With Yakov's assistance, Sokov went to watch the development process of the hovercraft. At the same time, he also wanted the R&D personnel to put forward some personal opinions. He also went to the factory that produced bicycles several times to understand the production situation there.
In this way, Sokov stayed in Moscow for a month without realizing it. On December 24, the day before Christmas in the West, he went to Yakov's office as usual, but found that the office door was locked.
Sokov grabbed a passing officer and asked politely: "Do you know where Lieutenant Colonel Yakov went?"
The officer saw clearly that the person who was asking was Sokov, and quickly straightened his body and replied: "Report to the Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Yakov came to the office, and answered a call and left."
Sokov felt a little embarrassed when he didn't ask about Yakov's whereabouts from the officer. Stay and wait, I don't know when Yakov will come back; let's leave. If Yakov has something to do to find him, he will have to go there.
He raised his hand and looked at his watch, and found that it was almost nine o'clock, so he decided to stay and wait for a while. If it wasn't until nine o'clock and hadn't seen Yakov come back, he would turn around and go home immediately.
Time passed by minute by minute, and it was soon nine:30, and I still didn't see Yakov coming back. Sokov sighed softly, turned around and walked outside, thinking in his heart whether he should go shopping alone, or go to the military hospital to see Tonya and Anne, and have lunch with them.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I reached the gate, I saw a jeep rushing towards him like a wind and electric, parked at five or six steps away from him. As soon as the car stopped, the rear door opened. Yakov poked his head out of it and said loudly to Sokov: "Misha, you are indeed here, get in the car quickly!"
Sokov thought Yakov was going to take him to some research institute, so he walked over quickly and bent down and got into the car. As soon as he closed the door, he heard Yakov say to the driver: "Go to the airport."
"Go to the airport?" Sokov was stunned when he heard Yakov say this, and then asked back: "What are we going to the airport for?"
"What else can I do? Of course, I'm going to Stalingrad." Yakov said with a very fast speech: "I just received an order from my superior to return to Stalingrad immediately. I'm going there to check the use of new weapons, just the same way as you."
"Why is it so sudden?" Sokov remembered that he should say hello to Tonya and the others, and said to Yakov: "Can I let me go home first?"
"No, it's too late." Yakov raised his hand and looked at his watch: "The plane will take off in forty minutes."
Sokov felt it was quite strange. He asked to return to the army several times ago, but he was rejected. As a result, today he suddenly issued an order to return to the army, and something must have happened. In order to find out the reason, he looked at Yakov and asked, "Yasa, can you tell me why I was so suddenly asked to return to the army?"
Yakov glanced at the time when he was driving attentively and replied cautiously: "I will tell you the reason later."
The jeep entered the airport and drove directly to a passenger plane parked by the runway. Sokov got off the bus and saw that it was really a coincidence that it was the plane he had picked up to Moscow.
The military-coat stewardess on the plane still remembered Sokov. When he saw him walking up the gangway, he quickly raised his hand to salute him and said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Colonel."
"Hello," Sokov smiled and nodded at the other party: "I'm glad to see you again."
Under the guidance of the flight attendant, Sokov and Yakov came to the cabin and found that there were more than a dozen officers sitting. However, their highest rank was only a major, and they were basically all lieutenant-level officers.
Yakov whispered to Sokov: "They are all members of the Weapons and Equipment Department and they went to Stalingrad with me to carry out their missions."
After Sokov sat down, he remembered the reason why Yakov had not answered yet why he was rushing to send himself back to Stalingrad, and asked again: "Yasa, can you tell me now why he was so anxious to send me back to Stalingrad?"
"That's right," the plane was full of Yakov's subordinates, and they were also members of Stalingrad with him, so there was no need to worry about leaking the secrets. Therefore, Yakov said truthfully: "As the situation in Stalingrad stabilizes, some of the troops under the 62nd Army suffered serious losses. They will withdraw from Stalingrad today and make up for the rear. Some division-level commanders with rich combat experience will also follow the troops to withdraw from the city."
