Sokov just brought the commanders and fighters of the 42nd Guards Regiment into the tunnel in Beigang, and Sidolin in the Nangang Command was reported. After putting down the phone, he smiled and said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, the brigade commander has returned. I believe he will appear in the command in a few minutes."
"Thank God, he finally came back." Belkin said with gratitude while drawing a cross on his chest: "I just heard from artillery observers that the factory area was attacked by the German army, and I am really worried about what happened to him."
According to normal circumstances, Sokov will appear in the command center only ten minutes at most. Unexpectedly, the two of them waited around, but they never saw Sokov appear. Cidolin couldn't sit still: "Comrade Political Commissar, what's going on with the brigade commander, why haven't they appeared yet?"
"Did something happen to him?" As soon as Belkin said this speculation, he rejected it himself: "It is impossible. It's all about our people in the tunnel, so what will happen to the brigade commander."
"But he has not appeared yet." Cidolin said worriedly: "Comrade Political Commissar, you and I know that even if he walks slowly from Beigang to Nangang, it only takes ten minutes. How could he not show up for such a long time? No, I want to call and ask."
The information about Sokov's return to Mamayevgang was provided by Captain Brisky, the commander of the Fourth Battalion, to Sidolin. At this moment, in order to track down Sokov's whereabouts, Cidolin first called the command post of the Fourth Battalion. Hearing Brisky's voice came from the receiver, Cidolin immediately asked impatiently: "Comrade Captain, have you really seen the brigade commander enter the tunnel in Beigang just now?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Brisky couldn't help but feel a slap in his heart when he heard Cidolin's question, and then asked back: "Is there something wrong with the brigade commander?"
Belkin walked to Cidolin, snatched the microphone from his hand, and then asked, "Comrade Captain, did you see the brigade commander come back alone, or is there someone with him?"
Brisky replied without hesitation: "The brigade commander did not come back alone, and there was a platoon of soldiers accompanying him."
After Belkin put down the phone, he said to Cydolin: "Captain Brisky said that the brigade commander brought a platoon of soldiers back. This is strange. When he left, there was no guard around him. Why did he bring a platoon back when he came back?"
Cidolin understood Belkin's question very well. You should know that the troops everywhere were seriously insufficient. All the commanders saw the soldiers' eyes shining, and they wanted to send more people to their troops. Cidolin echoed: "Yes, it's really strange. The reason why the brigade commander did not bring people to the army headquarters this time was because he was afraid that the people he brought would be left by the headquarters. You should know that a guard platoon taken away by the commander two days ago has not yet been built."
The speaker is unintentional and the listener is intentional. The casual words of Cydollin made Belkin think: "Comrade Chief of Staff, did you think the brigade commander brought back the platoon we lent to the commander last time?"
"This is impossible." Sidolin and Cui Kov had been together for a long time, so they naturally knew what the commander's personality was. How could the meat in his mouth be spit out easily? He shook his head and said, "You know, the headquarters paid a considerable price in this transfer. It would be good that they would no longer ask us for people. How could they still hope that they would return the borrowed troops to us..." Speaking of this, Sidolin suddenly thought of a possibility. He slapped the table with his hand and said in annoyance: "Damn, why didn't I think of this possibility?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, what's wrong with you?" Ciedorin's strange reaction aroused Belkin's curiosity. He quickly asked, "What's wrong?"
"Comrade Political Commissar," Cidolin looked at Belkin and said bitterly, "I think I may know where the comrade brigade commander is now?"
"Where is the brigade commander?" Belkin hurriedly urged: "Let me tell me quickly."
"I think the platoon of warriors who came back with him should be from the 42nd Guards Regiment." Sidorin explained to Belkin: "Their purpose of coming to Mamayevgang is not only to protect the safety of the brigade commander. More importantly, to come here to collect the weapons and ammunition they need."
"What, are they here to collect weapons and ammunition?" Belkin was shocked: "Last time we had provided thousands of rifles and several light and heavy machine guns to the 42nd Guards Regiment. Just a few days later, we came to us to collect weapons and ammunition. No, this is definitely not possible. I want to go to the underground ammunition depot immediately to find the brigade commander, so that he can't give all our precious ammunition to the Guards Regiment."
Cidolin stopped Belkin and shook his head at him and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, it's useless. Don't say you and I can't stop this matter, I'm afraid even the brigade commander can't stop it. If I'm not wrong, this matter must have been proposed by General Rodimtev, and the brigade commander had no choice but to bring the soldiers of the Guards to collect the weapons."
"But we don't know how long this battle will last." After Belkin waited for Sidolin to finish speaking, he said in a silence: "And whether we can get supplements in the next battle is an unknown. How can we give the arms in the warehouse to others at will? If we wait until our ammunition is exhausted, how can we fight this battle? Will the soldiers be allowed to fight with the Germans with bayonets?" After that, he tried to walk outside the house.
Sidorin grabbed Belkin tightly and said helplessly: "Comrade Political Commissar, I advise you not to go. Even if you go to the ammunition depot, you have changed a lot..."
"I won't go to the ammunition depot." Berkin said with anger: "Now the German attack on Mamayevgang has completely stopped. I'll go to the top of the hill to check it out, right?"
Since Belkin couldn't stop the Guards' soldiers from the ammunition depot, Cidolin let go and asked tentatively: "Comrade Political Commissar, do I need me to send someone to go with you?"
Belkin left, and Sokov, who had a tired face, returned to the command center. Seeing Sokov enter the door, Sidolin hurriedly greeted him, "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are back!"
"I'm back." Thinking of the batch of arms that had just been provided to the Guards regiment, Sokov felt unable to lift his body. He asked weakly: "Did anything happen in the brigade during the time I left?"
