"Comrade Commander, I have always been responsible for the defense of the factory area." Witkov did not become complacent because of this special appointment. On the contrary, he asked Cui Kov cautiously: "If the superiors asked me to command the 73rd Infantry Brigade, of course I could execute this order unconditionally, but who should be responsible for my original work?"
After Vitkov reminded him, Cuikov immediately realized that his deputy chief of staff, who was rarely seen, was still in charge of such an important task. He turned his head to Krelov, wanting to hear if the other party had any good ideas.
Although Cuikov did not speak, Krelov still understood what the other party meant. After thinking for a while, he replied: "Comrade Commander, I think Colonel Zalijiuke, the Chief of Operations, can be replaced. He has been assisting the Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of this work during this period and is the most suitable candidate."
"Okay." Hearing Krelov say this, Trekov immediately agreed: "Chief of Staff, call Colonel Zallijok over and we will reassign him the mission."
"I understand, I'll call him now." Krelov said, picking up the phone on the table.
While Krelov was calling, Trekov said to Vetkov: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, I originally planned to go to Mamayev hill to visit the injured Sokov, but since you are the acting brigade commander of the brigade, you will do this for you."
Witkov nodded, indicating that he understood what Cuikov meant. After a moment of pause, he continued to ask: "Can I leave? I want to rush to Mamayev's hill as soon as possible."
Seeing that Vetkov was so eager to rush to the new combat post, Cuikov felt very relieved and quickly shouted outside: "Come on!"
Following the shouting, an officer from the guard battalion walked into the outside. He came to Cuikov, straightened his body and asked respectfully: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant." Cuikov said kindly: "Your brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov was injured in the battle and could no longer command the battle in a short time. Therefore, I appointed Colonel Witkov as the acting brigade commander. Your task is to escort him to take office. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Lieutenant Samoilov asked carefully: "I wonder how many people I want to take to escort the colonel to Mamayev's hill?"
The officer who was accepting the mission of Trikov was Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader under Sokov. Since he was ordered to lead the third platoon to escort Trikov to the new command last time, he has been left at the Army Command. The reason why Trikov sent him to escort Vitkov to Mamayev at this moment was simply to play the emotional card so that the commanders and fighters of the infantry brigade could accept the new brigade commander faster.
"You may meet Germans on the way," Cuikov was still very unhappy in his heart by returning the warrior he had finally found, but for the safety of Vitkov along the way, he said with a cruel heart: "Let's do this, take 20 soldiers and escort Colonel Vitkov to Mamayev. When you arrive at the place, you don't have to come back."
Since Samoilov escorted Cuikov back last time, he was directly incorporated into the guard force of the group army and could not return to Mamayev's post. Because of this, he was upset for a long time. When he heard that he and some of his subordinates could return to Mamayev's post, he felt happy from the sky and quickly replied: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured, I will definitely escort Colonel Vitkov to his destination safely."
It seemed that it was very smooth along the way, and even there was no battle in some areas controlled by the enemy. Just as we were about to reach the secret entrance of Beigang, Samoilov said to Vetkov with great excitement: "The Deputy Chief of Staff... No, now we are the acting brigade commander. We will walk a hundred meters further and we will reach the Beigang entrance where the infantry brigade is stationed. As long as we enter the tunnel, we don't have to worry about encountering the enemy."
When there were fifty meters away from the entrance of the tunnel, Samoilov and his group were stopped by several sentries hiding in the crater. After the sergeant who led the team glanced over the crowd, he asked politely, "Comrade Colonel, who do you belong to? Is there anything wrong here?"
Samoilov hurriedly approached Vitkov's ear and whispered: "Comrade Colonel, our tunnels are not open to the public, so we checked strangers more strictly."
"Comrade Sergeant," said Vitkov, nodded, and then replied politely: "I am the new acting brigade commander, and I am ready to go to the brigade command."
"Acting Brigade Commander?!" The sergeant was stunned when he heard Vitkov say this, because the news of Sokov's injury had not been conveyed to the battalions. Therefore, he learned that the acting brigade commander was in front of him. The first thing he thought of was why his superiors removed the brigade commander. After thinking about this, he immediately asked expressionlessly: "Sorry, comrade Colonel, I have not received the order from my superiors and cannot be put into the tunnel. You must know that outsiders are not allowed to enter our tunnel at will."
Seeing that Vetkov hit a nail, Samoilov, who was next to him, hurriedly stepped forward to relieve the situation: "Comrade Sergeant, I am the platoon leader of the third platoon of the guard. I was ordered to escort the acting brigade commander to take office. Please let it go immediately."
"I'm sorry, Comrade Lieutenant." The sergeant did not be polite to Samoilov because his military rank was higher than his. Instead, he said in an official voice: "I cannot let you enter the tunnel before I get the order."
Before joining the infantry brigade, Samoilov was in the internal affairs force and no one dared to speak to him in this manner. Therefore, he said with some angrily: "If you don't let us enter the tunnel, can you afford to pay the responsibility if you delay the business?"
"Comrade lieutenant," said the sergeant without being humble and arrogant, "I am just not allowed to let you enter the tunnel before I receive the orders of my superiors."
Just as Samoilov was about to go wild, Vetkov grabbed him, winked at him, signaling to stop this impulse, and then politely said to the sergeant: "Comrade Sergeant, please call your superior, okay?"
The sergeant was not able to refute Vitkov's request, so he could only say helplessly: "Okay, you guys wait here first, I'll call the battalion commander."
Near the entrance of the tunnel, there was a phone call that could be reported directly to the battalion headquarters. The sergeant quickly finished the phone and returned to Vitkov and the others. He said in a polite and estranged tone: "Comrade Colonel, please wait here for a while, and our battalion commander will come out immediately."
