Red Moscow

  Chapter 729 Fireworks in the night sky

   Sokov, who spent the day anxiously waiting, finally received Griza's telegram after dark. The content of the telegram is very simple: I have confirmed that the enemy's ammunition depot is indeed in the town of Gorodisheh, and will launch an attack tonight.

  After the telegram was circulated among several division leaders, Sidolin tentatively asked: "Comrade commander, how do you think we should reply to Lieutenant Griza?"

   "Chief of Staff, record my call back." Sokov said briefly: "I wish you victory!"

  After recording this sentence, Sidolin looked up at Sokov again, waiting for him to continue. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, Sokov didn't say anything more. He couldn't help but asked strangely: "Comrade commander, if you just call back like this, isn't the content a bit too little?"

"Chief of Staff," Sokov stared at Sidolin and asked in a strange tone: "Lieutenant Grisa and the others have found the enemy's ammunition depot, and they plan to launch an attack tonight. What do you think we have?" Do I need to tell him?"

   "No, no more!" Sidolin replied in a panic, "I'll send him a telegram right now."

When Sidolin was dictating the telegram to the radio operator, Ivanov asked Sokov curiously: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Griza, can they withdraw safely after completing this task?" Ivanov I have never seen the power of the new rockets with my own eyes, and I am always skeptical about the statement that the squad can destroy the enemy's ammunition depot from a long distance.

"Don't worry, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Facing Ivanov's worries, Sokov comforted him and said, "Lieutenant Grisa and the others have been operating behind the enemy's rear for a long time. If the enemy is wiped out, the results that can be achieved will also be very limited."

   "Comrade Commander, the telegram has been sent." Sidolin walked over to report to Sokov.

Sokov thought that in addition to Griesa's squad, there were several other small troops operating in the enemy's rear, and wondered if they had achieved any results in the past two days, so he asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff , the rest of the teams, is there any news coming back?"

   "No." Sidolin shook his head and replied, "I guess they haven't had any valuable goals for the time being, so they can't achieve the desired results."

"Don't worry, most of the commanders and fighters of these small teams have no experience in operating behind enemy lines. They need to continuously learn and accumulate experience in battle." Seeing Sidolin's expression of frustration, Sokov quickly comforted him Said: "I believe that it will not take long for them to learn how to fight behind enemy lines and achieve results that satisfy us."

  ...

   After receiving the call back from the division headquarters, Griza couldn't help being stunned. He asked the sergeant in charge of the communication: "Comrade sergeant, is the content of the telegram not received completely? How can there be only one sentence?"

   "That's right, Comrade Lieutenant." The sergeant quickly replied, "I have repeatedly confirmed that the reply from the division headquarters is only one sentence."

"Comrades!" After confirming that the reply from the division headquarters was only one sentence, Griza called the soldiers together, waved the telegram in his hand, and said to them: "The division headquarters sent us a call back, and there was only one sentence on it. : I wish you victory!"

  When the soldiers heard what Griza said, they couldn't help but look at each other, and were surprised by Sokov's simple reply. Grisa saw that everyone was puzzled, so he explained to them: "Comrades, the division commander's call back like this is because he agrees with our combat plan and does not make any hard demands on us. He only hopes that we can win. You said, can we live up to the trust our teacher has placed in us?"

   "No!" The soldiers replied in unison.

"Okay, since everyone has the confidence to complete the tasks assigned to us by the superiors, I feel relieved." After Griza finished speaking, he waved at the soldiers, "Hurry up and pack your things, we will set off in ten minutes. .”

  Marching at night is much safer than during the day. The squad advancing along the road, as long as they see the lights of the convoy on the road, they will immediately hide on the side of the road, and wait for the enemy convoy to pass by before continuing on their way.

  After more than an hour of rapid march, the team came to the river. Looking at the heavily guarded bridge in the distance, Griza asked Elizaveta again: "Comrade Sergeant, let me ask you one last time, is it really impossible to establish a launch position on the right bank of the river?"

