When Politic took Harlanchuk back to the infantry brigade defense area, the German shelling had not stopped.

He rushed into the brigade command but did not see Sokov's traces. He hurriedly asked Karsokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where are your brigade commanders going?"

"He is on the lookout outside." After Karsokov explained Sokov's whereabouts, he asked Politick curiously: "Comrade Colonel, are you doing anything to him?"

"I'll go out to find him." Polytic turned around and walked outside, saying, "Lieutenant Colonel Harlanchuk will tell you about the details."

Coming out of the tent, Polytic looked around and found no trace of the observation deck. Then he called a sentry and asked politely: "Comrade Warrior, where is your brigade commander?"

"Here, there!" The sentry pointed to a location in the forest and said, "The brigade commander's observation deck is placed on the tree, and you can climb up along the ladder."

After thanking the sentry, Polytic ran over quickly. He soon discovered the tree where Sokov was and climbed up along the narrow ladder.

On the observation deck, Sokov, who was holding up the telescope and looking at the second camp position, noticed someone climbing up along the ladder, quickly put down the telescope and looked down. When he saw that the person climbing up was Colonel Polytic, he couldn't help but show a shocked expression on his face.

"Comrade Colonel, why are you here?"

"Let me come up and take a look!" Politic climbed up the observation deck, "How is the situation ahead?"

Sokov grabbed the railing and handed the telescope in his hand to Politic: "You can take a look at it yourself."

Polytic took the telescope and looked towards the position of the second camp position. He saw that there was a violent shelling, and the entire position was already covered by gunpowder.

Seeing this situation, Polytic couldn't help but say worry: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, I guess the officers and soldiers on the positions have suffered a lot of casualties, right?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "When the shelling first began, except for a few observation posts left on the position, the rest of the commanders and fighters moved to the second line of defense."

"What, the second line of defense?" Politic asked in confusion.

Sokov knew that this tactic was the first in the German army. Not to mention commanders like Polytic who had not fought positions for a long time, even commanders who fought with the German army every day knew this tactic. Therefore, when he heard his question, he explained specifically: "This is a tactic often used by the German army in defense. When our army carried out artillery preparations before the attack, they transferred their troops to the second line of defense. When the artillery bombing was over and our army launched a ground attack, they retreated to the second line of defense and returned to the front line of positions along the traffic trench to meet our army's offensive forces."

"Where is your second line of defense?"

"At 300 to 500 meters behind the original position, the two lines of defense are connected by traffic trenches, so that the officers and soldiers can minimize casualties whether they retreat to the second line of defense or return to the first line of defense."

Polytic turned his gaze to the forest behind the second-tier position again and asked in an uncertain tone: "Is my army now in that forest?"

"Yes." Sokov gave the other party a positive reply: "It is precisely because your troops are deployed behind the Second Battalion that I call the commander, hoping to obtain his authorization to use this force when necessary."

Polytic put down the telescope in his hand, looked at Sokov with a side face and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you have no confidence in your subordinates and think they can't hold the position?"

Sokov hesitated for a moment and then replied: "In the battlefield, everything is possible, so it is entirely necessary to prepare in advance."

Polytic picked up the telescope again and turned his gaze to the defense line of the Fourth Battalion.

Looking at the battlefield filled with smoke, Polytic asked casually: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the position here has also been violently bombarded by the enemy. It is very likely to be attacked next. Have you taken precautions?"

"Of course, of course, precautions have been taken." Sokov gave Polytic a positive answer and continued: "Did you see the forest behind the position? From the beginning of the German shelling of the fourth battalion, thousands of commanders and fighters entered the standby state."

"Wait," Polytic heard this and couldn't help but interrupt Sokov: "If I don't understand it wrong, your infantry brigade has at least four battalions?"

"Yes, four infantry battalions and two artillery battalions."

"Then how many troops are your troops?"

