On the day when the vehicle transporting the injured left, Sokov received a call from Trekov himself: "Col. Sokov, I have an important thing to ask you."
Although Sokov didn't know what was going on, since it was the call from Cui Kov himself, it proved that the matter was very important. He asked quickly: "Comrade Commander, please give orders."
"You should have known that my former chief of staff General Krelov is going to be the commander of the 21st Army, right?"
"Yes, comrade Commander, I already know." Cuikov remembered that on the phone a few days ago, he mentioned that Krelov was about to pass through his defense zone and rushed to the headquarters of the 21st Army to take office: "In addition to General Krelov as the commander of the army, I also knew that Major General Vasiliev would become his deputy and serve as the military committee member of the army."
"Yes, your information is very accurate." Cuikov said casually and then said, "They will pass through your division's defense zone at 2 pm. I hope you can send someone to escort them and keep them safe. How about it, can you do it?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Learning that Cuikov called him to send someone to protect the safety of Krelov and Vasilyev, Sokov quickly replied loudly: "I will definitely protect their safety."
"Col. Sokov, although the Luhansk area is the defense area of ​​your division, you cannot take it lightly." Cuikov reminded Sokov on the phone: "But there must be still lurking German troops nearby. You must be vigilant and never let Colonel Ivanov's tragedy happen again."
Ivanov's sacrifice was a huge shame for the 41st Guards Division. Hearing Trikov mention this, Sokov felt the blood vessels on his head rushing. After taking a deep breath, he replied: "I will send the most capable troops to protect the two generals Krelov and Vasiliev and ensure their personal safety."
After hanging up the phone, Sokov said to Cydolin: "Chief of Staff, the commander just said on the phone that General Krelov and General Vasiliev will pass through the defense zone of our division at 2 pm and immediately send capable people to protect the road."
"The defense zone of the 124th Guards Regiment is closest to the transit highway." Sidorin suggested to Sokov: "I see a call to Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and ask him to send two companies to carry out alert tasks on the way to ensure the safety of the two generals."
After the replenishment of troops, each regiment had very sufficient strength. The two companies had about 500 people, which was equivalent to a battalion of other divisions. Using such forces as guarding should ensure safety. Sokov nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, assign tasks to Lieutenant Colonel Starcha and let him arrange personnel to carry out warning tasks."
Cidolin quickly called the 124th Guards Regiment command post and the person who was answering the phone said: "I am Lieutenant Colonel Cidolin, Chief of Staff, let Lieutenant Colonel Starcha speak."
The voice of Starcha soon came from the receiver: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff! I am Lieutenant Colonel Starcha. Do you have any orders?"
"That's right, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Cidolin said bluntly: "At 2 pm, General Krelov and General Vasiliev's convoy will pass through this transit road controlled by your regiment. You immediately send two companies there to carry out vigilance to ensure the safety of the generals. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." Lieutenant Colonel Starcha replied readily: "I will immediately send two companies to rush over and set up alerts on the road to ensure that the generals' convoy passes smoothly."
Thinking of Trekov's reminder to him, Sokov hurriedly walked over and took the microphone and told Starcha: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, before the convoy arrives, you should send someone to search nearby to prevent enemies from hiding nearby. Remember, you must not let the tragedy of the deputy division commander repeat again."
Although Starcha is now Sokov's subordinate, before, he was Ivanov's old subordinate. Ivanov's sacrifice made him very sad. At this moment, when Sokov mentioned Ivanov's incident, he quickly patted his chest and promised: "Don't worry, comrade Commander, if I can't ensure that the two generals pass through the defense zone of our regiment smoothly, you will send me to the military court."
"Finish the mission well, don't think about any military court." Sokov said to the microphone: "I hope each of you can live to see the day of victory."
…………
Just as Starcha mobilized his troops and prepared to go to the transit road to perform a warning mission, the convoys where Krelov and Vasiliev were already approaching this area.
Vasiliev, who was sitting next to Krelov, smiled and said, "Comrade Commander, the weather is good today and the road is smooth. I guess we will be able to reach the headquarters before dark."
