Sokov, who had been waiting anxiously, finally received a telegram from Grissa after dark. The content on the telegram was very simple: I have confirmed that the enemy's ammunition depot is indeed in the town of Gorodise and will launch an attack tonight.
After circulating the telegram in the hands of several division leaders, Cidolin asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, do you think we should reply to Lieutenant Grissa?"
"Chief of Staff, record my call back." Sokov said briefly: "Wish you a victory!"
After recording this sentence, Sidolin looked up at Sokov and waited for him to continue to say it. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a long time, Sokov didn't say anything else. He couldn't help but ask strangely: "Comrade Commander, just call back like this, isn't the content a little too little?"
"Chief of Staff," Sokov stared at Cidolin and asked in a strange tone: "Lt. Grissa and his team have found the enemy's ammunition depot and are planning to launch an attack tonight. Do you think we have anything else to remind him?"
"No, no more!" Ciedorin replied in a panic: "I'll go and telegram him now."
When Sidolin gave the telegram to the radio operator, Ivanov asked Sokov curiously: "Can the division commander, Lieutenant Grissa and others retreat safely after performing this mission?" Ivanov had never seen the power of the new rocket with his own eyes, and he was always skeptical of the statement that the squad could destroy the enemy ammunition depot from a distance.
"Don't worry, comrade of the deputy division commander." Sokov comforted Ivanov's concern and said, "Lieutenant Grissa and others have been operating in the rear of the enemy for a long time. Without the cooperation of this new rocket, even if they are not annihilated by the enemy, the results they can achieve will be very limited."
"Comrade Commander, the telegram has been sent out." Sidolin came over and reported to Sokov.
Sokov thought that in addition to Grissa's small team, there were several other small troops, which were also moving in the rear of the enemy. He didn't know if they had achieved any results in the past two days, so he asked Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have the news from the other small teams been sent back?"
"No." Cidolin shook his head and replied, "I guess they have not had any valuable goals for the time being, so they cannot achieve ideal results."
"Don't worry, most of the commanders and fighters of these squads have no experience in moving behind enemy lines. They need to constantly learn and accumulate experience in battle." Seeing that Sidolin's expression was a little depressed, Sokov hurriedly comforted him and said, "I believe that if there is not much time, they will learn how to fight behind enemy lines and achieve satisfactory results."
…………
After receiving a call from the division headquarters, Grissa couldn't help but be stunned. He asked the sergeant in charge of the communication: "Comrade Sergeant, is the content of the message not fully received? How come he has only one sentence?"
"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant." The sergeant quickly replied, "I have repeatedly confirmed that the division headquarters' call back only has this sentence."
"Comrades!" After confirming that the division headquarters had only one sentence to reply, Grissa summoned the soldiers, raised the telegram in his hand, and said to them: "The division headquarters sent us a call back, and there was only one sentence above: wish you victory!"
When the soldiers heard Grissa say this, they couldn't help but look at each other, wondering about Sokov's simple callback. Seeing that everyone was confused, Grissa explained to them: "Comrades, the division commander's callback is to agree with our combat plan, and does not make any rigid demands on us, but only hopes that we can win. Do you think we can live up to the division commander's trust in us?"
"No!" the soldiers replied in unison.
"Okay, since everyone has confidence, I will be relieved to complete the tasks assigned to us by my superiors." Grissa said, and waved his hand to the soldiers, "Everyone hurry up and pack up, we will set off in ten minutes."
Marching at night is much safer than during the day. As long as the team advancing along the highway sees the lights of the convoy appearing on the highway, they will immediately hide on the side of the road and wait for the enemy's convoy to drive before continuing to rush.
After more than an hour of rapid march, the team came to the riverside. Looking at the heavily guarded bridge in the distance, Grissa asked Yelizavita again: "Comrade Sergeant, I will ask you again last time. Can't you really establish a launch position on the right bank of the river?"
“It’s too far from the town,” Yelizavita replied, “If a launch position is established by the river, the chance of hitting the target will be very low.”
"Okay, then we will find a way to cross the river to the other side, choose a place close to the town, and establish a launch position." After Grissa said, he immediately arranged for the soldiers to collect equipment that could cross the river and prepare to transport the rockets and launch cylinders to the other side.
It was already very cold in the night of October in Russia and the river water was even colder. Grissa selected Yelizavita, Aino and five other soldiers to cross the river to carry out attack missions on the other side, while the rest of the soldiers stayed on the right bank as a warning.
Several people piled off their military uniforms and weapons on the raft with rockets and launchers, gritted their teeth and rushed into the cold river. After seven or eight minutes of fluttering, they finally arrived on the other side. When they got ashore, everyone's lips were purple and their bodies were trembling.
Grissa trembled while wearing clothes quickly, urging others to: "Hurry up, put on all the clothes. If you get infected with typhoid fever, it will be troublesome."
After everyone put on their clothes, they carried rockets and launchers and trotted towards the town of Gorodieshe. Although there was no moon in the sky and no one carried a compass, no one was worried about going in the wrong direction, because the brightly lit town of Gorodieshe was like a beacon guiding the way for the soldiers.
"Okay, don't run away." After running for a while, Grissa felt that he was warm, so he remembered everyone and said to Yelizavita: "Comrade Sergeant, let's set up a launching position here!"
Yelizavita stopped, squinted his eyes, raised his thumbs up to measure the distance, then nodded, and said, "Okay, comrade Lieutenant, we will build the launch position here."
