Regarding Sokov's request, Vasilyev only hesitated for a moment, then stared at Spasov and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many such ships do you have in total?"
"There are about fifty." Spasov replied simply: "Half of them were fished out of the river by our soldiers. They have been blown to pieces. If they are not repaired, they will be put in.
It will sink in the water."
"You heard it all, Colonel Sokov." After listening to Spasov's report, Vasilyev asked Sokov with some embarrassment: "The number of wooden ships sounds like a lot, but there are not many that can be used.
,Are you still sure you want it?"
"Yes, Comrade Brigade Political Commissar." Sokov nodded vigorously and replied decisively: "We will send people to repair these ships, and we will use as many as we can repair."
Seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Vasilyev simply said: "Well, since you plan to repair the ship yourself, then I will ask Lieutenant Colonel Spasov to take you to collect the ship."
During the war, the work efficiency of many things was very high. Within ten minutes after Sokov and Bely came out of the shelter, hundreds of sailors began to use the tools and materials provided by Lieutenant Colonel Spasov.
Start repairing ships damaged by aerial or artillery bombs.
Seeing the soldiers working enthusiastically, Spasov, who was standing aside to watch the excitement, said to Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, after the ship is repaired, tell your soldiers that as soon as the ship is put into the water, it must
Row to the other side as quickly as possible to reduce the chance of being bombarded by the enemy."
Sokov pointed towards the small steamer heading towards the opposite bank with thick smoke billowing from several chimneys on the river, and said strangely: "Lieutenant Colonel Spasov, if the Germans come through artillery fire at night,
Blocking the river, why did they turn a blind eye to these small steamers? This is really strange."
"There is nothing surprising." Spasov pointed to the direction of Mamayev Hill on the other side and said to Sokov: "Due to the obstruction of Mamayev Hill and some buildings, it is difficult for German artillery fire to hit accurately.
Ships moving in the river. Therefore, they never waste artillery shells on the routes of small steamers, but use aircraft to bomb them during the day."
After introducing the situation, Spasov pointed in the direction upstream: "Colonel Sokov, the place where you cross the river is two kilometers upstream. You can cross the river from there to avoid wooden boats blocking the route."
Sokov knew very well that due to the constant flow of the river, wooden boats would definitely not be able to travel in a straight line when crossing the river. To cross such a wide river, all boats would deviate from their target on the other side. Some boats would deviate from their target by several times when docking.
It's not unusual for it to be kilometers away. Sokov had no objection to Spasov's arrangement. He just asked curiously: "I heard what you just said. If you cross the river from there, you may encounter enemies.
shelling?”
"Yes." Spasov said in an affirmative tone: "There are German spies hidden on the other side. As soon as they find out that we are crossing the river in that direction, they will fire a signal flare in the sky to indicate the direction for their artillery."
"Do your superiors know about this situation?" When Belei heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt and asked: "Why don't they send people to patrol the shore, so that they can discover the spies lurking in the city in time."
"It's not easy, Comrade Colonel." Spasov heard what Bely said and sighed deeply and said: "On the cliffs on the other side of the river, there are thousands of residents waiting to cross the river. Our manpower
It is limited and cannot detect German agents hidden in the crowd."
"Colonel Bely, the troops in the city are tight." Seeing that Bely wanted to question Spasov, Sokov quickly stopped him and explained: "Maybe in a few days, the superiors will transfer these patrols to
Join the battle on the front line.”
Bely thinks Sokov's statement is very reasonable. He has stayed in the city for a while, so he naturally knows the extent of the lack of troops. Don't say a few days, maybe he will wait for dawn on the shore.
Patrolling troops may be transferred into the city to participate in brutal battles.
He turned to look at Sokov and said rather helplessly: "Comrade Brigadier, after the ship is launched, the soldiers must use all their strength to row to the other side as quickly as possible to reduce the number of us
Losses in shelling."
"Guchakov!" Even though the sailors were busy working not far away, Sokov didn't know when they would be able to repair the ship, so he was going to let Guchakov find Shamrih.
Ask how the work is going: "Go and invite Captain Shamrih over. I have something to ask him."
Shamrich was repairing a wooden boat not far away. When he heard Guchakov saying that the brigade commander wanted to see him, he followed Guchakov to Sokov without even having time to put down the ax in his hand.
