Red Moscow

  Chapter 224

But when there was only one platoon left in the position, Sukov received a call from Potukin, and the other party asked anxiously: "Comrade commander, I see that there are no troops around you, and I need to send Easter to you." Will Laying be sent to you?"

"No need, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sukov considered that if the troops could not stop the German counterattack, they would withdraw to the left bank at that time, so he rejected Potukin's proposal: "The battle has just begun, and we will use them in the future." There are still many places left, let them stay in their original positions for now."

Just as Sokov put down the phone, he suddenly heard someone shouting outside: "Air raid, air raid siren, take cover, quickly find a place to hide." Armed with an assault rifle, he walked out of the simple headquarters, trying to figure out what was going on.

  Four enemy planes came from the south, lowered their altitude and began to drop bombs. Black smoke from the bomb explosion rose everywhere in the position. Two soldiers who were cleaning up the floating soil in the trenches saw the enemy planes start dropping bombs, and hurriedly held the engineering shovels in their hands, bent over and ran towards a nearby air-raid shelter.

   Unexpectedly, just halfway through the run, an aerial bomb landed not far from them and exploded. When the gunpowder smoke cleared, Sokov saw two soldiers fell to the ground, writhing in pain. He quickly turned his head and shouted at the headquarters: "Hygienist, hygienist!"

  Following his shout, a male hygienist with a medical kit on his back ran out from the headquarters, looked down and came to Sokover and others, and asked him, "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?"

  Sokov pointed at the wounded soldiers in the distance, and said, "There are two wounded soldiers over there. Go and treat them quickly."

  Although the position was full of gunpowder smoke and flying shrapnel from the explosion at the moment, the health worker ran towards the wounded without hesitation after receiving Sokov's order.

"Comrade Commander," the guard platoon leader who was hiding in a nearby air-raid shelter saw Sokov squatting in a bomb crater outside the headquarters, worried that he would be in danger, so he hurriedly left the hiding place and ran to Sokov's side, He said anxiously: "It's too dangerous outside, you'd better go to the air-raid shelter."

   "Comrade Second Lieutenant, there are two wounded over there. Let's help the health workers carry them to the air-raid shelter first." Sokov finished speaking, and before the guard platoon leader could express his opinion, he bent over and sprinted towards the wounded.

"Master, it's dangerous, get down quickly." Seeing Sokov finish speaking, he ran towards the wounded exposed on the open ground without hesitation, scaring the guard platoon leader out of his wits, and he pointed at Sokov's back He shouted a few times, but seeing that it had no effect, he cursed secretly in his heart, and rushed over with his gun in hand.

   Sokov ran to the wounded and squatted down, and asked the health worker who was bandaging the wounded: "How are their injuries? Are they serious?"

   "The injuries are not serious." The health worker shook his head and said, "They all suffered leg and back injuries. Surgery must be performed as soon as possible to remove all the shrapnel from their bodies."

"Comrade commander," the guard platoon leader appeared in front of the two of them, and he said to Sokov with a trace of reproach: "You are the commander of the first division, how can you take such a risk? You should go back to the headquarters first. Leave it to me to get things done.”

Sokov glanced at the air-raid shelter more than 20 meters away, and said to the guard platoon leader: "The wounded are seriously injured, we can't let them stay in this dangerous place, let's send them to the air-raid shelter over there first. "

  After hearing Sokov's words, the guard platoon leader grabbed one of the wounded by the collar without saying a word, dragged him towards the air-raid shelter. Seeing that the guard platoon leader had dragged away a wounded person, Sokov, together with the health guards, dragged another wounded person and rushed to the air-raid shelter as fast as possible.

   There were seven or eight soldiers in the air-raid shelter. When they saw the division commander and the platoon leader each dragging a wounded man, half of them immediately came out to help and dragged the wounded into the air-raid shelter.

