Red Moscow

  Chapter 171 Battle Results

   Although Sokov was the first to charge, many soldiers still overtook him during the charge. They rushed to the front of the church first, kicked open the crumbling gate, and rushed in with their guns in hand.

  From the church gate to the prayer hall, there is a corridor that is two meters wide and fifteen meters long. The German officers and soldiers guarding the hall saw the Soviet troops breaking in and shot immediately. In the dense rain of bullets, the soldiers crowded in the corridor fell down, and the soldiers behind stepped on the dead or injured comrades who fell to the ground and continued to rush in.

   Brave soldiers rushed into the prayer hall against the rain of bullets, rushed to the German troops hiding behind the pillars or piles of rubble, and fought with them or started hand-to-hand combat. The officers and soldiers howled and fought fiercely with each other. Neither side had any fancy airs. They used bayonets, gun butts, fists, and teeth to bite each other. They did everything they could to kill each other.

  As Sokov arrived with a large group of troops, the situation in the church was tilted in favor of the Soviet army. Some unsightly German soldiers rushed towards Sokov with bright bayonets in their hands, but they were either knocked down by Sokov directly, or stabbed to death by the guard squad soldiers who were protecting him.

  After the battle, Sokov inspected the hall and found that the highest rank of the German officers and soldiers lying on the ground was only a captain. Seeing this situation, he couldn't help frowning slightly, and said to himself: "Could it be that the information is wrong, the German headquarters is not here?" But he changed his mind, there was a car destroyed by artillery fire outside the church, and two three-wheeled motorcycles. If it is just a company-level headquarters, it should not be qualified to equip these vehicles.

   At this moment, several gunshots were heard from the altar, and then a soldier shouted loudly: "There is someone in the basement!" As soon as his shout fell, there were several more gunshots.

Sokov heard the gunshots and the shouts of the soldiers, so he didn't bother to think about it. He shouted at Oleg and several soldiers of the guard squad, "Follow me!" and rushed towards the altar .

   Sokov came to the side of the altar, and saw that there was an entrance leading to the basement. Next to the square hole, there were two soldiers lying. It seems that the soldiers discovered the entrance to the basement and planned to go down to find out, but they were sniped by the German soldiers hiding inside.

Seeing this, Oleg was about to charge forward with a gun in his hand, but was stopped by Sokov: "Wait a minute, Oleg." He looked at the dark hole and continued, "Say Maybe there are seven or eight guns pointing at the entrance below, if you rush in like this, you will only end up dead."

  Oleg stopped and asked anxiously: "Comrade battalion commander, what should we do?"

  Sokov took off the rucksack, took out two grenades from inside, pulled the string, and threw them directly into the hole. He first heard the sound of grenades rolling down the stairs, and a moment later, there were two dull explosions. When the black smoke came out of the cave, there were bursts of screams from inside, probably because of the German soldiers who were hiding near the cave and were about to shoot coldly.

   Seeing that Sokov's method was good, Oleg also took out the grenade from his backpack, pulled the string and threw it into the hole. The surrounding soldiers also took out grenades one after another, imitating Sokov and Oleg, and threw them into the cave.

  After countless grenades were thrown into the hole, there was a series of explosions soon after, shaking the ground under their feet. Sokov was afraid that throwing too many grenades would shake the floor, so he quickly stopped the soldiers who were about to continue throwing grenades: "Stop, everyone, stop throwing any more!"

  Oleg asked curiously: "Comrade battalion commander, why didn't you throw the grenade?"

"If you throw it again, the ground will be blown up. I don't want to fall and be buried with the Germans." Sokov ordered to stop throwing grenades because of another consideration. He felt that the German headquarters must be because of the church. The roof was destroyed by artillery fire and moved to the basement. If you can capture the enemy's headquarters, it will be considered a great achievement.

   "If the Germans hid near the entrance of the cave and shot coldly, we still wouldn't be able to rush in." Oleg stared at the entrance of the cave, and said with some embarrassment: "Then what should we do?"

"Oleg, you go to the head of the 33rd Guards Regiment immediately. I remember they have several flamethrowers in their regiment." Sukov looked at the entrance of the cave and said through gritted teeth, "Since the enemy won't come out, we will Burn them all in there."

  When Oleg was about to leave, a faint shout suddenly came from the hole that was emitting black smoke. He hurriedly said to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, what do the Germans in the basement seem to be shouting?"

  Sokov pouted towards the entrance of the cave, and told Oleg, "Go and listen!"

   Oleg cautiously came to the hole and squatted down, listening carefully to the sound coming from inside. After a while, he heard clearly that someone below was yelling in broken Russian: "Don't throw the grenade, we surrender!" Probably because the people above couldn't hear it, the person shouting kept repeating.

   "Comrade Battalion Commander," Oleg turned his head and said excitedly to Sokov after hearing the shouting below: "The Germans are shouting at us, saying they want to surrender!"

  Sokov also heard the shouts of the German army, but he couldn't confirm whether the Germans surrendered for real or fake surrender, so he said to Oleg: "Let them come out with a white flag and surrender!"

   "Listen, people inside." Hearing what Sokov said, Oleg quickly put his head into the hole at the risk of danger, and shouted loudly at the inside: "Come out and surrender immediately with the white flag!"

  Not long after Oleg's shouting stopped, a slowly rising white flag emerged from the hole, and a German soldier wearing a helmet walked up the stairs slowly. Seeing the muzzles of guns all around, he quickly waved the white flag in his hand twice, and said in broken Russian with a mournful face, "We surrender!"

  Sokov walked up to the German soldiers and said with a serious expression: "I am Sokov, a major of the Soviet Army. I immediately order the people below to come out and surrender. I guarantee the personal safety of all of you."

  The German soldier glanced at Sokov's collar patch, and after confirming that he was the supreme commander here, he turned around and shouted in German. Not long after, twenty or thirty disgraced German soldiers walked up the stairs dejectedly. Behind them was a group of well-dressed officers. Apart from several field officers, Sokov also saw a female second lieutenant.

A German colonel stopped in front of Sokov, raised his hand in salute and said, "I am the regiment commander, Colonel Schwab, and I surrender to you now!" Sokov.

   Sokov took the opponent's pistol and said with a straight face: "On behalf of the 16th Army of the Soviet Red Army, I accept your surrender! I will guarantee the personal safety of all of you."

   "Thank you, Mr. Major!" After thanking Colonel Schwab, he raised his hand and saluted, and walked out with the rest of the prisoners.

After Schwab left, Sokov suddenly realized that the other party was communicating with him in Russian just now, so he quickly stopped the other party and said to him: "Colonel Schwab, I want you to order the troops to stop resisting, To reduce unnecessary casualties on both sides!"

   Regarding Sokov's request, Schwab nodded slightly in agreement, then turned around and explained a few words to the female second lieutenant in the crowd. Although Sokov couldn't understand what he said, he could clearly hear the female second lieutenant's name: Elizabeth.

  (end of this chapter)