After nightfall, the troops of the 42nd Guards Regiment gathered by the river and prepared to board the ferry docked at the ferry and go to the city to join the main force of the division. The ferry was bombed and sunk several times during the day, and it was impossible to transport more than 2,000 people from the 42nd Guards Regiment to cross the river at one time. The officers and soldiers of the Volga Fleet provided a lot of wooden boats or kayaks for Guards soldiers to cross the river.
After boarding the ship, a ship full of guard soldiers headed to the opposite shore. At first, everything was normal. As soon as he drove to the side, several flares suddenly rose in the sky. Colonel Yelin, who was on one of the ferries, couldn't help but frown when he saw the flares in the sky. He asked the helmsman who was operating the ship: "What's going on? Why do you play flares? Are you not afraid that the Germans will find us?"
The helmsman glanced at the slowly falling flares and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Colonel, the flares were not attacked by our people, but German artillery observers lurking on the shore. They used the flares to indicate the direction of the artillery. Look, they will start shelling soon."
As soon as the helmsman finished speaking, there were screams in the air. After a while, the river surface that seemed calm just now was blown up by the sudden artillery shells. The water columns that soared into the sky made the ferry sailing in the river begin to shake violently. Ye Lin hurriedly grabbed the railing next to him and stood firm in the bumps.
He watched helplessly as a wooden ship not far ahead, hit by a shell, and was instantly blown into pieces. The fragments of the hull and the body of the shattered warrior flew into the sky in the flames.
Ye Lin grabbed the railing tightly and let the splashing water slap his face. He hoped that the shelling would end soon so that his team could successfully climb the ferry on the right bank.
However, as the screams became more and more dense, more and more shells fell from the sky. Whether it was a ferry or a soldier on a wooden boat, they could not resist the damage of the shells. With the violent explosion of the shells hitting the ship, the wooden boats loaded with soldiers raised a raging fire, forcing the soldiers above to dive in a hurry to escape.
Just when Ye Lin thought that the ship his team was riding could not pass through the artillery area smoothly, he was surprised to find that the landing point of the enemy shells had landed far behind the fleet. Perhaps he had discovered that the Soviet fleet had entered the dead corner of the shelling, and the artillery observers hidden by the river stopped firing flares into the air, and the shelling also came to an abrupt end.
Seeing the ship approaching the shore, Ye Lin couldn't help but turn his head and look back. He saw that the originally dense formation of wooden boats and rubber boats had been blown away by artillery fire. On the rippling river surface, there were still burning wooden boat wrecks floating on the illuminated river surface. On the illuminated river surface, the commanders and soldiers who fell into the water were fluttering desperately in the cold river water, floating like boiled dumplings.
The ship finally docked at the ferry on the right bank. As soon as Ye Lin got off the boat, he heard a voice coming from the crowd in front: "Col. Ye Lin, where is Colonel Ye Lin?"
Hearing someone calling his name, Ye Lin quickly raised his voice and replied: "I'm here!"
An officer wearing a big-brimmed hat rushed over after hearing Ye Lin's voice. He came to Ye Lin, and after confirming the other party's identity, he straightened his body and said, "Hello, Comrade Colonel. I am Lieutenant Samoilov, the platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and I came here to pick you up on the orders of General Rodimtev and Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant." Ye Lin reached out to the other party, "It would be great to have you come to pick us up. When I was on the boat just now, I was worried that after I got ashore, I didn't know where the troops should go."
When Samoilov shook hands with Ye Lin, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, I just saw your fleet being shelled by German troops while crossing the river. I wonder what the casualties are?"
When Ye Lin heard this question, the muscles on his face twitched violently for a few times, and then said angrily: "Now, do I have time to count. Comrade Second Lieutenant, take us to the garrison site as soon as possible."
"Comrade Colonel, I will leave two people here. After your troops are assembled, let them take the troops to the designated location." Samoilov said to Yelin: "I am ordered to take you to Mamayev's hill to meet our brigade commander, who will provide you with the weapons and ammunition you need."
