However, Sokov took a few steps, suddenly stopped again, and said to Asia with a side face, "Wait, Asia, let's go to the second floor to have a look." After that, he did not give Asia time to react, so he walked towards the stairs not far away. Asia didn't know why Sokov was going up the second floor, so she hurriedly accelerated and followed.
Seeing two soldiers coming in to visit the mall, they suddenly went straight to the second floor. A fat salesperson who was chatting hurriedly said to his companion: "Look, those two people went up the second floor."
The thin salesman next to him looked at Sokov and Asia's backs and asked his companions carefully: "You said, will they be members of the City Defense Committee come to us to check the fortifications?"
"No matter where they are, this matter needs to be reported to the manager immediately to prepare him." The fat salesperson said, and came to the telephone on the side, picked up the microphone and dialed a number, and said hurriedly: "Comrade Manager, two comrades from the City Defense Committee have come. They have already gone up to the second floor..."
After Sokov arrived on the second floor, he walked directly to the rooftop. He had carefully observed before entering the building that if fortifications were built on the rooftop, he could block a large area with firepower. He even considered whether he should send a force to occupy the department store after the street fighting began and use solid buildings to build a fire support point.
However, when he arrived at the rooftop, the scene he saw made him frown. On the spacious rooftop, countless sandbags were scattered on the floor in a mess, and no one piled them into sandbag fortifications.
Asia looked at the sandbags piled up on the rooftop and asked Sokov curiously: "Misha, what are you doing here? Look, there are sandbags everywhere on the ground, and they look messy."
"Asia, look!" Sokov pointed to the wide street in front of the department store and said, "I'm thinking that if we build a fire point on the rooftop and place anti-tank guns and machine guns here, we can completely block the street in front. If the Germans want to seize this department store, they will inevitably pay a huge price."
Hearing Sokov mentioned the battle in Stalingrad again, Asia felt amused and crying. She held Sokov's arm and said softly: "Misha, do you really think that the Germans will rush into Stalingrad?"
"Yes, Asia." Sokov said to Asia with a side face: "The Germans will definitely rush into Stalingrad. As the defenders of the city, we must do a good job of prevention in advance."
While the two were talking, a sharp voice suddenly came from behind: "Two military comrades, are you from the City Defense Committee?"
Sokov and Asia turned their heads and saw a middle-aged man wearing a white shirt and a pair of round-frame glasses standing at the entrance of the rooftop. Sokov did not answer his question immediately, but asked back: "Who are you?"
The middle-aged man walked forward two steps, nodded and said, "I'll introduce myself. I'm the manager of this department store. I heard from the salesperson that a comrade from the Urban Defense Committee came to inspect, so I came here specially. May I ask, are you from the Urban Defense Committee?"
"No, comrade manager." Sokov shook his head and said, "We are not from the City Defense Committee, but my troops are stationed in Mamayev Hill. I passed by here today and found that the rooftop here was a good defensive position, so I came up to take a look. By the way, comrade manager, why are these sandbags scattered on the ground and not piled up to build fortifications?"
"The sandbags were prepared according to the orders of the city Soviets. According to regulations, fortifications should be built on the rooftop." The manager said with some embarrassment: "But, I think you have also seen that there are only more than a dozen female salesmen left in the mall. To do these tasks, the manpower is far from enough."
"Even if you are only one person left, you should build the fortifications on the rooftop." Sokov said sternly after hearing the manager's words: "Otherwise, when the Germans rushed over, they could easily seize the solid building without a single shot. Also," Sokov walked to the railing of the rooftop, pointed his hand below, adding, "Sandbags should also be piled on the commodity window on the first floor."
After Sokov finished speaking, the manager smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade Commander, I understand what you said. But I would like to ask, will the Germans really hit Stalingrad? If they can't get close to our city at all, what's the point of all this we do?"
Sokov sneered, "What, comrade manager, do you think the Germans can't rush into Stalingrad?"
