Sokov followed Vasily into the basement. With the help of the roof lamp, he saw a middle-aged man in casual clothes lying half on a bench against the wall. When the other party saw everyone coming in, he just stood up slightly and said weakly: "Hello, comrades, welcome you to the Vasily Building."
Sokov glanced at the other part of the basement and saw that most of the soldiers and residents were sitting on the ground and resting against the wall, or sleeping on the ground with a mattress. Therefore, he felt a little dissatisfied with the middle-aged man who was sleeping carelessly on the bench.
Vasily found Sokov's face was not harmonious and quickly explained to him: "Comrade Commander, I'll introduce it to you. This is Comrade Shulka, who used to be a worker in a flour mill. Since we entered this building, he has brought more than 20 residents to the nearby flour mill to help us get flour and drinking water every day."
When Sokov learned that the middle-aged man he looked down on had done so many things for the Vasily building, he felt that he had blamed the other party. Since he had made such a great contribution, it was understandable to lie on such a bench to rest. But before he could speak, Vasily, who was benched by the side, added: "Comrade Shulka, when he brought people into the flour mill the day before yesterday, he was discovered by the Germans who accidentally passed by. In order to cover the residents' safe retreat, he left alone to block the enemy and was unfortunately injured in the battle."
"Comrade Shulka," Sokov realized at this moment that Shulka was lying on the bench not to enjoy any privilege, but was injured by covering the retreat of the residents. The bench was not as wet as the ground, and it was also beneficial to lie on it to recover from his injuries. Sokov bent down and held Shulka's hand, and said with a smile: "You are a good person. When I return to Mamayev's hill later, I will take you back to treat the injury, so don't worry."
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, he saw Shulka shake his head like a rattle: "No, comrade Colonel, don't take me to Mamayevgang. I want to stay here and see our soldiers defeat the Germans with their own eyes."
"Sergeant Vasily," Sokov stood up and turned his head to ask Vasily: "How is his injury?"
"Two bullets were hit on his leg," Vasily replied, "The health officer has bandaged him the wound, but the bullet has not been taken out yet. There is no problem in a short time, if it takes a long time..."
"Sergeant Vasily, you don't have to say anything, I know how to do it." Sokov interrupted Vasily's words and bent down and continued to say to Shulka: "Comrade Shulka, you should know that if you don't take out the bullet, the wound will become purulent over a long time. When gangrene appears, you can only choose to amputate. I think you don't want to see this worst situation happening."
Originally, Shulka wanted to stay in the Vasily building, but when Sokov said this, he couldn't help but hesitate. Seeing that Shulka's attitude was no longer so firm, Vasily rushed while the iron was hot and said: "Comrade Shulka, the division commander is right. If you don't perform the surgery as soon as possible, this leg may be amputated."
"Okay," Shulka nodded and agreed to Sokov's proposal after thinking: "Comrade Colonel, be sure to bring me with you when you return to Mamayev's post. I don't want to be disabled. I haven't avenged my family yet."
"Avenge your family?" Shulka's words made Sokov feel a little confused. He asked in confusion: "Have your family all died in Stalingrad?" According to his thoughts, perhaps Shulka's family died in several major bombings by the German army, so Shulka said such words.
"No, comrade Colonel." Shulka said before Vasily could speak, "My wife and daughter were evacuated to the rear in August, while my son was from the Southwest Front, and he died near the Don in July."
"Oh, I understand." Sokov nodded after figuring out the other party's family matters, "Comrade Shulka, after your injury is healed, you can come back and continue fighting with Sergeant Vasily, and attack the German devils hard and avenge your dead son."
"Really, comrade Colonel, are you all true?" Shulka was a little skeptical about Sokov's statement. As soon as the other party finished speaking, he immediately asked: "Don't you really let me send me to the east bank of the Volga River?"
"No, Comrade Shulka." Sokov said to him with a smile: "When your injury improves, I will immediately let you return here. I assure you with my honor."
After hearing Sokov's words, Shulka stared at him for a long time, and finally nodded slightly and said, "Okay, comrade Colonel, I believe in you."
After chatting with Shulka for a few more words, Vasily took Sokov to a single room not far away. Looking at the phones on the table in the room, Sokov asked tentatively: "Sergeant Vasily, is this your command post?"
"Yes, comrade of the division." Vasily gave Sokov an affirmative answer, pointed to several telephones on the table and explained to him: "The telephones lead to each floor. With the help of these telephones, even if I stay here and don't go out, I can still understand the movements outside in a timely manner."
"You did it right, Comrade Vasily," Sokov said approvingly: "With these calls, your various combat commands can be communicated to every combat soldier in the shortest time."
Sokov, Andre and others sat down and looked at Vasily and asked, "Comrade Sergeant, I heard that every day, you leave a few people to stick to the building, the rest of the people go outside to snipe the enemy. Is that true?"
"Yes, comrade in the division commander, this is indeed the case." Vasily glanced at the alarm clock on the table from the corner of his eyes and said to Sokov: "Often the sniper team set off at 3:30 in the morning to choose the right sniper position to hide. After it gets dark, he quietly returns to the building."
"Comrade Sergeant, I want to ask you." Selyosha, who was ignored by everyone, suddenly asked: "If you go out to perform sniper missions, the enemy launches an attack on the building, can the little force you left behind block the enemy's attack?"
Hearing Selyosha’s question, Vasily did not answer immediately, but turned his gaze to Sokov. Sokov knew that Vasily was asking for his own opinions, so he nodded and signaled that he could answer truthfully.
