Regarding the order issued by Sokov, Brisky replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't worry, although the above our heads have turned into a sea of ​​fire, it is still very safe for us to stay in the tunnel..."
Sokov was obviously not as optimistic as Brisky. What he thought was that the oil tanks in Beigang were burning would definitely produce a large amount of toxic gas. If these gases were poured into the tunnel, thousands of commanders and soldiers inside would suffocate to death. Therefore, he decisively ordered Brisky: "Comrade Captain, arrange personnel immediately and block the hole on the other side of the Dongpo. The toxic gas produced by the combustion of the oil would enter your tunnel. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." Brisky heard Sokov's order and immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly replied: "I personally took people to block the hole in the east."
Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Cidolin reported to him with a look of surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our machine gunner shot down six enemy planes and injured two more..."
"Oh, they are fighting so well?" Sokov agreed to send machine gunners out to shoot in the air at that time, but he was just trying to seek medical treatment in a hurry, but he did not expect to achieve such results. However, he thought that when the machine guns and aircraft were at a disadvantage, they had shot down so many German aircraft, and those machine gunners might have lost all their chances. Thinking of this, he asked in a heavy mood: "What is the casualties of the machine gunners?"
Unexpectedly, when Cidolin heard this question, he shook his head and said proudly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you must have never imagined that our machine gunners had achieved such results, but they did not suffer any casualties!"
"What, there are no casualties?" Sokov heard Cidolin say this and felt that the other party was simply insulting his IQ, so he couldn't help but raise his voice: "Shot down and injured eight German aircraft, but our army did not have any casualties. How is this possible? Comrade Chief of Staff, don't fabricate these unreliable intelligence just to make me happy."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, how can you doubt me like this?" The smile on Sidolin's face gradually disappeared. He said to Sokov with a stern face: "Where are there any casualties in the army? You will know it when you go out and take a look. How can you say I'm cheating on you?"
Seeing Sidolin getting angry, Sokov realized that what he had just said might be a bit too much, so he quickly apologized to him and said, "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I might have said something wrong, please forgive me! But I really can't think of how our machine gunners can maintain zero casualties under the bombardment of German bombers?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I'll explain it to you." Seeing that the smell of gunpowder was filled with gunpowder between Sokov and Cydolin, Berkin hurried out to smooth things over: "The German bomber group came from the west, and the air defense position established by our machine gunners was set on the east slope. The enemy planes could not find them before flying over the hills. Even if they were discovered, the bombs dropped by the enemy planes would fall at the foot of the mountain and explode under the action of inertia, and could not injure our air defense position..."
After hearing Belkin's explanation, Sokov understood: "Comrade Political Commissar, I understand what you mean. If an enemy plane wants to destroy our position on Dongpo, it must turn over and drop bombs in the air after flying over the hills to hit our air defense positions. When they fly over the hills or on the air-conditioning heads on the Volga River, our air defense positions can knock them down. Do I understand correctly?"
"Yes, that's it." When Belkin said this, he also looked at Cidolin with a dissatisfaction: "Now you understand why our troops can still maintain a record of zero casualties without shooting down so many German aircraft, right?"
After the misunderstanding was resolved, Sokov felt that such a result should be reported to the Army Command. He quickly called a communications officer and ordered: "Check me the Army Command, and I want to report this good news to the Commander."
Unexpectedly, after a moment, the communications officer reported to Sokov with a bitter face: "Sorry, comrade comrade, there seems to be something wrong with the telephone line, and we cannot contact the Group Army Command."
"Since there is something wrong with the telephone line, what are you still standing here?" When Cidolin heard the staff officer say this, Wuming suddenly became angry. He said to the other party: "Why don't you take people to check the line quickly..."
Seeing that the communications officer agreed, he was about to go outside. Sokov stopped him when he met. Then he said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if you listen to the explosion outside, you can guess that the German army dispatched a large number of planes to bomb the city. The communications lines in the city must have been severely damaged. Even if people were sent out to investigate the line, they would not be able to contact the headquarters."
"We have a radio station, and we can contact the headquarters through the radio station." Sidolin said, walked to a radio station and ordered the radio operator: "Comrade Radio operator, send a report to the Group Army Command immediately and report to them about our situation here."
But a few minutes later, the radio operator shook his head and replied, "I'm sorry, Comrade Chief of Staff, I can't contact the radio station of the Group Army Command."
The radio operator's words made the expressions on Belkin and Sidolin's faces turn ashen. Belkin walked to Sokov and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think something will happen to the Army Command?"
Although Sokov knew that there was no accident in this cruel defense battle, and he survived until after the war and became the Soviet marshal, he did not know how to answer Belkin's question at this moment. You must know that in real history, the location of Cuikov's command was in Mamayevgang. Due to his appearance, he moved the command to a tunnel called "Tarijin's cave". It is still unknown whether they can survive this bombing.
Seeing that Sokov was not speaking, and he could not contact the Army Command, the expression on his face became severe. He walked quickly to Sokov and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, please allow me to take a few soldiers to the city to check the situation so that we can restore the contact between us and the command as soon as possible."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I cannot agree to your request." Sokov vetoed Sidolin's request without hesitation: "Enemy planes are bombing outside, and I have no right to let you take your life on the risk. As for the situation at the Army Command, I will send someone to check after the enemy's bombing is over."
