Sokov and Belkin got out of the tunnel, came to the trenches, and looked down from a high place. Hundreds of sailors, carrying bayonet rifles, lined up in front of the position, staring with vigilant eyes at the enemy officers and soldiers carrying bodies halfway up and at the foot of the mountain.
There were neatly parked at the foot of the mountain, with the rear facing the hill, and countless soldiers in yellow uniforms wore gas masks on their heads, shuttled through the pile of corpses. They bent down and lifted the corpses on the ground. They carried the corpses in groups to the truck and handed them over to the soldiers standing by the chariots, and they put the corpses into the carriage.
"Comrade Soldier," Sokov called a sailor and asked, "Do you know where Captain Shamrich is?"
The soldier looked around and pointed diagonally in front of him, and said, "Where is Comrade Captain?"
"Please call him over," Sokov worried that the soldiers would not know who he was, and added specifically: "Just say that the brigade commander Colonel Sokov had something to ask him for."
Sokov's judgment was accurate, and the sailor really didn't know him. Hearing him say that he was a colonel, he glanced at his collar, and after seeing clearly that he was a rank of lieutenant colonel, he couldn't help but look shocked on his face. But no matter whether the officer standing in front of him was a colonel or a lieutenant colonel, since he had issued an order, he could only execute it. The soldier quickly agreed, climbed out of the trench with his hands and feet, and went to Shamrich.
Looking at the corpses covered with hillsides, Bellkin couldn't help but sigh: "I really didn't expect that the battle in Beigang would be so tragic. Fortunately, our soldiers still stubbornly repelled the enemy's attack."
"But the price we paid is too high to smash the enemy's attack." Sokov said heartbrokenly: "If the enemy launches such an attack again, our Beigang will have no troops to defend."
"The superiors are not planning to launch a new counterattack," Belkin looked at the absence of outsiders, and the closest guard was five or six steps away, but he still asked in a low voice: "Don't we replenish our troops?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, have you forgotten that the Marine War Battalion is the troops that our superiors supplemented?" Sokov sighed and said, "If you want to get other supplements, I think it is unrealistic in a short period of time."
"Then what forces should we use to participate in the counterattack?" asked Belkin.
"We can only find ways to replenish our troops." Sokov thought of coming back to take stock of the troops this time, and found that the third battalion with the largest number of troops was the least favored by him. If we want to replenish the troops, we should learn from Captain Andre. "In addition to replenishing the wounded and injured people into the army, we can also absorb some urban residents to join our troops."
"Is this appropriate?" Belkin directly objected to Sokov's idea: "The residents of the city have not undergone systematic military training. If they are forcibly organized into the army, once they go to the battlefield and see the enemy rushing towards them, they may become deserters."
"Comrade Political Commissar, I understand what you mean." Sokov explained to Belkin: "There is no way to replenish residents into the army. If they cannot leave the city, it will be unsafe no matter where they stay. Maybe the Germans will occupy the place they live. Once they fall into the hands of the Germans, do you think the Germans will provide them with food, medicine and daily necessities?"
"I don't think so." Belkin said in an uncertain tone: "The German supply situation is actually not much better than ours. If they were asked to take charge of the living supplies needed by the residents in the city, it would probably not be possible. In other words, residents in the enemy-occupied areas may die due to lack of food and medicine..."
Sokov nodded and continued: "Replenishing male residents of appropriate age into the army will at least ensure that they can get the necessary food supply so that they can continue to live on their own and their families."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you make sense." Hearing Sokov say this, Belkin also realized the seriousness of the problem: "Until the battle in the city is completely over, all shops cannot open for business, so that residents who stay in the city will not be able to obtain the food and necessities they need. You say this to kill two birds with one stone, which not only solves the situation of insufficient troops, but also reduces the pressure on the residents to survive."
The two were talking when Shamrich, who received the notice, trotted over with a rifle. After jumping into the trenches, he straightened his body and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the Marine Battalion is carrying out a warning mission, please instruct!"
According to the regulations, Sokov should answer: "Continue to carry out the mission!" But he frowned and said: "Comrade Captain, I want to ask you why so many soldiers were allowed to serve as a warning?"
Shamrich heard the dissatisfaction in Sokov's tone and quickly explained: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the number of people sent by the enemy to collect corpses is a bit too high, there are about 200 people. If I don't send more troops to guard the situation, I'm worried..."
"Are you worried? What are you worried about?!" Sokov interrupted his words impatiently: "Are you still worried that these Romanians will take advantage of the opportunity to collect the body and attack you?"
"Ah, no, no!" Shamrich replied in a panic: "I am just prepared for any trouble, so I have sent so many people to serve as a warning."
"After your trenches were bombarded by the enemy, they were all uneven everywhere. You did not arrange for people to repair trenches and strengthen fortifications, but used all their hands as warnings. Do you want to wait until the enemy launches another attack and let our soldiers stand on the hillside as the enemy's target?" Sokov pointed at the trenches where he was, and said in a commanding tone: "Leave twenty soldiers to continue to be alert, and the rest will be withdrawn."
"Yes, comrade comrade commander!" Shamrich replied helplessly in response to Sokov's strict order: "I will withdraw everyone immediately and repair the fortifications."
"Wait a minute, Comrade Captain." Just as Shamrich turned around and was about to climb out of the trench, Sokov called him and asked, "Have our wounded and soldiers' bodies been packed?"
Shamrich nodded and replied: "Yes, all the wounded have sent the health team in Nangang, and the bodies of the soldiers have been carried to be buried."
