Red Moscow

  Chapter 405 Friendly Army (Part 1)

  After night fell, the troops of the 42nd Guards Regiment assembled by the river, preparing to board the ferry docked at the ferry and head to the city to join the main force of the division. Several ferries were bombed and sunk during the day, and it was impossible to transport more than 2,000 people from the 42nd Guards Regiment across the river at one time. The officers and soldiers of the Volga Fleet provided many wooden boats or kayaks for the soldiers of the Guards to cross the river.

  After boarding the ship, the ship full of Guards soldiers set off to the opposite bank. At the beginning, everything was normal, but as soon as it drove to the side, several flares suddenly rose in the sky. Colonel Ye Lin, who was on one of the ferries, frowned when he saw the flares in the sky, and asked the helmsman operating the ship: "What's going on, why are the flares fired, aren't we afraid that the Germans will find us? "

The helmsman glanced at the slowly falling flares and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Colonel, the flares were not fired by our people, but by the German artillery observers lurking on the shore. They used the flares to indicate the direction of the artillery. Look at Well, it won't be long before they start shelling."

  As soon as the helmsman finished speaking, there were successive screams in the air. A moment later, the river, which seemed calm just now, was blown up by the sudden shells, and the water jets shot up into the sky one by one, causing the ferry boat driving in the river to shake violently. Ye Lin hurriedly grabbed the railing next to him , Only then did I gain a firm foothold in the bumps.

  He watched helplessly as a wooden boat not far ahead was hit directly by a shell and was instantly blown to pieces. Fragments of the ship's hull and the blown-up warrior's body flew into the sky in the flames.

  Ye Lin firmly grasped the railing and let the splashed water hit his face. He hoped in his heart that the bombardment would end soon so that his team could smoothly board the ferry on the right bank.

  However, as the screams became more and more intensive, more and more shells fell from the sky. Neither the ferry nor the soldiers on wooden boats could resist the damage of the shells. Accompanied by the violent explosion of the shells hitting the ships, the wooden boats full of soldiers burst into flames, forcing the soldiers on them to dive into the water in a hurry to escape.

  Just when Ye Lin thought that the ship his team was on could not pass through the shelling area smoothly, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the enemy's shell fell far behind the fleet. It may be that the fleet of the Soviet army has entered the dead end of the shelling. The artillery observers hidden by the river stopped firing flares into the air, and the shelling stopped abruptly.

Seeing the boats approaching the shore, Ye Lin couldn't help turning his head and looking back. He saw that the dense formation of wooden boats and rubber boats had been blasted to pieces by the artillery fire. Looking at the wreckage of the burning wooden boat, on the illuminated river surface, you can see the commanders and fighters who fell into the water, thumping desperately in the cold river water, floating and sinking like boiled dumplings.

  The ship finally docked at the ferry on the right bank. As soon as Ye Lin got off the ship, he heard a voice from the crowd in front: "Colonel Ye Lin, where is Colonel Ye Lin?"

  Hearing someone calling his name, Ye Lin quickly raised his voice and replied, "I'm here!"

  An officer wearing a big-brimmed hat hurried over after hearing Ye Lin's voice. He came to Ye Lin, and after confirming the identity of the other party, he straightened his body and said: "Hello, Comrade Colonel. I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and I am Vonrodim General Tsev and brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov ordered to come here to meet you."

   "Hello, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Ye Lin stretched out his hand to the other party, "It's really great to have you come to meet us. When I was on the ship, I was still worried about where the troops should go after landing."

  When Samoilov shook hands with Ye Lin, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, I just saw that your fleet was bombarded by the German army while crossing the river. I don't know how the casualties are?"

  When Ye Lin heard this question, the muscles on his face twitched violently, and then he said angrily: "I don't have time to make statistics now. Comrade Second Lieutenant, hurry up and take us to the garrison site."

"Comrade Colonel, I will keep two people here. After your troops are assembled, let them take the troops to the designated place." Samoilov said to Yelin: "I was ordered to take you to Mamayev Go to our brigade commander and he will provide you with the weapons and ammunition you need."