"The German army launched two attacks on Mamayev's hill." Sidolin reported to Sokov in an understatement: "But we all repelled."
Sokov nodded slightly after hearing this. His eyes swept around the room, but he didn't see Belkin's figure. He hurriedly asked, "Where has the political commissar gone?"
Sidorin raised his hand and pointed upwards, saying a little embarrassedly: "Comrade Political Commissar went to the top of the hill."
"Hehe, there are German planes in the sky. It's so dangerous for him to run up there." Sokov, who had just sat down, stood up from his seat when he heard Cidolin say this, and said: "No, I'm going to call him down."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, it's too dangerous." Seeing that Sokov also thought of the top of the hill, Sidorin quickly persuaded him: "I'll find another soldier to call the political commissar down."
Sokov guessed from the expression on Sidolin's face that something must have happened, otherwise Belkin would not have run to the top of the hill for no reason to breathe. He waved his hand at Sidolin and said, "It seems that the political commissar is in a bad mood. If he just sends the soldiers up, he may not pay attention to it. I'd better go up in person."
Sokov came to the top of the hill and found that the circular fortification he proposed had taken shape. Belkin was standing next to an unfinished trench and looked up at the sky. Sokov hurriedly walked over quickly, and was still far away, shouting at Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, what are you doing?"
When Berkin heard the shout, he turned his head and saw Sokov walking towards him. He grinned and pointed his hand into the air, saying, "Comrade Brigade Commander, the German bombers are under the cover of their fighters, bombing ships on the Volga River. Our air force is engaged in air combat with them."
Sokov looked up and saw that two Soviet Lag-3 fighters were fighting against four German fighters escorting the bomber. He saw a Lag-3 fighter numbered "47", just like a clever seagull, shuttled between the enemy bombers and fighters, shooting towards the German planes in front from all angles.
Less than two minutes later, a German bomber blasted black smoke and fell into the turbulent Volga River. It blew up and smashed it with a rumbling sound. After the No. 47 fighter shot down a bomber, it was immediately bitten by a German fighter. The Soviet pilot quickly pulled up and came a beautiful backflip in the air. It landed lightly behind the German fighter and shot decisively from the rear, causing the German fighter to drag a long black smoke and flew downwards in the distance.
"This pilot is so great!" Seeing that the pilot shot down and injured one enemy plane in such a short time, the soldiers watching the battle on the top of the hill couldn't help but cheer. Even Belkin, who looked frustrated, smiled even after a smile. He said to Sokov: "If we had more fighter planes, we might be able to shoot down all of these enemy planes."
However, although the Soviet pilots showed heroic performance, the two fighters fought against four and eight German bombers. The strength of the two sides was too disparate. After the two fighters shot down three bombers and injured one fighter, the Lag-3 fighter, who served as wingmen, was shot down, and the remaining No. 47 fighter also became the target of siege of German aircraft.
Seeing that the only remaining aircraft of the Soviet army was besieged by eight enemy planes, Sokov couldn't help but feel his heart in his throat. He was determined to order the soldiers to help the Air Force comrades, but because the distance was too far and the range of the MG34 machine gun was not enough, he could only sigh.
After the No. 47 fighter shot down a German bomber again, the ammunition it carried was exhausted. Logically, in this case, he should have returned immediately, but seeing that the German bomber was still bombing ships on the river, the pilot changed his mind and bravely crashed towards the German formation leader.
The German pilot never dreamed that the Soviet plane that had finished shooting the ammunition would suddenly hit him and quickly lifted up to try to get rid of the No. 47 fighter. Although the German pilot tried his best to avoid the collision, the propeller of the Lager-3 still cut off the wings of the Bf-109 fighter. The German formation leader immediately lost control and fell from the air in a swirl. The German pilot had no time to parachute, and the plane hit the ground and an earth-shaking explosion occurred.
The No. 47 fighter that knocked out the German formation leader aircraft, lost the propeller, rushed towards the direction of Mamayev. Seeing the plane rushing towards the hill, Sokov was shocked and sweated. He quickly shouted to the soldiers who were still watching the fun: "Secret, hide quickly."
The No. 47 fighter jet rushed to the top of the hill and hit the piled sandbag heavily. The huge impact force broke through the sandbag, and the raised sand blocked everyone's sight.
As soon as the sand fell, the soldiers hidden nearby rushed up to treat the pilot who was still in the cabin. With the help of his companions, a soldier climbed onto the plane with his hands and feet and ground. He struggled to open the hatch cover. Seeing the pilot's head covered with blood on his face, he quickly reached his hand under the other's nose. When he found that he was still angry, he quickly turned his head to shout at Sokov, who was walking towards the plane: "Comrade Brigade Commander, he is still alive, he is still alive!"
"Come out quickly." Sokov saw black smoke coming out of the direction of the nose of the plane and shouted at the soldiers: "You move quickly, the plane is about to explode."
The plane was still covered with mud and sand in the direction of the nose, and the plane was just smoked, but it did not burn. Several soldiers climbed onto the plane's fuselage and rushed to Sokov. When they carried the pilot to Sokov, the first soldier who climbed onto the plane handed Sokov a soldier certificate. Sokov opened it and saw that it read: "Captain Sergey Danilovic Lugansky, the squadron leader of the 270th Destroyer Air Corps."
"What an amazing pilot." After Sokov said this, he handed over the military certificate to Belkin and ordered the soldiers carrying Lugansky: "Send the captain to the health team immediately and tell the Pavlov military doctor that he must save him."
Berkin glanced at the military certificate that Sokov handed him and asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, should we report this matter to our superiors immediately?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, you are right. We should report the pilot's situation to our superiors immediately." Sokov nodded after hearing this and said, "As for the pilot himself, let's wait until the wound is treated."