But before Krimov could find General Dmitryev, Lyudnikov called Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, it's not good. The German pontoon bridge is still a few dozen meters away."
"Then what are you still standing there?" Hearing that the German army was about to build a floating bridge, Cui Kefu couldn't help but feel anxious and said sternly: "Immediately use firepower to kill the enemy engineers and organize them to complete the floating bridge."
"No, Comrade Commander." Lyudnikov said embarrassedly in response to Cuikov's order: "I have organized firepower to suppress it many times, but the firepower points have been destroyed by German tanks on the other side."
After putting down the phone, Cuikov said to Sokov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation in Lyudnikov is very critical. I want to go over and take a look, and I will leave it to you here."
"Wait a minute, Comrade General." Seeing Cuikov going out, Sokov quickly stopped him: "I think I'd better go. You are the highest commander of the Southern Cluster. If something unexpected happens, the troops will fall into chaos."
When Trikov heard Sokov say this, he stopped, thought for a while, and nodded and said, "Well, Comrade Chief of Staff, you will go to Lyudnikov. Remember, the order is clear, and you must stop the enemy of the 14th Armored Division from crossing the Aksai River at all costs."
"Don't worry, Comrade General." Sokov assured Trekov: "As long as I'm still alive, I feel that I will not let the enemy pass through the Aksai River."
When Sokov set off, he did not take the guards beside Trekov, but borrowed a squad from Andre and followed him to the defense zone of the 138th Division.
As the chief of staff of the Southern Cluster, he was naturally very clear about where the command center was. However, when he arrived at the command center, he was exhausted and a staff officer who stayed inside told him that the division commander had gone to the river.
"Where is it?" Sokov knew that the order issued by Cuikov stimulated Lyudnikov, so that he could not even stay in the division command center and wanted to go to the front to command the battle himself. Sokov originally wanted to find Lyudnikov, but he thought that the German tanks were constantly bombarding the other side. If he was killed by German shells when he was running around at the front, it would be too unfair, so he said to the staff officer: "Take me to find him immediately."
Under the leadership of the staff, Sokov walked along the traffic trench to the frontier observation room and found Lyudnikov who was commanding the battle here. As soon as he saw Lyudnikov, Sokov asked straight to the point: "Comrade Colonel, what's going on here?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't want to hide you. The situation here is terrible." Lyudnikov, who had a toothbrush, said to Sokov with a bitter face: "I ordered the machine gun to strafide at the engineers on the pontoon bridge, but as soon as the machine gun fired, it immediately attracted retaliatory shelling from the tanks on the other side. So far, we have lost five machine guns. If it hadn't been for the addition of a batch of weapons and ammunition, the machine guns in the teacher would have been completely lost."
Sokov heard the sound of machine guns shooting outside. The bullet hit the iron plate of the pontoon bridge and splashed a series of sparks. "Comrade Colonel, it seems that there are machine guns shooting outside?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." Lyudnikov nodded and said, "I ordered the commanders below to draw out ten machine gunners, one of whom was responsible for moving shooting, and the other nine were on standby. When the machine gunner died, the new machine gun shooter immediately picked up the machine gun and continued to shoot until the whole person died."
Sokov was not optimistic about the solution that Lyudnikov came up with. He shook his head and said, "Comrade Colonel, I think you are not efficient in doing this, but instead leads to the sacrifice of a large number of experienced machine gunners."
"Then tell me, what should I do?" Lyudnikov stared at Sokov's clothes with red eyes and said viciously: "If we don't do this, the German engineers will set up the pontoon bridge, and then their tanks will rush over with great might. There will be no anti-tank weapons in my army. How can I block them then? Tell me, how can I block them?"
After Sokov broke his clothes out of Lyudnikov's hand, he said slowly: "It's not difficult to deal with German engineers. Why do you have to use machine guns to strafuse? You know, using machine guns to strafuse will not only consume a lot of ammunition, but also attract the shelling of German tanks. Even if you barely kill one or two engineers, it will be a big deal."
