As soon as Sokov returned to the command center, Sidolin came up and said hurriedly: "Comrade Commander, you are back. Lieutenant Colonel Yakov has called several times to ask when you will be back!"
"Ltd Colonel Yakov?" Sokov asked in a confused look: "Comrade Chief of Staff, who are you talking about? Are you the new commander in the Front Army or the Army?"
"No." Sidolin shook his head vigorously and replied, "It's your old friend Yakov, who has just been promoted to the rank of military and is now a lieutenant colonel."
Sokov knew very well that Yakov would not call himself for no reason. Once he called, it would indicate that there was an important thing, which might be related to the newly sent rockets. Maybe he wanted to ask what the results he had achieved. He looked at Sidolin and asked, "Chief of Staff, Lieutenant Guchakov's enemy-behind team, do you have any latest battle reports?"
"No." Cidolin shook his head, "I have not received any news from the squad in the past day and night. I think they may still be looking for a suitable fighter."
After reporting to Sokov, Sidolin immediately thought of a possibility and asked back: "Comrade Commander, do you think Lieutenant Colonel Yakov called for those rockets?"
"I think it's for this." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Besides this, I really can't think of what else Yakov would call me so often for."
"Comrade Commander," Sidolin, after sitting down, poured him a cup of hot tea and asked with concern: "What are you getting when you go to the Third Battalion this time?"
"During the day, the soldiers who were standing in the Vasily building used mortars and machine guns to attack the fast column passing by another street, causing great casualties to the enemy." Sokov picked up the hot tea and took a sip, and continued: "If it weren't for the enemy's tanks firing, they could continue to fight for a while. Unfortunately, we do not have long-range anti-tank weapons. Once we encounter enemy tanks on the battlefield, we can only risk our lives to get close to the enemy's tanks and blow it up with anti-tank grenades or moor bottles."
"Yes." When Sidolin was working at the Army Command, he had seen soldiers blow up tanks with grenades or moors in battle, but they were basically for their lives to exchange for enemy tanks. Sometimes, in order to blow up a tank, the lives of more than 20 soldiers were sacrificed. He said with emotion: "If we can have the same long-range anti-tank weapon, then we can reduce many unnecessary sacrifices."
After chatting with Sidolin for a while, Sokov found out that Ivanov was not in the division headquarters, so he asked curiously: "Why didn't you see the deputy division commander? Where did he go?"
"He went to the workers' new village," said Sidolin, taking out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handing them to Sokov, and said, "I said I wanted to see his old army."
Facing the cigarette handed over by Sidolin, Sokov waved his hand and said, "Chief of Staff, the tunnel is not well ventilated. It's okay for us to occasionally use samovar to cook some hot tea. If we smoke again, the air here will become more turbid."
"You're right," Sidolin took his cigarette away, and promised Sokov: "I will try to smoke as little as possible in the future."
…………
Before Yakov's phone call was over, Cuikov's phone call came first. He asked on the phone: "Col. Sokov, it seems that the squad you sent behind enemy lines is doing well. Today, the German army's offensive strength against the Barrier Factory and the Derrensky Factory was obviously not as good as usual. It seems that there was a problem with their ammunition and material supply."
"Report to the commander, Comrade Sokov," said Sokov and others, and immediately continued: "Lieutenant Guchakov's squad successfully destroyed the German supplies pile point at Gumlak Station during the operation the day before yesterday. However, according to his report, from the situation on the scene, there should be no weapons and ammunition in the station..."
"No matter whether there are weapons or ammunition in the destroyed materials, this is a huge result." Cuikov asked in confusion when he saw that Sokov's reaction was not strong enough, "Don't you think this is the case, Colonel Sokov?"
"Of course it is an amazing result," Sokov felt in his heart that as long as the enemy's ammunition depot was not destroyed during the attack, such results would be greatly reduced, because as long as the German army did not have a shortage of ammunition, the attack on the factory area would not be weakened. But at this moment, Cuikov had already concluded Guchakov and his attack, so he would not be stupid enough to sing a counter-topic with his superiors: "If there are more such victories, the enemy will have great difficulties in the later stages. The enemy in the combat area will have to slow down the attack speed due to the lack of ammunition and supplies."
"Yes, the small teams you sent are very effective in their operations behind enemy lines. If possible, I hope you can send a few more such teams."
"Comrade Commander, this is probably a bit difficult." Seeing Cui Kov holding such great expectations, Sokov replied embarrassedly: "We sent several small teams to the rear of the enemy to carry out damage, but the results were not ideal. There was even a small team destroyed the entire army during the enemy's encirclement and suppression."
Sokov's words surprised Cui Kov. He asked curiously: "I want to ask, why did the team that attacked some time ago have poor performance, but this time they have achieved such great results?"
"There are many reasons." Sokov had already carefully analyzed the fact that the squads sent in the early stage could not achieve ideal results. At this moment, he heard Cui Kov ask and quickly replied: "First of all, the squads sent in the early stage had no experience in operating behind enemy lines. They still used the same method of fighting positional warfare and regular warfare to deal with the Germans. In the case of huge gap in the enemy's strength and equipment, doing this would undoubtedly be a dead end.
Most of the squads sent this time are veterans with rich combat experience. In addition, they also carry new rockets that can launch sneak attacks several kilometers away from the enemy, and can quickly transfer positions after completing the attack, making it impossible for the enemy to find their whereabouts."
After listening to Sokov's story, Cui Kov sighed and said regretfully: "It's a pity that there are too few rockets from his superiors. Otherwise, some of them can be distributed to other troops and let them also send small teams to move deep behind enemy lines. If we attack multiple times, we can make the enemy very anxious."
