Knowing that the 122nd Regiment had occupied the second line of defense, Sokov immediately reported the good news to the headquarters. After the report, he was very afraid that Krelov ordered his troops to attack the station without saying a word, so he took the initiative to say: "Comrade Chief of Staff, based on what we know from the prisoners, the German army stayed in the station. They had an infantry company and an artillery platoon. If we did not receive support from tank fire in the new attack, it would be difficult to succeed."
"Col. Sokov, don't complain to me." Krelov easily saw through Sokov's intentions. He was afraid that the other party would have any bad ideas, so he quickly comforted the other party and said, "Don't worry, if there was no support from tank fire this time, I would not let you take risks easily."
After receiving Krelov's promise, Sokov suddenly became much more at ease. In fact, he also understood in his heart that the reason why Krelov acted so reasonable was entirely because the right-wing troops were progressing too slowly. If he kept urging himself to speed up the attack, he would eventually lead to a situation of going deep into the army and could be trapped in the enemy's siege at any time. This situation was something that no one wanted to see.
After Sokov put down the phone, he looked at Ivanov and asked, "Comrade Deputy Commander, I want to go to the front position to see. Should you stay here to take over my command, or go ahead with me?"
Regarding Sokov's question, Ivanov made a choice without hesitation: "Comrade Commander, the Mamayevgang can be handed over to the Chief of Staff for command. I want to go ahead with you to see our soldiers."
Seeing that Ivanov was willing to go to the front position with him, Sokov called Sidolin and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I and the Deputy Division Commander are going to the 122nd Regiment in front to see, and I will leave it to you here. Remember, order the observation site on the top of the mountain to closely stick to the wings of the high ground. Once you find something wrong, contact me immediately. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade of the division commander." Sidolin assured Sokov: "I will definitely monitor the enemy's movements closely. If they have any abnormal movements, I will report them to you immediately."
It was a few kilometers from Mamayev hill to the front position, so Sokov naturally would not spend an hour walking over, so he ordered Guchakov to drive out the armored vehicles hidden in the underground garage and prepare to take the bus.
A few minutes later, the armored vehicle drove to the foot of the mountain west of Nangang. Seeing Guchakov waving at him in the carriage, Sokov said to Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the armored vehicle is here, let's go."
Ivanov followed Sokov to the armored vehicle and saw clearly that it was a German armored vehicle with a white cross painted on it. He couldn't help but ask worriedly: "Comrade Commander, this is a German armored vehicle. Are you not worried that the soldiers mistakenly thought of the enemy's vehicle and were attacked?"
"You don't have to worry about this. The commanders and fighters in Mamayevgang know this car." Sokov pointed to the side of the carriage of the armored vehicle: "In addition, Guchakov also put a red flag next to the carriage. I think as long as the commanders and fighters have no problems with their eyes, there will never be any accidental attacks."
When the two of them stepped forward, Guchakov, who was sitting in front, slapped the top of the cab with his palms twice, and then shouted: "Go away!"
On the way to the position of the 122nd Regiment, Ivanov couldn't help but ask curiously: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand one thing. If my troops are progressing so smoothly, my superiors will definitely order me to continue to develop into the depth of the enemy. But why would General Krelov agree to let us stop for the time being and launch an attack on the enemy after we have the support of the tank?"
Sokov raised his hand and pointed to the north, saying to Ivanov: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, have you not noticed that the right-wing troops are progressing too slowly? There has been a gap between them and us. If the enemy uses this gap to penetrate, both of our troops may be surrounded. The superiors may have considered this and ordered us to stop temporarily to wait for the right-wing friendly troops."
Ivanov looked north and remembered the 124th Regiment's troops disguised as Romanian troops surrendered to the enemy's positions. He asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, can we help friendly forces like before?"
"This is impossible." Sokov shook his head and replied, "The Romanians are not fools. How could the same strategy be used on them twice? Believe it or not, after the Romanians suffered this loss, even if they watched their own people run towards their positions, they could shoot directly and block the other party from the position. After careful inspection and confirmation, they would let them in."
"Also," Sokov paused for a moment after saying this, and then continued: "There is one more important thing for me to go to the position of the 122nd Regiment."
"What is more important?" Sokov's words confused Ivanov. He asked in confusion: "What is more important? Is the task of deploying an offense that will make the station?"
"I guess our army has no chance. We will attack the enemy." Sokov sighed softly and said, "After knowing the counterattack of our army, the Germans will dispatch large troops to support the Romanian army. I am afraid that we will soon be attacked from several directions. I go to the position of the 122nd Regiment, not only to visit the commanders and fighters, but to deploy defense missions to them."
The armored vehicle drove into the position of the 122nd Regiment, and Papchinko immediately came to greet him. After Sokov stepped forward to shake hands with him, he found that the other party's face was not only a hint of joy, but instead looked a little dejected. He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko, what happened? Why do I think you are full of unhappy? Do you not welcome me here? If so, I will turn around and leave."
"Comrade Commander, you misunderstood." Seeing Sokov turned around and was about to leave, Papuqinko quickly called him, blushed and explained: "I made a mistake and I have no shame to face you."
Although Sokov knew very well why the other party said this, he asked knowingly: "What mistake did you make?"
"I shot and killed a prisoner in front of the soldiers." Papuqinko lowered his head and said, "Comrade Commander, I was wrong, I will definitely review it."
