The command post from Mamayevgang to the Third Battalion is actually not far, less than five kilometers away. But this distance took Sokov a lot of time. Dozens of people were crowded together, which could certainly leave the German sniper helpless. But if you encounter a small German army hiding in the ruins, the opponent only needs to fire a few submachine guns or throw a grenade, which can cause major casualties to the army.
In order to avoid this situation, Sokov divided everyone into three teams, with ten soldiers in the front and back teams, led by Guchakov and Samoilov, and he walked in the middle with the remaining twenty people. Each team was 100 meters apart. Even if any team was attacked by the enemy, the other two teams could rescue in time.
Sokov held the assault rifle, his fingers resting on the trigger, and he watched the surroundings vigilantly as he walked. Once something strange happened, his muzzle would immediately point in that direction. It was not until he passed through the dangerous area where he might encounter the enemy and came to Captain Andre's command post that he breathed a sigh of relief.
When Andrei saw Sokov's arrival, he immediately stepped forward to salute: "Hello, comrade commander, on behalf of all the commanders and soldiers of the battalion, I welcome your arrival!"
"Hello, Captain Andre. I'm glad to see you." Sokov shook hands with Andre, walked quickly to the wooden table in the middle of the house, looked down at the map placed on it, and asked directly: "How many people in your camp are still in control of those streets?"
"There are 1,367 people in our battalion, of which 139 soldiers from the former infantry brigade were. The rest were militia and armed citizens." Andre walked to the table and pointed to the current controlled area on the map with his hands: "The areas we control are the Second Epire Street, Square on January 9, Sun Street, Kursky Street and Gogol Street."
From Andrei's report, Sokov discovered that although the third battalion had a lot of troops, most of them were militias or ordinary citizens with little combat effectiveness. It was really difficult for them to defend such a large area. After a moment of silence, Sokov raised his head and looked at Andrei and asked, "Do you have enough troops to defend such a large area?"
"We have to defend such a large area, and most of them are militia and citizens with low combat power." Andre said hesitantly: "If the division headquarters can replenish some troops, maybe I can expand the control area by one or two streets."
"No need, just keep the current scale." Sokov knew very well that the most difficult days of the Stalingrad defenders were coming. If Andre and the others were allowed to continue to expand the control area, it would soon attract the attention of the Germans. Once the enemy mobilized heavy troops to compete with Andre and the others for the city, then the troops on the left side of the Mamayevgang would have the possibility of the entire army being destroyed: "If you stimulate the Germans too much, they will focus on your attack in the next battle, and with your existing forces it will be difficult to support."
Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to send reinforcements to him and did not agree to expand his territory, Andrei was a little disappointed, but he also knew very well that Sokov's starting point was to protect himself and avoid becoming the target of the Germans' focus on attacks.
"How is the situation in Vasily?" After a while, Sokov suddenly asked again.
"Vasily?!" Hearing Suddenly, Andrei was stunned and thought that his troops were responsible for the defense of the city direction alone. How could he know the situation of the New Battalion stationed in Mamayevgang? But soon he realized that he was wrong. Sokov asked the sniper Sergeant Vasily, not Captain Vasily, the battalion commander of the New Battalion, and quickly replied: "Report to the division commander, the building that Sergeant Vasily is now the focus of the enemy's attack and is attacked almost every day. Fortunately, the building is still in our hands."
Sokov knew that the Pavlov building in history had been held in the Stalingrad defense for 58 days. He was worried that after becoming the Vasily building, different results might occur due to the different defenders. After listening to Andre's report, he felt relieved in his heart, and then said to Andre: "Comrade Captain, give the work here to your deputy, and take me to the Vasily building."
"What, go to the Vasily Building?" Andrey heard that Sokov was going to the Vasily Building, and quickly dissuaded: "Comrade Commander, there are Germans everywhere, you can't take risks easily."
"The Vasily Building is an important support point in the Square on January 9. Its gains and losses are directly related to the safety of the rear of the Mamayev hill." Sokov saw Andre opposing his opposition to going to the Vasily Building, so he specifically emphasized: "I will meet the soldiers in the building to strengthen everyone's confidence in keeping the building."
Since Sokov had already said this, Andre had no choice but to compromise. After handing over the command to his deputy, he said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, since there are many enemies near the Vasily Building, we cannot go too many people to avoid exposing our target."
Sokov agreed with Andrei's statement. If he really brought dozens of people over and was discovered by the Germans lurking nearby, he thought that there were more troops in the building, and he might call for artillery fire directly.
Just as Andrei took Sokov and others to leave the command post and head to the Vasily building, fierce gunfire and explosions suddenly came from outside. Hearing this sound, Sokov immediately asked vigilantly: "Comrade Captain, where is the fire fighting?"
After hearing the movement from outside, Andrei actually showed a relaxed expression on his face. He turned to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, if I am not wrong, it must be the enemy attacking the Vasily Building again. I think you should not go."
Although Sokov wanted to go to the Vasily Building, there was a war there at this moment. If he had to go, it would be like putting himself in a dangerous situation. Sokov would never do such a fool. However, on the surface, he still ordered Andre: "Comrade Captain, for the sake of safety, you should call Sergeant Vasily to see if he was attacked by the enemy again."
Andrei executed the order issued by Sokov very simply. He quickly picked up the phone and asked the communications officers to help connect to the Vasily building. After hearing Vasily's voice, he asked directly: "Comrade Sergeant, what happened? Is the enemy attacking you overnight?"
"Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander, the enemy took advantage of the night and tried to seize the building." In addition to Vasily's anxious voice, the receiver could also clearly hear the fierce gunfire and explosions: "Please rest assured, we are fully confident that we will repel the enemy's attack."
After hanging up the phone, Andrei looked up at Sokov and said, "Comrade Commander, I have verified that it is indeed the enemy attacking the Vasily Building. It is too dangerous there, so you should not go."
"Okay," Sokov said with the flow: "Since there is a war, I won't go."
Andre knew very well how difficult the road to the Vasily Building was. Every time he sent someone to deliver ammunition or supplies, he would have to pay a considerable price. Even if there was no battle there at this moment, and he would take Sokov to the place, there might be an accident on the way. At this moment, he learned that Sokov would not go to the Vasily Building, and his mood suddenly became much more relaxed.
However, since Sokov has come here, even if he cannot go to the Vasily Building, he still has to give some advice on Andrei's work so that he can come here at a risk. He pointed to the map on the table and said to Andrei: "Comrade Captain, your troops are limited. If you want to completely defend these blocks, you must adopt reasonable tactics..." Andrei heard Sokov say this, immediately guessed that the division commander might have to teach his defense skills, and quickly took out paper and pen to start recording.
"...The windows on the first floor of the building should be wrapped with wooden sticks and wire mesh to prevent the enemy from breaking through the window or throwing grenades, causing casualties to the defenders in the house.
...All doors or stairwells that do not need to be used outside the house must be blocked with furniture and waste, so as not to be used by the enemy and become their attack channel.
...As the elevation angle of enemy tanks is limited, observation posts, snipers and radio operators should stay on the top floor or roof, which not only makes the field of view wide and facilitates observation, but also is not easily damaged by tank gunfire.
...If possible, mortars or heavy machine guns should be arranged on the roof to kill and injure the attacking enemies from a high point."
After recording what Sokov said, Andrei humbly asked: "Comrade, you have told us these defensive skills before, so many of them have been used for practical combat. Do you have any more applicable experiences?"
"Is there a more suitable street fighting experience?" Sokov smiled faintly and continued: "Although you control a lot of areas, in order to attack the enemy more effectively, I suggest you divide it into a defensive area and a guerrilla area."
"Preserve zone and guerrilla zone?" Hearing Sokov's new term, Andrey's face showed a confused expression: "Comrade Commander, can you say it more in detail?"
"There are many old-fashioned stone buildings in the city, which are extremely strong and will be destroyed unless the German army bombards with 155mm caliber heavy artillery or throws bombs with bombers. In such a building, you can arrange enough troops to hold on to it as a fire support point for your defense line.
Some buildings located in major traffic roads and are not very strong do not have to waste troops to hold on. You only need to arrange some soldiers inside to ambush the passing enemies. Once the mission is completed, it will be transferred immediately, so that the enemy cannot understand your whereabouts."
Regarding Sokov's statement, Andre raised his own question: "Comrade Commander, if our soldiers were entangled by the enemy while performing missions in the guerrilla zone, how could they get out?"
"It's actually very simple to get out of here." Sokov had a lot of experience in how to engage in guerrilla warfare, so when he heard Andre's question, he replied confidently: "Every time the soldiers entered those buildings, they arranged some boozy or traps, and immediately transferred after the battle. Even if the Germans reacted quickly, they could rush into the building before the soldiers left, and the pre-set boozy and traps would be enough for them to drink. After they cleared the boozy and traps, our warriors would have been gone. Even if they wanted to chase them, they didn't know where to chase them."
Sokov's words made Andrey's eyes lit up. He had never thought that he could fight like this in street fighting with the enemy in the city. He quickly recorded what Sokov just said and asked again: "Comrade Commander, then how large do you think the troops sent to attack the enemy every time you attack the enemy?"
"Five to eight people are enough." Sokov pointed his finger at Andre and explained: "The members should be two machine gunners, a sniper or sharpshooter, plus several soldiers equipped with submachine guns. A small team of this size is very flexible in street fighting. They can quickly move to another building after attacking the enemy in this building and continue fighting.
If the enemy wants to deal with our guerrilla tactics and prevent their soldiers from being attacked by us during the march, they must arrange enough garrison forces in the buildings on both sides of the road. In this way, their power will be dispersed, and then you can find ways to concentrate your troops and eat these enemies little by little."
Sokov was very afraid that Andrei looked down on his tactics, and he emphasized: "Comrade Captain, maybe our results every time are to eliminate the Germans' squad or even less troops. But as long as we fight persistently and accumulate a small amount of troops, the enemy will suffer a serious shortage of troops. At that time, not only will it be difficult for them to pose a threat to you, but on the contrary, they will also worry that they will be attacked by you all day long and will be in panic all day long."
"Comrade Commander, your street fighting experience is really useful." Andrei and Sokov finished speaking and said excitedly: "In this way, I will be more confident in defending the existing defensive zone."
"It is not enough for you to understand these tactics alone. After all, you are not fighting the enemy alone." Sokov reminded Andre: "You must also make the company commanders familiar with and master them as soon as possible, so that your defense zone is unbreakable. Do you understand?"
"Comrade Commander," Andrei, after he finished speaking, asked carefully: "I will call several company commanders now and ask you to introduce them to the new tactics in person. Do you think it is appropriate?"
Chapter completed!