"No, no need to contact any troops." Cuikov knew very well that his command was almost surrounded by the German army. Whether it was contacted by telephone or radio, he might be eavesdropped by the enemy. If the Germans knew their retreat route and set up ambush halfway, they would be in danger of the entire army being destroyed. Therefore, he shook his head and said firmly: "We will pass through the streets blocked by the enemy with our own strength."
Krelov felt that it was too risky to be a plan for Cuikov to break through. He even thought that when Kiev was surrounded, the Southwest Front Command broke through, and the troops were divided into two groups. Who knew that in the end, in addition to Bagramiyan, who was in charge of the task of luring the enemy, led his troops to break through the siege, the entire route led by the commander and chief of staff was destroyed. Today, he and Cuikov led the members of the commander and the commander to break through the streets controlled by the enemy and broke into a safe area. I wonder if they would repeat the same mistake?
Thinking of this, he carefully reminded Cui Kefu: "Comrade Commander, I think it's too risky to pass the road blocked by the enemy. Otherwise, we should leave the command center with the military committee members and others on the water?"
After hearing Krelov's proposal, Cuikov waved his hand immediately and said, "If everyone goes on the water, the target is too big. Once he is attacked by the German army on the way, the entire command will be taken down."
"Comrade Commander," Gurov immediately expressed his opinion after he finished speaking: "If you and the Chief of Staff both go by land, once something goes wrong, I will not be able to control the army unit. In my opinion, you should go by water, and the Chief of Staff and I go by land?"
"That's right." Krelov knew that going on land was a life-and-death matter. When he heard Grov was willing to go on land with him, he nodded vigorously and said in agreement: "Comrade Military Commissioner is right. In order to ensure that our command can operate normally, Commander, you should go on water."
"I have already said that the military commissioner took the staff to the waterway." Faced with the persuasion of Gurov and Krelov, Cuikov said stubbornly: "Time is tight, stop arguing, prepare to set off immediately."
"Comrade Commander, something is not good." While several people were discussing the retreat, Cuikov's adjutant Krimov suddenly rushed in from outside. He said in a panic: "The enemy has discovered the entrance and exit of the Charicha River and is strafing with machine guns."
"What, the enemy is shooting at the entrance and exit of the Charica River?" Everyone's heart was shocked when they heard this bad news. Cui Kev grabbed Krimov's clothes and asked in a stern tone: "How many troops do the enemy have?"
"There is probably a platoon." Krimov replied in a panic: "They occupied the bridge on the Chalica River and were shooting at the entrance of the hole with machine guns. Two sentries at the door died..."
"Comrade Military Commissioner," he found out that the enemy was on a bridge more than 500 meters away and fired at the entrance of the cave with a machine gun. Cuikov let go of Krimov and said to Gurov: "The enemy is too far away from us now. Even if we use a machine gun to shoot at the entrance of the cave, the threat to us is very limited. Time is urgent, so you immediately take the staff to the stopping place to board the ship, and transfer it to the new command center through the waterway."
Gurov originally wanted to persuade Cuikov to leave the command center by water, but now he saw that he was so stubborn and that the enemy's machine guns had already begun to fire at the entrance and exit of the Charica River, so he did not hesitate anymore. He immediately summoned the staff members of the command center, and under the protection of a team of guards, he went to a nearby small ferry to take a boat through the entrance and exit of the river.
Although the German army occupying the bridge shot at the entrance of the cave, it was too far for machine gun bullets to hit the target, but it made the dirt on the river bank look like a pot. After Gurov and others came out of the cave, they immediately bent down and ran towards the small pier. The German army discovered the people coming out of the cave and immediately turned the gun and fired at them. Several staff officers were unfortunately hit by bullets and fell head-on on the riverbed. The remaining people continued to run forward.
The inland gunboat parked on the small dock found German machine guns continuing to shoot on the bridge in the distance. He quickly used the double anti-aircraft machine guns at the stern to suppress the enemy's firepower and cover the command's personnel on board.
When Grov boarded the ship, a lieutenant of the navy came over and straightened his body to report to him: "Comrade Military Commissioner, I am Lieutenant Shuklin, and I am ordered to send you tens of millions of dollars to the east bank of the Volga River."
"Thank you, Comrade Lieutenant." Gurov reached out and shook the other party, then looked at the anti-aircraft machine gun that was shooting at the stern of the ship and asked: "Can your machine gun firepower destroy the enemies on the bridge?"
Shuklin nodded and replied, "I think it should be."
"That's great." Gurov pointed his finger at the riverbed in the distance and said to Shuklin. "We have several staff officers who were hit by the enemy's machine gun during the transfer. When the enemies on the bridge are eliminated, our health officers can go and save them."
Under the crazy shooting of Soviet anti-aircraft machine guns, the two German machine guns on the bridge were quickly destroyed. The sanitary officer who was standing in the cave immediately bent over and ran out to rescue the staff members who were lying on the riverbed.
Standing at the bow of the ship, Gurov saw the sanitation officer in the command center who began to treat the staff who were cleaning up on the riverbed. He finally understood a thing of his mind, so he turned his head and ordered Shuklin: "Comrade Lieutenant, our people have already boarded the ship, let's set off."
…………
After the ship that Gurov and his friends were riding left for more than an hour, Krelov, who was staying in the command center, listened to the gunshots outside, and the explosions became increasingly dense, he said to Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, judge from the guns and cannons outside that the enemy is very close to our command center. I think we should move as soon as possible."
Cui Kefu also realized that the current situation was not good for him. If he stayed there, the command might be taken away by the German army, so he ordered the remaining personnel in the command to withdraw from the Chalijin cave one after another with twenty people as a small team and move towards a safe area.
