Chapter 631 Surprise

   Sokov was going to criticize Sidolin severely, but seeing Witkov take the initiative to take responsibility, it was hard to say anything more. In any case, the opponent is the deputy chief of staff of the group army, and now he is the acting deputy commander of the infantry brigade. During his absence from Mamayev Post, it is understandable for him to adjust his deployment according to the specific situation. matter.

He waved his hand at Vitkov, and said weakly: "Comrade Deputy Brigadier, I am not at Mamayev Post for a while, and you are responsible for the defense here. It is your responsibility to adjust the deployment. Let's call it a day."

   "What about the ammunition?" Sokov then asked.

"Comrade Brigadier," Sidolin said with a bitter face, "You know that our brigade is equipped with almost all German equipment, whether it is MG34 general-purpose machine gun or submachine gun, they all eat bullets. After many battles, tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition are consumed.”

  Hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but widen his eyes, and asked in surprise: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't you mean to tell me that our ammunition is almost exhausted?"

"It can be said that." This time it was Vitkov who answered the conversation, "As long as the Germans launch another attack after dawn, our people can only fight with them with bayonets." But he quickly added: "Fortunately, the enemy in front of us has been transferred away, which buys us more time."

"Comrade deputy brigade commander, you are too optimistic." How is the transportation on the Volga River? Sokov saw it with his own eyes this time. He doesn't think that the rear will send him the ammunition he needs for German weapons. "At present In such a situation, the ammunition we used could not be supplemented by even a single bullet from the rear except for the ammunition seized from the Germans."

   "So," after hearing what Sokov said, Vitkov immediately turned into a bitter face: "We really might have a bayonet fight with the Germans."

"If we don't get the supplement of German ammunition, fighting the enemy with bayonets is our only choice." Sukov considered that most of the commanders and fighters in the army are equipped with submachine guns. If they run out of bullets, there is no way. Fighting the bayonet with the enemy, he told Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, after the meeting is over, you immediately take the battalion commanders to get the Mosin Nagant rifles in the warehouse, so that they are ready to fight the enemy with the bayonet. "

  Hearing Sokov's arrangement, Sidolin still felt very heavy. From the establishment of the infantry brigade to the present, it has always been about using powerful firepower to destroy the enemy. Unexpectedly, it has now been reduced to the field of bayonet fighting with the enemy. But he knew in his heart that there was nothing he could do about it, so he nodded silently, expressing that he knew.

"Due to the weakness of the defenders on Mamayev Hill and the serious shortage of ammunition." Sokov continued: "I plan to transfer 800 people from the Marine Battalion to supplement the 192nd Battalion in the North Hill and the Second Battalion in the South Hill. The remaining troops, the first battalion, and the guard battalion were organized into brigade reserves, and they were put into battle when the situation was most critical."

"Comrade Brigadier," Sidolin heard that Sukov didn't mention the third and fourth battalions, thought he had forgotten, and quickly reminded him: "We still have the third and fourth battalions, so we won't replenish them. ?"

"The third battalion has enough troops now, and the fighting in the urban area is not too intense, so we don't have to consider supplementing them for the time being." Sokov explained: "As for the fourth battalion stationed at the Red October Factory, in addition to being able to In addition to the cooperation of the workers in the factory and the mixed regiment, there are also ten tanks as fixed turrets, and there is no need to supplement them."

  Sokov finally emphasized: "Defending Mamayev Post is our top priority. As long as the Germans are not allowed to occupy here, they will not be able to control the ferry on the Volga River and will not be able to separate our defense line..."

  Before he finished speaking, he saw someone walking in from the outside. After seeing clearly that it was Goria, the commander of the 192nd Battalion, Sokov pointed to the vacant seat next to him and said to him, "Comrade Captain, please sit down first, and we will start the meeting when everyone is here."

   Goria agreed, but did not sit down immediately, but reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, I sent someone to observe the situation on the river from the top of the hill, and found that there are troops crossing the river."

Sokov guessed that Bely and the others must have started crossing the river, and quickly asked: "How is the enemy's situation? Has their crossing been discovered?" The German spies discovered that if they were hit by another shell, they would not know how many people would be killed or injured.