"Comrade Captain," when Shamrih came to him, Sokov did not beat around the bush, but asked straight to the point: "When can the ship be repaired?"
"Comrade Brigadier, these wooden boats are very damaged." Shamrih replied truthfully: "It may be that we have to wait until dawn at the earliest before all the boats can be repaired."
"What, it can't be repaired until dawn." Shamrich's answer startled Sokov. He knew very well that if he crossed the river at night, he would be shelled by the Germans. But if he waited until dawn to cross the river again,
, not only will they be bombarded by artillery, but they will also be bombed by enemy planes. Under the double blow of enemy artillery and bombing, it is unknown how many people in this force that paddled wooden boats across the river can reach the other side alive.
Thinking of this, he frowned and said to Shamrih: "No, Comrade Captain, we can't wait that long. Once we wait until dawn before crossing the river, the enemy's air force and artillery will jointly strangle us. In order to allow more
If many soldiers reach the other side alive, they must cross the river overnight."
After Shamrih waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he was silent for a moment and replied: "Comrade Brigadier, it is not impossible to cross the river before dawn. However, in this case, the number of ships we can use will be greatly reduced.
Already."
"Comrade Captain, how many ships do you estimate can be used?"
"No more than thirty." Shamrih was afraid that Sokov would be dissatisfied with the number he said, so he emphasized: "This is the limit we can achieve when we try our best.
.Since the soldiers have to carry weapons and supplies with them, each boat can only carry a maximum of fifteen people."
After listening to the numbers reported by Shamrih, Sokov began to calculate silently in his mind: "A boat can hold fifteen people, and thirty boats can hold four hundred and fifty people. With only three trips back and forth, almost all the people can be transported."
Soldiers and supplies are transported to the other side." He nodded in the store and said to Shamrih, "Comrade Captain, in order to speed up the repair of the ship, we will temporarily ignore the seriously damaged ships. You can concentrate on repairing the relatively complete ones.
vessel."
After Shamrich left, Spasov reminded Sokov: "Comrade Colonel, even if you have thirty ships, it will take at least three trips back and forth to transport all the soldiers and supplies to the other side.
I think you might as well wait one more day and wait until tomorrow night before crossing the river, so as to avoid losses to the troops."
Spasov's words made Bely's heart beat. He knew very well that if the German army really wanted to use artillery fire to block this section of the river, no matter how fast the soldiers rowed the boats, there would definitely be sacrifices. If it really happened
If we wait until tomorrow night to cross the river, these casualties can be avoided. After all, the route the small steamer travels is defenseless to enemy artillery fire.
"Misha," Bely pulled Sokov aside, called him by his nickname, and said in a low voice: "I think you can consider Lieutenant Colonel Spasov's opinion and wait until tomorrow night to cross the river. That way
This can greatly reduce the casualties of the troops. After all, our troops are limited. If we lose one less soldier when crossing the river, we will have more strength in the subsequent battle."
Sokov admitted in his heart that Bely's words made sense, but he understood even more clearly that the troops at Mamayev Heights were weak at the moment, and the Soviet counterattack had failed. The Germans were very likely to concentrate their superior forces against them.
Mamaev Hill launches a new attack. With the existing defense forces on the hill, whether it can hold the position is a big question.
It was out of this consideration that he shook his head and rejected Bely's proposal: "Colonel Bely, even if we wait until tomorrow night to cross the river, it is possible for us to reach the other side unscathed. But have you ever considered that once daybreak comes?
, the Germans launched an attack on Mamayev Hills, and Sidorin and others may have lost their position due to lack of troops."
Sokov was worried that Bely would not realize the seriousness of the problem, and specifically added: "The terrain on the west side of Mamayev Heights is flat, while the east side is steep, similar to the terrain of the unnamed highlands we captured a few days ago. If
The enemy is holding on to the hill, and no matter how brave our soldiers are, they will definitely make huge sacrifices to retake Mamayev Hill."
Bely personally led the tank battalion and participated in the battle to capture the unknown heights. He knew very well that if the Germans occupied the Mamayev Heights and held on to the danger, they would have to rely on more than a thousand troops to recapture Mamayev Heights.
