Not long after the first battalion's retreat began, Sokov received a call from Rodimtev. The general asked angrily on the phone: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, what do you want to do? Don't you know that the order No. 227 stipulates that no one is allowed to take a step back before receiving the order from his superiors' retreat?"
"Comrade General." Rodimtev's words of inciting the crime made Sokov confused. He asked in confusion: "What happened? My troops were standing on the position and did not retreat?"
"My observation post has just reported to me that friendly forces on our right wing have begun to retreat." Rodimtev said on the phone: "When I first heard this news, I thought the observation post was wrong. The enemy's shelling on you has just ended. How could your troops retreat? But when I went to the commanding heights to observe in person, I found that this was actually true. Your troops were withdrawing from their positions and running towards Nangang."
After Rodimtev said this, Sokov understood what was going on. He must have regarded the battalion that was retreating to the reverse slope as a force that fled without authorization, and quickly explained: "Comrade General, you are wrong. My troops are transferring according to the plan. They are definitely not escaping. We will never let the Germans occupy Mamayev's hill."
"Since you are not escaping, why do you withdraw from your existing position?" Rodimtev heard that the first battalion's troops were not escaping, and his tone was eased a lot, but he still asked unhappily: "In this way, aren't you handing over the position to the Germans?"
"Comrade General, please listen to my explanation." In order to prevent unnecessary misunderstandings, Sokov explained to Rodimtev: "The location of the first battalion is exposed to the open land without any obstacles. Even if we built a large number of fortifications on the position, the enemy's shelling or bombing will cause huge losses to them. I temporarily decided to withdraw them to a new defensive area in order to reduce unnecessary losses."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," after listening to Sokov's explanation, Rodimtev said in an uncertain tone: "This matter is too much to do, and neither you nor I have the right to make a decision. You first order the troops to stop retreating, and I will report this matter to the commander immediately, listen to his opinion, and then decide whether to retain this position."
Cuikov's phone call came quickly, and he asked Sokov loudly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, who gave you the right to retreat? Don't you know that by occupying Mamafugang, you can control the entire city, factory area and Volga River? You voluntarily give up the defensive position in front of Nangang, which is equivalent to giving the German army an offensive starting point. They will gather troops there and then launch a group of attacks on you until they occupy Mamayevgang. I now officially notify you to cancel the original retreat order and the first battalion will continue to stay in the original position."
Sokov did not expect that Cui Kov would give himself such an order indiscriminately. Although Cui Kov had hung up the phone, he was still holding the microphone and staring in a daze, and was engaged in a fierce ideological struggle: Should the first battalion retreat or continue to stay on the position? If he retreated, it would certainly reduce the casualties of the troops, but it would definitely anger Cui Kov. If he removed himself from office, he might have to charge like an ordinary soldier; but if he did not retreat, he could only continue to watch the commanders and fighters of the first battalion, and were killed and injured in the enemy's shelling and bombing.
Belkin saw Sokov's embarrassment, took the microphone from him, put it on the base of the phone, and then asked carefully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what did you think about it? Let the troops stay in their original positions or continue to retreat?"
"Retreat, continue to withdraw!" Sokov gritted his teeth and decided to take the initiative. He decisively ordered Cydolin: "Chief of Staff, inform Captain Vanya that according to the original plan, except for one platoon to serve as the blocking, the main force of the first battalion retreated to the backslope of Nangang to build new fortifications. In addition, tell him that the platoon responsible for the blocking mission should lay mines in the trenches before withdrawing from the position, so that the Germans would suffer."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Sidolin had just heard what Rodimtev and Trikov said, and knew that Sokov was disobeying his orders, so he reminded him: "You are disobeying and may be sent to a military court at any time."
"Chief of Staff, I can't take care of that much." Sokov knew the consequences of disobedience, but in order to have enough troops to defend Mamayev's post in the future, what he had to do now is to do everything possible to preserve more troops for the first battalion, so he said decisively: "Immediately order the first battalion to speed up the retreat speed, and be sure to retreat to the reverse slope position before the German infantry launched an attack."
Seeing that Sokov had already made his promise, Sidolin knew that no matter how much he persuaded him, it would be useless. Moreover, in the infantry brigade, Sokov was the supreme military commander. The order he gave could not be changed even if he was the chief of staff of the brigade. Sidolin quickly called a communications staff officer and ordered him to take two communications soldiers to find Vanya and convey the orders he gave.
After receiving Sokov's new order, Vanya took the main force of the first battalion to retreat to the back slope. The entire process of the first battalion's retreat was seen by Rodimtev, who was standing on the expert's building, but he did not call to stop Sokov. He thought to himself that he had reported to Cuikov's situation of his infantry brigade's retreat without authorization, and now they are still retreating, obviously because they have obtained Cuikov's permission, so they did not meddle in other people's business.
Shortly after the retreat of the first battalion was completed, the platoon leader who was standing in the original position called Vanya. He reported in panic: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the enemy dispatched tanks and infantry and rushed towards our position."
When Vanya heard his subordinates report to him in such a panic tone, he didn't find it strange at all. There were nearly a thousand commanders and fighters on the position, but now there were only about forty people left. It was strange that they could not be panic. But he still tried hard to ask in a calm tone: "How many tanks do the enemy have?"
"I saw seven," said the platoon leader excitedly: "There are the same number of armored personnel carriers behind them. Comrade Battalion Commander, I am worried that our platoon alone will not be able to stop the enemy."
