Although the German army's technical and tactical level was very high, they were at an absolute disadvantage in terms of numbers. They were all wiped out in less than two minutes.
"Stop shooting, stop shooting!" Seeing that there was no movement from the German army, Koshkin ran up from the ground and shouted loudly: "Everyone listen, quickly search for the remaining enemies, find and destroy them."
The soldiers from the surrounding guard companies responded with a loud yes and scattered in all directions, looking for enemies who might be hiding around.
Koshkin came to Sokov and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, are you not injured?"
"No." Sokov, who was hiding behind a telephone pole, stood up straight and said to Koshkin: "The bullet just now was quite far away from me. There is nothing wrong with me."
"Comrade Commander," Koshkin asked Sokov for instructions: "Where are we going next?"
Since Colonel Konev did not inform him of his location after entering the city, and no Soviet commanders and fighters were found nearby, Sokov could not figure out where Konev had placed the division headquarters.
Sokov listened carefully, and then said to Koshkin: "Comrade Lieutenant, I don't know where Colonel Konev is now. We can only go to the place where the gunfire is the loudest. Maybe we can find him there."
he."
Koshkin agreed and summoned dozens of soldiers to protect Sokov as he moved forward quickly along the road. His idea was very simple. It was too dangerous outside and he should escort the commander to Colonel Konev's division headquarters as soon as possible.
, it will be safe then.
Sokov's leg injury is now almost healed and he can already walk without the help of a cane. In order to take care of him, Koshkin deliberately slowed down the troops so that Sokov could keep up.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he turned a corner, he suddenly saw dozens of German soldiers coming towards him.
In such a sudden encounter, neither side thought of using the terrain and features to hide themselves, so they subconsciously pulled the trigger, hoping to overwhelm the other side with their powerful firepower.
The officers and soldiers of both sides started shooting wildly at an almost face-to-face distance. During the shooting, people in the queues of both sides kept falling down without a groan. If it weren't for several soldiers who did not hesitate to use their bodies to block the attack.
In front of Sokov, he could not escape the fate of being shot.
The two sides fired all the bullets in the chambers, without changing the magazine, and without having time to change the magazine, they rushed forward with assault rifles with bayonets, and started a bloody hand-to-hand battle.
The German army has always only valued the speed of infantry shooting and the continuity of firepower on the battlefield. Only in individual cases such as street fighting or trench assault warfare, soldiers use hand grenades, daggers, engineer shovels and other equipment for hand-to-hand combat.
Every soldier around Sokov had very good stabbing skills. Therefore, in this hand-to-hand battle with the German army, they fought quite skillfully.
The German army's stabbing skills were not as good as those of the Soviet army. Now they encountered Sokov's elite guard company, so they were naturally at a disadvantage. It often took three or four German soldiers to fall before there was even one guard company.
The soldier fell in a pool of blood.
Koshkin held an assault rifle with a bayonet and stabbed a tall German soldier. Unexpectedly, the guy dodged and avoided the fatal knife. He picked up the 98K rifle without a bayonet with both hands and fiercely attacked him.
Koshkin smashed it down.
Koshkin raised his hand and knocked it upward, and the bayonet was actually bent by the gun body. As soon as he withdrew the gun body, a flower of blood suddenly burst out from his ribs. It turned out that he was hit by a stray bullet that flew from nowhere. He stood at his feet
He stumbled and almost fell down.
Seeing an opportunity, the German soldier swung his rifle and hit Koshkin on the head. Sokov, who happened to kill a German soldier with his pistol, saw that Koshkin was in danger, so he raised his hand and fired at the German soldier.
One shot knocked him to the ground.
Seeing the enemy in front of him fall down, Koshkin couldn't hold on any longer and sat down on the curb. Sokov quickly stepped forward to help him up and stumbled back.
Although the soldiers of the guard company had the upper hand in the stabbing, the guard company suffered more than 20 casualties in the previous exchange of fire, and more than a dozen fell in the stabbing. Now there are less than three soldiers who are still fighting with the bayonet.
ten people.
Seeing German soldiers coming in a steady stream in the distance, Sokov realized something was wrong and was worried that he would suffer losses if he continued to fight, so he supported Koshkin and walked back, hoping to meet the soldiers of the guard company who were lagging behind and lead him.
They came to rescue the soldiers who were bayoneting with the enemy.
