Under the guidance of Seriosha, Sokov and Belkin arrived at the conference room on the first floor. When they entered the door, Sokov saw many women wearing headscarves sitting on both sides of the conference table, including elderly women and young girls in their prime.
"Gay women," Selyosha walked into the room and said to everyone: "Our brigade commander and political commissar are here. If you have anything to do, you can tell them."
When the brigade commander and political commissar who had been waiting for came, the woman sitting at the conference table stood up. Perhaps seeing Sokov's young age and not familiar with military rank, she surrounded the old Belkin, who looked old. An old lady with a hunchback grabbed Belkin's hand and began to speak quickly and excitedly.
Sokov, standing outside the circle of people, heard everything the old lady said: she had three sons, the big man served in Belarus, and after the war broke out, she lost her whereabouts, and whether she was captured or sacrificed, in short, there was no news; but when the Germans approached Kursk, her second son also joined the army. When Kursk was recovered, she sent her third son into the army.
At first, Sokov thought that the old lady wanted Belkin to help her find her son without a whereabouts, but when he heard it, he realized that his guess was wrong. The old lady said: "...Comrade Commander, my third son was unwilling to leave my old lady alone because he heard that the troops were going to be transferred, so he planned to leave your troops and go to another army so that he could continue to stay in the city. Unexpectedly, he was treated as a deserter and almost shot."
When Sokov heard the old lady say that her son was almost shot as a deserter, he began to recall the five soldiers tied up in his mind, and guessed in his heart which one was the old lady's third son. Before he could think of it, Belkin had already asked: "Old man, I don't know who is your son among the five soldiers."
"Yellezavita," the old lady answered hurriedly when she heard Belkin's question: "He performed well in the battle some time ago and was promoted to sergeant..."
The old lady said something else, Sokov didn't hear it, and he was thinking about Sergeant Yelizavita. At that time, the other soldiers were all sitting and waiting for death, and only this sergeant dared to explain the reason to himself and Belkin to avoid an unjust case. Not long after the troops were expanded, there was a shortage of commanders at all levels. I will call Grissa later and ask him to focus on training this sergeant and arrange the position of squad leader in the future.
The other women were the relatives of the other four soldiers. When they learned that their relatives would be shot as deserters, they felt that the sky was about to fall. They knew very well that if their relatives really became deserters, not only would they be shot, but their families would also be implicated and sent to other places to receive punishment.
Because of this, when they heard that the brigade commander and political commissar came forward, their relatives had escaped from death. They made an appointment to come to the brigade command center and expressed their gratitude to their benefactor.
After seeing off these women who thanked her for their gratitude, Belkin said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, judging from today's situation, there are many soldiers in our army who are reluctant to leave their hometown. Look, will you send people to the army to seek your opinions? See who wants to stay? Anyway, there are many troops here, and we can arrange all the soldiers who don't want to leave into these troops."
"No, absolutely not." As soon as Belkin's plan was expressed, it was opposed by Sokov. Sokov said bluntly: "Comrade Political Commissar, we are the army and have strict discipline. Whether the troops stay in Kursk or travel to other regions must firmly obey the orders of superiors. How can the soldiers choose whether to stay or follow us at will? In this way, will they be in chaos?"
After a moment of pause, Sokov continued: "When we visited each company, we also found that many soldiers were unwilling to leave their homes. Fortunately, after being persuaded by the political workers below, they changed their minds. If you announce that the soldiers will make their own choices, I can guarantee you that the soldiers will definitely not be more than 30% of the soldiers left behind."
Sokov's words shocked Belkin. He widened his eyes and murmured: "No, I will give the choice of whether to leave or stay to the soldiers. Most of the people will not want to leave with us?"
"Yes, that's right." Sokov continued: "Even if the remaining people leave Kursk with us, there will be unstable morale. Once we arrive on the cruel battlefield, there will be many deserters among these people. Even if we want to make up for it, it will be too late."
"Will there be no deserters appear when we take all the soldiers to Stalingrad?" After Belkin and Sokov finished speaking, he said with some dissatisfaction: "You know, our superiors asked us to go there to rest. Once we were idle, I was worried that some soldiers would miss homesickness, which would lead to low morale and disintegration of the army. Instead of waiting for the unstable morale at that time, it would be better to eliminate the problem in the bud now."
"My political commissar, you don't have to say anything more." Sokov saw that Belkin was stubborn and wanted the soldiers to choose to stay or leave freely, so he raised his identity and said, "I am the military chief of the infantry brigade, and I have the final say in military affairs. The commanders and fighters of the entire brigade, whether veterans or new recruits who joined the army in Kursk, must go to Stalingrad one by one."
"What should we do if there are deserters after arriving in Stalingrad?" Belkin and Sokov have been partnering for more than half a year. This is the first time that there is a dispute over work matters. He is also a person who refuses to admit defeat, so he asked with his neck in his mouth: "What should we do if our superiors blame it for this?"
Sokov was a little anxious: "If anyone dares to be a deserter after he arrives in Stalingrad, he will shoot one if he finds one, and shoot one if he finds one." At this point, he paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and added, "If even one wants to be a deserter, he will shoot all of them. If the superior wants to blame him, I will bear all the consequences!"
Hearing Sokov say this in such a domineering tone, Belkin knew that he would not be able to take advantage of it if he continued to argue. He let out a breath of turbid air and said, "Well, Comrade Brigade Commander, since you have already put it to this point, then do what you said and take everyone to Stalingrad. But as your political commissar, I keep my own opinions."