"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant." In order to prevent his subordinates from giving up their positions without authorization due to panic, Vanya comforted him and said, "We will help you." As soon as the phone was put down, Vanya ordered the communications soldiers beside him, "Click me the brigade command immediately. I have important situations to report to the brigade commander."
After receiving the call from Vanya, Sokov thought for a moment, and then said to him: "Don't worry, Comrade Captain, I won't fight your soldiers alone. Please tell him immediately and I will provide him with necessary artillery support."
Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Sidolin asked quickly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, are you planning to let the artillery on the east coast use artillery fire to block and shoot the attacking enemies?"
Sokov turned his head and looked at Cidolin, then shook his head and said, "The Germans only dispatched seven tanks and the same number of armored vehicles. If I were to use artillery fire from the east coast for this little force, I would definitely not be suitable..." Before he could finish his words, the phone ringing on the table rang.
Sidolin picked up the phone and listened for a moment, then covered the microphone and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the phone was called by artillery observers on the top of the hill. They said they saw the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles coming towards our frontier positions. They asked if they could notify the artillery fire on the east coast for interception?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, please express your gratitude to the artillery on behalf of me." Sokov replied: "The German army only dispatched a few tanks, and our artillery was enough to deal with it, and we did not need their help for the time being."
After Sidolin put down the phone, Sokov said to him: "Chief of Staff, I'll go to the observation center above to see the situation, and I'll leave it to you here. By the way, let Lieutenant Porochenko pull the cannons of the artillery company to the top of the hills and let them destroy the German tanks."
Sokov trotted to the observation room at the top of the hill. The artillery lieutenant who was observing the enemy situation inside. Seeing Sokov breaking in from outside, he quickly raised his hand to salute him. Sokov nodded at the other party and asked impatiently: "How is the situation?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," replied the lieutenant of the artillery: "the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles are rushing towards the frontal positions. At most, five minutes they will rush into our positions."
"Five minutes?" Sokov couldn't help frowning when he heard the time the artillery lieutenant said, that is, if Lieutenant Porochenko's artillery company did not fire at the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles within five minutes, the enemy would rush into the first battalion's position, and then the soldiers in the armored vehicles could get off the vehicle to occupy the position and destroy the platoon serving as the blocking force.
Sokov hesitated and thought: "It seems a bit too wasteful to provide support to artillery fire on the east coast with these tanks and armored vehicles. But if it is not supported, the enemy will soon rush into our frontier positions."
Just when Sokov was in a dilemma, he suddenly heard the sound of yelling not far away. He quickly put down his telescope and leaned out to look outside. The soldiers of the artillery company were pulling a cannon out of the tunnel along the slope. Sokov couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he saw the artillery company appear. He quickly shouted to the crowd: "Lieutenant Porochenko! Come to me!"
With the shouting, a lieutenant wearing a steel helmet ran to Sokov quickly, stood attentively and asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Leverence Comrade Lieutenant, look." Sokov pointed his hand at the German tanks and armored vehicles in the distance and said, "The enemy tanks and armored vehicles are rushing towards us quickly. In a few minutes at most, they will rush into the defensive position of the first battalion. When will your cannon firing?"
Porochenko raised his telescope and looked into the distance for a while, and replied decisively: "Report to the brigade commander, if you want to open fire within two minutes, at most one cannon can fire..."
"Enough," Sokov interrupted without waiting for the other party to finish his speech, "Let a cannon fire first, and delay the advancing speed of the enemy's tanks and armored vehicles, so that they cannot quickly rush into our position."
Porochenko did not dare to neglect, so he hurried back to his subordinates, called a gun team to locate the cannon that had been pulled out, and then opened fire at the German rapid column in the distance. Since Porochenko realized the seriousness of the problem, only one and a half minutes apart from the time he received the order and the artillery fired the first shell.
Because the artillery fired in a hurry, it did not hit the German tanks or armored vehicles at all, but landed more than fifty meters away from the first tank and exploded. Although the shells could not hit the target, they still scared the enemy. In order to find out where the shells came from, a tank soldier poked out half of his body from the turret and used a telescope to look for the direction where the shells flew.
The German tank soldiers thought the shells were fired from some hidden artillery position at the foot of the mountain, so his attention was mainly focused on the foot of the mountain. Before he could find the location of the Soviet artillery, another shell fell down and landed more than ten meters away from him. The soil stirred up by the air waves was sprinkled on him like raindrops. Seeing that the situation was not good, the tank soldiers quickly retracted the tank and closed the hatch.
After two rounds of the first cannon on the top of the hill, several other cannons were in place one after another, and they all participated in the condescending artillery. The six cannons fired at the galloping tanks and armored vehicles at the same time. Even if the bullet points were dispersed, they also hit an armored vehicle. The shells hit the cab of the armored vehicle, causing an explosion, and blowing the German soldiers in the car into tears.
Perhaps seeing an armored vehicle being hit by artillery fire, the German commander was worried that a similar incident would happen again, so he quickly ordered the armored vehicles to stop, let the infantry on the vehicle get off, and follow the tank to continue to assault forward.
When Sokov in the observation center, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the enemy infantry being released from the armored vehicles, and the tanks that opened the way in front slowed down a little in order not to get out of touch with the infantry and appropriately slowed down. As long as the enemy infantry did not charge in armored vehicles, the infantry standing on the position could cause them considerable casualties.
Chapter completed!