Red Moscow

  Chapter 627 Crossing the River

   Regarding Sokov's request, Vasilyev hesitated for a moment, then stared at Spasov and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many ships like this do you have?"

"There are about fifty." Spasov replied simply: "Half of them were fished out of the river by our soldiers. It will sink in the water."

"You heard everything, Colonel Sokov." After listening to Spasov's report, Vasilyev asked Sokov with some embarrassment: "The number of wooden boats sounds like a lot, but there are not many that can be used. , are you sure you want it?"

   "Yes, comrade brigade-level political commissar." Sokov nodded vigorously, and replied decisively: "We will send people to repair these ships, and use as many as we can repair."

   Seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Vasiliev said simply: "Well, since you plan to repair the ship yourself, I will let Lieutenant Colonel Spasov take you to claim the ship."

  During the war, many things work very efficiently. Less than ten minutes after Sokov and Bely came out of the shelter, hundreds of sailors began to use the tools and materials provided by Lieutenant Colonel Spasov to repair the ships damaged by aerial bombs or artillery shells.

Seeing the soldiers working in full swing, Spasov, who stood by and watched the excitement, said to Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, after the ship is repaired, tell your soldiers that as soon as the ship is put into the water, you must Paddle to the opposite bank as quickly as possible, so as to reduce the chance of being bombarded by the enemy."

Sokov pointed to the small steamer sailing to the opposite bank with thick smoke rising from the chimneys on the river, and said strangely: "Lieutenant Colonel Spasov, if the Germans came at night by artillery fire Blocking the river, why did they turn a blind eye to these small steamers? This is really strange."

"It's nothing surprising." Spasov pointed to the direction of the Mamayev Hill on the opposite bank, and said to Sokov: "Because the Mamayev Hill and some buildings are blocked, it is difficult for the German artillery to hit accurately. Ships moving in the river. Therefore, they never waste shells on the course of the small steamer situation, but use planes to bomb during the day."

   After introducing the situation, Spasov pointed upstream again: "Colonel Sokov, the place where you cross the river is two kilometers upstream. You can cross the river from there to avoid wooden boats blocking the route."

Sokov knew very well that due to the continuous flow of the river, wooden boats would definitely not be able to travel in a straight line to cross the river. To cross such a wide river, all boats would deviate from the target on the opposite bank. Kilometers are not uncommon. Sokov didn't have any objections to Spasov's arrangement. He just asked curiously, "I heard what you just said. Crossing the river from there may be bombarded by the enemy?"

   "Yes." Spasov said in a positive tone: "There are German spies hidden on the other side of the river. As soon as they find that we are crossing the river in that direction, they will send signal flares into the sky to indicate the direction for their artillery."

   "Does the superior know about this situation?" Hearing this, Bere couldn't help interjecting and asked, "Why don't they send people to patrol the shore, so that they can find out the secret agents lurking in the city in time."

"It's not easy, Comrade Colonel," Spasov said with a long sigh when he heard Bely say this: "In the cliffs on the other side of the river, there are thousands of residents waiting to cross the river. Limited, it is impossible to detect German agents hidden in the crowd."

"Colonel Bely, the troops in the city are tight." Seeing that Bely still wanted to question Spasov, Sokov quickly stopped him, and explained: "Maybe in a few days, the superiors will transfer these patrols to Fight on the front line."

   Regarding Sokov's statement, Bely thinks it is very reasonable. After staying in the city for a while, he naturally knows the extent of the shortage of troops. Not to mention a few days, maybe at dawn, the troops patrolling the shore may be transferred to the city to participate in cruel battles.

He turned his head to look at Sokov, and said rather helplessly: "Comrade Brigadier, after the ship is launched later, the soldiers must use their strength to paddle to the opposite bank as fast as possible to reduce the number of our boats. Losses in shelling."

"Guchakov!" Even though the sailors and soldiers were working hard not far away, Sokov didn't know when they would be able to repair the ship, so he was going to ask Guchakov to find Shamrikh. Ask how things are going: "You go and get Captain Shamrih over here, I have something to ask him."