Regarding Sokov's question, the manager hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "I think it is impossible for the Germans to rush to Stalingrad. Think about it, in the west of the city, there are hundreds of thousands of troops. Can't they stop the Germans? Also," said the manager, lowered his voice and leaned close to Sokov's ear and whispered, "I heard a news that our airborne troops had successfully airborne in Berlin and were launching an attack on the place where Hitler was hiding. Perhaps today, no later than tomorrow, we can hear the news that Hitler was captured alive by our airborne troops."
Sokov was angry at the words of the manager, "My manager, you would believe such a ridiculous rumor and think that our army had attacked Berlin. Let me tell you the truth, sooner or later, our army will rush into Berlin, destroy all the *** and end this damn war. But before that, what we have to do is to do everything we can to defend this city named after the Supreme Commander himself."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." The manager said with a smile on his face: "I will arrange manpower as soon as possible to pile up the fortifications on the rooftop. If you have time, you can come and check it at any time."
When Sokov heard the manager say this, he nodded slightly, then waved his head at Asia and said, "Let's go, Asia, it's time for us to go back."
Seeing these two "plague gods" leaving, the manager suddenly became happy and quickly said, "I'll send you out."
After the manager sent Sokov and the others out of the building and returned to the sales hall, the fat salesman who called the manager immediately came over and asked curiously: "Comrade Manager, are they from the City Defense Committee?"
"No, they are not from the City Defense Council." The manager shook his head and said, "They are a nearby garrison, just come here for a walk."
"I just saw them going up to the second floor." The fat salesperson continued, "What are they doing on top?"
"They wandered around the rooftop for a long time, and the male commander asked me why I didn't use sandbags to pile up fortifications on the rooftop." The manager sneered: "He is not a member of the City Defense Committee, what qualifications are he qualified to point fingers at me?"
"Comrade Manager," said the fat salesperson nervously when he heard this: "Look, do we take some time to pile up the sandbags? Even if the people from the Urban Defense Committee come to check in the future, there is no need to worry about being punished."
"I would like to remind you, here, I am the manager, not you." The manager glared at the verbal fat salesperson and said dissatisfiedly: "Even if the Urban Defense Committee comes to inspect, it will not cause any sudden attacks. It will definitely issue a notice in advance. It will not be too late for us to organize people to build fortifications at that time."
On the way back to Mamayev Hill, Sokov saw Sokov not saying a word and was full of worries, he asked curiously: "Misha, do you think that manager will arrange manpower and pile up sandbag fortifications on the rooftop?"
"No, I don't think he will do this." Sokov heard Asia's problem and shook his head and said, "Asia, don't you see that the other party is just perfunctory to us? Alas, there is no way, we have no affiliation with him, I have said everything I can say, as for whether to listen or not, it is his problem."
Asia thought about it and then made her own suggestions to Sokov: "Misha, see if you go to talk to the people from the City Defense Committee and ask them to agree that we will send troops to take over the defense of the department store."
"This is impossible." Asia finished speaking, Sokov waved his hand and said, "Although our brigade has nearly 5,000 people, once the battle begins in the city, we are not enough people to stuff the Germans between them. Where can we have extra troops? We can defend the department store seven or eight kilometers away."
But when Sokov said that the troops who were guarding Mamayev were not enough to stuff the Germans' teeth, the driver who was driving couldn't help but tremble all over. Then the jeep lost control and crashed into a telephone pole on the side of the road. Fortunately, the driver was sensitive and stepped on the brakes in time, and the front of the car was parked at a few centimeters away from the telephone pole.
The huge inertia made Sokov, who was sitting in the back of the back of the chair, rush forward and hit his head heavily on the back of the front seat. While rubbing his bruised forehead, he turned his head and asked Asia next to him: "Asia, are you okay?"
Although Asia, who had a gray face, was frightened just now, after hearing Sokov's question, she shook her head happily and said, "I'm fine."
Sokov reached out and held Asia in his arms and said sternly to the driver: "Comrade Driver, pay attention to driving. I would rather be beaten to death when fighting face to face with the Germans than die in a car accident on the street. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade comrade commander." The driver turned around and blushed to Sokov, saying: "I will drive carefully and ensure that similar things will not happen again."