After the soldiers who reported the news left, the second battalion commander couldn't help but poke his head out from behind the ruins and looked towards the bridgehead. He saw that there was no movement in several German machine gun fire points. On one of the fire points, a soldier wearing a steel helmet could even be seen lying next to the universal machine gun with his arms spread out.
Seeing this, the second battalion commander couldn't help but be overjoyed. He thought that he was so far away from the highway bridge that he was shocked by the explosion just now. The German machine gun firepower point was so close to the explosion point that he might have been killed by the shock wave. Thinking of this, he quickly ordered several soldiers around him: "You pick up all the German machine guns, and when the enemy attacks again, we can use their machine guns to teach them a lesson."
The soldiers who received the order agreed and bent over and ran out from the hiding ruins. They quickly arrived at the German firepower point, picked up the machine guns and ammunition next to the German soldiers, and ran back quickly.
A soldier ran back to the second battalion commander with a machine gun and squatted down, asking him for instructions: "Comrade Battalion Commander, do you see if we need to follow the river to find Lieutenant Ivanov?"
To be honest, the second battalion commander also wanted to take people personally and go down the river to find the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov. But his reason told him that this would not work. Not to mention whether Ivanov was still alive after the violent explosion just now? Even if he was alive, this area had been occupied by the Germans. If he took people along the river, he might become the target of the Germans' attack. Because he decisively rejected the soldiers' proposal: "No, the Germans have occupied this area, and they will not give us the opportunity to look for along the river."
"But, Comrade Battalion Commander." Seeing that the battalion commander rejected his proposal, the soldier felt a little uncomfortable: "Do we just ignore the life and death of Lieutenant Ivanov?"
When the second battalion commander heard the soldier say this, he was stunned at first, and then he realized that when he had just sent someone to report the news, the soldier probably had not returned to normal hearing, and it was normal that he had not heard his orders. He quickly said to the soldier: "I have asked someone to go to the regiment headquarters to report the news, and ask friendly troops downstream to help us find the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov."
After listening to the second battalion commander, the soldier understood that he had misunderstood the battalion commander and explained with some embarrassment: "Sorry, Comrade Battalion Commander, I don't know that you should send someone to the regiment headquarters to report the news and ask friendly troops to find Lieutenant Ivanov, please give me my recklessness..."
"Okay, no need to say more." Although the Germans have not reacted so far, since this area has fallen into their control, they will definitely send troops here soon. The second battalion commander did not want to waste his precious time on explaining to his subordinates, so he directly interrupted the other party and ordered everyone: "Comrades, before the enemy has come, we will withdraw our original defensive position first."
After listening to the soldiers sent by the second battalion commander, the commander of the 114th Regiment quickly reported to Jorugev, begged him to contact friendly forces, and sent someone to find Lieutenant Ivanov's whereabouts by the river.
If Lujeff learned that the hero Ivanov, who had blown up the bridge, disappeared, he hurriedly comforted his subordinates: "Don't worry, comrade Colonel, I will contact the commander of the 45th Infantry Division immediately and ask them to send people to the river to find Lieutenant Ivanov. Whether he died or was alive, we will find a way to find him."
After finishing the call with the commander of the 114th Regiment, Jolujev ordered people to connect with the 45th Division and indicate his identity. Colonel Sokolov, who was commanding the battle, learned that it was General Jolujev who called him, and quickly took the microphone from the staff officer and said politely: "Hello, Comrade General, I am Sokolov. Do you have any instructions?"
"That's right, Colonel Sokolov, didn't we receive an order from the Army Command to blow up the highway bridge on the river outside the factory?" Ruolujeff said politely to the microphone: "One of my subordinates disappeared after blowing up the highway bridge in the west of the factory. I would like to ask you for help and send someone to find his whereabouts downstream. I wonder if it can work?"
Regarding Jorugev's request, Sokolov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, it's not easy to deal with. You said that your subordinate disappeared after blowing up the bridge. I am worried that he was already in the explosion and was blown to pieces. It is almost impossible for my people to find him."
"Col. Sokolov," said Ruolujeff, who had obviously guessed that the other party might reject him, quickly added: "I heard from the commander who was commanding on the scene. Lieutenant Ivanov, who was responsible for bombing the bridge, dived into the water and swam downstream after igniting the fuse. In other words, he had full hope of survival."
"Comrade General, since you said that, I will immediately send someone to the river to search." Colonel Sokolov asked tentatively after expressing his statement: "I don't know what his name is?"
"His name is Ivanov, and he is a lieutenant of the Guards." When Lujeff saw that the other party agreed to help him find it, he solemnly said: "Whether you have found him or his body, be sure to notify me. On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 37th Guards Division, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"
"You're welcome, Comrade General." Seeing that Ruolujev was so polite to him, Sokolov seemed a little embarrassed: "We are friendly forces, and it's time to provide you with help."
As soon as he put down the phone, Sokolov asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, which unit is stationed by the river?"
The Chief of Staff did not hear the conversation between the division commander and Jorujef. He suddenly heard this question and couldn't help but hesitate for a moment, then asked back: "Comrade Commander, are you talking about the Volga River? Our defense zone is almost one kilometer away from the river, so there are no troops stationed..."
Seeing that the Chief of Staff misunderstood his meaning, Sokolov waved his hand and explained to the Chief of Staff: "I am not talking about the Volga River, but the river surrounding the Derzhinsky factory on three sides."
After the Chief of Staff figured out which river Sokolov asked, he looked down at the map in front of him, and then replied: "Comrade Commander, the 187th Regiment is stationed by the river, and not long ago, they also blew up the highway bridge north of the factory..."
