After dark, a troop of more than a thousand people came from the east bank to the west bank through the pontoon bridge connecting both sides of the Volga River.
The troops set foot on the west bank. As they were reorganizing, they heard someone shouting in a low voice in the darkness: "Hey! Comrades, where is your commander?"
The team was led by a deputy commander named Kislay. He quickly followed the voice and spoke: "I am the deputy commander, Lieutenant Colonel Kislay. Who are you?"
"I am Captain Klimov, the adjutant of the 62nd Army Headquarters, and I have been ordered to come to greet you." The visitor replied: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please come with me. Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff of the Army is waiting for you."
Under the leadership of Klimov, they arrived outside a mud house-style shelter half buried underground and walked down the steps without wooden planks. Entering the shelter, with the help of gas lamps hanging on the roof for lighting, Kislay
I saw three commanders sitting at the wooden table in the middle of the room, one of whom was a general and the other two were colonels.
Kislay thought that this general was the deputy chief of staff Klimov said, so he quickly stepped forward and raised his hand in salute: "Comrade deputy chief of staff of the group army, deputy commander of the 187th Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division, Lieutenant Colonel Kislay
Reporting to you. We have been ordered to come for reinforcements. I am waiting for your orders. Please give instructions!"
Unexpectedly, the general only looked up at Kislay and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are mistaken. I am not the deputy chief of staff."
Just when Kislay looked confused, a colonel sitting next to him stood up, stretched out his hand to Kislay, and said friendly: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Kislay. I am the deputy chief of staff of the group army, Witte.
Colonel Kov, this is the Minister of Logistics, General Lobov, and that is the Chief of Engineers, Colonel Tupichev."
After Vitkov introduced the people around him, he waved to Kisrei and said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, come here on the map. I want you to assign a combat mission."
Kislay came to Vitkov's side, his back straight, but his eyes were fixed on the map on the table, waiting patiently for Vitkov to assign him a task.
Vitkov pointed to a location on the map with his hand and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, your task is to go to Building 4 of the Dzerzhinsky Factory and strengthen the defense there so that the enemy cannot occupy them."
After seeing the position on the map clearly, Kislay asked with some surprise: "Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff, isn't it marked on the map as the defense area of the factory militia? Do you plan to let us take over their defense?"
"Yes, that place used to be a defensive zone for the militia, but a few hours ago, they were forced to withdraw due to heavy losses." Vitkov said to Kislay: "Your mission is to enter No. 4
building and repurpose it into a new defensive stronghold. Got it?"
"Understood, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." After answering, Kislay repeated: "I led the troops into Building No. 4 and turned it into a new fire support point. Are you allowed to return to the troops?
"
"Wait a minute, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Vitkov stopped him and asked: "How many people are you bringing?"
"Two battalions, 1,200 people, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff." Kislay replied briefly.
"Well, it is completely enough to defend Building No. 4." Witkov nodded, and then asked: "What kind of equipment do the soldiers have?"
"There are submachine guns, rifles and machine guns, but the number of machine guns is not many. Each battalion only has two heavy machine guns and 12 light machine guns."
"Standing on Building No. 4 may be attacked by German tanks," Vitkov asked thoughtfully: "What kind of anti-tank weapons do you have?"
"There are no anti-tank guns or anti-tank rifles, only more than fifty anti-tank grenades." Kisrei replied with a wry smile: "If the anti-tank grenades are used up, we can also organize soldiers to use cluster grenades to blow up enemy tanks.
."
"Well... then I wish you success." After Witkov said this, he suddenly remembered a more important thing: "When will the other troops of your division be able to cross the river?"
"Tomorrow night at the earliest." After Kislay finished answering, he straightened up and asked Vitkov: "Can you leave, Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff?"
Vitkov nodded and finally said: "The guide assigned to you will arrive soon. I wish you good luck!"
Before Kislay returned to his unit, the two battalion commanders immediately came up to him and asked with concern: "Comrade deputy commander, what is our mission?"
"Our superiors ordered us to go to the Dzerzhinsky Factory and establish new defenses in Building No. 4." Kislay replied: "The guide sent to us will be here soon."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone behind him asking: "Is this Lieutenant Colonel Kislay?"
"Yes, it's me." Kisrei turned around and saw a short soldier standing behind him, and asked curiously: "Comrade soldier, what do you do?"
