Drivers waiting in line on the east bank to cross the river were a little panicked when they saw that the first few trucks on the bridge had flipped into the river. They parked their cars by the river, and an elderly driver asked Sui Sui
The orderly officer made a plea: "Comrade commander, can you turn on the lights when we cross the river? Without lights to illuminate the road, we can't see clearly where the pontoon bridge is!"
"No!" the officer on duty replied resolutely: "The superiors have ordered that in order to prevent the target from being exposed, all vehicles must not turn on their lights when crossing the river."
"If we had walked across this pontoon bridge before, even without car lights, we would have been able to drive to the other side based on our driving experience." The elderly driver said angrily: "Whatever the bridge looks like now, let's just say
If we drive in the dark, doesn’t this mean we are going to die?”
To be honest, the officers on duty at the bridge did not agree with this order in their hearts, but an order is an order. Since the superiors have made such regulations, the subordinates can only implement them unconditionally. In order to prevent the trucks about to go on the bridge from making the same mistake again,
After thinking for a moment, he said to the elderly driver: "Comrade driver, do you think this will work? I will send someone to lead the way. As long as you follow the person leading the way, you can drive the car to the other side. Although the speed may be slower, but
But it can avoid exposing the target when crossing the bridge."
The elderly driver knew that what the officer said was the limit of his ability, so he nodded and said: "Okay, comrade commander, please arrange for someone to guide the way in front, I will try it first."
While the officer was calling for help, the elderly driver walked up to the first car and asked loudly: "Whose car is this?"
Following the shouting, a young man walked out from among the drivers who were gathered together and said: "Old man, this is my car. Is there anything I can do for you?"
The elderly driver pointed to the underwater floating bridge that could not be seen clearly, and said to the young driver: "Young man, I just asked the commander, and he said that there is an order from the superiors. In order to avoid exposing the target, no one can turn on the lights when crossing the bridge.
In order for us to cross the river safely, he is going to send a person to lead the way. As long as our car follows that person, it will drive to the other side smoothly. I have been a driver for more than 30 years and have more experience than you.
Let me drive the first car."
The young driver parked his car by the river because he saw several cars in front of him falling into the river. Seeing his companions who luckily escaped from the cab, he was frightened and feared that his car would fall.
After entering the river, he couldn't escape. When he heard that the elderly driver was willing to take his place and be the first to drive across the river, he quickly reached out to hold the other person's hand and said excitedly: "Old man, thank you so much..."
"Old man!" The officer standing by the river arranged the manpower and shouted to the elderly driver: "The people leading the way have been arranged, and we can set off."
The elderly driver opened the car door, got into the driver's seat, and started the car. He was about to follow the soldier who was wading onto the underwater pontoon and heading towards the other side when he suddenly saw several red bright spots shaking on the other side, as if someone was there.
Sending signals.
After the officer on duty saw the signal, he was stunned for a moment. He first stopped the soldier who was stepping onto the pontoon with a wooden stick, and then shouted to the elderly driver sitting in the first car: "Old man, turn on the lights.
, drive directly towards the other side!”
The elderly driver thought he heard wrongly, so he quickly opened the door and asked the officer loudly: "Comrade commander, what is going on? I just said that the superiors are not allowed to turn on the lights. How can I turn on the lights now?"
"I don't know what's going on." The officer replied: "Fortunately, the other side issued a warning and asked all vehicles to drive with their lights on. Okay, old man, stop dawdling and drive quickly!"
Since the convoy could turn on the lights while driving, the young driver suddenly felt confident. He quickly came to the lead truck, replaced the elderly driver, and drove the truck slowly onto the pontoon, heading towards the other side.
…………
Not long after the convoy with its headlights on drove onto the pontoon, it was discovered by the observation post on the riverside, and the situation was immediately reported to Chief of Staff Krylov. Krylov learned that the convoy actually disobeyed his orders and ignored the possibility of being exposed.
The target was in danger, and when he was strutting across the river with his car lights on, he couldn't help but get angry. He immediately called Lobov and asked straight to the point: "Comrade General, what is going on? Who allowed the convoy to turn on the lights when crossing the river?
