Chapter 903 Enemy Night Attack (Part 1)

The troops have switched to defense, but whether the fortifications have been reinforced, whether minefields have been laid, and barbed wire fences have been erected. Regarding these specific tasks, Sokov is not satisfied with the reports of the heads of the regiments, but intends to take advantage of the night to check .

  The person in charge of protecting Sokov is still Lieutenant Samoilov of the guard battalion. When he saw Sokov, he asked directly: "Comrade commander, which regiment's position are you going to inspect?"

   "Go to the position of the 124th Regiment." Sokov said without explanation: "Their regiment's position is located in the middle of our division's defense area. It may become the focus of the German attack. Let's start patrolling defense from their regiment."

"Comrade Commander," but Samoilov suggested to Sokov after listening, "I think it's better to start from the 125th Regiment's defense area on the left flank, so that you can inspect from the left flank to the right flank, and you don't have to Go back."

  Sokov didn't understand in his heart that he had to inspect the defense area of ​​the 124th Regiment in the middle first, and then inspect the defense areas on the left and right wings. However, he was always worried about the 124th Regiment's defense area and worried about what might happen, so after Samoilov finished speaking, he shook his head and said, "The 124th Regiment's defense area is the most important area of ​​the division. Once something goes wrong, our defense line will be split by the enemy, and we will have to retreat back to Mamayev Post in despair."

Seeing Sokov's stubbornness, Samoilov sighed secretly, but on the surface he had to reply respectfully: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will **** you to the 124th Regiment's position. "

  Sokov came to the defense zone of the 124th Regiment, and Starcha, who had set up the regiment command post on the second line of defense, hurriedly greeted him. While shaking hands, he asked unexpectedly, "Comrade Commander, why are you here?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Sokov replied, "I'm here to check on your defenses."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Starcha quickly replied: "After I returned to the regiment, I ordered the soldiers to quickly repair the fortifications, set up minefields in front of the positions, and pulled up barbed wire. In a word, We have done all the preparations that need to be done. If you want to know more details, please feel free to come to the regiment command post, and I will ask the chief of staff of the regiment to 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 front to see it yourself."

   Starcha was stunned for a moment when he heard what Sokov said. He shook his head quickly and said, "No, Comrade Commander, absolutely not. You can't go to the front, it's too close to the enemy's position, and there is a possibility of danger at any time."

"The soldiers stay at the front and don't think it's dangerous. Why can't I, the division commander, go to the front." Sokov said impatiently: "Okay, comrade lieutenant colonel, explain the work to your chief of staff, and then Take me to the front, and I want to see your defense deployment."

"Okay, Comrade Commander." Sokov had already reached this point, and Starcha knew that it was useless to say anything else, so he could only bite the bullet and say: "I'll say hello to the Chief of Staff, and I will accompany you Let's go to the front together."

  While walking along the traffic trench, Sokov asked Starcha: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many sentries are usually on duty at night in the forward position?"

   "Generally there is a squad of troops." Starcha introduced to Sokov: "They are distributed in several positions in the position in a double-gang situation."

"No, the number of your sentries is too small." Sokov shook his head after hearing Starcha's words, and said, "When I was on Mamayev Post, because the possibility of the enemy's sneak attack was not high at night, one sentry It’s not a big deal for a squad to be on duty. But now you are only a few kilometers away from the enemy, and the defense front is so large, I think it is far from enough to rely on only one squad to be responsible for the security work at night.”

   "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: "Make sure that there are at least four soldiers at each duty point. In this way, even if the enemy gets into us by chance It is not so easy to kill our sentinels quietly."

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Starcha replied respectfully: "I will definitely arrange two more squads of soldiers to be on duty when I get to the battlefield later."

  The two were talking, and unknowingly walked into the forward position, but Sokov stopped unexpectedly. Seeing that Sokov was no longer moving forward, Starcha asked in surprise, "Comrade Commander..."