When he learned that the 187th Regiment was stationed by the river, Sokolov quickly said to the Chief of Staff: "Chief of Staff, call Lieutenant Colonel Kisley, deputy commander of the regiment, and order him to lead a company along the river to find a lieutenant who fell into the water."
"Lieutenant who fell into the water?" Hearing Sokolov's order, the chief of staff showed a surprised expression on his face. He asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, I don't understand why we should mobilize troops to rescue a lieutenant who fell into the water? You must know that the river outside the factory is only about 30 meters wide, and the water flow is not too fast. Even if the water is deeper, he can climb ashore by himself after falling into the water."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you didn't hear me just talking to General Jorugev." Sokolov explained to his chief of staff patiently: "One of their guards lieutenant disappeared after blowing up the western highway bridge. General Jorugev called me in the hope that we could send people to find this lieutenant along the river."
"So that's how it is." After Sokolov's explanation, the Chief of Staff finally clearly stated what was going on, and quickly replied: "I will call Lieutenant Colonel Kisley and ask him to send someone to find the lieutenant who fell into the water."
In this way, the task of finding Lieutenant Ivanov fell on Kislay. When he took a company soldier and began searching along the river, the company commander who led the team asked curiously: "Comrade Deputy Commander, what are we doing?"
"I received an order from the division headquarters," Kisley explained to the company commander: "A lieutenant of a friendly guards disappeared after blowing up the highway bridge to the west. Judging from his judgment, he might be washed down by the river. Our mission is to find him. Do you understand?"
"I understand." After the company commander figured out the mission, he shouted at the three platoon leaders under him: "Take people to search carefully by the river to see if there are people floating on the river. Once you find out, find a way to rescue him immediately."
Dozens of soldiers who received the search mission wandered up the riverside and swept around the river. Before performing this mission, they had never noticed that there were so many floating objects on the river. They could see corpses floating by from time to time, but they were basically German corpses.
After searching for almost an hour, the soldiers still found nothing. The company commander said to Kisley with some disappointment: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do you think this lieutenant was blown to pieces when the explosion was exploded? If this is true, we will waste time when we search here."
"According to the notice from his superiors, the lieutenant swam downstream before the bridge was blown up." Kisley was also anxious when he could not find the missing Lieutenant Ivanov, but he still tried hard to control his emotions to avoid affecting the morale of his subordinates: "Comrade Captain, it has been a long time since the highway bridge was blown up until now. Maybe he has been washed up to the shore, so that your people can search carefully, and never let go of any clues."
The soldiers continued to search for Ivanov's whereabouts by the river. They not only wanted to see if there were any people they were looking for in the corpses floating on the river surface, but also to see if Ivanov had been washed up to the shore.
However, they searched for another hour and still had no gains. Just as everyone was about to give up, a soldier suddenly came over with a little girl of five or six years old and reported to Kisley: "Comrade Deputy Commander, we found this little girl by the river. She was looking for food along the river."
Kisley squatted in front of the little girl and asked with a smile: "Little girl, what's your name?"
"My name is Jeanna." The little girl may have been used to seeing soldiers, and was not at all nervous. She also asked on her own initiative: "Do you have any food on you? I haven't eaten for two days."
"Some, some," Kisley took out a bag of rusks from his shoulder bag and handed it to the little girl, asking curiously: "Jenna, where are your parents?"
Jeona answered in a vague way while eating, "It's gone. When we crossed the river and boarded the boat, because there were too many people, my parents and I were scattered, and I don't know where they are now."
Hearing Jeanna say this, Kisley's nose can't help but feel sour. He raised his hand and touched the turban wrapped around the little girl's head, and asked softly: "How did you survive alone?"
"After I got separated from my parents, I wandered up the river and finally came here." Jeanna said: "Here, I met a few young brothers. They said that occasionally boxes of food would float down the river. As long as one box was found, it would be enough for us to eat for several days. But I couldn't find boxes that floated down the upstream for two days..."
When Jeanna said this, she seemed to remember something, so she asked Kisley curiously: "Comrade Commander, I think you are looking for something by the river, are you also looking for food?"
Jeanna's words made Kisley laugh, and he replied with a wry smile: "Jeanna, we are not looking for something to eat, but looking for someone who drifted from the upstream."
"The person who drifted down from the upstream?" Jeanna couldn't help but look surprised when she heard Kisley say this: "What's the person you are looking for?"
Kisley suddenly thought that Jeanna had been looking for food by the river in this area, and her eyes must have been staring at the river surface. Maybe she had seen nothing and couldn't explain anything. She quickly grabbed her arm and asked anxiously: "Jeanna, you have been by the river. Have you seen anyone floating down from the upstream?"
"Before you came, I saw an uncle in a white shirt floating down from the upper reaches on a wooden board." Jeona said disapprovingly while chewing the rusty bread: "I don't know if he is the person you are looking for."
"Where is he?" Kisley was overjoyed to learn that Jeanna had indeed seen a person floating down from the upstream, "Hurry up and take us to see."
Jeanna took them forward for more than a hundred meters and arrived at the location of a small backwater area. Kisley saw a man in a white shirt and lay motionless in the garbage on the shore, as if he had already fainted. He walked over quickly, bent down and helped the other party sit up, reached out to breathe, and found that he was still breathing. He quickly looked up at the soldiers following him and asked, "Who do you have wine?"
The company commander quickly took off the military kettle he was carrying, opened the lid, handed it to Kisley, and whispered: "This is the vodka distributed by the superiors, and I have not drunk it yet."
Kisley took the kettle, approached the mouth and sniffed it. The smell of wine came from it. Then he asked the company commander to help him break open the mouth of the man in white and pour a few sips of vodka into his mouth.
Chapter completed!