, aren’t you afraid of exposing your target?”
"It's me, Comrade Chief of Staff. I gave the order." Lobov is a responsible person. He did not pass the responsibility to anyone, but proactively admitted: "At the beginning, we also strictly implemented the command.
According to the order of the ministry, all convoys crossing the bridge are not allowed to turn on their lights. However, because it was too dark and the drivers never walked across the pontoon bridge, the first few trucks on the bridge overturned into the river, and the cars and the people on them were all overturned.
All the supplies sank to the bottom of the water.”
"What about the driver?" After listening to Lobov's report, Krylov was surprised and asked quickly: "Are they all out of danger?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, they are all out of danger." Lobov replied: "There is a patrol boat downstream of the pontoon, and they rescued the drivers who fell into the water."
Knowing that all the drivers who fell into the water had been rescued, Krylov breathed a sigh of relief. He then asked: "General Lobov, you let the convoy cross the river with the lights on in a big way. Aren't you afraid of being discovered by German agents?
"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, there is nothing we can do about this." Lobov said helplessly: "We cannot force the trucks not to turn on their lights when crossing the river just because we are worried that German agents will find a convoy crossing the river.
, this will cause a large number of vehicles and important materials to sink into the water. As long as the convoy can transport a large amount of weapons, ammunition and materials into the city in a short time, we can arm more workers and residents and fiercely
Fight against the invaders of Faxi Temple.”
After Krylov put down the phone, he reported what happened on the pontoon bridge to Chuikov. He finally said: "Comrade Commander, I am now very worried that there are German spies hiding near the pontoon bridge. If they send out flares to guide night sailing,
Planes are bombing, what should we do?"
But after Chuikov heard this, he acted very calmly, as if he was not worried that the enemy would send out night-flying planes to bomb the pontoon. He said to Krylov in an understatement: "Chief of Staff, give Sokov a call.
Ask him if there is anything he can do."
Chuikov's words reminded Krylov. He remembered that this underwater pontoon was proposed by Sokov. He must have a good idea of how to deal with the German night flights. He quickly picked up the phone and asked the operator to answer it.
Passed through the division headquarters at Mamayev Kurgan.
Sokov had just arranged for Rezakov and others to rest when he suddenly heard the phone ringing on the table. He was worried that something had happened to the group below, so he quickly grabbed the phone and said, "I am Sokov, where are you from?"
?”
"Colonel Sokov, this is Krylov."
"Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff." After Sokov heard Krylov's voice, he felt quite puzzled. Now that it was dark today and the fighting in the city had basically subsided, the Army Chief of Staff called him for a meeting.
What's the matter? He quickly asked respectfully: "What instructions do you have?"
"That's it, Colonel Sokov." Considering that Sokov was needed to advise him, Krylov thought that there was no need to hide the fact that the pontoon bridge was open to traffic, so he said truthfully: "The underwater pontoon bridge that was just repaired tonight
It’s officially open to traffic.”
"Oh, the underwater pontoon is open to traffic?!" Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the news, and quickly asked: "I wonder how many supplies the convoy transported to the city?"
"Colonel Sokov, how many supplies have been transported into the city? This is a secret that only the head of the army group is qualified to know. Don't ask around casually." Krylov was unwilling to reveal the details of the transport of supplies to Sokov, so he interrupted.
Opened the topic: "I called you because of another important matter."
"Please tell me, Comrade Chief of Staff." Although Krylov was unwilling to reveal more useful information to him, Sokov still said in a friendly manner: "I'm listening."
"According to the order of the headquarters, in order to prevent the convoy from exposing its target when crossing the river, all vehicles are not allowed to turn on their lights." Krylov said with some embarrassment: "As a result, the few trucks that got on the bridge first, so they couldn't see
The bridge deck collapsed into the river. The logistics minister, General Lobov, who was commanding by the river, took the risk to let the cars behind him turn on their lights in order to prevent more accidents."
"General Lobov did the right thing." Sokov agreed with Lobov's approach. "The drivers have probably never driven on this kind of underwater pontoon. Not to mention the dark night, even driving during the day is probably very scary.
