"I have ordered Colonel Gurdiev to launch a counterattack." After Sokov said this, he couldn't help but sigh: "But this is just to do his best. I don't have much hope for whether they can regain their lost positions."
When Beret heard Sokov say such disgusting words, he couldn't help but say in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it is obviously impossible for us to retreat from the south. If we don't find a way to regain the position in the east, then our army will be trapped in the German encirclement."
Seeing that Beretre also realized the seriousness of the problem, Sokov decided to reveal his true thoughts to him so that he could prepare in advance: "Col. Boretre, from the current situation, we may pay a huge price to retreat from the south or east. Therefore, we must choose a new direction."
"New direction?" Hearing Sokov say this, Bere was stunned. According to his thoughts, if the troops could not defend themselves in Orlovka and wanted to retreat, they could only choose to retreat south or east. The other two directions were German territory, so they could not lead their troops into the enemy pile, right? So he asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what direction should we choose?"
When answering this question, Sokov couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, because he knew very well that the Ming-language call between him and Be Lei was likely to be eavesdropped by the Germans, so he said vaguely: "As for which direction to break through, I will send someone to notify you later."
Belei was also a smart man. After hearing Sokov said this, he guessed that he must be worried about such important information. He was eavesdropped by the German army and quickly replied: "I understand, comrade brigade commander, I'll wait for your notice."
After finishing the call, Sokov sat on the ground, took out paper and pen from his bag, put it on his briefcase, and wrote down all the things he was preparing to break out to the north of Orlovka and join the troops of Little Ivanovka and Rokosovsky. After writing, he folded the paper and called a correspondent soldier, asking him to rush to the small village immediately and handed over his plan to Bie Lei.
After the communications soldier left, Sokov stretched, stood up and walked out of the temporary command center, preparing to go to the top of the hill to check the enemy's movements. Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered an important thing, stopped and asked Guchakov who was following him: "Guchakov, have you seen Major Yakov?"
Although Yakov followed Sokov to the north this time, because he did not stay by Sokov at any time, he often moved around, so that Sokov always forgot his existence. When he was preparing to break through, Sokov suddenly remembered Yakov. If something unexpected happened to Yakov during the breakout, he would not be able to escape.
Guchakov was stunned for a moment, and then replied, "Major Yakov seemed to be in the defense zone of the guard camp. Do I need me to call him back?"
"Yes, Comrade Guchakov." Sokov said without hesitation: "You call Major Tenev of the guard battalion immediately and ask him to inform Yakov, saying that I have something urgent to ask him to come back immediately."
After Yakov came to Orlovka, he ran everywhere because he felt that he was doing nothing in the command center. No matter what, Sokov had the final say in the brigade, and he could only be considered a so-called character at best. Therefore, whenever he had time, he liked to run to the grassroots troops and stay with the commanders and soldiers. After receiving a call from Guchakov, he thought something had happened, so he immediately trotted back to the hills.
As soon as he saw Sokov, he couldn't wait to ask, "Misha, are you looking for me, are there any urgent matters?"
Sokov looked up at him, nodded, took out a map and opened it on the ground, pointed at it and said to him, "Yakov, our current situation is not good. Although we have our troops around, our contact with them has been interrupted."
Yakov was not sure about the loss of the eastern position, and thought that Sokov was talking about handing over to the southern position of the 120th Guards Regiment, so he said disapprovingly: "Misha, the southern position is always facing German attacks from the west. With the strength of the 120th Guards Regiment, it is very difficult to defend it. But you don't have to worry, even if you can't retreat south, we can transfer through the eastern position and return to our defense zone."
After Yakov finished speaking, Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "Yakov, you don't know yet. Our position in the east has been lost."
"What, the position on the east is lost?" Yakov's face showed an incredible expression: "How is this possible? Misha, are you mistaken? Didn't we deploy a battalion on the position on the east? I don't believe that the forces of a battalion can't block the enemy's attack for several hours?"
"Yes, the troops we deployed on the eastern position are indeed a battalion." Sokov said with a complicated expression: "But after a long battle, there were only thirty or forty people left in the entire battalion. To defend such a wide position, it was simply too weak to do so. As soon as the enemy launched an attack, it controlled the eastern position in a very short time and cut off our retreat."
"Our retreat has been cut off?!" Yakov was once surrounded by the troops to whom he belonged to, and was a prisoner of the Germans. When he learned that the retreat of the troops was cut off by the Germans, his face turned pale. He murmured: "Misha, what should we do? I don't want to be a prisoner again."
After saying these words, Yakov pulled out his pistol from his waist, turned on his insurance, looked at Sokov and said, "This time, I would rather shoot my head than be a prisoner."
Seeing that his bullet was loaded, Sokov was afraid that the gun would go off fire, so he quickly grabbed his wrist and comforted him, "Yakov, don't worry, you won't be a prisoner, I won't be a prisoner, and none of us will be a prisoner."
Sokov's words cheered up Yakov. He took the initiative to ask Sokov: "Misha, I think I should organize a counterattack immediately and take back the lost position. I will go to the 308th Infantry Division and join them in taking the position back from the enemy."
"Yakov, don't be excited." Seeing that Yakov was about to turn around and leave after he finished speaking, Sokov hurriedly stopped him: "Analysis of all signs, the enemy wants to surround us first and then eat us little by little. Even if we launch a counterattack on the positions in the east, it is unlikely that we can retake it."
