Red Moscow

  Chapter 418 Retreat (2)

   "No, there is no need to contact any troops." Chuikov knew very well that his headquarters was almost surrounded by the German army. Whether he communicated with the outside world by telephone or radio, he might be eavesdropped by the enemy. If the Germans knew their retreat route and set up an ambush halfway, they and the personnel led by the chief of staff would be in danger of destroying the entire army. So he shook his head and said resolutely: "We use our own strength to pass through the streets blocked by the enemy."

Regarding Chuikov's breakout plan, Krylov felt that it was too risky. He even thought that when Kyiv was besieged, the Southwest Front Army Command broke out and split into two groups. Baghramyan led his troops out of the encirclement, but the entire army was wiped out along the way led by the commander and chief of staff. Today, I and Cuikov led the members of the headquarters to cross the streets controlled by the enemy and break out to a safe area. I wonder if the same mistakes will happen again?

  Thinking of this, he cautiously reminded Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, I think it is too risky to pass through the road blocked by the enemy. How about we leave the headquarters by water with Comrade Military Commissar?"

  Chuikov immediately waved his hand when he heard Krylov’s proposal, and said, “If everyone takes the water route, the target is too big. Once attacked by the German army on the way, the entire headquarters will be destroyed.”

"Comrade Commander," Gurov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and immediately expressed his opinion: "If you and the chief of staff go by land, if something goes wrong, I can't control the army. In my opinion, Or you go by water, and I go by land with the chief of staff?"

"That's right, that's right." Krylov knew that walking by land was a near-death situation, and when he heard that Gurov was willing to go on land with him, he nodded vigorously and said in agreement: "Comrade Military Commissar is right. To ensure that our headquarters can operate normally, Commander, you should go by water."

   "As I have already said, the military commissioner will lead the staff to take the waterway." Facing the persuasion of Gurov and Krylov, Chuikov said stubbornly: "Time is running out, stop arguing, and get ready to go immediately."

"Comrade Commander, something is not right." When several people were discussing the retreat, Chuikov's adjutant Klimov suddenly rushed in from the outside. The entrance and exit are being fired with machine guns."

"What, the enemy is shooting at the entrance and exit on the other side of the Tsaritsa River?" Hearing the bad news, everyone couldn't help but thump in their hearts. Chuikov grabbed Klimov's lapel and asked in a stern tone: "The enemy How many troops are there?"

   "Probably a platoon." Klimov replied in a panic: "They occupied the bridge over the Tsaritsa River and were shooting at the entrance of the cave with machine guns. Two sentries at the gate died..."

"Comrade Military Commissar," after figuring out that the enemy was on a bridge more than 500 meters away, he fired machine guns at the entrance of the cave. Chuikov let go of Klimov and said to Gurov: "The enemy is too far away from us now. Even if you use machine guns to shoot at the hole, the threat to us is very limited. Time is running out, you immediately take the staff, go to the place where the ship is parked, board the ship, and transfer to the new command post by water."

Gurov originally wanted to persuade Chuikov to leave the headquarters by water, but seeing that he was so stubborn at this moment, and the enemy's machine guns had already started shooting at the entrance and exit of the Tsaritsa River, he did not hesitate any longer and immediately summoned the staff in the headquarters The personnel, under the protection of a team of guards, passed through the entrance and exit by the river, and went to the small ferry nearby to board the boat.

  The German army occupying the bridge fired towards the entrance of the cave, but due to the distance, it was difficult for the machine gun bullets to hit the target, but the soil on the embankment was like boiling. After Gurov and others came out of the cave, they bent down and ran towards the small pier. The German army found the people coming out of the cave, and immediately turned their guns to shoot at them. Unfortunately, several staff officers were hit by bullets and fell headlong on the river bed, while the rest continued to run forward without stopping.

  The inland river gunboat parked on the small pier found that there were German machine guns on the bridge in the distance continuing to shoot, and quickly used the dual anti-aircraft machine guns at the stern to fight back, suppressing the enemy's firepower and covering the boarding of the headquarters personnel.

