Red Moscow

Uzakov did not answer immediately, but grabbed the submachine gun on the table, put on a steel helmet, and said to the chief of staff: "Let the first battalion commander pay attention, I will go outside and have a look."

Hearing that the brigade commander wanted to go outside to have a look, the chief of staff grabbed his hand and said anxiously: "Comrade brigade commander, it's too dangerous outside, let others figure out the situation."

"Chief of staff, if I don't know the enemy's situation outside, how can I command the battle?" Knowing that the chief of staff was worried about his own safety, Uzakov comforted him and said, "Don't worry, I just went to the bell tower of the church. Not going out of town."

Although Uzakov had stated that he would not go outside the town, the chief of staff was still worried, so he called a guard platoon leader and ordered him to lead someone to protect Uzakov's safety.

Uzakov came to the bell tower of the church, raised his binoculars and looked towards the area where the fire was fought.

Since the moon was already covered by dark clouds, he, like those soldiers who served as guards outside the town, could only see the muzzle flames of the guns when they fired, and couldn't see how many enemies there were.

Uzakov thought for a while, then turned and told the guard platoon leader standing behind him: "Comrade platoon leader, go back immediately and tell the chief of staff to order the battalion commander to fire flares."

"Fire flares?!" Hearing Uzakov's order, the guard platoon leader froze in place.

"Comrade platoon leader, why are you standing there in a daze?" Seeing that the guard platoon leader was standing still, Uzakov said a little bit dumbfoundingly: "Now I can't see the enemy's situation clearly, and I can't command the battle. Let The first battalion fires flares immediately, and I can figure out the strength and distribution of the enemy's troops, so that I can make a correct judgment."

The guard platoon leader responded, turned around and ran down the bell tower.

A few minutes later, Uzakov heard a quiet bang above his head, and at the same instant, a dim white light illuminated everything around him. He quickly raised his binoculars and looked towards the place where the fire was fought, only to see five or six black shadows lying on the left side of the gully, shooting from time to time. On the open space more than 30 meters away on the right side, several corpses were lying here and there, and the rest were lying on the ground, shooting back at the enemy.

Just as he was about to put down the binoculars and turn around to return to the command post, he unexpectedly saw a group of dark figures in the distance through the binoculars lens, bending over and running towards the fighting area.

"Damn it, are the Germans reinforcing again?" Uzakov thought to himself, and moved his eyes closer to the camera again, carefully observing the approaching black shadows.

The black shadow seen by Uzakov was the soldiers led by the deputy company commander. They came to support the nearby comrades. Just when the deputy company commander felt that the light was too dark to see where the enemy was, two flares rose in the air, clearly illuminating where the Germans were hiding. Now that they could see the enemy's position clearly, they quickly found their respective bunkers and shot towards their promising targets.

The German soldiers who carried out the ambush never dreamed that a small army would emerge from behind them. According to their thinking, even if the Soviet army wanted reinforcements, the reinforcements would still come from the town, so there was a special person monitoring the direction of the town, but they didn't expect that the enemy would come from themselves.

In just a few minutes, three soldiers were shot to death. The remaining three soldiers hid in the ravine, constantly changing positions and shooting, so that the deputy company commander did not dare to approach easily.

Seeing this situation, Uzakov turned around and went down the bell tower, returning to his command post. He picked up the phone and said to the first battalion commander: "First battalion commander, have you seen where the enemy is?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigadier Commander." The first battalion commander quickly replied, "I can see clearly."

"Since you have seen the position of the Germans clearly, what are you still doing?" Uzakov said loudly into the microphone: "Kill them all with mortars immediately."

The first battalion commander who received the order immediately ordered the mortar platoon to set up only six mortars and shelled the enemy's hiding place. The cannonball whizzed past, landed on the edge of a ditch and exploded, and black smoke mixed with mud rose into the sky.

The mortarman fired very fast, and the shells over there had just landed, and the new shells here had already been discharged. The shells blasted countless mud balls by the side of the ditch into the sky, and the mud that fell from the sky crackled and fell on the German soldiers hiding in the ditch.

Seeing that the enemy was suppressed by artillery fire in the ravine and could not move, the first battalion commander quickly dispatched another platoon of soldiers, armed with two machine guns, to a position less than 50 meters away from the ravine. The enemy cannot escape.

