Red Moscow

  Chapter 754 Defense (Part 2)

  The first attack of the German army was repelled. The commander realized that their opponent might no longer be the remnants of the defeated army they fought against yesterday, so they adjusted their tactics in time and concentrated their artillery to bombard the archives building and the outer positions.

   Seeing that the enemy really started shelling, Belgin was so impressed by Sokov's precautions. Although the building is solid and can fully withstand the bombardment of the German 105mm artillery, but to be on the safe side, as soon as the German bombardment started, Belkin issued an order to the commanders and fighters standing in the building by phone: "Except for every floor Leave two observation posts to monitor the enemy, and the rest of the people retreated into the basement first, and then came out after the enemy's shelling was over."

Regarding Belkin's order, Sokov still had some disagreements. He frowned slightly and said, "Comrade political commissar, isn't it inappropriate to evacuate everyone to the basement? If the enemy's shelling causes the collapsed How are we going to get out when the building material is blocking the basement door?"

"Misha, I have carefully surveyed the terrain here. There is a passage in the basement leading to the back of the building." Belgin explained to Sokov: "During the enemy's shelling, the only thing damaged was the building facing the enemy. Even if the collapsed area is large, it will not block the exit at the back of the building."

Seeing that Belkin had already considered the retreat of the troops, Sokov couldn't say anything more, but just nodded and said, "Okay, Comrade Political Commissar, I will do as you said, and withdraw the troops into the basement first." , in order to reduce unnecessary casualties."

  The shelling of the archives building lasted for half an hour. Once the shelling stopped, the German army launched another attack before the smoke cleared. This time they learned to be smart and stopped at a place more than 300 meters away from the forward position, and used mortars to generate smoke bombs. After a short time, the outer positions of the Soviet army and the open space in front of the positions were shrouded in white smoke.

   As soon as Sokov and Belkin arrived at the observation position on the fourth floor, they saw that the outer positions were shrouded in white smoke. Seeing this kind of situation for the first time, Belkin seemed a little flustered: "Misha, the enemy released smoke, which made our soldiers unable to see the target clearly, how can we shoot!"

"We can't see the enemy clearly, and the enemy can't see us clearly either." Sokov said disapprovingly: "Give Bolkowski an order to use machine guns to shoot into the smoke, and the enemy must not be allowed to approach us." position."

   "However, we can't see where the enemy is at all." Regarding Sokov's order, Belkin hesitated for a moment, and then asked cautiously: "Isn't it a waste of ammunition to shoot blindly with a machine gun?"

"Comrade political commissar, there is no other way." Sokov said helplessly: "If we shoot with rifles, our soldiers can't see where the enemy is, and it's unlikely to hit the target; After a certain range, there is no aim to block the open space, which is also a waste of bullets. However, the machine gun has the advantages of strong firepower and a wide fan area. If several machine guns are used to shoot at the same time, the dense firepower network formed can block the the way the enemy advances."

  Belkin waited for Sokov to finish speaking, immediately picked up the phone, and talked to Paul Koski who had just returned to the position: "Comrade Captain, use the machine gun to shoot into the smoke. Be sure to prevent the enemy from approaching your position."

  Not long after the phone was put down, the familiar sound of MG34 machine gun firing came from the smoke outside. Sokov knew that it was Bolkowski who ordered the fire point of the machine gun to shoot into the smoke according to Belkin's order. At first there was only the sound of gunfire, and then there was the sound of exploding grenades. It should be that the soldiers noticed that an enemy was approaching the trench and greeted them with grenades.

  The attacking German officers and soldiers thought that as long as the smoke was released, the Soviet troops on the position would not be able to find the target, and they could approach the position quietly. Unexpectedly, he was first shot by a machine gun, and then suffered a lot of grenades. The German commander ordered the machine gunners to set up machine gun positions and suppress fire against the Soviet positions. But he soon discovered that doing so had no effect at all. His own machine gunners couldn't find the exact location of the opponent's firepower point, so naturally they couldn't suppress it.

   Seeing that the attack was not effective, and continuing to move forward, only a higher price could be paid. The German commander made a timely decision to stop the attack. With the sound of a whistle, the soldiers who were in a mess in the smoke hurriedly turned their heads and fumbled back in the direction they came.