Fortunately, Golia shook his head and replied: "The river bank is very quiet, there is no movement. I went to the top of the hill to see it myself, and I can see people patrolling on the bank. If the German spies don't approach the river, It is impossible to direct the shelling of their artillery."

   "That's good, that's great." Sokov said to himself that as long as Bely and the others don't be bombarded by the enemy when they cross the river, then more effective forces can enter the city to strengthen the defense of Mamayev Gang. "Because we have limited boats to cross the river, Colonel Bely and the others may need to go back and forth twice before they can all cross the river."

   "Do you need to send someone to meet them?" Witkov waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and asked tentatively: "It's dark outside, don't misunderstand with the defenders on the shore."

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Brigadier." Sokov waved his hand at Witkov and said, "Before I came here, I left Second Lieutenant Samoilov and his guard platoon on the shore. They are here , there is no need to worry that Colonel Bely and the others will find their way or have misunderstandings with friendly troops after they go ashore."

Seeing that Sokov had arranged everything, Vitkov didn't say anything, but Belkin, who had been silent all the time, spoke up: "Comrade brigade commander, yesterday the director of the brigade's political department, Dmitry, told me something. I think it's necessary to talk to you about it."

  Belkin's words immediately attracted everyone's attention. Seeing everyone's curious gazes at Sokov, Belkin coughed heavily and argued, "This matter has nothing to do with tonight's combat meeting, it's Comrade Brigadier's private matter."

   "My private affairs?" Belkin's words made Sokov confused. He looked at the other party and asked in bewilderment: "Comrade Comrade, what is it?"

"It's like this. Didn't we arrange for Assia to go to the Red October factory some time ago?" Belkin quickly explained: "At that time, the purpose of sending her was to let her take care of the wounded, and let her Go and take care of your life. Who knows that after she went there, because of the fierce fighting there, a steady stream of wounded were sent to the basement every day, making her so busy that she didn't even have time to rest..."

"Comrade political commissar, stop talking." Sukov figured out that Belkin wanted to tell him about Asiya, and quickly raised his hand to stop him: "Since Asiya is the health worker in the brigade, she is the one who takes care of the wounded." Comrade Commissar, you don’t have to feel guilty about this.”

   "You misunderstood me." Belkin waved his hand and continued: "What I want to tell you is not about taking care of the wounded, but her recent mental state is very bad."

   "Not in a good state of mind?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard this, and asked strangely, "Why is this happening? Could something have happened?"

Belkin looked at Sokov and nodded vigorously, and said in an affirmative tone: "Yes, when she heard that the troops you led were intercepted by the Germans in the Orlovka area, she fainted immediately. Although he was rescued later, his mental state was in a trance state. After the factory doctor checked, he said it was a mental illness, and there was no effective drug treatment."

Speaking of this, Belkin suddenly raised his voice: "It's all right now, Comrade Brigadier Commander, you have returned to Mamayev Post again, and I believe Assia's mental state will return to normal as long as she sees you of."

  When Belkin introduced the situation, Sokov kept scolding himself in his heart, and was so preoccupied with the war that he actually forgot about Assia. In order to keep it secret, I didn't even report to Chuikov about breaking out from Orlovka to the north, let alone other people. So much so that I returned to Mamayev Post, and the people in the brigade didn't know where I was.

   "It's all my fault." Sokov said a little ashamedly: "I will immediately arrange for people to bring Assia back."

"When Second Lieutenant Maxim called just now, I asked him to inform Briski that when he came to Mamayev for a meeting, remember to bring Asia with him." Belkin said to Sokov earnestly: " After Asia comes back, don't let her leave again, with you by her side, her mental state will soon return to normal."

"Comrade Commissar, you're right." For Belkin's proposal, Sokov had 10,000 approvals in his heart, and he secretly made up his mind that no matter what happened in the future, he would let Asya stay in Mamaye Fugang, we can't let her run around anymore. "I will let Asya stay in the health team on Mamayev Hill from now on, and I won't let her go anywhere."