"I hope so." Krelov spoke while looking out through the window glass: "Although this place is close to the Sokov division's defense zone, we still have to be vigilant, because there are some places where the enemy's stragglers are hidden."
"Comrade Commander, you are too nervous." Then Vasiliev disagreed with Krelov's caution: "Now the enemy has fled to the opposite bank of the Dnieper River under the heavy blow of our Voronezh Front and the Southwest Front. How could it appear here?"
"Military Comrade, you can't be careless." Seeing Vasiliev looking indifferent, Krelov specifically reminded him: "Col. Ivanov, the deputy commander of the 41st Division of the Guards, was killed by an enemy sniper not far from here."
"Comrade Commander, I know what you said very well." Vasiliev said: "At that time, the 41st Guards Division had not yet entered Lugansk. There was only one company of defenders in the city. It was difficult to maintain order in the city, so there was no need to worry about clearing out the enemies outside the city. But now the 41st Guards Division has moved into the city and has built fortifications nearby. I am afraid that the enemies hidden nearby have fled long ago when they heard the news."
The two were talking in the car when they suddenly heard a crisp sound from outside. Krelov frowned and asked the adjutant sitting in the passenger seat alertly: "What's going on? What's the noise outside?"
"It seems like a whip sounds," the adjutant said thoughtfully as he looked outside, "Maybe someone is driving a carriage nearby."
"Damn, we haven't seen anyone along the way, so there will be no carriage." Krelov realized something was wrong and quickly ordered the adjutant, "Send a signal immediately to stop all the cars."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of the car window glass, and then a bullet that flew in from outside the window shattered the window glass, penetrated into the adjutant's forehead, and flew out from the back of his head with blood foam. The splash of blood spilled Krelov and Vasiliev's faces.
"No, it's a sniper!" Although Krelov was almost always in the command during the entire Stalingrad defense battle, it doesn't mean he doesn't understand what the German sniper is like. He pushed open the car door on the left and shouted, "Jump out!" Then he jumped out, rolled two times on the snow-covered road, and hid behind a snow pile.
The drivers of the vehicles in front and behind heard the sudden sound of gunfire and knew that they had encountered the enemy, they stopped by the roadside. The commanders and soldiers in the car immediately jumped out of the car and used the carriage or snow piles as cover to fight back to the position where the enemy sniper might be hidden. Countless bullets hit the snow on the side of the road, boiling like a pot.
Seeing that his whereabouts were discovered by the Soviet army, two German soldiers hiding behind the snow pile by the road stood up and picked up their weapons to shoot at the Soviet army. However, as soon as they fired a shot, they were shot into a sieve and fell on the snow on their backs. The blood from the flowing out dyed the snow-white snow red.
Although the accompanying guards used powerful firepower to suppress the German hiding place, the enemy sniper did not seem to be hiding there. He was still shooting slowly. Every shot would be a soldier who was shot down, some were shot in the head and some were shot in the abdomen.
Hiding behind the snow pile, Krelov looked nervously at the snow opposite, trying hard to find the place where the German snipers were hiding, but unfortunately, he only saw a vast white snow and could not see the enemy's hiding place.
After killing more than a dozen Soviet soldiers, the German snipers locked the target of the attack on the jeep parked between two trucks. He felt that the vehicle escorted by so many people must be an important task for the Soviet army. He noticed that there were at least two or three people on the other side of the jeep, but due to the jeep's obstruction, his bullet could not hit the person on the other side.
In order to achieve better results, he stopped sniping at ordinary soldiers, but instead aimed the muzzle at the jeep and quietly waited for the appearance of important targets. After waiting for about two or three minutes, the Soviet army's shooting on the snow stopped, and the surroundings suddenly became quiet. The sniper hiding in the snow did not move, while the Soviet commanders and soldiers hiding behind the truck or snow piles also stayed silently, and the two sides fell into a silent stalemate.
