The troops who went to reinforce the Archives Building were led by the regiment chief of staff, Captain Vanya, and the New First Battalion, and opened the way in front; Sokov and Berkin, led the direct troops and the guard platoon of Samoilov, were two hundred meters behind the first echelon; and two hundred meters behind them were the New Second Battalion led by the regiment political commissar Dmitry.
On the way, Belkin whispered to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, you really shouldn't follow us. The place we are going is too dangerous."
After Belkin finished speaking, Sokov said lightly: "My political commissar, we have been partnering for a long time. You should be very clear about my personality. If I were allowed to stay in the command center to command the troops, I wouldn't be used to it. Besides, General Rokosovsky once said: If the commander wants to inspire morale, the best way is to stay with his own soldiers. My current behavior is just right to agree with the conditions he said."
Seeing Sokov's impoliteness, Belkin knew that it would be useless to persuade him, so he could only smile bitterly and shake his head, and then reminded Sokov: "Comrade Commander, since you insist on acting with us, as your subordinate, I will obey your order unconditionally. But you cannot go up with the Germans with your weapons in person. You must know that since we entered Stalingrad, you have been injured twice."
When Belkin mentioned that he was injured twice, Sokov's smile froze on his face. He remembered that during his recovery, his superiors sent Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army, Vitkov, to act as his post. As a result, his command style was very different from that of himself. He often attacked the enemy, which resulted in serious loss of troops. Now his four regiments are scattered in different areas to fight. If he is unfortunately injured, if he changes to a commander with a different command style from his own, one of them may be in danger of being destroyed.
It was precisely for this reason that Sokov assured Belkin with a serious expression: "Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar, unless the enemy rushed to me, I would never take the initiative to pick up weapons and fight against the enemy to the death."
Due to the enemy's bombing, the buildings along the way had already turned into ruins, and the roads were covered with bullet craters. Although the flames burning in the buildings illuminated the way forward, some soldiers still fell down during the march and fell into the bullet crater. The soldiers who were still beside them reached out to help in time and pulled them out of the pit.
Seeing this, Belkin frowned and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the road is in a bad state. At this speed, it may take two or three hours to reach our destination."
"Slow down." Sokov was worried that walking too fast under such road conditions would probably cause unnecessary non-combat reductions, so he called Samoilov and told him: "Comrade Lieutenant, go ahead and tell Captain Wanliya that we are not in a hurry, slow down our marching speed and can reach our destination before dawn."
"Comrade Commander," Berkin asked with some concern when he heard Sokov's order: "Will your troops slow down the marching speed be missed?"
"Definitely not, my political commissar." Sokov shook his head and said, "Listen, the direction we are going, we can't hear any gunshots or explosions at all, which proves that there is no battle at all. If the soldiers are blindly allowed to speed up and there will be a large number of non-combat reductions, it will lead to the reduction of the combat effectiveness of the troops."
Seeing that Belkin seemed to want to defend something, he continued: "We are only a few kilometers away from the Archives Building. If there is really a fight, it will not be too late for us to speed up. I believe that comrades from friendly forces can still do it to resist the enemy's attack for more than ten minutes."
After walking a few steps forward, Sokov suddenly remembered something again and said to Belkin: "Also, Comrade Political Commissar, we are partners. What I used to call you, and now I still call you. On the contrary, you are a little too polite to me and always use respectful words when speaking. Let's do this. When you call me in the future, don't use 'you', so as not to appear too distant. Do you understand?"
"I understand, commander... Misha!" Berkin said with a smile: "Then I will call you Misha in private from now on, and this kind of name feels more intimate."
As the two were talking, they suddenly saw the team in front of them standing up. Sokov frowned and asked Belkin beside him: "Comrade Political Commissar, what's going on? Why did the troops stop?"
Belkin, who had been with Sokov, didn't know what had happened before, and he was also confused. He quickly called an officer beside him and told the other party to go ahead and see what had happened. But as soon as the officer took a few steps, Samoilov ran towards him, stopped in front of Sokov, and said breathlessly: "Comrade Commander, Captain Vanya asked me to tell you that the building as a reference has collapsed during the bombing of enemy aircraft. Without this reference, we cannot continue to move forward."
"So, are we lost?" Sokov asked tentatively.
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." Samoilov nodded and said, "We are indeed lost."
"Misha!" Belkin leaned into Sokov's ear and whispered: "The building we used as a reference has collapsed during the bombing of enemy aircraft. If we continue to move forward, we may accidentally break into the enemy's position. In my opinion, it is better to let the troops rest on the spot and wait for dawn to continue moving forward."
Sokov looked back and forth, feeling that Belkin's proposal still had some truth. He could not distinguish the correct path at night. If he accidentally entered the enemy's position, it would be a big deal. So he nodded and said to Belkin: "Let the troops stop and rest, let the soldiers get close to the burning fires, and don't be frostbite."
"I understand." After Berkin said, he called the two officers beside him and told them: "You go and notify the Chief of Staff, you go and notify the political commissar, the troops stop advancing, and all of them rest on the spot. Also, you must tell the two regiment leaders to keep the soldiers warm and never get frostbite."
After the troops stopped moving forward, Sokov and Belkin also found a shelter to sit down and rest. Belkin handed Sokov a cigarette and asked, "Misha, after we arrived at the Archives Building, how do you plan to block the enemy's attack?"
Chapter completed!