Belkin's proposal made Sokov's heart beat. He thought that the other party could successfully escape from the German encirclement after the defeat of the Kharkov Battle and accommodate more than 100 commanders and fighters to fight guerrillas behind enemy lines. Without some ability, he would not be able to do this.
However, Sokov was still a little worried about suddenly being promoted to the chief of staff of the brigade. He was worried that the other party's ability was inconsistent with the position he was about to take, so he planned to test the other party for a while. Thinking of this, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, let Captain Brisky serve as the battalion commander for a period of time first, see how his command ability is, and then feel whether he would propose to his superiors to promote him to the chief of staff of the brigade. Do you think this is appropriate?"
Berkin proposed to make Brisky the chief of staff of the brigade, but it was just a whim. Seeing Sokov telling him solemnly, he nodded and said, "Then let's observe him for a while. If he is a competent battalion commander, we will suggest to our superiors to promote him to Chief of Staff."
When Sokov led the warriors to the battle site the next day, he found that Rotmistrov and his subordinates had been waiting here for a long time. Sokov hurriedly stepped forward to salute Rotmistrov and said with a smile: "Hello, Comrade General! I didn't expect you to come so early."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, it's not too late for you." After Rotmistrov shook hands with Sokov, he urged: "Let the soldiers sit quickly."
Sokov brought a lot of people. In addition to the participating soldiers, the soldiers from the Third and Fourth Battalions also came to watch the battle. Sokov ordered them to sit down in the open space opposite the tank commanders and fighters, and pointed at the tanks parked aside and asked, "General Rotmistrov, why are there several tanks here?"
Rotmistrov replied with a smile: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, this is the case. After I went back yesterday, I talked about military competitions with several brigade commanders. They suggested that since it was a military competition, they didn't know that they only considered the technical and tactics of infantry. After all, we are a tank army, and we should add the tank competitions."
Rotmistrov's words made Sokov laugh and cry. He thought that tank soldiers could become infantry as long as they picked up weapons, but if infantry wanted to become tank soldiers, they had to go through long-term training. Isn't this temporarily added competition event intentionally making things difficult for him?
Perhaps seeing the displeasure on Sokov's face, Rotmistrov smiled and continued, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I've inquired that there is a tank company in your brigade, which is just through this competition to test their strength. Don't worry, the tanks you need during the competition will be provided by us."
Seeing that things had come to this point, Sokov could only turn his head and instruct a staff officer: "You should immediately arrive at the tank company and let Lieutenant Alitai bring his troops here. Remember, just let them walk over, no need to drive a tank."
After seeing the staff officer leave, Rotmistrov immediately said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the time is almost over, let's go to the viewing table first."
The so-called viewing platform is a small platform that is more than half a person tall and more than ten square meters, with a long table and a few chairs on it. After Rotmistrov took Sokov to the stage to take his seat, he nodded to a colonel next to him, indicating that he could start. The colonel took a few steps forward, walked to the edge of the platform, and shouted to the soldiers sitting on both sides of the viewing platform: "The military competition between the 7th Tank Army and the 73rd Infantry Brigade has officially begun. First of all, please invite the soldiers who participated in the shooting competition to leave!"
As soon as he finished speaking, twenty soldiers walked out of each side of the viewing platform and stood in front of the stage. The colonel turned his head and looked at Rotmistrov, as if asking which side of the soldiers should shoot first. Rotmistrov asked Sokov with a side face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think your infantry brigade shoot first, or our tank army shoot first?"
"I think the tank soldiers should shoot first."
Seeing Sokov so politely, Rotmistrov said to the colonel, "Comrade Chief of Staff, let our soldiers shoot first."
The Chief of Staff nodded, and then shouted to the soldiers in the audience: "The first one to shoot are the soldiers of the Tank Army, each with five bullets, and the winning side with the largest number of rings is the winner."