Yevgan was simply a fantasy. After figuring out the cause and effect, he finally made up his mind and said to Sokov: "Okay, Misha, I agree with you. We will cross the river overnight, even if we suffer some sacrifices.
We must also get to Mamayev Heights before dawn."
With the efforts of the sailors, more than 30 wooden boats were repaired and put into the river at one o'clock in the morning. When the soldiers boarded the boats, Sokov said to Bely: "Colonel Bely, I
Cross the river with the troops first, and then you can follow them across the river after the ship returns."
As a rule, when a unit is crossing a river, the highest-ranking commanders will not get on the boat together, lest they be overwhelmed by the enemy's artillery fire. Therefore, after hearing Sokov's arrangement, Bely did not raise any objections and nodded.
, and then said to Sokov with concern: "Misha, you are the leader of a brigade. You must pay attention to your own safety when crossing the river."
"Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Sokov replied with a smile: "Although the river is so fast, as long as our soldiers paddle faster, we may have reached the other side before the enemy's agents have time to launch the signal bomb.
Already."
While talking, Sokov saw that the soldiers had boarded the ship, so he said hello to Bely, took Samoylov and Guchakov to a wooden boat not far away. Sokov
After stepping into the wooden boat, he asked the soldiers sitting on the boat in a low voice: "Comrades, are you all ready?"
"Ready!" a dozen soldiers sitting on the boat replied in unison.
"Let's go!" As the order was given, hundreds of oars reached into the river and began to row vigorously, splashing countless water splashes on the edge of the wooden boat.
Sokov stood on the bow of the boat and looked at the other shore, silently calculating the distance in his mind. The distance from the east coast to the west coast was about one kilometer. At the speed of the soldiers paddling, it would take at most half an hour to reach the other shore. Including boarding the ship.
It takes about an hour and a half to get off the boat, and it takes about an hour and a half to get all the troops across the river in three times, which takes at most five hours. In this way, there is hope to reach Mamayev Heights before dawn.
Sokov looked at the other side for a while, and then looked up at the sky. But until the fleet reached the center of the river, everything was quiet, and he could only hear the flow of the river and the sound of the soldiers paddling. He felt smug in his heart.
I thought: "Perhaps we chose the time to cross the river well. The German agents lurking among the residents did not notice that we were crossing the river, so they could not send signal flares to their artillery."
However, just as he was thinking this, a dazzling flare suddenly rose in the sky, illuminating the fleet of ships moving in the river. "Damn it, it's been discovered!" The moment he saw the flare appearing, Sokov's heart suddenly jumped.
As he sank, he understood that his fleet had been discovered by German agents. They were using signal flares to guide the artillery in the distance in the direction of attack. Sokov quickly shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, speed up.
, rowing to the other side is victory!" As Sokov shouted, the soldiers speeded up their oars, and the speed of the entire fleet suddenly increased.
Just when Sokov saw that the shore was getting closer and closer to him, and he was secretly relieved, a strange sound suddenly came from the air, and then a cannonball landed more than 20 meters in front of the fleet and exploded, setting off a fire.
A tall jet of black water.
Seeing that the shells did not hit any ships, Sokov was secretly relieved, and then he shouted at the top of his voice: "Comrades, speed up, speed up, when we reach the shore, the enemy's shells will hit
We are no longer here.”
However, Sokov's good luck seemed to end there. Several more artillery shells roared in, landed in the river and exploded, causing the water to boil like a pot. Unfortunately, a wooden boat was hit by the cannonball and was immediately blown to pieces.
Human limbs, severed legs, wooden boats and other debris were mixed together and blasted into the sky.
Just as the water column rising into the sky fell, more shells flew over. One of them landed not far from Sokov and exploded. The splash of water turned the people on the boat into drowned rats. A huge shock wave
The wooden boat swung violently from side to side, and Sokov held on to the side of the boat tightly with both hands to prevent it from being knocked into the river.
Two soldiers were unprepared and were thrown into the water when the ship's hull swung. Fortunately, they knew a little about water, and they swam over and grabbed the side of the ship. In order to prevent the ship from capsizing, they did not climb back on the ship immediately.
, but hung the side of the ship with his hands and continued to move forward with the ship.
This chapter has been completed!