   Ye Lin frowned slightly when he heard that Samoilov said that he would take him to see Sokov. He thought that the lieutenant colonel was quite arrogant and his rank was lower than his own, so he even asked himself to see him. But when he heard the following words, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic. Almost all of his regiments were new fighters, and half of them were not equipped with weapons. He urged: "Second Lieutenant, without further ado, take me to see your brigade commander immediately."

"Comrade Colonel," seeing that Ye Lin didn't explain anything to others, he urged himself to go to Mamayev Post. Samoilov quickly reminded him, "See if you should explain to some commander and let the He was in charge of commanding the troops while you were away."

Samoilov's words reminded Ye Lin that he quickly called his chief of staff and told him: "Comrade chief of staff, hurry up and gather your troops, and later this second lieutenant's subordinates will send you Take it to the designated place."

   "Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff asked back, "Where are you going?"

  Yelin pointed to Samoilov and said: "I followed him to the brigade headquarters of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. The brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, said that he could provide us with the weapons and ammunition we need."

  Hearing what Ye Lin said, the chief of staff couldn't help smiling, and said quickly, "Comrade head, do you need to send someone to carry supplies with you?"

  Ye Lin thought that even if the infantry brigade provided him with weapons and ammunition, if he wanted to carry them, he still needed to send his own personnel, so he nodded and shouted to a commander who followed him off the ship: "Captain Dragan!"

   "Here!" Captain Dragan, who was named by Ye Lin, stepped forward quickly and replied loudly: "Comrade commander, what instructions do you have?"

  Ye Lin briefly ordered: "Take your troops and follow me."

  Dragan is the company commander of the first battalion and company. After hearing Ye Lin's order, he immediately shouted at the soldiers who had just disembarked: "Soldiers of the first company, come and assemble!"

  Yelin took Dragan's company and followed Samoilov towards Mamayev Post. He asked curiously, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, how long have you been stationed at Mamayev Post?"

  Samoilov calculated silently in his heart, and then replied: "Our brigade entered Stalingrad in July. Since then, we have been stationed at Mamayev Post."

"You guys have been staying here for a long time." Ye Lin judged based on his own experience. The infantry brigade had held on to Mamayev Post for two months, and the casualties must have been very heavy. To take over their defense, so he tentatively asked: "The army must have suffered heavy casualties, right?"

"We did pay some casualties in the battle to defend Mamayev Gang." Thinking of the results achieved by the infantry brigade in the past two months, Samoilov felt a sense of pride in his heart: "But We have perfect fortifications, and every attack by the enemy ends in failure."

   When the troops came near Mamayev Gang, they were immediately stopped by hidden sentries. Samoilov stepped forward and said to several lurking posts: "I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov of the guard company. I am here on the order of the brigade commander to pick up the commander of the friendly army at the ferry."

  The sentinel glanced at the group of soldiers behind Samoilov and Ye Lin, and said with some hesitation: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I have no right to let an unfamiliar army enter the tunnel before I receive an order from my superior."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant," Ye Lin saw that Samoilov was about to get angry at the sentry, and quickly stopped him: "Comrade Sentinel is doing the right thing, he is fulfilling his duties. Well, let the troops stay outside the tunnel, and I will follow him alone." You go in." Seeing that Ye Lin was the only one who followed Samoilov into the tunnel, the sentry did not stop him.

  When Ye Lin walked into the headquarters, he saw that the three commanders sitting at the table all stood up. His eyes swept over the three of them quickly, and seeing that one of them was a political worker, he should be a political commissar, so he focused his attention on the other two officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After looking at it for a while, he walked quickly to Sidolin, and stretched out his hand to him with a smile: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sukov, I am Colonel Ye Lin, commander of the 42nd Guards Regiment!"

   "Hello, Comrade Colonel." Sidolin shook hands with the other party while explaining with some embarrassment: "I am Chief of Staff Sidolin, and the person next to him is our brigade commander."

  While shaking hands with Sidolin, Ye Lin looked at the young lieutenant colonel next to him with some surprise, thinking: "Damn, why is the brigade commander of the infantry brigade so young?"

