Chapter 865 Warrior Zuminte

  Sokov knew that Chuikov was joking, smiled slightly, and then asked important things: "Comrade Commander, after the superiors added these four battalions to us, did they formulate a counterattack plan or proceed as scheduled?"

"It goes without saying." Chuikov replied unequivocally, "If the superior doesn't plan to let you fight back, how could it be possible to add four battalions to you for the first time? You know, we have been notified a long time ago. We won't get any reinforcements until the counteroffensive is clear."

  Seeing that his superiors entrusted him with such an important task, Sokov felt the heavy responsibility on his shoulders. He was silent for a moment and asked, "Comrade Commander, can we get artillery and air support before we attack?"

"I think there should be no problem." Chuikov said: "The artillery of the group army is deployed on the east bank. They have artillery observers on Mamayev Post. They can indicate the artillery targets on the other side before you attack. As for As for the air force, it’s hard to say, after all, I have no right to command the air force.”

  Before Sokov asked Chuikov the question, he had no extravagant hope of receiving support from the air force. After all, out of overall considerations, the base camp would definitely use the air force in areas where the battle with the enemy was most intense. But it didn't matter if there was no air force at that time, presumably the enemy would not be able to draw air force to stop his own attack. "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will attack the enemy on time."

Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Ivanov asked with some concern: "Comrade commander, you are too reckless, and you didn't ask the newly transferred reserve team whether they were recruits or veterans, and what kind of technical equipment they had. Promise the commander to launch a counterattack as planned. I'm worried..."

"What are you worried about, Comrade Deputy Division Commander?" Sokov interrupted Ivanov without waiting for him to finish, "Could it be that given that we are all recruits, we can't beat the Germans? Without adequate technical equipment, can we not break through the enemy's defenses?"

"Don't you have confidence in our commanders?" Sokov finished his sentence, and before Ivanov could answer, he asked himself and said, "Anyway, I have confidence in them, and I believe they will succeed." Break through the defenses of the German army and successfully complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors."

   "Comrade commander, since you are so confident, we might as well study the counterattack plan again." Sidolin suggested to Sukov: "See if there is anything that needs to be improved."

"Let's study it again." Sokov agreed with Sidolin's proposal. After all, the enemy's situation has changed, and he will be under his command next. It will be an unfamiliar army, and all possible disadvantages must be eliminated. All considered.

  While the three were studying the counterattack plan, Seryosha came in from the outside and reported to Sokov: "Comrade commander, there is a lieutenant colonel Yakubov outside who wants to see you."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov?!" After listening to Seryozha's report, Sokov turned to Sidolin and Ivanov and asked, "Do you know which unit this commander belongs to?"

  Both Sidolin and Ivanov heard this name for the first time. Naturally, they didn't know which army the other party was from, so they shook their heads neatly: "I don't know, this is the first time I heard this name."

  "Lieutenant Seryozha," Seeing that neither Sidolin nor Ivanov knew him, Sokov looked back at Seryozha and asked, "Did he say which army he belongs to?"

   Serezha frowned and thought for a while, then replied: "He said that he is the head of the reserve regiment under the Front Army, and he was ordered to come to reinforce Mamayev Post."

  As soon as Seryozha said the number of the reserve team, Sidolin immediately reminded Sokov from the side: "Comrade commander, could it be the reinforcements from the east bank?"

   "Didn't Comrade Commander say that the troops on the other side cannot come over until the bridge on the ice is built?" Sokov said to himself, "How did they come so quickly?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant," Ivanov said impatiently, he couldn't wait to ask Seryozha: "Where is that lieutenant colonel, and how many people did he bring?"

"I just received a call from the soldiers on duty outside, saying that Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov of the reserve regiment wants to see you." Seryosha looked at Sokov and said, "He is now in Mamayev Outside the post, there was only one guard with him."

In order to find out what was going on, Sokov quickly ordered Sergey Sha: "Sergesha, you immediately call the soldiers on duty outside and ask them to let Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov in... No, no need to call, You go out and invite them in yourself."

