The warrior who reported the news hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "The buildings on both sides of the street have been blown up. If we want to pass through the ruins, we will definitely be discovered by the enemy."
"Since we cannot pass there," Cuikov said decisively when he learned that the enemy had controlled the area: "We will go around the other blocks."
"Comrade Commander," Krimov heard Cuikov say so, and quickly reminded: "We don't know if other streets are also controlled by the Germans. If we go around and find that they still cannot pass, it will be troublesome to return them."
"Then what should we do? Do we rush over directly from the intersection?" Cui Kefu frowned and asked, "Didn't you hear that the enemy set up a tank and machine gun position at the intersection, and we can't rush over at all."
"I think we can try it, quietly approach the intersection from the broken ruins next to us, and then quickly rush over." Krimov said cautiously: "In groups of five people, we pass through the ruins. Anyway, there are gunfire everywhere. As long as we don't have much movement, the enemy should not be able to detect us."
Listening to the gunfire and explosions around him, Cuikov quickly pondered the plan proposed by Krimov. At this moment, a soldier ran over from behind and reported to him anxiously: "Comrade Commander, the enemy, later found that a large number of enemies were coming towards us."
"Where is it?" Cui Kefu was shocked when he heard the news and asked quickly: "How many of them are there?"
"It's about two hundred meters away from us," the soldier said hurriedly: "About a platoon of troops are searching for the formation and coming towards our hiding position. It is estimated that they will be able to get here in ten minutes at most."
Cuikov made a decisive decision: "As Krimov said, in groups of five people, approach the intersection from the collapsed building next to the street, and then rushed over quickly. Be careful, be less dynamic and do not alarm the enemy."
As the order was issued, the people in the squad immediately followed the five-person group and sneaked into the ruins next to the street against the wall, and then approached carefully at the intersection. But when the first group rushed over, Cui Kefu was still worried, afraid of being discovered by the enemy. But after passing two groups in a row, neither of them attracted the attention of the German army. Cui Kefu's heart was finally put back in his stomach. He felt that it would not be a problem to pass the intersection smoothly.
In the third group, in addition to Krimov and a guard, there were two female radio operators in the same group. When they ran out of the ruins and bent over and ran toward the street quickly, a female soldier accidentally tripped by the stone on the ground and couldn't help but scream "ah".
Although the sound she made was not loud, what was unlucky was that the gunshots and explosions around her suddenly quieted for a moment, and her voice seemed particularly abrupt. The German machine gunner stayed behind the sandbag fortification immediately looked in the direction where the sound came, and saw a few black shadows passing through the street quickly. Seeing this situation, he almost instinctively pulled the trigger.
The sudden sound of machine guns was mixed with the screams of the female soldier. Although Cui Kefu also wanted to rescue the female soldier, what he knew better was that in the face of the German machine gun strafing, he could only protect himself. The soldiers who stayed on the other side of the street saw that Cui Kefu and the others were in danger, immediately fired without hesitation to attract the German machine gun fire to protect Cui Kefu from the danger.
After Chrikov fled into the ruins across the street in a panic, he turned his head and saw that only Krimov and a female communication soldier were left beside him. The other two should have fallen under the enemy's gun. He glanced at several soldiers who were still fighting fire with the enemy across the street, bit his back teeth and said to Krimov: "Let's go!"
In order to cover Cui Kev escape, the five soldiers in the last group shot decisively, attracting the enemy's firepower. The Germans searching in the distance heard the dense gunfire sounds here, and shouted loudly and rushed along the street.
Cuikov and his team ran forward in the ruins, trying to leave this dangerous area as soon as possible. While running, they suddenly heard the bricks and rubble in front of them, and someone shouted in a low voice: "Krimov, Krimov, are you?"
Krimov felt that the voice sounded a little familiar, so he quickly grabbed Cuikov and whispered to him: "Comrade Commander, it seems that we are our people in front of him, and they should be the two groups that went first." Then he shouted in a low voice in the direction where the voice came, "It's me, I'm Krimov."
As soon as he finished speaking, two soldiers came out from behind the bricks and rubble. They came to Cui Kov and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Cui Kefu recognized the two soldiers in front of him, both guards from the Protection Command, and asked quickly: "Where are the others?"
A soldier quickly turned around and pointed to the broken wall not far away: "Comrade Commander, they are all there."
After continuing to set off on the road, for safety reasons, Cuikov ordered Krimov to take two soldiers to explore the way forward, and he and the remaining people were about thirty meters behind.
Krimov, who was leading the way in front, did not walk on the street, but walked through the ruins of the building next to the street. After walking for a while, he suddenly heard someone asking, "Hey, which part of you are?"
Krimov was startled by the sound, hurriedly hurriedly hid in a pile of rubble with the other two soldiers, and pointed his muzzle at the direction of the sound, and asked vigilantly: "Which part of you are?"
A soldier wearing a military poncho and a steel helmet walked out from behind a broken wall not far away, came to the pile of rubble where Krimov and his friends were hiding, and whispered: "I am a sniper of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, my name is Vasirizaitev. Which part of you are?"
Krimov heard the number of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, as if he had heard the sound of nature. He got up and walked around the rubble, came to Vasily, holding his hand and said excitedly: "Comrade Vasily, I am Krimov, the adjutant of the Army Command of the Group. It's great to meet you here."
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Vasily straightened her body and asked politely: "Is there anything I can serve you?"
