The infantry brigade headed to Yeretz and was on the road where reinforcements came. I thought that there were swamps everywhere on this road, and tanks and artillery were not accessible. Therefore, before leaving Kursk, Sokov ordered the tank company and artillery company to leave all the equipment and march with only light weapons with the brigade.

Unexpectedly, after seeing that road, Sokov realized that he had made a mistake. He thought of the many swamps and forests on the next marching route, but forgot that there were friendly troops passing here not long ago. In order to allow tanks and artillery to pass through the swamps and forest areas, the Tank Army specially paved the Shuchai Road that lasted dozens of kilometers long.

After walking on Shuchai Road for a while, Belkin said to Sokov with regret: "Comrade Brigade Commander, look at how strong the Tank Army built this Shuchai Road. Not to mention infantry, even tanks and artillery could pass through the swamp area smoothly."

Sokov didn't expect Rotmistrov to build the road so strong, but it was too late to regret it at this moment. We can't let Porochenko and Alitai return to Kursk and ask Rotmistrov to get back the cannons and tanks left there, right?

"Comrade Political Commissar," Sokov did not want to get entangled in this matter, so he quickly changed the topic of Belkin: "Our marching distance is about 2,000 kilometers. Carrying tanks and artillery will greatly slow down our marching speed. Didn't you say that we arrived in Stalingrad just to rest. Since it is a rest, what does it have to do with the troops having tanks and artillery?"

"But, comrade comrade, even if we don't have to fight again, the training of the tank company and the artillery company cannot be stopped." Belkin said: "Without tanks and artillery, how do you ask them to train."

"The training of the tank company and the artillery company will be temporarily released." Sokov said expressionlessly: "Our current priority is to strengthen the training of recruits. Only by providing the technical and tactical level of commanders and fighters can they reduce their casualties on the battlefield."

When Belkin heard Sokov say this, his eyebrows couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, and then asked back: "Comrade Brigade Commander, have you heard any inside information from Comrade General Staff?"

"How could there be any insider information? My political commissar." Sokov said with some amusement and smirk: "Even if the Chief of General Staff has the next combat plan of our army, how could he tell me a small person of this level?"

The straight line distance from Kursk to Yeretz is 120 kilometers. Sokov led the infantry brigade to walk on the road for two and a half days and finally arrived at Yeretz. However, the city and Sokov came last time, it was very different. It had become a real front-line city. There were many bombed buildings on both sides of the street, and black craters were everywhere, and trucks full of supplies and soldiers rushed by from time to time.

As soon as Sokov's team of thousands of people entered the city, it attracted a lot of attention. A patrol team that happened to pass here stopped. The second lieutenant who led the team came over, glanced at the ranks of Sokov and Berkin, raised his hand to salute the two of them, and asked politely: "Two commanders, comrades, who are you from, and what are you doing to Yeretz?"

"Comrade Lieutenant, we came from Kursk." The answer was Belkin, who asked with a smile: "According to the order, we will take the truck prepared for us here and head to Moscow."

"The truck prepared for you?" After repeating Belkin's words, the second lieutenant shook his head with a wry smile and said to Belkin: "Comrade of the deputy battalion-level political commissar, a batch of trucks did park in the north of the city two days ago, but they had all driven away yesterday. It is said to be transporting military supplies urgently needed on the front line."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant, who is the commander in charge in the city?" Sokov couldn't help but feel anxious when he learned that the convoy was waiting for his own convoy to leave. He immediately asked loudly: "Where is the garrison headquarters?"

"The commander of the garrison is General Kazakov," the lieutenant pointed to Sokov, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you walk along this road, turn right at the intersection, walk about two hundred meters, and you will see a square. The garrison headquarters is in the building on the east side of the square, where you can find General Kazakov." After saying that, the lieutenant raised his hand to salute Sokov and Berkin, and left with his subordinates.

The Kazakov mentioned by the second lieutenant was not Kazakov, the artillery commander of the Bryansk Front, but Kazakov, the former chief of staff of the front. After leaving the Bryansk Front, he was temporarily appointed by his superiors as the commander of the garrison of Yeretz.

"It turns out to be General Kazakov." Sokov had dealt with him before Kazakov stepped down, so he said to Belkin in a relaxed tone: "Comrade Political Commissar, let's meet him, and maybe we can get the truck we need through him."

After arranging the troops to rest on the spot, Sokov and Belkin walked towards the building where the garrison headquarters were located, with several guards. On the way, Belkin asked with some concern: "Comrade Brigade Commander, we have nearly 5,000 people. Even if General Kazakov is the garrison commander, can he provide so many vehicles?"

The question asked by Belkin was also what Sokov was worried about. He grinned and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, we can only try our luck, otherwise we can only walk back to Moscow."

When the two came to the square, they found that the guards here were obviously much tighter than in other places. In addition to the barricades made of sandbags, there were also wooden railings with barbed wire fences across the road. Seeing Sokov and Belkin striding towards the building on the east side of the square, someone stopped them immediately and asked dryly: "Two commanders, where are your passes?"

Sokov snorted softly, then said unhappily: "I said lieutenant, we have just returned from the front line, how could we have any pass?"

I heard that the two had no passes, and the lieutenant who blocked the road did not make things difficult for them, but continued to ask: "Is there anything wrong with you coming here?"

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade of the Bryansk Front Army." As soon as the lieutenant Sokov and others asked, they replied expressionlessly: "If you have something important to do, go to the garrison commander Kazakov."

