Before the search troops could get back any news, Cuikov's emergency telegram came. The content of the telegram was very simple, just asking Sokov whether he had found the tank brigade.
After calling Cuikov back, Sokov began to think in his mind that the troops of the 13th Guards Division disappeared because the division command was covered by collapsed buildings and the troops lost unified command, so they were defeated by the enemy, and they had to be dispersed to other areas to continue fighting. But what happened to the 67th Tank Brigade commanded by Colonel Shidjayev? After breaking through the German defense, they lost contact with Rokosovsky. Have they all been annihilated by the German army?
"Captain Goria," Sokov saw that the only person around him who could discuss the problem was Captain Goria, and asked him in a low voice: "Do you think Colonel Shidjayev's tank brigade can successfully meet with us?"
"This is not easy to say." Goria said hesitantly: "Realistically, they have been breaking through the German defense for several hours. With such a short distance, with the speed of the tanks, it only takes an hour at best. But we have not seen any tank troops nearby so far, and I am worried that something happened to them."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov immediately continued his words after he waited for Goria to finish his words: "You make sense. The Tank Brigade has not reached the designated position for a long time. In my estimate, something might have happened to them."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Goria immediately asked when he heard Sokov say this, "Tell me, what kind of accident will they encounter?"
"There are two possibilities." Sokov replied: "One is that they are not familiar with the terrain here and are lost." Speaking of this, a ominous premonition suddenly appeared in Sokov's heart. The tank brigade had not appeared for a long time. Has the entire army been destroyed under the siege of the enemy?
Seeing that Sokov was only half of his words, Goria hurriedly urged: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what is the other possibility?"
Sokov looked at Goria and said with a serious expression: "Other possibility is that after breaking through the German defense, they soon fell into the enemy's encirclement. After a fierce battle, they were completely destroyed."
"The entire army was destroyed?" After repeating this word, Goria showed a surprised expression on her face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is impossible? You must know that the Tank Brigade has 35 tanks and an infantry company. It may not be easy for the enemy to destroy them."
"Even if they lost their way forward after breaking through the German defense, they should be able to keep in touch with their superiors, right?" Sokov said with a wry smile: "But now a few hours have passed, not only do we not find their traces, but even General Rokosovsky cannot contact this force."
Although Goriya also agreed with Sokov's statement in his heart, he still said unwillingly: "I think it may be that there is a problem with the radio station in the car, so they lose contact with their superiors."
"Comrade Captain, there is more than one on-board radio station in the tank brigade," Sokov mercilessly broke Goria's fantasy: "Even if there is a problem with Colonel Sidjayev's radio station, his chief of staff and the tank where the political commissar is located can always contact his superiors, right? However, shortly after they broke through the German defense, they suddenly disappeared, as if they had disappeared from the world at once."
"If, comrade brigade commander, I'm talking about if." Goria asked with a panic look: "If something really happened to the Tank Brigade, what should we do?"
"What else can we do? We can't stay here and wait for death, right?" Sokov said expressionlessly: "Since the troops we are going to support have been destroyed, we have no intention of staying there. The only thing we can do is to return to Mamayev's hill immediately, hold our positions there, and prevent the Germans from occupying the commanding heights of the city."
Sokov was too excited when he spoke behind and his voice became louder. The soldiers sitting in front turned their heads and looked at him. Goria was worried that it would cause unnecessary panic, so he quickly said to the soldiers: "My brigade commander and I are just analyzing various possible situations. You are not allowed to go outside and talk nonsense. If I hear any rumors, you will be punished. Do you understand?"
The warrior sitting in the armored vehicle, after Goria finished speaking, replied in unison: "I understand."
Sokov stared at the map that was spread out in front of him, and after a while, he said to Goria: "Comrade Captain, I think we should focus our searches on the north."
"Why?" Goria asked curiously.
"It's very simple," Sokov said, pointing to the map, "According to the information provided by his superiors, Colonel Shidjayev's tank brigade chose the direction of attack south, that is, in the direction we are in. If something happens to them on the road, it must be on the road leading to us."
"It makes sense, it makes sense." After hearing Sokov's words, Goriya nodded vigorously, and then said: "Comrade Brigade Commander, then we will immediately transfer the armored vehicles from both east and west directions to the north to carefully search for the whereabouts of friendly troops."
"We will not use the search troops in the east and west directions for the time being." Sokov turned his head and looked at the armored vehicle parked not far away, and continued: "Isn't there an armored vehicle on standby? We ordered the armored vehicle to go north and go north to search for the whereabouts of the Tank Brigade."
However, before the on-arrival armored vehicle heading north, Sokov ordered the radio operator to contact the search troops in three directions to understand their search situation. After learning that there was no movement from the tank brigade on the east and west sides, he ordered the on-arrival armored vehicle to rush to the north to assist the search troops in that direction.
Time passed by minute by minute, but the four search troops never received reassuring news. Every time Sokov ordered the radio operator to send them a message, their answers were the same: no signs of the tank brigade were found.
Cui Kov, who couldn't hold back, had telegrams twice in the middle, asking Sokov about the whereabouts of the tank brigade, but all he received was a disappointing reply: "The search is in progress, and no discovery is yet."