   "That's right." Regarding Sokov's statement, Belkin nodded in satisfaction, and when he was about to say something more, the phone on the table rang without warning.

  Sidorin picked up the receiver and listened for a while, then passed it directly to Sokov, and said, "Comrade Brigadier, this is Commander Chuikov's call."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander!" Sokov took the microphone, put it close to his ear, and asked respectfully, "Do you have any instructions?"

   "Sokov, I heard that you have returned to Mamayev Post, so I called to confirm." Chuikov said in the microphone: "When are you free, come to my headquarters immediately!"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander. I can't go to your place yet." If Belkin hadn't mentioned the matter of Asya, maybe Sokov would have agreed to Chuikov immediately and rushed to the headquarters to meet him. As for the battle meeting, It's not too late to wait until he returns from the headquarters. But now he was eager to see Assia, so he said tactfully: "I just returned to Mamayev Post, and I want to call a meeting with the battalion commanders to rearrange the defense here. After all this is done, I'll go to your place again, okay?"

"Okay." Hearing that Sokov seemed to have a lot of things waiting to be dealt with, Cuikov couldn't force him, so he could only sigh and said helplessly, "Then, after you've finished dealing with your affairs, go to the headquarters immediately." Come."

   "Understood, Comrade Commander."

   Just as Sokov was about to put down the microphone, he suddenly heard Chuikov say again: "By the way, Comrade Sokov, there is one thing I almost forgot. Congratulations on winning the Order of the Red Banner and a higher military rank."

   "Thank you, thank you!"

  When Sokov put down the phone, he found that everyone in the room was looking at him with strange eyes, so he asked puzzledly, "What are you looking at me for?"

"Comrade Brigadier, you are hiding really deep." Sitting next to him, Vitkov first stretched out his hand to him, and said with a smile: "If the commander hadn't called you, we wouldn't have known you Received the Order of the Red Banner and promoted to military rank. Please accept my sincere congratulations."

When Sokov heard what Witkov said, he remembered that the phone was leaking. Every time he made a call, the person sitting next to him could almost clearly understand the content of the call. While shaking hands with Witkov, he said shyly: "I haven't had time to tell you this, I didn't expect Comrade Commander to call first..."

  After Sokov shook hands with all those who congratulated him, Witkov asked again: "Comrade Brigadier, since the commander asked you to go to the headquarters, when do you plan to go there?"

Naturally, Sokov would not tell the other party that he planned to go to the Army Group Command after meeting Asiya, but put on a serious look and said: "I just returned to Mamayev Post. Meet with my subordinates, learn about the situation of each battalion, and redeploy the defense. After all this is done, it will not be too late for me to go to the headquarters."

Vitkov has read countless people, and he couldn't see that Sokov's words were insincere, but he didn't expose him. Instead, he said very cooperatively: "That's right, that's right, Comrade Brigadier Commander, you left Mamayev Gang It’s been a long time, the situation here has changed a lot, and many of the original deployments do need to be adjusted.”

   After another half hour, someone came in and reported to Sokov, saying: "Comrade Brigadier, Colonel Bely is here!"

  Hearing that Bely was coming, Sokov felt inexplicably relieved in his heart. Since the other party could appear, it proved that he did not encounter any danger when crossing the river. Sokov stood up, and when he was about to go out, Bely had already stepped into the door first.

   "Colonel Bely, you are here!" Sokov walked towards Bely with a smile on his face, and at the same time asked, "Did you not encounter enemy shelling when you crossed the river?"

"No." Belei shook his head and said, "With your deployment on the shore, the enemy's spies will have no way to send a signal, so we can cross the river smoothly." Having said this, Belei suddenly lowered his voice to Sokov said, "Misha, I have a surprise for you."

   "Surprise?!" Sokov asked puzzledly: "Colonel Bely, what kind of surprise are you talking about?!"

  Biely smiled and said nothing, but turned his body to one side, exposing a person who was originally behind him. After seeing the person clearly, Sokov's smile froze on his face. After staring at the person for a long time, he said with some difficulty, "Asiya, it's you! Why are you here?"

  (end of this chapter)