The troops moved into defense, but whether the fortifications were reinforced, minefields were laid, and barbed wire mesh was erected. Sokov was not satisfied with the reports of the leaders of the regiments, but planned to take advantage of the night to check.
The person responsible for protecting Sokov was still Lieutenant Samoilov of the Guard Battalion. When he saw Sokov, he asked directly: "Comrade Commander, which regiment position do you plan to inspect?"
"Go to the position of the 124th Regiment." Sokov said without saying a word: "Their position is located in the middle of our division's defense zone, which may become the focus of the German offensive. Let's start patrolling the defense from their regiment."
"Comrade Commander," But after hearing this, Samoilov suggested to Sokov: "I think it's better to start from the 125th Regiment defense zone on the left wing, so that you can observe from the left wing all the way to the right wing, and you don't have to go back."
Sokov also understood that he would go to inspect the defense zone of the 124th Regiment in the middle first, and then inspect the defense zones on the left and right wings. However, he was always worried about the defense zone of the 124th Regiment and was worried about something. Therefore, after Samoilov finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "The defense zone of the 124th Regiment is the most important area of the entire division. Once any problem occurs, our defense will be split by the enemy, and we will have to retreat to Mamayev in shame."
Seeing Sokov's stubbornness, Samoilov sighed secretly in his heart, but on the surface he had to answer respectfully: "I understand, comrade in the division commander, I will escort you to the position of the 124th Regiment."
Sokov came to the defense zone of the 124th Regiment, and set up the regiment command post on the second line of defense, and quickly came over, shook hands and asked unexpectedly: "Comrade Commander, why are you here?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov replied, "I'm here to check your defense."
"Don't worry, comrade of the division commander." Starcha quickly replied: "After I returned to the regiment, I ordered the soldiers to repair fortifications, arranged minefields in front of the positions, and put on barbed wire. In short, we have done all the preparations for it. If you want to know more details, please feel free to go to the regiment command post and I will let the regiment chief of staff report to you."
"There is no need to go to the regiment command post." Sokov waved his hand at Starcha and said, "You should take me to the frontline for a look."
When Starcha heard Sokov say this, he was stunned for a moment. He shook his head quickly and said, "No, comrade in the division commander, absolutely not. You cannot go to the front line, it is too close to the enemy's position, and danger may occur at any time."
"The soldiers stay at the forefront and don't feel dangerous. Why can't I, a division commander, go to the forefront?" Sokov said impatiently: "Okay, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, explain the work to your chief of staff, and then take me to the forefront. I want to see your defense deployment."
"Okay, comrade of the division commander." Sokov had already said this. Starcha knew that nothing he could do, so he could only say with a stingy head and say, "I'll say hello to the Chief of Staff and accompany you to the frontier."
As he walked forward along the traffic trench, Sokov asked Starcha: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many sentries are usually on duty at night on the frontline positions?"
"There are usually a squad of troops." Starcha introduced to Sokov: "They are distributed in several positions in the position in a double post."
"No, your sentinels are too small." Sokov shook his head after hearing Starcha's words, "In the past, when he was in Mamayev's hill, there was nothing to do with one squad on duty at night. But now you are only a few kilometers away from the enemy and the front of the defense is so large. I think it is far from enough to rely on one squad's troops to be responsible for the night's alert work."
"Then, how many people do you think we should send on duty?"
"Increase the number of people on duty from one squad to one platoon," Sokov said solemnly: "It is necessary to ensure that there are at least four soldiers at each duty point. In this way, even if the enemy luckily touches our positions, it is not so easy to kill our sentinels quietly."
"Yes, comrade of the division commander." Starcha replied respectfully, "I will definitely arrange two more squads of soldiers on duty when I arrive on the position later."
As the two of them spoke, they walked into the frontier position without knowing it, but Sokov stopped unexpectedly. Seeing that Sokov stopped moving forward, Starcha asked unexpectedly: "Comrade Commander..."