Sokov did not answer his words, but asked back: "Lt. Col. Papchinko, tell me, why did you kill the prisoner in front of the soldiers?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Papuqinko raised his head and replied excitedly: "Because the captive was a sniper, he deliberately killed Wu Liya, a female health officer in our regiment who was rescuing the wounded. I want to avenge my sacrificed comrades."
"Since it's to avenge the comrades and kill a prisoner, what's the point?" Sokov knew that this had put a heavy burden on Papchinko, so he relieved him: "Comrade Stalin gave an order to all the commanders and fighters of the Western Front at the beginning of this year: All officers and soldiers who captured the 332nd Regiment of the 197th Infantry Division of the German Army would be shot on the spot, and we would not accept their surrender."
Sokov said this and deliberately paused for a moment to observe the reaction on the other party's face. Seeing Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko showing a sudden enlightenment, he continued: "The reason why Comrade Stalin issued such an order was because the enemy cruelly killed our scout Comrade Zhuoya. And you shot the prisoners of war today to avenge your comrades. This approach is acceptable and understandable. Are you right, Comrade Commander?" His last sentence was asked to Ivanov.
"That's right," Ivanov nodded repeatedly and said, "I thought it was OK to kill a prisoner in order to avenge his sacrificed comrades."
When Papchinko learned that Sokov and Ivanov were coming, he was extremely nervous. He was afraid that the two division commanders would punish him for this. Unexpectedly, Sokov's reaction was greatly beyond his expectations. He stared at Sokov in surprise and asked, "Comrade Commander, are you really not going to punish me?"
"Ltd. Col. Papuchinko," Sokov couldn't help laughing when he heard the stupid question asked by Papuchinko: "Why should I punish an excellent commander who has just made military achievements? Okay, this matter has ended here, stop thinking about it."
Seeing that he passed the test so easily, Papuqinko couldn't help but be overjoyed and quickly said excitedly: "Thank you, Commander!"
"Ltd Colonel," Sokov saw Papuchinko's smile again, and said to him: "Take me to see your newly occupied positions."
Half an hour later, Sokov, who had traveled all over the position, came to Pupichinko's command post. He came to the table and sat down, took out paper and pen from his bag, and began to say to Pupichinko: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I just looked at your position. I found that all the defense directions were aimed at the east, that is, the direction of Mamayev Hill. There were few fortifications facing the west. Why didn't you let the soldiers hurry up and build them?"
"Comrade Commander," Papuchinko said, and a confused expression appeared on his face: "Aren't we going to attack the Kangzang Station right away? Is there still a need for construction of the fortifications here?"
Sokov was worried that the German counterattack would begin at any time, so he quickly drew a sketch on his notebook and looked up at Papchinko and said, "If the enemy attacked from west to east before your attack began, do you think your current fortifications can block the enemy's attack?"
Papuchinko hesitated for a while before blushing and replied: "If the attacking enemy is covered by tanks, I think we can't stop it."
"Even without the cover of the tank, you can't defend it." Sokov knocked on his notebook a few times and said bluntly: "The enemy piled up all the soil dug out of the trenches in the direction of the Mamayev hill; thus, the trenches in the direction would be much shorter, and the soldiers could not hide in them at all..."
After listening to the questions pointed out by Sokov, Papuqinko quickly replied: "Comrade Commander, I will organize manpower and strengthen the fortifications to prevent the enemy from launching a counterattack."
"You should move quickly." Although Sokov didn't know when the German army would launch an attack, he knew in his heart that there was not much time left for himself. He specifically emphasized to Papchinko: "The Germans may launch a counterattack soon. If you don't have suitable fortifications, you will not be able to stop them."
When Papchinko heard Sokov's words about Germans, he quickly reminded him in a low voice: "It's not Germans, it's Romanians."
"I say it's German, it's German." Sokov said in an unquestionable tone: "They will soon take it by seeing that the Romanian army cannot stop our attack. You must not take it lightly."
"I understand." Papuchinko said it clearly, but he didn't agree. He thought that the battle had been going on for so long and he didn't see the shadow of the Germans. Would they fall from the sky?
"Alarm, air raid alarm!" Just as Papchinko was thinking about it, a chaotic shout suddenly came from outside: "Air raid alarm, hide, hide quickly!"
When everyone in the command post changed their faces when they heard the air raid sirens outside. Sokov was worried that there was no air raid shelter on the position. If they were really bombed by enemy planes, the casualties of the troops would definitely be small. What Papchinko thought in his mind was that it would not be such a coincidence. The division commander just said that the Germans might take action, and their bombers appeared?
Before they could rush out of the command post, explosions rang out outside, and it seemed that the position was being bombed by enemy planes. Sokov rushed to the door quickly and looked up at the air. One after another, Stuka dive bombers roared and dived from the air and dropped the bombs on the position. In the rising flames and smoke, soldiers who could not dodge were occasionally seen flying into the air.
Although he just took a quick look, Sokov realized the seriousness of the problem and quickly turned his head to shout at Papchinko, who was still standing in a daze, and said, "What are you still standing there? Let the soldiers hide quickly."
"Ah!...Okay, I'll give an order immediately." Papuqinko threw himself down at the table, grabbed the phone, and called the battalion commanders of each battalion: "...I am Lieutenant Colonel Papuqinko, and ordered the soldiers not to run around and hide on the spot; repeat, do not run around and hide on the spot..."
Chapter completed!