Sokov sighed softly and said with a wry smile: "When the number of people in the entire brigade was the highest, there will be about 6,000 people in the future. But after this period of battle, the troops have dropped sharply to more than 3,000." He pointed to the direction of the Fourth Battalion and continued, "I lost two thousand people just at the position of the Fourth Battalion."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you don't mind, can you tell me why your troops have so many troops?" Politic said with emotion: "If you have one or two thousand more people, your troops can be considered an unsatisfied infantry division."

"Comrade Colonel, I'm not afraid of you making fun of it. Before the infantry brigade was formed, I only had a guard company given to me by Commander Rokosovsky." Sokov said: "The rest of the troops were to accommodate commanders and fighters who escaped from the enemy's encirclement, and gradually grew the team."

"Where is the ammunition and supplies?" Politic continued, "How did it solve it?"

"In addition to seizing from the Germans, we also discovered two hidden arsenals, and obtained a large amount of combat supplies, including weapons, ammunition, materials and medicines, etc.," Sokov said: "It is precisely because of sufficient combat supplies that we can withstand the German attacks again and again."

The German bombardment of the second battalion position stopped.

Before the smoke of gunpowder dissipated, the commanders and soldiers of the Second Battalion who retreated to the second line returned to the front line along the traffic trenches.

Seeing this scene, Polytic nodded with a smile, thinking that Sokov's tactic is really good. At the beginning of the shelling, he transferred the troops to the second line of defense for safety. No matter how fierce the German shelling was, it was just bombarding empty positions without anyone.

But Sokov frowned. He thought to himself, why is the second battalion commander so reckless? Although the enemy's artillery fire stopped, he did not launch a ground attack immediately. If this is the enemy's conspiracy, after the soldiers return from the second-line position to the first-line position, they will have another round of artillery fire. At that time, the second battalion will suffer huge casualties.

Polytic turned around accidentally and saw Sokov frowning, and asked curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you seem unhappy. What happened?"

Sokov pointed to the commanders and fighters who were returning to the front line position along the traffic trench and said in a heavy tone: "Comrade Colonel, look at the commanders and fighters who were returning to the front line position, their actions were really reckless. Before the enemy launched a ground attack, they hurried back to the front line position. If they just returned to the position, the enemy would cover it again, and the troops who had just returned to the position would suffer huge casualties."

After hearing this, Politic was shocked. After a brief thought, he felt that Sokov was very reasonable. After the enemy stopped artillery attack, he did not launch a ground attack immediately. Perhaps he found that the Soviet army on the position had retreated to the second-line position, so he deliberately created the illusion of stopping artillery attacks. After the Soviet army returned to the front-line position, he would cover the last round of fierce artillery fire, which would cause huge casualties to the defenders.

Sokov took the telescope from Polytic and looked towards the fourth battalion. He saw that the shelling here continued, but the gathering of German tanks and infantry could already be seen on the edge of the forest in the distance. He pointed to that direction and said, "Comrade Colonel, look, although the shelling of the fourth battalion's position has not stopped yet, the gathering of tanks and infantry could already be seen on the edge of the forest in the distance. I believe that the enemy will soon launch an attack on the fourth battalion's position."

A few minutes later, the enemy's shelling of the fourth battalion's positions ended.

As the shelling ended, tanks and infantry gathered at the edge of the forest and launched an attack on the fourth battalion's positions.

Polytic took the telescope from Sokov again. Through the camera, he saw more than a dozen tanks opening in the front, followed by groups of German infantry, trotting towards the position of the Fourth Battalion, as if ready to break through the defense line from this position.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Politic couldn't help but worry when he saw this: "Do you really think that with the existing strength of the Fourth Battalion, can the German attack be blocked?"

"I believe they can do it."

Faced with Sokov's confidence, Politic shook his head. Based on his experience, the commanders and soldiers of the Fourth Battalion could not stop the German tanks. As long as the German tanks crossed the trenches, many soldiers might jump out of the trenches and fled backwards.

