During the battle, the 35th Guards Division had lost all heavy weapons, and even the casualties of the troops reached two-thirds. If they continued to stick to the area where the fortifications were not perfected, what awaited them would be the destruction of the entire army. After repeated weighing, Grazkov issued an order to retreat to the troops.
After receiving the order from Grazkov to retreat, the regiments immediately withdrew from the position and moved towards Mamayev's hill while the enemy was repelled. However, both Grazkov and the commanders at the grassroots level ignored the German reconnaissance planes in the air. As a result, shortly after withdrawing from the position, the German artillery fired fire at the retreating troops.
Scattered artillery shells fell among the retreating troops and exploded. The explosion of air waves drove the officers and soldiers near the explosion point away, or threw the broken limbs and parts of the gun into the air. The officers and soldiers, who were already depressed due to the retreat, were immediately stunned by the sudden artillery strikes, and the team fell into chaos. The soldiers instinctively fled to escape the German artillery fire.
Grazkov, who had retreated with the troops, saw the troops falling into chaos in the enemy's artillery fire, and he couldn't help but stomp his feet in a hurry. He shouted at the top of his throat: "Don't be messed up, don't be messed up..." However, his voice was covered by the sound of cannons and the shouts of the soldiers, and no one heard it at all.
When the observation center in Mamayevgang found that the 35th Guard Division had withdrawn from its position, he immediately called Sokov to report: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I saw that the troops of the 35th Guard Division were withdrawn from their positions."
The first thing Sokov did after he put down the phone was to ask Sidolin directly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, has the Army Command notified us when the troops of the 35th Guard Division retreated to Mamayev's hill?"
"No." Sidolin said with a blank look on his face: "Realistically speaking, if they want to retreat, they will definitely report to the Army Command first, and then General Cui Kefu calls us and asks us to send troops to pick them up. But I have not received a call from the Command until now."
"But the observation post just reported to me that the troops of the 35th Guard Division had begun to move." Sokov said with a serious expression: "I want to call the headquarters to ask."
Sokov was lucky, so he quickly answered the command. The person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Krelov. As soon as the other party heard Sokov mention the attack on the 35th Division, he said impatiently: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, when the 35th Guard Division is transferred, I will call you. I am very busy here and there is nothing important, so don't call me."
Sokov noticed that the other party was about to hang up the phone and quickly called him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please wait a moment. I call you to tell you that the 35th Guard Division has begun to transfer!"
"What, the 35th Guards Division has begun to transfer?" Krelov asked in surprise: "Lt. Col. Sokov, who told you this information?"
"It's my observation post." Sokov quickly replied: "He reported to me that the troops of the 35th Guards Division had withdrawn from their positions and were moving towards the Mamayev hill."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I will verify what you said immediately." After saying that, Krelov hung up the phone without waiting for Sokov to speak again.
Sokov held the microphone with a blind voice, and said to Cydollin and Belkin with some amusement and tears: "So far, the headquarters has not known that the 35th Guards Division has abandoned its position and moved to our Mamayev hill."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he immediately asked, "Comrade Brigade Commander, what should we do now?"
"We have to do two things now," Sokov said, stretching out two fingers: "One is to verify whether the report of the observation post is true; second, immediately order Goria's 192nd Battalion to be prepared. If the 35th Guards Division really starts to transfer, let them go out to respond."
Cidolin nodded, picked up the phone and called the observation post on the top of Shangang to verify: "Hey, is the observation post? I am Chief of Staff Cidolin. Are you sure that the troops of the 35th Guard Division are retreating to Mamayev Hill?"
As Sidolin talked with the observation post, Sokov stood aside and listened to the voices coming from the phone: "Yes, comrade Chief of Staff, I can be sure that the troops of the 35th Guards Division have evacuated their positions and are moving towards the Mamayev hill. However, they have now been bombarded by the German army, and the troops have completely lost their establishment and are in chaos."
When everyone was shocked when they learned that the troops of the 35th Guards Division were being bombarded by German troops. After Sidolin put down the phone, he looked at Sokov and asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, are we still sending the 192nd Battalion to respond according to the plan?" The reason why he asked this was because he was worried that the troops sent would suffer heavy losses from the German artillery fire.
Sokov also considered the question that Sidolin thought of. He did not immediately answer whether to send troops, but asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, how many armored vehicles we seized?"
"Two vehicles." After answering, Cidolin asked in confusion: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what are you going to do?"
"The enemy is shelling the 35th Guards Division. It may be inappropriate to send troops to pick up the support. Don't go to pick up friendly troops at that time, and the enemy's shelling will suffer heavy losses." Sokov said thoughtfully: "Since we have two armored vehicles in our hands, we will send them out immediately and find a way to take General Grazkov back..."
"Yes, comrade comrade brigade commander, you're right." Before Sokov finished speaking, Sidolin rushed to interrupt and said, "General Grazkov is the commander of the Guards Division. We must first ensure his safety. I will send someone to drive an armored vehicle to pick them up."
Seeing Sidolin picking up the phone, Sokov quickly called him: "Chief of Staff, wait a moment. The paint on the two armored vehicles is still German. Let our soldiers remember to bring two red flags when they set off, so as not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Sidolin was making a phone call and arranged for people to pick up Grazkov, the high-frequency phone on the table rang again. Sokov guessed that it might be called by the Army Command, so he quickly picked up the phone: "I am Sokov."
"I am Choikov." Cui Kov's voice came from the receiver, and he asked sternly: "We have lost contact with the 35th Guards Division. It seems that they may have really retreated. Are the troops sent to the reception ready?"