"Have you carried it to burial?" Sokov said with some wonder: "Hundreds of martyrs, how many pits do you have to dig? Do you have so many people under your command?"
"No, I don't have much troops left in my hands." Shamrich shook his head and said, "It's the city staff who organized a group of residents to help us bury the sacrificed soldiers."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov was silent for a moment and said to Shamrich, "organize people to repair the fortifications as soon as possible. Perhaps the enemy will launch a new attack on you once the body is moved."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Shamrich, who had just climbed out of the trench, jumped down again, said to Sokov: "There is another important thing that I haven't had time to report to you."
"What's the matter? Tell me!"
"Just just when the enemy came to clean up, a Romanian officer came to me and took advantage of the opportunity to check the body to approach me quietly and whispered to me a secret."
"What's the secret?" Sokov asked curiously.
"He said that the Romanian army's combat plan was to use the sea of ​​people to seize Beigang first. When we draw troops from Nangang to reinforce, they would attack Nangang." Shamrich said to Sokov: "The reason they did not attack Nangang later was because they saw that Nangang had never sent troops to support Beigang, and troops were pouring out in the tunnels of Beigang. In addition, they were bombarded and machine guns from Nangang, so they could not figure out the details of our army and could only choose to retreat."
"I understand." Sokov did not make any statement after hearing this, but just waved to Shamrich, "You go and do it."
After sending Shamrich away, Sokov couldn't help but feel secretly glad that he was mobilizing his troops by connecting the two hills, which gave Romania an illusion that the Beigang had sufficient troops, which forced them to temporarily change their offensive plan.
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Sokov figured out the key to the problem, but it did not mean that Belkin could figure it out. He said to Sokov with a serious expression: "Tell me, why did the Romanian officer tell Captain Shamrich about such important information? Could this be a conspiracy?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, you are thinking too much." Seeing that Belkin had misunderstood, Sokov waved his hand to him and said, "Did you not hear clearly just now? The Romanian officer said that they never noticed that we had dispatched troops from Nangang to Beigang, and thought that we had sufficient troops, so they took the initiative to withdraw from the battle."
"Take the fight with voluntary action!" Belkin repeated Sokov's last sentence and sneered: "If they have the ability to seize the Beigang position, why don't they continue to fight? Instead, they retreat in a hurry as soon as they were bombarded by our guns and machine guns."
Sokov looked at the Romanian army who collected the corpses outside. After busy for a long time, he took less than one-third of the bodies. He had to wait for them to finish collecting them, and it was probably dark. He was not interested in continuing to watch here, so he turned to Berkin and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, let's go back to the brigade command. The work here will be done by Shamrich and Goria."
The two left Beigang and returned to the brigade command. As soon as they entered the door, Sokov couldn't help feeling a little guilty when he saw Sidolin, who was looking at the map at his desk, and Cui Kev suggested that he be the deputy brigade commander, but he refused without hesitation. If Sidolin knew about this, I wonder if he would have any emotions.
Berkin naturally didn't know what happened in the headquarters. Seeing Sokov standing at the door in a daze, he pushed him gently from behind and asked curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, why are you standing at the door and not going in?"
Sidolin, who was looking at the map, heard a voice behind him. He turned his head and saw that it was the brigade commander and political commissar who had returned. He quickly stood up and turned around, and smiled at the two of them, "brigade commander, political commissar, you are back!"
"I'm back!" Sokov answered guiltily and asked back, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what are you busy with?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I have good news to tell you."
"Good news?" Sokov looked at Cidolin with surprise and asked, "Chief of Staff, what good news? Did the superiors replenish us with soldiers and ammunition?"
"I received a call from the Logistics Department of the Group Army not long ago, saying that after dark, we will provide us with a batch of German weapons. As for the soldiers and the situation of the group army, I think you should also know that under the current circumstances, we cannot replenish our troops." Cidolin said: "The good news I said is something else."
"What else?" Sokov urged anxiously: "Chief of Staff, come and listen!"
"I just received a telegram not long ago." Sidolin reported to Sokov: "This telegram was sent by Lieutenant Grissa, he said..."
"Lt. Grissa?" Sokov was stunned for a moment when he heard this name. Then he thought of Lieutenant Grissa, the fourth company commander who was suddenly lost to the enemy and asked quickly: "Chief of Staff, is Lieutenant Grissa you mentioned, the Fourth Company Commander who has been missing for a long time with us?"
"That's right, it's him." Cidolin continued: "He said in the telegram that during the transfer, they encountered the enemy's large forces. Since they used up all the rockets they carried, they could not compete with the enemy whose troops were occupied. They could only use the attack and retreat to get rid of the enemy's pursuit."
"If I remember correctly, they carry several radio stations." Sokov couldn't help but ask angrily when he heard this: "Why didn't he send us a telegram to me during the transfer process and report their situation to me?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, don't be angry." Seeing Sokov's face full of unhappiness, Sidolin quickly persuaded: "It's not that he doesn't want to report to you, but that the conditions at that time did not allow it. The enemy kept chasing them and monitored their radio signals. Before the telegram was sent, the enemy had already appeared nearby."
After Cidolin explained, Sokov understood Grissa's difficulties, so he no longer blamed the other party, but asked with concern: "Where are they now?"
"After several days of retreat, they finally got rid of the enemy's pursuit." Cidolin replied with his finger at the map: "After repeated confirmation, Grissa found that their current location is in Karachi on the east bank of the Don River."
Chapter completed!