Unfortunately, one of the German soldiers was directly hit by a shell, and his body was scattered by the explosion blast, which frightened the other soldier. He quickly raised his hands, stood up from the gully, and shouted loudly : "Stop firing, surrender, I surrender!"

However, his shouts were covered by the rumbling gunfire, and the surrounding Soviet soldiers could not hear his shouts at all. On the contrary, the machine gunner not far away saw a German soldier emerging from the gully, and immediately pulled the trigger on him. After a burst of intensive gunfire, the German soldiers were hit by more than a dozen bullets and fell on their backs in the ravine.

The mortar fired more than a dozen rounds of shelling in one go, and the gully area has been shrouded in black smoke. Seeing this, the commander of the first battalion knew that the enemy was almost dead, so he gave the order to attack.

After the soldiers of the first battalion rushed up, only six German corpses were found in the gully, and none of them were alive.

Seeing that the enemy had been wiped out, the deputy company commander got up and walked over, and asked the soldiers loudly, "Brothers, I am the deputy company commander of the third battalion and the ninth company. What part do you belong to?"

"We are in the first battalion." A sergeant came over and said to the deputy company commander, "Let me take you to meet our battalion commander."

After seeing the first battalion commander, the deputy company commander followed the first battalion commander to Uzakov's command post.

"Comrade deputy company commander," Uzakov and other deputy company commanders asked after revealing their identities, "Why did you come back to town overnight? Did something happen?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." The deputy company commander reported to Uzakov: "There are Germans attacking our position. The company commander is worried that the enemy may have some conspiracy, so he ordered me to come back overnight to report to you." Then, He put himself to sleep in the village, and made a detailed report to Uzakov about how he had stumbled upon two strands of the enemy.

After listening to the deputy company commander's report, Uzakov said thoughtfully: "Comrade deputy company commander, if according to what you said just now, the enemy who bypassed your line of defense is divided into two parts, one part is going to attack your position, They were wiped out by you. And the other part quietly came outside the town, is it planning to sneak attack on our headquarters?"

"Comrade Brigadier, I don't think so." Regarding Uzakov's statement, the chief of staff shook his head and retorted: "If it is said that they are planning to attack our headquarters, I don't think it will happen when the deputy company commander and the others show up. , so they rashly shot to expose their target. They only have six people, and we have more than 3,000 people. It is too far-fetched to use six people to deal with more than 3,000 people. Therefore, I think the purpose of their coming is It's not a sneak attack on the headquarters."

While the two were analyzing the reason why German soldiers appeared outside the town, the phone on the table rang. The chief of staff picked it up and listened for a while, then quickly passed the receiver to Uzakov, and said respectfully, "Comrade Brigadier, it's the commander calling."

Uzakov took the microphone and put it to his ear, and sure enough, he heard Sokov's voice coming from inside: "Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, someone reported to me that they heard that Yakovle where you are located From the direction of Wo Town, gunshots and cannons sounded. What the hell is going on, why didn't you report to me. "

"Comrade Commander, there are only a few German soldiers, and we have already wiped them out." Facing Sokov's question, Uzakov said with a smile: "I think you must have fallen asleep, so there is no reason for this." Little things bother you."

Uzakov guessed right. Sokov had already fallen asleep, but was woken up by Chief of Staff Sameko. The latter reported to him: "Comrade Commander, I have just received a report from the observation post that gunfire and cannon fire came from the direction of Yakovlevo, and it seems that there is a battle going on."

In order to facilitate command operations, Sokov's headquarters has been moved from the Pusol River to a place less than five kilometers away from the town of Yakovlevo. In the dead of night, gunshots and explosions could indeed be heard from the direction of the town.

Since the town of Yakovlevo was the closest stronghold to the enemy, Sokov paid close attention to everything that happened there. After learning that there were gunshots and explosions coming from the direction of the town, he quickly asked Sameko, "Does Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov have any reports?"

"No." Sameko shook his head and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov didn't call."

The war was imminent, and any small negligence could lead to a big mistake. Knowing this truth well, Sokov took the initiative to call Uzakov to ask what happened outside the town.

After listening to Uzakov's detailed report, he frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what do you think the Germans are lurking outside your town for?"