From Sokov's tone of speaking, Lyudnikov guessed that he must have thought of a good idea, so he asked modestly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, can I ask, do you have any way to destroy the German engineers?"
"Are there any snipers or sharpshooters in the division?" Sokov asked.
"There are no snipers, but there are several sharpshooters. I wonder what you want sharpshooters to do..." As soon as Lyudnikov said this, he raised his hand and slapped his forehead hard, and said in annoyance: "I'm so confused, why am I so confused? Just send a few sharpshooters to aim at those German engineers and shoot them. Why ask the machine gunners to fight against the enemy? Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you. I will arrange the sharpshooters immediately to deal with the German engineers."
There were sharpshooters on the position. With the order from Lyudnikov, four or five sharpshooters immediately began to shoot at the engineers who were building the bridge. Although the machine gun firepower was strong, the shooting accuracy was insufficient for targets more than 100 meters away. And often, just after half a shuttle was shot, they would be discovered by German tanks on the other side, and then they would be covered by firepower, increasing unnecessary casualties. Sharpshooters usually shoot one shot and change the place, leaving German tanks at a loss.
Seeing more than a dozen intensifying engineers, who were shot and fell on the pontoon bridge or fell head-on into the turbulent river, the German commander ordered that there must be Soviet snipers on the other side, and ordered the bridge building operation to be suspended.
Although the German army retreated, the pontoon bridge they built was less than twenty meters away from the north shore. If the Germans were to build bridges regardless of casualties, they could still build pontoon bridges connecting the two sides within half an hour, and then the German tanks would rumble over. In order to eliminate this hidden danger, Sokov decided to send people to blow up the bridge.
When it comes to blasting bridges, the most professional one is the engineer. So Sokov ordered people to find the engineer company commander and asked straight to the point: "Comrade Commander, are there any remaining explosives sent by the city defense committee last time?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The engineer company commander nodded and replied affirmatively: "There are more than 400 kilograms left. Do you want to use this batch of explosives now?"
Sokov pointed to the soon-to-be-finished pontoon bridge on the river, "What would you do if I ordered you to blow up the pontoon bridge on the river?"
"The floating bridge is more than ten meters away from the shore," the engineer company commander looked at the floating bridge and said, "The soldiers who perform the bridge explosion mission need to swim through these ten meters before they can install explosives on the bridge. However, this matter will not be carried out until evening."
"Why does it take place at night?" Sokov asked in confusion.
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think you have also seen the German tanks on the other side." The engineer company commander explained: "If the bridge is blown up during the day, our soldiers will be blocked by the German firepower as soon as they get off the water, and they will definitely cause huge casualties."
After the engineer company commander finished speaking, Sokov did not speak immediately. He thought to himself: I didn't expect that this company commander, like Lyudnikov, had a lack of root strings in his mind, and was too dull in his work and did not know how to adapt at all. For example, the problem that could be solved by snipers was clear. Lyudnikov would use machine gunners to fight for consumption with the German army; the company commander was also asked to blow up the bridge, but he only knew that if the soldiers were carrying explosives and swam onto the pontoon bridge for more than ten meters and then install explosives, he didn't expect there was a simpler way?
"Comrade Commander," Sokov looked at the short-sized engineer company commander in front of him and asked, "Is there no other way except to let the soldiers swim on the pontoon bridge with explosives?"
The engineer company commander thought about it, then shook his head and said firmly: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. I think this method of bombing the bridge is the only feasible way at present."
Sokov saw a teacup on the table, and walked to the table, pointed at the teacup and said to the engineer company commander: "Comrade Commander, if this is a small boat full of explosives." He pushed the teacup with his hands and continued, "Since we let this small boat full of explosives go downstream and reach the location of the German pontoon bridge suddenly explode. What will happen?"
Chapter completed!