Chapter 723 Surprise Attack on the Ammunition Depot (Part 2)
Early the next morning, Chuikov woke up from his sleep. The first thing he did was to ask Krylov, who was on the night shift: "Chief of Staff, has Colonel Sokov called?"
"No call, Vasily Ivanovich!" replied Krylov, shaking his head.
Although he did not get the answer he wanted, Chuikov still asked unwillingly: "Chief of Staff, tell me, what is Colonel Sokov doing at the moment? Has he sent out the task force?"
Seeing Chuikov worrying about gains and losses, Krylov couldn't help laughing. He replied: "Comrade Commander, what's wrong with you? Don't you have great confidence in Colonel Sokov? Why have you become so uncool?
"
"I can't help it." Chuikov stood up, walked to the place where the samovar was placed, turned on the faucet and put a cup of hot tea for himself. Then he came over with a teapot and said to Krylov: "The enemy is attacking the barricade factory and the Czech Republic.
The attack on the Erzhinsky factory is so fierce that if we don't take some action, I'm worried that the factory will not be able to save it."
Hearing what Chuikov said, Krylov fell silent. No one knew better than him the situation of the two factories. Every time he answered the phone and heard that such and such a place was occupied by the enemy again, his heart felt like
It was like a knife cutting. Faced with the request for reinforcements from the commander below, he could only repeat over and over again: I have no reserve team, you must rely on your own strength to resolutely block the enemy.
"What's wrong with you, Chief of Staff?" Seeing Krylov in a daze, Chuikov couldn't help but curiously asked: "What are you thinking about? I saw you have been in this posture for several minutes."
Chuikov's voice woke Krylov out of his reverie. He sighed softly and whispered: "Comrade Commander, if our superiors don't send us more reinforcements, I'm worried that the city may be lost.
"Perhaps he was worried that Chuikov would say that he was panicked, so he added, "Of course, I'm talking about the worst case scenario."
"Chief of Staff, you don't need to explain." Chuikov also understands the situation in the city, otherwise he would not try to let Sokov's troops launch an attack in the south of the city. He just hopes to have a way to indirectly support the two sides.
Soldiers and workers fighting hard in a factory. "The situation in the city is getting worse day by day. Yesterday, I heard from Division Commander Zoludev that his troops had seized the diary of a German officer. This officer wrote in the diary
He wrote: 'The enemy and the enemy fought fiercely for every house, workshop, water tower, railway embankment, even for a wall, a basement and every pile of rubble. The intensity was unprecedented.'
Chief of Staff, did you hear that? Not only do we feel that the battle was extremely brutal, but even the Germans on the attacking side feel the same way now."
"Comrade Commander," seeing Chuikov not blaming himself, Krylov asked him again: "Would you like to request your superiors to send us reinforcements? Even if there is only one division or one infantry brigade, we can do it."
It was the unfavorable situation at the two factories that was alleviated."
"Neither Commander Yeremenko nor Comrade Khrushchev will just watch the city fall." Chuikov waited for Krylov to finish and then said thoughtfully: "If they
There are mobile troops that can be used, and they must have been sent to the city a long time ago. The fact that they have not received any reinforcements just means that they are now facing a situation where they have no available troops."
"So, we have no other choice but to think of another way." Krylov asked Chuikov cautiously: "How about I call Colonel Sokov and ask him what the situation is like there, the troops who destroyed the enemy's ammunition depot
,Has it been dispatched?”
Chuikov thought for a while, reached out and grabbed the phone, and said, "I'll make this call."
The call was quickly connected to the division headquarters at Mamayev Ridge. When he heard Sidorin's voice coming from the receiver, Chuikov immediately asked impatiently: "Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, this is Chuikov."
Sidorin was shocked when he heard that the call was from Chuikov. He raised his hand and looked at his watch. When he saw that the time had just reached seven o'clock, Chuikov came to the phone. There must be something important. He asked nervously: "It's me.
, Comrade Commander! What instructions do you have?"
"I would like to ask," since it was his old subordinate Sidorin who answered the call, Chuikov did not go around in circles, but asked directly: "Have the troops that went behind enemy lines to destroy the ammunition depot set out?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, the team has already set off." Even if Chuikov didn't take the initiative to ask about it, Sidorin planned to wait until dawn and find a time to report to the headquarters. Since Chuikov asked about it at this moment, he would answer
Said: "The team has a total of twenty people. The members are from the division headquarters guard battalion and the downsizing regiment. The team is led by Lieutenant Grisa. He has just returned from behind enemy lines not long ago and has rich experience in fighting the enemy behind enemy lines. Therefore, the division commander asked him to
Responsible for commanding this small team."
"What, there are only twenty people?" Chuikov said with some disappointment: "The enemy's ammunition depot must be heavily guarded. I am afraid that these few people were wiped out by the enemy's fire before they even got close to the ammunition depot."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Regarding Chuikov's worries, Sidorin explained with a smile: "Twenty people are more than enough. They are capable of destroying the enemy's ammunition depot at a long distance."
"Destroy the enemy's ammunition depot at a long distance?" Chuikov repeated Sidorin's words and asked: "Do they carry mortars? If so, it is indeed possible to destroy the enemy's ammunition depot at a long distance.
Ammunition Depot."
"They are not using mortars, Comrade Commander." Sidorin quickly explained to Chuikov: "They are the new rockets you have seen."
"Haven't the new rockets been used up a long time ago?" Chuikov asked in confusion: "Where did they come from now?"
"When Lieutenant Grisa led his troops on a mission behind enemy lines, he hid three of them somewhere behind enemy lines because they were inconvenient to carry." Sidorin replied: "They planned to use them during this mission.
New rockets destroy enemy ammunition depots."
"That's great." Chuikov knew the power of the new rockets and was overjoyed to learn that Sokov actually had such a magical weapon. But he soon thought of a key question: "You guys
Do you know where the enemy’s ammunition depot is?”
"We don't know the exact location yet." Sidorin continued: "But after a series of analyses, I feel that the enemy may have located the ammunition depot in the town of Gorodishe." This may be because Chuikov is like Sokov.
, worried that blowing up the ammunition depot would cause disaster to the residents of the town, he preemptively explained, "According to reliable intelligence, all residents in the town had been evacuated two months ago, and now the town is full of Germans."
Chuikov did have the same idea as Sokov, but after hearing Sidorin's explanation, the boulder hanging in his heart immediately fell to the ground. He nodded and said into the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's new?
If there is any progress, remember to call me in time."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Sidorin replied: "I will keep in touch with you at any time."
After receiving Sidorin's assurance, Chuikov put down the microphone in relief and said to Krylov sitting aside: "Comrade Chief of Staff, Sokov has sent a small team to the enemy. I believe it won't be long before we can
I heard the good news." After he finished speaking, he saw Krylov's confused look on his face and remembered that when he called, the other party seemed to have also answered a call. He probably didn't hear the conversation between him and Sidorin.
Then he repeated the content of the call just now to Krylov.
After listening to Chuikov's story, Krylov also showed joy on his face. He said in surprise: "Comrade Commander, if the enemy's ammunition depot is really located in Gorodishe, then tomorrow at the latest, it will be at the barricade.
The German troops in the area of the Factory and Dzerzhinsky Factory will have to temporarily stop the attack due to lack of ammunition. In this way, we can gain valuable time to readjust our defense deployment."