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Because he was outside, the short soldier did not salute Kisrei, but straightened his body and replied: "I am the group army messenger Sidorin, and I have been ordered to come here to be your guide.
."
Kisrei heard that the other person's voice sounded like a child, so he looked closer and found that it was indeed a child. He couldn't help but frowned: "Soldier Sidorin, how old are you?"
"I..." Sidorin did not expect that Kisrei would suddenly ask his age. After a moment of hesitation, he replied: "I am already sixteen this year."
"Sixteen years old?!" After hearing Sidorin's answer, Kisrei shook his head with a wry smile and said, "Son, you are too young. The place we are going to is too dangerous. You should ask Comrade Deputy Chief of Staff to replace him.
Someone come and be our guide."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you can't look down on people like this." Seeing that Kisrei not only looked down on himself, but even wanted to replace him, Xiao Xiduolin became a little anxious: "I am a little young, but since the establishment of the 62nd Army, I have
I have been in the army and participated in many battles. I am very familiar with the place you are going to, otherwise my superiors would not have sent me to be your guide."
"Comrade Deputy Commander," the battalion commander standing nearby came out to smooth things over for Sidorin: "Since the superiors asked this kid to be our guide, let him take us to the Dzerzhinsky Factory quickly. Anyway,
It's night now, so there's no need to worry about enemy shelling or air strikes, there won't be any danger."
"Okay," Kislay agreed with the first battalion commander's statement. After all, marching at night is safer than during the day. Even if a child leads the way, there is probably no danger, so he said happily
The order was given underground: "Let's go!"
On the way to the Dzerzhinsky factory, Kislay curiously asked Sidorin: "Child, where are your parents?"
"My mother died shortly after I was born, and I grew up with my father." Sidorin looked up at Kislay and said, "My father is in Stalingrad now."
"Where is he?" Kislay continued to ask: "Is he working at the army headquarters, or fighting at the front with the enemy?"
"He used to be the chief of operations at the headquarters, and later he was transferred to Mamayev Kurgan." Sidorin heard Kisrei ask about his father, and he felt proud: "He served as the commander of that heroic army."
Chief of Staff position."
"What, your father is Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin?" After hearing Sidorin's answer, Kisrei showed an expression of surprise. He put an arm on Sidorin's shoulder and smiled.
He said: "Son, you wouldn't have thought that your father and I were classmates at the Frunze Military Academy."
"Are you the Uncle Kisrei that my father often mentioned?" After learning that the other party was his father's military school classmate, Xiao Xiduolin immediately recalled some of the comrades and classmates his father had mentioned, and asked tentatively: "
Didn't you transfer to the Volkhov Front? Why are you here?"
"I was injured while participating in the liberation of Leningrad," Kislay replied: "I lay in the hospital for two months. When I was discharged, I was transferred to the 45th Infantry Division."
The two of them were walking and chatting, and unknowingly entered the Dzerzhinsky Factory, not far from Building No. 4. At this moment, the sound of submachine gun shooting suddenly sounded in front. When Kislay heard it,
Hearing that this was the German MP40 submachine gun firing, he quickly gave the order to hide.
Besides, Goliya, who was staying in the switchboard room of the building, heard the gunshots coming from outside the building. He suddenly grabbed the phone in front of him and asked into the phone: "Lieutenant Goliya, what happened? Where did the sound come from?"
gun?"
"Report to Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander," Zhelia, who was staying in the command post outside the building, quickly replied after hearing Goliya's question: "The gunfire came from the east. It may be that my sentry discovered a sneak attack.
enemies."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Golia asked cautiously after hearing this: "Before we attacked Building No. 4, didn't Colonel Omelchenko say that the Army Headquarters would send them a guard company? Could it be this guard company?"
coming?"
"I don't think so." Zhelia said in a positive tone: "The positions of Omelichenko Regiment and Sixth Company are to the southwest of Building No. 4, but the gunfire came from the east.
I think the enemy may have bypassed the friendly defense lines and came from behind us."
After listening to Zhelia's analysis, Golia felt that it made some sense and quickly issued an order: "Comrade Lieutenant, let all the soldiers enter the position and prepare for battle."
In fact, there was no need for Golia or Zhelia to issue an order. As soon as the gunshots were fired from the defensive position outside the building, the soldiers, whether in the building or in the trenches, quickly entered the position and prepared for battle.