  After everyone got to know each other, Sokov called Ye Lin to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and asked, "Comrade Colonel, how were the casualties when your regiment was crossing the river?"

  Although Ye Lin came here with Samoilov before he had time to count the casualties of the troops after he went ashore. But when he heard Sokov's question, he still smiled wryly and said, "The exact number is not clear, but I guess there are three or four hundred people."

  Three or four hundred people? Hearing this uncertain number of casualties, Sokov couldn't help but tremble all over. He thought that after crossing the river during the day, the Guards Division lost at least nearly 2,000 people in the enemy's artillery fire and bombing, and now the 42nd Guards Regiment suffered another casualty. Three or four hundred people were lost, which means that the troops lost a regiment in the Volga River before they officially entered the battle.

   Sokov quickly changed the subject: "Comrade Colonel, I heard from General Rodimtsev that almost all of your regiment is recruited, and half of them have no weapons."

   "That's right, that's right." Ye Lin said with some embarrassment: "Because the troops were hurriedly transferred to Stalingrad just after they were formed, many soldiers have no weapons."

"Comrade Colonel, we have prepared a batch of weapons for you, and you can send someone to move them later." Sokov pouted at Samoilov and said, "Let Second Lieutenant Samoilov take the weapons later." Your people, go to our underground warehouse to collect weapons."

   Ye Lin said briefly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I brought a company with me when I came, and now they are outside the tunnel."

"Since the troops are here, why are they still staying outside the tunnel?" After Sokov asked this sentence, before Ye Lin could answer, he turned his gaze to Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what the **** is going on?" what's going on?"

   "It's an ambush sentry deployed at the gate." Samoilov replied with some embarrassment: "They said that you can't just let strange troops enter the tunnel."

"It's nonsense, it's nonsense." Sokov pointed Samoilov with his finger and said to him: "Comrade second lieutenant, you go outside the tunnel immediately, bring in the comrades of the Guards Division, and take them to collect our weapons for them."

  After Samoilov left, Sokov handed over a list he had prepared to Ye Lin. Ye Lin took the list, glanced at it a few times, and couldn't help widening his eyes. After quickly reading the above content, he asked Sukov in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are these weapons prepared for us? "

   "Yes, Colonel Yelin." Sokov replied with a smile, "It's all for you."

"One thousand rifles, thirty light machine guns, ten heavy machine guns, and the supporting ammunition..." After Ye Lin read out the contents of the list, he said gratefully: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I thought you would do our best for us." Four to five hundred rifles were prepared, but I didn't expect to give us so much equipment."

   Paused for a moment, Ye Lin asked hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why did you give us so many weapons and ammunition?"

"Colonel Yelin," Sokov said straight to the point in order to dispel Yelin's doubts: "If we want to defend Stalingrad, our brigade alone is far from enough. We need the full cooperation of our friendly forces. If your The weapons and equipment of the troops are too poor, and it is easy to be defeated by the German army on the battlefield. Once you are defeated by the enemy, our flanks will be exposed to the enemy, and the battle will be difficult to fight."

   After Samoilov led Dragan's company into the tunnel, he went directly to the underground warehouse where weapons and ammunition were stored. Hearing that his troops were going to collect equipment, Ye Lin couldn't sit still, and ran over in a panic.

Seeing the back of Ye Lin leaving, Sokov thought to himself: "I have provided you with so many weapons, I believe that every soldier can get his own weapon. In this way, I hope it will not appear in the movie. That kind of stupid thing where two people charge with one gun and five bullets against the enemy's intensive firepower."

When the soldiers of the Guards Division were still receiving their weapons, the division commander Rodimtsev called Sokov. He knew through some means that the Yelin regiment had already landed, so he asked bluntly: " Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, has Colonel Yelin and his troops arrived?"

"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov replied quickly and respectfully: "My people have brought the main force of the Guards Regiment to the designated location. Colonel Ye Lin, the commander of the regiment, is currently in my tunnel fortification. , leading a company of soldiers to receive the weapons and ammunition I provided them. Comrade General, do you need me to call Colonel Ye Lin?"

  (end of this chapter)