Sokov clearly heard the shouts of Lyudnikov, and was immediately frightened to death. If the artillery soldiers really covered the place with rocket launchers, it would be a result of both jade and stone burning. The situation was critical, and Sokov didn't care about thinking too much, so he rushed out of the tool room and shouted loudly at Samoilov who was shooting at the enemy: "Secretly, find a place to hide it quickly. The shelling will be launched soon..."
After a few shouts, Lyudnikov also rushed out of the tool room. Seeing Sokov waving his arms and shouting loudly, without saying a word, he stepped forward and hugged his shoulders and pushed him to the ground with force. As soon as the two of them were lying down, there were sharp whistling sounds of rockets and uninterrupted explosions outside. The smoke and dust of gunpowders covered the sky, as if it was suddenly cloudy.
Fortunately, the rocket fired for only one round and stopped. Sokov was shocked to the point of being displaced. He sat up from the ground with difficulty. Seeing Lyudnikov also sat up, his mouth seemed to be saying something to him, but his ears were like a ball of cotton stuffed into his ears and he could not hear anything.
Sokov reached out to pick up the assault rifle that was rolling down by the side, checked it, and found that it could still be used normally, so he used the gun body as a crutch, stood up with difficulty, and staggered towards the location where Samoilov and others were, wanting to see how their casualties were.
After walking twenty or thirty steps forward, a German soldier covered in dirt, bleeding from the smoke, his ears, nose and mouth suddenly emerged. He stumbled towards him with a rifle. But after seeing Sokov appearing in front of him, he hurriedly raised the gun in his hand and prepared to shoot at Sokov.
Sokov fired the first shot, and both shots hit the German soldiers' stomachs. The reason for shooting into the enemy's belly was Sokov's experience summed up in countless battles. After the enemy's abdomen was shot, his body would bend instinctively. Even if he fired, the bullet would hit the ground. If he chooses to shoot at the enemy's head, one is that the target is small and it is difficult to hit, and the other is that the enemy's fingers pull the trigger after being shot, which will lead to himself being shot.
The German soldier who was shot dropped the rifle in his hand and covered his stomach and fell to the ground. As soon as the German soldier fell to the ground, a man rushed out of the ruins beside him, rushing over with a bayonet, which scared Sokov and hurriedly pointed the gun in his hand at the other party. However, the opponent's target was not Sokov, but the German soldier lying on the ground. He stabbed the German soldier twice before retracting the gun and asked something to face Sokov.
Sokov saw clearly that the other party was a soldier from the guard platoon, and hurried over, approached his ear, and asked loudly: "Where is your platoon leader Lieutenant Samoilov?"
The warrior's ears were also temporarily deaf when the shells just now hit. Although he couldn't hear clearly what Sokov was asking, he guessed that he must be asking the whereabouts of the platoon leader. He quickly pointed to Samoilov's hidden position and said, "Comrade Commander, the platoon leader is there!" Seeing that the warrior pointed the direction for him, Sokov hurriedly walked towards there.
Samoilov, who was shocked, saw that the shelling stopped and was struggling to get up from the ground. When he saw someone coming towards him, he quickly raised his gun and was ready to shoot at any time. After seeing that the person coming was Sokov, he sat upright and looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, why are you here?" After asking, Samoilov realized that he could not hear his voice at all. It seemed that his ears were deafened by the shelling.
When Sokov saw Samoilov's appearance, he knew that the other party's ears must be of good use, so he did not yell at him anymore. Instead, he gestured to him, indicating the number of casualties and preparations for combat, so as to prevent the Germans from rushing up again. After all this, Sokov walked back to Lyudnikov's command center.
When he entered the door, he saw Lyudnikov wearing headphones on his head and shouting loudly at the receiver: "I am Lyudnikov, I am still alive. It seems that your rocket launcher has defeated the enemy..."
Sokov found a corner to sit down, raised his hand and covered his ears, pressed them hard a few times, letting the air penetrate the ear hole and impact the eardrum, and trying to restore his hearing in the shortest time.
