Chapter 262 Opening warehouses and releasing grain
The next morning, a worker who got up early to work unexpectedly discovered that the soldiers patrolling the street were wearing Soviet uniforms. He thought he was dazzled, so he hurriedly rubbed his eyes hard and looked at them again: Yes, the patrol soldiers were indeed wearing Soviet uniforms.
"Is it because our army has fought back?" As soon as this thought came to his mind, he immediately shook his head and denied it. It was very quiet last night and there was no sound of gunfire in the city. How could the Soviet army take down the city silently?
Just when he thought he was dazzled, he suddenly heard someone in the patrol call his name: "Hey, Harqianke, are you going out so early, are you going to work?"
The worker, known as Harchenko, heard someone in the patrol call his name and couldn't help but look in curiously in the sound. Sure enough, he saw a familiar voice. He couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Hey, Yarak, am I dreaming? Why are you with the patrol?"
Yarak, who was rushing to the machinery factory yesterday, was in this patrol team. He accidentally saw one of his coworkers and took the initiative to say hello to the other party. Seeing the other party with a look of surprise, he hurriedly walked over quickly and said loudly: "I took them to the factory yesterday and killed all the German guys."
"They killed all the Germans?" Haarchenko's chin almost fell to the ground after hearing Yarak say this. "Are they our team?"
"What's wrong with you, Halqinke?" Yarak asked the other party with a smile: "Did you not wake up or have your eyes problems? Didn't you even see that they are our own army?"
When Harqianke learned that it was the Soviet army who had fought back, he burst into tears in his eyes. He grabbed the patrol captain's hand and said, "Comrades, I hope you are back. You will not leave again when you come back this time, right?"
"No, Comrade Halchenko." The patrol captain held Halchenko's hand and said to him with a smile: "Since we have recovered Kursk, we will not let the Germans take it over again. We will defend it with our own blood and life."
As dawn came, Belkin and his political workers began to be active in the residential areas, informing the residents who were still unaware of the situation. Soon, more and more residents walked out of their homes and stood on the street with their neighbors, discussing the troops that seemed to fall from the sky.
Several brave children saw Belkin and other political workers who were doing publicity work, so they plucked up their courage to go forward and beg: "Mr. Officer, give me some food. I haven't eaten for two days." Seeing that the child was pitiful, a political worker quickly took out a few pieces of bread from his backpack and distributed it to several children.
Unexpectedly, the residents on the roadside saw the guards distributing bread to the children, and also rushed up, surrounding Belkin and the others in the middle, and said in a lingering manner: "Comrade Commander, please pity us, give us some food."
When he saw that most of the residents around him were ragged, haggard and thin, Belkin quickly raised his hands over his head and said loudly: "Quiet, comrades, please be quiet!" When no one around him spoke, he continued: "I know that under the rule of the Germans, you are not full or warm in food. In order to get close to everyone's actual difficulties, please queue up in front of the warehouse at noon to receive the food distributed to you."
"Long live the Red Army! Long live the Red Army!" As soon as Belkin finished speaking, a tsunami shouting sounded around him: "Long live Stalin! Long live Stalin~!"
I heard that the warehouse would distribute food to the residents of the city at noon, and the whole city was completely in full bloom. Countless residents who received the news shouted neat slogans and rushed towards the warehouse along the streets.
Vasily, who was left behind in the warehouse, was frightened to the warehouse from all directions and was frightened and sweated. He quickly transferred a line to the door to maintain order. At the same time, he called Sokov and reported: "Comrade Battalion Commander, thousands of people suddenly surged out of the warehouse. What should we do?"
Although it was less than noon at this moment, Sokov learned that thousands of residents had already flocked to the warehouse door and said to Vasily: "Captain, let the soldiers maintain order outside, and then open the warehouse and distribute food to the residents."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I want to ask." Vasily had never done the work of opening warehouses and releasing grain, so he asked in a daze: "I don't know what standards to issue?"
"First pay according to the standard of 500 grams per person." Sokov was worried that Vasily could not cope with such a scene, so he said to the microphone: "You start distributing food first, and I will rush over as soon as possible."
Just as Sokov was about to leave the command post, Vanya walked in from outside. As soon as he saw Sokov, he said excitedly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, good news, we have successfully seized the prisoner-of-war camp, eliminated the German guards, and rescued the nearly a thousand comrades imprisoned in it."
"Nearly a thousand soldiers rescued from the prisoner-of-war camp?" Sokov was overjoyed when he heard this news. He hurriedly asked, "How are their physical condition?"
Wanya knew that Sokov had always had the tradition of replenishing troops from prisoners of war, so he quickly replied: "Most of them have been captured in the past two months. Although they have suffered some crimes, they are in good condition and can be incorporated into the army immediately." After introducing the situation, Wanya paused for a moment and asked, "Comrade Battalion Commander, do you see when will they be incorporated into the army?"
"Immediately, immediately, we must join them into the company as quickly as possible." Sokov said impatiently: "The Germans will definitely attack us at any time, and when will the reinforcements arrive, it is still an unknown number, so everything depends on ourselves."
After Sokov said this, he immediately walked back into the house and called Andrei and Vasily, asking them to arrive at the battalion command post immediately. Vasily heard Sokov's order and said in embarrassment: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we are preparing to distribute food to the residents of the city. If I leave, who will be responsible?"
Sokov knew the abilities of the company and platoon-level commander. When he heard Vasily say this, he immediately replied: "Leave this matter to Second Lieutenant Grissa, I believe that with his ability, he will definitely be able to complete this task well."
When Vasily arrived in a hurry, he saw that the other two company commanders had already arrived first. Seeing Wanya talking to Sokov in a low voice, he could only look at Andrei, who was sitting beside him, hoping to get an answer from him and understand the purpose of Sokov calling him here. But Andrei also couldn't figure out why Sokov was in a hurry to find him, so he spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders to answer Vasily's inquiry.
"Captain Vasily, you are here." Sokov saw Vasily walk into the door, and stopped talking to Vanya and asked Vasily: "How is the situation in the warehouse? Have you started to distribute food to the residents?"
"Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander." Vasily nodded and replied, "Before I left the warehouse, the deputy political battalion commander, Comrade Belkin, arrived, so he and Lieutenant Grissa were responsible for the distribution of food. Although there were 10,000 or 20,000 residents around the warehouse, everyone abide by the order, and they did not crowd but took the initiative to line up. Under the guidance of our soldiers, they entered the warehouse to collect food in turn."
Sokov was worried that the city's residents would gather around the warehouse, and the scene would definitely be very chaotic. But when Vasily said this, he immediately realized that Belkin and Grissa could control the situation. He hung in his throat and put the supervisor back in his stomach. He coughed and then said, "Comrades, I will tell you good news. Captain Vanya rescued nearly a thousand captured comrades from the German prisoner-of-war camp. It is gratifying that their physical condition is very ideal and can be quickly incorporated into our combat troops. I called you several to discuss how to allocate these troops."