"Captain Brisky, take us to your battalion." Sokov said to Brisky: "We must carefully study the route of the convoy so that they can transport the supplies safely."

Brisky was about to ask Sokov, when the night fell, he drove the convoy directly over, so what else to study? But before he could say it, he heard Sokov say first: "Although the convoy is only twenty kilometers away from here, such a large convoy needs to pass through the defense line between the German and our army, if you are not careful, you will end up in the destruction of the entire army."

Brisky thought Sokov's statement was quite reliable. Not to mention anything else, just a few minutes ago, when the armored vehicle Christopher was riding in drove towards his position, the brigade commander personally directed the artillery to fire at them. The convoy of twenty trucks and several armored vehicles was much larger than that of an armored vehicle. No matter who fired both sides of the enemy and us, it would cause huge losses to the convoy.

However, before heading to the battalion, Sokov ordered his subordinates to transfer the remaining personnel and equipment of the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion to between two hillsides. He did not want these young girls to stay in this wrong place and become targets for German artillery fire.

When he arrived at the battalion command post in the tunnel, Sokov walked to the table, leaned over and slapped the map twice, and then said to Christopher: "Comrade Lieutenant, come and point me the hiding position of the convoy."

Christopher stood beside Sokov, looked down at the map for a while, then pointed to a location and said decisively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, here. Two kilometers away from our hidden location, there is a German defensive position, and probably a platoon is holding. The armored vehicle I was riding passed there, did not arouse their alert. Therefore, I feel that there is no problem when it gets dark and let the convoy pass there under the banner of the German army."

As the battle situation fell into chaos, where is the defense line between the Soviet and German sides? Not to mention the grassroots commanders, even the commander of the front army may not be able to figure it out. However, Christopher had just returned from behind the enemy and should still have some understanding of the situation of the defense line, so he continued to ask: "Then where is the defense line of our army?"

"There is one place here," Christopher pointed to a location on the map, and soon pointed to another place and said: "There is one place here. On the way back, I found only these two of our defense lines."

After Sokov looked at the location of the Soviet defense line, he found that there was no detour from nearby, and asked seriously: "Comrade Lieutenant, can the convoy you led smoothly pass through our army's two lines of defense without negotiating with friendly forces?"

"Comrade Brigade Commander, I think we can only bet on luck." Christopher pondered for a while and replied, "I came back this time to contact the brigade headquarters and explore the way. In my opinion, the two lines of defense of our army were simply useless, but when our armored vehicles bypassed the line of defense, there was no reaction at all. I even doubt whether our troops were stationed in the line of defense."

Christopher's words reminded Sokov of the German tank team that caused heavy losses to the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion. The enemy should also penetrate the rear of the Soviet defense line from that direction. Since the Germans can pass, Christopher's convoy should also pass.

Thinking of this, he said to Christopher: "Comrade Lieutenant, you will return to the convoy's hiding place immediately. When it gets dark, take them along the route we chose!"

Before leaving, Christopher asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, where will the materials be stored after they are transported back?"

Brisky, who was standing aside, suddenly his eyes shone when he heard Christopher's question. He wanted to say to Sokov immediately: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our warehouse is still empty, you can store all the supplies here on the north slope." However, he just said these words in his heart, but he didn't say them out loud. He wanted to wait for Sokov's final decision.

Unexpectedly, Sokov said to Christopher: "Comrade Lieutenant, after the materials are transported back, all military supplies are stored in the north slope. As for weapons and ammunition, they are transported to the warehouse on the south slope for storage. In addition, those trucks are of no use to us. They should be able to use them at the dock and hand them over to the transport troops there."

"Comrade Brigade Commander," Brisky seemed very dissatisfied with Sokov's arrangement: "Why should we store weapons and ammunition in the warehouse of the south slope? You know, our north slope also has enough space to store the supplies brought back by the lieutenant's convoy."

"Comrade Captain," Sokov looked at Brisky and said, "I know there is enough space in your warehouse, but I dare not put weapons and ammunition here." When he said this, seeing Brisky's confused look on his face, he explained to him, "Don't forget, there are more than a dozen oil storage tanks above your head. Once the oil tank is hit by a shell or a bomb, it causes a violent explosion. Even if the high temperature generated by burning a few meters away from the soil layer, it may detonate the weapons and ammunition in the warehouse. I cannot take this risk."

After hearing Sokov's explanation, Brisky obediently closed his mouth. He knew very well that what Sokov said was true. In order to protect the oil storage tanks above his head, the city defense committee even transferred a female anti-aircraft artillery battalion to stop the German air strike on the north slope.

After Sokov handled the affairs of the North Slope, he returned to the brigade command center behind the south slope. As soon as he walked into the tent, Sidolin came up and said, "Comrade Brigade Commander, a few minutes ago, I received a call from the Front Command, and the situation became worse."

From the German tank team crossed the Soviet defense line and rushed to the northern slope of Mamayev's hill to show off his power. Sokov had an ominous premonition in his heart. He felt that the Soviet defeat was about to begin, so he quickly walked to the table and said to Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, let me introduce the situation."

"According to the notification from the Front Command, the 16th Tank Division of the German Army, with the help of the 3rd and 60th Motorized Infantry Divisions, attacked the junction of the 62nd Army and the 4th Tank Army from the Velgache to the Reynolds north of Stalingrad..."