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov's hearing was somewhat restored, and he said to Lyudnikov, who had just put down his headphones and the sender. "Although the shelling just now shattered the German attack, it won't take long before they will launch another attack. What are you going to do?"
Hearing Sokov's question, Lyudnikov replied with a firm expression: "Our commanders and fighters in the division will stick to their positions. Even if they fight to the last person, they will never take a step back."
Seeing that Lyudnikov just said to hold his position in a general way and had no specific plans, Sokov couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He continued to ask: "Comrade Colonel, the rocket just now almost killed us together while crushing the enemy's attack. When the enemy attacks again later, you can't let the artillery fire at us anymore, right? We can survive the first shelling, and if we do it again, no one can tell what the result will be."
After Sokov finished speaking, he shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "There is no way. Colonel Sokov, the order given to us by his superiors is to try his best to stick to the barricade factory and not be able to retreat at all."
"Comrade Colonel, I think you misunderstood what I mean. I'm not asking you to retreat." Seeing that Lyudnikov misunderstood his meaning, Sokov quickly explained to him: "You are at a disadvantage compared to the enemy in terms of numbers and equipment. If you continue to fight such a positional war, you may not be able to withstand it for long. If you want to defend your position, you must adopt reasonable tactics..."
"I understand what you mean, Colonel Sokov." Lyudnikov said loudly: "Now most of the factory has fallen into the hands of the Germans. I can only concentrate my people in this area and work hard with the enemy to consume positions. Moreover, the artillery of the 295th Artillery Regiment of our division has been lost in the early battles. Without heavy weapons, I can only use people to fill it..."
"Wait a minute, comrade Colonel." Sokov heard this and quickly raised his hand to interrupt Lyudnikov's words: "Don't the barricade factory produce artillery? Didn't the factory provide you with their products?"
"You are right, the barricade factory is indeed a factory that produces artillery." Lyudnikov said bitterly: "I have talked to the factory manager about this issue, but he said that the artillery in the warehouse is all indicators assigned to other fronts and cannot be given to us."
"Damn it, when are you still discussing what indicators are not? Is this factory manager going to leave these artillery in the warehouse and hand them over to the Germans who occupied the factory?" Sokov complained a few times and asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, don't know where the artillery warehouse is?"
When asked these few words, Sokov felt a sense of silence. He was worried that the warehouse where the artillery was stored had long been occupied by the Germans, and his plan would be ruined. Without the support of artillery, facing the German tank troops, even if Belkin's shrinking regiment came up, it would probably not take long for him to fight.
"It's just a pile of ruins two hundred meters behind." Lyudnikov said with a wry smile: "It's an underground warehouse with a large number of artillery stores. There is a squad of the internal affairs guarding the door. No one is allowed to get close without the orders of superiors."
When Sokov learned that there were a large number of artillery stored not far away, he couldn't help but lit up, but he was worried that only artillery and no shells would be useless, so he asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, do you have ammunition in the warehouse besides artillery?"
"Yes, some." Lyudnikov nodded vigorously and replied, "I heard that in order to allow these guns to be used as soon as they arrive on the battlefield, each gun has at least one base of supporting ammunition."
"I understand, comrade Colonel." Sokov felt confident when he learned that there were artillery and a sufficient number of shells not far away. He said to Lyudnikov: "Leave this matter to me, just send a soldier as a guide for me."
Lyudnikov guessed that Sokov was thinking about firing these artillery pieces. He originally wanted to persuade him, but then he thought that if he could really get the artillery out, the remaining artillery would have a place to be used. No matter what, if the artillery was changed to infantry, the combat effectiveness was indeed not good, so let them engage in their own old skills.
Sokov left the tool room and found Samoilov and shouted to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, take a squad for me."
"Comrade Commander," Samoilov heard Sokov's order and quickly summoned a squad of soldiers and followed Sokov to leave the warehouse. On the way, he asked curiously: "Where are we going?"
"Not far from here, there is an underground warehouse where a large number of artillery and supporting ammunition are stored." Sokov replied: "Our mission is to get these artillery and then use them to deal with the Germans."