In order to prevent Sidolin from making a request to him again, Sokov turned around and walked out of the command center and walked along the corridor towards the east exit. The soldiers guarding the exit saw Sokov coming over alone, first raised his hand to salute him, then reached out to block his way.
Sokov glanced at the warrior and asked unhappily: "Why, you are new to me, don't you know me?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, of course I know you." The soldier replied respectfully: "Since Kursk, I have joined your army."
Seeing that the warrior knew him but wanted to block his way, Sokov asked in confusion: "Since he knew me, why did he block my way?"
The soldier replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it is being bombed by the German army outside, and I cannot let you go out and take risks."
As soon as he finished speaking, a bomb fell more than ten meters away from the entrance of the cave and exploded, shaking the soil on the top of the cave. Sokov raised his hand and patted the soil on his shoulder, and said to the warrior loudly: "Don't worry, I'll take a look at the entrance of the cave, there will be no danger."
When the soldier heard Sokov say this, he turned his body to the side and left the road, but he still said with concern: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you can't go too far, otherwise I won't be able to take the responsibility if something happens."
Sokov came outside the cave and saw three air defense positions not far away. The machine gunners were shooting the enemy planes flying through the air with all their energy. Even if they could not shoot them down, they would drive them far away and prevent them from bombing Mamayev Hill.
Sokov found a safe place and looked at Beigang hundreds of meters away. He saw that most of the hills had turned into a sea of ​​fire. The oil flowing out of the oil tanks immediately burned when they encountered an open flame. The burning oil flowed down the hillside into the Volga River, making the entire river surface full of flames. Except for a few ships sailing to the opposite bank with flames, the rest were parked on the docks and burning. In the sky-sky flames and smoke, there were also explosions of ammunition from time to time. When he saw this scene, Sokov couldn't help but worry about the soldiers and civilians hiding near the docks. I don't know how many people would be burned to death by the flames, smoked to death, or the explosives that were exploding.
He turned around and raised his telescope and looked towards the city center. He saw streets and buildings ignited skylights. From time to time, the buildings collapsed in the fire. The streets were filled with fleeing residents. They dragged their families and ran aimlessly along the street until they were smoked or killed by bombs falling from the sky. They stopped running.
Seeing thousands of families being shrouded in the shadow of disaster and death, Sokov couldn't help but feel like a knife, and his nose felt sore. He wiped his hand on his face and turned around and walked into the tunnel. The soldiers guarding the door saw Sokov returning to the tunnel again, and the stone hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.
When Sokov returned to the command center, Belkin immediately came up and asked anxiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, where have you been? We are looking for you everywhere, and I thought something happened to you."
Sokov returned to his seat and sat down, looked up at Belkin and Cidolin and said, "I just went outside to see it."
"What, have you gone outside?" Belkin was shocked when he heard Sokov say this: "The bombing outside is still continuing, how can you run out and take risks?"
Sokov did not answer Belkin's question, but said to himself: "Not only Mamayev hill, but also the entire city has become a sea of ​​fire. I guess the headquarters' communication lines must have been completely destroyed during the bombing, and our contact with the outside world has been interrupted."
Sidolin and Cuikov had a good personal relationship. When they learned that the situation in the city was also bad, they thought of the interruption of communication and asked worriedly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think the commander and their lives are in danger?"
"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "The Army Command is in the tunnel. As long as it is not directly hit by the ground-boring bullets used by the German army, they will not be in any danger."
While the three were discussing, a radio operator suddenly said loudly: "Brig Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, I received a telegram from the Front Command."
Telegram from the Front Command?! Everyone was stunned when they heard the radio operator say this. Fortunately, Sokov quickly came to his senses, and he quickly ordered the radio operator: "Translation of the telegram immediately."
The radio operator agreed and took less than a minute to translate the telegram and put it in front of Sokov. After reading the telegram, Sokov raised his head and looked at Belkin and Cidolin and said, "This is a telegram sent by General Yelemenko, the commander of the front army. He said that they saw on the other side that the city had become a sea of ​​fire, and that they could not contact the command of Commander Choikov, so they suspected that the city had fallen..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, Cidolin hurriedly said: "How did the Front Command make such arbitrary judgment? We were only bombed by the German army, but the enemy did not break into the city. Even if they broke into the city, we would never hand over the city to them easily. We would bravely fight to the last man."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, wait a moment, please wait a moment." Sokov quickly interrupted the passionate Cydolin and said to him: "I have not finished reading the telegram yet. Since I have lost contact with the Army Command, not only did the Front Command make such a judgment, but even the Supreme Command Base has reached the same conclusion, believing that the city has fallen."
"What should we do?" Hearing that the base camp also judged that the city had fallen, Sidorin's mood became depressed. He asked Sokov weakly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how should we reply to the Front Command? You must know that we are not sure about the situation of the Group Army Command and other troops now."
Chapter completed!