Unexpectedly, as soon as he called Sokov, he was stopped by the other party. Sokov looked around and asked Stalkha in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have all entered the frontier position from the traffic trench, why can't anyone see it?"
"I think a battalion commander may have forgotten to set up a post in this direction." Starcha felt nervous about Sokov's concern, and he said disapprovingly: "I will remind him when I see him later."
"Comrade Commander, something is wrong." Samoilov, who had been following Sokov, suddenly approached and said nervously: "I seem to smell blood nearby."
"There is a bloody smell nearby?" Starcha sneered after hearing this: "Comrade Lieutenant, there have been fierce battles here during the day, and it is not normal that you can smell the bloody smell?"
"Lt. Colonel," said Samoilov coldly, "Do you think it was my first time on the battlefield that I would mix the bloody smell of battle with the smell I smelled?"
Sokov had not seen the sentry and felt that something had happened. At this moment, he heard Samoilov say this and quickly ordered him: "Lieutenant, take people nearby to search for the source of the bloody smell."
Samoilov agreed, and then walked along the trench with several soldiers and walked in the direction he chose. Less than two minutes later, a soldier ran over to report to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the Lieutenant asked me to come back to report to you: We found two bodies in the trench ahead, both of us."
"Where is the body?" Sokov gave a meaningful glance at Starcha first, and ordered the warriors to say, "Take us here quickly."
Under the leadership of the warrior, Sokov and others arrived at the location of the body. Seeing Sokov arrived, Samoilov hurriedly stepped forward and reported: "Comrade Commander, I have checked the wound. It should have been attacked more than ten minutes ago. A soldier was cut into a knife in his chest and a soldier's neck was cut open. The enemy's throat cut caused a lot of blood loss, which made the smell of blood fill the air."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Starcha glanced at the two bodies lying in the trenches, and found that their uniforms had been taken away and they were wearing only a white hooded shirt. He had to say to Samoilov in admiration: "Your nose is so sensation, you can smell blood from such a distance."
Samoilov did not pay attention to Starcha, but asked Sokov: "Comrade instructor, what should we do next?"
"Lt. Samoilov," Sokov asked instead of answering directly, "If you kill these two soldiers, what will you do next?"
Regarding the questions raised by Sokov, Samoilov thought for a moment and replied unambiguously: "According to my judgment, the enemy who killed the sentry should be here to reconnaise. If they complete the reconnaissance mission at this moment, they should return to their positions; if they do not complete the mission, they may find a place to lurk..."
"This is impossible." Starcha said dissatisfiedly: "The Germans knew that we found the body of the sentry and would definitely search. How could they continue to stay on the position? I think they might have slipped back to their position." After the two of them said that, they both turned their eyes to Sokov, wanting to know how he judged.
Sokov felt a headache. The German soldiers who sneaked into the position not only killed their sentinels, but also pulled out their military uniforms. Even if they didn't leave the position, they would not be able to find them at all as long as they drilled into the shelter. Now it is really difficult to judge whether the enemy has left or hidden on the position.
It is certainly a good thing for the enemy to leave. But if they remain on the position, when the daytime battle begins, they just need to mingle near the battalion command post and throw two grenades into it, which will be enough to reimburse the first battalion headquarters. If the troops that have lost the unified command will have to fight on their own and cannot block the enemy's attack.
"Comrade Commander," Seeing that Sokov was not speaking for a long time, Starcha was a little anxious and asked quickly: "What should we do next?"
"Take us to the battalion." Sokov felt that if the enemy was really hidden in the position and to pull them out, he would have to get the support of the first battalion commander. So he said decisively: "We need the help of the first battalion commander."
When he arrived near the camp command post, Sokov asked Samoilov to take his men outside to guard him. He and Starcha opened the curtains and walked in. When he entered the door, he saw that there were five or six people in the room, either lying on the table or sitting in the corner of the wall, all sleeping soundly, without any notice of Sokov and his arrival.
