After Sokov finished teaching the telegram content, he returned to his seat and sat down. He thought to himself: In real history, the German army dispatched more than 2,000 aircraft on August 23 to bomb Stalingrad. The appearance of his butterfly delayed the bombing for half a month. In such a long time, at least more than 100,000 citizens were evacuated to the east coast, and perhaps the casualties caused by the bombing would be much smaller.
The call from the Front Command arrived soon. The content above was very simple, which was to order Sokov to quickly send someone to find out whether Cuikov's headquarters survived the bombing. No matter what the result was, it was necessary to report immediately, so that the Front Command decided whether a new army commander should be sent to replace the city's defense.
After reading the telegram, Sokov got up and walked quickly to the door, shouting outside, "Come on!"
As he shouted, a soldier immediately ran over and stood up straight for Sokov to give the order. Sokov pointed his hand at the other party and ordered: "Come the third platoon leader Lieutenant Samoilov immediately. I have important tasks to him to complete."
Samoilov, who received the notice, soon arrived at Sokov's command center. After raising his hand to salute, he said in accordance with the regulations: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the Second Lieutenant Samoilov is ordered to come, please give instruct!"
"Second Lieutenant," because of the tight time, Han Zhan did not go around in circles with him. After briefly introducing the situation, he said bluntly: "The enemy planes outside are bombing the city frantically, and the Army Command has lost contact with the outside world. The superiors ordered us to quickly find out whether General Cui Kefu and the others are still alive. I plan to order you to take a few soldiers to the Chalijin Cave to contact the headquarters. How about it, can you complete the task?"
Seeing Sokov looking at him with anticipation, Samoilov immediately replied loudly: "Report to the brigade commander, I promise to complete the task."
After accepting the mission delivered by Sokov, Samoilov took two soldiers and took a jeep and braved the enemy's bombing toward the city. But as soon as he entered the city, he found that the car could not go forward. The road ahead was full of bricks and rubble piled up by the collapse of houses. In addition, countless fleeing citizens, the car was not yet fast. Seeing this, he decisively ordered: "Get out of the car, let's walk to the Chalijin cave." The three of them dropped the jeep and headed towards Pushkin Street against the fleeing crowd.
What you see along the way made Samoilov shocked. Almost all buildings were burning, and some blocks became irrecognizable. There were bricks, rubble and ruins everywhere. Citizens or soldiers who died in various postures could be seen everywhere on the street. It was probably the first time that a soldier had seen such a tragic situation and said to Samoilov in panic: "Comrade Lieutenant, this place is too dangerous, let's go back."
"No, the order I received was to go to Pushkin Street to find the Army Command." Hearing the soldiers say this, Samoilov immediately said with a stern face: "If we cannot complete the task, even if we die in the city, we cannot return to Mamayev. Do you understand?"
The soldiers who persuaded Samoilov to go back quickly closed their mouths after hearing this. Another soldier said to Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, look at the streets that have been bombed beyond recognition. We are not familiar with the city, so we might get lost. It is better to change the road."
"Change a road?!" Samoilov and others had been wandering around this area for a long time, but because the streets had changed a lot, they could not find where to go directly to Pushkin Street. They stopped several citizens who fled, but everyone was confused and were determined to escape. Who had the intention to guide them, so they never asked clearly how to go. At this moment, when they heard the soldiers' proposal to change their roads, they asked curiously: "Where do you think we should go?"
"On the way we came, I noticed that the Charica River is nearby." The soldier quickly replied: "It is said that an entrance to the Army Command is on the bank of the river. As long as we walk along the riverbed, we should be able to find the headquarters."
"This is a good idea." Samoilov agreed with the fighter's proposal: "We will pass through the riverbed of the Chalica River, where no matter how bombed by the German army, the terrain structure will not change."
The three of them left the street and went down to the riverbed of the Chalicha River, and walked upstream with their feelings. Then, not long after they walked, they were discovered by an enemy plane in the air. Seeing the enemy plane diving towards them, Samoilov quickly shouted: "Look down!" Then he faced the enemy plane, holding his head in his hands, and lay on the ground.
The enemy planes dived from the air and fired at them with airborne machine guns. Bullets hit the riverbed, causing the soil to splash, killing two soldiers who had not yet come back to their senses and flew across the flesh and blood. After the German pilot lifted the plane up, he also intentionally turned around and saw that there was no movement on the ground, so he flew to other places.
Seeing the enemy planes away, Samoilov hurriedly climbed from the ground, leaned over to check his two subordinates, and found that they had been shot and died. Samoilov sighed helplessly, and continued to go up the river with his gun to find the Army Command.
After walking about five hundred meters, a voice suddenly came from not far away: "Stop, if you walk further, I will shoot!"
Samoilov stopped quickly and looked in the direction where the sound came. He saw a soldier holding a rifle from a bullet crater not far away. He pointed the gun at Samoilov and asked sternly: "Command!"
"I said to comrade warrior," Samoilov replied with some amusement when he saw the other person asking for a command, "I came from Mamayevgang, how do I know what the command is here?"
"From Mamayev's hill?!" It was obvious that the sentry soldier heard Samoilov say this and moved the gun away, but asked vigilantly: "Then what are you doing here?"
