Two days later, Sokov led a group of forty officers at all levels and Selyosau's guard company to form a convoy of five jeeps and eight trucks, heading towards the direction of the grassland front.
Before departure, Sokov summoned all the officers and soldiers who accompanied him and said to them: "Comrades, from now on, we will no longer be part of the Sixth Army. We are about to go to a new force and accept new combat missions.
Our current location is more than 1,600 kilometers away from our destination. Even if we take a bus, it may take three or four days. Although most areas along the way are within the control of our army, no one can guarantee whether they will encounter small enemy troops along the way. Therefore, the guard company responsible for the protection work must be vigilant at any time to avoid being attacked by the enemy."
After Sokov finished speaking, he ordered the commanders and fighters to get on the bus. While the commanders and fighters got on the bus, he called Selyosha aside and said to him: "Shelyosha, I think you have heard what I just said. This time, it is not peaceful to go to the grassland front. Everyone is safe, but I hope you will be in the company."
"Don't worry, Misha." Seriosha said carelessly: "Along the way, we are controlled by our army. Even if there are small German troops, as long as we persist for a while, the reinforcements around us can come to support us."
After receiving Selyosha's promise, Sokov felt much more at ease. When he returned to the car, he said to Belkin, who had been sitting in the car for a long time: "My political commissar, this time I went to the new army, and we two can partner again."
Hearing Sokov say this, Belkin grinned and replied, "Misha, I think I am still suitable to be a military chief and command the troops to fight. As for political cadres, let General Konev assign you another assignment."
After the convoy set off, Belkin suddenly asked again: "Misa, I'm very curious, why did you think of going to other troops?"
Sokov stared at Belkin, his mind was rotating at high speed. He thought about what reasons to use to answer Belkin's question. After thinking for a while, he spoke, "Comrade Belkin, you should know that the tactics I used on the battlefield are different from other commanders."
Belkin nodded, then said encouragemently: "Speak."
"The reason why my infantry brigade was able to last for so long on Mamayev's post was entirely because I mastered the tactics I used," Sokov said. "But since I merged with the 41st Guards Division, many of my tactics have been difficult to implement on the battlefield."
"Misha, you're right." Belkin nodded in agreement when he heard this: "Because the troops are busy fighting every day and have no time to train, let alone implement your tactics in every company."
"I served as the commander of the Sixth Army not long ago, but the troops who can obey my command are only the 41st, 67th, 71st and 75th Divisions of the Guards." Sokov continued: "The commanders of these divisions once fought side by side with me, and knew what role my tactics played on the battlefield. The new troops were obscene to my orders, and they had been here for a lot of time and lacked coordination between each other. Therefore, the troops under the army had increased, but their combat effectiveness was not significantly improved.
The reason I asked to go to General Konev's grassland front was because the army had just been formed and it took a long time to train for combat." Sokov said: "Now the war on the front line of the Red Army village, Donetsk, has basically stopped. Whether I am here or not, it will not have much impact on the enemy and me.
On the contrary, if I get to the new army at this moment, I teach my tactics to the new commanders and fighters who join the army. They can learn my tactics subtly in their daily training and use them naturally in battle."
After Sokov's explanation, Belkin finally understood the reason why Sokov took the initiative to ask for the Grassland Front. He nodded and said, "Misha, you have considered it very comprehensively. If you want to implement your tactics into the army, it is best to start with the training of recruits. Our previous troops were veterans who had participated in many battles, and they were used to using the old tactics in the past. We had to fight every day and had no time to train them, so even if they became your subordinates, they would probably not be able to improve their combat effectiveness."
For safety reasons, Sokov ordered the convoy to park in a small town with friendly troops stationed here. As long as there were troops stationed here, it would be relatively small to be attacked by the German army.
Selyosha kept Sokov's advice in mind. Although he knew that there was a company of friendly troops stationed in the town, for safety reasons, he still laid double posts around the camp, and there were two eight-person patrols patrolling around the camp.
No words all night.
When Sokov got up the next day and learned that he was safe and sound at night, he couldn't help but feel relieved. You know, the forty commanders who took office with him this time all had rich combat and command experience. If there were any mistakes on the road and one or two casualties were casualties, then Sokov's heart would be bleeding.
Before the troops set out again, Sokov called Selyosha and said to him: "Shelyosha, the area in front was half a month ago, and it was still occupied by the German army. You send a car to explore the way forward. If there is any situation, you can promptly inform the rear."
"Okay," Selyosha quickly agreed, "I send a truck to open the road in front. Even if I encounter a small group of enemies, they can handle it."
The convoy set out, and Selyosha sent a truck to open the road and drove two kilometers ahead of the entire convoy.
Less than five kilometers away, the second lieutenant sitting in the passenger seat saw a tree falling on the road ahead, blocking the road tightly. He quickly ordered the driver to stop, opened the door casually, and rushed to the warrior standing on the pedal to rush into the carriage, shouting: "Machine gun, beware, there may be enemies nearby."
The machine gunner sitting in the car heard the lieutenant's shout and quickly agreed and put the machine gun on the top of the bridge. Unexpectedly, as soon as the machine gun was installed, a bullet flew out of the forest on the side of the road, drilled into his temple on his right, and flew out from his left temple with blood foam. The machine gunner's body paused for a few seconds and then slid into the car.
"Enemy attack, enemy attack!" Seeing that his comrade was killed by a bullet, the soldiers in the car immediately understood that in the forest on the roadside, they hurriedly held the weapons in their hands and shot randomly in the direction where the bullets might have flew.
