Soviet battalion commander did not issue an order to attack, but let the soldiers enter the trenches and prepare for battle.
After more than ten minutes, someone suddenly ran towards the position. An impatient soldier was about to shoot, but was stopped by the officers around him. The officer whispered: "Don't shoot, so as not to hit his own people."
The figure who was running towards the position stopped thirty or forty meters away from the trench. Then he heard someone shouting: "Hey, comrades in the fortification area, we are from the 124th Infantry Brigade, and we are here to rescue you."
Chapter completed!