The Starcha regiment's victory over Donetsk made the commanders and fighters of the other two regiments of the Guards Division particularly jealous. The battalion and company commanders found their regimental commander, hoping that he could get a new combat mission from the division commander.
Papuchenko and Yershakov, who were marching with the troops, were so annoyed that they could only order the telegraph operator to send a report to Sokov, hoping that he could arrange combat missions for them as soon as possible to appease their
subordinates.
Sokov had just finished chatting with Belkin when he received telegrams from the two regimental commanders. He shook the telegram in his hand at Belkin and said with a smile: "Comrade Political Commissar, you saw it, right?
Knowing that your regiment has achieved such great results, the other two regiments cannot remain calm. While the morale of the soldiers is high, let us launch an attack on the enemy. I believe they will not let us down."
After speaking, Sokov called a communications staff officer and told him: "Call back the two regiment commanders and ask the 125th Regiment to speed up its march and rush to the Red Army Village quickly to launch an attack on the enemies entrenched there.
The 122nd Regiment followed closely as a reserve, and if the 125th Regiment's attack failed, they would attack instead."
After receiving Sokov's call back, Yershakov immediately discussed with his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, according to our current march route, even if there are vehicles to travel, it will take at least five hours to reach the vicinity of the Red Army Village.
.I plan to adjust the march route to shorten the time to reach the attack position."
The regiment chief of staff pointed to the map and said to Yershakov: "Comrade regiment leader, according to the map, if our convoy goes forward about one kilometer, there will be a fork in the road. The road on the right can lead to the Red Army Village.
It is more than 70 kilometers shorter than the route we took to Donetsk first and then to the Red Army Village."
"Chief of Staff, on the battlefield, every minute is precious. If you can enter the battlefield one minute earlier, the enemy will have one less minute to prepare for battle." Yershakov ordered the chief of staff of the regiment almost without thinking: "Immediately
Send a signal to the vehicles in front and ask them to turn right at the intersection ahead and drive quickly toward the Red Army Village."
After hearing Yershakov's order, the regiment chief of staff asked hesitantly: "Comrade regiment commander, do you need to ask the division commander for permission to adjust the march route without authorization?"
"It's too late. Besides, even if the division commander knew about it, he wouldn't blame us." Yershakov said: "Chief of Staff, execute the order." In this way, the convoy riding in the 125th Regiment did not ask Sokov for instructions.
Under the circumstances, the marching route was adjusted halfway and headed towards the Red Army Village.
Sokov, who was staying in Donetsk, waited until Vitkov and the Guards Division headquarters who stayed in Luhansk arrived. He didn't realize that the 125th Regiment had not yet been seen.
Something was wrong. I quickly asked Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, did you see the troops of the 125th Regiment when you were on the road?"
"What, the 125th Regiment hasn't arrived yet?" Sidorin said with a surprised look: "The regiment's convoy set off an hour earlier than us. Even if the convoy is traveling slower than us, we should still see them on the road.
But we didn’t find any troops along the way?”
"What the hell, what is this Yershakov doing?" Sokov couldn't help but get angry when he learned that the 125th Regiment was missing. He quickly ordered Sidorin: "Chief of Staff, please send a telegram to Yershakov immediately.
Ask him to report the location of the troops."
The telegram sent to the 125th Regiment was waited for a long time without any response. Under Sokov's order, a second telegram was sent. Sokov said angrily: "We must find out where the 125th Regiment is going. I
I don’t believe it, five thousand people just said that and it was gone.”
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin asked Sokov for instructions: "If the 125th Regiment loses its way and is unable to participate in the battle to attack the Red Army Village, should the 122nd Regiment take over?"
"How far is the 122nd Regiment from Donetsk?"
"Because they are marching on foot, they are still more than 70 kilometers away from us." Sidorin said cautiously: "According to the current speed, they will not be able to reach Donetsk until noon tomorrow at the earliest."
"It's too slow. When they arrive in Donetsk and then turn to the Red Army Village, it may be dark." Sokov said angrily: "After giving the enemy such a long time, I'm afraid they have already prepared for battle.
This Yershakov is simply outrageous. If the opportunity to fight is delayed because of him, I will definitely personally send him to a military court."
"Comrade division commander," as soon as Sokov said this, a communications staff officer standing next to the walkie-talkie turned to Sokov and shouted: "The 125th Regiment has sent a telegram back."
When Sidorin learned that there was a reply from the 125th Regiment, he quickly ordered the communications staff: "Hurry up and copy the telegram."
Two minutes later, the communications staff officer handed the translated telegram to Sidorin. After Sidorin saw the contents of the telegram, a look of astonishment appeared on his face: "Comrade Division Commander, the 125th Regiment has arrived at the Red Army Village and is on the way to the Red Army Village.
Start a battle with the enemy."
"What, they have already started a battle with the enemy?" Sokov snatched the telegram from Sidorin's hand and read it carefully. After reading the above content, a smile appeared on his face: "
Colonel Yershakov was quite clever. In order to catch the enemy off guard, he adjusted his marching direction halfway, thus saving two hours."
"Comrade Division Commander," Sidorin smiled and said to Sokov: "Since Colonel Yershakov has explained the problem clearly to you, can you not send him to a military court?"
"I don't have to send him to a military court, but when he comes back, I still have to criticize him." Sokov said: "How can you not ask me for instructions on changing the march route? Think about it,
As commanders, if we don’t even know where our troops are, how can we command operations?”
"Comrade Commander, you are right." Responding to Sokov's statement, Cluster Chief of Staff Vitkov expressed his opinion: "I'm afraid he dared to act so boldly because he was your old subordinate. If
The group commander is someone else, and he may not dare to adjust the marching route of the troops until approval from his superiors."
…………
At this time, on a high ground to the west of the Red Army Village, the commanders and fighters of the Second Battalion of the 125th Regiment were attacking the German trenches under the cover of machine gun fire.
When the commanders and soldiers were still more than thirty meters away from the trench, the trench's machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles opened fire at the same time. The soldiers at the front suddenly fell to pieces. Then, the German officers and soldiers kept throwing grenades. For a time, the position was
