Sokov was eager to lead his troops to Orlovka and gathered with Bere's troops, so he naturally agreed with Guriyev's proposal. He asked Wanya to leave a platoon on each of the two defense lines, waiting for the troops of the 39th Division of the Guards to take over the defense, and then he hurried to Orlovka with the remaining troops.
He never dreamed that the result of doing so would cause his troops to fall into the German encirclement, and in the end he paid a very heavy price before he escaped from the German encirclement. At this moment, what he was thinking about was to rush over and meet with Bo Lei as soon as possible.
When they arrived at Orlovka and saw Bere, the commanders and soldiers who arrived here were building a large-scale construction to strengthen the fortifications here. After Bere and Sokov greeted him, they said with a sad face: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although we arrived in Orlovka smoothly, this place is not a suitable area for defense."
In order to give Sokov a more vivid understanding, he took Sokov to a hill, pointed his hand around, and said, "There are open grasslands except for a few commanding heights here. We do not have permanent fortifications that we can use. The existing field fortifications are built around these commanding heights. If the German army adopts armored assault, we will not be able to stop them at all."
"Where is air defense?" Sokov felt that it was unlikely that the German army would send armored troops to attack Orlovka in a short period of time. After all, fierce fighting was taking place in the north of the city, and a large number of German troops were restrained by the Soviet army. It was obviously unlikely that they would draw enough power to attack Orlovka. The biggest possibility was to dispatch the air force and carry out air strikes on the defensive areas they occupied. Therefore, he reminded Bere: "I think the enemy may send out the air force and bombard us here to destroy fortifications and killer soldiers."
Sokov's words shocked Berei and let out a cold sweat. After occupying this area, he had carefully checked that there were only simple field fortifications. In addition to a handful of civil and firepower points, there were also pitiful few bunkers for the defenders to live in. At this moment, when Sokov reminded him, he immediately realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I will arrange for the soldiers to build air-raid shelters."
"Wait a minute, Colonel Bilei." Seeing that Bilei turned around and was about to leave, Sokov quickly stopped him: "Leave this matter to Vanya and Tenev and others, you don't have to do it yourself."
"Guchakov," Sokov called Guchakov, who was standing not far behind him, and told him: "Go and inform Captain Vanya and Major Tenev, so that they should not forget to dig the air-raid shelter to reduce the losses of the troops when they are bombed by the enemy."
Bere looked at Guchakov's back and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have always wanted to ask you, why doesn't this Lieutenant Guchakov go to command the troops, but is like an ordinary soldier, always by your side?"
Although Guchakov was revoked from his position as company commander and his military rank was demoted to a corporal, he still wore the rank of lieutenant, so Bere asked again. Sokov grinned silently and replied, "He made a small mistake, so he was revoked from his position as company commander and demoted to a corporal, and stayed by my side as a guard."
"Make a mistake?" Hearing Sokov say this, Bere couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, can you tell me what mistake he made?"
Seeing that Bereth wanted to know Guchakov's story, Sokov told the reason why Guchakov was dismissed in detail, and finally said: "Since he had been captured before, we have to be careful in handling him. Logically speaking, he should have been sent to a military court, but now it is the time to use people, I decided to keep him by my side to see the results."
After figuring out the reason for Guchakov's dismissal, Belei couldn't help but sigh. After a moment, he asked Sokov again: "Comrade Brigade Commander, did the superior say how long we need to stay here."
Sokov also wanted to know the answer to this question. Cui Kov Guang ordered him to lead his troops to occupy this place and stick to the arrival of friendly troops. However, even Cui Kov himself did not know when friendly troops could arrive. Since Bi Lei asked at this moment, he could only smile bitterly and say, "Col. Bi Lei, I don't know when friendly troops outside the encirclement will arrive. What we can do now is to strengthen fortifications and wait for the arrival of friendly troops here."
"We have too few troops." Bi Lei said with a bitter face: "It is also very difficult to defend this place with these hundreds of people and more than a dozen tanks."
After hearing Be Lei's words, Sokov quickly turned around and said to the radio operator who was squatting in a crater: "The radio operator, send a report to the Army Command, saying that our troops are insufficient, please send us a reserve team."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Berey heard Sokov intending to ask for help from the headquarters, and quickly stopped him and said carefully: "I think even if we send a telegram for help, we may not get the support of each soldier. After all, the headquarters has sent all the troops we can send to us." After that, he pointed to the location of the busy guard battalion under the hill.
Looking at the busy guard battalion soldiers under the hills, Sokov also remained silent. He knew that the unit was originally responsible for the security of the headquarters, but in order to strengthen his assault power, Cui Kov handed over the troops to himself without hesitation. However, after he was silent for a long time, he felt that he should still try his luck, so he said to the radio operator who was waiting for orders: "Continue to send a report!"
When the radio operator began to send a message to the headquarters, Sokov explained to Bere: "Comrade Colonel, I know that the Army Command has no reserves anymore. But the Orlovka we are sticking to is the key to whether our army can break the German blockade. If we can obtain a reinforcement, it will be very helpful for us to stick to this place."
After saying this, Sokov raised his telescope and looked around to observe the nearby terrain. After looking for a while, he suddenly found a small village in the northwest direction. He quickly put down his telescope and said to Bere: "Comrade Colonel, look, there is a small village in the northwest direction, about five or six kilometers away from us."
