Just as dawn the next day, the defensive position of the 308th Infantry Division was violently bombarded by the German army.
Sokov stood on the hill, raised his telescope to observe the situation on the distant position. He saw a bunch of dazzling fires flashing constantly on the position, and the smoke filled the gunpowder made him unable to see the situation on the position clearly.
In order to find out the situation on the position, Sokov asked Gurdiev on the phone about the specific situation. However, because the sound of the shell explosion was too loud, he could not hear clearly what Gurdiev was talking about.
Just after Sokov put down the phone in disappointment, Yakov came to him, looked at him, and focused his attention on the position that was being bombarded by the enemy. He said casually: "Misha, the enemy is so fierce, and Colonel Gurdiev and others do not have a strong position. I am worried that they will suffer little casualties during the bombardment."
Sokov smiled bitterly and said, "I originally wanted to ask how the situation was on the position, but the cannon sounded too loud, and I couldn't hear clearly what Colonel Gurdiev was talking about."
"I guess Colonel Gurdiev is also staying in his command at this moment, and he doesn't know much about the situation outside than you." Yakov curled his lips and said, "You'd better wait for the enemy's shelling to be over. Gurdiev will count the losses and call him again."
Fortunately, the German artillery bombardment did not last long and stopped for only a quarter of an hour. Before the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the German army launched an attack on the defensive positions of the 308th Infantry Division from the east and south at the same time.
Before Sokov could call again, Gurdiev called first. On the phone, he did not say anything nonsense, but shouted straight to the point: "Comrade Brigade Commander, my situation is very bad here. The enemy attacked us from both directions at the same time. I asked for support, request support."
Sokov only had the first battalion of Vanya and Tnev's guard battalion. The two battalions had a total of about 300 people, responsible for the defenses in the west and south, and could not draw any extra strength to reinforce Gurdiev. Therefore, facing Gurdiev's request for help, Sokov could only grit his teeth and said, "Comrade Colonel, I repeat again. I have no reserve team. You must firmly block the Germans with your own strength."
"Misha," Yakov said with some concern when he heard Sokov rejecting Gurdiev's request for help: "The enemy launched an attack on the area defended by the 308th Infantry Division from the east and south at the same time. I was worried that the position might not be able to be defended. Why don't we draw troops to support them?"
"No, the troops in our hands cannot be used." Sokov turned around and pointed to the west, and said to Yakov: "Yakov, don't forget that the Germans launched an attack on us from the west yesterday. If I draw forces to reinforce the 308th Infantry Division, the defense here will become weak. If the German army takes the opportunity to launch an attack, I am worried that it will not be able to defend at all. Once this place is lost, even if we concentrate all our troops on Gurdiev, we will not last long."
"What should we do?" Seeing that Sokov was unwilling to send troops to support him, Yakov couldn't help but ask anxiously: "Are we just watching Colonel Gurdiev's troops be eaten by the Germans in one bite?"
In order not to make Yakov think he was desperate, Sokov explained to him: "Yakov, it's not that I don't want to rescue Gurdiev. First, because the troops in my hand are limited, if I send troops to support, the defense here will become weak and give the enemy an opportunity to take advantage of it. Second, it is because we will retreat to a small village in the northwest direction sooner or later and meet with Colonel Bere and others. If Colonel Gurdiev cannot resist, he can retreat to us first and then move to the northwest direction."
Considering that he had just rejected Gurdiev's tone, Sokov was a little too stiff, so he answered the phone from Gurdiev's division headquarters again and said to the microphone: "Comrade Colonel, when the enemy's attack is repelled, you will immediately arrange for people to send all the seriously injured to me."
During the call not long ago, Gurdiev heard Sokov rejecting his request so simply, and thought the other party was ready to give up. But when he heard Sokov ask him to send the seriously injured, he immediately realized that he might have blamed Sokov for wrongly. Although Sokov had two battalions and more than 300 people, these troops were distributed near two hills and small villages. If reinforcements were really sent to him, their defense would become weak. He quickly replied: "I understand, comrade comrade, when the enemy's attack is repelled by us, I will arrange personnel as soon as possible to send the seriously injured to you."
