After Yelin and his troops left Mamayevgang and headed to their garrison, Sidolin felt that he should have a good talk with Sokov. Although he had said before that he would support some of the weapons of friendly forces, the number provided was too large, which was beyond his imagination.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," said Sidorin to Sokov with a stern face: "I want to ask, why do you provide so many weapons to the 42nd Guards?"
Sidolin's words stunned Sokov, "Comrade Chief of Staff, have we agreed with General Rodimtev long ago to provide weapons for his troops?"
"But, but you gave them too much equipment." Cidolin said with dissatisfaction: "You know, the weapons they need should have been provided by the Army Command. For the purpose of helping friendly forces, we just gave them two or three hundred guns, but you gave them a full regiment of equipment."
When Sokov heard this, he finally understood why Sidolin was unhappy, so he looked at him and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you think the current situation of the Army Command can provide them with enough weapons in the short term?"
Cidolin frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "I don't think I should be able to do it!"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," saw that Sidolin was against himself for a little weapon and ammunition, Sokov said unhappily: "Didn't I tell you that if we want to win the Stalingrad defense battle, it is far from enough to rely on our brigade alone. We also need to get support from friendly forces, and the 42nd Guards Regiment is a friendly force deployed on the right wing of our army. Only when their strength is strong can we concentrate on dealing with the frontal enemies. Do you understand?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, don't get angry." Belkin, who was sitting aside, finally figured out that Sokov and Sidolin were having an unnecessary dispute over the batch of ammunition provided to friendly forces, and quickly came out to smooth things out: "I think the Chief of Staff is also worried that too much ammunition is given to friendly forces, which will lead to insufficient ammunition in battle. After all, the supplies that can be transported into the city every day are limited, and the chances of our ability to get supplies are very low."
"Comrade Political Commissar," Sokov took two breaths to control his emotions when he saw Belkin come out to be a peacemaker: "Our brigade now uses German equipment, and only a small number of soldiers using our military standard equipment. Instead of letting those weapons and ammunition sleep in the warehouse, it is better to support friendly forces to strengthen our strength."
After Sokov finished speaking, he paused for a moment. Seeing that Sidolin seemed to be a little confused, he continued, "I don't know if you have a feeling that during the two months of battle, although there are a large number of troops in the city, I always feel like fighting alone."
"Yes, comrade comrade commander." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Belkin immediately echoed: "I often feel this way. Although there are a lot of troops in the city, when I really fight with the Germans, I feel as if only one of our troops is fighting in the whole city."
When Sidolin heard Sokov and Belkin say this, his face couldn't help but look surprised, but instead he did not ask why, he quietly became a listener.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin glanced at Sidorin, who was silent, and asked at Sokov, "Can you tell us the reason?"
Sokov nodded and said, "Although there were many troops in the city in the past, they had no affiliation with us and were not familiar with each other. Therefore, in battle, they usually hit them, and we hit us, and there was no cooperation between each other. No matter how many troops there were, they were just a mess of sand..."
After Sokov finished speaking patiently, Sidolin asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, can I understand this way? You provided so many weapons to the 42nd Guards Regiment to find a reliable ally so that in the next battle, we can avoid the situation of fighting alone in the past?"
"That's right, that's it." Sokov nodded and said with certainty: "The troops of the 13th Guards Division have just entered Stalingrad and are in a state of darkness. In addition, they are extremely lacking in weapons and ammunition. If we provide them with selfless help at this time, they will regard us as their trusted partners. In this way, we can get more help on the battlefield."
Sokov's words finally convinced Sidolin. After apologizing to Sokov, he asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I don't understand one thing. Why do you want Colonel Yelin to ask for a new recruit? I wonder which big man he is or has some special skills?"
"Chief of Staff, are you talking about Vasirizaitev?" Sokov knew in his heart that Sidolin would ask Vasily sooner or later, and quickly said the excuse he had prepared: "I have heard others mention this warrior before, saying that he is a pretty good sharpshooter. I considered that the next battle in the city would be mainly street fighting, so I planned to form a sniper team to attack the Germans hard in street fighting."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Belkin thought that when Sokov was acting as the commander of the 328th Infantry Division, he had formed a sniper team and achieved considerable results, so he asked tentatively: "Do you plan to form a sniper team like you did when you were in the 328th Division, specifically to eliminate important targets and figures of the enemy?"
"Yes, that's what I think."
"However, a sniper can play a limited role in the battlefield." Cidolin said with some concern: "Even if their marksmanship is accurate, how many enemies can they eliminate on the battlefield?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think it is necessary to remind you a little bit." Sokov said to Cydolin: "The role of a sniper is not to kill many enemies on the battlefield, but to hit the morale of the enemy. Think about it, if our sniper killed an enemy at a distance and the enemy did not even see the shadow of our sniper, how much impact would it have on their morale?"
After thinking about Sokov's statement for a long time, Cidolin felt it was still very reasonable, so he nodded and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, even if you make sense, how do you know that this soldier Vasily can be a good sniper?"
Sokov thought, if you, like me, came from decades later, you would feel how stupid the question you raised was. But instead of making more excuses, he said briefly: "As for whether this new soldier is suitable for being a sniper, it depends entirely on his next performance."