The tank army soldiers were in groups of ten people, and they entered the shooting position and shot in a lying position. The soldiers who completed the shooting did not get up immediately, but continued to lie on the ground. After the last soldier finished shooting, they stood up neatly.
After hearing the report of the targeted warrior, the chief of staff loudly announced: "The first group's results: 461 rings!" As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately aroused cheers from the tank army.
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Rotmistrov was obviously very satisfied with such a result. He turned his head and looked at Sokov and asked, "What do you think of our results?"
"It's not bad, it's a well-trained veteran at first glance." Sokov was not at ease when he said this. He was very afraid that the soldiers selected by each battalion would lose to the tank army in shooting, and it would be too embarrassing to say that.
Soon, the second shooting of the Tank Army ended. The results of this group were better than the first group, and they scored 481 rings, which increased by 20 rings.
After seeing the soldiers of the infantry brigade enter the shooting position, Rotmistrov searched carefully for a while and asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why can't you see the two female soldiers from yesterday?"
"They are snipers, and it is not appropriate to participate in such a game." Sokov felt that there were snipers but they dealt with ordinary soldiers in the tank army. Even if they won, they would be defeated. Therefore, in today's game, Ji Na and Susanna were not allowed to appear: "So I let them be the audience in the audience." After that, Sokov pointed to a corner below the audience.
Rotmistrov looked in the direction of Sokov's finger and saw two female soldiers I had seen yesterday, holding a rifle in his arms, looking at his colleagues who were preparing for shooting with anticipation.
"Lieutenant Colonel," Rotmistrov looked at the two female soldiers' uniforms, which were obviously bigger, and asked unexpectedly: "I don't know where the military uniforms they wear are made. Why are they so inappropriate?"
"After we seized the German warehouse, we found that there were a large number of our uniforms stored in the warehouse, which should have been seized by the German army." Sokov explained to Rotmistrov: "We just recruited thousands of new recruits, so we distributed these uniforms to the new soldiers."
"Look, the military uniforms worn by the female soldiers are so inconsistent." Rotmistrov shook his head and said, "I don't know when the superiors can produce a military uniform suitable for the female soldiers."
When Rotmistrov talked about military uniforms, Sokov couldn't help but think of the German uniforms worn by Ajelina. To be honest, the German uniforms looked much better than the Soviet uniforms, especially the uniforms of female soldiers, which also had a slim effect, perfectly highlighting the figure of female soldiers. If Ji Na and Susanna were allowed to wear German uniforms, they would definitely fascinate countless soldiers.
While Sokov was thinking about it, the first group of the infantry brigade had completed the shooting. They scored 482 rings, which was one more step above the best score of the Tank Army. As soon as this score came out, the soldiers of the infantry brigade cheered. Then, the second group of the infantry brigade fired again. Their scores were better than the first group, and they scored a good score of 492 rings.
Seeing the tank army defeated in the first round of shooting, Rotmistrov tried to squeeze out a smile on his face and said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel, when it comes to shooting, the comrades in the infantry brigade should be better."
As for Rotmistrov's remarks for finding a way out for him, Sokov just smiled faintly, and thought to himself: What will be next is a sting competition, and the soldiers of the tank army are definitely not the opponent of the infantry brigade.
The number of participants in this competition was that each side had 30 people, divided into a group of fifteen people to fight for the sting. It depends on which side has more people left in the end, and who will be the final winner. Since there are a large number of armor used for fighting training and wooden guns with gray bags in the seized warehouse, the participating soldiers were wearing armor and holding wooden guns with gray bags for the stinging competition.
Before the Chief of Staff announced the start of the competition, the Tank Army soldiers spontaneously shouted at the participating soldiers because they lost for a while, "Brothers of the Tank Army, come on!"
The tank soldiers who were about to take the stage heard their comrades cheering for themselves, turned around and waved at them. The soldiers of the infantry brigade neither cheered nor waved, but stood there like clay sculptures and wood sculptures without moving, quietly waiting for the referee's starting order.
