After putting down the phone, Cuikov thankfully said to Krelov and Gusev: "Chief of Staff, comrade of the military committee, Mamayevgang was bombarded by heavy artillery by the German army, especially the frontier position directly in front of Nangang, which was the key target of the German bombardment. Fortunately, Sokov did not obey my orders just now and privately ordered the main force of the first battalion to withdraw from the position and transfer to the back slope of Nangang, so as to avoid major casualties."
"Comrade Commander," as soon as Cui Kov finished speaking, Gusev said with a stern face: "I think Sokov's wrong approach should be punished and informed within the entire army."
"Punishment?!" Cuikov couldn't help but open his mouth in surprise when he heard Gusev say this: "Military Commissioner, why is this? You must know that Sokov has taken the right measures to avoid major casualties in the army. We should reward him for his behavior!"
When Cuikov said this, he was still thinking in his heart that perhaps Gusev was so excited that he said the words backward. Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Gusev continued: "Although Sokov's behavior avoided major casualties in the army, his actions were to disobey the battlefield. If every commander under us learned from him, how can we command the army?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, give me a cigarette!" Trikov took out a cigarette from the cigarette box handed over by Krelov and lit it. He began to think about what Gusev said. Sokov violated his orders and privately asked the troops to withdraw from the frontline. Although he avoided major casualties, no matter what, it was an act of disobedience on the battlefield. At the least, he would be sent to a military court, and at the worst, he could directly enforce battlefield discipline.
Cui Kov was very clear in his heart that when large corps fight, the military discipline must be strict, otherwise everything will be messed up. Although Sokov's behavior, although the starting point is good, it is also very bad and must be dealt with, otherwise he will not be able to restrain his subordinates in the future. Thinking of this, he extinguished the cigarette butt in his hand and bit his back teeth and said to Gusev: "Comrade Military Commissioner, this matter will be left to you. But for the protection of his comrades, I think the punishment for him should not be too severe."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Seeing that Cui Kefu agreed to his proposal, Gusev replied with a smile: "I will master the right measure."
…………
Just as Cuikov and his team were discussing how to deal with Sokov in the headquarters, the German bombardment of Mamayevgang continued. The 305mm heavy artillery was powerful, and one shot was a crater with a depth of 8 meters and a diameter of 12 meters. After the explosion, people near the explosion site could not even find the slag. Fortunately, the firing speed of this kind of artillery was slow and only one shell could be fired every four minutes, so in order to ensure the consistency of firepower, the German army had to use artillery of other caliber at the same time.
Sokov stayed in his command center and received calls from the Second Battalion, saying that a certain surface fortification was destroyed by the enemy's artillery fire; the entrance of a tunnel was blown down by the enemy's artillery fire, etc.
When Belkin heard this series of bad news, he couldn't help but frown and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although the soil layer above our heads is more than ten meters later, if the German heavy artillery continues to bombard like this, I worry that the tunnel will collapse."
Faced with the German heavy artillery bombardment, Sokov's heart was also full of stirrings, but in order to stabilize the morale of the army, he could only say with a tough bullet: "Comrade Political Commissar, the German 305mm heavy artillery should be a rail gun. Its fire speed is slow and there are not too many shells, which is not enough to destroy our fortifications. Please rest assured of this."
"That's good, that's good." Belkin said with lingering fear: "As long as the enemy's artillery cannot destroy our tunnels, they will not be able to rush to Mamayev's hill."
"Chief of Staff," Sokov, after Berkin finished speaking, immediately ordered Cydolin: "Let the Second Battalion withdraw all the commanders and fighters outside into the tunnel. Once the enemy's shelling stops, they will immediately organize personnel to dig through the collapsed tunnel, and quickly enter the position to block the enemy rushing to our positions."
However, Sokov did not expect that the cunning German army learned the lesson of the failure of the first attack. This time, taking advantage of the opportunity that the Soviet army could not observe during the artillery bombardment, he transported the troops to a place only 300 meters away from the frontier position to hide. He just waited for the artillery fire to stop, and immediately launched an attack.
As soon as the shelling stopped, before the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the German troops hiding nearby began to charge. With a distance of more than 300 meters, the German officers and soldiers rushed into the frontier positions of the Soviet army in just two minutes. The defenders who stood on the positions were either killed or injured in the heavy artillery bombardment of the German army. Before they could climb out of the empty soil, groups of German troops had already jumped over the trenches and continued to rush towards Nangang.
The German officers and soldiers responsible for occupying the trenches, holding submachine guns or rifles, stood above the incomplete trenches, staring at the floating soil in the trenches. When they saw any movement, they immediately swept over and killed all the soldiers who tried to crawl out of the empty soil.
The frontier positions were quickly occupied by the German army, and the situation on the Nangang was similar. The surface fortifications were completely destroyed by artillery fire, and the trenches were bombed in a disastrous manner. The exits to these trenches and fortifications also collapsed under the German artillery bombardment. The second battalion, who was in the tunnel, noticed that the shelling outside had stopped, and immediately organized people to clear the accumulation of soil, trying to occupy the outside positions in the shortest time and prepare to face the enemy's attack.
Unexpectedly, before they dug the tunnel, the enemy had already rushed to the hills and even rushed directly to the top of the hills. Fortunately, the artillery and artillery observers of the artillery company had already hid in the tunnel and covered the roof in time, otherwise the entire army would be destroyed.
The Germans who rushed to the top of the mountain saw the Volga ferry from afar and cheered. Although the first battalion of trenches built on the back slope were discovered by them, the Germans did not attract any attention. They thought that as long as they rushed from a high position, these trenches would not be at their fingertips.