Seeing this, Sokov couldn't help but sneer twice, turned his head to Starcha and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the battalion command post on your frontier position is not only not even a sentinel at the door, but the people in the command post are sleeping like dead pigs. Not to mention that the post post on the position is killed, even if the enemy touches it, they may not notice it."
Starcha's face, criticized by Sokov, had a blushing red look. He walked behind an officer sleeping on the table, raised his hand and slapped the other person on the back of the head, and shouted angrily: "Wake up quickly!"
The officer who was woken up from his sleep was full of anger, but the person who saw clearly was the regiment commander Starcha. He quickly stood up and saluted, and asked stammered: "Regiment...Comrade Commander, why are you here?"
"I will accompany the division commander to inspect the defense," Starcha said, "As soon as I came in and saw you sleeping. First battalion commander, I want you to give me a reasonable explanation."
After Starcha reminded him, the first battalion commander found Sokov standing next to him. He quickly raised his hand to salute Sokov and reported according to the regulations: "Comrade Commander, Battalion Commander, Battalion Commander of the 124th Guards..."
"Okay, okay." Before the other party could say his name, Sokov reached out to interrupt him and asked directly: "I want to ask you why there are not even a sentinel at the gate of the battalion command post. Are you not afraid of being attacked by the enemy?"
After Sokov finished speaking, the first battalion commander grinned and said confidently: "Comrade Commander, look at what you said. The enemy was beaten to us in a mess during the day. How dare you come to us at night?"
"Hmph!" Sokov saw that several other sleeping officers and soldiers in the command post were awakened, so he walked to the table and sat down, looked at the battalion commander and said, "Comrade Battalion Commander, you are so careless, I'm afraid you will lose your life one day, and you won't know what happened."
The first battalion commander heard something in Sokov's words, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong. He quickly turned his head and looked at Starcha, wanting to get an answer from him. Starcha saw the battalion commander looking at him, and said with a pale face: "We just found the bodies of two sentrymen on the way to come. They were killed by the Germans not long ago."
Starcha's words made the first battalion commander sweat in a cold sweat. He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead and asked nervously: "Comrade Commander, have the posts at some point been killed by the enemy?"
"As soon as we entered the frontier from the traffic trench, my guard platoon leader smelled the smell of blood. He followed the smell and found the bodies of two murdered sentinels in the trench." Sokov was eager to catch the German soldiers who killed the sentinels, and did not want to hold the first battalion commander responsible, but said directly: "Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and I came here just to hope that you would help us catch the Germans who were infiltrated into our position."
"Comrade Commander," the first battalion commander straightened his body and asked, "What should I do?"
"You have too few troops for night duty." Starcha said in front of Sokov: "Get two more squads to participate in tonight's duty to ensure that there are no less than four soldiers at each duty point. This way, even if the enemy sneaks into our position, it is not easy to kill our sentinels." Sokov just said this, he didn't agree. When he saw the body of the sentinel, he realized how visionary Sokov was. Therefore, when he arranged a task to the first battalion commander, he instinctively repeated these words.
"Comrade Major," Sokov, after Starcha finished speaking, added: "After completing the work of strengthening the post, we will find several company commanders. We need them to help us identify the enemies that are infiltrated inside our army."
"Identify the enemy who is infiltrated into our army?" The first battalion commander looked at Sokov in a daze and asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, how do we identify it?"
"The army has recently added a lot of new recruits, and we definitely cannot recognize them. But if we cannot recognize them, it does not mean that no one knows how to recognize them." Sokov also explained to the first battalion commander and Stalkha: "But the company commanders and platoon leaders of each company are much more familiar with the situation of the soldiers than ours. If they cooperate, I think I can quickly pull out the hidden enemies."
After seeing Sokov finished speaking, the first battalion commander stood there in a daze, so he raised his hand and pushed him, urging him: "Okay, comrade Major, don't be dazed, hurry up and execute the commander's orders."