Red Moscow

  Chapter 341 Breakthrough (Part 1)

  The engineer company searched along the river for a whole night, but until the sky became light, there was still nothing to find Sokarov's whereabouts. Considering that if the soldiers stayed by the river after dawn, they would become the targets of the German army, so Sokov could only make a painful decision and ordered the engineering company to terminate the search work.

  Sokov had just returned to the headquarters and was reporting to Chuikov about the search for Sokalov when suddenly there was a rumbling explosion in the distance. Chuikov walked to the window of the mill and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw puffs of black smoke rising from the direction of the river, and enemy planes circling could be seen in the sky.

   Seeing this situation, Chuikov frowned and said: "The Germans are bombing the position by the river. It seems that they are preparing to attack on a large scale."

   "Comrade Commander," Chuikov had just finished speaking, and the adjutant Klimov went on to say: "We have successfully blown up the pontoon bridge on the river. The Germans cannot cross the Axel River."

"Klimov, you think about the problem too simply." Regarding Klimov's naive idea, Chuikov immediately poured cold water on him: "You think that a mere Axe River can block the Is the advance of the German armored division? Even though we successfully blew up a pontoon bridge last night, I can assure you that today they will be able to re-erect at least two, three or even more pontoon bridges on the Aksai River."

"Comrade Commander, if the enemy's tanks cross the river, our infantry can't stop them at all." Knowing that the German army might build more pontoon bridges on the Aksai River, Klimov couldn't help panicking: "Then what should we do?"

  A good woman can’t live without rice. Cuikov knew very well in his heart that he didn’t have any decent artillery or any tank troops. It would be foolish to try to stop the German armored divisions. Therefore, after hearing Klimov's question, he was silent for a moment, and said: "We can only rely on the existing fortifications to consume the vital strength of the German army and prevent more enemies from rushing towards Stalingrad."

When Sokov, who was standing by the side, heard what he said, he thought to himself: Fortunately, I was smart and let Andre get the six cannons to Mamayev Hill early, otherwise I would wait for the German armored division to pass by. River, these guns were either destroyed or captured by the Germans. Rather than cheaping the Germans, it is better to let yourself stay, and it will be of great use in the future.

  It may be to prevent repeating the same mistakes. The German army, which had been fully prepared, would use artillery fire to bombard the Soviet positions on the north bank as soon as the bombing was over, so as to cover their engineers to build a pontoon bridge on the Axe River.

  The German army suffered a big loss yesterday in the Lyudnikov Division's defense zone. Today they chose the 157th Division's defense zone as the place to cross the river. Kuropatenko, who was standing in the observation post, let the soil shaken off by the explosion on his head fall on his military cap and shoulders, and just stood there motionless, holding his binoculars and looking towards the other side of the river. .

On the opposite bank, the German army assembled about twenty tanks and hundreds of soldiers. They also established more than a dozen machine gun positions on the bank, and set up a row of mortars. As soon as there was a lot of firepower from the Soviet army to fight back, they made a fixed point Clear posture.

Standing next to the colonel was his chief of staff. Seeing this situation, he said with a worried face: "Comrade commander, if the German pontoon bridge is erected, their tanks will rush to the north bank. With our existing Troops and equipment cannot stop them at all."

"If you can't stop it, you have to stop it." Hearing these words from his chief of staff, Kuropatenko did not put down his binoculars, but said in a low voice: "Tell the commanders and fighters, we must firmly hold the position, rather than let the bones be exposed." In the wilderness, never take a step back. If you are not afraid of sacrifice or bloodshed, you must fight to the last person, fight to the last bullet. When the soldiers are exhausted, the officers fill in; when the officers are exhausted, I personally hold the cluster grenade , to blow up German tanks."

  The division chief of staff originally wanted to complain a few words, but seeing that the division commander was determined to die, he stopped talking. He quickly straightened his body and replied, "Understood, Comrade Commander, we will definitely fight to the last man."

   It may be that there are a large number of Soviet anti-tank fighters hidden on the north bank. After the two pontoon bridges of the German army were erected, the first thing to rush over the bridge was not tanks, but hordes of infantry. Seeing that the German offensive had begun, Kuropatenko quickly grabbed the phone on the table, called the command post deployed at the forefront, and ordered the commander of the unit: "Comrade commander, you see the people rushing up. Are you a German?"

  The head of the Frontier Regiment quickly replied: "I see, Comrade Commander."

   Kuropatenko looked at the German infantry crossing the bridge through the binoculars, and shouted loudly: "Your regiment will charge me immediately! We must wipe out all the enemies on the pontoon bridge, and we must not let them board the north bank."

   Following Kuropatenko's order, countless soldiers jumped out of the bombed trenches, shouting and rushing towards the German troops passing the pontoon bridge. Seeing the sudden counter-charge of the Soviet army, the mortar deployed on the other side of the river fired first.

  The artillery shells fell and exploded in the charging queue. From time to time, Soviet soldiers were overturned by the blast waves, or were cut down by the flying shrapnel. Although people were dying every second, the surviving soldiers bravely crossed the shelling area and approached the pontoon bridge amidst the officers' rapid whistle.

  In order to prevent the Soviet army from approaching the pontoon bridge, the machine gun firepower deployed by the German army on the shore opened fire. In the dense rain of bullets, blood mist erupted from the slightly crowded formation. The soldiers who were shot trembled as if they were electrocuted under the rain of bullets, and then the corpses were like torn bags thrown out, and were hit by the huge impact force of the bullets. Top flip. Although comrades kept falling around them, the living warriors still howled and rushed forward, and the corpses paved the way for their attack. The soldiers rushing up to the pontoon bridge, after firing out all the bullets in their guns in one breath, held up their shiny bayonets, stared at their bloodshot eyes, howled wildly, and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Germans.

   Chuikov and Sokov stood on the hillside outside the headquarters, watching the tragic battle with binoculars. Seeing the soldiers bravely rushing up the pontoon bridge and engaging in melee and hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, I couldn't help saying with emotion: "Our soldiers are so heroic. As long as they are there, the Germans will definitely break through our defenses." Pay a heavy price."

When Sokov saw this scene, he scolded his mother in his heart: "Kuropatenko, an idiot, can obviously rely on the existing fortifications to consume the vital strength of the German army. Who knows that his head was flooded and he ordered the troops to carry out a counter-charge , As a result, a large number of soldiers died on the way to charge, and their deaths were miserable and unworthy."

  What Sokov thought of, Chuikov soon realized. He found that due to the effective area of ​​the pontoon bridge, only a part of the fighters maintained contact with the enemy and were engaged in melee. And those enemies who are temporarily out of reach, crowded on the pontoon bridge, are the best targets for the German machine guns. Almost as soon as the gunshots sounded, soldiers kept plopping into the water. Seeing this situation, he hurriedly said to Klimov who was squatting in the crater beside him: "Klimov, immediately call General Dmitriev and order him to bombard the enemy on the pontoon bridge with artillery fire and cover us." The troops retreated."

  (end of this chapter)