After cleaning the battlefield, Sokov led the guard platoon toward the trench ground where the fourth battalion was defending.
Unexpectedly, when everyone was two or three hundred meters away from the trench, the trench was still quiet and could not be seen by a single figure. Seeing this, Sokov felt an ominous premonition in his heart. He quickly stopped and let the soldiers of the guard platoon hide on the spot.
After giving the order, Sokov took the lead and jumped into a crater, protruded his head to look in the direction of the trench, thinking about what was going on. He made such a big noise in the direction of the wall, why did the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion not react at all.
While he was observing the situation opposite, he suddenly felt someone jumping into the crater. He turned his head and found that it was Guchakov. He asked curiously: "Guchakov, I haven't asked someone to inform you yet, why did you come here?"
Guchakov did not answer the question raised by Sokov, but said anxiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there is a situation that I think needs to report to you immediately."
"What's the situation?" Sokov asked casually.
"Comrade Brigade Commander, after the enemy who carried out the sneak attack withdrew," Guchakov reported: "The gunfire and explosions on our positions have never stopped. I guess I am fighting with my own people."
Guchakov's words made Sokov meditate: If the commanders and fighters of the Fourth Battalion last night were only those who were in the trenches of the fourth battalion, they had the experience of dealing with the German army's night attacks. However, many workers who had just started the battlefield were also on the battlefield. When the German army attacked, the workers would have to plucked up the courage to fight the enemy after the chaos. However, the target they attacked was probably not the enemy, but their own comrades. After this melee, the casualties of the troops would definitely be small.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Guchakov asked tentatively, seeing that Sokov was reluctant to speak, "What should we do next?"
Although there has been no movement on the position, Sokov knew in his heart that his group of people could not stay here forever, otherwise the enemy would have shelled and the soldiers of the guard company would suffer heavy losses. But at this moment, the surviving soldiers on the position must be full of war. If they see a group of people approaching the position, they might shoot without saying a word. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, people must be sent to the position to contact.
He looked at the crater. Apart from himself and Guchakov, there was only one face-to-face warrior. Sokov would never hand over such an important task to an ordinary warrior. Therefore, he said to Guchakov: "Guchakov, you go and contact the troops on the position, and say we are going to go, so they don't shoot."
"Yes!" Guchakov agreed, stood up, handed the rifle in his hand to Sokov, and then climbed out of the crater with his hands and feet, and walked carefully towards the position not far away.
Seeing Guchakov walking towards the position not far away, Samoilov flipped in from another crater and asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what did Corporal Guchakov do?"
Sokov pointed his hand in front and said, "Justakov just reported to me that the enemy who attacked him had retreated, the gunfire on our position lasted for a long time. I guess it must be my own people fighting with me. Although it was already dawn at this moment, they saw a unit from afar. Even if they were wearing uniforms like themselves, they might shoot. So I sent Guztakov to contact us so that there would be unnecessary misunderstandings."
After waiting for more than ten minutes, Sokov suddenly saw Guchakov crawling out of the trench, standing up straight, and waving his hands desperately. Seeing this, Sokov knew that he must have explained the situation to the defenders, and even if he brought people there, he would not cause any misunderstandings. Sokov stood up and said to Samoilov: "Let's go, Comrade Lieutenant, let's go now."
Before Sokov brought his men to the trenches, he smelled the choking smoke, mixed with a lingering and rich bloody smell, which made him frown. He was eager to find the person in charge on the position to understand what was going on, so he asked Guchakov: "Where is the commander?"
A sergeant heard Sokov's question and quickly stepped forward and replied: "Report to the brigade commander, the battalion commander is injured and is receiving treatment in the basement."
"Where are the other commanders?" Sokov couldn't help but feel a little shocked when he learned that Brisky was injured, and he quickly asked, "Where are they?"
The sergeant looked around and then replied with some difficulty: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I think I should be the highest rank on the position, and the rest of the commanders died in the battle last night."
"Nothing is nothing, nothing." Sokov pointed his hand at Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, I will go to the command post to figure out what's going on. You and your people will stay on the position and assist in the defense."
