Gurdiev's words gave Sokov a reassurance, but he was only happy for a moment, and his face turned pale again. After calling Gurdiev, he pointed to a group of soldiers who were boarding the ship and asked excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, what's going on? Why are they still wearing German military coats?"
Hearing Sokov's questioning, Gurdiev replied with a wry smile: "Comrade Brigade Commander, when our division entered Stalingrad, we had not had time to distribute military coats. The soldiers' uniforms were too thin and they were easily frostbite in cold nights. These soldiers were all retreated from the southern positions. They felt that the German military coats were warm and did not take them off."
Sokov remembered that he had given orders to Gurdiev that the commanders and fighters who were staying on the southern position were wearing German uniforms to achieve the goal of confusing the enemy, so that they could detect the loss of the position the later they were. Who knew that many commanders and fighters felt that the military coats were warm, but they did not take off when handing over the defense, and they were still wearing them with the large army.
"No, let the soldiers take off their military coats immediately." Sokov was worried that Gurdiev would sing a counter-topic with him, so he emphasized specifically: "It doesn't matter on the position that our soldiers wear enemy military coats. The friendly troops coming to take over know that they are their own people. When they move north later, if they meet friendly troops on the road, misunderstandings may occur. Once the two sides fight, even if the misunderstandings are clarified in time, there will be certain losses."
When Gurdiev first heard Sokov's order, he felt a little resistant. He felt that the other party was not thinking about the soldiers. Sometimes the temperature was close to zero at night. If the soldiers were asked to march in single clothes, they might suffer from frostbite. But after hearing Sokov's words, he was shocked and let out a cold sweat. He actually ignored the military coats on the soldiers, which would cause misunderstandings from friendly forces.
After raising his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, he shouted at the soldiers who were boarding the ship or had already boarded the ship: "Please take care of all, take off all the military coats! Repeat and take off all the military coats."
The soldiers were used to obeying the orders of their superiors, and even if the orders were wrong, they would execute them without hesitation. After hearing the orders of Gurdiev to take off the military coat, although most people were reluctant, they still took off the military coat without vaguely. Since Gurdiev did not announce how to deal with these coats, they took them off and hugged them in their arms, which would make their bodies feel warmer.
Svellin didn't know what was going on, so he hurried over and asked Gurdiev: "Comrade Commander, what's going on? Why do you have to ask the soldiers to take off their military coats?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, I just neglected that we were marching at night. So many soldiers were wearing enemy military coats. If they met friendly forces on the road, unnecessary misunderstandings might occur." Speaking of this, Gurdiev turned his head and looked at Sokov, and continued in a grateful tone: "Fortunately, the brigade commander reminded me, so that I could avoid my big mistake."
"How to deal with the military coat?" Svelin asked carefully: "Do you throw it away or leave it to friendly forces?"
"Let the soldiers continue to march. I think the superiors cannot distribute winter clothes for us in a short time." Sokov knew very well that with the Soviet army's existing supply capabilities, even if the commanders and soldiers of the 308th Division returned to the city, they would not be able to get winter clothes in a short time. Therefore, they must continue to keep the captured military coats. However, he still emphasized again: "It is okay to wear them during the day, but it is best not to wear them at night, so they will not be treated as enemies by friendly forces who are unknown. It will be bad if misunderstandings occur at that time."
"I understand." After Svellin figured out what was going on, he took the initiative to say to Sokov: "I will explain the situation to the soldiers so that they can know it."
"I'll go with you." Gurdiev felt that it was better to take action by himself, so he took the initiative to accompany Sverin to explain the reasons to the soldiers, so as not to have any knots in his heart.
After Gurdiev and Svelin left, Bere, who kept silent, smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, if you hadn't noticed that there were soldiers wearing German military coats, you might have had a misunderstanding with the oncoming friendly forces on the way later."
Sokov did not blame Gurdiev for his carelessness, but took the responsibility on himself: "It's all my fault. When the troops handed over defense, they did not check the soldiers' clothes, so there were so many soldiers wearing enemy military coats."
"You can't blame you for this." As a party involved, Bere naturally knew that this matter had nothing to do with Sokov, so he explained, "When the troops were changing defenses, weren't you at the command center and arguing with General Vasiliev about the ownership of the 308th Division?"
"Col. Bere," Sokov asked Bere, with a side face, "Do you think General Rokosovsky will order me to hand over the troops to the 24th Army after we arrive at Ivanovka?"
"I don't think so!"
"Why are you so sure?"
Bere said cautiously: "If General Rokosovsky really planned to incorporate the 308th Division into the combat sequence of the 24th Army, he would probably have sent a telegram to Major General Vasilyev as early as the period when the troops were replacing defense. Until we left, Vasilyev did not receive any telegrams, which shows that Rokosovsky did not want to agree to Kazanning's request."
"So that's how it is." After Be Lei's analysis, Sokov realized that he seemed a little overwhelmed. Although Jiaxiaoning is a commander of the army, if he wants to assign friendly troops to his own command, he must ask his superiors for instructions and obtain the consent of many commanders, including Cui Kov, before this matter can be implemented.
After the troops crossed the river, they moved towards the direction of Little Ivanovka after a while. Although this area was in the defense zone of the Don Front Army, Sokov still asked Samoilov to lead a dozen vanguards to explore the way forward for safety.
After meeting oncoming friendly troops several times along the way, Samoilov immediately stepped forward to contact them and revealed his identity, thus avoiding possible misunderstandings.