  The enemy did not release any more smoke. A few minutes later, the smoke that filled the battlefield gradually dissipated under the blowing of the river wind. Sokov vaguely saw a lot of German corpses in front of the outer positions. After seeing the battlefield clearly, Belkin next to him said a little excitedly: "Misha, your method is really effective, and the enemy's attack was repelled by us again just like this."

   Before Sokov could speak, a soldier's shout suddenly sounded in the building: "Air raid, air raid siren!"

  Sokov hurriedly looked up into the sky, only to see two enemy planes flying towards the location of the building. Before he could react, Samoilov had already been sent up behind him, and several guards supported Sokov and Belkin, and pulled them downstairs.

  Sokov had just argued, and Samoilov said anxiously: "Comrade commander, this place is too dangerous. You and the political commissar should go back to the basement."

"Don't pull it, don't pull it!" Seeing two enemy planes flying over, Sokov naturally wouldn't stay in the building to be a hero, but he didn't want to be dragged away by Samoilov and the others, so he struggled Said: "Let's go by ourselves."

  After Sokov and the others hid in the basement, two enemy planes flew over the archives building, lowered their altitude, and unscrupulously dropped bombs and strafed the building, causing considerable casualties to the commanders and fighters in the building.

Seeing the comrades around him keep falling down, Griza became a little impatient, stood up from his hiding place, and shouted at the soldiers beside him: "Put the machine gun to the window, and we must find a way to kill these two enemy planes." Come down." Then he pointed to several machine gunners and said, "You guys and I will put the machine guns on the roof."

The soldiers who had been suffocating for a long time suddenly agreed, except for the few machine gunners who followed Griza to the roof, the rest of the machine gunners put their machine guns on the window again, preparing to use intensive firepower to kill the damned The enemy plane was shot down. The rising black smoke blocked the sight of the German pilots, preventing them from noticing that someone was setting up machine guns on the roof.

  After setting up the machine gun, Grisa did not immediately order to fire, but decisively gave the order to fire while the enemy plane was swooping down. As soon as the gunfire on the roof rang out, the machine gunners on the fifth floor also shot at the swooping enemy plane.

  The first enemy plane that was diving, never dreamed that there would be countless tongues of fire in the building that was smoking. As soon as he discovered the anti-aircraft fire in the building, he felt the fuselage bump violently, and there was a strange noise from the fuselage and wings. He pulled the joystick hard, and the plane, pushing the black smoke, passed over the roof of the building and flew in the direction of the Volga River.

  Wingman pilots are much more sluggish. The plane he was piloting went straight into the fire and was hit accurately by several machine guns. With a loud bang, the plane disintegrated in the air, and burning pieces of the plane rained down on the roof of the building and the surrounding open space.

"Great, brothers, you are really great!" Seeing the two enemy planes that bombed the building, one was damaged and the other was destroyed, Griza exclaimed happily: "It's so easy! Killed the enemy plane."

   After Grisa finished shouting, he picked up the phone placed at the foot of the wall, and excitedly announced the good news to Belkin who was staying in the basement: "Comrade commander, I have good news for you. We have shot down the enemy plane."

"What, the enemy plane was shot down?" Belkin was surprised when he heard the news, and quickly asked, "Did the enemy plane be shot down by friendly anti-aircraft fire?" According to his thinking, his troops were all With light weapons, it is simply impossible to shoot down the enemy's aircraft. The only explanation is that there is friendly anti-aircraft fire nearby.

"No, Comrade Commander." Grisa quickly explained to him: "There is no friendly anti-aircraft fire near us at all. We shot it down with machine guns." Then he briefed Belkin on the battle situation just now introduced it again.

   "Lieutenant Griesa, you are really amazing." Belkin learned that Griesa led his men to shoot down the enemy plane with a machine gun, and a surprised expression appeared on his face: "I congratulate you!"