Due to the severe damage to the city, Krimov had no idea of ​​the direction after walking for so long. When he saw someone from Sokov's troops, he immediately asked impatiently: "How far is Mamayev's hill from here?"
"Not less than two kilometers, Comrade Commander." Vasily glanced at Krimov and the two soldiers behind him, and asked curiously: "Are you the only three?"
"There are many people behind us." After Krimov finished speaking, he turned around and ordered a soldier: "You go back and report to the commander immediately, saying that we have met snipers from the 73rd Infantry Brigade here, please come here as soon as possible."
Cuikov rushed over quickly, and he stepped forward to hold Vasily's hand and said, "Comrade Vasily, I know you, the first day you went to the battlefield, you sniped a German colonel and a major, thus dismantling their attack on the station staff dormitory area. It's amazing."
Vasily grinned at Cuikov's praise, and then said, "Comrade Commander, this is not the place to speak. Maybe the Germans will come over in a while. Let's leave here first."
Everyone followed Vasily and shuttled through the maze-like bricks and rubble. Cuikov couldn't help but sigh in his heart that if he hadn't met Vasily, his group of people would have been lost in this ruin even if they barely got rid of the Germans.
Under Vasily's leadership, after half an hour of march, everyone finally arrived at Sokov's command center. Sokov, who was discussing the daytime combat deployment with Sidolin, saw Cuikov walking into the house quickly, and then walked over quickly, and asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, why are you here?"
"Hello, Lieutenant Sokov." Cuikov nodded at Sokov and said, "The Army Command is surrounded by the enemy, so we can only evacuate the command in batches."
Sokov glanced behind Cuikov and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, are you the only one? Where are the military committee members and chief of staff?"
"The military committee member took the commander of the headquarters to take an inland gunboat from the crossing of the Charica River and left the waterway." Cuikov walked to the table and sat down, picked up a cup of hot tea on the table and drank it all, and then said: "The remaining people in the headquarters are a small team for every twenty people, leaving the command center in batches. The team led by the chief of staff left the command center before me, and I don't know where they are now."
"Comrade Commander," Sidolin saw his old superior coming and hurried over to salute. After a brief greeting, he asked tentatively: "Look, do you need to report the news that you have to arrive at Mamayev's safely to the Front Command. In this way, even if the Chief of Staff and the Military Commissioner arrive at the new command, you can still understand your whereabouts in time."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin, you are right." Cuikov immediately asked someone to call the female radio operator waiting outside and told her, "Yelina, immediately send a report to the Front Command, saying that I have arrived at Mamayev's hill. If Krelov or Gurov asks, please tell them on your behalf."
Taking advantage of Yerena's time to send a message, Sidorin asked Cui Kev carefully: "Comrade Commander, are you still going smoothly?"
"We had a fire with the enemy halfway and sacrificed seven comrades." Cui Kefu said with a serious expression: "If we hadn't happened to meet the lurking Vasily, we would probably be wandering around in that area."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you have heard it. It was Vasily who brought the commander and the others here." When Belkin heard this, he immediately suggested to Sokov: "We should remember his merits!"
Regarding Belkin's proposal, Sokov nodded slightly and said, "Comrade Political Commissar, I think he can also award him a military rank in addition to meritorious service." He pondered for a moment and added, "You have no objection to grant him a sergeant rank, right?"
"I agree!" Belkin nodded in agreement, then turned his head and asked Cidolin: "Chief of Staff, what do you think?"
"I agree with the brigade commander's proposal to award the rank of sergeant to the soldier Vasily." Seeing that Sokov and Berkin had reached an agreement on this matter, Sidorin naturally would not object, and suggested: "I suggest that Vasily lead the sniper team."
"Comrades," Cui Kefu asked after the room was calmed down, "How is your situation here?"
"Comrade Commander, please allow me to report to you." Sidolin respectfully reported to Cuikov in accordance with the regulations: "The attacks launched by the enemy on us during the day have been repelled. According to our statistics, the enemy was killed about nine hundred people, and the wounded were no less than this number."
"Good fight." Hearing such a result, Cui Kefu nodded with a smile, and then asked: "How is your casualties? If the enemy continues to attack tomorrow, can you defend it?"
Cidolin did not answer Cuikov's question immediately, but turned his head to look at Sokov next to him, and then said cautiously: "Comrade Commander, the enemy used 305mm heavy artillery to shell the Mamayevgang today. It destroyed the surface fortifications of Nangang and caused considerable casualties to the commanders and fighters who were stuck in the fortifications. If they continue to bombard them with heavy artillery tomorrow, I don't know whether our fortifications can withstand their shelling."
"305mm heavy artillery?!" Although the German army used artillery of this caliber in the results reported by the infantry brigade, the war in other areas was in a critical condition, and Cui Kov was overwhelmed. He could not pay attention to what caliber artillery the enemy used on Mamayevgang. After hesitating for a moment, he asked: "A cannon of this caliber should be a rail gun, and the enemy would probably not have many shells. I think it is unlikely that it will be possible to use this cannon to shell you tomorrow."
"Comrade Commander," Sidolin grinned after he finished speaking, and then said, "If the enemy does not use such artillery tomorrow, I think there should be no problem for us to defend the position. In the daytime battle, the enemy suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, while our casualties were only more than 700. Even if we were to consume, we could still win the final victory."
Chapter completed!