"Comrade Commander, the situation has changed a little." Sokov thought that the retreating troops were being shelled by the German army. If he sent troops to respond, it would be like letting his soldiers die. Therefore, he directly told Cuikov: "The enemy is shelling the retreating Guards 35th Division. If I send troops to reinforce, it would be like letting them die. I cannot take the life of my soldiers to take risks."
Hearing Sokov say this, Cuikov couldn't help but be furious: "Don't want your soldiers to die, then are you going to watch the commanders and fighters of the 35th Guards Division be destroyed by the enemy?"
"Comrade Commander," facing Cuikov's accusation, Sokov replied in a humble manner: "If the troops of the 35th Guards Division were pursued by the German army when they retreated, it would be unshirkable for me to send troops to pick them up. But now the enemy is bombarding, and the flesh and blood of the soldiers cannot stop the enemy's shells. However, I will not sit idly by and watch the friendly forces be eliminated by the enemy, I will do my best to help them."
"Tell me," Cuikov might have felt that what Sokov said had some reason, so his tone became softer: "What are your plans?"
"I have two captured German armored vehicles here," Sokov reported to Trekov. "I plan to order the soldiers to drive these two armored vehicles to find General Grazkov and take him to Mamayev hill."
Cuikov was silent for a long time and said, "Well, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, just as you said, send two armored vehicles to find General Grazkov. Remember, you must bring him safely to Mamayev."
Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Cidolin couldn't wait to ask: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it has been arranged that the Second Lieutenant Samoilov of the Guard Company will take five soldiers to carry out this important task."
"Call Lieutenant Samoilov here," although Sokov believed that Samoilov was able to bring Grazkov back, but for the sake of safety, he ordered Cidolin: "I have important things to explain to him."
Samoilov was in the room not far away. After receiving the call notification, he soon appeared in the brigade command. Sokov walked up to him, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder twice, and then said, "Comrade Lieutenant, is the mission clear?"
"Yes, comrade comrade commander." Samoilov heard Sokov say this, and quickly repeated the task assigned by Sidolin to everyone: "Our mission is to find General Grazkov, the commander of the 35th Guards Division, and bring him safely to Mamayev."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Sokov was not sure whether he could rescue Grazkov, but he still said to Samoilov seriously: "I hope you can do everything possible to bring General Grazkov here. At that time, I will ask my superiors to award merits to you and your subordinates."
Honor is more important to soldiers than life. After hearing Sokov's wish, Samoilov immediately replied loudly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, don't worry, even if I sacrifice my life, I will bring General Grazkov back to Mamayev's hill safely."
…………
When two armored vehicles painted with white crosses appeared in front of the commanders and fighters of the 35th Guards Division who were retreating in a hurry, everyone had mixed reactions. Some were lying down on the spot and prepared for battle; some stood there in a daze, not knowing what to do; some were thinking in their hearts that we could not surrender to the French-German armored vehicles.
Just as everyone was panicked, a red flag suddenly stretched out from the carriage of the armored vehicle, which was tied to a rifle. Seeing the red flag fluttering in the wind, the soldiers immediately understood in their hearts that it was not the enemy, but their own people. So many soldiers who were lying on the ground preparing to shoot crawled up and continued to move forward along the road.
Samoilov stood up and asked loudly at the soldiers who passed by him, "Where is your division commander?" Seeing that no one paid attention to him, he thought the other party had not heard it, so he raised his voice and repeated his words.
This time someone finally answered. A young soldier looked up at Samoilov standing in the carriage and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, our division commander seems to be still in that area where the shelling is..."
Samoilov looked along the direction of the little warrior's finger and saw that the area several hundred meters away was indeed bombarded by the German army. At such a long distance, even without a telescope, Samoilov could see the ground lying full of the bodies of the guard division soldiers, all of whom were lying under the enemy's fire.
"Drive the car to the shelling area." Samoilov shouted at the top of his throat: "We are going there to welcome General Grazkov."
"Comrade Lieutenant," the driver saw that the artillery fire in front was not fierce, but he drove over rashly, and would definitely not be able to escape the ending of the car being destroyed and the people being killed. So he said to Samoilov: "The artillery fire in front is too fierce. If we drive over, we might become the target of the Germans."
"Didn't you hear the soldiers of the Guard Division say that their division commander is there?" Samoilov ordered in an unquestionable tone: "Go forward! Go towards the enemy's artillery fire!"
When the driver heard this order, he had no choice but to re-start the armored vehicle and gallop towards the shelling area. At the same time, he was praying in his heart that the shells would not hit his vehicle.
A distance of several hundred meters is only two or three minutes for the armored vehicles. When Samoilov braved the enemy's artillery fire and was searching for Grazkov's whereabouts, the wounded lying on the ground from time to time reached out to them for help, and murmured: "Please save me, save me..."
If it were normal times, Samoilov might have been very kind and asked the soldiers in the car to get out of the car to save people. But at this moment their mission was to find General Samoilov, the commander of the Guard Division, so they could only ignore the wounded who were asking for help on the roadside.
The armored vehicles were walking through the artillery fire, and from time to time, the armored plates were jingling. Even Samoilov's helmet was hit by a few shrapnel, but he didn't care at all. He still stared at the smoke of the cannon, searching for Grazkov's whereabouts.
At this time, a soldier rushed out of the crater with blue smoke next to him and shouted loudly at Samoilov in the car: "Help, Comrade Commander, please, save our division commander, he is injured."
Chapter completed!