Red Moscow

  Chapter 628 Landing

  The Germans used at least a dozen artillery pieces to bombard the river surface uninterruptedly, and the exploding shells set off black jets of water one after another from time to time. Although the wooden boat that Sokov was on was not hit by enemy shells, the river water falling from the sky made everyone on the boat feel as if they had just crawled out of the water.

  Sokov sat in the cabin, holding the side of the ship tightly with both hands. Now he has no time to shout to the soldiers around him, not to mention that the sound of shell explosions will cover his voice, even if there are soldiers nearby who hear his words, all they can do is to speed up their paddles so that they can move as fast as possible. Get rid of enemy shelling areas. He prayed silently in his heart, hoping that more of the soldiers who crossed the river with him would make it to the other side alive.

   Just when Sokov was on the verge of despair, he suddenly found that the rising water column had landed far behind the fleet at some point. Samoilov put his head close to Sokov's ear and shouted loudly: "Comrade Brigadier, we have got rid of the German bombardment area, we are safe now."

"Thank God!" Sokov thought silently in his heart: "We finally got rid of the German bombardment area." He turned his head and glanced at the two soldiers who were still hanging over the side of the ship, and quickly shouted to the other soldiers: "You still have to fight?" What are you doing in a daze, quickly pull them up."

  Following Sokov's order, except for a few soldiers who were paddling, the remaining people immediately reached out to Pao Ze who was hanging outside the ship's side, and pulled them up with all their might. After the two climbed into the cabin, Sokov realized that one of them was actually Guchakov, and asked with concern, "Guchakov, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Guchakov shook his head, let out a mouthful of foul air, pointed to the rear with his hand, and said to Sukov: "Comrade Brigadier, many of our soldiers have fallen into the water, and rescue them quickly." Get up."

Sokov stood up, looked back, and saw that the German bombardment had stopped, and the wreckage of the burning wooden ship was still floating on the turbulent water, billowing black smoke, and the two destroyed wooden ships capsized quickly , Throwing all the soldiers in the boat into the river. Some fighters who fell into the water thumped desperately in the cold river water, like boiled dumplings.

   Seeing this scene, Sokov quickly ordered Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, give an order to the ships behind to rescue those soldiers who fell into the water."

   Samoilov agreed, got up and came to the stern, holding the side of the ship and shouting loudly: "The brigade commander has an order, immediately rescue those comrades who fell into the water! The brigade commander has an order..."

  In fact, even if Sokov didn’t give an order, the surviving wooden boats stopped advancing and were helping comrades who fell into the water nearby. After hearing Samoilov's shout, all the boats stopped, not only to salvage the soldiers who fell into the water, but also to catch the remains of some comrades who floated by the side of the boat.

As soon as Sokov and others landed on the west bank, a patrol team of more than a dozen people ran over, led by a sergeant, who asked loudly: "Comrades, what part do you belong to, and who is the commander?" ?”

"it's me!"

The sergeant came in front of Sokov, stood at attention on the spot, straightened his body and reported: "Comrade commander, the captain of the 309th patrol team, Sergeant Nachinkin, is reporting to you that we are performing a patrol mission. May I ask you Which part is it?"

   Knowing that it was a patrol team, Sokov's blood rushed to his head. If they hadn't discovered the spies hidden among the residents in time, how could his fleet have been bombarded by the enemy? He grabbed Nachinkin's skirt and said viciously: "I am Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. The troops I lead are reinforcements who just came from the opposite bank. Comrade Sergeant, do you know I know that because of your negligence, you failed to discover the German spies hiding among the residents in time, and how many of my comrades died under the enemy's artillery."

Knowing that it was actually a colonel in front of him, and the supreme commander of the heroic unit standing on Mamayev Hill, Nachinkin became flustered, and he said incoherently: "Comrade colonel, this... this is not... not ours." The fault of the Germans. The German agents are very cunning, he...they hide...among the population, and we...our people...were seriously...severely understaffed..."

  The soldiers of the patrol team saw their captain was grabbed by the skirt of an officer, and rushed over in a hurry, trying to help their captain. Unexpectedly, when Samoilov saw the opponent rushing over, he was worried that they would be unfavorable to Sokov, so he quickly gave an order, and dozens of soldiers around him rushed forward, surrounded the patrol soldiers, and confronted him with black muzzles. allowed them.

The tense situation around him startled Sokov, and he quickly yelled at Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what are you doing? How can you point your gun at your comrade? Listen to me!" Command, put down your guns immediately!"