Not far away, Sokov saw a sandbag fortification on the side of the road with an MG42 machine gun inside, so he helped Koshkin and walked there.
After entering the sandbag fortification, Sokov helped Koshkin sit down with his back against the sandbag, and then asked with concern: "Lieutenant Koshkin, are you okay?"
"It's okay, Comrade Commander." Koshkin grinned and said, "It's just some skin injuries, there's no risk to his life."
"Since there's nothing wrong, then serve me as the deputy gunner." After Sokov finished speaking, he turned the gun and pointed it at the German soldiers rushing along the street and pulled the trigger.
For a moment, the sound of gunfire was deafening, a tongue of flame spurted out from the muzzle of the gun, bullet casings flew, and the bullets scattered the gravel on the street. Several German soldiers who rushed at the front were instantly hit with a series of bullets on their bodies.
hole, and fell to the ground on his back.
The rate of fire of the MG42 machine gun was extremely fast, and in an instant a bullet chain was used up. Seeing that Koshkin had not replaced the bullet chain himself, Sokov became a little anxious, and turned around and was about to attack Koshkin.
Suddenly I heard the sound of the steel helmet, and at the same time, I felt a huge force hitting my head. My head instantly tilted back as if it was hit by a heavy hammer, and my body flew backwards, heavily.
Fell to the ground.
Sokov's mind went blank. Only one thought kept repeating in his mind: "Did I get shot in the head by a sniper?!"
"Comrade Commander, what's wrong with you?" Sokov felt someone squatting next to him and shouted loudly into his ear.
Sokov's mind was blank at the moment, and he looked blankly at the person next to him. He opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. When the other person saw me staring and not speaking, he grabbed his shoulders and shook him vigorously.
Get up, and at the same time continue to shout loudly: "Comrade Commander! Comrade Commander! What's wrong with you, are you okay?!"
After a while, Sokov finally came back to his senses and saw clearly that the person squatting in front of him was Koshkin. He murmured: "Comrade Lieutenant, hurry up and change the ammunition chain for the machine gun, otherwise the Germans will rush in."
Come up."
"Comrade Commander, don't worry." Koshkin comforted Sokov and said: "The soldiers from the guard company who were behind have arrived and are engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Germans. I believe it won't take long to defeat them.
The enemy was driven back."
Sokov said "Oh", then reached out to touch the helmet on his head, and found a groove on the helmet. He hurriedly took it off to check. "Comrade Commander," Koshkin said fearfully, pointing to the bullet marks on the helmet:
"Fortunately, the Germans fired their bullets a little higher, otherwise you would have been shot in the head right now."
Sokov was frightened by the bullet marks on his helmet and broke into a cold sweat. He thought with fear that Koshkin was right. If the enemy who shot at him had lowered the muzzle of the gun by one centimeter, he would have become a cold corpse by now.
The fighting here alerted the nearby troops, and a captain and his company rushed over to support him. When he saw clearly that it was Sokov who was attacked, he was frightened into a cold sweat and quickly asked: "Comrade Commander,
,Are you not injured?"
Sokov shook his head and said: "I'm fine. Comrade Captain, which department are you in?"
"Report to Comrade Commander," the captain squatted next to Sokov and replied: "I am from the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Airborne Division. I heard gunshots here and guessed that it might be the Germans who have infiltrated over.
They exchanged fire with our army, so they rushed over with their men."
"Aren't these areas occupied by you?" Koshkin asked in a reproachful tone: "How could the enemy be allowed to infiltrate?"
Although the captain had a higher military rank than Koshkin, when he saw that the other party could ask this question in front of Sokov, he knew that this person's identity was not simple, so he said respectfully like a subordinate reporting work to his superior: "Lieutenant
Comrade, our troops are too small to control all the road sections. The Germans took advantage of the weakness of our troops to continuously penetrate into the areas we occupied along the gaps in the defense line."
Sokov knew what the captain said, so he did not blame the captain. On the contrary, he asked kindly: "Comrade Captain, you said you are from the 2nd Airborne Regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Fritzmann."
Group?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander. I am from the Fritzmann Regiment."
Sokov remembered that Konev was following the 2nd Airborne Regiment. In other words, if you find the 2nd Regiment, you can find Konev's division headquarters. He quickly asked: "Where is your division headquarters?"
"
"At the theater next block."