When Ye Lin heard Samoilov say he would take him to see Sokov, he frowned slightly, thinking that the lieutenant colonel was not small, his military rank was lower than his, and he asked him to see him. But when he heard what happened next, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic. His regiment was almost full of new soldiers, and half of them were not equipped with weapons. He was worried about weapons. At this moment, he heard that someone specially provided him with weapons, so he hurriedly urged: "Second Lieutenant, take me to see your brigade commander immediately."
"Comrade Colonel," Seeing that Ye Lin had not explained anything to others, he urged himself to go to Mamayev's hill. Samoilov quickly reminded him: "Do you see if you should explain to any commander and let him be responsible for commanding the troops when you are not there."
Samoilov's words reminded Ye Lin. He quickly called his chief of staff and told him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, hurry up and gather the troops. The subordinates of this lieutenant will take you to the designated location later."
"Comrade Commander," the chief of staff asked back: "Where are you going?"
Yelin pointed at Samoilov with his hand and said, "I followed him to the brigade headquarters of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said that we could provide us with the weapons and ammunition we needed."
When the Chief of Staff heard Ye Lin say this, he couldn't help but smile and quickly said, "Comrade Commander, do you need to send someone to carry supplies with you?"
Ye Lin thought that even if the infantry brigade provided him with weapons and ammunition, if he wanted to transport it, he still needed to send people himself. So he nodded and shouted at a commander who followed him to get off the ship: "Captain Draggan!"
"Come!" Captain Dragan, who was named by Ye Lin, quickly stepped forward and replied loudly: "Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?"
Ye Lin ordered briefly: "Take your troops on and take me a trip."
Dragan was the company commander of the first battalion and company. After hearing Ye Lin's order, he immediately shouted to the soldiers who had just got off the ship: "Soldiers of the first company, come and gather!"
When Yelin took Dragan's company and followed Samoilov toward Mamayev's hill, he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, how long have you been stationed in Mamayev's hill?"
Samoilov calculated silently in his heart, and then replied: "Our brigade entered Stalingrad in July, and since then we have been stationed in Mamayev hills."
"You have been there for quite a while." Ye Lin judged based on his own experience that the infantry brigade had been holding Mamayev's hill for two months, and the casualties must be very heavy. Maybe his troops will take over their defense after entering the city. Therefore, he asked tentatively: "The casualties of the troops must be very large, right?"
"We did suffer some casualties in the battle to defend Mamayev's hill." Thinking of the results achieved by the infantry brigade in the past two months, Samoilov felt pride in his heart: "But we have perfect fortifications, and every enemy attack ended in failure."
When the troops arrived near Mamayev's hill, they were immediately stopped by lurking secret whistles. Samoilov stepped forward and said to several lurking whistles: "I am the Second Lieutenant Samoilov of the Guard Company. I came here at the ferry commander to pick up the commander of the friendly troops at the ferry."
The sentry glanced at the group of soldiers behind Samoilov and Ye Lin, and said hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I have no right to put a strange force into the tunnel before receiving the order from my superiors."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Ye Lin saw that Samoilov was about to attack the sentry and quickly stopped him: "Comrade Sentinel did the right thing, he was performing his duties. Let's do it like this, the troops stay outside the tunnel, and I will go in with you alone." Seeing that Ye Lin was the only one, he followed Samoilov into the tunnel, and the sentry did not stop him anymore.
When Ye Lin walked into the command center, he saw the three commanders sitting at the table standing up. His eyes quickly swept across the three of them. Seeing that one of them was a political worker, probably a political commissar, he focused his attention on the other two officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After watching for a while, he quickly walked to Sidolin and smiled and reached out to the other party: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I am Colonel Ye Lin, the leader of the 42nd Guards Regiment!"
