"Absolutely not," the captain replied confidently: "The division commander has issued an order to the nearby troops. No one is allowed to approach the hotel before dawn. Otherwise, the commander will be responsible for all consequences caused by accidental injuries."
"Then let me ask another question," Zhukov continued: "If you cannot resist the enemy's attack, will the nearby friendly forces just watch you being wiped out by the enemy?"
"Comrade General, how can this be possible?" the captain replied with a naive smile: "The division commander has arranged reinforcements nearby. As soon as the battle starts, the troops will attack the German troops attacking the hotel from behind."
"It's dark and visibility is limited. Aren't you afraid of accidental injury?"
"There will be no accidental injuries." The captain said: "The division commander has issued a death order. No one in the hotel can leave before dawn; and the reinforcements coming from outside are only using long-range firepower to kill and move around on the streets.
people and not approach the hotel. In this way, accidental injuries can be avoided to the greatest extent.”
"It seems that Misha is quite thoughtful." After listening to Sokov's arrangement, Zhukov nodded with satisfaction, and then said to the captain: "There is nothing going on here, you can leave."
"Comrade General," the captain did not leave immediately, but stayed where he was and said, "Although your room does not face the street, for the sake of safety, I think you should turn off the lights in the room."
"Comrade Captain, you are right." Zhukov said very cooperatively: "If the enemy really wants to make a sneak attack, then the lights in the room will indicate the target of the attack for the enemy." He stood up and pulled the light cord.
Turning off the incandescent light above the head, the whole room suddenly fell into darkness.
At the same time, a sentry behind a sandbag at the entrance of the hotel saw a small team of more than ten people in the distance, which looked like a patrol, and they were walking forward along the street. The sentry remembered the captain's
He ordered, and quickly shouted to the other party: "Hey, stop, which part are you from?" While shouting, he also raised his flashlight to shine at the other party.
Following the shouting, the patrol stopped, and someone in the team loudly replied: "I am from the patrol team of the 75th Guards Division, and I was ordered to patrol this area." After saying that, the patrol continued to move towards the area.
Go forward.
"Stop!" Although the sentry could clearly see through the flashlight that the people coming were wearing Soviet uniforms, he still shouted with great dignity: "This is the defense area of our 41st Guards Division. Others are not allowed to do so."
Enter. Get back quickly or I will shoot."
"If you have the ability, just shoot." The patrol on the opposite side said not to be outdone: "I have been a soldier for more than ten years, and I have never seen anyone dare to shoot at one of my own!"
The sentry was frightened by the other party's shouts. Although he received an order to shoot and stop anyone approaching the hotel, when he actually saw a friendly patrol appearing, he seemed hesitant. However, out of duty
, he still put the flashlight in the sandbag fortification and picked up the Mosin-Nagant rifle in his hand. He pointed the muzzle of the gun diagonally above the patrol, preparing to fire a warning shot when the other party approached.
However, his actions were discovered by the approaching patrol. They quickly dispersed and lay down, shooting at the sentry first. After two clear gunshots, the sentry who held the gun threw away the rifle in his hand.
, and fell on his back into the sandbag.
Seeing that the sentry was killed, the patrol who was lying on the ground got up again, formed a dispersed formation, bent down and rushed to the hotel quickly. The machine gunner who was sitting in the sandbag and dozing off saw his comrade being killed.
, hurriedly placed the turntable machine gun on the sandbag, pulled the bolt and prepared to shoot.
But the attacking enemies were all elite. Even if they fired while running, they could hit the target accurately. Just as the Soviet machine gunner was about to pull the trigger, a soldier in the distance fired at him first.
.The bullet penetrated the machine gunner's forehead and flew out from the back of his head with a trace of blood foam. When he fell on his back, his finger tightened on the trigger, and a series of bullets shot from the muzzle into the sky.
The gunshots coming from outside the hotel woke up the soldiers in the hotel. Although the captain made the problem very serious when he gave them the mission, the soldiers did not take it seriously. They felt that there were tens of thousands of their own people inside and outside the city.
How could the Germans appear here? Therefore, except for a few soldiers who stayed in their positions, the rest found a place to lie down and sleep.
Hearing the gunfire outside, some soldiers instinctively turned on the lights in the room, opened the windows and looked outside, trying to figure out what was going on. But by doing so, they undoubtedly turned themselves into targets for the German army.