The German army, which launched the attacks at the same time from both directions, had no cover from tanks, and it was difficult for them to easily seize the position in the face of the Soviet army that was resisting tenaciously. After the battle lasted for more than an hour, the German commander saw that the troops could not break through the Soviet army's defense, so he issued an order to retreat and prepared to go back and regroup before launching an attack on the Soviet army.
Seeing the enemy retreating like a tide, most of the Soviet soldiers immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Gurdiev called the political commissar Sverin in front of him and said to him: "Comrade Political Commissar, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov just called me and asked us to send the seriously injured to him immediately after the enemy was repelled. I see this matter, let you take responsibility."
"Don't worry, comrade of the division commander." Svellin nodded quickly and replied, "I must send these wounded people safely to the location of the brigade."
In order to transport the wounded, Gurdiev specially dispatched 100 soldiers and dozens of minor wounded soldiers to carry the seriously injured to retreat to Sokov's position. Many wounded people were relieved when they heard that they were going to retreat to Sokov's position. They found that there seemed to be no battle there today, and wishfully thought that as long as they got there, they would definitely be safe.
Svellin led the soldiers carrying stretchers and after an hour of march, he finally arrived at the hill where Sokov was. He straightened his body and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the 39 seriously injured people in my division are here. Please take good care of them."
"Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov said to Sveling with a smile: "We will properly settle them. By the way, what are you going to do next? Should you stay here or return to your position?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, of course, has returned to the position." Svellin kept staring at the position that was still smoke. "Col. Gurdiev and I are old partners. We can't fight against the enemy in front, but I hide far behind."
Seeing that Sveling was unwilling to stay, Sokov did not force it. Instead, he urged him: "Comrade Political Commissar, if you are determined to return to the battlefield, please go there immediately. Otherwise, it will not be so easy for you to think about going there again when the enemy launches another attack."
Svelling nodded and walked back to the troops he brought. After his eyes swept across the people one by one, he spoke, "My comrades, you have fulfilled your obligations in the past day and night. Next, you will all be sent to the field hospital and arranged for you to treat your injuries in our hospital... Now, I am going back to the front line, who would like to go back with me?"
The hundred stretchers immediately shouted without hesitation: "We are willing to go back to the forefront with you."
In addition to these soldiers, some of the seriously injured lying on the stretcher also shouted boldly: "Comrade Political Commissar, I am willing to go back with you."
"Comrades in the wounded," Seeing that many seriously injured people wanted to follow him to return to the frontier, Svellin's eyes couldn't help but wet. He raised his hand and wiped his face, and then said loudly: "All the seriously injured people are left. The minor wounded people are willing to go back with me, so let's go together."
When Svelling left, in addition to the one hundred soldiers, there were more than 20 other minor wounded men, who also made a decisive decision and followed Svelling back to the front and continued to fight with the Germans.
When Gurdiev saw Svelin coming back with many wounded people, he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Political Commissar, I asked you to take the wounded people to the back, why did you bring them back again?"
Svellin turned his head and glanced at the wounded who came back with him, grinned and said, "Comrade Master, since they want to come back and continue to attack the invaders of Faxi Temple, we cannot undermine their enthusiasm."
"Since you're back, let them all stay." Gurdiev was having a headache about his lack of troops. Seeing so many wounded people willing to stay and continue fighting, he said with the flow: "Let them go back to their respective troops, the battle might start soon."
"Comrade Commander," Svellin remembered what Sokov said to him in private, and quickly called Gurdiev and said to him: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said that if he could not hold on here, he would decisively give up his position and rushed to meet with them. Don't stay here to fight head-on with the enemy, and fight a war of attrition that would be worth the loss."
Gurdiev nodded vigorously and said, "Don't worry, Comrade Political Commissar. Our tutors have dropped sharply to a few hundred people now. I definitely hope that more soldiers can survive and save more seeds for our 308th Infantry Division. I will never do such a stupid thing as head-on fight with the enemy."
Chapter completed!