  Shamrikh was repairing the wooden boat not far away. When Guchakov said that the brigade commander wanted to see him, he followed Guchakov to Sokov before he even had time to put down the ax in his hand.

   "Comrade Captain," Seeing Shamrih coming in front of him, Sokov didn't go around in circles, but asked straight to the point: "When will the ship be repaired?"

   "Comrade Brigadier, these wooden boats are very damaged." Shamrih replied truthfully: "It may not be until dawn at the earliest before all the boats can be repaired."

   "What, we won't be able to fix it until dawn." Shamrich's answer startled Sokov. He knew very well that if he crossed the river at night, he would be bombarded by German troops. But if you wait until dawn to cross the river, you will not only be bombarded by shells, but also bombed by enemy planes. Under the double blow of the enemy's shelling and bombing, it is unknown how many people in this troop crossing the river in wooden boats can reach the other side alive.

Thinking of this, he frowned and said to Shamrih: "No, Comrade Captain, we can't wait that long. Once we wait until dawn to cross the river, the enemy's air force and artillery will jointly strangle us. Many fighters reach the other side alive, and must cross the river overnight."

After waiting for Sokov to finish speaking, Shamrikh was silent for a moment, and replied: "Comrade Brigadier, it is not impossible to cross the river before dawn. But in this way, the number of ships we can use will be greatly reduced. gone."

   "Comrade Captain, how many ships do you estimate can be used?"

"No more than 30." Shamrikh was afraid that Sokov would be dissatisfied with the number he said, and he emphasized: "This is the limit we can achieve with our best efforts. .Because soldiers have to carry weapons and supplies with them, each boat can only accommodate fifteen people at most.”

After listening to the numbers reported by Shamrikh, Sokov began to calculate silently in his heart: "A boat can take 15 people, and 30 boats can take 450 people. As long as you go back and forth three times, almost all of them can be transported." Soldiers and supplies are transported to the other side." He nodded in the store, and said to Shamrih, "Comrade Captain, in order to speed up the speed of ship repair, those ships that are seriously damaged will be left alone for the time being, and you will concentrate on repairing those relatively intact ships. vessel."

After Shamrikh left, Spasov reminded Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, even if you have thirty ships, you have to go back and forth at least three times to transport all the troops and supplies to the other side. I think you might as well wait one more day and cross the river tomorrow night, so as to avoid losses to the troops."

   Spasov's words made Bere's heart skip a beat. He knew very well that if the German army really wanted to block this section of the river with artillery fire, no matter how fast the soldiers rowed the boat, there would definitely be sacrifices. If we had really waited until tomorrow night to cross the river, these casualties could have been avoided. After all, the enemy's artillery fire had nothing to do with the small steamer's route.

"Misha," Bely said in a low voice, pulling Sokov aside, calling him by his nickname, "I think you can consider Lieutenant Colonel Spasov's opinion and wait until tomorrow night to cross the river. It can greatly reduce the casualties of the troops. After all, our troops are limited, and if we can lose one less when crossing the river, we will have more strength in the next battle."

Sokov admitted in his heart that what Bely said was very reasonable, but he understood even more in his heart that the troops on Mamayev Post were weak at the moment, and the counterattack by the Soviet army failed again. Mamayev Hill launches a new attack. With the existing defense force on the hill, whether it can hold its position is a big question.

It was precisely because of this consideration that he shook his head and rejected Bely's proposal: "Colonel Bely, even if we wait until tomorrow night to cross the river, we may reach the other side unscathed. But have you ever considered that once dawn comes , the Germans launched an attack on Mamayev Post, and Sidolin and the others may have lost their position due to lack of troops."

Sokov worried that Bely would not be aware of the seriousness of the problem, and added specifically: "The terrain on the west side of Mamayev Hill is flat, while the east side is steep, similar to the terrain of the unnamed highland we captured a few days ago. If The enemy is sticking to the hills, and no matter how heroic our soldiers are, they will definitely make huge sacrifices to recapture Mamayev Hill.”

