Although the performance of the ball tank's killing all sides was indeed very exciting, Sokov was still not happy. After seeing his abnormality, Yakov asked curiously: "Misha, what's wrong with you? We just won a battle, but I think you seem very unhappy?"
Sokov frowned slightly, pointed his finger at the ball tank that was heading towards the small village in the distance, and said, "Yes, ball tanks have performed very well in today's battle. But if there is no ammunition and fuel, they are a pile of scrap iron."
When Yakov heard Sokov say this, he was secretly surprised: He also realized the seriousness of the problem and asked in a panic, "Misha, what should we do?"
"We have been trapped in the German encirclement. It is impossible to get the tanks to be fed with fuel and ammunition." Sokov looked towards the direction of the small village and said with great pain: "If there is really no way, we can only choose to blow up this ball tank in the end."
"What, blow up the ball tank?" Yakov couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard this. Although he knew that Sokov was right, he still asked unwillingly: "Misha, is there no other way? You must know that even if the ball tank is exhausted and the fuel, we may not necessarily blow up it. We can use other methods to hide it."
"Hide it?" Sokov said in his heart, and he was unwilling to blow up this rare tank. At this moment, he heard Yakov's tone and seemed to have a way to solve this problem, so he asked curiously: "Yakov, how do you plan to hide?"
"Buried up." Yakov replied briefly, "Isn't there a forest near the small village? We can bury the ball tanks in the village, and send someone to dig out the tank when our army retakes Orlovka. This is much better than simply blowing up the tank. Besides, even if you blow up the tank, the Germans can repair the ball tanks based on the wreckage."
"That's right, right." The words woke up the dreamer. Yakov's words made Sokov realize that even if he wanted to throw away all the heavy equipment and break through, he might not have to blow up the ball tank. He could bury it first. When the army counterattacked, he would send someone to dig out the ball tank from the woods. "I can contact Colonel Bere and let him prepare to hide the ball tank in advance."
After contacting Bere, Sokov couldn't wait to say, "Col. Berere, immediately send someone to dig a big hole in the woods. When you have no choice, bury the ball tank in."
Sokov's words made Bo Lei confused. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what's going on? Why do you need to bury the ball tank?"
"That's right, Colonel Bere." Sokov immediately realized that he was so excited that he was a little incoherent when he heard Berere's problem. He quickly explained to the other party: "I think so. After a long battle, all the tanks in the Tank Battalion were facing insufficient ammunition and fuel. If we wanted to break through, we had to discard these heavy equipment. In order not to let these equipment fall into the hands of the Germans, we could only choose to blow them up."
"Yes, comrade comrade, in order not to let the equipment fall into the hands of the Germans, all we have taken is to blow up these equipment." Bellei may not be willing to leave this ball tank, so hesitated: "But judging from the current situation, we should not have to consider blowing up the equipment."
"Col. Although we have won two consecutive victories, it cannot change the fact that we are surrounded by the German army." Sokov said solemnly: "Because we are in the enemy's encirclement, it is completely impossible to get supplies. In order not to let the ball tank fall into the enemy's hands, it should be decisively blown up. But I considered that this tank was a rare prototype, and it was a pity that I would hide it and dig it out when our army returned to Orlovka."
After Sokov's explanation, Bele finally understood what was going on. He was silent for a while before answering: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if he simply dug a pit in the woods and buried the ball tank, after the German army occupied the village, based on the numerous clues, it is possible that the ball tank we hid would be discovered..."
Knowing that even if the ball tank was buried, there was still a danger of being discovered by the Germans, Sokov couldn't help but panic: "What should we do?"
As a senior tank soldier commander, Bere obviously has more experience in hiding tanks than Sokov. He smiled and replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't worry, I will arrange manpower immediately to hide the ball tanks. Even if the Germans occupy the village, they will not be able to find the ball tanks. By the way, I want to ask, what is our next task?"
Although Sokov had found his troops surrounded by the German army, he could not lead the troops to leave here without authorization before receiving the order from his superiors. Therefore, when he heard this question from Bo Lei, he could only say vaguely: "Comrade Colonel, we have to stay here for a while, waiting for the possible reinforcements..."
Bere heard the helplessness in Sokov's tone, sighed softly, and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, if you have anything to do, just give me instructions. If you want to break through, my tank battalion is willing to rush to the front."
After seeing Sokov ending the call with Bere, Yakov immediately asked impatiently: "How is it, Colonel Misha Bere has some way to hide the ball tank?"
"Yes," Sokov nodded and said in a positive tone: "Col. Berre said he had a way to hide the ball tanks and prevent the enemy from discovering them." In order to prevent Yakov from continuing to ask, he quickly added, "But he did not tell me what to do."
As soon as Sokov spoke, he suddenly heard a loud noise, and the land under his feet trembled slightly, and then a huge fireball rose from afar. Seeing the mushroom cloud in the air, he said in surprise: "Hell, what's going on? Where did the explosion happen?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Guchakov whispered, standing beside him, "It seems to be the fourth line of defense."
"The fourth line of defense?" Sokov frowned and said, "Strange, how could an explosion happen there inexplicably?"