Hearing Sokov's order, Samoilov waved helplessly at the soldiers around him, and ordered: "Put down your guns!" The soldiers put down their guns, but they still stood where they were. Staring at the dozen or so soldiers of the patrol.

Sokov loosened Nachinkin's skirt, pushed him away, and asked in a vicious tone: "Comrade Sergeant, we still have troops to cross the river, can you clean up all the spies hidden in the residents?" clean so that they have no further opportunity to signal and direct the enemy's artillery."

Nachinkin straightened his clothes and said cautiously: "Colonel, the residents hiding in this area all live in caves on the cliffs. As long as two people are guarded at each cave entrance, no one is allowed to enter or leave. This will avoid the situation where the spies send signals again."

   I have to say that the plan proposed by Nachinkin is the most suitable for the current situation. Sokov nodded, silently remembering the other party's name in his heart. Then he called Samoilov and ordered: "Comrade Major, you take twenty soldiers to assist Sergeant Nachinkin to seal the entrances."

Before Samoilov could speak, Nachinkin said in a hurry: "No, Comrade Colonel. There are at least sixty caves in this area. The soldiers under me and the people you sent can at best Block the entrances and exits of more than a dozen caves."

"Mobilize the masses!" Sokov couldn't help getting angry again when he heard Nachinkin's complaints, "Sergeant Nachinkin, to do such a thing, we can't just rely on our soldiers, but also know how to mobilize the masses and let them Help us guard the entrance of the cave. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Colonel." Seeing Sokov getting angry again, Nachinkin hurriedly nodded half-understanding, and replied, "I'll go back and mobilize the masses and find some trustworthy residents to help us blockade The entrance of the cave, and the German agents are not allowed to come out and send another signal."

  After Samoilov left with the patrol team, Sokov asked Guchakov who was standing aside: "How many ships have we lost?"

  Just when Sokov was talking to Nachinkin, Guchakov was counting the remaining ships and casualties. Hearing Sokov's question, he immediately replied: "Thirteen ships were blown up by artillery fire, and two ships were seriously damaged and sank before landing. Fortunately, there were sailors on board, and they all swam into the water. shore."

   "What about casualties?"

   "Not yet fully counted." Guchakov replied in a low voice: "But the number of casualties should exceed a hundred."

  Sokov was eager to rush back to the brigade headquarters, not wanting to stand by the river blowing the cold wind all the time, so he asked, "Where is Captain Vanya? Is he still alive?"

Guchakov pointed to the distance and said, "Captain Vanya is gathering troops over there, do you need me to call him over?" Seeing Sokov nodding his head to express his permission, he immediately ran over there past.

  In less than two minutes, a wet Vanya appeared in front of Sokov and asked respectfully, "Comrade Brigadier, what instructions do you have?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Vanya was the highest-ranking officer among the commanders and fighters who accompanied Sokov across the river. Sokov said to him, "You take a battalion of soldiers to stay on guard in this area, and found that there are people in civilian clothes. Anyone who enters your security zone, and anyone who refuses to listen to the warning will be shot dead on the spot. Do you understand?"

Vanya's subordinates also suffered more than 30 casualties in the shelling just now. Vanya was suffocating a fire in his heart. Hearing Sokov's order, he immediately replied loudly: "Understood." , Comrade Brigadier."

   "I'll go back to the brigade headquarters first," Sokov said to Vanya: "When you see Colonel Bely later, remember to let him return to the brigade headquarters as soon as possible."

  After explaining the work to Vanya, Sokov took Guchakov and a troop of two hundred sailors and walked towards the northern post of Mamayev Post a few hundred meters away. On the way, he casually asked Guchakov: "Guchakov, do you know which army is stationed in Beigang now?"

   "Since you took the fourth battalion away," Guchakov replied: "The defense of the northern hills has been in charge of the 192nd battalion of Captain Goria."

   Sokov originally planned to ask Guchakov to take a few soldiers to contact first, so as to avoid any misunderstanding with the sentry later. But on second thought, this place is only a few hundred meters away from Beigang. Maybe Guchakov rushed to Beigang with his troops before he had time to get in touch with Golia. Thinking of this, he gave up the idea of ​​sending someone to contact, but led the soldiers into a four-way column and slowly marched towards Beigang.

  When they were still 40 to 50 meters away from the east **** of Beigang, there was a sudden bang of pushing the bolt of the gun in the darkness. Then, Sokov clearly heard someone sternly asking: "Who is it? Stop everyone, password!"

  (end of this chapter)