The guard platoon leader took advantage of the fact that the health workers were bandaging the wounds of the wounded, and said to Sokov tactfully: "Comrade commander, do you know? Your action just now was too risky. You are the leader of the first division. If something happens Unexpectedly, the troops may fall into a panic because of the loss of unified command..."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Hearing what the guard platoon leader said, Sokov also realized that he was a bit too reckless. Now is not the time to be a hero. The regiment will fall into chaos because of the loss of unified command. He quickly apologized to the other party and said: "You are right, I was a little too reckless today, I must pay attention to correcting it in the future..."

  Before he finished speaking, he heard a soldier shouting at the entrance of the cave: "Comrade commander, someone from the direction of the headquarters is calling for you."

  Sokov hurried to the entrance of the cave and looked towards the command post tens of meters away. Sure enough, he saw a signal soldier squatting at the door, waving his hands in this direction, and shouting something loudly at the same time. However, due to the bombing and strafing by enemy planes, Sokov couldn't hear what the other party was saying at all. Seeing that Sokov was so unresponsive, the communications soldier quickly raised his thumb and little finger and made a gesture of answering the phone.

   Seeing this action of the communication soldier, Sokov knew that someone must have called the headquarters to look for him, so he raised his gun and prepared to leave. Unexpectedly, as soon as he leaned forward, he was pulled by the guard platoon leader, who said, "Master, it's too dangerous. You'd better wait until the enemy plane leaves before going over."

  Sokov guessed that the call at this time must have something important, and the enemy plane didn't know how long it would bomb over the position, so he waved at the guard platoon leader and rushed out of the air-raid shelter with his gun. Unexpectedly, when there were still twenty or thirty steps away from the headquarters, an aerial bomb fell from the sky and exploded nearby. The huge shock wave threw Sokov into the bomb crater at the entrance of the headquarters.

  A German pilot who carried out the air strike felt that the information he had received seemed inaccurate when he bombed this position that once belonged to his side. As soon as Sokov rushed out of the air-raid shelter, he was immediately spotted by the German pilots circling in the air, and a dive bomb came immediately. But the aerial bombs were dropped a bit earlier, and the running Russian soldiers were just overturned by the air waves in the nearby bomb craters, as if they hadn't lost their ability to move. So the German pilot pulled the plane up and prepared to dive down again and kill the Russian with the on-board machine gun.

  Sokov lay on his back in the crater, feeling pain in his back. Seeing an enemy plane swoop down towards him after pulling up, he was startled into a cold sweat. He quickly raised the assault rifle in his hand, put the **** of the gun against his shoulder, and aimed the muzzle at the diving plane. enemy plane.

  Seeing that the enemy plane was getting closer and closer to him, Sokov immediately pulled the trigger. Due to time constraints, he didn't have time to think about how absurd it is to shoot an airplane with an assault rifle. Amidst the huge explosion, he didn't hear the gunshot at all, so he could only pull the trigger mechanically, firing all the bullets in the clip. go out.

  Because he was too nervous, he didn't realize that a bullet pierced through the glass of the cockpit and hit the driver's face. The red liquid that exploded sprayed the glass into blood red. The plane, which lost its pilot, passed by forty or fifty meters above his head, and then plunged into the open space a hundred meters away, and an earth-shattering explosion occurred.

  Whether it was the air-raid shelter entrance or the soldiers at the command department entrance, when they saw the division commander being overturned by the aerial bombs, their hands were sweating, and they were worried about his safety. Unexpectedly, the commander who fell into the bomb crater unexpectedly shot down an enemy plane with a new automatic gun in his hand. After a moment of silence, the soldiers all cheered. Two soldiers rushed out of the headquarters, jumped into the crater, and carried Sokov back to the headquarters.

  Sokov was carried by two soldiers to his seat and sat down, gasping for breath, he asked the messenger who called him: "Who is calling me?"

   "It's Colonel Bindasov." The communications soldier handed the microphone to Sokov and said at the same time: "He has something important to report to you immediately."

   Sokov grabbed the microphone and said loudly close to his ear: "Colonel Bindasov, I am the acting division commander. Do you have anything to report to me?"

   "Comrade Commander," the voice from the receiver was mixed with the sound of guns and guns, which proved that fierce fighting was going on at Bindasov. Bindasov said loudly: "The enemy dispatched seven or eight tanks and more than 300 infantry to counterattack the positions occupied by our regiment. The first battalion of Captain Jetrov is fighting tenaciously with the enemy. , the warriors acted heroically..."