  When Gurov boarded the ship, a naval lieutenant came over, straightened his body and reported to him: "Comrade Military Commissar, I am Lieutenant Shuklin, the captain, and I am ordered to send you to the east bank of the Volga River."

   "Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant." Gurov reached out to shake hands with the other party, then looked at the anti-aircraft machine gun firing at the stern and asked, "Can your machine gun fire kill the enemies on the bridge?"

  Shu Kelin nodded and replied: "I think it should be possible."

"That's really great." Gurov pointed to the riverbed in the distance, and said to Shuklin: "Several of our staff officers were shot by enemy machine guns during the transfer. Wait until the enemy on the bridge is eliminated." , our health workers can save them.”

  Under the crazy shooting of Soviet anti-aircraft machine guns, the two German machine guns on the bridge were quickly wiped out. The health workers who were waiting in the cave immediately bent over and ran out to treat the staff officers who fell on the river bed.

Standing at the bow of the ship, Gurov saw the health staff in the headquarters begin to treat and clean up the staff on the river bed, and finally understood what was on his mind, so he turned his head and told Shuklin: "Comrade Lieutenant, our people have boarded the ship, let's go. "

  ...

More than an hour after Gurov and his ship left, Krylov, who was staying in the headquarters, heard the gunshots and explosions outside getting more and more intense, so he said to Chuikov: "Comrade commander, from outside Judging by the sound of gunfire, the enemy is already very close to our command post, I think we should move as soon as possible."

Cuikov also realized that the current situation was not good for him. If he continued to stay now, the headquarters might be taken away by the Germans, so he ordered the remaining personnel in the headquarters to withdraw from Tsaritsyn one after another with 20 people as a small team. Catacombs, moving to a safe area.

   The squad led by Chuikov was the last to leave the headquarters. There were two female radio operators in the team. In order to ensure their safety, Cuikov not only asked other soldiers to help them get the radio, but also asked them to walk in the middle of the team so as not to fall behind in the chaos.

  It was already midnight, but the streets were lit up like day because the city was burning everywhere. In order to prevent being shot by submachine guns from buildings on both sides and snipers hidden in the ruins when passing through the streets controlled by the German army, Cuikov specially sent two soldiers to explore the road ahead, while the large army was about 50 meters behind. So as not to be taken over by the German army.

  The situation on the street surprised Chuikov and his subordinates. Apart from the bricks and rubble from the collapsed houses, dead bodies in various postures could be seen everywhere. Among these corpses were Soviet soldiers and German officers and soldiers, but most of them were ordinary citizens in the city.

   For all commanders and fighters, this is a road to death. Frightened by the corpses all over the floor, the two female radio operators bent over and vomited. Cuikov resisted the discomfort in his stomach, and ordered the soldiers who followed the female radio operator: "Help them!" Hearing Cuikov's order, some soldiers stepped forward immediately, and the female radio operator ran forward after getting on the shelf.

   Adjutant Klimov, who was following Chuikov, asked in a low voice while trotting: "Comrade Commander, where are we going?"

"Don't talk nonsense, keep going." Cuikov replied in a low voice, "When you get to the place, you will naturally know." The reason why he said this was because he didn't know what to do. , most of the fire support points in the city have been occupied by the German army. He doesn't know where the safe zone is now, so he can only run towards the bank of the Volga River in a general direction, maybe he can find his own there. force.

"Comrade Commander," Seeing that Chuikov did not specify the specific location, Klimov said unwillingly, "Why don't we move to Mamayev Post. Anyway, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has Thousands of people, it is not an easy task for the Germans to seize positions from him."

Klimov's words reminded Chuikov, he thought to himself: If the infantry brigade still sticks to the Mamayev post, it would be great, and after he leads his men there, he can enter from the south post through a tunnel. North Hill, and then enter the factory area through the Krutoy Deep Ditch. At that time, maybe I will arrive at the new headquarters before the military commissar and the others.

