He served as Chief of Staff of Cuikov, and had a lot to do.
The first thing to do is to let Captain Andre's third battalion serve as a warning on the south bank of the Aksai River and cover the two infantry divisions on the north bank to build fortifications.
Secondly, Sokov found a group of engineers and ordered them to place explosives on the road and railway bridges on the Aksai River. He waited for the Germans to rush over and then immediately blew the bridge.
When Andrei was about to take people across the bridge to the other side, Sokov stopped him. With Andrei's understanding of Sokov, he guessed that he must have thought of some terrible ideas and asked quickly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
"Captain Andrei," Sokov looked left and right, and saw that they were all commanders and fighters of the Third Battalion, and said to Andrei with confidence: "The battle to defend Stalingrad will last for a long time. For various reasons, we may not be able to receive supplementary troops. Therefore, before the defense battle in Mamayev's hill begins, we must rely on our own abilities to supplement the troops."
"Replenish the troops?" Andrei was stunned when he heard Sokov say this, and then asked back: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what you mean is to ask us to recruit a group of new recruits from nearby villages and towns."
Hearing Andrei say this, Sokov is so angry that he kicked him, and said angrily: "What are we recruiting for new recruits without combat effectiveness? Let them stay in our tunnel fortifications, and in less than a few hours, they will be frightened and will also affect the morale of the troops."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Andrei, who was kicked by Sokov for no reason, asked aggrievedly: "Where should we replenish enough troops from?"
Sokov raised his hand and slapped Andre's helmet, and said angrily: "You idiot, you are on the south bank of the Aksai River. There will definitely be many small troops retreating from the front line. If you ask carefully, as long as you are not the 138th and 157th infantry divisions, you will all be incorporated into the Third Battalion. Do you understand?"
After hearing Sokov said this, Andrei suddenly realized. He quickly said with a smile on his face: "I understand, comrade comrade commander. Don't worry, as long as my third battalion is on the south bank, at least one thousand people will be accommodated for you a day..."
"Get out! The two infantry divisions of other people have less than 5,000 troops in total. You can actually accommodate 1,000 people a day. Are you planning to turn the Third Battalion into the Third Division?" Before Andrei finished bragging, Sokov raised his hand and tried to slap him. Andrei quickly jumped to the side and avoided Sokov's slap: "Why don't you take your troops to the other side to guard him."
When Sokov returned to Trikov, he found that he was talking to a sailor officer in a black uniform. Trikov saw Sokov coming and waved to him, saying, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will introduce you to you. Colonel Smirnov, the commander of the 154th Marine Brigade."
"Comrade Colonel, this is my chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov. He is also the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. I took my own initiative and left him here to help."
Seeing that the other party's military rank was higher than his, Sokov raised his hand first and saluted: "Hello, comrade Colonel!"
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." Smirnov also quickly raised his hand to return the salute.
"Since you all know each other, I will continue to introduce the situation." After the ceremony, Cuikov and Sokov and Smirnov continued to say: "Hot's Fourth Armored Army has broken through the defense of the 51st Army and occupied Lemontnaya on August 1, approaching Koternikovo. So far, the left wing of the 64th Army and the entire Stalingrad Front have been gradually surrounded by the enemy from the south.
The purpose of our formation of the Southern Cluster is to cover the left wing of the group army and the front army and delay the speed of the German advance towards Stalingrad."
After Smirnov finished speaking, he immediately asked for instructions: "Comrade General, I don't know where you plan to deploy our brigade?"
Trekov pointed to the map spread on the ground and said, "Now there are no established troops ahead of us, so I plan to place the 138th Infantry Division of Lyudnikov and the 157th Infantry Division of Kropacinko on the north bank of the Aksai River to block Hot's Fourth Armored Army.
The defensive position of your brigade is five kilometers behind these two divisions, serving as the second echelon. And the headquarters of my southern cluster is located in the town of Upper Kumskaya one kilometer away from you.”
"Comrade General," said with some concern after looking at the map at Kumskaya, "Your command position is too far ahead. If the Germans bombard the defense zone of our brigade, it is entirely possible that you will accidentally hurt you. I suggest you move the command back."
"Move backwards?" Cuikov looked at Smirnov and asked, "Comrade Colonel, where do you think I should move the command center?"
Smirnov had long seen Soviet troops behind the Trekov's temporary command, so he pointed to the map and replied: "Comrade General, look, this is the 118th Fortification Area. Behind them, there is the 29th Infantry Division. I think you should put the command together with them."
"Comrade Colonel, thank you for your kindness." Cuikov smiled and said to Smirnov: "I think the commander should stay with his soldiers, so that he can stabilize the morale of the army and boost morale." Seeing that Smirnov seemed to want to persuade him, he raised his hand to stop him, "Okay, you don't have to say it, execute the order."
Sokov and Trikov came to Upper Kumskaya town by car, and the command was set up in a windmill mill outside the town. Seeing that the communications soldiers had set up the antennas, Trikov ordered his accompanying adjutant: "Krimov, immediately establish contact with the Army Command and tell General Shumilov that I was building a defense line on the north bank of the Aksai River, and we are here to stop the enemies that threaten the Army and the Front's left wing."
Who knew that after ten minutes, Krimov had not contacted Shumilov of the Army Command. Cuikov couldn't wait and asked dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Adjutant, why haven't he contacted the Army Command yet?"
Krimov stood up from the newspaper phone and said aggrievedly: "Comrade Commander, our radio operator has been calling, but somehow he has never been able to establish contact with the Group Army Command."
Chapter completed!