Shortly after Sokov entered the tunnel, Cidorin and Ivanov got the news. The two walked out of the command center and stood in the aisle waiting for his bringing.
I thought it would take only ten minutes at best to come from the Beigang tunnel. Unexpectedly, Ivanov didn't see Sokov appearing. Ivanov was worried about something and hurriedly said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov from Beigang and ask if he had seen the division commander."
"Yes." Seeing that Sokov had not appeared for a long time, Sidolin was not at ease. After hearing Ivanov's order, he nodded, turned around and walked towards the command center, and said, "I'll go and call Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov."
The phone was quickly connected, and as soon as he heard Yershakov's voice, Sidorin couldn't wait to ask: "Lt. Col. Yershakov, have you seen the division commander?"
"See it." Yershakov replied excitedly: "I just chatted with me in my regiment command post to understand the defense situation of my regiment..."
After listening to Yershakov's words, Sidolin finally understood why Sokov had not shown up for a long time. It turned out that he had gone to the 125th Regiment's headquarters. He put down the phone and came to the corridor. He said to Ivanov, who was here: "The deputy division commander, have all figured it out. The division commander met Lieutenant Colonel Yershakov halfway, and stayed in his regiment command post for a while."
Ivanov's heart, which was hanging in his throat, was put back in his stomach. Cidolin asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I don't know when the commander will come back. Why don't we go back to the command center first?"
"No," Ivanov shook his head and said, "We have been waiting for so long and don't care about waiting for a few more minutes. I think it's better to wait for the division commander to come back before entering the command center together."
Sokov didn't know that Sidolin and Ivanov would wait for him outside the command center. After leaving Yershakov's regiment command post, he was still thinking silently: Tonight is the German Eve, can we take the opportunity to make an action to reverse the enemy's defense line?
When he was about to reach the command center, Samoilov, who was walking in front, suddenly slowed down. Sokov was not careful for a moment and hit him violently. Samoilov found Sokov hit him and quickly apologized and said, "I'm sorry, comrade in the division."
Sokov frowned slightly and asked unhappily: "Why did you stop?"
"Look." Samoilov turned his back slightly and gave Sokov a vision: "It seems that the deputy division commander and the chief of staff are waiting for you outside the door."
Sokov quickly looked towards the command center, and indeed saw Ivanov and Sidolin standing outside the door, as if they had been waiting for a long time. Sokov thought that he had been staying in Yershakov's regiment command post for a long time, so the two deputies must have been waiting for him here, so he quickly accelerated his pace and walked over.
Still far away, he stretched out his hand to the two and said apologetically: "Comrade Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff, I'm so embarrassed to let you wait for a long time."
"Comrade Commander," both said with a smile as they shook hands with Sokov: "Welcome to come back!"
When Sokov and others walked into the command center, the staff and the correspondents inside stopped their work, raised their hands to salute Sokov, and shouted in unison: "Hello, commander!"
"Comrades!" Sokov nodded with a smile after returning a greeting to everyone, and said, "Stay work all."
After Sokov sat down in the familiar seat at the table, he smiled at Ivanov and Cidolin: "It's still comfortable to sit in this position. During the days I stayed in Moscow, I missed my seat every day."
Hearing Sokov say this, Ivanov jokingly said: "Comrade Commander, are you worried that you will not be able to return to Stalingrad and that this seat will be occupied by me?"
"Look at what you said, Deputy Commander, Comrade Sokov replied with a smile: "Before the troops merged, you were the commander of the 41st Guard Division. Even if you took over my position as Commander, at best, it can only be considered a reinstatement position."
"Comrade Commander," Sidolin poured a cup of hot tea and placed it in front of Sokov, and asked curiously: "What are you getting when you go to Moscow this time?"
"Some," Sokov said: "First of all, the newly developed self-propelled artillery has begun mass production. I believe that it will not take long to equip the troops on a large scale. In this way, the mobility and battlefield survival ability of our artillery have been greatly improved."
Sidolin and Ivanov have fully experienced the effectiveness of self-propelled artillery during this period. Therefore, when they heard that self-propelled artillery had begun mass production, they were overjoyed: "If our artillery can equip a large amount of self-propelled artillery, then we can better provide artillery support for infantry."
Although Sokov learned about some of the situation of the troops through chatting with Yershakov, the other party was always a regiment commander. If you want to know more about the situation, you can only ask Sidolin and Ivanov: "What is the situation of each regiment?"
"The reduced regiment deployed on the right wing of the division is the least combative force in the past month." Sidorin reported to Sokov: "Captain Belkin called me several times, hoping to mobilize some troops, but strengthen defense in other directions."
"Why are they going through the least battle?" Sokov asked in confusion when he heard this: "Don't the enemy know that as long as they break through their defense, they can separate our troops?"
"Although the enemy saw this, they also realized that if they wanted to do so, they would be cut off." In order to let Sokov understand the situation of the enemy and us more vividly, Cidolin pointed to the map and said, "Comrade Commander, look, if the enemy attacks the defensive zone of the reduced regiment again, they may be attacked by our army from the east. In this way, they will face the danger of being attacked on both sides of the enemy, and the German commander does not want such a situation."
"Tell Commander Berkin," Sokov said without hesitation: "Under no circumstances will his troops be able to mobilize one soldiers." In order to let everyone understand what was going on, he also pointed to the map and added, "Even if the three regiments on the front of Mamayev Hill cannot stop the German attack, they can still retreat to Mamayev Hill. But if the defense line of the Berkin regiment is broken, the enemy can take the opportunity to cut off the retreat and supplies of the three regiments. Once the enemy on the front launches another fierce attack, their situation will become very bad."