Knowing the location of the division headquarters of the 3rd Airborne Division, Sokov felt a little more at ease, "Comrade Captain, please take us there."
As he spoke, Sokov put his hands on the ground and tried to stand up. Seeing this, Koshkin and the captain quickly stepped forward to help Sokov stand up.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Sokov stood up straight, he felt like the world was spinning. If it weren't for the support of two people around him, he might have fallen to the ground again. However, despite this, he still felt waves of nausea in his chest. Fortunately, he forced it
Hold it back, otherwise vomiting in front of a group of subordinates will have a negative impact on your own image.
The captain patted Sokov's back with his free hand and said: "Comrade Commander, if you feel uncomfortable, just rest for a while before leaving."
Sokov was eager to find Shtemenko's whereabouts and was not willing to waste time outside. He shook his head vigorously and said to the captain: "Comrade Captain, I need to find Colonel Konev immediately. I can't stay here too long."
Time, you take us to the division headquarters immediately."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Seeing Sokov's insistence, the captain couldn't do anything, so he left a dozen soldiers to clean the battlefield, and then he took Sokov and others towards the division headquarters.
go.
The soldiers who stood guard at the entrance of the theater heard intensive gunshots and explosions in the distance, and guessed that the enemies must have infiltrated in and exchanged fire with friendly forces. At this moment, seeing a group of people approaching them, they couldn't help but panic, thinking that
It was the Germans who came over. But when they got closer, they saw that they were all wearing Soviet uniforms.
Seeing friendly troops approaching the theater, an officer at the door quickly reported to Lieutenant Colonel Fritzman on the phone: "Comrade leader, there is a group of people outside. Judging from their clothes, they should be one of our own.
See if you can come out and negotiate with the friendly commanders in person."
After Fritzman greeted Konev, he walked out of the theater with the two soldiers. According to his idea, they might be troops from the 4th Airborne Division or the 41st Guards Division. Going out to greet him personally was enough to express his gratitude.
Show your sincerity.
But what he didn't expect was that when he came to the entrance of the theater, he saw Sokov among the people walking by, and he couldn't help but be shocked. He was afraid that he had seen wrongly, so he quickly rubbed his eyes with both hands, and then
I continued to check carefully and found that it was indeed Sokov who was here.
He quickly turned to a soldier behind him and said: "Go back immediately and report to the division commander. Tell him that Comrade Commander has arrived at the door and ask him to come out to greet you quickly."
How could a soldier dare to neglect such an important matter? After quickly agreeing, he turned around and ran towards Konev's office.
"Comrade Commander," Fritzman came to Sokov. He did not salute, but asked politely: "The fighting in the city is still going on. Why did you come to the city?"
Sokov did not tell him the real purpose of his trip, but asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Fritzman, tell me, have you met the deputy chief of staff, General Shtemenko?"
"I've seen it." Fritzmann replied readily: "I've seen it in your observation post."
After listening to the other party's answer, Sokov knew that he had misunderstood what he meant, and quickly explained: "Lieutenant Colonel Fritzman, you are mistaken. I would like to ask if you have seen Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff in the city?
"
"In the city?!" Fritzmann asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, do you know when the deputy chief of staff entered the city?"
"About half an hour earlier than us." Sokov continued to ask: "Haven't you seen him?"
When entering the city, Sokov was lucky, thinking that after Shtemenko entered the city, he must first go to the headquarters of the 3rd Airborne Division. Therefore, he also thought wishfully that Shtemenko was at the division headquarters at the moment.
The probability is relatively high.
But what he didn't expect was that Fritzman shook his head after hearing this and replied resolutely: "Comrade Commander, I think you may have obtained wrong information. Ever since the division headquarters settled here, I have not
I have met the Deputy Chief of General Staff, and I think he must be trapped somewhere at the moment."
Knowing that Shtemenko might be trapped by the Germans, Sokov couldn't help but feel moved. When he came, he encountered the infiltrating German troops and fought. And the guards Shtemenko brought
If the company had not encountered the enemy, it should be staying at Colonel Konev's division headquarters at this moment. But now there were no living people or dead bodies, which made Sokov feel particularly uneasy.
However, he did not rush to find Shtemenko, because if he searched regardless, Shtemenko might not be found, but ended up getting himself involved. So Sokov calmly said to Fritzman:
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please take me to see Colonel Konev. I think I want to have a good talk with him."
