After Sokov and other commanders left, they looked at Berkin, who was still sitting at the table and asked, "Comrade Political Commissar, this place is too dangerous. I think you should go back to Mamayev's hill."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you are not afraid of danger, so what's so scary about me?" Berkin looked at Sokov and reminded him, "Don't forget that before I partnered with you, I had also been a military chief officer and fought against the enemy on the battlefield." He did not want to continue wasting time on this issue, so he took the initiative to change the topic, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think we have the strength to defend the factory?"
Sokov found it difficult to answer Belkin's question. In real history, three-quarters of the factory area were occupied by the German army. Due to the appearance of this butterfly, the area that has been lost is less than one-quarter. Therefore, he said in an uncertain tone: "If the enemy still maintains the intensity of today's attack, I think I am sure to defend it."
When Sokov said this, he suddenly thought that he had asked Guriyev for help two or three hours ago. Now that the battle has ended, friendly troops will be lost. In order to prevent friendly troops from running away in detours, he quickly picked up the phone on the table and asked the factory operator to answer the phone into the headquarters of the 39th Guard Division.
"This is the headquarters of the 39th Guards Division." The chief of staff Lieutenant Colonel Zalijuk spoke very quickly from the receiver: "I want to know who I am talking to?"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov guessed from the tone of the other party that the division was defending, and he hurriedly replied: "It's me, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov!"
Zalijiuk thought Sokov called to ask the city of reinforcements, so he apologized: "I'm sorry, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the German army is launching an attack on our division's defensive positions from several directions at the same time. We cannot draw troops to reinforce you for the time being, so you can only find a way to block the enemy by yourself."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you misunderstood." Sokov heard the vague sound of gunfire from the receiver. He knew that Zalijuk was not lying, so he said a long story short: "I call you, not urging you to send troops, but to tell you that you don't need to send reinforcements to us, we have enough strength to defend the factory area."
"No need to send reinforcements to you?" Zalijiuk asked in wonder, "Where did you come from reinforcements?"
In order not to cause trouble for Cui Kov, Sokov avoided talking about the reinforcements that the headquarters was about to send, but said lightly: "I considered that I had too few troops in my hands, so I transferred a battalion from Mamayev to strengthen my defense."
"Oh oh oh, so that's how it is!" Zalijuk heard that reinforcements were transferred from Mamayevgang, so he did not ask in detail, but said casually: "Then I wish you good luck."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Berkin asked curiously when he saw Sokov put down the phone: "Apart from the first battalion, do you want other troops to ask for help?"
"Yes, comrade of the political commissar." Sokov nodded and said, "Before you came, the German army had launched an attack on us. I was worried that the troops were limited and I could not defend the position, so I asked General Guriyev, the commander of the 39th Division of the Guards, for help, hoping that he could send troops to reinforce us. But because they were also attacked by the German army, they could not draw personnel to support us for a while, so we could only estimate the battle. Now, with hundreds of soldiers from the first battalion, our defensive power has been greatly strengthened..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, the phone ringing on the table rang. He put the microphone in his ear and immediately heard the observation post report to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, a unit of hundreds of people appeared to the west, coming towards us."
As soon as the observation whistle finished speaking, Sokov asked nervously: "Did you see clearly whether it is ours or Germans?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I can see clearly." The observation post replied: "It is our people, there are about three or four hundred."
After hearing what the observation post said, Sokov immediately thought of this unit, which might be the reinforcements sent by Cuikov. When he was about to put down the phone, he suddenly remembered that the air combat outside was not over. If the enemy plane found that the moving troops on the ground, dropped a few bombs or fired wildly, the troops would suffer huge losses. So he quickly asked: "Is the air combat outside still continuing?"
"No, it's over." The observation post replied dryly: "Our army's fighter planes also retreated one after the enemy planes retreated."
After confirming that the air battle outside was over, Sokov felt much more at ease. In this way, he could accept this reinforcement force completely, and not even see the enemy's face like the first battalion, and there were a lot of casualties. He said to the observation post: "Listen, that is the reinforcement force given to us by the superiors. You will send someone to bring the commander to me later. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." The observation post replied briefly.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," asked Belkin curiously, "What's going on with this reinforcement?"