"Misha, have you forgotten?" Yakov reminded Sokov: "You have buried explosives on the third and fourth lines of defense, ready to detonate when you can't defend it, and blow up all the fortifications there, so as not to be used by the German army."
After Yakov reminded him, Sokov remembered that there was indeed such a thing. The soldiers who sent to bury explosives were once detained by the soldiers of the 120th Guards. Later, after his negotiations with Guriyev, the work of burying explosives was able to continue. At this moment, a huge explosion occurred in that direction. Could it be that the enemy occupied the fourth line of defense?
Just as Sokov was thinking about it, the phone ringing that was not far away rang. Sokov picked up the microphone and put it in his ear. He heard Colonel Gurdiev's somewhat panicked voice coming from it: "Comrade Brigade Commander, my observation post reported to me that not long ago, a violent explosion suddenly occurred on the fourth line of defense of the 120th Regiment of the Guards. It seemed that the defenders detonated the explosives buried on the position before the enemy occupied the position."
Although he confirmed his guess from Gurdiev, for the sake of safety, Sokov ordered the other party: "Comrade Colonel, please send someone to that direction immediately to find out what happened. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." Colonel Gurdiev replied respectfully: "I will send someone to find out what happened immediately."
Just as Sokov was about to put down the phone, he remembered another thing and asked again: "By the way, Colonel Gurdiev, I want to ask you, how is the situation of your counterattack against the eastern position?" Sokov understood very well that since the eastern position had been occupied by the Germans, with the strength of the 308th Infantry Division, it would be almost impossible to retake it again. He asked this just to understand the situation on the battlefield more.
Gurdiev's answer was indeed as expected: "Sorry, comrade comrade, our counterattack has not achieved any success, and the position is still in the hands of the enemy."
"Comrade Colonel." When he learned that Colonel Gurdiev and his team had not achieved ideal results, Sokov did not blame him, but said magnanimously: "Since we cannot take back the position from the enemy, we do not need to continue to counterattack and gather all our troops together. Maybe we will face a fierce battle soon."
"Analysis from the situation in front of us, the position on the south has completely fallen into the hands of the enemy." Sokov put down the phone, pointed to the map in front of him and said to Yakov: "Now the enemy in the east and south may attack us at any time, so we must make the worst plan."
"The worst plan?" As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Guchakov couldn't help but interrupt and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, can I ask, what is the worst plan?"
"Comrade Corporal," Before Sokov could speak, Yakov taught Guchakov a lesson with a stern face: "Your mission is to protect the safety of your brigade commander, and the rest of the matter is not something that people of your level can know. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade Major." Guchakov, who was scolded by Yakov, agreed with a red face, then turned around and walked aside.
After Guchakov left, Yakov asked in a low voice: "Misha, tell me, how many Germans could be killed in the explosion just now?"
Sokov thought about the scale of the explosion in his mind. More than a dozen tons of explosives were buried there, and the radius of the explosion point was within 500 meters. He probably had no survivors. He said in an uncertain tone: "There should be no survivors for those within 500 meters near the explosion point. If I was not wrong, the Germans attacked this position and the troops they invested should be a battalion, so after the explosion, the battalion could be revoked from the German army."
"A dozen tons of explosives are exchanged for a battalion of the German army." Yakov said thoughtfully: "This deal is very cost-effective."
Yakov was thinking about how many Germans were killed, but what Sokov was thinking about was how many guards who were standing on the position left the land of death alive.
Fortunately, the answer was revealed soon. When Gurdiev called again, he excitedly reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, a group of soldiers who were withdrawing from the fourth line of defense are coming towards the defense zone of our division."
When Sokov heard that a soldier had retreated from the fourth line of defense, he quickly felt a lit up and asked quickly: "Comrade Colonel, how many people have retreated?"
Gurdiev was silent for a moment and replied, "There are about seventy or eighty people. According to my observation, there are many wounded people."
"Comrade Colonel," Although seventy or eighty people were a bit too small, for Sokov, who was in urgent need of troops at this moment, no matter how small the mosquitoes were, they would be flesh. He quickly ordered Gurdiev: "Send someone to take them to your position immediately and let them have a good rest."
After Sokov finished speaking, Gurdiev immediately replied: "I have sent someone to pick them up, and also sent a health officer to deal with the wounded."
"Misha, what are you planning now?" Yakov asked: "I guess the Germans suffered such a big loss in the south and would definitely not give up. Maybe they will launch an attack soon. Should we stick to Orlovka or choose to break through decisively? You have to make a decision early!"
According to Sokov's idea, he wanted to give orders to all the troops immediately. When it was dark, he would move to the north without hesitation. Although the road was difficult to walk, it was the shortest distance from friendly forces. The reason why Sokov had not issued an order to break through was that the situation on the battlefield was not clear enough, and it might be possible that reinforcements could really arrive; the other was that Order No. 227 was like a sword of Damocles hanging above his head, which made him dare not make a hasty decision.
At this moment, when Yakov asked him where he should go, Sokov immediately made up his mind. After dark, he led his troops to break through the north. In order to make the division famous, he ordered the radio operator: "The radio operator, send a telegram to the Army Command, report to them about our situation here, and ask for instructions on the next task."
Chapter completed!