   Serezha promised, and ran out of the headquarters quickly. Ivanov asked curiously: "It's strange, why did the commander of the reserve team come so quickly? Could it be that the bridge on the ice has already been erected?"

"Probably not yet." Sokov shook his head and said, "Comrade Deputy Commander, you didn't hear Lieutenant Seryozha just now, that Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov had only one guard with him. I guess , They must have used some special means of transportation to get here from the east bank smoothly."

   A few minutes later, Seryozha walked into the headquarters with a lieutenant colonel wearing a fur cap and a khaki short fur coat. Seeing Sokov standing by the table, the lieutenant colonel hurried forward to stand at attention and saluted, and said: "Report to Comrade Commander, the head of the reserve regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov, is here to report to you. established contact."

"Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov!" Sokov raised his hand to return the salute, reached out to hold the opponent's hand, and said friendlyly with a smile: "Welcome to Mamayev Post!" Then he greeted the opponent Sidolin and Ivanov are introduced.

After Ivanov and Yakubov shook hands, he inadvertently glanced at the soldiers brought by Yakubov standing at the door, and then showed a surprised expression on his face: "My God, this Isn't it Captain Zuminte? Is it your ghost that I saw, or your real person."

  The soldier standing upright at the door couldn't help being taken aback when he heard someone calling his name. When he saw the person talking to him clearly, he exclaimed suddenly: "It's Lieutenant Colonel Ivanov... No, I should call you Colonel Ivanov. I really didn't expect to see you here .”

Ivanov stepped forward to give the other party a warm hug, patted the other party's back vigorously with his hands, and said excitedly: "Captain Zuminte, I really didn't expect to see you here. I thought you had sacrificed a long time ago." When Ivanov said this, he suddenly realized that something was wrong, and quickly let go of the other party, stepped back two steps, and after carefully looking at Zuminte, he was puzzled. Ask, "Lieutenant Zuminte, why are you wearing a soldier's uniform?"

Hearing Ivanov's question, Yakubov, who was talking to Sokov, replied with embarrassment: "Comrade deputy commander, please listen to my explanation. Zuminte was once captured by the Germans. After escaping from the prisoner-of-war camp, I was sent to the punishment camp again. This time, to launch a counterattack against the enemy, the higher-ups transferred some troops from the punishment camp and added them to my reserve regiment. Comrade Zuminte became like this my subordinates."

   "Comrade Deputy Commander," Sokov saw that Ivanov seemed to be very familiar with Zuminte, so he stepped forward and asked curiously, "Do you know this Comrade Zuminte?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Ivanov nodded at Sokov and replied, "Before the war, when I was the regiment commander, Captain Zumint was the best battalion commander in my regiment. Later, his superiors transferred him to the 172nd Infantry Division of General Romanov as the deputy head of the regiment. Unexpectedly, two years later, he is no longer an officer, but just an ordinary soldier. It's too hard for me to accept."

Sokov had a general understanding of the matter from the few people's words, but in order to find out the ins and outs, he first asked everyone to sit down, and then asked Zuminte with a pleasant face: "Comrade Zuminte, can you send your Can you tell us about your experience?"

  Zu Mingte was quite worried when he saw that he had been a prisoner of war and was found out by the new division leaders. But seeing Sokov's kind attitude at this moment, he felt more at ease, and he boldly told everyone about his experience: "After the war broke out, my 172nd Infantry Division was transferred to Mogilio, Belarus. Husband, responsible for the defense of the city....In the face of the enemy's ferocious attack, we persisted for fourteen days, and were forced to abandon the city and retreat until we ran out of ammunition and food....During the retreat, we fought against a superior German armored force Encountered, after a fierce battle, the troops were scattered, and I was captured because of my wounds..."

   "Where is General Romanov?" Hearing this, Sokov suddenly remembered that he seemed to have heard some deeds of the Soviet commander, and asked quickly, "Is he also captured by the Germans?"

