"Comrades, it turns out that as long as you are willing to fight for the USSR and for Stalingrad, we will not give up on you, you have always had the opportunity to return to the bosom of the motherland, and now is the time for you to make a decision......"

Soon, the loudspeakers in the streets of Stalingrad that were still functioning were spreading the story of the 5th Infantry Company.

In fact, Zhukov personally ordered the transfer of a batch of loudspeakers from the east bank of the Volga to Stalingrad for this purpose, because he considered it an excellent propaganda opportunity. Not only to Stalingrad, but to the whole army and even the entire USSR.

You must know that at this time, when the supply lines were blocked, and at this time, the horns that could not be eaten and could not fight were also transported, which is enough to prove that Zhukov attached great importance to this matter.

Then, the commendation for the 5th Infantry Company quickly came down.

Sokolov was promoted to second lieutenant and received a Red Star medal along with ten other outstanding soldiers in the infantry company.

This, of course, is also what Zhukov meant.

In fact, if you just look at the performance, the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Infantry Company are normally promoted because of the previous stains, but they are not yet to the extent that they can get medals.

Zhukov obviously wanted to use this to prove that the 5th Infantry Company was a normal unit, and he wanted to create a model unit for deserters.

These medals were awarded to them by Shulka himself.

Because of the urgency of the military situation, Shulka chose to award them in the gap between the withdrawal of the 5th Infantry Company.

In the end, however, only eight were fired, as two of the warriors had already died on the battlefield.

Shulka could not forget the moment when he put on the medals for several fighters, and all the fighters of the 5th Infantry Company shed tears, without exception.

Their faces were blackened on the battlefield, and their tears were wiped again, and their whole faces were flowery, and they looked a little funny, like children who came home after a day of playing in the mud and were punished.

But no one could laugh at them like this.

Because everyone knows what they are paying for today, for this moment.

It is true that the soldiers of other units have given the same amount, but at least they have not experienced the feeling of being abandoned and marginalized...... A significant part of the deserters were reluctant to surrender to the Germans.

If this matter is considered from the perspective of the "punishment camp", they can almost say that there is no way to live, and if there is still a way to live, it is to defect to the German army.

But a significant number of people would rather die as a Soviet soldier in the "punishment camp" than live in a German prisoner of prisoner camp.

Otherwise, they should have fled in the direction of the Germans rather than trying to escape to the east coast through the port.

However, this feeling of being spurned by the motherland is terrible, they feel that the world is so big that there is no place for themselves, and at the same time they have lost their own reliance and belief in survival, like duckweed without roots drifting with the tide.

"Thank you, Comrade Captain!" Sokolov shook Shulka's hand excitedly, and Shulka could even feel his hands trembling with excitement.

"You didn't lie to us!" Sokolov said: "You helped us win this, honor, faith, and other things. There are some things that you don't know how precious they are until you lose them. Now, we've got it back......"

"No, Comrade Sokolov!" Shulka replied: "You have earned it yourself, and you deserve it!" In addition......"

With that, Shulka took out the two medals that could not be sent out, as well as the supporting documents, and handed them to Sokolov, saying: "These two medals, I hope you will give them to their families!" ”

Sokolov nodded and gave Shulka a hug in gratitude.

Sokolov knew what that meant, and that medals could be trivial to others, especially the Order of the Red Star, which was awarded 3.87 million medals, and was a very common and common type of medal.

However, it was no small deal for the soldiers of the 5th Infantry Company, because it was almost an affirmation of their identity, and even of their family.

If necessary, their families can prove that they are not family members of "traitors to the motherland" with medals and documents.

Sokolov, of course, knew what Shulka meant, and so did everyone else.

So, as Shulka left, everyone spontaneously stood up towards Shulka and gave a military salute in a dignified manner.

Another benefit of the 5th Infantry Company being a model unit was that their supplies were normalized.

This was also Zhukov's instructions, otherwise it would have been impossible to improve the supply of a "punishment battalion" at this time.

But with a reason, it is not the same as the order of the superiors, and Stalingrad will not be short of a reinforced company even if it lacks supplies.

As a result, the food was quickly rationed normally, and equipment such as machine guns, heavy machine guns, mortars, and rocket launchers were in place in three batches within a day.

This caught Sokolov a little off guard.

As I said before, the quality of the Fifth Infantry Company is not high, and the whole company does not need to cooperate with different equipment to use rifles to play normally...... There were not a few bazooka shooters among the deserters.

This is due to the fact that the bazooka has just been equipped with the Soviet army, and at the same time, the bazooka is a priority for the equipment of the troops with strong combat effectiveness, and the deserters and the soldiers of the "punishment battalion" have only heard of but have never even touched the bazooka.

As a last resort, Shulka could only ask Valery to pull the 5th Infantry Company off the battlefield and concentrate training for a few days.

What Shulka did not expect was that this kind of training continued for quite some time after it began, and even became a tradition of the 82nd Infantry Regiment.

The reason for this was that deserters or "correctional battalion" soldiers were constantly fleeing to the 82nd Infantry Regiment......

On this day, Shulka was discussing the night counterattack with Major Mikhailvich and others on the map.

Because every day in the tug-of-war on the battlefield, new situations will appear, and the position of the defense line and the enemy's strength and firepower deployment will be different, so every night's counteroffensive must be analyzed on a case-by-case basis and a different counteroffensive plan should be formulated according to the actual situation.

However, because the Soviets were familiar with the terrain and had many underground passages that could be exploited, these underpasses were difficult for the enemy to find even if they were reused...... Crawling out of the passage in the dark, the Germans were often caught up in a mess by internal and external attacks before they could react, and they had no time to find the passage entrance.

Therefore, the Soviet army was always able to seize the initiative and gain an advantage at night.

At this moment, Andrianka reported: "Comrade Shulka, there are dozens of people who have taken refuge in us!" ”

Major Mikhailvich frowned, and replied without raising his head: "This kind of thing does not need to be reported, Comrade Andrianka, it is enough to be locked up with prisoners of war!" ”

"But ......," said Andrianka, "they are their own people!" ”