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." Samoilov replied quickly.
Sokov came to the command post and found that besides Brisky, Bere, Yakov, Vanya, Cousto and others were there, even Colonel Koida and the Political Commissar Mashkov who were in a mixed regiment were there. Sokov nodded to everyone, pretending to be a greeting, and then asked bluntly: "Who can tell me what happened last night? I really didn't expect that if I left for only one night, you would be in a mess here."
Facing Sokov's duties, everyone lowered their heads. After a while, Bo Lei blushed and said to Sokov: "I'm sorry, comrade comrade commander, it's all my responsibility,..."
"Comrade Colonel, how can you blame you?" Before Be Lei finished speaking, Cousto inserted his mouth. He said with pain: "The reason why the troops suffered such great casualties is entirely our responsibility. The workers have no combat experience, especially they do not know how to distinguish between enemies and us at night. As a result, the enemy did not fire a few of them, and all the bullets hit their own people..."
Sokov patiently listened to the speeches of several people and confirmed that his guess was completely correct. He sat down and asked Yakov for a cigarette, and smoked it silently. After finishing smoking, he raised his head and said to everyone, "Comrades, the main responsibility for this matter lies with me..."
"Ah!" As soon as Sokov's words began, Vanya and Cousto couldn't help but exclaim, amazed at how Sokov could take the responsibility on himself. But before they could speak, Sokov raised his hand to stop them and said to himself: "The reason why I say the responsibility is because I ignore that the workers have no combat experience, but let them stand in the position with the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion.
During the day, everyone can see clearly where the enemy is, and they know which direction to shoot the bullets. But at night, comrades who have no combat experience do not know how to distinguish between the enemy and me, and do not know where to shoot. I guess in the battle, the comrades of the workers also acted very bravely, hoping to repel the enemy as soon as possible. As a result, they did bad things with kindness and treated their comrades as enemies.
On the battlefield, it is not the one who decides the winner or the other party who shows more courageously, but rely on overall coordination, especially the tacit understanding between the various troops, which is the key to victory..."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Brisky appeared at the door. When he saw Sokov's appearance, he showed a surprise expression on his face, but his expression soon faded. He said dejectedly: "I'm sorry, comrade brigade commander, I disappoint you."
Sokov saw Brisky's bandaged left hand hanging on his chest, and hurried forward and grabbed his shoulder, and asked with concern: "Comrade Captain, your injury is not important, right?"
Brisky raised his bloodless face, looked at Sokov and grinned, trying to say in a calm tone: "It's nothing serious, I'm just a shot, it'll be fine after a while."
After Sokov helped the other party to sit down, he continued to ask: "How is the casualties in the troops?"
"Fifty-three people were sacrificed in the entire battalion and eighty-one were injured." After talking about the casualties in the battalion, Brisky couldn't help but secretly glance at Custow and whispered: "The casualties of the workers are almost the same."
"Comrade Captain, this friendly accidental injury incident is a completely misunderstanding. It is because the workers lack combat experience and do not know how to identify the enemy and us at night. I hope you don't blame them for this." Sokov was worried that Brisky would be aggravated by the comrades in the Red October Factory, so he specifically emphasized to him: "You must keep this blood debt on the invaders of the Faxi Temple and ask them for the blood debt."
"Captain Brisky," Kusto stood up and walked to Brisky after listening to Sokov's speech, stretched out his hand to him, and said friendly: "Please accept my apology! I hope we can continue to fight side by side in the future and jointly fight against the invaders of Faxi Temple."
When the two men held their hands tightly together, Sokov then issued an order: "Captain Vanya, from now on, your troops will be the defense zone that replaced the Fourth Battalion, and the workers will continue to hold their positions with the workers. Remember, after dark, let the workers go back to the basement to rest, and your troops will be responsible for the nightly alert task. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." Vanya stood up and replied loudly, "I promise you that I will never let something like that happen again."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Colonel Koida was a little embarrassed and asked, "I want to ask, what is the mission of our regiment?"
Chapter completed!