"I was ordered to contact the Army Command." If someone else asked me where I was going, Samoilov would definitely not tell him. But the place where the soldier appeared was strange. Maybe the Army Command was nearby, so Samoilov told him the truth: "Do you know where the headquarters is?"
When the sentry heard that he was looking for the headquarters, he couldn't help but be alert and pointed the gun at Samoilov again: "What are you looking for the headquarters?"
"Although we lost contact with the Army Command, the contact with our superiors has not been interrupted." Samoilov explained to the warriors: "I came here to look for the Army Command under the order of my superiors."
After Samoilov finished speaking, he shouted at a distance not far behind him: "Comrade Adjutant, there is a commander here who said he came from Mamayev's hill."
"From Mamayev's hill?" As soon as the sentinel's voice fell, an officer walked out of the corner of the river bank. He strode towards this side and asked, "What are he here to do?"
"Is it yours, Comrade Krimov." Samoilov's eyes were sharp-eyed, and he recognized the person coming to him at a glance. It was Choikov's adjutant Krimov, and he quickly took the initiative to say hello to him: "I am Samoilov, do you still remember me?"
After Krimov approached, he looked Samoilov up and down, and then a surprised expression appeared on his face: "It turned out to be you, comrade Sergeant, no, now he is a lieutenant. What are you here to do?"
"That's right, Comrade Krimov." Samoilov knew that if he didn't explain his purpose, he probably had no hope of meeting Trekov, so he said to Krimov: "Because our contact with the Army Command was interrupted, the brigade commander sent me here to resume contact with the Army Command."
"Let's go, let's talk in the tunnel." Krimov put one hand on Samoilov's shoulder, held him and walked towards the hole not far away, and said, "We have not only lost contact with you, but also with our superiors and all our troops. Comrade Commander has sent a large number of people to restore contact with each unit."
When he walked to the corner of the river bank, Samoilov saw a hole. There were many bullet craters next to the hole. It seemed that there were also bombing by enemy planes. Several soldiers squatted in the crater and observed the surroundings with vigilant eyes. As soon as he approached the tunnel, Samoilov felt very stuffy and a little breathless, just as if he deliberately closed all entrances and exits in order to attract the German army to be deceived.
Samoilov asked Krimov: "Comrade Adjutant, why are you so bored in your tunnel?"
"There's no way." Krimov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "The German bombing caused the exit to Pushkin Street to collapse. In order to avoid air strikes, two or three hundred people rushed in from the tunnel, so the air in the tunnel was inevitably a little turbid."
Krimov brought Samoilov to the room where Trikov was and introduced to Trikov: "Comrade Commander, this lieutenant came from Mamayev's hill."
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Samoilov felt much more at ease when he saw Cuikov standing in front of him. He hurriedly stepped forward and saluted, and reported: "Lieutenant Samoilov, the platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade Guard Company, reported to you that I am here to resume contact with you under the order of the brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."
"Due to the fierce bombing of the German army, all our contacts with the outside world were interrupted." Cui Kefu said with a sad face: "I sent a lot of people to try to restore contact with the outside world, but there is no news yet. You have not encountered any danger on the way here, right?"
Hearing this question from Cuikov, Samoilov's mouth twitched violently a few times, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, we were fired by enemy planes on the bed of the Charica River. The two soldiers who accompanied me to carry out the mission were unfortunately shot and died."
"The enemy's bombing caused us a lot of casualties." After saying this, Cuikov asked back: "Why did Lieutenant Colonel Sokov think about re-connecting with us?"
"Comrade Commander, this is the situation." Samoilov replied: "We received a call from the Front Command, saying that they have been unable to contact you, and have seen the bombing of enemy planes so violently, and are worried that the city has fallen..."
"As long as we have one person," Cuikov suddenly became excited when he heard the words "the city will never fall into the hands of the Germans. By the way, how did Sokov respond to his superiors?"
"The brigade commander said: Stalingrad has not fallen, we are still fighting, and we will never hand over the city to the enemy easily."
"Okay! OK! OK!" After hearing Samoilov's words, Cuikov couldn't help but cheer: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said so well. We will never hand over the city to the enemy easily. We will fight to the last person."
"Comrade Commander," Samoilov continued: "The Brigade Commander ordered me to come here to check whether the Army Command still exists. If it is still there, please let us assign the next combat mission." The last sentence was temporarily added by Samoilov with a sudden inspiration.
Cuikov turned around and asked Krelov on the side: "Chief of Staff, what tasks are you going to assign to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops?"
Krelov heard Cuikov's question and immediately walked over quickly and replied: "Comrade Commander, according to my estimate, after the German army carried out saturation bombing of the city, their next move was to launch an attack on the city. Mamayev hill is the commanding heights of the whole city and must be the focus of the German army's offensive. As long as the infantry brigade can defend it, it is better than anything else."
"Chief of Staff, your thoughts are the same as mine." Cuikov nodded and said to Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, please go back and tell Lieutenant Colonel Sokov that his task is to hold onto the Mamayev post and not allow the enemy to occupy it at any time. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Samoilov nodded vigorously and replied, "I will definitely bring you your words to him."
"Comrade Lieutenant, your mission has been completed and you can go back to Mamayev." Cuikov waved at Samoilov and said, "The enemy planes are still bombing the city, so you should be more careful on the way."
Chapter completed!