After obtaining Sokov's permission, Vasily said, "Comrade Lieutenant, the small amount of troops I mentioned refers to regular troops. The residents and militias in the building are not counted. If the enemy really attacks the building while the main force in the building is out, they can rely on the cover of the minefield and rely on the terrain to resist until we rush back."
"If the building is lost before you rush back." Seriosha was dissatisfied with Vasily's answer and continued to ask, "What will you do then?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, I think your assumption is not valid." Vasily said confidently: "After the enemy launched an attack, it would take at least two or three hours to clear the mines buried outside the building and without any interference. If they were clearing mines, we hidden snipers in the building, specializing in their engineers, you think their mine clearance work could continue."
"Enough, Selyosha, stop talking." Sokov was worried that Selyosha and Vasily would argue, so he came out in time to stop them: "Even if the worst happens, the building is occupied by the Germans, do you think Sergeant Vasily has no intention of recapturing the building?"
After hearing Sokov's words, Vasily laughed twice and replied, "Comrade Commander is right. Even if the enemy has occupied the building, we can re-enter the building through the sewer, fight with them, and drive the unstable enemy out of the building."
While several people were chatting, a voice suddenly came from the door: "Sergeant Vasily, can you come in?"
"Please come in, Lieutenant Afanasiev." Vasily said quickly to the door.
"Comrade Sergeant, we are ready to go..." A lieutenant walked into the door and asked Vasily while walking. But as soon as he said halfway, he found that there were many people sitting in the room. He was stunned at first, but soon recognized Sokov and Andrei, and quickly raised his hand to salute the two of them, and asked in surprise: "Team Commander, Battalion Commander, why are you here?"
When Sokov saw a lieutenant asking for a task to the sergeant, he felt that the picture was a bit inconsistent. He was about to ask what was going on, but suddenly he remembered that in order to guard the Vasily building, he had issued an order to the army. As long as you enter the building, no matter what rank you have, you must accept Vasily's command. Therefore, a lieutenant asked Vasily, a corporal.
He looked up and down the lieutenant who saluted him and recognized him, but for the sake of safety, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant, if I remember correctly, you are Lieutenant Afanasiev, the commander of the machine gun platoon. Is it right?"
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." Seeing that Sokov could actually call out his name, Afanasiyev was particularly excited: "I am Afanasiyev."
Sokov glanced at Vasily who was standing straight beside him, and asked Afanasiev with a smile: "Comrade Lieutenant, is there anything you have to do with Sergeant Vasily?"
"That's right, our sniper team is ready," Afanasiev explained to Sokov. "I came here to ask the sergeant if I could get the sniper team to set off."
Although Sokov could do such an order, out of respect for Vasily, he looked at the other party and said, "Comrade Sergeant, if the time comes, let the sniper team set off."
After hearing this, Vasily nodded and said to Afanasiev: "Comrade Lieutenant, since your sniper team is ready, let them set off. Remember, the weather has become colder and colder recently, and the soldiers have been lurking for too long. Be careful to keep warm and prevent frostbite."
"I understand." Afanasiev agreed and prepared to turn around and leave.
"Wait a minute, comrade Lieutenant." Sokov suddenly had an idea when he heard Vasily's words, and quickly called Afanasiev and asked, "Are there any difficulties when you are lurking?"
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." In fact, Afanasiev just wanted to raise some difficulties to Sokov, but he never found a chance to speak. Since Sokov took the initiative to ask, he said with the flow: "It has started to snow these two days, and the clothes our soldiers wear are very eye-catching in the snow. I wonder if you can provide us with a batch of white camouflage clothing so that the snipers can better lurk under the enemy's nose?"
"White camouflage?" Sokov didn't have anything to offer, and he smiled bitterly and shook his head and said, "I'm sorry, comrade Lieutenant, I really can't provide you with white camouflage at the moment. You know, there is no one in the entire teacher."
Afanasiyev couldn't help but show a disappointed expression on his face when he heard Sokov's answer. He whispered: "I understand." Then he straightened his body and raised his voice and asked, "Comrade Commander, are you allowed to leave? I want to go back and notify my subordinates and let them set off immediately."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Sokov walked to Afanasiev and said thoughtfully: "Although I don't have white camouflage clothes now, I will apply to my superiors immediately. At most two days, you can get a new white camouflage clothes." After saying these words, he paused for a moment and waved his hand at Afanasiev, "Okay, Comrade Lieutenant, the time is almost over. Go back and let your soldiers set off."
After Afanasiyev left, Sokov couldn't help but ask Vasily curiously: "Comrade Sergeant, isn't Lieutenant Afanasiyev the leader of the machine gun platoon? Why can his platoon also form a sniper team?"
"Comrade Commander, we stick to this building, attracting many scattered scattered soldiers and scattered soldiers. With their joining, the strength of the defenders in the building has been greatly strengthened." Vasily replied: "The machine gun platoon of Lieutenant Afanasiyev has also grown from the initial seven people and one heavy machine gun to the current thirty people, one heavy machine gun and nine MG34 general machine guns."
Vasily's words made Sokov feel that many of the situations here were probably not just him, but even Cidolin, who often contacted Vasily, didn't know much about it. He quickly asked: "Sergeant Vasily, I want to ask you, how many people are there in the Vasily building now?"
"There are 167 people, of which the number of residents and militias is fifty-three." Vasily reported to Sokov with some smugness: "After this period of battle, our strength has not only not been weakened, but has been greatly strengthened. Not only are there more than a dozen light and heavy machine guns of various types, but the mortars of the mortar team have also increased from the first two to six..."
When Sokov heard the series of data reported by Vasily, he was stunned. After finally waiting for the other party to come to an end, he couldn't help but ask in wonder: "Sergeant Vasily, I want to ask, where did so many people and equipment appear?"
Chapter completed!