"When the commander learned that I took the initiative to attack the enemy today, he got angry at me. But considering that our defense is insufficient, we specially sent a mixed regiment to me." Sokov explained to Belkin: "This unit may be the reinforcements sent by the commander."
When the observation post led two commanders into the room, Sokov felt amused and laughed. Didn’t Cui Kov tease me? He actually sent a colonel to himself, and the political staff who were with him were also a regiment-level political commissar.
Sokov and Belkin quickly stood up and raised their hands to salute the colonel and the regiment-level political commissar who came in. Before Sokov could speak, the colonel raised his hand and gave a salute, and said first: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I am Colonel Koida, the commander of the 184th Infantry Division, and next to it is the regiment-level political commissar Mashkov."
When Sokov heard this, he turned out to be the commander and political commissar of the 184th Division. No wonder the rank is higher than that of him and Belkin. He quickly shook hands with the two of them one by one and said politely: "Two commanders, comrades, welcome you to come here and fight side by side with us."
"Lt. Col. Sokov," Koida said expressionlessly: "I was ordered to lead a mixed regiment here to accept your command. Please arrange combat missions!"
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov's men already had several colonels, and he didn't care about another Colonel Koida, so he asked as usual: "How many people are there in your group?"
"There are 419 people in the entire regiment." Koida replied: "Except for more than 100 people who are my old subordinates, the remaining commanders and fighters are from infantry divisions that retreated to the rear."
When Sokov heard that there were only more than 400 people left, he was somewhat disappointed. But when he heard that these soldiers were all from the combat troops, he suddenly felt spirited, which meant that they were all veterans with combat experience. Even if there were only about 400 people, they were definitely better than the temporary armed 4,000 workers. They could stay as a reserve force and wait for the critical moment before sending them on.
"Col. Koida," Sokov said to Koida. "The soldiers must be very tired after you have traveled so far. Why not rest in the basement first, and I will notify you when you need to join the battle."
"Ltd Colonel," Mashkov saw that Sokov seemed to not pay attention to his troops, so he took a step forward and said with a little dissatisfaction: "We are here to participate in the battle, not to rest. Please assign combat missions to us."
Mashkov's words made Sokov stunned for a moment, but he soon realized that the other party had misunderstood his meaning, and quickly explained with a smile: "Comrade-Consultant at the regiment level, you have misunderstood. There are several exits in the basement, connected by traffic trenches and trenches. Our soldiers can enter the position directly from the basement."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Mashkov realized that he had blamed the other party. When he was about to apologize, he saw two captains coming in from outside. Sokov called the two over and said to Koida and Mashkov: "Col. Comrade of the regiment level political commissar, I will introduce you to you. They are Captain Vanya, the commander of the first battalion, and Captain Brisky, the commander of the fourth battalion." Considering that Brisky is familiar with the basement, he ordered him: "You will be responsible for the arrangement of the place where Captain Brisky, the colonel and the regiment level political commissar live."
Brisky nodded, then walked to Koida and the others, first made a call, and said politely: "Two comrades in command, please come with me, I will arrange your residence for you."
After Koida and Mashkov left with Brisky, Belkin shook his head and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, I think the commander's arrangement is really inappropriate!"
"Inappropriate?" Sokov was confused: "Comrade Political Commissar, I don't understand what you mean."
Berkin sneered and said, "Firstly, Colonel Witkov, deputy chief of staff of the army, was sent to you as the deputy, and then Colonel Beret as the commander of the tank battalion. Colonel Khostnikov, the commander of the 437th Fighter Regiment, is under your command. Now there is another Colonel Koida. You are a lieutenant colonel who commands so many colonels, what will others think?"
Sokov scratched the back of his head and laughed twice: "If you don't want others to gossip, you can only consider letting me advance to the rank of military. I'm not greedy, giving a major general is enough, so that I can command these colonels with justification." Sokov's joke caused Berkin and Wanya to laugh, and even the radio operator sitting in the corner could not help laughing.
Chapter completed!