   "It's too far from the town." Elizaveta replied, "If you set up a launch position by the river, the chances of hitting the target will be very low."

"Okay, then let's find a way to cross the river to the other side, choose a place close to the town, and set up a launch position." After Griza finished speaking, he immediately arranged for soldiers to collect equipment capable of crossing the river, and prepared to transport the rockets and launchers to the other side. go.

  Russia's October night is already very cold, and the river is even colder. Griza selected Elizaveta, Aino and five other fighters to cross the river with him to carry out the attack mission on the opposite bank, while the rest of the fighters stayed on the right bank as guards.

   Several people piled the military uniforms and weapons they took off on the raft with rockets and launchers, gritted their teeth and threw themselves into the cold river. After seven or eight minutes of thumping, they finally came to the other side. When they landed, everyone's lips were purple from the cold, and they were trembling all over.

  Griza was shivering and quickly put on her clothes, urging the others: "Hurry up, put on all your clothes, if you get typhoid, you will be in trouble."

  After everyone got dressed, they loaded up the rockets and launchers, and trotted towards the town of Gorodisheh. Although there is no moon in the sky, and no one carries a compass, no one is worried about going in the wrong direction, because the brightly lit Gorodisheh Town is like a guiding light, showing the soldiers the way forward .

"Okay, don't run away." After running for a while, Griza felt that his body was warmed up, so he remembered the crowd and said to Elizaveta: "Comrade Sergeant, let's set up a launch position here. !"

  Elizaveta stopped, squinted one eye, measured the distance with a thumbs up, then nodded, and said, "Okay, Comrade Lieutenant, let's set up the launch position here."

When Yelizaveta started to set up the launch site, Grisa once again glanced at the distant town of Gorodishe with the binoculars, and thought with regret: If so many ammunition can be transported back to Mamayev Gang, How nice it should be. With so many weapons and ammunition, no matter how many enemies come, we can beat the **** out of them.

  Elizaveta and other fighters installed the launch tube on the tripod, and then began to aim and reload. After doing all this, he stood up straight and said to Griza: "Comrade Lieutenant, the rocket is loaded and ready to launch!"

Grisa took one last look at the town of Gorodisheh with infinite nostalgia, sighed softly at the town that was about to be razed to the ground, and the weapons and ammunition that would be reduced to ashes, and then lowered his raised hand violently. With a wave of the ground, he shouted: "Launch!"

   "Launch!" Elizaveta yelled immediately, and the soldier in charge of the operation fired the rocket.

  Three rockets dragged their long flame tails, roared out of the launch tubes one by one, and flew towards the distant town of Gorodisheh. Although Elizaveta told Griza that firing rockets at this distance has an 80% chance of destroying the target, his heart was in his throat at this moment, because the team only had these three rockets. Failure to hit the target means the complete failure of the operation.

On the church square in the town of Gorodishe, the German soldiers were busy loading ammunition to the trucks from the front. Hearing the screams from the sky, they involuntarily stopped their work and looked up into the air. look away. Seeing the rockets still flying in the air, although everyone didn't know what it was, they knew that if they landed on the ground and exploded, they would definitely take their lives away, so everyone shouted, and then ran away in all directions.

  The first rocket hit the onion dome of the church, and the detritus stirred up by the explosion fell from the sky overwhelmingly, smashing the fleeing German soldiers below and howling. The second rocket missed its target a bit, skimmed over the church square, and hit a building on the east side.

   Fortunately, the third rocket landed on the ammunition pile in the square and exploded. The square immediately turned into an erupting crater, tightly wrapped by rising black smoke. Explosions in the black smoke one after another, wave after wave, explosions everywhere, and flames everywhere. Some of the terrified and desperate German soldiers ran around like headless chickens, and some curled up on the ground holding their heads and screaming desperately, but all of them were blown to pieces in the explosion without exception.

  Looking at the sky above the town in the distance, as if countless fireworks were blooming, Griza knew that his mission was completed. He raised his hand and patted Elizaveta's shoulder vigorously a few times, and said approvingly: "Good job, Comrade Sergeant, when I return to Mamayev Post, I will definitely ask the division commander for your credit."