   "Impossible." Without waiting for Zumint to answer, Ivanov rushed to say: "I know General Romanov. Even if he dies, he will never be a prisoner of the Germans."

"Comrade Commander, you guessed right." Unexpectedly, just after Ivanov finished speaking, Zumint nodded vigorously at Sokov, and then said: "When I am taken to a prisoner-of-war camp, Only to find out that Commander Romanov was also captured because of his wounds."

Hearing this, Ivanov muttered dissatisfiedly: "Are you making a mistake? I heard from my comrades some time ago that General Romanov is now commanding a guerrilla in Belarus, fighting tenaciously with the enemy. If he is captured, how is it possible to command guerrillas to fight behind enemy lines?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Ivanov, I'm not talking nonsense. General Romanov was indeed captured by the enemy." Seeing Ivanov's bewildered expression, Zumin explained to him: "The general's injury has improved. After that, they organized the prisoners of war to rush out of the prisoner-of-war camp while the enemy was not guarding them strictly. After we escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp, the enemy immediately chased after me. I was separated from General Romanov on the way to escape..."

"It turns out to be like this." After figuring out how Zumint was captured and escaped from danger, Sokov turned to Yakubov and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let's put aside the matter of Zumint for now, let's talk about it first." Talk about your troops. Let me ask you, how many people are there in your reserve regiment now?"

"Report to Comrade Division Commander." Yakubov replied respectfully: "There are four battalions in the whole regiment, all of which are reinforced battalions. Each battalion has 800 soldiers. In addition to some troops directly under the regiment, the total strength is 3,000." Five hundred people."

Hearing the number of 3,500 men, Sokov couldn't help raising his eyebrows. He thought that for the so-called full infantry battalion, a battalion with 400 men would be good, but he didn't expect Yelyomenko's handwriting. With such a large size, all he was given was a super-strength reinforcement battalion, so his chances of succeeding in counterattack seemed to increase again.

   After a short pause, Sokov asked again: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are your regiment veterans or recruits?"

   "The fourth battalion is newly recruited recruits." Yakubov continued to answer: "As for the other three regiments, they are basically composed of veterans and fighters from the punishment battalion, and their combat effectiveness is not bad."

After Sokov asked a few more questions that he was interested in, he nodded with a smile and said to Yakubov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, for the convenience of command, when your troops cross the river, I will break them up and organize them separately. into the existing four regiments. You have no objection?"

Regarding Sokov's plan to dismantle his regiment, Yakubov had ten thousand reluctances in his heart, but facing his new leader, he could only bite the bullet and replied with a smile: "Mr. Comrade, I have no different opinions." Opinion, I firmly obey your orders."

   "By the way, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have one more important thing to ask you." Sokov asked Yakubov curiously: "How did you cross the river?"

   "The superior gave us three automatic sleds," Yakubov quickly replied, "We crossed the river on automatic sleds."

"Each automatic sled can hold two people, and three cars equals six people." Sokov remembered that Sergey had said that there was only one guard by Yakubov's side during his report, and asked in amazement: "Where are the rest?"

"Comrade commander, you don't know that the ice on the river can be thick or thin, so it is not possible to pass anywhere." Hearing Sokov's question, Yakubov replied with a wry smile: "The other two sledges are on the road. When crossing the river, unfortunately, they all fell into the water because the ice broke."

   "Where are the soldiers on it?" Hearing that the automatic sled fell into the water while crossing the river, Sokov hurriedly asked, "Are they all right?"

"Mr. Commander, thank you for your concern. They are all fine." Seeing Sokov's concern for his subordinates, Yakubov was quite moved. He quickly replied, "They all climbed onto the ice in time." face, and headed back to the other side."

"One more thing." Sokov pointed to Zumint and said to Yakubov: "My deputy division commander just said that Comrade Zumint was an excellent battalion commander. Now the division commander The commanders at the grassroots level have been seriously downsized during the battle, I plan to let him serve as a battalion commander, you have no problem, right?"

  (end of this chapter)