After putting down the phone, Belkin said happily to Sokov: "Misha, did you hear the call from Griza? They used machine guns on enemy planes, shot down one, wounded another... "

"Don't get excited, Comrade Commissar." Seeing Belkin getting carried away with joy, Sokov hastily reminded him, "It's not the first time we shot down an enemy plane with a machine gun. When we were on Mamayev Post, we did Have you forgotten how many times you shot down enemy planes?"

After being reminded by Sokov, Belkin immediately remembered that it seemed to be the case. When Sokov was the brigade commander and he was his brigade political commissar, the troops standing on the Mamayev post had used it several times. The MG34 machine gun knocked down the enemy plane.

Sokov rubbed his temples and said with some headaches: "Comrade Commissar, although we shot down the enemy's plane with machine guns today, the enemy will learn a lesson when they come to bomb again next time, and won't shoot down their plane for us again." Opportunity. So what you have to face next is not only the enemy's ground attack, but also the problem of how to defend against the air. With so many commanders and fighters crowded in this building, if the enemy's heavy bombing causes the building to collapse, you will suffer catastrophe casualties."

   "So what should we do?"

   "I think it is still possible to consider using the sewers and transforming them into air-raid shelters." Sokov replied: "When enemy planes appear, let the soldiers stay inside to avoid air strikes."

After hearing what Sokov said, Belkin punched his fist in the palm of his hand, and said excitedly: "That's right, that's right, how could I forget the policy of using sewer defenses. I'll send someone to investigate the building right away." The sewers below, try to let the soldiers go inside as soon as possible to avoid air strikes and shelling."

   "Samoilov!" Sokov turned around and shouted at the guard platoon leader standing at the door: "Come to me."

After Samoilov came in front of him, Sokov said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, when the sewer tactic was implemented, almost all of your regiment was idle in the tunnel, and you may not be familiar with how to use this tactic. Second Lieutenant Samoilov once commanded troops to continue fighting the enemy in the sewers, let them tell you about their experience."

"Great, this is really great." Belkin was worried that his subordinates were not familiar with how to use the sewer to fight. Seeing that Sokov asked Samoilov to teach everyone, he couldn't help being overjoyed. He quickly called a The staff officer told the other party: "Immediately inform the two battalion commanders and the company commanders who have no combat missions to come to my place and let them learn how to use the sewers to fight against the enemy."

   Almost all the commanders Belkin wanted to summon stayed in the basement, but within a few minutes, all of them arrived at the headquarters. Seeing that the people were almost coming, Belkin walked up to them and said to them: "Commanders, I brought you here to let you learn a new tactic so that you can fight in this position. persist for a longer period of time.”

"New tactics?!" Hearing what Belkin said, several battalion and company commanders showed astonished expressions on their faces. After looking at each other, Captain Vasily and Captain Briski looked at Belkin, on behalf of everyone Asked: "Comrade commander, I wonder what new tactics you plan to let us learn."

  Belkin stamped his foot on the ground and said: "There are sewers criss-crossing under our feet. If we want to fight for a long time here, we must learn how to use them."

After listening to Belkin's words, Vasily showed an embarrassed expression on his face. He said a little embarrassedly: "Comrade commander, we stayed in the tunnel for such a long time, and finally got out of the tunnel and returned to the ground. Fighting, not to mention how happy the soldiers are in their hearts. But I didn't expect that now we are going to get into the sewer again, and I am worried that the soldiers will have emotions."

  As soon as Vasily's voice fell, the rest of the battalion and company commanders also echoed, trying to persuade Belgin to change his mind and let them continue to fight on the ground.

"Enough!" Sukov, who was silent all the time, yelled loudly when he saw that the crowd was making a fuss, startling everyone: "Do you still have a little bit of organizational discipline? Listen to the political commissar before publishing it It’s not too late for your opinions.” Seeing that the teacher was angry, everyone didn’t dare to say anything, they could only turn their eyes to Belkin, waiting quietly for him to explain the next task.

"Comrades," Belkin said when he saw that everyone was quiet, "I know that everyone has been in the tunnel for a long time and would like to get some fresh air outside. But no, comrades, we have no strong defenses." Fortifications, if you keep the troops outside, they will suffer heavy losses from the enemy's shelling and bombing. Would you like to see this happen?"

  (end of this chapter)