With the order of the Chief of Staff of the Army, the soldiers on both sides rushed towards the opposite side with wooden guns. Seeing the charge of both sides, Sokov understood in his heart that his infantry brigade won again in this battle. The tank army fought against each other in individual units; while his soldiers were in groups of three, fighting against the opponent. One person fought against the opponent on the front, and the other two were responsible for covering his left and right wings and blocking him from the bayonets from the side.
In just two minutes, as the soldiers covered in white gray on the armor withdrew from the game, there were only the last nine people left on the field, including only two soldiers left in the Tank Army. Although they were brave enough to face the opponents surrounded from all sides, they were eventually destroyed because they were outnumbered.
Seeing that the first group of soldiers participating in the sting-fighting team lost, the Chief of Staff was about to call the second team, but was stopped by Rotmistrov: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, there is no need to compete again. We will admit defeat in this game!"
Hearing that the tank army took the initiative to admit defeat, the infantry brigade soldiers sitting under the stage cheered. They took off their military caps and threw them into the air. Seeing the military caps flying in the air, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little worried. When the scene ended later, many soldiers would definitely not find their military caps.
Although Rotmistrov lost two consecutive games, there was no sign of discourage on his face. Instead, he smiled and said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel, next we will come to the competition to drive the tank to climb over obstacles. Whoever arrives at the destination in the shortest time will be the final winner."
Although there is only one tank company in the infantry brigade, Sokov is very aware of his subordinates' abilities. Therefore, as soon as Rotmstrov finished speaking, he reached out to make an invitation: "General Rotmstrov, let your soldiers come down."
Rotmistrov stood up, walked to the side of the platform, waved his hands at the three crew members standing in front of the tank, and said in an extremely majestic tone: "Let's go!"
The soldiers of the three crew agreed loudly, then turned over and climbed onto the tank. Soon a stream of black smoke erupted from the tail of the tank. After three tanks turned half a circle in place, they rushed towards the obstacles in the distance.
Sokov walked to Rotmistrov and looked into the distance. The tanks rushed up the hill quickly, then swooped down the slope, raising high dust behind the car. After watching for a while, Sokov said in his heart: "It seems that this obstacle-traveling game is not difficult, and the warriors of the tank company should be able to complete it easily."
Just as he was thinking, Sokov saw a three-meter-wide gully appear in front of the tank. He thought that such a wide gully, I wonder how the soldiers of the Tank Army would drive over? The three tanks arrived at the ravine and stopped. The top cover of the turret was opened, and two soldiers drilled out from each of them. They unloaded two pieces of wood from the body of the car, carried them to the ravine, put the wood on both sides of the ditch, and then returned to the tank to carry out the other two pieces of wood and put them on the ravine.
After completing all this, the three tanks started again and slowly drove through the gully from several pieces of wood. Seeing that their comrades had completed the action of crossing the gully, the soldiers of the tank army cheered again.
The three tanks returned to the viewing platform. The three chariot commanders lifted the roof and came out of the tank. They walked to the stage and raised their hands to salute Rotmistrov on the stage. "Good, comrades, you are all good." Seeing the three tanks under his subordinates return smoothly, Rotmistrov showed a gratified smile on his face. He said to the tank soldiers, "Thank you for your hard work, go back and rest first. Next, we will watch the comrades in the infantry brigade perform for us."
"Alitai!" Although Sokov had just sent someone to find Alitai, he didn't know if he had arrived. It was the turn of the tank company's soldiers to appear, so Sokov shouted to the crowd below: "Is Alitai here?"
"I am here, comrade brigade commander." As Sokov shouted, Alitai, wearing a black tank soldier uniform, walked out of the crowd, looked up at Sokov and said, "I obey your orders, please instruct!"
"Comrade Lieutenant, I think you have seen the performance of the tank soldiers." Sokov said to Alitai: "What you have to do next is to repeat their movements just now. Do you understand?"
Chapter completed!