After waiting for a few minutes, Vitkov saw a group of people coming out of the tunnel. At the front was a commander with the rank of captain. Samoilov took the initiative to introduce to Vitkov: "Comrade Acting Brigade Commander, the captain who came was Captain Brisky, the fourth battalion commander."
"The Fourth Battalion Commander?" Weitkov said in surprise when he heard this: "The Infantry Brigade actually has four battalions?"
"More than four battalions," Samoilov quickly corrected: "To be precise, there are five battalions. In addition to the first battalion to the fourth battalion, there is also a 192nd battalion, which was reduced by the original 192nd Infantry Division."
When Witkov was about to ask more details, Brisky had already come to him, stood attentively and reported to him: "Comrade Colonel, I am Brisky, the commander of the Fourth Battalion. Is there anything important to you here?"
Witkov nodded at the other party, and then reported to his home, saying, "Hello, Captain Brisky, I'll introduce myself. I'm Colonel Witkov..." When Brisky heard this, he couldn't help but glance at the sergeant on duty from the corner of his eyes, thinking to himself, didn't his subordinates say, does this man claim to be the acting brigade commander? Why did he become the deputy chief of staff of the army again?
Before Brisky could figure out the problem, Witkov continued: "I just accepted a new appointment an hour ago as the acting brigade commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade."
When Brisky heard Vitkov say this, he was shocked. He asked in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, can I ask, how did the former brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov arrange it?"
When Witkov heard this, he showed a surprised expression on his face: "Why, Comrade Captain, don't you know yet?"
Brisky asked in confusion: "What do you know?"
"Don't you know that your brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov was injured in the battle and could not command the battle for a short time." Witkov said to Brisky: "That is why my superior appointed me as the acting brigade commander."
Witkov's words shocked Brisky: "Impossible, this is impossible. I also called the brigade commander yesterday. He was fine, how could he be injured? Fake, what you said is definitely not true. How could the brigade commander be injured when he is in his command center?"
"Comrade Captain, don't be excited." After Britsky finished speaking, Vetkov said slowly: "I don't know much about the specific situation. I only know that after Lieutenant Colonel Sokov came back from the city inspection, he encountered a few lost German troops on the road and had a small-scale exchange of fire. He was unfortunately injured in the battle. When I set off, he was still undergoing surgery in the operating room."
As soon as Vitkov finished his words, Samoilov quickly added: "Yes, Captain Brisky and the acting brigade commander are all true. Our brigade commander was seriously injured and was undergoing surgery in the health team. Therefore, Commander Choikov temporarily appointed the Deputy Chief of Staff as the Acting brigade commander."
When Brisky came out, he saw Samoilov standing beside Vetkov. He was quite surprised at the time. How could the brigade commander's guard platoon leader stand with a strange commander? He heard what Samoilov said, and he was immediately confused. He never dreamed that Sokov would be injured at this time and was still undergoing surgery in the operating room.
Seeing Brisky's face full of chaos, Witkov couldn't help frowning slightly. He felt that the captain in front of him seemed a little unsteady enough. However, he was eager to take office at the brigade command and was unwilling to delay any longer here. He looked at Brisky with a stern face: "Captain Brisky, I need to rush to the brigade command immediately. I wonder if I can enter the tunnel?"
Hearing Vetkov say this, Brisky immediately woke up. He quickly turned his body to the side and said politely: "Acting Brigade Commander, please come with me, I will take you to the Brigade Command."
Brisky took Vitkov and Samoilov and others toward the tunnel. When passing by the deputy political battalion commander, he made a phone call to the other party, signaling him to contact several other battalion commanders immediately and tell them the brigade commander that he was injured. When the deputy battalion commander saw the gesture, he immediately understood it and nodded at Brisky, saying that he would call as soon as possible.
The deputy battalion commander first called Captain Goria, the battalion commander of the 192nd Battalion, and said in a panic: "Comrade Captain, something happened, the brigade commander was injured."
Goria followed Sokov to greet friendly troops some time ago. After Sokov was injured in the bombing of the tank, he personally escorted him back. At this moment, he heard the call from the deputy battalion commander of the Fourth Battalion and said disapprovingly: "What's wrong with you, my friend? What's the fuss about the brigade commander being injured? You know, after he was injured in Orlovka, I brought him back..."
Before Goriya could finish his words, the deputy battalion commander hurriedly interrupted him: "You are wrong, Comrade Captain. What you said was that the last time you were injured, and what I want to tell you is that the brigade commander was injured again today and is still in the operating room to rescue him. His superiors have just sent us a new brigade commander."
"What, the brigade commander is injured again?" Goria was startled by the unexpected news, especially when his superiors sent a new brigade commander, which surprised him even more: "Where is your battalion commander?"
"Accompany the new brigade commander to the brigade command center." The deputy battalion commander said hurriedly on the phone: "Okay, Comrade Captain, I have to call the other battalion commanders, so I will hang up first."
After a while, Goria was stunned by the phone that had been blinded, he threw the microphone on the table, and hurried out of the battalion command post and ran along the tunnel towards the brigade command. He was eager to find out whether Sokov's injury was serious or whether it was really at the point where he could not command the battle.
But he ran far away and stopped again, called one of his officers, and told him, "Call up a squad of soldiers immediately and follow me to the brigade command."
When the officer heard this strange order, he was stunned and thought to himself, what should he do to lead troops to the brigade command? Are you going to make a military remark? He asked in confusion: "What should I do to the brigade command?"
"The superior suddenly sent a new brigade commander. I want to see what happened." Goria said expressionlessly: "If the brigade commander is injured is just an excuse to remove him, then the soldiers I brought to the brigade command will be sent for purpose."