"Unwilling!" All commanders know how to answer such a multiple-choice question. Compared with the heavy casualties, it does not seem to be unacceptable to let the troops stay in the sewers that smell bad and are not exposed to the sun.
"Since everyone is unwilling to cause heavy casualties to their troops, then immediately allocate manpower and form a small team." Belkin pointed to Samoilov standing aside: "Second Lieutenant Samoilov once said
He has led the troops to fight the enemy in the sewers and has rich experience. He will lead the small team later and go into the sewers to familiarize themselves with the terrain."
Since surveying the terrain of the sewers was related to the life and death of their troops, everyone was very active. In less than twenty minutes, enough manpower was mobilized and Samoilov led them into the sewers.
The two attacks launched by the German army on the Archives Building ended in failure. Not only did more than 200 soldiers die, but also an aircraft was lost. For such a failure, the German commander obviously could not accept it. After a long period of
After an hour of shelling, they launched the attack again.
As soon as he heard that the shelling outside had stopped, Sokov said to Berkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, call and ask Paulkoski what the casualties of his troops are."
Belkin nodded, and then handed over the task to the regiment's chief of staff, Captain Vanya. After receiving the order, Vanya immediately connected to Paulkoski's command post and asked directly: "Comrade Captain,
The division commander asked how your casualties were?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Paulkovsky's ears were somewhat deafened by the continuous bombardment. After hearing Vanya's question, he quickly replied in a loud voice: "Our company has just ended.
Nearly half of the commanders and fighters were killed or injured in the shelling, and now there are only 128 left."
"Comrade Commander," after Vanya got the accurate number, he quickly covered the phone and reported to Sokov: "There are still 128 people left in the company."
Sokov remembered that the company had more than 300 people at full strength, almost catching up with a battalion of other troops. Now there are only 128 people left. One can imagine how heavy they paid in the shelling just now.
Casualties. He thought for a moment, pointed at Vanya with his hand, and ordered: "Ask them if they can continue to hold the position? If not, replace the second company with them."
Vanya quickly released his hand covering the microphone and asked loudly: "Comrade Captain, the division commander is asking you, can you continue to hold on? If you think it is not possible, we will immediately order the Second Company to take your place."
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff." Hearing that his superiors planned to withdraw his company, Paulkoski became a little anxious. Half of his soldiers were sacrificed on the battlefield. Not only could he not avenge them, but he would be withdrawn.
How could he go down there? So he shouted into the microphone: "Please tell Comrade Division Commander that as long as there is still one person in our company, the enemy will never be allowed to cross our trenches alive."
"Misha," Belkin heard the determination expressed by Paulkosky and was afraid that Sokov would withdraw the company from the outer position, so he spoke up and said, "Since Captain Paulkosky is so powerful,
Courage, then let them continue to hold their position. After dark, I will send the Second Company to take over their defense."
"Okay." Since Belkin, the leader of the regiment, has expressed his position, Sokov naturally will not lose face, so he nodded and agreed: "Let them continue to stay on the position."
The first company that remained on the position lived up to expectations and repelled two more German attacks, killing and wounding more than 300 soldiers. However, the entire company was reduced to 41 men.
But the gunshots and explosions outside became sparse. Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch and saw that it was already four o'clock in the afternoon, less than an hour before dark. According to convention, the Germans would not launch another attack, so
He said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, the First Company has completed their mission. Let them withdraw and rest first."
Belkin nodded, and then ordered Vanya: "Comrade Chief of Staff, ask the Second Company to go to the outer positions to take over Captain Paulkoski's defense."
While Sokov was waiting for Vanya to start calling, he asked Belkin: "Comrade political commissar, do you want to follow me upstairs to have a look?" Belkin thought that Sokov asked him to inspect the battlefield, so he nodded in agreement.
Unexpectedly, after arriving on the roof, Sokov walked straight to the east side of the building, raised his telescope and looked towards the Volga River. Seeing his behavior, Belkin asked in confusion: "Misha, are you looking at
What?"
Sokov held up the telescope and replied without looking back: "Let's see if the pontoon bridge on the Volga River has been erected."
"Erecting a pontoon bridge on the Volga River?" Belkin said confusedly: "Aren't they afraid of being bombed by enemy planes?" According to his idea, when the river is blocked by enemy aircraft and artillery fire, it is the best to erect a pontoon bridge.
It is a move that outweighs the gains and losses, not to mention that it requires a lot of manpower and material resources to repair the bombed pontoon every day, and it will also affect the passage of ships.
Sokov put down the telescope and saw Belgin holding the telescope and looking towards the location where the fake pontoon bridge was set up. He smiled and said to him: "Comrade Political Commissar, you are wrong. Our pontoon bridge is not in the direction you are looking at."
"What, it's not in the direction I'm looking at?" Belkin put down his telescope, pointed at the engineers building a pontoon bridge on the river in the distance, and asked in surprise: "Misha, can you tell me, what are those engineers doing?"
"Yes, the engineers you saw were indeed building the bridge. But the pontoon bridge they erected was prepared for the German air force and artillery." Sokov pointed in the direction of the broken bridge and continued: "The real pontoon bridge is here
There."
Because Belkin was not of a high level, he naturally did not know about the underwater pontoon bridge. He glanced at the broken bridge in the distance and asked unexpectedly: "But there was only the bombed cross-river bridge, and no pontoon bridge was seen?"
"You can't see it, my Comrade Political Commissar." Sokov said with a smile: "Because the pontoon bridge is under the water, naturally you can't see it."
"Underwater pontoon?!" Belkin was so surprised that his eyes nearly dropped to the ground when he heard what Sokov said. "How are people going to come over when building a pontoon underwater?"
"The deck of the underwater pontoon bridge is only 40 to 50 centimeters above the water surface, and even the exhaust pipes of cars cannot be submerged." Sokov said with some pride: "The underwater pontoon bridge can not only pass people, but also cars. In this way,
Come, we can transport more soldiers and supplies into the city in the shortest possible time..." After he introduced the underwater pontoon bridge to Belkin in detail, he also explained the pontoon bridge that Belkin had just seen.
It was just a fake pontoon bridge designed to divert the attention of the German air force and artillery.
"It's great, it's simply great." After listening to Sokov's story, Belkin couldn't help but shine when he thought that more troops and technical equipment were about to enter the city. "So, we
A major counterattack will be launched against the enemy soon."
"There should be a local counterattack. When it comes to a major counterattack, I think the time is not yet ripe." Sokov thought that the major counterattack in real history would not be until late November, so he vaccinated Belkin in advance.
: "It will take at least a month to a month and a half for the superiors to assemble enough troops and technical equipment to crush the enemy..."
Before Sokov finished speaking, a communications soldier who followed them walked up to Belkin with a phone receiver and said to him: "Comrade commander, this is the call from the chief of staff."
Belgin put the earphone close to his ear and heard Vanya's anxious voice coming from inside: "Comrade commander, can you go back to the command post immediately? Something unexpected happened here."
Sokov heard what Vanya said next to him. He couldn't help being surprised. Then he waved his hand and said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, let's rush back to the command post immediately."
This chapter has been completed!