Chuikov followed Sokov's suggestion, and as soon as he put down the phone, he directly ordered Krylov: "Chief of Staff, call Major General Zorudev and Colonel Sokolov who are stationed at the Dzerzhinsky factory and give the order.
They sent troops as quickly as possible to blow up the road bridges around the factory so that the enemy's mechanized troops could no longer enter the factory."
When Krylov heard Chuikov's order, he was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up and he said repeatedly: "Comrade Commander, this suggestion is really great. As long as the bridge is blown up, the enemy's tanks and assault guns will be destroyed."
It is no longer possible to enter the factory area. The tanks and assault guns that entered the factory area will no longer pose any threat to our army once the fuel and ammunition are used up. All they need is an anti-tank grenade to wipe them out."
Having said this, he paused for a moment, raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, then blamed himself angrily and said, "Oh, why can't I think of such a simple and good way?"
"Chief of Staff, you are too busy answering the phone every day. How can you have time to sit there and think like Sokov?" Seeing Krylov blaming himself, Chuikov quickly comforted him and said: "Okay, hurry up and give it.
The two division commanders called and asked them to prepare to blow up the bridge."
The 37th Guards Division, which was originally responsible for defending the factory, was severely reduced in strength after a long battle. There were only more than a thousand people left in the division, including the wounded. Their defense area was compressed to the south of the factory by the Germans.
During the transfer of division personnel to the new headquarters, they were discovered by German tanks that rushed into the factory area. The tank immediately jumped its muzzle and fired two shots at the commanders and fighters running in the ruins. The flying shrapnel cut down the soldiers.
Five or six staff and communications personnel, and even the division commander Ruolu Jiefu, were injured on the head by the gravel raised by the air wave. Seeing that the division commander was injured, several guards around him immediately rushed over with all kinds of help.
With his feet on the ground, Ruoludev ran wildly and quickly escaped from the area where the German tanks were shelling.
As soon as Ruo Rujiefu entered the headquarters, a soldier shouted loudly: "Healthman, where is the healthman?"
Hearing the soldiers' shouts, a female health worker with a face full of gunfire hurried in carrying a medical kit and asked anxiously: "Where are the wounded?"
The soldier pointed at Ruoludev who was sitting at the foot of the wall and said, "The division commander is injured, please bandage his wound quickly."
The hygienist quickly walked up to Ruolu Jeff and said politely: "Comrade Commander, your forehead is injured, please take off your hat."
Ruolujev took off the otter fur hat on his head, endured the pain in his forehead, tried his best to put a smile on his face, and said to the female health worker: "Excuse me, comrade health worker."
The hygienist tried to clean Roludev's wound with alcohol, applied iodine and put a bandage on it. After all this was done, the female hygienist took a step back and said to Roludev: "Okay, Comrade Commander, it's just that
It's a skin injury, a piece of skin was rubbed off on my forehead by gravel, it will be fine in a few days."
Knowing that his injury was not serious and that he would be well in a few days, Ruolu Jeff felt somewhat at ease. He nodded to the female health worker and said, "Thank you, comrade health worker."
"Comrade Division Commander," as soon as the health worker left, Chief of Staff Brushko came over in a hurry and reported to Zholudev with a serious expression: "I just received a call from the Chief of Staff of the Army Group. He ordered us to organize our forces immediately and bomb.
Fall off the road bridge across the river outside the factory."
"What, blow up the highway bridge over the river?" After hearing what the Chief of Staff said, Ruolu Jeff couldn't help but be stunned. He was stunned for a while, and then asked tentatively: "Chief of Staff, are you sure you heard the order correctly?"
"That's right, Comrade Division Commander." In order to let Zoludev know that the order he conveyed was correct, Brushko also emphasized: "I thought I heard it wrong at the time, so I checked it twice, and it was indeed true.
We are ordered to blow up the bridges across the river, and this task must be completed as soon as possible."
Although the superiors did not explain the reason for blowing up the bridge, since the order had been issued, it could only be carried out unconditionally. Zholudev pointed at Brushko with his hand and asked: "Chief of Staff, which of our troops is farther south?"