When the German tanks were less than 300 meters away from the fourth battalion's position, shells roared and fell down. Although no shell hit the marching tank, the infantry following behind the tank was blown upside down.

"What's going on?" Polytic asked in surprise: "Where did the artillery fire come out?"

"This is the warriors of the First Battalion, who are conducting artillery intercepting the German troops attacking the fourth battalion's positions." Sokov explained to Polytic: "We used this warrior who cooperated with infantry and artillery to repel many attacks from the Germans."

"It seems that your artillery is quite strong." Politic said with emotion: "After several months of fighting, all the heavy weapons have been basically discarded. Facing the German tanks, the soldiers have no other anti-tank methods except carrying cluster grenades to blow up. You must know that for every German tank we have to pay at least 40 casualties. To blow up these dozens of tanks, at least one battalion of casualties will have to pay."

As soon as he said this, he saw a moving tank, hit by artillery fire that stopped shooting. After driving forward for more than ten meters, the tank wrapped in flames and smoke stopped and flicked. Several tank soldiers covered in fire came out and ran towards the rear with their hands dancing. The soldiers who were attacking with the tank had no time to worry about these tank soldiers and let them fend for themselves.

"Comrade Colonel, let's go down." Sokov reminded Politak: "I want to learn about the situation on the battlefield from the two battalion commanders."

The two walked into the tent side by side. Karsokov immediately came up and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander and Major Vasia, the Fourth Battalion Commander, reported that the enemy launched an attack on the Fourth Battalion's position. Although the first artillery battalion carried out artillery interception in time, the enemy's tanks still rushed towards the Fourth Battalion's position with great momentum."

Sokov had just seen the content of Karsokov's report on the watchtower.

He asked bluntly: "How was the casualties of the Fourth Battalion in the just-concluded artillery bombardment?"

"A dozen injured," Karsokov replied, "but no one died."

"Well, it's very good." Sokov nodded slightly: "No matter what the final result is, we at least reduce the casualties of the troops when they are under German shelling. As long as we can preserve their vitality, we will be confident of defeating the enemy."

After a moment, Sokov ordered Karsokov again: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call the Second Battalion and ask them what was going on there, and whether the enemy launched a ground attack on their positions?"

Karsokov shook his head and replied, "Comrade Brigade Commander, before you come back, I had called Captain Alexa, and he told me that after the enemy ended the shelling of the second battalion's position, there was no sign of ground attack."

Upon hearing this, Sokov couldn't help but frown again. He said to Karsokov: "Chief of Staff, now call Captain Alexa and ask him to hide the commanders and fighters and prevent the enemy from launching shelling on their positions again."

Karsokov asked in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how do you know that the enemy will launch violent shelling on the second battalion again?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov explained: "I just saw on the watchtower that after the enemy stopped shelling the second battalion's position, the enemy did not immediately launch a ground attack. And our commanders and soldiers, after seeing the German shelling stopped, could not wait to return to the front line. Tell me, what if the enemy launches shelling the second battalion's position again, how much casualties will it cause to our army?"

Hearing Sokov said this, Karsokov immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, quickly picked up the phone on the table and connected to the command post of the Second Battalion: "Hey, is it Captain Alexa? I, Chief of Staff Karsokov and the Brigade Commander, ordered the commanders and fighters of the Second Battalion to do a good job of concealing work to prevent unnecessary casualties when the enemy launches shelling the position again."

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." Alexa did not question the correctness of the order, but said respectfully: "I will convey the order immediately to make the soldiers pay attention to concealment and prevent them from being killed by German artillery fire."

"Also," Karsokov once again reminded him before putting down the phone: "Before the enemy has not launched an attack, hurry up and repair the fortifications. Do you understand?"

"I understand, Comrade Chief of Staff." Alexa replied, "I will hurry up and repair the fortifications."

As soon as the phone was put down, a call came from the Fourth Battalion to report on the situation on the battlefield.
Chapter completed!