The team led by Cui Kefu finally left the command center. There were two female radio operators in the team. In order to ensure their safety, Cui Kefu not only asked other soldiers to help them get called for phones, but also asked them to walk in the middle of the entire team so as not to fall behind in chaos.
It was already midnight at this moment, but because the city was burning everywhere, the streets were illuminated like daytime. In order to prevent the streets controlled by the German army from being fired by submachine guns from buildings on both sides and snipers hidden in the ruins, Cui Kov specially sent two soldiers to explore the way forward, and the large army was about fifty meters behind, so as not to be taken away by the German army.
The situation on the street surprised Cuikov and his subordinates. In addition to the bricks and rubble falling from the collapsed houses, dead bodies could be seen everywhere. Among these bodies were Soviet soldiers, German officers and soldiers, but more were ordinary citizens in the city.
For all the commanders and soldiers, this was a road to death. The two female radio operators were frightened by the corpses all over the ground and bent down and vomited. Cui Kefu endured the discomfort in his stomach and ordered the soldiers who followed the female radio operator: "Help them!" Hearing Cui Kefu's order, the soldiers immediately stepped forward, stood the female radio operator and ran forward.
Krimov, the adjutant who was following Cuikov, jogged and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Commander, where are we going?"
"Don't talk nonsense, keep going forward." Cui Kefu replied in a low voice: "You will know naturally when you get to the place." The reason he said this was because he was unsure. According to the summary of the reported situations of the troops before dark, most of the fire support points in the city had been occupied by the German army. Now he didn't know where the place is a safe area, so he could only run to the bank of the Volga River in an approximate direction, and maybe he could find his own troops there.
"Comrade Commander," Krimov said unwillingly: "Or, let's move to Mamayev. No matter what, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov has thousands of people under him, and it is not easy for the Germans to seize the position from him."
Krimov's words reminded Cui Kov. He thought to himself: If the infantry brigade was still standing at Mamayev's hill, it would be great. After he led his people there, he could enter Beigang through the tunnel from Nangang, and then enter the factory area through the deep groove of Crutoy. At that time, he might have to arrive at the new command center first than the military committee members.
According to Cuikov's initial arrangement, Rodimtev's troops held the city from the Charicha River to the Mamayev's Gate to ensure that their command could withdraw to Mamayev's Gate in time when necessary. Unexpectedly, the battle in the city lasted for a day, and the defense area of ​​the 13th Guards Division was defeated by the enemy, and even Rodimtev lost contact with the headquarters, let alone the troops under his command. In addition, the loss of the Central Railway Station, the German army cut off the land connection between the headquarters and Mamayev's Gate. If he wanted to rush to Mamayev's Gate, he still had to take some risks.
Although there are risks, it is better than taking people to break into the area occupied by the enemy. Thinking of this, Cuikov decisively issued an order: "We will rush to Mamayev's hill immediately."
"Okay." Krimov was excited when he heard that Trekov was about to go to Mamayevgang. Before Trekov could give him instructions, he turned to the soldiers behind him and said, "Come on the way, we turn to Mamayevgang."
With the transmission of the order, the morale that had become depressed because of the death road became high again. Although the battle in the city was so fierce, there were several radio operators in Cuikov's squad. Among the telegrams they received, there were only the infantry brigades that were standing in Mamayevgang, and from time to time they heard the battle reports of repelling the enemy's attacks, annihilated the enemy, and seized as much as possible. Now there are melee everywhere in the city. No matter where Cuikov took them to, they were all at a loss. When they learned that the next destination was Mamayevgang, they immediately saw a glimmer of hope, and even their steps became lighter.
Cui Kefu also noticed the changes in the team. He asked Krimov curiously, "Adminton, what's going on? Why do I feel that everyone's emotions are different?"
"Is this a matter of saying, Comrade Commander?" Krimov said proudly: "Just now, everyone didn't know where our destination was, they just rushed around the streets controlled by the enemy. It was inevitable that they would have a psychological burden. Now that we knew that we were going to Mamayevgang, everyone felt that they had a chance, and their emotions were naturally high."
Cui Kefu asked with interest: "Oh, when you heard that you went to Mamayevgang, you were in a high mood?"
"That's right," Krimov said in a affirmative tone: "Comrade Commander, don't forget that there are several radio operators in our squad. Today, they are very clear about the battle situation of each unit today. Except for Mamayevgang, we were beaten back step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by step by learning that we are going to Mamayevgang, which means that everyone will soon be out of danger and enter the safe zone."
"So that's how it is." Cui Kov really didn't expect that Sokov could bring hope to his subordinates in the headquarters. He couldn't help but sigh: "If I set up the new command in Mamayev Hill, would you be happy?"
Krimov was about to answer, but with the help of the flames, he saw clearly that Cui Kefu had a playful smile on his face. He quickly swallowed the words to his mouth and changed the topic in time: "Comrade Commander, do you think the Chief of Staff and the Military Commissioner can successfully break out of the German army?"
"The military committee members are on the waterway. The German army's defense in this direction is not tight, so there should be no problem for them to break through." Cui Kefu said carefully: "But it is hard to say the squad led by the Chief of Staff. Maybe they are still trapped in the street controlled by the enemy. Whether they can break through smoothly depends on their luck."
"Stop!" Krimov saw a soldier sent to explore the way forward, hurriedly ran back, quickly raised his hand to let the team stop, and immediately sent him over to ask: "What happened?"
"Comrade Commander," the soldier reported directly to Cuikov: "A German tank was parked at the intersection in front, and there was a sandbag fortification next to the tank, with a machine gun inside..."
Chapter completed!