When Yelizavita began to establish a launch position, Grissa looked at the town of Gorodice in the distance with a telescope again, thinking with regret: How great would it be if so much ammunition could be transported back to Mamayev. With so many weapons and ammunition, no matter how many enemies come, we can beat them to the point of urination.
Yelizavita and other soldiers installed the launch cylinder on a tripod and began to aim and load the bullet. After doing all this, he stood up and said to Grissa: "Comrade Lieutenant, the rocket has been loaded and can be launched at any time!"
Grissa looked at the town of Gorodise with infinite gratitude for the last time. He sighed softly at the town that was about to be razed to the ground and the weapons and ammunition that would turn into ashes, then waved his raised hand down and shouted: "Start!"
"Flash!" Yelizavita then shouted, and the soldiers in charge of the operation fired the rocket out.
Three rockets dragged their long flame tails and roared out of the launcher one after another, flying towards the town of Gorodice in the distance. Although Yelizavita told Grissa that the chance of launching rockets at this distance was 80%, his heart was in his throat at this moment, because the team had only these three rockets, and once they could not hit the target, it meant a complete failure of the operation.
On the church square in Gorodice Town, German soldiers were busy carrying ammunition to trucks from the front. When they heard the screams from the air, they couldn't help but stop their work and looked up at the air. Seeing the rockets still flying in the air, although everyone didn't know what it was, they knew that once they fell to the ground and exploded, they would definitely take their lives. So everyone shouted and ran away in all directions.
The first rocket hit the church's onion dome. The gravel caused by the explosion fell from the sky, smashing the German soldiers running around below to howl. The second rocket deviated a little far from its target, flew over the church square, and hit a building on the east side.
Fortunately, the third rocket landed accurately in the pile of ammunition on the square and exploded. The square immediately became an erupting crater, wrapped tightly in the rising black smoke. The explosions in the black smoke passed one after another, and waves were heard everywhere, and there were fires everywhere. Some of the frightened and desperate German soldiers ran around like headless flies, while others curled up on the ground, holding their heads and howled desperately, but without exception, they were blown to pieces in the explosion.
Looking at the sky above the town in the distance, as if countless fireworks were blooming, Grissa knew that his mission had been completed. He raised his hand and patted Yelizavita's shoulder a few times, and said with praise: "Well done, comrade Sergeant, when I return to Mamayevgang, I will definitely ask the commander for you."
Yelizavita looked at the town of Gorodieshe in the distance, listening to Grissa's praise for himself, grinned, and then shouted to several soldiers: "What are you still standing there? Why don't you take off the launcher from the tripod quickly? If the Germans come around, we can't leave if we want to."
Everyone packed up the launcher and tripod, and rushed towards the river in a hurry. Although a huge explosion occurred in Gorodice town, the German soldiers who were staying inside and outside the town were seriously injured, no one could guarantee whether there were small enemy troops nearby, so they had to escape to the other side of the river as soon as possible to barely escape from danger.
The sergeant who was waiting by the river saw Grissa and the others getting up from the river, quickly met him. While helping them dress, he took out the vodka in the wine pot and fed the trembling warriors to let them drive away the cold air.
The sergeant asked Grissa who was trembling constantly: "Comrade Lieutenant, I saw the fires soaring into the sky in the direction of Gorodice Town, and the explosions kept coming. It seemed that the enemy's arsenal was destroyed by us. Do we need to report this news to the division headquarters immediately?"
Grissa looked left and right and replied, "There may be a German patrol here at any time. We should find a safe place and send a telegram to the division headquarters."
After half an hour, the small army arrived at a safe area. Grissa saw that the surrounding environment was good, so he ordered the sergeant: "Comrade Sergeant, send a telegram to the division headquarters immediately, saying that we have successfully destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot in the town of Gorodice."
Sokov received the telegram and applauded repeatedly, then picked up the microphone and prepared to report the good news to Cuikov, but Ivanov stopped him. The latter frowned and said in a suspicious tone: "Comrade Commander, don't you think the process of completing the task of the team is too smooth?"
Hearing Ivanov say this, Sokov immediately realized that there was something in the other party's words and instinctively asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what do you want to say?"
"I think we should verify whether they have destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot." Ivanov said blankly: "I don't think I will report to the headquarters for the time being until the definite news."
"Verify, how to verify?" Sokov said with some dissatisfaction: "According to my analysis, Grissa and the others finally got out of danger. Do you still let them take the risk again?"
"But if you report the results without verification, once they are proven unreliable, you will be in trouble if your superiors blame you!" Ivanov continued: "I think you'd better wait. If you don't want to send Grissa and the others to verify the results, I suggest sending a new team immediately to Gorodice Town to verify the results."
Just as the two disagreements were made, the phone ringing on the table rang, and Cidolin quickly picked up the microphone and said, "I am Lieutenant Colonel Cidolin, where are you?...Hello, Comrade Commander, do you have any instructions?..."
When they heard that it was a call from Cuikov, the two stopped arguing and both pricked up their ears to hear what Cuikov was saying. But Cidolin handed the microphone to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the commander wants to talk to you!"
"Col. Sokov!" Cuikov's voice came from the receiver: "Did you send someone to sneak attack the German ammunition depot in Gorodice Town?"
"Comrade Commander, we did send a small team in that direction to try to find and destroy the enemy's ammunition depot." Sokov hesitated for a moment and decided to report to Cuikov: "I just received a telegram from Lieutenant Grissa, the head of the squad. They had successfully destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot in Gorodice Town with rockets." However, when he thought of the problem Ivanov was worried about, he finally added, "However, this result has not been confirmed yet."
Chapter completed!