In the early morning, a steam locomotive dragged a long list of tank trucks and slowly drove into the Central Railway Station in Stalingrad and headed towards Platform No. 9. The army slowly stopped on the platform. The guard company commander Orel and a team of gun-carrying soldiers got out of the car at the rear of the car. After getting off the car, they immediately pulled out a cordon against the platform.
After setting up the cordon, Selyosha turned around and shouted at the direction of the car door: "Brig Commander, Political Commissar, the cordon has been arranged, please get off the car!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Sokov appeared at the door. He looked at the platform and saw seven or eight soldiers standing not far away, looking at their location. Seeing this, he guessed that the other party should be the person sent by the City Defense Committee to greet him. After getting off the car, he did not walk over immediately, but waited for Belkin to get off the car, and the two walked over side by side.
The soldiers waiting there saw Sokov and Belkin walking towards him and quickly met him. The major who led the team asked tentatively: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Sokov of the 73rd Infantry Brigade?"
"Yes, I am Sokov. This is my political commissar Berkin." After introducing himself and Berkin's identities, Sokov looked at the major in front of him and asked tentatively: "I wonder what I should call you?"
The major quickly stood at attention, raised his hand to salute, and replied clearly, "Report to Lieutenant Colonel, I am Major Ozor of the City Defense Committee, and I am ordered to come to greet you."
"Hello, Major Ozor." Sokov raised his hand and asked politely, holding the other party's hand, "Is it yours to cooperate with us to build the fortifications?"
"Yes, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ozor replied respectfully: "I am a construction engineer and will assist you in building fortifications in Mamayev Hill."
Sokov exchanged a few more greetings with Ozor, then turned to Selyosau who was standing behind him and said, "Shelyosau, it's almost time, let the commanders and soldiers get out of the car!"
Xie Liangsha agreed and ran towards the front of the car with the two soldiers, shouting loudly while running: "Everyone gets off! All gets off!..."
With his shouts, the closed car door was opened one after another. The commanders and soldiers who had been in it for more than ten hours couldn't wait to jump out of the car, stretched their waists on the platform, moving their already stiff bodies, and greedily breathing the fresh air of Stalingrad in the morning. Many eager soldiers stood in a row on the platform and began to urinate towards the carriage. The air soon filled with an unpleasant smell of urine.
Fortunately, Ozor has long been used to this kind of thing, so he said to Sokov without changing his face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the army has a dedicated reception. I will take you to Mamayev's hill first."
As soon as he walked out of the train station, Sokov saw the famous fountain in the middle of the square outside the station in many film and television works. He couldn't help but speed up, walked to the fountain, looked up at the sculpture of the six Young Pioneers in the middle of the pool holding hands, dancing around a crocodile, and thought to himself: In that "The War to the City", the sniper Vasily hid in this fountain pool, killed five German officers and soldiers with five bullets, and became famous in one fell swoop.
The sculptures symbolizing the struggle between justice and evil in the fountain were miraculously preserved after the end of the fierce Stalingrad defense war. So much so that as soon as the battle ended, the Stalingrads did not care about restoring the damaged buildings around them, but instead gave priority to the fountain and sculptures to restore the fountain and sculptures as they were.
Seeing that Sokov was very interested in the fountain, Ozor introduced to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the sculpture of this fountain is a fairy tale "Dr. Epolite and the thief Balmare": Six Soviet Young Pioneers went to Africa to travel, but unfortunately were caught by the thief Balmare and roasted on the fire. Dr. Epolite, who received the news, immediately sent a crocodile and an orangutan to save them. After a fierce battle, the crocodile ate the thief Balmare, and the Young Pioneers were saved. This is the scene where they danced around the crocodile after they won..."
Although Sokov has seen this fountain and sculpture in many film and television works, he has no idea about its origin. After Ozor's popular science, he immediately understood why this sculpture is called a symbol of the struggle for justice and evil.
Mamayevgang is still two kilometers away from the station. If you walk, you will have to walk for at least half an hour. Fortunately, Ozor arranged a jeep outside and asked Sokov and Berkin to get on the bus, he ordered the driver to drive towards Mamayevgang.
"Two commanders, comrades," Ozor, who was sitting in the passenger seat on the way to Mamayev, turned his head and said to Sokov and Berkin: "Mamayev's name comes from Badu Khan of the Mongolian army. He camped here when he was advancing westward to Europe. There is a hill formed by the graves of ancient Tatars..."