"The 16th Armored Division is commanded by Hube, a famous German one-armed general," Sokov looked at the map on the table and frowned and said, "He chose a very good breakthrough point. The junction of the two troops is usually the weakest. With the combat effectiveness of the division, even if there is only one division, it can break through our army's defense, not to mention that his left and right wings are also assisted by two Mojian divisions. It seems that our army's defense line will collapse soon, and it will be time to fight street battles with the enemy next."

"The situation is not so bad, right?" Berkin said with some doubts about Sokov's statement: "Although the attack on our defense line is an armored division and two MoF divisions, our 4th Tank Army can counterattack them and crush their attempt to break through our defense line."

"Comrade Political Commissar, our army has no counterattack power." Cidolin said with a bitter face: "Although we have a tank army, it is only nominally. The army is composed of infantry divisions. It would be great if they could block the assault of German tanks. Where can they have extra power to counterattack the German troops."

"I remember in this area there are famous Tatar trenches, twenty meters deep and strong fortifications nearby." Belkin said somewhat dissatisfied: "I believe our troops can definitely use the favorable terrain here to block the enemies trying to rush towards the Volga."

Belkin's words also ignited hope in Cidolin's heart: "The political commissar makes sense. I have carefully observed the terrain here. Even if the German army broke through our defense line, because there are many small rivers and gullies here, the German tanks can only advance along the highway. On both sides of these highways, there are only some hills, and the troops deployed on the hills can slow down the German tank's advancement speed."

"If our army can arrange more anti-tank hands on the hills on both sides of the road, then it will be able to eliminate the German tanks in the marching convoy in large quantities." Berkin said proudly: "Didn't there be four soldiers in the newspapers a while ago who rely on four anti-tank rifles to eliminate the deeds of seventeen enemy tanks in half a day? I believe such deeds will soon happen in the Velgache to Reynolds."

Sokov wanted to pour cold water on both of them to make them both sober. But then he thought that the situation of the war is not good for the Soviet army and it is a time when morale is needed. If the commander has no confidence, can he still expect the soldiers to be very upright? Therefore, he kept silent and listened quietly to the two of them there.

After both of them were quiet, Sokov said to them: "I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to listen to first?"

Belkin thought that he had heard too much bad news recently, so he said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, let's talk about the good news first."

"The good news is that the troops led by Christopher successfully seized a German warehouse in the Rososchka area in the Jr., and will transport the seized materials back tonight by truck to supplement the weapons, ammunition and various materials needed by our department."

"This is really good news." Although after this period of storage, there are already a lot of weapons, ammunition and various military supplies in the warehouse, no one would think it would be too much if there were new supplies to replenish them. After this news made Belkin happy for a while, he continued to ask: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what about the bad news?"

"The bad news is about the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion." Sokov said with a stern face: "You must have seen that when they were shot by the German army, they had no power to fight back. When I went over and inquire, I realized that the female soldiers of the anti-aircraft artillery battalion had only received simple anti-aircraft artillery air defense training and did not know how to use anti-aircraft artillery to deal with enemy tanks, resulting in heavy casualties. I just went to see that the entire battalion originally had 15 85mm anti-aircraft artillery and 197 commanders and fighters. Now there are five anti-aircraft artillery left, and more than 60 commanders and fighters, and the system has almost been destroyed."

"I really didn't expect that the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion would have suffered so much casualties in the battle just now." Berkin said with some pain: "We should contact the leaders of the Red October Tractor Factory immediately and let them withdraw this force for rest."

"Don't contact the factory leaders." Sokov immediately expressed his objection to Belkin's proposal. "Since the women's anti-aircraft artillery battalion was ordered by the city defense committee to set up an air defense position near the north slope. Before all their staff died, I think the superiors would not give them a retreat order. Therefore, I sent someone to place them in the open space between the north and south slopes, so that they would not be directly attacked by German artillery fire."

"The situation is getting worse and worse now, so we must prepare for combat in advance." Sokov began to issue orders to Sidolin: "Order the battalions to immediately close the roads in the minefield and send troops into field fortifications, although they are ready to fight against the enemies rushing to the Mamayev hill."

"Comrade Brigade Commander, I think the soldiers will be very happy to hear your order." Sidolin said with a smile when he heard Sokov's order: "They are hiding in the fortifications of the tunnel every day, and they are almost suffocating. Being able to stay on the surface of the outside and breathe fresh air is simply a pleasure for them."

"Life is more important than fresh air." Sokov felt that he needed to sound another alarm for Belkin and Cidolin: "In order to reduce the losses of our brigade commanders and fighters in the enemy's shelling and bombing, we may keep the soldiers in a long-term tunnel that makes people depressed and difficult for each other, and hope that everyone can be mentally prepared."

Although Belkin and Cidolin felt particularly uncomfortable when they were in the tunnel, they knew very well that it was safest to stay in such fortifications if they wanted to save their lives in battle. After hearing Sokov's words, Cidolin even took the initiative to propose: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our brigade command is located at the foot of the hillside. If it encounters German bombing, there may be a risk of being destroyed. I think it's better to move it to the tunnel."
Chapter completed!