But as soon as their gunshots stopped, another bullet flew out of the forest and hit the lieutenant standing on the pedal. The lieutenant held his chest, shook his body a few times, and then rolled out of the car with a thud.
Seeing that the lieutenant was shot and fell down, the soldiers in the car didn't care about checking his life and death, so they let the baffle go, jumped out of the car, rushed into the forest in groups with weapons, and went to find enemies hiding inside and fifteen to fire cold guns.
The convoy following behind stopped immediately when he heard the sudden sound of gunfire in front of him. Sokov listened for a moment, then ordered people to call Selyosha and asked, "Shelyosha, what happened before?"
Selyosha quickly reported: "It seems that he was near the enemy."
"Captain," Belkin said to Selyosha: "I listened carefully. It was basically our army who was shooting, but the enemy did not seem to have fought back. According to my estimate, the enemy's snipers could be attacked."
"What, is it a sniper?" Seryosha was shocked and sweated in a cold sweat when he heard Berkin say this. He clearly remembered that two months ago, Colonel Ivanov, deputy commander of the 41st Guard Division, unfortunately died when he encountered German snipers. Now Sokov and a group of outstanding commanders of the Guard Division are here. If the snipers touched it and beat one or two of them to death, the problem would be serious at that time.
Thinking of this, Selyosha quickly ordered two platoons of troops to set up cordons on both sides of the highway, and he led two guard squads to reinforce the attacked vanguard.
The commander who stayed here to command was Lieutenant Samoilov. Based on his rich experience, he knew clearly that if the cordon was only placed on the edge of the road, the German snipers hiding in the forest could still attack the target calmly. So he ordered a group of five people to advance deep into the forest, and at least one hundred and fifty meters away from the road. In this way, the German snipers had to retreat to the depths of the forest. As long as the distance was far, the sniper effect would be greatly reduced.
The convoy was attacked by two German snipers, one of whom killed the machine gunner and the second lieutenant in the car, in order to attract the attention of the Soviet army, so as to cover another companion and kill important targets on the vehicle behind.
But what the German sniper did not expect was that a Soviet lieutenant actually ordered the soldiers who served as guards to search and advance in the depths of the forest in groups of five people. In order to prevent the traces from being discovered, the German sniper could only retreat step by step to the depths of the forest. He found a suitable location, observed the distance between himself and the road, and found that it had exceeded 400 meters. Moreover, there were many trees in the middle. Even if he saw the target, the chance of shooting and hitting the target was outrageously low.
After weighing the interests, he felt that there was no need to use his life, but he carried out a sniper operation with almost zero success rate. Therefore, he came out of his hiding place and ran towards the deeper part of the forest with a gun.
After joining the soldiers of the two squads of soldiers in front of him, Selyosha carefully searched the forest. Since the snow in the forest had not completely melted, the footprints left by the German snipers could be clearly seen. Selyosha was afraid that the snipers left behind would become a hidden danger in the future, so he personally led more than 20 soldiers to chase the forest.
The sniper who was pursued saw that he could not escape the danger, so he hid on the spot. With his superb shooting calculations, he came to snipe the Soviet soldiers chasing him. With the sound of gunshots, the soldiers around Selyosha continued to fall, but fortunately, the Selyoshaji people had their own heavenly appearance, and none of the bullets fired by the sniper hit him.
Selyosha discovered that the sniper was hiding in a tree that was only more than 30 meters away from him, and immediately carried the assault rifle and fired at him. The first bullet hit him two or three meters away from the sniper. The sniper did not even blink his eyelids, and continued to lock in the warrior chasing him and fired.
According to the sniper's understanding, it is impossible for the opponent's gun to shoot continuously. It is not too late to move the position after hitting a target. But he never dreamed that Selyosha was holding an assault rifle that he had never seen before. The shooting speed was similar to that of the submachine gun, but the shooting accuracy was comparable to that of the rifle.
When the sniper discovered that his judgment had made a mistake, Selyosha had fired more than a dozen bullets in a row, two of which hit the sniper's face without bias. The sniper's head burst open like a ripe watermelon.
After killing the sniper, Selyosha did not immediately come out of his hiding place. He was worried that there would be Germans hiding in other places. After lying on the ground for a while, he was sure that there was no movement. Then he held his gun and walked carefully to the killed sniper and searched him.
In order to kill this sniper, the Soviet army paid the price of eleven people, which made Selyosha very sad. You should know that the soldiers of the guard company had been through life and death with him. They did not die on the battlefield, but fell to the German snipers.
Sokov's convoy quickly rushed up from behind, and saw the corpses arranged in a row on the side of the road, Sokov felt very sad. He quickly ordered Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, you can lead a squad and bury the remains of these soldiers. Remember, you must keep a record so that we can find their burial place after the war is over."
The convoy continued to set off, and Sokov felt very heavy when he thought of the sacrificed soldiers. He said to Belkin, who was sitting beside him: "Comrade Political Commissar, we used snipers to eliminate thousands of German soldiers in the defense of Stalingrad. Now the Germans have also learned their cleverness and actually used the same tactics to deal with us."
After today's incident, Belkin was worried about Sokov's safety. He said carefully: "Misha, when we camp tonight, do you ask if the garrison has armored vehicles?"
"Armored vehicle?" Sokov asked in confusion: "What do you want an armored vehicle to do?"
"For your safety, I think you should be in an armored vehicle." Belkin said seriously: "If something happens to you, it will be an irreparable huge loss for our army."
Hearing Belkin say this, Sokov couldn't help but laugh: "My political commissar, you are too exaggerating. I am just a little major general. Can I still play a role in controlling the situation of the war?"
Chapter completed!