"Misha, we still have tanks, which can allow the tanks to guide the infantry and attack the enemy's defensive positions." Yakov said loudly, his thoughts: "You should transfer Colonel Bere's tank battalion back. With their help, it should not be difficult for us to regain the lost positions."
"The tank battalion cannot move," Sokov said with a clear attitude: "If we want to jump out of the enemy's encirclement, then we cannot use the tank battalion."
"But without using the Tank Battalion, the strength of the 308th Infantry Division would not be able to seize the enemy's position at all." Yakov knew very well that if Colonel Bereh had not led the Tank Battalion to support it, the 308th Infantry Division would not have been able to break through the enemy's defense line and rushed over to meet with the infantry brigade. At this moment, the division launched a counterattack on the enemy. Without the cooperation of the tank, except for the increase in casualties, he would not have much confidence in regaining the position.
"Whether it is to the south or east, it is not an ideal choice." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Yakov: "The enemy's defense line separates us from friendly forces. In order to prevent us from joining with friendly forces, they will definitely strengthen their defense. In other words, if we want to break through these defense lines, we will inevitably pay a heavy price."
"Misha, what's wrong with you? Under the current situation, no matter how much we pay, we must meet with our friendly forces." Yakov said anxiously: "Otherwise, what awaits us will be the end of the destruction of the entire army."
"Yakov, it is not only the east and south that we have friendly troops." Sokov said calmly after he finished speaking: "We can also choose to join forces with friendly troops in other directions."
"There are no friendly forces except the east and south..." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Yakov blurted out. However, before he finished speaking, he suddenly guessed what Sokov was referring to. He couldn't help but be shocked, and then asked in surprise: "Misha, you don't want to join Rokosovsky's troops, are you?"
Seeing that Yakov guessed his thoughts, Sokov nodded slightly and replied with a smile: "Yes, that's what I think."
"Misha, are you crazy?" Yakov was originally squatting. After hearing Sokov's answer, he suddenly jumped up from the ground, shocking Guchakov, who was standing next to him as a warning. Yakov continued: "If the German defense line in the north and west is so easy to break through, why should the superiors order you to come and respond?"
"Yakov, that's how I think about it." Sokov asked Yakov to squat down again, and explained to him patiently: "There are indeed enemy fortifications on the north and west sides of ours. But the defense directions of these fortifications are aimed at the outside of the encirclement. If we launch an unexpected attack from the inside, there should be no big problem in breaking through these positions."
After hearing Sokov said this, Yakov immediately understood why Sokov had just insisted that he could not use the tank battalion commanded by Colonel Bere. The tank battalion was placed in a small village, and it was very convenient to assault north or west, and it was still very likely to break through the German defense line.
Thinking about this link, Yakov stared at the map for a while, then asked tentatively: "Misha, when are you going to attack the enemy?"
"Wait a little longer." Sokov said helplessly: "I don't know whether the enemy will attack Orlovka, so I must wait a little longer and not act rashly. Otherwise, when our army launched the attack, the German troops came towards us and soon they could eat us without even leaving any residue."
Seeing that Sokov could not decide when to launch an attack, Yakov asked the second question: "Which direction are you going to choose as our breakthrough?"
"My initial consideration is to break through from the north." Sokov pointed a few times on the map with his hand: "As far as I know, General Rokosovsky's command is located in the little Ivanovka in the north, which is only a dozen kilometers away from us."
"But this road is not easy to walk." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he immediately published his opinion: "Misha, look, there are not only forests, but also rivers on this road. If the enemy's fortifications are built by the river, how can we cross the river to join the friendly forces after we break through their defense? You must know that although there has not yet snowfall, the river water has become cold and biting. It is not a good idea to let the soldiers swim across it."
"It's a bit too far to go west, about twenty or thirty kilometers, and the German army along the way has many defense points." Sokov saw Yakov objecting to his plan to break through to the north, and said with some embarrassment: "The last time a tank brigade under General Rokosovsky broke through the direction of the German army, but on the way to Orlovka, they were besieged from all directions, and the entire army was destroyed in the middle."
"What should we do?" Yakov sighed softly, frowned and asked, "Is it really the only way to stay here and leave it to fate?"
From the map, Orlovka was already behind the German defense, but outside the German encirclement, there were dense Soviet troops. Unfortunately, Sokov's troops and technical equipment were very limited. Otherwise, a center would bloom would be enough to make the German troops in the north of the city look for teeth.
"Simple defense is definitely not possible." After a while, Sokov said in a hoarse voice: "So we must take the initiative to break through from the unexpected direction of the enemy. I have just sent someone to send a letter to Colonel Bere, asking him to send someone to reconnaissance north and choose the right location for our army to break through."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, Comrade Brigade Commander." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he heard someone calling him. He turned his head and saw that it was the radio operator running towards him with a phone on his back. He asked hurriedly: "Comrade Radio operator, what's the matter?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," the radio operator ran to Sokov and said breathlessly: "It's Colonel Bere, he has something important to report to you."
Sokov took the headphones and put them on his head, then put the sender close to his mouth and said loudly: "Col. Don't know, I'm Sokov. Please tell me if you have something to do!"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," said the voice of Bie Lei from his headphones: "I have sent people to conduct reconnaissance. After obtaining information, I will report it to you immediately."
Chapter completed!