Which bridge is closest?”
"It's the Sixth Company of the Second Battalion of the 114th Guards Regiment," Brushko quickly replied: "The company still has more than forty commanders and fighters, and they are fully capable of completing this task."
"Okay," Ruolujiev nodded: "Let them complete this glorious task."
After Bruszko waited for Zoludev to give the order, he did not leave immediately, but asked tentatively: "Comrade division commander, there is another road bridge to the west of the factory. Unfortunately, it has fallen into the hands of the Germans."
, if we were to blow up the bridge, I'm afraid the casualties would be huge."
Ruo Ludev was not slow in thinking. After a period of thinking, he suddenly understood the true purpose of Chuikov's order to blow up. He quickly said to Brushko: "Chief of Staff, come with me!"
After the two came to the table, Ruoludev pointed to the map spread out on the table and said to Brushko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think I understand why the commander issued this order."
"What's the reason?" Brushko asked curiously.
"Look, on the river surrounding the factory, in addition to three road bridges, there are also more than a dozen pontoon bridges built by workers using empty oil drums." Ruoludev slapped the map twice with his palm:
"Both our tanks and German tanks enter and exit the factory through these three bridges. Those pontoon bridges built with empty oil barrels can only pass people, but cannot pass any heavy equipment. Once we blow it up
The road bridge means that German tanks can no longer enter the factory area until the bridge is repaired."
After Brushko waited for Zoludev to finish speaking, he reminded the other party with a wry smile: "But if you blow up the highway bridge, the enemy tanks will not be able to get in, but our tanks will not be able to get out."
"How many tanks do we still have?" Zholudev looked at the other party and asked: "As far as I know, Colonel Bely's tank brigade now only has five or six tanks left, and they are all half-buried underground as fixed firepower points.
Use. Apart from them, we don’t have any tanks, so blowing up the road bridge outside the factory will have no impact on us at all.”
After listening to Zholudev's explanation, Brushko said nothing more. Instead, he immediately called the commander of the 114th Regiment and assigned him the task of blowing up the bridge.
Since the south of the city was still under the control of the 37th Guards Division, the order to blow up the bridge was carried out easily. In less than half an hour, Ruolujiev heard the explosion coming from outside. Soon, the commander of the 114th Regiment
He called Bruszko to report that the highway bridge south of the factory had been successfully blown up.
"Comrade Commander," Brushko held the microphone and asked Zoludev for instructions: "The 114th Guards Regiment has successfully blown up the highway bridge on the other side of the factory. Commander, please give me your next order!"
"Tell him," Ruoludev stared at the map in front of him and said without raising his head: "Immediately lead the entire group to approach the highway bridge to the west and find a way to blow it up."
According to Ruolu Jeff's idea, since the road bridge to the south of the factory can be blown up so easily, then blowing up the road bridge to the west may not be a big problem. Even if the commanders and soldiers who bombed the bridge were injured or killed, it would still be bearable.
However, the plan could not keep up with the change. Only a quarter of an hour later, Brushko received a call from the commander of the 114th Regiment again. However, the other party did not report that the bridge had been blown up, but reported with a sad face: "Comrade Chief of Staff,
The enemy may have noticed our actions. They deployed several machine gun fire points near the highway bridge to the west. Our soldiers rushed up several times but were unable to rush up."
"Keep charging!" Bruschko said without explanation: "Even if you get people to fill it in, you have to blow up the highway bridge as soon as possible!"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," the other party said in embarrassment to Bruschko's order: "Our regiment originally only had more than 400 people left. In the attack that ended not long ago, our regiment suffered nearly a hundred casualties. If
If we continue fighting like this, our regiment may be disbanded within an hour."
"Comrade Division Commander!" Although Brushko wanted to blow up the highway bridge as soon as possible, he still felt that it was not worth it at the cost of losing a regiment. He could only turn to Ruoludev for help, hoping that
The other party can come up with an idea. "What do you think we should do?"