  Unexpectedly, he was stopped by the other party as soon as he called Sokov. Sokov looked left and right, and asked Starcha in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have all entered the forward position from the communication trench, why can't anyone see it?"

"I think the battalion commander may have forgotten to set up a sentry post in this direction." For Sokov's worries, Starcha felt that he was nervous, and he said disapprovingly: "I will see him later, I will Remind him."

   "Comrade commander, something is wrong." Samoilov, who had been following Sokov, suddenly stepped forward and said nervously, "I seem to smell blood nearby."

   "There's a smell of blood nearby?!" Starcha said with a sneer after hearing this, "Comrade Lieutenant, there was a fierce battle here during the day, so it's normal to smell the smell of blood?"

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Samoilov said coldly: "Do you think it's my first time on the battlefield, and I will confuse the **** smell produced in the battle with the smell I smell?"

Sokov didn't see the sentinel, so he felt that something must have happened. Hearing what Samoilov said, he quickly ordered him: "Lieutenant, take someone to search nearby immediately to find the smell of blood. origin of."

   Samoilov agreed, and then led a few soldiers along the trench and walked in the direction he chose. Less than two minutes later, a soldier ran over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the lieutenant asked me to come back and report to you: We found two corpses in the trench ahead, both of us." .”

   "Where is the corpse?" Sokov first cast a meaningful glance at Starcha, and then told the soldiers, "Hurry up and take us there."

  Led by the soldiers, Sokov and others came to the location of the corpse. Seeing Sokov's arrival, Samoilov hurried forward and reported: "Comrade commander, I have checked the wound, it should have been attacked more than ten minutes ago, a soldier was stabbed in the chest, another soldier's The neck was cut open. The enemy cut the throat and caused a lot of blood loss, which made the smell of blood permeate the air."

"Comrade Lieutenant," Starcia glanced at the two corpses lying in the trench, and found that their military uniforms had been stripped away, and they were only wearing a white hoodie. Love said: "Your nose is so good, you can smell blood from such a distance."

  Samoilov ignored Stalcha, but asked Sokov: "Comrade commander, what should we do next?"

   "Lieutenant Samoilov," Sokov did not answer directly, but asked instead: "If you killed these two soldiers, what would you do next?"

Regarding Sokov's question, Samoilov thought for a moment, and then replied unambiguously: "According to my judgment, the enemy who killed the sentinel should have come for reconnaissance. If they complete the reconnaissance mission at this moment, they will It is time to return to their position; if the task is not completed, it is possible to find a place to hide..."

"It's impossible." Stahl said unconvinced: "The Germans know that we found the body of the sentry, and they will definitely search for it. Why did they continue to stay in the position? I think they may have slipped back to their position. .” After the two finished speaking, they both turned their eyes to Sokov, wondering how he judged.

  Sokov felt a headache. The German soldiers who sneaked into the position not only killed their sentries, but also pulled off their uniforms. It is really difficult to judge whether the enemy has left or is hiding in the position now.

   It is a good thing that the enemy has left. But if they remained on the ground, when the battle broke out during the day, they only had to get close to the battalion command post and throw two grenades in it, which was enough to wipe out a battalion headquarters. At that time, without the unified command of the troops, they can only fight on their own, and there is no way to stop the enemy's attack.

   "Comrade Commander," Seeing Sokov's delay in speaking, Starcha was a little anxious, and quickly asked, "What shall we do next?"

   "Take us to the battalion headquarters." Sokov felt that if the enemy was really hiding in the position, he must get the support of the first battalion commander if he wanted to find them out. Then he said decisively: "We need the help of a battalion commander."

   Arriving near the battalion command post, Sokov asked Samoilov to lead someone to guard outside, and he and Starcha lifted the curtain and walked in. Upon entering the door, there were five or six people in the room, lying on the table or sitting in the corner, all sound asleep, unaware of Sokov's arrival.

Seeing this situation, Sokov couldn't help sneering twice, turned his head and said to Starcha: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the battalion command post on your forward position not only doesn't even have a sentry at the door, but the people in the command post Sleeping like a dead pig. Not to mention that the guard post on the position is killed, even if the enemy touches here, I am afraid they will not notice."