Uzakov was stopped by Sokov's question. After a long time, he murmured: "Comrade Commander, I think these should be German scouts. In order to find out our deployment, they even prepared to Grab a few sentries."

"Since you think they are scouts, have you found the radio station they are using?" Sokov asked.

Hearing Sokov's question, Uzakov quickly covered the microphone with his hands, and asked a battalion commander standing aside: "First battalion commander, after you eliminated those enemies, did you find the radio they carried. "

"No." The first battalion commander shook his head and replied, "It's too dark outside, and we didn't find any radio stations."

"Arrange people to search immediately. We must find the enemy's radio station. Move quickly!" Uzakov let go of the hand covering the microphone after assigning tasks to the first battalion commander, and said to Sokov: "Commander Comrade, I have ordered my subordinates to go to the places where the Germans are hiding and search for the radio stations they carry, and I believe that it will not take long before the results will be obtained."

After listening to Uzakov's report, Sokov always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't tell what was wrong for a while, so he began to think hard.

Uzakov heard that no one was speaking on the receiver, and thought that Sokov had hung up the phone, but after listening carefully, he could vaguely hear someone talking in the opposite headquarters, so he could only wait patiently, thinking Hear what Sokov will deploy next.

After an unknown amount of time, Sokov, who still hadn't figured it out, said into the microphone, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many troops have you deployed at the outpost you established in the south of the town?"

"There are more than a hundred people in one company." Uzakov replied: "Their deputy company commander is in front of me now."

"The deputy company commander is in front of you?" When Uzakov reported to Sokov just now, he mentioned that the deputy company commander came back from the outpost to report, but Sokov didn't take it to heart at all, but this time At this time, he felt faintly uncomfortable: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if there is anything wrong with the outpost, I can contact you by phone. Why did the deputy company commander of the company come to the town to report the situation to you in person?"

"Comrade commander, the situation is like this." Hearing Sokov's question, Uzakov replied with some embarrassment: "Due to the lack of communication equipment in our brigade, no telephone lines were laid for the outpost. Therefore, after the surprise attack by the Germans, the deputy company commander had to come back and report to me in person."

When Sokov heard this, he immediately understood that something was wrong. He quickly said into the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if my judgment is correct, the enemies lurking outside your town are not scouts, and they have no intention of attacking your headquarters. Their task is to cut off the outpost The connection between the station and you."

"Ah, the enemy's task is to cut off the connection between the outpost and us?" Uzakov asked puzzledly, "Why did the enemy do this?"

Uzakov's reply brought a hint of anger to Sokov's face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't you understand? Since there is no telephone communication between you and the outpost, what's the matter, you can only communicate Soldiers to convey information.

As long as the enemy has severed the connection between you, you won't know if they take the outpost. At that time, the enemy will be able to use the outpost as the starting point for the attack and launch an attack on the town of Yakovlevo where you are stationed. do you understand? "

"No way?!" Sokov's words scared Uzakov out of his wits, but he still took a chance and said, "The Germans have just been defeated by our army, so how could they have made any moves?"

As soon as Uzakov finished speaking, there was a dull noise outside, which made him shiver with fright. This time, he didn't bother to cover the microphone with his hand, so he couldn't wait to ask: "What's the sound?"

The deputy company commander on the side quickly said: "It sounds like a cannon."

"Cannon fire? Where did it come from?"

The chief of staff said in an uncertain tone: "The sound seems to be coming from the direction of the outpost."

Before Uzakov could speak again, there were several dull loud noises outside, and then the voice became more dense and clear, making the people in the command post tremble. They are all commanders with rich combat experience, so they can naturally hear that the sound that is being heard is obviously shelling.

Sokov also heard this voice from the phone, and quickly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what happened?"

"Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander," Uzakov replied somewhat flusteredly, "it should be that the enemy is shelling our outpost."

"Damn it!" Sokov couldn't help becoming impatient when he learned that the outpost had been bombarded by the enemy. "Then why don't you hurry up and send troops to reinforce it? Are you going to send troops after they are wiped out by the enemy?"

"No, Comrade Commander." Uzakov was frightened by Sokov and said incoherently: "I will immediately gather troops and send people to reconnaissance to find out the intentions of the Germans, and then send troops to reinforce."