…………
Vasily came to the entrance of Dongpo in Nangang of Mamayevgang. When he saw two soldiers standing at the door, he asked hesitantly: "I'm sorry, my name is Vasily, I was ordered to come here..."
"Is there a pass?" a soldier asked.
"Yes, I have a military certificate." Vasily thought to himself while taking out his ID from his pocket: "What did the colonel ask me to come here to sit?"
After the soldier checked Vasily's military certificate, he turned his head and shouted into the tunnel: "Comrade Commander, the soldier Vasily is here."
With the shouts of the soldiers, a lieutenant walked out of the tunnel. He came to Vasi in a brand new military uniform and asked, "Are you Vasily?"
"Yes, comrade Lieutenant." After seeing the other party's rank, Vasily replied respectfully, "I am Vasily, and I came here under my name."
"Comrade Commander," the soldier who checked the Vasily military certificate quickly handed the ID to the lieutenant, "This is the soldier certificate of the soldier Vasily."
The lieutenant, who was called the company commander by the soldiers, was the commander of the guard company, Selyosha, who was ordered to come here to welcome Vasily. He took the military certificate from the soldiers, checked carefully, nodded slightly, and then said to Vasily: "Comrade Soldier, please come with me, Comrade Brigade Commander has been waiting for you for a long time." After that, he stuffed the military certificate into Vasily's hands, turned his head and walked into the tunnel.
As Vasily followed Selyosha inside, he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, I want to ask if the brigade commander has seen me before?"
"No, I've never seen it before." As Sokov's confidant, Selyosha naturally knew a lot of things about Sokov. Therefore, after hearing this question from Vasily, he immediately shook his head and said, "As for why he wanted to transfer you from friendly forces, I don't know."
Seeing that Selyosha didn't know why he was transferred to the 73rd Infantry Brigade, Vasily couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He thought to himself: "Maybe the brigade commander who transferred me was wrong. He must have regarded me as another person with the same name and surname."
After coming to the command center, Vasily saw a square table in the middle of the room, and three people sat around the table. Except for one political worker, the other two were both lieutenant colonels. Vasily swept back and forth across the two, resolutely walked to the older Sidolin, raised his hand and saluted, and said, "Report to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, Vasily, a soldier of the 42nd Guard Infantry Regiment, was ordered to come, please instruct!"
"Hello, Comrade Vasily." Seeing that Vasily had made the same mistake as Yelin, Cydollin couldn't help but say with some amusement: "You're wrong. I'm Lieutenant Colonel Sidollin. The next person is Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the Infantry Brigade."
Seeing that he had made a mistake, Vasily blushed with shame. He quickly faced Sokov and said apologetically: "I'm sorry, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I'm the one who made it wrong. Because you really..."
"I'm so young, right?" Sokov smiled and said to him without waiting for Vasily to finish his words: "Comrade Vasily, it's okay, you are not the first person to make a mistake. Just a few hours ago, Colonel Yelin also made a mistake."
Sokov's approachable attitude and easy-going tone made Vasily seem relaxed. After a moment of silence, he asked Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, can I ask, why did you transfer me to your army?"
"Comrade Vasily, I plan to form a sniper team." Sokov looked at Vasily and said, "I heard that your marksmanship is good, so I consulted with Colonel Yelin and transferred you to our troops."
"Ltd Colonel," Vasily said in a little embarrassed manner after hearing Sokov's explanation: "I used to be a hunter. Although my marksmanship is reasonable, I have only shot wild animals and never killed anyone. I don't know if I am suitable for the profession of sniper, and I am worried that I will let you down."
"Comrade Vasily, don't treat them as humans when you shoot at the Germans, but as beasts with two legs." Sokov noticed that Vasily had some psychological burden and comforted him, "When you shoot at them, you should be the one who is shooting beasts."
"If it's a beast," Vasily grinned and said, "There's nothing wrong."
Seeing that Vasily agreed to his suggestion and was willing to be a sniper, Sokov couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Then he asked the most critical question: "Comrade Vasily, I wonder what your best weapon is?"
"In the past, I used to use the Mosinnagan rifle," Vasily said hesitantly: "So I hope that the weapons I have can also be Mosinnagan, and it is best to have a scope."
"Don't worry, Comrade Vasily, you will get the weapons you want. I will have someone accompany you to get the right weapons later." Sokov said this, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, and said to himself: "I originally prepared a Mauser 98K rifle for you, but I didn't expect you to be used to using Mosinnagan."
Unexpectedly, after Vasily heard the Mauser 98K, his eyes lit up and he quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have any sniper rifles used by Germans here?"
"Yes, there are a few." Sokov thought that his troops killed many German snipers and seized several sniper rifles. He originally planned to keep one of the best ones for Vasily to use, but he didn't expect that he actually wanted to use the Mosinnagan rifle. "Since you don't want to use it, I'll hand it over to other snipers."
"Ltd Colonel," Vasily said when he learned that Sokov was going to hand over these sniper rifles to others for use, "If you allow it, I want to try the Mauser 97K to see if it performs better than Mosinnagan."
"Seryosha!" Sokov called Seryosha to the front and ordered him, "Take Comrade Vasily to the underground warehouse to select weapons. Whether it is Mosinnagan or Mauser 98K, take one and find a place for him to try the gun. If there is no problem, put him, Ji Na and Susanna into the sniper team of the guard company."
Chapter completed!