Chapter 561 Disposal Program

   After cleaning the battlefield, Sokov led the guard platoon towards the trench where the Fourth Battalion was defending.

   Unexpectedly, when everyone was two to three hundred meters away from the trench, the trench was still quiet, and no one could be seen. Seeing this situation, an ominous premonition rose in Sokov's heart. He quickly stopped and let the soldiers of the guard platoon take cover on the spot.

After giving the order, Sokov took the lead and jumped into a bomb crater. He looked in the direction of the trench, wondering what happened. Why did the soldiers of the Fourth Battalion not react at all when he made such a big noise in the direction of the wall? No.

  While he was observing the situation on the other side, he suddenly felt that someone had jumped into the crater. He turned around and found that it was Guchakov. He asked curiously: "Guchakov, I haven't had someone notify you yet, why did you come here?"

  Guchakov did not answer Sokov's question, but said anxiously: "Comrade Brigadier, there is a situation that I feel needs to be reported to you immediately."

   "What's the situation?" Sokov asked casually.

   "Comrade Brigadier, after the enemy who carried out the sneak attack withdrew," Guchakov reported, "The sound of gunfire and explosions on our army's position has not stopped. I guess it was our own people fighting with our own people."

   Guchakov’s words made Sokov fall into deep thought: If only the commanders and fighters of the Fourth Battalion stayed in the trenches last night, they have experience in dealing with German night attacks. However, there are many workers who have just entered the battlefield to defend with them. When encountering a surprise attack by the German army, the workers will muster their courage to fight the enemy after the chaos. However, the target they attacked was most likely not the enemy, but their own comrades-in-arms. After this scuffle, the casualties of the troops must not be small.

   "Comrade Brigadier," Guchakov asked tentatively seeing Sokov not speaking for a long time, "What should we do next?"

  Although there has been no movement on the ground, Sokov knew that his group of people could not stay here forever, otherwise, the soldiers of the guard company would suffer heavy losses if the enemy came to shell them. But at this moment, the surviving soldiers on the position must be in panic. If they saw a group of people approaching the position, they might shoot without any explanation. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, people must be sent to the position to communicate.

  He looked at the bomb crater, except for himself and Guchakov, there was only one unfamiliar soldier. Sokov would never hand over such an important task to an ordinary soldier casually, so he said to Guchakov: "Guchakov, you used to get in touch with the troops on the ground and said that we are going to pass. , tell them not to shoot."

   "Yes!" Guchakov agreed, stood up, handed the rifle in his hand to Sokov, then crawled out of the crater on hands and feet, and walked cautiously towards the position not far away.

Seeing Guchakov walking alone towards a position not far away, Samoilov turned over from another crater and asked Sukov curiously: "Comrade Brigadier, what is Corporal Guchakov doing?" gone?"

Sokov pointed forward with his hand and said: "Just now Guchakov reported to me that after the sneak attacking enemy retreated, the gunfire on our army's position continued for a long time. I guess it must be my own people and I started fighting myself, although it was already dawn at this moment, but they saw a troop appearing from a distance, even if they wore the same uniform as themselves, they might shoot, so I sent Guchakov to contact, To avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

   After waiting for more than ten minutes, Sokov suddenly saw Guchakov crawling out of the trench, standing up straight, and waving his hands desperately in this direction. Seeing this situation, Sokov knew that he must have explained the situation to the defenders, and even if he brought someone there, it would not cause any misunderstanding. Sokov stood up and said to Samoilov: "Let's go, Comrade Second Lieutenant, let's go over now."

   When Sokov led his men to the trenches, he could smell the choking gunpowder smoke mixed with a lingering strong smell of blood, which made him frown. He was eager to find the person in charge of the position and understand what happened, so he asked Guchakov, "Where is the commander?"

  A sergeant heard Sokov's question and quickly stepped forward and replied, "Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander. The Battalion Commander is injured and is receiving treatment in the basement."

   "Where are the rest of the commanders?" Sokov couldn't help but thumped in his heart when he learned that Briski was injured, and quickly asked, "Where are they all?"

  The sergeant looked around for a while, and then replied with some difficulty: "Comrade Brigadier, I think I should have the highest rank on the field. The rest of the commanders died in the battle last night."

"Nonsense, it's just nonsense." Sokov pointed Samoilov with his finger: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I will go to the command post to find out what's going on. You and your people will stay on the ground and assist defense."