After more than three hours of marching, the troops walked out of the dense forest and came to the outskirts of Little Ivanovka. Sokov found that there were crisscrossing trenches outside the city, and several checkpoints were set up on the main traffic roads.
The soldiers on duty at the checkpoint saw an army of large numbers in the distance walking towards their location. They were about to issue a battle alarm, but saw several black shadows running towards them. One of them kept waving his hand while running, shouting: "Our people are our own people."
The person in charge of the checkpoint was a lieutenant. He quickly stopped his subordinates who were about to issue an alarm. He brought a soldier to meet him, put his finger on the trigger of the submachine gun, and asked, "Which part of you are from?"
The figure on the opposite side stopped and stood more than ten meters away and replied: "We are from the 308th Infantry Division and have just retreated from the south position."
The lieutenant only knew the position in the south and was occupied by friendly forces, but it was impossible to know what the other party's number was at his level. In order to find out whether the opponent was his own person, he spoke: "You can only come over and the rest stayed in the distance!"
Samoilov knew very well that when he suddenly saw such a unit at night, the people who served as the guard would inevitably be nervous. If there were too many people in the past, they would aggravate their fear. Perhaps the other party would be excited and the gun in his hand would fire. So he ordered the soldiers to stay where they were, walked over alone, and said, "I am Lieutenant Samoilov, I'm here now!"
The lieutenant waited for Samoilov to come to him and shone a flashlight at him before speaking: "Comrade Lieutenant, please tell your army commander's name, and then I will ask my superiors for instructions to see if you can be let into the city."
"I am Lieutenant Samoilov, the platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade Guard Battalion," Samoilov waved his head to the back and said, "My brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and the 308th Division led by Colonel Gurdiev are behind us and will be here soon. Please report to your superiors immediately and allow us to enter the city."
"You can wait here, I'll make a call." Before leaving, the lieutenant said to the soldiers who were following: "Look at them." After the soldiers agreed, he accelerated his pace toward the booth, preparing to make a call there.
The lieutenant walked into the booth, grabbed the handle of the phone and shook it a few times, then grabbed the microphone and put it in his ear, and said to the microphone: "I am the guard post, pick me up the battalion commander."
After the phone was heard, the lieutenant hurriedly reported his name and asked: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the person who came said was Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and their brigade commander was Sokov..."
After listening to the lieutenant's report patiently, the battalion commander said to the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant, please wait for a while and don't hang up the phone. I'll learn about the situation immediately."
After saying this, the battalion commander covered the microphone and said to the communications soldier who was dozing off in the corner: "Communication soldier, go to the hidden department next door immediately and ask the battalion commander Vanya from the 73rd Infantry Brigade, is his brigade commander surnamed Sokov, is there a guard platoon commander named Samoilov?" The communications soldier heard the commander's order and immediately jumped out of his seat, ran out of the battalion commander quickly to carry out the commander's order.
The hidden department was not far from the battalion command post. The communications soldier ran in again just two minutes after leaving. Captain Vanya was following him. When he saw the battalion commander, Wanya couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Battalion Commander, is our brigade commander here?"
The battalion commander smiled and said, "Comrade Captain, the visitor claimed to be the guard platoon commander Samoilov, and said that the brigade commander Sokov was behind. I asked the correspondents to find you just to find out if what he said was true."
"Can I let me talk to them directly?"
The battalion commander did not refuse Wanya's request. He quickly said to the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant, let the guard platoon leader answer the phone."
When the lieutenant heard the battalion commander's order, he quickly leaned out of the guard post and shouted at Samoilov not far away: "Comrade Samoilov, please come over, someone wants to call you."
"What, someone wants to talk to me?" Samoilov walked into the booth with this question, took the microphone from the lieutenant, and put it in his ear and said respectfully: "I am Samoilov, who are you?"
"I am Captain Vanya." When Vanya heard Samoilov's voice coming from the receiver, she couldn't help but ask excitedly: "Where is the brigade commander? Where is the brigade commander?"
"The brigade commander and the comrades of the 308th Division are not far behind and will be here soon." After answering the question, Samoilov asked curiously: "Captain Vanya, why are you here? You must know that the brigade commander once asked about your news from friendly forces, and it was so anxious to learn that they did not see you on the road."
"We may have missed it with friendly forces heading towards the position as we were walking through the forest." Wanya was concerned about Sokov's whereabouts. After saying this, he couldn't wait to say, "I'll go out to greet you immediately where you are."
"We're here at the first post."
"Comrade Captain," the battalion commander saw that Vanya was about to put down the phone and left, and quickly said to him: "If your brigade commander wants to enter the city, he will definitely pass by us. You can wait for him here."
When friendly troops wanted to enter the city, they needed to settle residences. The battalion commander's position was too low and he could not make any decisions. He could only call the division headquarters and reported to the division commander about the news that Sokov and the 308th Division were about to enter the city.
The division commander received the call and learned that friendly troops were coming to the city and did not dare to make decisions without authorization. He quickly ordered the communications officer to answer the call from the Front Command and prepare to report the matter to the officer on duty and listen to what the other party is going to do.
Who knew that when the officer on duty heard that a friendly army had entered the city, he immediately reported to Malining, who was working. When Malining learned that Sokov was coming with the troops, he was overjoyed and quickly said to the officer on duty: "You should arrange a few staff officers immediately and follow me outside to greet Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and then find a way to resettle them."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," the officer on duty asked Malining, "Does it need to be reported to the commander?"
"Comrade Commander is resting, so there is no need to disturb him in this kind of thing." Malining waved his hand at the officer on duty and said, "I will report to him personally after dawn."
Chapter completed!