Ruo Jiefu also understood in his heart that as a commander, if he did not know how to adjust his tactics according to the changes on the battlefield, he might ruin an army. It was out of this consideration that he did not hastily order the third
The commanders and fighters of the 114th Regiment launched a blind charge without hesitation, but said to Brushko: "Chief of Staff, let them stop for a moment while I think about how to blow up this pontoon bridge."
"You wait for now. I will inform you after the division commander makes a decision." After Bruschko put down the microphone, he walked to Zolludev and asked him for instructions: "Comrade division commander, what can you do?
Can we blow up a highway bridge and minimize the casualties of the troops?"
"No," Ruolujev shook his head unexpectedly and said, "I can't think of such a way."
When he learned that Zoludev could not think of a way, Bruschko showed a disappointed expression on his face. But to his surprise, Zoludev went on to say: "Just because I can't think of a way doesn't mean that others can't.
"
When Burushko heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up and he quickly asked: "Comrade Commander, I wonder who you are talking about?"
"Colonel Sokov, commander of the 41st Guards Division." Zholudev said with some helplessness: "Based on my observations during this period, I found that this man is very good at fighting. Maybe he can come up with a way to get the best of both worlds to resolve the situation.
The crisis in front of us. Chief of Staff, please immediately have the communications troops connected to Mamayev Heights. I want to speak to Colonel Sokov."
Zholudev was lucky. Sokov did not run around today, but stayed at his division headquarters. Sokov was surprised to receive a call from Zholudev. After all, the defenses between the two were quite different.
It was a bit far away, and it was difficult for the other party to find him. However, out of politeness, he still asked politely: "Hello, General Ruolu Jiefu, what can I do for you?"
"That's it, Colonel Sokov." Zoludev felt uncomfortable thinking that he had to ask for help from a young commander with a lower military rank than himself. However, in order to save the lives of more soldiers, he still bit the bullet.
Said: "I'm calling you because I have something to ask you for help."
"You have something to ask me for help?" Sokov was stunned, and then asked: "Comrade General, can you tell me what it is?"
"The Army Headquarters gave us a strange order to blow up the highway bridge outside the factory area..." If Rudev thought that he wanted something from Sokov, he would naturally not hide the fact from him, so he sent the command to
He relayed the order to Sokov and told him about the current dilemma faced by his troops. He finally said: "Comrade Colonel, I really have no choice, so I made this call to you. I wonder if you have any way to resolve it.
Our current predicament?”
Sokov learned that Ruoludev's call to him turned out to be related to the blowing up of the highway bridge. If Ruoludev encountered trouble during the execution of the task, he, the initiator, was naturally obliged to help. Thinking of this, he spoke into the phone
Said: "Comrade General, don't worry, I have a way to blow up the highway bridge."
Hearing that Sokov really had a way to blow up the highway bridge, Zholudev suddenly became energetic: "Comrade Colonel, tell me your good idea quickly."
"Since the enemy has set up a firepower point near the bridge, it is obviously unrealistic for the soldiers to rush directly onto the bridge. Even if they barely rush up, the casualties will be very heavy." Sokov said thoughtfully: "
Since we can’t get across on the ground, why don’t we get across by water?”
"Across the water?" Ruoludev couldn't help but be startled when he heard this, and asked: "Comrade Colonel, do you mean to let the soldiers swim across?" Before Sokov could answer, he shook his head and said, "
No, this is absolutely not possible. The soldiers cannot move too fast in the water, and the enemies on the shore can use them as targets and kill them one by one."
"You misunderstood me, Comrade General." Sokov had already guessed that Rudev would understand his proposal so well. Seeing that he had indeed made such a mistake, he patiently explained to him: "You can
Put the explosive package into an empty oil barrel and float it down the river. However, you must set the length of the fuse in advance to ensure that the gasoline barrel will explode just as it floats to the highway bridge, so that it can blow up the enemy-controlled
Highway bridge.”
"Great, Colonel Sokov, your idea is really great." Ruoludev never thought in his wildest dreams that Sokov would come up with such a good idea. He praised him repeatedly and said: "I immediately ordered the soldiers to
