Yakov's words finally made Sokov understand why the SS mentioned by Koida is completely different from the SS he knows. But think about it, if he saw someone carrying a Czech light machine gun on the battlefield, he would feel a little out of place.
In order to prevent Koida from underestimating the enemy based on the wrong information, Sokov said with a stern face: "Col. Koida, in the early days of the war, the SS might really be as you said, and their equipment and combat effectiveness were average. But now the situation has changed. Not only has their equipment been greatly improved, but their combat effectiveness has also improved greatly. Not to mention that your mixed regiment has only more than 400 people, even if we add all the troops in the assembly workshop, and more than 1,000 people to deal with the same number of SS, we may not be sure of winning."
When Yakov just talked about the SS, Koida didn't care. When he heard Sokov say the same thing, his expression on his face couldn't help but become serious: "Comrade Brigade Commander, are you all right? The German SS is really so powerful?"
"That's right." Sokov nodded, and muttered in his heart: Did Colonel Koida come from an alien? He actually thought that the SS troops were vulnerable. Could it be that the division he commanded had almost completely destroyed in such a short period of time? It may be inseparable from his rigid thinking: "I don't know how powerful the SS was in the early days, but Comrade Colonel, I can tell you now that our fully-built Guard Division may not be able to beat their regiment..."
As Sokov was halfway through his words, Yakov, who was sitting next to him, suddenly coughed violently as if he had acute tuberculosis. Sokov instinctively turned his head to look at Yakov. Seeing that he was desperately winking at him, he realized that he might have said something wrong, so he changed the topic in time: "Comrade Colonel, please go back to the army first. When there is a combat mission, I will send someone to notify you."
After Koida and Mashkov left, Yakov immediately said to Sokov with a stern face: "Misha, what are you doing? How can we say that one division cannot defeat the enemy and the other regiment? To be light, this is to increase the ambition of others and destroy one's own prestige, which will affect the morale of the army; to be serious, this is a completely defeatist argument."
Yakov's words made Sokov sweat in a cold sweat. He just took care of his words, but ignored that in this era, some words cannot be said casually, otherwise it might cause him to be killed. He raised his hand and wiped his sweat, saying awkwardly: "I just said it casually, there should be no problem."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, if you are just an ordinary commander, you probably won't have anything to do with these words." Bie Lei continued: "But you have a special status now. Once someone reports your words to the higher authorities, you will get into unnecessary trouble."
Thinking that he had already said it, it would be too late to take it back. If anyone really wanted to report it to his superiors secretly, there was nothing he could do about it. Sokov continued the topic that had just been interrupted: "If the superiors ordered us to attack the enemy, can that ball tank be put into battle?"
Regarding Sokov's problem, Yakov and Bere looked at each other, and both saw concerns in each other's eyes. Berere hesitated for a moment and said with some embarrassment: "According to the reactions of the tank soldiers who operated the ball tank, there is no problem with this kind of tank driving on the flat ground. If you want to be in an area full of bullet craters, it is still unknown whether it can drive normally."
"Also," Yakov added: "The view of this kind of tank is too narrow, and only the enemy coming from the front is visible. If the enemy comes from the side and behind, it will be passively beaten. Therefore, even if we deploy ball tanks in battle, we need to send another tank to cover."
After seeing the strange design of the ball tank, Sokov thought that this tank could show its power on the battlefield. At this moment, when he heard Yakov and others say that they could not fight alone and that other tanks must cooperate, he couldn't help feeling disappointed. He didn't expect that the tank he had high hopes for was actually useless.
But considering that he had tried his best to get this tank prototype, he was still a little unwilling to accept it if he was placed in the underground tank Curry. Therefore, after some consideration, Sokov said to Bere: "Comrade Colonel, although the ball tank has not been tested on the battlefield, we should still try it to see how it performs on the battlefield. If it can really replace the T-34, it can also make the superiors make up their minds to install this tank into the army as soon as possible."
Seeing Sokov so confident, Bo Lei smiled bitterly and said, "Okay, comrade brigade commander, since you are so confident, I will arrange it immediately and find two skilled craft crews to cooperate with the ball tank operation."
…………
Sokov and his team had just finished lunch in the command post when they received a call from Trekov. Trekov asked on the phone: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, how is your situation there?"
"Everything is calm." Sokov replied casually: "Maybe the attack of friendly forces has attracted the attention of the Germans, so the soldiers can only listen to the sound of gunfires fighting with the enemy, and are anxious."
"Sokov, according to General Guriyev's report, the German army launched a surprise attack on the side of their attacking troops. Since he left few troops to defend, the defense line had become precarious." Cuikov said anxiously on the phone: "You immediately draw a force to support the 39th Guards Division to prevent their positions from being broken."
Hearing Cuikov said this, Sokov immediately realized the danger faced by the 39th Guard Division. If the attack on the German army on their flanks really breaks through their defense, they may be trapped in the enemy's encirclement. Thinking of this, Sokov immediately replied without hesitation: "I understand, comrade Commander, I immediately organize a force to reinforce the 39th Guard Division."
"Wait a minute." Just as Sokov was about to put down the phone, he suddenly heard Cuikov say: "You need to leave enough garrison troops in the assembly workshop, and you must ensure that they can block the attack from any direction."
Chapter completed!