Seeing such a telegram, Cuikov couldn't help frowning. He looked at Krelov and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, I have an idea. Although the Stalingrad Front informed us that Colonel Shidjayev's Tank 67th Brigade had successfully broken through the German defense line and rushed towards the location where Orlovka was. However, the search work carried out by Sokov and his friends in the Orlovka area has been over for most of the day, but there is no clue at all. I think there may be no tank brigade breaking through the enemy's defense line at all."
"Comrade Commander," Krelov sang a counter-tongue with Cuikov's conjecture: "This matter is of great importance. I think the comrades of the Stalingrad Front may not tell us lies on such matters, right?"
"I don't think it's ruled out that there is such a possibility." Cui Koff said with a stern face: "The base camp has been urging the Stalingrad front to launch an attack from the enemy's side and rear to relieve the enemy's threat to the city as soon as possible. I was worried that they would not be able to break through the enemy's defense, so I fabricated the fact that a tank brigade broke through the German defense line to cope with the base camp's blame."
After listening to Cuikov's analysis, Krelov said with some amusement: "Comrade Commander, I think what you said may not exist at all. You must know that if General Rokosovsky really did this, it would be of no benefit to him. On the contrary, it would be possible to send him to a military court."
"Then tell me," Cuikov asked back with some dissatisfaction: "Where is Colonel Sidjayev's tank brigade now? Dozens of tanks and an infantry company will not be gone if there is no."
"Comrade Commander, I think it may be that after the Tank Brigade broke through the enemy's defense, he lost his direction because he was unfamiliar with the terrain." Krelov said optimistically: "Maybe in a while, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov will send you a telegram saying that they have found the Tank Brigade."
"If so, that would be great."
Just as Cuikov and Krelov discussed the whereabouts of the tank brigade, Sokov received a report from the search team in the north. The first company commander who led the team reported to Sokov directly in Ming language: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we have found the tank brigade."
"What, I found the Tank Brigade? This is great." After a long wait, Sokov heard the report of the first company commander and said that he had found the trace of the Tank Brigade. He was overjoyed and asked quickly: "How far are they from us?"
"We found the location of the Tank Brigade, about ten kilometers away from your location." The company commander said in a heavy tone: "However, they have no hope of meeting with us."
When Sokov learned the location of the Tank Brigade and was only ten kilometers away from him, he felt a little ecstatic in his heart, but when he heard the words behind the company commander, he couldn't help but frown: "Company Commander, what do you mean?"
After Sokov asked, there was silence in his headphones and he couldn't hear anyone talking at all. He thought there was something wrong with the radio station, so he hurriedly asked the radio operator: "Agent, is there something wrong with the radio station? Why can't I hear a company commander speak?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the radio operator looked up at Sokov and said with a grievance: "There is no problem with the radio station. The reason why you can't hear the sound is that the other party is not speaking."
After hearing what the radio operator said, Sokov knew that he had blamed the other party by mistake. He smiled apologetically at the radio operator, then raised his voice and asked at the sender: "Company Commander, what happened? Why didn't you speak?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," a company commander's low voice came from the headphones: "We did find the 67th Tank Brigade, but all the tanks of this brigade have been destroyed. Around several burnt tanks, the bodies of our commanders and fighters were lying on the ground. According to my observation, these soldiers should be infantry fighting with the tanks."
"Company Commander, what did you say?" The information reported by the company commander shocked Sokov: "The tank brigades and infantry companies of friendly forces have all been destroyed?"
"I think yes, comrade comrade commander." The company commander replied with difficulty: "At present, I am sending people to search nearby, hoping to find survivors."
"I understand, company commander." Sokov confirmed that what the company commander said was true, and he specifically told him: "Even if the survivor cannot be found, you must find the body of Colonel Shidjayev. Do you understand?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," said the company commander hesitantly, "I can only do my best. You must know that many of the burned tanks contain the remains of our tankers. I don't know whether Colonel Shidjayev's body is also in it, and it is burned to the point of being ignorant."
After Sokov handed the headphones and the megaphone back to the radio operator, he said to Goria with a serious expression: "Comrade Captain, according to the report of the first company commander, they have discovered the tank wreckage of the tank brigade. It seems that the tank brigade was immediately surrounded and intercepted after breaking through the enemy's defense line. After a tenacious battle, they were completely destroyed because they were outnumbered."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, what should we do now?" Goria's mood immediately became depressed when he learned that the tank brigade to be supported had been destroyed. He asked Sokov tentatively: "Would you stay here and wait for the search troops to return, or to transfer immediately, and let the search troops go to the designated location to find us."
"We cannot leave them alone on the way back," Sokov replied decisively: "So we must stay here, and it is not too late to return to Mamayev's hill after the search team has returned."
As the tank brigade was annihilated by the enemy, the originally confident Goria became a little panicked: "Comrade Commander, if we continue to stay here, we may be surrounded and suppressed by the German army."
"Comrade Captain, you're over-thinking." Sokov raised his hand and patted the German uniform on his body, and said with a relaxed expression: "We are wearing German uniforms. Even if the German army passes by nearby and sees our outfit, they will continue to regard us as their own people."
"Even if we are wearing German uniforms, we are easily visible to the enemy during the day." Goriya suggested to Sokov: "We immediately order the search teams to return so that we can return to Mamayev's hill as soon as possible."
Chapter completed!