"Hello, Comrade Colonel." Cidolin shook hands with the other party, while explaining awkwardly: "I am Chief of Staff Cidolin, and the person next to me is our brigade commander."
While shook hands with Sidolin, Ye Lin looked at the young lieutenant colonel next to him in surprise, thinking: "Hey, why is the brigade commander of the infantry brigade so young?"
After everyone got to know each other, Sokov asked Ye Lin to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and asked, "Comrade Colonel, how are the casualties when your group crossed the river?"
Although Ye Lin had not had time to count the casualties of the troops after he got ashore, he followed Samoilov here. But when he heard Sokov's problem, he still smiled bitterly and said, "The specific numbers are not clear, but I guess there are still three or four hundred people."
Three or four hundred people? Hearing this uncertain number of casualties, Sokov couldn't help but tremble. He thought that after crossing the river during the day, the Guards Division lost at least nearly two thousand people in the enemy's artillery fire and bombing. Now the 42nd Guards Regiment has suffered another three or four hundred casualties, which means that before the troops have officially entered the battle, they have lost a regiment of troops in the Volga River.
Sokov quickly changed the topic: "Comrade Colonel, I heard General Rodimtev say that your group is almost all new recruits, and half of them have no weapons."
"Yes, that's right." Ye Lin said embarrassingly: "Since the troops were hurriedly transferred to Stalingrad just after they were formed, many soldiers did not have weapons."
"Comrade Colonel, we have prepared a batch of weapons for you. You can send someone to move later." Sokov said with a nod to Samoilov, "Let Lieutenant Samoilov take your people to our underground warehouse to collect weapons later."
Ye Lin said briefly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I brought a company when I came, and now they are outside the tunnel."
"Since the troops are coming, why are they still staying outside the tunnel?" Sokov asked this, and before Ye Lin could answer, he turned his eyes to Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, what's going on?"
"It is a lurking whistle deployed at the door." Samoilov replied with some amusement and crying: "They said they should not let strange troops enter the tunnel at will."
"Nothing is nothing, nothing." Sokov pointed his hand at Samoilov and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, immediately go outside the tunnel, pick up the comrades of the Guard Division, and take them to collect the weapons we provided for them."
After Samoilov left, Sokov handed over a list that had been prepared to Ye Lin. Ye Lin took the list and looked at it for only a few times, unable to help but widen his eyes. After quickly reading the content above, he asked Sokov in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are these weapons prepared for us?"
"Yes, Colonel Yelin." Sokov replied with a smile: "It's all for you."
"One thousand rifles, thirty light machine guns, ten heavy machine guns, and supporting ammunition..." After reading the contents on the list, Ye Lin said gratefully: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I thought you could have prepared at most four or five hundred rifles for us, but I didn't expect that we would give us so much equipment."
After pausing for a moment, Ye Lin asked hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why do you give us so many weapons and ammunition?"
"Col. Yelin," Sokov said straight to the point in order to eliminate Yelin's doubts: "If we want to defend Stalingrad, it is far from enough to rely on our brigade alone. We need the full cooperation of friendly forces. If your troops are too poor, they will easily be defeated by the Germans on the battlefield. Once you are defeated by the enemy, our flanks will be exposed to the enemy, and the battle will not be easy to fight at that time."
After Samoilov brought Dragan's one in the tunnel, he went directly to the underground warehouse where weapons and ammunition were stored. Hearing that his troops were going to get equipment, Ye Lin could not sit still, so he ran over in a panic.
Seeing Ye Lin's departure back, Sokov thought to himself: "I have provided you with so many weapons. I believe every soldier can get his own weapons. In this way, I hope that there will be no stupid thing in the movie where two people, one gun, five bullets, and face the enemy's intensive firepower charge."
While the soldiers of the Guard Division were still receiving weapons, the division commander Rodimtev called Sokov. He obviously used some routes to know that Ye Lin's regiment had already arrived, so he asked directly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, has Colonel Ye Lin and his troops arrived?"
Chapter completed!