"I understand." Before Yakov finished speaking, Sokov understood the reason why his superiors urgently sent him back to Stalingrad. So many division commanders with rich combat experience will withdraw from the city with the troops. Their evacuation will definitely have some bad impact on the battle in the city. The superiors sent themselves back to take charge in the hope of stabilizing the situation in the city: "The superiors want me to go back and control the troops to ensure the stability of the situation in the city, right?"
"That's right." Yakov smiled and nodded: "That's exactly what's going on."
Although Sokov had always wanted to return to Stalingrad, he was really going back, and his mood became nervous. He didn't know whether Cuikov would adjust his position when he went back this time, transfer himself from the 41st Guard Division and arrange for him to be a commander in another division.
"Misha," Yakov obviously saw Sokov's concerns, so he comforted him and said, "Don't worry, no one can take away your division commander position. When you go back this time, you should continue to command the 41st Guard Division and be responsible for the defensive tasks in the Mamayevgang area." Sokov couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he confirmed that he would not be transferred from the original troops.
When the plane was more than 100 kilometers away from Stalingrad, it was intercepted by German fighters. The two fighter jets escorted immediately came up and bravely engaged in fierce aerial combat with the German fighter jets.
It was probably the first time that the flight attendant encountered such a situation. Looking at the enemy planes that kept passing through the window, her heart was in her throat. She was very afraid that the enemy would attack the passenger plane, and that would be at risk of being shot down.
"Don't worry," Sokov stood up and sat down beside her, comforting her, "You have to trust our pilots, they will surely drive away these damn German planes."
Hearing Sokov's comfort, the flight attendant calmed down a lot. However, she still asked worriedly: "Col. Sokov, there are six enemy planes, and there are only two fighter planes we escorted. Can we beat the enemy planes?"
Sokov was also very panicked at the moment, but he understood that under the current circumstances, panic was useless and everything could only be left to fate. He tried to squeeze out a smile on his face and said to the flight attendant: "I believe our pilots, they can eliminate the German planes that intercepted us."
The Soviet pilots performed very bravely, but they were at a disadvantage in number after all. In less than five minutes, after shooting down two enemy planes, one of the Soviet planes was also shot down, and the other was injured. The pilot flew a fighter jet with black smoke and fought tenaciously with enemy planes several times their own.
Just as the passenger plane was on the verge of despair, two clusters of four aircraft suddenly appeared in the air. An officer sitting by the window looked sharp in his eyes. After seeing the coming plane, he turned his head and said excitedly to everyone: "The plane is our plane. The nearby garrison dispatched the plane to rescue us."
Hearing the officer's shouts, everyone lay down at the window and looked outside. With the arrival of Soviet fighter jets, the enemy-to-wealth forces in the air changed, and Soviet fighter jets occupied a numerical advantage.
After chasing the remaining four German aircraft and Soviet fighter jets for a few minutes, three were shot down one after another. The remaining one was also injured. Seeing that the Soviet pilots were large and powerful, the German pilot knew that they were not the opponent and dared not fight. He immediately turned around and flew to the west.
Seeing the remaining enemy planes fleeing in panic, the passengers who saw clearly the entire battle scene immediately raised their arms and cheered.
After the plane landed at the simple airport on the left bank of the Volga River, Yakov said to Sokov: "Misha, I will take my people immediately and be the Front Command to find Commander Yelemenko. You can go back to the army first, let's leave."
Sokov thought that he could only choose to walk from the airport to Mamayev hill. Not long after walking, he saw a truck convoy, as if he was about to drive to the city. Sokov quickly raised his hand to stop the car. After the front car stopped beside Sokov, a lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat poked his head and asked politely at Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, what instructions do you have?"