Just as Belkin listened to Ozor's explanation with interest, Sokov was thinking: "I didn't expect that Mamayev Hill is a tomb. In the next few months, tens of thousands of unjust souls will be added to this hill. I hope I can live until the end of the battle and not become one of these unjust souls."
The jeep came to the foot of the Mamayev hill and stopped. Ozor took Sokov and Berkin to the top of the hill. He pointed to the north and introduced to the two: "The two commanders, the location where we are standing is the southern slope of Mamayev hill. From here, you can overlook the entire Stalingrad city and the Volga River. If you control it, you can control a large range, including the Volga transportation line, which is the lifeline of Stalingrad. Look, opposite is the northern slope, the cylindrical metal building on it, and the oil tank of the refinery. In addition, the water tower that provides drinking water for the entire Stalingrad is built one hundred meters away from the oil tank..."
Hearing this, Sokov sneered in his heart and thought to himself: The Germans only need a few shells or aviation bombs to blow up the oil storage tanks on the north slope, turning it into a sea of ​​fire. Once the water tower is destroyed, the water supply of the entire city will be interrupted, and residents will have to go to the river to pick up water and drink.
Ozor naturally couldn't guess what Sokov was thinking, and pointed to the east and said: "The east is the pier. As a city on the Volga River, Stalingrad is a hub connecting Europe and Asia's land and water transportation,..."
When Berkin heard this, he couldn't help but interrupt the other party and interrupted, "The superior originally planned to let our troops come to Stalingrad by boat from Kazan, probably because of the convenience of water transportation on Stalingrad."
"There is such a possibility, comrade of the deputy battalion-level political commissar." Ozor said to Belkin with a smile: "If you really take a boat down the river and you can see the beautiful scenery along the way, just think that you are going out for a trip."
Belkin smiled and said with a happier smile: "Major Ozor, we are not going out for a trip, but here to fight against the invaders." He looked at Sokov with his face sideways, "You are right, comrade commander."
"Yes, we are here to fight against the invaders." Sokov looked at Ozor with a stern face: "Comrade Major, I want to ask, how do you plan to build the fortifications near Mamayev's hill?"
Regarding Sokov's problem, Ozor said disapprovingly: "How else can be built? Of course, trenches and reinforced concrete bunkers are built on the hills, and minefields and barbed wire are laid on the west side of the hills."
"Where are the anti-tank trenches?" Sokov asked immediately after Ozor finished speaking, "Comrade Major, why are there no anti-tank trenches mentioned in the defense plan you mentioned? You must know that with the slope of the Mamayev hill, German tanks cannot be driven, but they can still stop at the foot of the hill and use artillery or machine gun fire to cover their infantry to rush up the hill."
"Ltd. Colonel, don't worry." Seeing Sokov's tone was very impatient, Ozor quickly explained: "It's not that we don't want to build anti-tank trenches, but four hundred meters west of the hill, there is a ring-city railway line connecting the north and south ends of the city. Once the enemy approaches this area, we can dispatch armored trains to defend mobilely and use powerful artillery fire to eliminate all enemies who dare to approach here."
"Roading railway line and armored train?" Hearing Ozor say this, Sokov quickly raised his telescope and looked west. Sure enough, he saw a railway line in the distance. Although he did not see the armored train, he knew in his heart that Ozor was not lying. Once the battle started, the armored train could use this railway line to defend mobilely and use artillery fire to eliminate the enemies attacking the city. However, in his impression, in the entire Stalingrad defense battle, it seemed that he did not hear any results about armored trains. It should be that shortly after the defense battle began, the armored train was destroyed by the German army.
Ozor talked to Belkin for a while, and turned to find Sokov holding a telescope and looking to the west of the hill. Ozor thought Sokov was anxious to see the armored train, so he smiled and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the armored train is dispatched every four hours. If you want to see it, you have to wait at least three hours. Therefore, it just completed the patrol mission an hour ago and is currently undergoing repairs and supplies in the station."
Sokov put down his telescope and turned to Ozor and said, "Comrade Major, I do not agree with the defense plan you proposed. If you really build the fortifications of Mamayev's hills according to your ideas, once this place is attacked by the German army, the defenders on the hills will be hit hard."
Chapter completed!