Since the two bridges leading to the opposite shore in the city were blown up by German planes, Tupichev has tried to build bridges many times, but no matter where he built the bridge, every time he did not wait for the bridge to be built, enemy planes flew over the sky and bombed the area where the bridge was built, not only did they blow up the pontoon bridge being built, but also caused great casualties among the engineers.
Although his superiors are planning to build a water pontoon bridge, Tupichev is still unsure. He is afraid that he will be bombed by enemy planes during the bridge building. For the sake of safety, he proposed that it will take five days. Unexpectedly, his trick was discovered by Cui Kefu and only gave him a two-day deadline.
Seeing Tupichev's embarrassing expression, Sokov hurriedly came out to rescue him: "Comrade Director of the Engineering Corps, where do you think the best bridge building location should be?"
Cuikov, who originally wanted to criticize Tupichev, heard Sokov ask a key question and immediately swallowed the words to his mouth back into his stomach. He wanted to hear how Tupichev answered.
"I think if you want to build a pontoon bridge underwater, the best location should be near the bombed bridge." In order to let everyone understand what they mean, Tupichev also explained specifically: "The locations of the two bridges were both in areas with relatively smooth water flow and narrow river surfaces. If we set up a pontoon bridge here, in addition to being convenient and fast, the fleet's ships could also have special identification marks to avoid ships colliding with pontoon bridges."
"Col. Tupichev said it very well." After Tupichev finished speaking, Krelov immediately echoed: "If we find a place to build a pontoon bridge, those ships that transport the Volga River may have a bridge crash because they cannot find the location of the pontoon bridge in time. If our pontoon bridge is not blown up by enemy planes, but by our own ships, it would be a joke."
"When it comes to bridge building, only Colonel Tupichev is an expert here. He will decide where to build a bridge." Cuikov emphasized to Tupichev: "However, I have just said that the time for bridge building is only two days. The current situation in the city is very unfavorable to our army. If reinforcements can enter the city one day earlier, they will have a greater grasp of defending the city."
After listening to Cui Kefu's words, Tupichev quickly straightened his body and said, "I understand, Comrade Commander, I will definitely set up a water pontoon bridge within the specified time."
After pausing for a moment, Tupichev asked Cui Kefu hesitantly: "Comrade Commander, are you allowed to leave? I want to go back and prepare the materials for building the bridge."
"Allow!" Cui Kefu nodded and said, "I hope you can take action as soon as possible. After all, there is not much time left for us now. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Tupichev raised his hand to salute Cui Kev, and turned around and walked out of the command center.
After Tupichev left, Sokov thought that his mission had been completed and hurriedly asked Cui Kev: "Comrade Commander, can I leave?"
Cuikov called Sokov to the headquarters just to ask him to come up with a countermeasure, how to cross the Volga River in three days. I thought it would take at least half a day to come up with a solution, but who knew that in less than an hour, not only did the countermeasures come up with, but the engineers also began to prepare for the bridge building.
Since Sokov's purpose for coming here has arrived, it is not very meaningful to keep him here, so Cuikov waved his hand and said generously: "Okay, Colonel Sokov, your mission has been completed, and you can go back to Mamayev's hill now."
Seeing that Cui Kov agreed to go back, Sokov quickly raised his hand to salute several army leaders in the room, and then turned around and walked out of the headquarters.
Seeing Sokov's back disappear from the door, Krelov asked Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, since we have solved the problem assigned to us by our superiors, can we report this matter to the Front Command?"
Regarding Krelov's proposal, Cuikov nodded slightly: "I will report this matter to Commander Yelemenko."
When Yeliaomenko received a call from Cui Kov, he thought the other party asked for his grace time, and he deliberately said jokingly: "Comrade Cui Kov, do you think the two days are too short and want to ask us to give us a grace for a few more days?" Before Cui Kov could speak, he continued to say, "No, this time is stipulated by the base camp, and I have no right to change it."
Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Cui Kefu replied confidently: "Comrade Commander, I call you not to ask you to give us a few days of grace, but to tell you that we have found a way to get all troops into the city in a short time."
Cuikov's words surprised Yeliao Menke University. He asked in an incredible tone: "How is this possible? You must know that the enemy's planes and artillery fire blockade of the Volga River, and the number of ships we can use for transportation is constantly decreasing. How could you transport all your troops into the city in such a short time?"
"If we only rely on ferries, we will definitely not be able to transport so many troops into the city in a short period of time. But if we set up a pontoon bridge, the situation will be different." Cuikov took the initiative to say without waiting for Yeliaumko to ask in detail: "Col. Sokov suggested that we build a pontoon bridge on the river so that the enemy's planes cannot detect and destroy it. In this way, we can transport more troops and materials into the city through the pontoon bridge to ensure that we can have enough strength to defend the city."
"Comrade Khrushchev," Yelemenko heard Cuikov's detailed introduction to the underwater pontoon bridge, quickly covered the microphone with his hands and said to Khrushchev, who was sitting opposite him: "Xiaomisha has come up with a good idea to build a underwater pontoon bridge in the Volga River so that more troops and materials can be transported into the city. With this pontoon bridge, let alone transporting 30,000 troops in three days, even 50,000 will be fine."
"O my God, this Xiaomia is simply a genius." Khrushchev widened his eyes and said in surprise: "The things that left us old guys helpless were solved by him in an understatement."
Cui Kefu found that there was suddenly no sound in the receiver, but he did not hang up, so he quickly raised his voice and asked, "Hey! Hey!! Comrade Commander, are you still listening?"
"Yes, I'm listening." Hearing the sound from the receiver, Yeliaomenko quickly let go of his hand covering the microphone and said, "Comrade Cui Kefu, the idea of ​​a pontoon bridge under the water is very good. However, relying on your army's engineering troops alone, the progress may be a bit slow. It's better for me to send the front-end engineer troops to support you. You are responsible for the West Bank and our people are responsible for the East Bank, so that the time for building bridges can be reduced by half."
"This is really great, Comrade Commander." Yeliaumko took the initiative to send engineers to assist in building the bridge. For Cui Kov, it was an unexpected surprise. He said excitedly: "When the pontoon bridge is built, we will get more supplies of soldiers and materials, so that we will be more sure to block the enemy's attack."
In the evening, as the night fell, the enemy planes that were hovering over the Volga River and bombing returned to the airport one after another. The engineers hidden on the shore emerged from the hiding cliff caves, carried the prepared railway tracks and sleepers to the river, and prepared to build a pontoon bridge underwater.
Tupichev came to the river and saw that his engineers were busy. He turned his head and asked his subordinates who were following him: "Are the materials for building bridges ready?"
"Don't worry, Comrade Director." The officer replied quickly: "The materials we collected can be built with a 600-meter floating bridge. When we meet with friendly troops in the river center, there will be a lot of materials left."
Chapter completed!