After the gunshots rang out, these soldiers who had made stupid mistakes were shot and fell one after another.
The sudden sound of gunfire outside alerted Zhukov and the captain who had not yet left. The captain listened to the gunfire outside and screamed inwardly. He quickly said to Zhukov: "Comrade General, the enemy is coming. Please follow us immediately."
I'll go to the basement."
Zhukov's adjutant also rushed back at this time. Seeing the darkness in the room, he was worried about Zhukov's safety, so he shouted loudly: "Comrade General, Comrade General, where are you?"
"I'm here, why are you panicking?" Zhukov's calm voice came from the darkness: "What did Colonel Sokov say in the telegram?"
"Comrade General, Colonel Sokov's telegram mentioned that there may be a sneak attack by German paratroopers in disguise tonight. He has already made arrangements to reassure us." After the adjutant reported to Zhukov, he nervously said: "Here
It’s not safe, let’s go to the basement.”
Zhukov knew that if he continued to stay in the room, it would definitely affect the captain's command of the battle, so he said readily: "Let's go to the basement."
When the German paratroopers dressed as Soviet troops were less than 20 meters away from the hotel, the Soviet soldiers in the building finally came to their senses and started shooting one after another. For a time, machine guns, rifles and submachine guns composed of machines upstairs and downstairs
The crossfire formed a dense fire net and knocked down half of the charging German paratroopers.
The paratroopers were not vegetarians. They rolled on the spot to avoid bullets, and fired at any time, firing back at one of the firepower points. Every time they fired, they would cause casualties to the Soviet soldiers in the building. However, due to the limited number of people, they performed very well.
No matter how brave they were, the casualties continued to increase. After just three minutes, only two paratroopers were left fighting. They retreated to the ruins on the other side of the road, followed by the road more than 30 meters wide, and inside the hotel.
The Soviet troops exchanged fire.
The Soviet captain sent Zhukov to the basement and hurried over to check the situation. A platoon leader who was directing the battle on the second floor reported to him happily: "Comrade Captain, most of the enemies who attacked the hotel have been killed by us.
, the remaining two people have already hid in the ruins on the opposite side. I request that I lead people to attack, and I will definitely eliminate them all."
"No, Comrade Lieutenant." In response to the platoon leader's request, the Captain shook his head and said, "The division headquarters has an order that no one is allowed to leave the hotel before dawn."
"But Comrade Captain," the platoon leader said anxiously, pointing to the German paratroopers who were hiding in the ruins opposite and firing from time to time: "If we don't attack as soon as possible, they will most likely escape."
"Just run away." The captain kept the division headquarters' order in mind and said to the platoon leader: "It's too dark outside. If you lead people to attack, it will be me in the light and the enemy in the dark. If the enemy hides
A cold shot in the dark will cause us a lot of casualties, so you should just stay in the hotel and wait until daybreak before going out."
Suddenly there was a voice shouting "Ula!" outside. The captain looked out the window curiously and saw countless black figures appearing on the other side of the ruins, stepping on piles of bricks and rubble toward the hotel.
Come on, the shout is coming from that direction.
"What on earth is going on?" Seeing a sudden appearance of a troop, the captain couldn't help but be stunned. He thought to himself that the division headquarters had repeatedly told him that no troops would approach before dawn, but this troop was
Where did the troops come from?
Worried about accidental damage, the soldiers in the hotel stopped shooting at the ruins. After a burst of chaotic gunfire came from the ruins, everything became calm again.
After waiting for a while, the troops came out of the ruins one after another. The captain counted about thirty people. When he was about to ask the origin of the other party, he suddenly heard someone in the crowd shouting: "I am a division commander."
Captain Seryosha from the guard camp has been ordered to come to support you, please open the door quickly and let us in."
When the platoon leader heard the shouting, he immediately excitedly said to the captain: "Comrade Captain, did you hear that? It's a comrade from the division guard battalion. The leader is the division commander's friend Captain Seryosha. Hurry up and order the soldiers to open the door."
."
The fact that Seryosha and Sokov are old friends is something that most people in the Guards Division know. The captain thought that in the phone call before the battle started, the division commander Colonel Sokov once told him:
He will send Seryosha and others to support him. Since people outside say that he is Seryosha, they must be right.
So the captain nodded and said to the platoon leader: "Okay, comrade lieutenant, you take people out to meet Captain Seryosha."
This chapter has been completed!