But when the Germans launched a charge, they found that they were wrong, and they were also outrageously wrong. The defenders hiding in the trenches did not show up, but hid in fortifications to throw grenades. The shrapnel produced by the explosion of the grenades were all flying upwards, and the grenades that exploded from the ground exploded, causing the soldiers standing at high places to howl.
Taking advantage of the chaos of the Germans, the troops in the trench decisively launched a counter-charge. They first dropped a batch of grenades, and while the explosion was in full swing, they stood up with guns and shot upwards. When they saw groups of enemies falling down, they rolled down the slope, they jumped out of the trench and charged towards the top of the mountain.
The Germans, who had not yet established a stable foothold, never dreamed that the Soviet army would launch a charge at this time, and were immediately caught off guard. The more than 20 German soldiers who rushed to the top of the mountain fled after a melee, and the rest were either beaten to death or taken prisoners. However, the Soviet army that launched the counterattack did not have more than 30 casualties.
When Sokov heard the war report from Vasily, he was stunned at first, and then asked in an incredible tone: "Comrade Captain, I heard it right? You have wiped out two hundred German soldiers, and the number of casualties of your own has not exceeded thirty?"
"Yes, comrade comrade commander." Captain Vasily replied in a positive tone: "To be precise, twelve soldiers were sacrificed and thirteen were injured. More than one hundred and fifty enemies were killed, and more than thirty were captured."
"This is an amazing victory," Sokov said to Sidolin and Belkin after dropping the phone: "We want to report to the Army Command immediately."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you make sense." Sidolin did not expect that the German army was driven down by the first battalion's troops shortly after they occupied the hills, but they paid a huge price. Therefore, he agreed with Sokov's opinion and reported the victory to the Army Command: "We need to report this victory to the Army Command."
Usually, things like reporting victory to superiors are done by Cidolin, so after he finished speaking, he immediately picked up the phone on the table and asked the communications troopers to help connect to the Group Army Command. After hearing Krelov's voice from the receiver, Cidolin immediately smiled and said, "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff, I am Cidolin of the 73rd Infantry Brigade!"
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin!" When Krelov heard that the person who called was Sidolin, he couldn't help but look at Gusev, who was drafting the punishment order against Sokov, and asked a little embarrassedly: "Do you have anything to do?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I report to you." Sidolin did not notice Krelov's abnormality, and he continued to say: "A few minutes ago, a German army rushed to Nangang and occupied the surface positions of our army..."
"What, the enemy has occupied your surface position?" Krelov immediately interrupted him without waiting for Cidolin to finish his speech: "What measures have you taken, how do you plan to take back the position from the enemy?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sidolin saw that Krelov was so impatient, and before he could finish his words, he quickly explained: "The enemy did occupy the surface position in Nangang not long ago, but not long after, the commanders and soldiers of the first battalion decisively launched a counterattack and took the position back."
"The position has been regained!" Krelov couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he learned that the position had been recovered, and said with emotion: "Your movements are quite quick."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you don't know. If the brigade commander had decisively ordered the first battalion to retreat to the back slope and build fortifications there, we would probably have to suffer major casualties if we wanted to regain the position." How did Sidolin arrange for Sokov to establish a back slope position, and how did the commanders and fighters of the battalion decisively launch a counter-charge when the enemy occupied the top of the hills and regain the position from the enemy, and he told Krelov in detail. He finally said: "If the brigade commander had not adjusted the deployment in time, I was worried that our army would suffer huge losses today, regardless of whether the German artillery bombardment would have been caused, at the same time, it would have been possible to throw Nangang away..."
After listening to Cidolin's report, Krelov said: "I understand, Lieutenant Colonel Cidolin, I will report to the commander as soon as possible. On behalf of the Group Army Command, I would like to congratulate you on your great victory."
After Sidolin put down the phone, he said to Gusev, who was writing at his desk: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I think the punishment decision we have discussed against Lieutenant Colonel Sokov can be cancelled."
When Gusev heard Krelov say this, he quickly raised his head and asked in surprise: "Chief of Staff, why should we cancel it?"
Since Cuikov came to the Chalijin cave, he soon suffered from eczema due to the humidity inside. When Krelov answered the phone, he was lying on the marching bed with bare shirt and asked the military doctor to apply medicine to him. When he heard Krelov say this, he didn't even care about wearing clothes, so he walked out from the inside and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what did the infantry brigade report to you just now, and will make you take the initiative to cancel the punishment?"
Seeing that Gusev and Trekov wanted to understand what happened, Krelov told the two of them in detail what had just been reported by Sidolin, and finally said: "Commander, comrade of the military committee, this is what I thought about. If Sokov had not disobeyed, the battalion would continue to stay in the frontier positions and allow the German artillery to ravage. When the German attack began, they would allow the Germans to occupy their positions due to heavy casualties.
In this way, the German army could easily occupy the Nangang of Mamayev and sent troops to rush to the ferry of the Volga River, causing huge casualties to the civilians and troops stranded there.
However, this worst case was avoided by Sokov's timely change of defense deployment. Moreover, judging from the current situation, it is not easy for the German army to occupy Nangang again. It is precisely because of this that I think the punishment decision on Sokov should be cancelled."
After Krelov finished speaking, Cuikov said helplessly: "But we have made a decision. If we change it, it may be a bit unpleasant..."
Before Cuikov finished speaking, Gusev had already torn the order that had not been drafted yet. He stood up and said to Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, I agree with the Chief of Staff. Given the achievements made by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, we should not punish him in any form, so as not to affect the morale and morale of the troops."
Chapter completed!