When Sokov heard the other party calling him his military rank, he looked down at the tightly-butted military coat, thinking about how the other party saw the rank he had on his seal? But then he thought that he was wearing a new military uniform and a rank of epaulettes, so the other party naturally had a clear view.
He looked up at the lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat and said, "I am Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 41st Division of the Guards. Comrade Lieutenant, can you take a walk for me?"
When he learned that the person in front of him was the commander of the 41st Division of the Guards, the lieutenant quickly opened the car door, jumped into the snow, raised his hand to salute Sokov, and said politely: "Comrade Colonel, please get in the car."
In addition to the driver, there were two more people in the cab. After Sokov got on the bus, he sat between the driver and the lieutenant and asked, "Are your convoy going to the city on the other side?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel." The lieutenant replied in a positive tone: "We were ordered to meet the Red October Factory and hand over the materials to the Logistics Department of the 62nd Army at home." Sokov couldn't help but secretly applauded in his heart, so that he could walk less.
When the car arrived by the river, Sokov found that it was particularly lively. Not only the cars and carriages driving into the city on the left bank, but also some established troops. Similarly, there were also soldiers lined up to hike and were tired-faced, coming out of the city and heading towards the left bank.
The lieutenant sitting next to Sokov saw Sokov staring out the window and explained to him: "Comrade Colonel, as the orders of his superiors, he should withdraw the troops that had been severely reduced and had almost lost their combat effectiveness from the city to the rear for replenishment. The infantry you see are those who have just withdrawn from the city."
As soon as the convoy crossed the Volga River, Sokov pointed at the roadside and said to the lieutenant: "Comrade Lieutenant, please stop by the roadside, I will get off there."
The lieutenant was stunned for a moment, then asked back: "Comrade Colonel, here is still a long way from the Red October Factory. You may have to go a long way to get off the bus."
Sokov waved his hand at the lieutenant and said, "I need to rush to the Army Headquarters immediately and will not return to the Red October factory for the time being."
After getting off the car, Sokov walked towards the direction of Cuikov headquarters. He wanted to find out whether Cuikov still let him return to his original troops as the division commander.
When Sokov came outside the headquarters, he found that the place was heavily guarded, and there were at least five times more soldiers standing guard than before. Seeing Sokov strode over, the officer at the right time immediately stepped forward and asked Sokov politely: "Comrade Colonel, do you know what's wrong with you?"
Seeing that the other party was a strange face, Sokov speculated that he might have just been transferred from the other side, so he didn't even know him, so he could only show his identity: "I am the commander of the 41st Guard Division. I just returned from Moscow. If there is something important to see Commander Cui Kov."
"Comrade Colonel, please wait." The officer of the Star said in an official manner: "Please wait for me to call and confirm. If the superior agrees to let you go in, I will let you go."
Seeing that the officer of the Qualifying Star was calling, Sokov couldn't help but sigh secretly. He had just left the city for a month, but the headquarters' guards were all replaced by newcomers, so that he wanted to see Cui Kov and had to conduct layers of inspections.
Fortunately, the officer of the Stars had not called long after, and he received Krelov's order and took Sokov over to see him. After the officer put down the phone, he immediately trotted to Sokov and laughed and said, "Col. Sokov, your identity has been confirmed. I will take you to the headquarters to meet General Krelov, the chief of staff."
Perhaps because he was worried that Sokov was angry, the star officer explained to Sokov on the way to the headquarters: "Today, several troops were ordered to withdraw from the city, and now their commander is in the headquarters, reminiscing with the commander and the chief of staff."
It turned out that a division-level commander came here to say goodbye to Cui Kefu and the others! After hearing the explanation of the star officer, Sokov immediately understood that Cui Kefu was quite busy now and could not notice his appearance at all.
After a while, the officer on duty brought Sokov to the gate of the headquarters. Seeing that he had arrived at the place, Sokov waved to the officer on duty and said, "There is no more you have to do here, so you can go and do it."
Chapter completed!