Bely personally led the tank battalion and participated in the battle to seize the unnamed highland. He knew very well that if the Germans occupied Mamayev Post and held it against danger, they would use this thousand-odd troops to retake Mamayev. Yevgang is simply a fantasy. After thinking about the cause and effect, he finally made up his mind and said to Sokov: "Well, Misha, I agree with you. We cross the river overnight. Even if we suffer some sacrifices, we must arrive at Mamaye before dawn." Fugang."

  With the efforts of the sailors and soldiers, at one o'clock in the morning, more than 30 wooden boats were repaired and put into the river. When the soldiers boarded the ship, Sokov said to Bely: "Colonel Bely, I will cross the river with the troops first, and you will follow after the boat returns."

  According to the usual practice, when a unit is crossing the river, the highest-level commander will not board the boat together, lest they be caught by the enemy's artillery fire. Therefore, when he heard Sokov's arrangement, Bely did not raise any objections. He nodded, and then said to Sokov with concern: "Misha, you are the leader of the brigade, and you must pay attention to your own safety when crossing the river. what."

"Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Sokov replied with a smile: "Don't look at the speed of the river, as long as our soldiers paddle faster, we may have reached the other side before the enemy's spies have time to fire the signal flare." gone."

   While speaking, seeing that the soldiers had already boarded the ship, Sokov greeted Bely and took Samoilov and Guchakov to a wooden boat not far away. After Sokov stepped into the wooden boat, he asked the soldiers sitting on the boat in a low voice: "Comrades, are you all ready?"

   "Ready!" The dozen or so soldiers sitting on the boat replied in unison.

   "Let's go!" Following the order, hundreds of oars plunged into the river and began to paddle vigorously, splashing countless water splashes on the edge of the wooden boat.

  Sokov stood at the bow of the boat and looked at the opposite bank, silently calculating the distance in his heart. The distance from the east bank to the west bank was about one kilometer. At the speed of the soldiers paddling, he could reach the opposite bank in half an hour at most. Including the time to board and disembark, it would take about an hour and a half to go back and forth, and it would take at most five hours to cross all the troops across the river three times. In this way, there was hope of reaching the Mamayev Kurgan before dawn.

   Sokov looked at the opposite bank for a while, and looked up at the sky for a while. But until the fleet reached the center of the river, there was silence all around, only the sound of the river flowing and the soldiers paddling could be heard. He thought complacently in his heart: "Maybe we chose the right time to cross the river. The German spies lurking in the residents did not notice that we were crossing the river, so they couldn't send signal flares to their artillery."

  However, just as he was thinking this, a dazzling flare rose in the sky, illuminating the moving fleet in the river. "Damn, I was discovered!" Seeing the moment the flare appeared, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He understood that his fleet had been discovered by German spies. The artillery guides the direction of attack. Sokov hurriedly shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, speed up, paddling to the other side is victory!" In Sokov's shout, the soldiers speeded up their paddling, and the speed of the entire fleet accelerated. up.

Just when Sokov saw that the shore was getting closer and closer to him, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly there was a strange sound in the air, and then a shell landed at a distance of more than 20 meters in front of the fleet and exploded, setting off an explosion. A tall black column of water.

Seeing that the shells did not hit any ships, Sokov secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then he shouted again: "Comrades, speed up, speed up, when we reach the shore, the enemy's shells will hit you!" Not to us."

  However, Sokov's luck seemed to come to an end. A few more shells roared in, fell into the river and exploded, causing the water to boil like a pot. A wooden boat was unfortunately hit by a shell, and it was immediately blown to pieces. Human limbs and broken legs were mixed with fragments of the wooden boat and blown into the sky.

   The jet of water that soared into the sky just fell, and more shells flew over again. One of the shots landed not far from Sokov and exploded, and the splashed water splashed the people on board into drowned rats. The huge shock wave caused the wooden boat to swing violently from side to side, and Sokov held onto the side of the boat tightly with both hands so as not to be thrown into the river.

   Two fighters were thrown into the water when the hull swayed because they were unprepared. Fortunately, they knew a little about water, and they swam over and grabbed the side of the boat. In order to prevent the boat from capsizing, they did not climb back onto the boat immediately, but hung the side of the boat with their hands and continued to move forward with the boat.

  (end of this chapter)