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Samoilov quickly replied.

Sokov came to the command post and found that besides Briski, Bely, Yakov, Vanya and Cousteau were all there. exist. Sokov nodded to everyone, as if he was saying hello, and then asked bluntly: "Can any of you tell me what happened last night? I really didn't expect that I only left for one night, and this place was surrounded by you all." It made a mess."

   Facing Sokov's duties, everyone bowed their heads. After a while, Bely blushed and said to Sokov: "I'm sorry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, it's all my fault..."

"Comrade Colonel, how can you be blamed for this?" Cousteau interrupted before Bely finished speaking, and he said sadly: "The reason for the heavy casualties of the troops is entirely our responsibility. Comrade workers I don't have much combat experience, especially I don't know how to distinguish between the enemy and the enemy at night. As a result, the enemy didn't hit a few, and all the bullets hit our own people...”

  Sokov patiently listened to the speeches of several people, and confirmed that his guess was completely correct. He sat down and asked Yakov for a cigarette, and smoked silently. After finishing his cigarette, he raised his head and said to everyone: "Comrades, I am mainly responsible for this matter..."

   "Ah!" As soon as Sokov started speaking, Vanya and Cousteau couldn't help exclaiming, wondering how Sokov would take the responsibility on himself. But before they could speak, Sokov raised his hand to stop them, and said to himself: "The reason why I say that the responsibility lies with me is because I ignored that the workers did not have much combat experience, but let them fight with the fourth battalion. Soldiers stand firm together.

   During the day, everyone can see where the enemy is, and they know which direction to shoot the bullet. But at night, worker comrades who have little combat experience don't know how to distinguish between enemy and friend, and don't know where to shoot. I guess that during the battle, the worker comrades also acted very bravely, hoping to repel the enemy as soon as possible, but in the end they did bad things with good intentions and regarded their comrades as enemies.

  On the battlefield, the victory is not determined by who has more people, nor which side is more brave, but the overall coordination, especially the tacit understanding between the various troops, is the key to victory..."

   As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Briski appeared at the door. Seeing Sokov's appearance, he had an expression of surprise on his face, but his expression soon dimmed. He said dejectedly, "I'm sorry, Comrade Brigadier, I have let you down."

  Seeing Briski's bandaged left hand hanging in front of his chest, Sokov quickly stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder, and asked with concern, "Comrade Captain, is your injury all right?"

  Bliski raised his bloodless face, looked at Sokov with a grin, and tried to say in a calm tone, "It's nothing serious, it's just a shot, and it will be fine after a while."

   After supporting the other party to sit down, Sokov continued to ask: "How about the casualties of the troops?"

"Fifty-three people were killed in the battalion, and eighty-one people were injured." After Briski finished talking about the casualties in the battalion, he couldn't help but glanced at Cousteau secretly, and said in a low voice: "The casualties of comrade workers are also serious. almost."

"Comrade Captain, this incident of friendly accidental injury is completely a misunderstanding. It is caused by comrade workers who lack combat experience and don't know how to identify the enemy at night. I hope you don't blame them for this." Sokov worried about Bliss Because of this incident, the Foundation felt bad for the comrades at the Red October Factory, and specifically emphasized to him: "You must put this blood debt on the invaders of Faxi Temple and demand repayment from them."

"Captain Briski," Cousteau stood up and walked to Briski after listening to Sokov's speech, stretched out his hand to him, and said kindly, "Please accept my apology! We can continue to fight side by side and jointly fight against the Faxi Temple invaders.”

When the hands of the two were tightly held together, Sokov then issued an order: "Captain Vanya, from now on, your troops will take over the defense zone of the Fourth Battalion, and continue to stand firm with the workers. Remember After dark, let the comrade workers go back to the basement to rest, and your troops will be responsible for the security tasks at night. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Brigadier." Vanya stood up and replied loudly, "I assure you that similar things will never happen again."

"Comrade Brigadier," Seeing that Sokov only asked the first battalion to take over the defense area of ​​the fourth battalion, but did not assign any tasks to his regiment, Colonel Koida was a little impatient, and asked quickly: "I I want to ask, what is the mission of our regiment?"

   "Comrade Colonel," Sokov looked at Koida and said politely, "The task of your regiment is to rest. When necessary, I will assign tasks to you."

  (end of this chapter)