A few minutes later, a man wearing a steel helmet slowly poked his head out to see clearly what was going on outside. The German sniper immediately pulled the trigger without hesitation. The man who had just revealed his head fell to the ground immediately and fell on his back to the snow.
After the gunshot, everything returned to peace. No one showed up behind the jeep, and the soldiers who were on guard did not find the specific position of the sniper, nor did they shoot blindly like they did just now.
Time passed by minute by minute, and both sides were competing for patience to see who couldn't hold on. The German sniper remembered that he had a fire bomb, and quietly replaced an ordinary bullet with a fire bomb, aimed at the fuel tank of the jeep and fired a shot. The fire bomb just hit the fuel tank, and the entire jeep was blown into a fireball. After a moment, a man covered in fire stumbled out of the jeep. Seeing this, the German sniper immediately fired a shot at the running fireman and knocked him to the snow.
As the Fireman fell, the sharp-eyed soldier finally found the hiding position of the German sniper. He pointed with his hand and shouted loudly: "The German sniper is hiding in the snow pile under the tree." After that, he held the Bobosha submachine gun in his hand, aimed at that direction and suddenly shot.
The German sniper who was found hiding in the place had no time to transfer his position, and was beaten into flesh and blood by the storm-like bullets. Seeing the blood that was oozing out quickly from the snow, everyone understood that there were indeed people hiding there. In order to avenge their sacrificed comrades, some soldiers changed into new drums after playing a drum, and continued to aim and shoot.
The troops ordered to serve as the guard were commanded by Major Mishiga, the commander of the Third Battalion of the 124th Regiment of the Guards. He heard the gunshots from afar and screamed in his heart. Then he called his younger brother Vovga and said to him: "Listen to the gunshots, it should be the convoys of General Krelov and General Vasiliev, and the enemy's straitors. In this way, you take two platoons and detours from the forest. I take the rest of the people and rush to support along the road."
When Mixiga arrived at the battle site, the battle was over.
After he asked the troops to set up alerts, he came to Krelov and straightened his body and reported: "Comrade General, I am Major Mishiga, the commander of the Third Battalion of the 124th Regiment of the Guards. I am ordered to come here to protect your safety."
"Why are you here until now?" Krelov looked down at the row of corpses covered with white camouflage and asked gritted teeth: "Don't you say you should be on guard here at twelve o'clock?"
"Comrade General," Mixiga immediately cried out when he heard Krelov say this: "But the order we received was to arrange defense at 2 pm. I have arrived more than an hour in advance."
After hearing Mixiga's explanation, Krelov immediately realized that he had misunderstood the other party. It might be that the message from above was passed incorrectly and said twelve o'clock to two o'clock in the afternoon, which led to the tragedy.
"Comrade General," Mixiga continued to see that Krelov did not speak, "I have ordered my brother to bring two platoons into the forest to search for enemies that might be hidden inside."
"Can he find it?"
"Don't worry, comrade General." Mixiga explained to Krelov: "We were still guerrillas not long ago. It is our secret skill to search for hidden enemies in the forest. Look, as long as there are enemies in the forest, my brother will definitely be able to pull them out a lot."
"That's good." Krelov said gritting his teeth: "I want these damn Germans to pay their lives to the sacrificed comrades."
"Comrade General," Mixiga saw nearly thirty bodies covered with white camouflage on the ground, and asked in fear: "Has any important person sacrificed?"
Krelov replied in a heavy mood: "My military commissioner, General Vasiliev, died."
"What, General Vasiliev was sacrificed." Mixiga was frightened by Krelov's words. The task he accepted was to protect the safety of Krelov and Vasiliev. Although Krelov is still fine now, Vasiliev was sacrificed. For a moment, he was in a mess and didn't know how to report to Lieutenant Colonel Starcha after he returned.
"Comrade Major," a soldier ran out of the forest, and he reported to Mishiga: "We caught five German soldiers in the forest, and the deputy battalion commander asked for instructions, what should we do with them?"
"Shoot, shoot all these damn Germans." Cleveland roared: "Let them avenge our sacrificed warriors."
Chapter completed!