The troops approaching Building No. 4 heard the gunshots in front and thought they had encountered German troops. A battalion commander bent down and ran in front of Kist and asked him for instructions: "Comrade Deputy Commander,
We have encountered the Germans, what should we do next?”
"It's too dark. If too many troops are put into battle, I'm afraid it will cause unnecessary chaos." Kested frowned and looked at the position where the gunshots were heard in the front, and then ordered the battalion commander: "First send two
Go up in platoons and figure out the enemy's firepower deployment, so that we can launch a targeted attack."
As the order was issued, the first battalion commander sent out two platoons of soldiers, spread out in formation, and quickly rushed towards the location of Building No. 4 with the help of the cover of the ruins. The soldiers of the fifth company who stayed in the trenches,
Seeing a black shadow approaching in the distance, he immediately fired various weapons at the same time, trying to suppress the opponent's attack.
Golia, who was in the building, after giving the order, found a window that was convenient for observation, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. He saw that his own position was firing continuously, using firepower to block the path of the incoming troops.
.The officers and soldiers of the attacking troops behaved extremely bravely in the face of the hail of bullets from their own side. Although some people continued to fall under the fire, the remaining people still rushed forward bravely.
Golia watched for a while and realized something was wrong. He quickly grabbed the phone nearby and shouted into the phone: "Hey, Captain Gelia, order the troops to stop shooting. I repeat, order everyone to stop shooting!"
"What, stop shooting?" Zhelia was shocked when he heard this order. He reminded Goliya loudly: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, if we stop shooting, the enemy will rush up."
"Hell, how could the enemy be so brave when fighting at night?" Golia said in an uncertain tone: "Maybe we are fighting with our own people."
"No way, how is it possible for one of us to fight against one of our own people?"
"Is there anything impossible?" Golia continued: "You can tell what weapons they are using by listening to the sound of gunfire. They are all Soviet-style weapons. Do you think the Germans will equip so many of our troops?
Weapons?"
"Oh my God, is it really a wrong call?" Zhelia didn't even have time to put down the microphone, and shouted to the correspondent standing aside: "Quickly order everyone to cease fire, cease fire immediately!"
After a minute or two, all the weapons on the outer positions of Building 4 stopped firing. When the commanders and fighters of the attacking 45th Division saw a sudden ceasefire in the opponent's position, they thought it was some kind of German conspiracy, so they also stopped attacking and hid behind
Behind the craters or ruins, quietly waiting for Kisrei's new order.
"Strange!" Hearing that the front suddenly became quiet, Kested had a surprised expression on his face: "What the hell are the Germans doing? Why did they suddenly stop shooting?"
Although Sidorin is the messenger of the Army Group Headquarters, because his rank is too low, he does not know about many things about the defense deployment in the city, so he does not know that Building No. 4 is currently guarded by the 41st Guards Division. But look
When the fire ceased at the front position, and Kisrei was full of questions, he suddenly thought of a possibility, and quickly said to Kisder: "Uncle Kisder, I think there may not be Germans in the front position, but Germans."
They are one of our own."
"What, one of our own?" Kislay shook his head and said, "Little Sidorin, how is this possible? Didn't you hear that they were using German weapons?"
"In my father's army, there is a regiment equipped with German weapons. Maybe they are the troops guarding the front position." Sidorin proposed to Kist: "Let me go over and understand the situation."
"No." As soon as Sidorin put forward his request, he was rejected by Christ: "The front is so dangerous, how can I let you take the risk as a child?"
"Don't worry, Uncle Christ." Sidorin comforted the other party and said, "I know many people in the group. If I go to make contact, the misunderstanding may be eliminated soon." As soon as he finished speaking,
When Christ made another statement, he bent down and ran forward.
"Here comes someone!" Seeing Little Sidolin running away in a flash, Kisrei quickly called to the two soldiers: "Hurry up and follow them. You must protect their safety."
Xiao Xiduolin looked at his waist and ran to a ruined wall and hid behind it. Seeing that it was only fifty or sixty meters away from the position, he grabbed the whistle hanging around his neck and blew it hard. He blew several times.
Finally, a response came from the opposite position. After confirming that the other party's whistle sounded and he had figured it out, he stood up and walked forward with firm steps, waving his hands as he walked, and shouted loudly: "Don't fire.
The gun belongs to our own people! It belongs to our own people!”
This chapter has been completed!