"Comrade Commander," Sokov said seriously when he heard Cui Kov's idea of shooting rockets: "My army has been trained to master the use of rockets. Now, except for the comrades of the old 73rd Brigade, other troops in the Guard Division cannot access rockets at all..."
Although Sokov did not explicitly reject Cuikov, Cuikov was also a smart man. He heard from Sokov's words that the other party was a rocket and didn't want to be assigned to other troops. He cursed in his heart, the miser, and then asked: "I just received a call from Yakov from Moscow, asking if you are here. I told him that he was not here and was about to ask what was going on, but he had already hung up the phone. Colonel Sokov, do you know anything?"
"I'm sorry, comrade Commander, I don't know. I heard from the Chief of Staff that during my time when I was not in the division headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Yakov called me several times, but he didn't say what happened." Sokov said to Cuikov in an uncertain tone: "I guess it may be related to these rockets. He wanted to ask what kind of results he had achieved."
After hearing this, Cuikov felt that Sokov's explanation was reasonable, so he nodded and said to the microphone: "So that's the case. Colonel Sokov, Yakov calls again later. You must tell him the results of the team using rockets."
"I understand, comrade Commander." Sokov replied respectfully: "I will tell Yakov in detail the results achieved by the team."
After Sokov put down the phone, he smiled bitterly and said to Sidolin: "Just just asked on the phone, what Yakov asked me for, and I was embarrassed to ask. This Yakov is really true. When I was in the division headquarters, he didn't call; just now, his phone called..."
Before he could finish his words, the phone ringing on the table rang. The two of them looked at the phone that kept ringing. Sidolin asked Sokov with a smile: "Comrade Commander, it was not called by Lieutenant Colonel Yakov, right?"
"This possibility is not ruled out." Sokov said, and grabbed the microphone in front of Cidolin, put it in his ear and said, "I am Colonel Sokov, where are you?"
"Hello, Comrade Colonel. I am Peter." The voice of Peter, the director of the Red October Factory, came from the receiver: "How are you doing recently?"
"I'm fine, thank you." Sokov felt a little disappointed when he heard that it was not Yakov's call. However, when he thought of the reduction team that had already set up camp in the Red October Factory, he immediately became interested: "Comrade Director, has my troops set up defenses in the factory?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel." Peter said in a affirmative tone: "I have placed them all near the factory building. You know, the fighter battalions and militias stationed in these places have been transferred to the Derrensky factory, and there are less than thirty people left to defend the factory building. However, after your troops arrived, it has solved the big trouble for us. I believe that with them here, we don't have to worry about no matter how many Germans come."
Seeing that Peter was so confident in his troops, Sokov was quite happy. He said to the microphone: "Comrade Director, that unit has just been removed from the direction of the archives building. There will definitely be many wounded people. I hope you can send doctors and nurses in the factory hospital to treat them."
"Don't worry, comrade Colonel, you don't need to speak about this. I have ordered people to take the wounded to the factory hospital and treat them there." After Peter made his contribution to Sokov, he suddenly lowered his voice and asked, "I want to ask one thing, do you think we can defend the city?"
Peter's jumping thought made Sokov hesitate for a long time before he realized that the other party's question was simply because the defense of the Derrensky factory was in danger. Once the German army gained a foothold there, they could go directly south from the north and cooperate with the Romanian army to the west to continue to attack the Red October factory.
In order to strengthen the other party's confidence, Sokov said to the microphone: "Comrade Director, don't worry, don't look at the enemy's rampantness, but their strength has been weakened in the long-term battle. We can divide the battle to defend Stalingrad into three stages. The first stage is the defense stage of our army, which is to be driven into the city by the enemy from the Don River Basin; the second stage is the stalemate stage, we use various familiar terrain in the city to fight tenaciously with the enemy, so that they will not advance to the bank of the Volga River..."
After saying so many words in one breath, Sokov felt a little thirsty, so he picked up the tea jar on the table and took a sip of water. Peter on the other end of the phone saw Sokov suddenly stop, and couldn't help asking anxiously: "Col. Sokov, what about the third stage? What is the third stage?"
"The third stage is the counterattack stage." Sokov put down his teapot and continued to say: "Due to our tenacious defense, the enemy has almost consumed the living power in the attack, and the troops we assembled on the east coast can launch a large counterattack against the enemy. With this kind of fight, we can not only repel the enemy, but also have the possibility of siege and destroying the enemy."
Since the outbreak of the Patriotic War, the Soviet army has surrounded the enemy with superior forces more than once, but in the end, not only did it not eliminate the enemy, but instead made the breakout enemy defeat the army. It was because of the lessons from the past that Peter directly ignored Sokov's later words, chatted for a few more words, and then put down the phone.
More than half an hour later, the phone ringing on the table rang again. This time the call was not from Cuikov or Peter, but from Yakov who was rushing to find Sokov.
After hearing Yakov's voice, Sokov called the other party's nickname affectionately: "Yasha, you keep calling me. Is it because you have obtained any results in this batch of rockets?"
"Rocket, what rocket?" Yakov was stunned at first, but soon remembered that not long ago, he did transport a batch of rockets to Sokov, and nodded and said, "That's right, I did send you a batch of rockets some time ago, but I called you today for something else."
"What else?" Sokov asked puzzledly when he heard Yakov say this, "Yasa, can you tell me what's going on?"
"It's good news." Yakov said mysteriously: "You still remember the drawings you provided to me last time. Among them is a rocket launcher dedicated to anti-tank, which has been officially developed after our repeated testing and assembly."