Therefore, it is the most correct thing for them to drive on the pontoon with lights on."
"You are right. Driving with lights on can indeed speed up vehicles crossing the river, but it also increases the risk of exposure." Krylov said: "We are worried that German agents lurking along the Volga River will discover our convoy.
After crossing the river, we will contact the German night planes to bomb the pontoon and the convoy on the bridge. Comrade Commander asked me to call you and ask you if you have any good solutions."
Seeing that Krylov had gone in such a big circle and it turned out that he was the one who asked him to make suggestions, Sokov was really dumbfounded. But since the superior leader took the initiative to ask him, if he didn't give an ideal answer, he probably wouldn't agree to it either.
Fortunately, coming from a later generation, he already had various corresponding countermeasures in his mind, so he replied confidently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this matter is easy to handle. We only need to build an air defense post."
"Air defense post?!" Hearing this new term, Krylov asked curiously: "Colonel Sokov, can you tell me what it means?"
"The so-called air defense posts are to set up observation posts close to the enemy's positions. Once they hear the sound of enemy planes, they will call the police or fire a gun. This can buy enough warning time for the convoy crossing the river."
"Interesting, this air defense post is really interesting." After listening to Sokov's introduction, Krylov showed a smile on his face. He nodded and said, "Then I will discuss it with Comrade Commander and put it as soon as possible.
The anti-aircraft posts are established. If you can really prevent the convoy from being bombed by German night-flying aircraft, you will have done a great job."
Sokov has long been immune to Krylov's verbal praise. He was thinking in his heart: Now, except for the downsized regiment, the remaining regiments of his army use Soviet-style weapons. This is terrible on the battlefield.
There is no way to capture it, so we can only rely on supplies from the rear. Since I gave Krylov such a good idea, can I get some more benefits from him?
Thinking of this, Sokov asked cautiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, after the convoy transports the supplies into the city, can you replenish our division with some weapons, ammunition, food and medicine?"
"Huh?!" Krylov asked in surprise: "Colonel Sokov, if I remember correctly, almost all the equipment used by your troops was seized from the Germans, and you never asked your superiors for it.
.Why, the sun came out from the west today, and you actually asked me for equipment?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, yes, my troops did use German weapons before, which can be captured from the battlefield." Sokov did not hear whether Krylov was joking or saying this seriously.
Neng laughed and said: "However, the 41st Guards Division that later arrived at Mamayev Ridge was all equipped with Soviet-style equipment. I can't go to the enemy to seize these weapons and ammunition. I can only ask you to allocate one to us."
batch."
Krylov considered Sokov's request seriously for a while, and then said: "Colonel Sokov, our logistics department has rented a number of underground warehouses at the Red October Factory to store goods transported into the city.
Ammunition and supplies. When General Lobov comes back, I will ask him to distribute a batch of ammunition and supplies to you."
As soon as Sokov put down the phone, he said excitedly to Ivanov, who was still sitting on the left: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, let me tell you some good news. I have just talked with Chief of Staff Krylov.
After the supplies from the shore are transported into the city, we will be given priority to replenish a batch of ammunition and supplies. In this way, our troops will not have to worry about running out of ammunition and food."
Ivanov thought that the supplies Sokov mentioned were transported into the city by sailors via ships, and he quickly told Sokov: "In the past, after ammunition and supplies were transported from the other side, the army's logistics department had to carry out operations.
I called all the troops and informed them to collect them. But recently I found that the situation has changed. Each division and brigade has dedicated manpower at the ferry. Once the ammunition and supplies are unloaded, they rush aboard and collect their own supplies.
Ammunition and supplies were quickly transported to the forward positions. Do you think, how many people should I send to the ferry to wait to transport ammunition and supplies?"
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander, there is no need to go to the ferry. The ammunition and supplies that our superiors want to allocate to us are all there." Sokov waited for Ivanov to finish speaking, then continued: "The supplies that were transported into the city by the convoy are all there."
It will be stored in the underground warehouse of the Red October Factory, which is very close to our defense area and is very convenient for transportation."
This chapter has been completed!