Yelizaveta looked at the town of Gorodisheh, where explosions continued in the distance, and when he heard Grisa's praise, he grinned, and then shouted at several soldiers: "What are you still doing? Hurry up and remove the launch tube from the tripod, if the Germans surround us, we won’t be able to leave if we want to.”

  Everyone packed up the launch tube and tripod, and rushed towards the river in a hurry. Although a huge explosion occurred in the town of Gorodisheh, and the German soldiers staying inside and outside the town suffered heavy casualties, but no one can guarantee whether there are small enemy troops nearby, so they must flee to the other side of the river as soon as possible before they can barely escape. Danger.

   The sergeant waiting by the river saw Griza and the others get up from the river and hurried up to meet him. While helping them get dressed, he took out the vodka in the jug and poured two sips for the shivering soldiers to drive them away from the cold.

The sergeant asked the trembling Grisa: "Comrade Lieutenant, I saw flames rising in the direction of Gorodishe, and explosions continued. It seems that the enemy's arsenal has been destroyed by us. We need to pass this news on immediately. , report to the division headquarters?"

  Grisa looked around and replied: "There may be a German patrol here at any time. Let's find a safe place and send a telegram to the division headquarters."

   After half an hour, the small troops came to a safe location. Grisa saw that the surrounding environment was good, and ordered the sergeant: "Comrade sergeant, immediately send a telegram to the division headquarters, saying that we have successfully destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot in the town of Gorodisheh."

   Sokov received the telegram saying that he repeatedly applauded, and then picked up the microphone, preparing to report the good news to Chuikov, but was stopped by Ivanov. The latter frowned and said in a skeptical tone: "Comrade commander, don't you think the team's process of completing the task was too smooth?"

   Hearing what Ivanov said, Sokov immediately realized that there was something in the other party's words, and asked instinctively: "Comrade deputy division commander, what do you want to say?"

   "Whether they destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot, I think we should verify it." Ivanov said blankly: "Until I get definite news, I don't think it will be reported to the headquarters for the time being."

   "Verify, how to verify?" Sokov said with some dissatisfaction: "According to my analysis, Griza and the others managed to get out of danger, should they be allowed to take another risk?"

"However, if you rush to report the results of the battle without verification, once it is proven to be unreliable, then the superior will blame you and I will be in trouble!" Ivanov continued: "I think it's better to wait, if you I don’t want to send Grisa and the others to verify the results of the battle, so I suggest immediately sending a new team to Gorodisheh Town to verify the results of the battle.”

Just as the two had disagreements, the phone on the table rang, and Sidolin quickly picked up the receiver and said, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, where are you? ... Hello, Comrade Commander, may I ask?" Any instructions?…”

   Hearing that it was Cuikov's call, the two stopped arguing and pricked up their ears to hear what Cuikov said clearly. But Sidolin handed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the Commander wants to speak to you!"

   "Colonel Sokov!" Chuikov's voice came from the receiver: "Did you send someone to attack the German ammunition depot in Gorodisheh town?"

"Comrade Commander, we have indeed sent a small team in that direction to try to find and destroy the enemy's ammunition depot." Sokov hesitated for a moment, and decided to report the contents of the telegram to Chuikov: "I just received a small A telegram from Lieutenant Grisa, the head of the unit, that they have successfully destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot in the town of Gorodisheh with rockets." However, thinking of Ivanov's concerns, he finally added, " However, this result has not yet been confirmed.”

"If I can call you, I can prove that the results are real." Chuikov said with a smile on the phone: "I just received a call from the observation post in the barricade factory, and they said that Gorodisheh town Suddenly, the flames shot up into the sky and the sound of explosions continued. It seemed that there was a big explosion in the ammunition. Think about it, if the actions taken by your soldiers were not successful, how could the enemy's ammunition depot explode?"

  (end of this chapter)