Starcha, who was criticized by Sokov, turned blue and red. He walked up behind an officer sleeping on the table, raised his hand and slapped him on the back of the head, and shouted angrily. : "Wake up quickly!"

The officer who was awakened from his sleep was originally full of anger, but when he saw clearly that the person who woke him up was the regimental commander Starcha, he quickly stood up and saluted, and stammered, "Regiment...comrade commander , you...how did you come here?"

   "I accompanied the division commander to inspect the defense," Starcha glared at the other party and said, "I came in and saw you sleeping. First battalion commander, I want you to give me a reasonable explanation."

After being reminded by Starcha, the first battalion commander found Sokov who was standing next to him, and quickly raised his hand to salute Sokov, and reported according to the regulations: "Comrade commander, the first battalion commander and battalion commander of the 124th Guards Regiment ..."

"Okay, okay." Before the other party could say his name, Sokov interrupted him with his hand, and asked bluntly, "I want to ask you, why is there no sentry at the gate of the battalion command post? Are you not afraid of being attacked by the enemy?"

  The first battalion commander waited for Sokov to finish speaking, grinned, and said confidently: "Comrade commander, look at what you said, the enemy is beaten into a mess by us during the day, how dare they come to us at night."

"Hmph!" Seeing that several other sleeping officers and soldiers in the command post were awakened, Sokov walked to the table and sat down, looked at a battalion commander and said, "Comrade battalion commander, you are so careless and careless." , I’m afraid that one day you will lose your life, and you won’t even know what happened.”

  A battalion commander heard something in Sokov's words, but for a moment he couldn't figure out what went wrong, so he turned his head and looked at Starcha, hoping to get an answer from him. Seeing a battalion commander looking at him, Starr said with a livid face, "We just found the bodies of two sentries on the way here. They were killed by the Germans not long ago."

  Starcia's words shocked the first battalion commander into a cold sweat. He raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and asked nervously: "Comrade commander, do you know where the guard post was killed by the enemy?"

"As soon as we entered the front from the traffic trench, my guard platoon leader smelled the smell of blood. He followed the smell and found the bodies of two sentries who were killed in the trench." Sokov was eager to catch the German soldiers who killed the sentries. , and did not want to pursue the responsibility of the first battalion commander, but said directly: "Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and I are here because we hope you will help us catch the Germans who sneaked into our army's position."

   "Comrade Commander," the first battalion commander straightened his body and asked, "What should I do?"

"You have too few troops for night duty." Stalcha rushed ahead of Sokov and said, "Take two more squads to participate in tonight's duty, and make sure that each duty point has no less than Four soldiers, so even if the enemy sneaks into our position, it will not be easy to kill our sentry." When Sukov said this, he didn't take it seriously, and when he saw the sentry's body, It was only then that I realized how farsighted Sokov was, so when I assigned a task to the first battalion commander, I instinctively repeated these words.

"Comrade Major," Sokov waited for Starcha to finish speaking, and then added: "After the work of strengthening the guard posts is completed, we will call for several company commanders. We need them to help us identify those who have infiltrated into our army. enemy."

   "Identify the enemy who has infiltrated into our army?!" The first battalion commander looked at Sokov with a confused face, and asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, how do we identify it?"

"The army has recently recruited a lot of new recruits. We must not be able to recognize them. But because we can't recognize them, it doesn't mean that no one knows how to recognize them." Sokov explained to the first battalion commander and also to Starcha: "However, the company commanders and platoon leaders of each company are much more familiar with the situation of the soldiers than we are. With their cooperation, I think the hidden enemy can be found out soon."

Starcha saw that after Sokov finished speaking, the first battalion commander was still standing there in a daze, so he raised his hand and pushed him, urging him: "Okay, comrade major, don't be in a daze, hurry up and execute the division commander's order." .”

  (end of this chapter)