When the lieutenant heard that the two were going to see Kazakov, he quickly called a corporal, approached his ear and whispered a few words, and said to Sokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will let the corporal accompany you to the headquarters. Please follow him."

The corporal who led the way was a talkative man. Seeing that it was already a distance from the lieutenant, he asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are you from the Bryansk Front?" After receiving a positive answer, he continued, "Did you retreat from the direction of Voronezh?"

"No, we did not retreat from the direction of Voronezh." Sokov answered the Corporal's question and asked curiously: "Why, Corporal, have you ever seen the troops of the Bryansk Front retreating from the direction of Voronezh?"

"Yes, I've seen it." The corporal nodded and replied affirmatively: "I heard that one of you has a group of troops fighting very badly, and one division has removed less than four hundred people..."

"What? What did you say?" Belkin heard the corporal talk about this and immediately asked with wide eyes: "There are less than four hundred men left in a division. Is this true?"

"Of course it's true," the corporal worried that Belkin said he was bragging, and quickly added: "Just the day before yesterday, hundreds of trucks that were originally parked in the north of the city were suddenly transferred. When the convoy passed through the city yesterday, I accidentally found that the carriages were filled with corpses..."

In this way, the few people came to the outside of the building where the garrison headquarters was located. Sokov reached out to the corporal and said politely: "Comrade Corporal, thank you for sending us here. Let's do the rest ourselves." The corporal shook hands with Sokov, raised his hand and saluted him, before turning around and leaving.

Sokov and Berkin came to the entrance of the building and informed the officers on duty at the door who were on duty. The officers let the two of them enter the building, but the guards they brought were blocked outside without exception.

The two of them came to the second floor and walked forward along the corridor. After walking for a while, Sokov saw an office desk in front of a room, and a lieutenant colonel was sitting behind the table. When the lieutenant colonel heard the footsteps, he looked up at the two of them, and then buried his head to continue looking at the documents in front of him.

After coming to the lieutenant colonel, Sokov raised his voice and said to the lieutenant colonel sitting behind the desk: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please inform the garrison commander, and said that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and the political commissar Beerkin, would like to see him."

The lieutenant colonel looked up at Sokov, frowned and said, "I have never heard of the number of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Which unit do you belong to?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we are from the Bryansk Front." Belkin thought that the number of the infantry brigade had just been obtained and was unknown to everyone, so he explained to the other party: "I was ordered to come here to transfer the car to Moscow."

"Bryansk Front Army?" Lieutenant Colonel repeated the words of Belkin and looked at him and said, "Comrades of the Deputy Battalion-level Political Commissar, but we are affiliated with the Voronezh Front Army. If you have any questions, you should go to your superiors instead of coming to us." After that, he waved to Sokov and Belkin, indicating that the two of them could leave.

After more than two days of long journey, Sokov finally came to Yeretz. He did not see the person he wanted to see, so he could leave at will. Therefore, he said coldly to the lieutenant colonel: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please go in and tell General Kazakov that Lieutenant Colonel Sokov wants to see him."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Lieutenant Colonel looked at Sokov and said with dissatisfaction: "If you have any, you can go to your own superiors. Please do not interfere with my work here. If you don't leave, I will let the guards drive you away." After that, he reached out to grab the phone on the table, ready to call the guards and drive Sokov and the others away.

Unexpectedly, as soon as the lieutenant colonel put the microphone in his ear, before he could dial, he felt a cold, hard thing pressed against his forehead. He looked at it from the corner of his eyes and was immediately scared to death: Sokov actually pressed his forehead with a pistol. The lieutenant colonel was a little panicked: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don't be impulsive, say something slowly..."

"Immediately inform General Kazakov of our arrival." Sokov pressed his gun against the other party's forehead and said in an orderly tone: "I count to five. If you haven't called yet, I will shoot."

Belkin, who was standing by, never dreamed that Sokov drew his gun at the same time when he disagrees, and hurriedly persuaded him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if you have something to say, put down the gun first."

Sokov ignored Belkin and Lieutenant Colonel, but began counting on his own: "One...two...three...four..."

The lieutenant colonel was frightened. Before Sokov counted to five, he took the initiative to admit defeat: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will call you now and inform the garrison commander..." As he said, he pressed a button on the phone, waited for a while, and said to the microphone: "Comrade General, there are two commanders outside who want to see you!...What are their names?...One is Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and the other is his political commissar. They said that they are from the 73rd Infantry Brigade, but I have never heard of this number before... I understand, I will let them in immediately."

After putting down the microphone, the lieutenant colonel pointed the gun at him and said to Sokov, who was pointing his gun at him, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the general asks you and your political commissar to come in and see him." After watching the gun in Sokov's hand move away from his forehead, he hurried to the door, pushed the closed door open, and then stood aside and made a call: "Please, two commanders comrades."

After Sokov and Belkin entered the room, the lieutenant colonel hurriedly closed the door, sat on his seat, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, and thought with lingering fear: "If I insist on notifying him, will this lieutenant colonel Sokov really shoot?"

Fortunately, Sokov didn't know what was thinking in the lieutenant colonel. If he knew his true thoughts, he would definitely tell him: "Yes, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you hadn't informed us when I counted to five, I would really shoot."

At this moment, Sokov and Belkin walked to Kazakov and stopped, raised their hands to salute, and said in unison: "Comrade General, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov (Berkin) of the 73rd Brigade of the Infantry of the Bryansk Front Army (Political Commissar) Lieutenant Colonel Sokov (Berkin) reported to you, I obey your orders, please instruct!"
Chapter completed!