"Comrades, it's Christmas Eve tonight." Sokov paused for a moment and asked again: "Should we take some action and toss the Germans?"
"Christmas Eve?!" Hearing the words Sokov said, Cidolin showed a confused expression on his face, "Comrade Teacher, what kind of festival is it?"
"The 25th of December in the West is Christmas, and the night before Christmas is Christmas Eve." Sokov explained to Cydolin: "Christmas in our country are January 7th of each year, but it has been banned for more than ten or twenty years. I guess many young people don't know what Christmas represents."
In fact, both Sidolin and Ivanov knew about Christmas, but suddenly heard Sokov mentioning the long-awaited festival, and he didn't react for a moment. Hearing Sokov say he was going to teach the Germans a lesson on Christmas Eve, Sidolin asked quickly: "Comrade, what are you going to do?"
"I mean, the regiments sent troops to carry out night attacks," Sokov explained. "But the purpose of this operation is to disrupt the enemy and eliminate their living forces, and there is no need to seize their positions."
When I learned that Sokov did not allow his troops to occupy the enemy's position, Ivanov showed a bitter expression on his face: "Comrade Commander, if the enemy is really like you said, if they are going to celebrate Christmas Eve tonight, they will probably not be too cautious. In this way, the night attack we carried out can eliminate the enemy's vitality while regaining more positions from their hands."
"It is not difficult to seize the enemy's position." Sokov waved his hand and denied Ivanov's proposal: "The key is that we do not have so many troops to defend these positions. If we disperse our troops and defend the captured positions, the enemy can concentrate our superior forces and defeat us calmly. At that time, we will not only not defend the newly captured positions, but also lose a lot of the original positions."
"I understand." Ivanov nodded and then asked, "Comrade Commander, do you think you should gather the leaders of each regiment for a meeting, or directly issue combat orders to them?"
"Call everyone together for a meeting will definitely waste time." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. "We don't have much time to use, so I think it's better to just use the phone to issue night attack orders to the regiments."
"Will the Belkin Group also participate in tonight's operation?" Cidolin asked tentatively.
"Yes." Sokov nodded slightly and said in a affirmative tone: "Anyway, the night attack tonight is not aimed at seizing the enemy's positions, but just to disrupt the enemy and destroy their living forces."
Sidolin soon conveyed Sokov's orders to the regiments truthfully, ordering them to dispatch necessary troops to carry out sneak attacks on German positions according to actual conditions. Finally, he emphasized: "Comrade Commander, please remember that tonight's night attack is only to disrupt the enemy and eliminate his living forces, rather than to seize the enemy's positions, because we do not have so many troops to defend these positions. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Several commanders answered one after another.
"By the way," Sidolin caught a glimpse of Sokov sitting beside him before putting down the phone. He was looking down at the map and quickly added: "The division commander just returned to the division headquarters. This night attack order was issued by him personally. I hope you don't let down his expectations for you."
Except for Yershakov, it was the first time that the other commanders heard about Sokov's return, and they couldn't help cheering. When Cidolin heard the commanders cheering, he asked quickly: "What are you calling blindly?"
"I'm happy that the division commander is back." Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko, the leader of the 122nd Regiment, quickly replied: "With him, we are more confident in winning."
"Okay, don't talk nonsense, hurry up and arrange the night attack troops." Although it is a happy thing for everyone to support Sokov, time is tight at this moment, and Cidolin urged everyone to say, "The division commander is still waiting for your good news."
When the sneak attack troops sent by the regiments secretly approached the enemy's positions, they found that the German defense was extremely relaxed. Except for a few listless sentries, most of the soldiers sat around the fire to eat and drink.
The commander in charge of leading the team immediately reported the situation to his regiment commander. The leaders of each regiment also felt that the division commander should be allowed to understand the situation on the front line in a timely manner, and also reported the matter.
When Sokov learned that the enemy was eating and drinking by the fire, he felt that the chance of successful night attacks had been greatly improved. But for the sake of safety, he asked Sidolin to tell the commanders of the regiments: "Tell them, let the sneak attack troops wait, and wait for the German soldiers sitting by the fire to drink and attack the enemy when they were unconscious, so that our army's casualties could be minimized. Do you understand?"
"I understand." Sidolin nodded quickly and replied, "I will call the commanders of each regiment and ask the troops to launch an attack later."
After receiving Sokov's order, the troops that originally wanted to launch an attack were temporarily stopped. The commanders and soldiers hid two or three hundred meters away from the enemy's position, quietly watching the German soldiers who were eating and drinking, and patiently waiting for their superiors to issue an order to attack.
Time passed by minute by minute, just as the lurking soldiers were about to freeze, the German bonfire party was coming to an end. From the shaking posture of the German soldiers walking, even blind people could see that they were all drunk. The commander who was at the forefront felt that the time for attack had come, so he quickly asked the regiment commander again whether to launch an attack immediately.
This time, Sokov did not need to give orders. The commanders of each regiment knew what to do. They all decisively sent an attack signal to the troops: "Take it!"
Not long after the order for the attack was issued, three red signal flares rose in the air, sending offensive signals to the Soviet commanders and fighters lurking in different positions.
Due to the lurking position of the troops, only two or three hundred meters away from the German position, as the signal flares took off, the commanders and soldiers who had been lying on the ground for several hours jumped up from the ground and rushed towards the enemy with their weapons.
Soon, dense gunfire sounds sounded in these areas. Many German officers and soldiers were already drunk. When they heard the sudden sound of gunfire, they could not remember how to fight back. Instead, they held wine bottles and stared at the place where the gunfire and explosions were densely filled.
Chapter completed!