When Bereh heard Sokov say this, he quickly raised his telescope and looked into the distance. After observing carefully for a while, he put down the telescope and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I immediately asked Captain Sereda to send two tanks to check and find out if there are enemies in the village."
After saying that, Bethlei turned around and walked down the hill. Sokov turned around and shouted at his back, "Comrade Colonel, take two more squads of infantry together. If you find the enemy, you will firmly destroy them."
"I understand." Bi Lei said without looking back: "If there are enemies in the village, I will never let them go."
Shortly after Bere left the hill, the radio operator reported to Sokov with surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the headquarters called back, and they had ordered Colonel Gurdiev's 308th Infantry Division to actively move westward and prepare to go forward to Orlovka to meet us."
"What, the 308th Infantry Division is coming to meet us?" Sokov heard the radio operator say this, and rushed over with a quick step, asking impatiently: "How many troops do they have and how far is it from us now?"
Regarding the question raised by Sokov, the radio operator shook his head and replied awkwardly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the questions you asked were not mentioned in the telegram."
"Send a telegram to the headquarters again." Seeing that the radio operator knew nothing, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little disappointed. He ordered the other party: "Ask the contact code of the 308th Infantry Division, and we will contact them directly." The reason why Sokov ordered the radio operator like this was that if the two troops wanted to contact through the radio station of the Group Army Command, they would inevitably be delayed in the fight, so he decided to contact friendly forces directly.
Not long after, the radio operator reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I have obtained the contact code of the 308th Infantry Division. Are you planning to send a message to them or make a call directly?"
"Just call directly." Sokov considered that if he contacted the other party by telegram, he didn't know when he would receive a reply, so he simply used a Ming-language call to contact. The Germans like to eavesdrop, so let them eavesdrop. Anyway, the task of the two troops after they met was to stick to Orlovka. The Germans would sooner or later notice the real situation. "Call it immediately."
The radio operator shouted at the sender for a long time and finally contacted the division headquarters of the 308th Infantry Division. Sokov put on his headphones, squatted beside the radio operator, and said loudly to the sender: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. Please speak to your division commander Colonel Gurdiev."
A voice came from the headphones: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov! I am Colonel Gurdiev. My division is ordered to accept your command, please give me instructions!"
When Sokov learned that another division was under his command, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic. He knew very well that the more troops he had, the more noise he had made in the Orlovka area. He hurriedly asked: "Comrade Colonel, I ask you, how many troops do you have and how far is the troops from Orlovka?"
"Report to comrade Lieutenant Colonel," although he was reporting to a commander with a lower rank than himself, Colonel Gurdiev cooperated very well: "There are more than 1,500 people left in our division, and currently there are six kilometers away from Orlovka. In front of us, there is a defensive position of the German army. As long as we can break through the enemy's defense, we can rush over and meet you as soon as possible."
When Sokov heard that the other party was only six kilometers away from him, he stood up and looked around. He heard guns and cannons coming from the north, east and south, and could not tell where the 308th Infantry Division was, so he asked to the sender: "Col. Gurdiev, where is your troops?"
"To the east, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Gurdiev replied, "We are on the east side of yours to attack the enemy's defensive positions."
"I understand, comrade Colonel." Sokov turned his eyes to the east and listened quietly. Sure enough, there were dense sounds of gunfire in that direction. It seemed that Colonel Gurdiev's troops were fighting against the enemy. He quickly said to the microphone: "I will send tanks to support you."
"What, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you have a tank?" Colonel Gurdiev was overjoyed when he heard that Sokov planned to send tanks to support him: "If we can get the cooperation of the tank, I believe we will be able to break through the enemy's defense soon."
"Come here!" Sokov shouted to the guard standing not far away: "Call Bereh to me immediately!"
"Yes!" the guard agreed, turned around and ran down the hill.
Not long after, Belei followed the guards to run up from the hill. He came to Sokov and asked breathlessly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I have sent the tank. Do you have any instructions?"
Sokov handed the sender and headphones back to the radio operator, stood up and said to Bere: "Col. Bere, we have just received a telegram from the Army Command. Colonel Gurdiev's 308th Infantry Division is coming to us from the east. Now they are six kilometers away, fighting fiercely with the enemy. I have a new task now."
Before Sokov finished speaking, Beret said first: "I understand the brigade commander. I immediately took a few tanks to support them and assist them in seizing the enemy's positions."
Sokov knew that Bere led the tanks to attack from the enemy and would definitely be able to successfully break through the German defense. He joined the 308th Infantry Division, so he nodded and said, "Col. Berere, after breaking through the enemy's defense line and meeting with friendly troops, you must bring the troops here as soon as possible."
After hearing Sokov's order, Bere frowned slightly and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, can I ask, how many troops does the 308th Infantry Division have today?"
"According to the commander of the division, Colonel Gurdiev, they still have more than 1,500 people." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Even if they break through the enemy's defense, they will pay some casualties, and when they arrive here, they will have more than 1,000 people. In this way, we can have enough troops to use for the defense of the Orlovka region."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Bere disagreed with Sokov's statement: "Have you ever thought that the defensive position here is too narrow. If so many troops are squeezed together, if they are bombarded or shelled by the German army, then how much price will we pay?"
Regarding Bere’s statement, Sokov asked without any objection: “Col. Bere, according to your opinion, where should Colonel Gurdiev’s troops be deployed?”
Chapter completed!