According to Chuikov's original arrangement, Rodimtsev's troops stick to the urban area between the Tsaritsa River and Mamayev Hill to ensure that their headquarters can be withdrawn to Mamayev in time if necessary. post. Unexpectedly, the battle in the city lasted for a day, and the defense area of ​​the 13th Guards Division was beaten to pieces by the enemy. Even Rodimtsev lost contact with the headquarters, let alone his troops. Coupled with the fall of the Central Railway Station, the German army cut off the land connection between the headquarters and Mamayev Post. If you want to rush to Mamayev Post, you still have to take some risks.

  Although there are risks, it is better than rushing blindly in the area occupied by the enemy with people by yourself. Thinking of this, Chuikov decisively issued an order: "We will rush to Mamayev Post immediately."

"Okay." Hearing that Chuikov was about to go to Mamayev Post, Klimov immediately became agitated. Before Chuikov gave orders, he turned his head and said to the soldiers behind him, "Go ahead, let's turn to Mamayev Post." .”

  As the order was conveyed, the morale that had been low due to entering the road of death became high again. Although the battle in the city was going on so intensely, there were several radio operators in Chuikov's squad. Among the telegrams they received, only the infantry brigade standing on Mamayev's hill sent messages from time to time to repel the enemy's attack. , Battle reports on how many enemies were annihilated and how many were captured. Scuffles are raging everywhere in the city now, no matter where Chuikov takes them, they are uncertain. When they learned that the next destination is Mamayev's Hill, they immediately saw a glimmer of hope. become lighter.

   Chuikov also keenly noticed the changes in the squad. He curiously asked Klimov next to him: "Adjutant, what's going on? Why do I feel that everyone's emotions are different?"

"Needless to say, Comrade Commander." Klimov said with some pride: "Just now, everyone didn't know where our destination was, and we were just wandering in the streets controlled by the enemy. It is inevitable to have a psychological burden. Yes. Now that we know that we are going to Mamayev, everyone feels that there is a rush, and the mood is naturally high."

  Chuikov asked with great interest: "Oh, when you heard that you were going to Mamayev's post, your emotions immediately became high?"

"That's right," Klimov said in a positive tone: "Comrade Commander, don't forget that there are several radio operators in our squadron. How is the fighting situation of the various units today? When receiving the telegram, it was very clear that, except for Mamayev Hill, we were beaten back every step of the way by the Germans. Knowing that we are going to Mamayev Hill at this moment means that everyone will soon be out of danger , How can you be unhappy when you enter the safe zone?"

"So that's the case." Chuikov really didn't expect that Sokov could bring hope to his subordinates. He couldn't help saying with emotion: "If I set up the new headquarters on Mamayev Hill, Are you happy?"

Kerimov was about to answer, but with the help of the firelight, he saw clearly the playful smile on Chuikov's face, and quickly swallowed the words that came to his lips, and changed the subject in time: "Comrade commander, you said that the staff Can the commander and the military commissar successfully escape the encirclement of the German army?"

"Comrade Military Commissar is taking the water route. The German army's defense in this direction is not tight. They should have no problem breaking through." Cui Kefu said carefully: "However, it is hard to say about the squad led by the chief of staff. Trapped in a street controlled by the enemy, it depends on their luck whether they can successfully break through."

"Stop!" Klimov saw a soldier who was sent to explore the road ahead, and ran back in a hurry, raised his hand to stop the team, and immediately sent over to ask: "What's the matter?" ?”

   "Comrade Commander," the soldier reported directly to Chuikov: "A German tank is parked at the intersection ahead, and there is a sandbag fortification next to the tank, with a machine gun inside..."

On the road ahead, he also encountered German tanks and fortifications blocking the way, but Cuikov had never seen the soldiers who explored the way so nervous, and an ominous premonition immediately surged in his heart: "Comrade soldier, are you Don't you want to tell me that we can't get around from other areas at all?"

  (end of this chapter)