When he heard that there was an underground warehouse for storing artillery nearby, Samoilov asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, since there are a large number of artillery nearby, why did not use these artillery in the battle to defend the factory?"
Sokov snorted coldly and said unhappily: "You think everyone is as responsible as Director Peter. Even though you know that providing the factory products to the troops that defend the factory without authorization will be criticized by superiors, but you still put the overall situation first and give priority to the weapons and equipment to the troops that defend the factory."
The group, led by the guide sent by Lyudnikov, came to the entrance of the underground warehouse. There was a sandbag fortification at the entrance, with a Deggalev light machine gun with a large disc on it. When someone approached, a stern voice came from the sandbag: "Who, stop!"
"Our own!" Sokov continued to walk forward while answering.
Unexpectedly, he had just taken two steps forward, but he heard the sound of pulling the bolt in front of him. Then the sound came again: "This is the main warehouse. No one is allowed to approach without permission, otherwise we will shoot."
"I am Colonel Sokov, the commander of the 41st Division of the Guards," Sokov stopped and shouted to the sandbag fortifications in front of him: "Who is responsible for you here? Come out and talk to me immediately."
Hearing the visitor said that he was a division commander, the sergeant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs who was guarding the warehouse did not dare to neglect, he hurriedly walked out from behind the fortifications. He came to Sokov, straightened his back and said: "Comrade Colonel, Gu Xin, a sergeant in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, report to you that our class is guarding the national defense warehouse, please give instructions!"
"Comrade Sergeant," Sokov looked at the sergeant of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in front of him and said with no utmost humility: "In order to defend the barricade factory, I need to use the cannons stored in the warehouse. I will now order you to open the warehouse immediately and let us in."
Unexpectedly, after Sokov finished speaking, Sergeant Gu Xin said in a stiff tone: "I'm sorry, comrade Colonel, no one is allowed to enter the warehouse without the permission of the People's Committee of the National Defense."
"What did you say?" Facing such a rigid Sergeant Guxin, Sokov had not spoken yet, and Samoilov next to him could no longer hold back. He stepped forward and grabbed Guxin's clothes and said angrily: "The Germans are only a few hundred meters away from here. Are you planning to leave all the cannons in the warehouse to the Germans?"
"Sorry, comrade Lieutenant." Gu Xin glanced at Samoilov's rank and said in a stiff tone: "We are affiliated with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and do not have to obey the orders of other troops commanders."
"Hmph!" Samoilov sneered a few times and said to Guxin: "Since you said that, I will now issue an order to you as an officer of the 10th Division of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to open the warehouses immediately."
Seeing Sergeant Guxin's confused look, Sokov added next to him: "Lt. Samoilov was indeed from the internal affairs before he became my subordinate. Also, we need to use artillery in the warehouse to attack the enemy attacking the factory. If your superiors want to hold him accountable in the future, let him come to me and I will give him a satisfactory explanation."
Gu Xin was not a stubborn person. He just said this, it could not be due to his own duties. Now that the enemy had rushed to a few hundred meters away from the warehouse, and there was a friendly division commander who originally intended to take responsibility for him, he no longer stubbornly, but took Sokov around the sandbag fortifications and came to the warehouse door. He pointed to the big lock hanging on the door and said with embarrassment: "Comrade Colonel, we are just ordered to guard the warehouse, and there is no key to the warehouse. Do you need to contact the leaders of the factory and ask them to send someone to open the door?"
"It's too late. When the factory sends people over, I'm afraid the enemy will rush to the door." Sokov said this and turned his head to command Samoilov: "Comrade Lieutenant, smash the lock."
"Yes!" Samoilov agreed, handed the submachine gun in his hand to a soldier, then took the Mosinnagan rifle from the soldier, and smashed it hard at the padlock with a buttstock. With a "bang", the lock was smashed open. Samoilov quickly handed the rifle back to the soldier, took off the padlock, and pushed open the warehouse door.
Chapter completed!