   Before Bindasov finished speaking, Sokov interrupted the other party's cliché and continued to ask: "I have sent you the third battalion who stayed here. Have they arrived yet?"

"What, you've already sent the third battalion over?" Bindasov, who was about to ask for reinforcements, was taken aback when he heard what Sokov said, and then thought that although the acting division commander was young, he had no grasp of the situation. Stronger than anyone else, it is only logical that he can let himself return to the construction of the three battalions in advance. He said hastily: "I haven't seen the third battalion yet. I guess they are on their way."

   "Comrade Colonel," Sokov asked Bindasov with a serious expression, "Please tell me the truth, can you stop the enemy's attack?"

"It's hard to say, Comrade Commander." Bindasov said with some hesitation: "You have to know that our regiment does not have any heavy weapons. If we want to destroy the enemy's tanks, we must let the soldiers strap cluster grenades on their bodies and wait for the enemy to destroy them. When the tanks came up, they died with them."

   "I see, Comrade Colonel." According to Bindasov's description, Sokov realized that the current strength of the regiment is too weak. If reinforcements are not sent, they may be defeated by the German army. Thinking of this, he quickly added: "Hold on, I will send you reinforcements as soon as possible."

   Then, Sokov got in touch with Pavel again, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how is the situation in your direction? Is the enemy still harassing you?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Pavel replied in an affirmative tone: "As far as Moquan, they just kept shelling our army's positions and dispatched small groups of troops to carry out feint attacks. They didn't launch any decent attacks at all, so I can say with certainty that they took such actions in order to contain us."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, listen to me." After confirming that the enemy's attack on the right wing was just a feint, Sokov immediately ordered Pavel decisively: "Immediately transfer the 1139th Regiment to the left wing to support Colonel Bindasov. It is the focus of the German army's offensive, and if it is not supported as soon as possible, I am afraid that he will not be able to withstand it."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Hearing Sokov's order, Pavel quickly assured him, "I will dispatch the 1139th Regiment to reinforce Colonel Bindasov as soon as possible."

Although a regiment was transferred from the right wing, Sokov still felt uneasy, so he called Potukin who stayed on the other side of the river and asked bluntly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the current regiment of the 1135th regiment The situation is very critical, do you have any way to transfer the tank battalion and artillery battalion to the right bank area as soon as possible?"

  Sokov's words stumped Potukin. Although a river channel about 50 meters wide is not a big deal, it is a bit difficult to let tanks and artillery cross the river. Hearing that there was no movement in the receiver, Sokov couldn't help frowning, and then raised his voice and asked, "What's the matter, Comrade Chief of Staff, why don't you speak?"

"It's not easy, Comrade Commander." Potukin said in embarrassment: "I can order the artillery battalion to build a position by the river to provide artillery support for Bindasov's 1135th regiment. But tanks, I really can't do anything , there are no bridges over the river, and our tanks can't swim."

Hearing Potukin say that tanks can't swim, Sukov suddenly thought of the area where the 1137th and 1138th regiments were wading, so he said to Potukin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you can let the tank battalion go up the Hebei River and rush to The section where the infantry waded on foot. I believe that where the infantry can ford the river on foot, so can our tanks."

"Yes, how did I forget about this?" Potukin immediately replied after Sokov reminded him, "I will call the commander of the tank battalion and order him to lead the tank battalion northward and cross the upper reaches. Zizdra River."

  The phone call is over, and the bombing outside is also over. Seeing that one of his companions was shot down by ground fire, the remaining enemy planes panicked. They quickly pulled up the plane, dropped all the bombs it carried, and then turned around and flew south.

  After hearing that the enemy's bombing was over, Sokov walked out of the command post again. He stood at the door, looked up at the distant enemy planes, and turned his eyes to the positions billowing black smoke everywhere. He thought to himself: "Bindasov has received support from the 1139th Regiment, as well as artillery With the support of tank soldiers, it should be no problem to stick to the existing position."

  (end of this chapter)