Red Moscow

The gunshots from the village were heard by every soldier of the machine gun company, and they knew that this was the beginning of the massacre of the villagers by the Germans. As soon as they heard Sokov's order, the soldiers clenched their weapons tightly, ready to attack the village at any time. But the hesitant expression on the face of the company commander Vasily made their hearts sink suddenly. Wasn't he marching for two consecutive hours just to come here to stop the German massacre?

Fortunately, Vasily's hesitation did not last long, and he made a final decision. He straightened his back and said to Sokov: "Comrade battalion commander, I resolutely obey your order and immediately lead the troops to attack the village."

"You lead the three platoons back to the east of the village," Sokov pointed to the east of the village, and said to Vasily: "Prevent the enemy from fleeing to Popkovo when they can't hold on."

"But, Comrade Battalion Commander." Vasily was confused by Sokov's order: "If I lead three platoons to the east of the village, who will direct the frontal attack?"

"The frontal attack will be directed by me personally." Sokov said lightly: "You only need to lead three platoons to block the way for the Germans to flee eastward, and you don't have to worry about the rest."

"What?" Vasily was taken aback by Sokov's words, and he hurriedly said: "Commander, you are the commander of the first battalion, how can you take risks casually? Otherwise, you can take three platoons back to the east of the village , I will lead people to attack from the front."

"Obey the order!" Before Vasily could finish speaking, Sokov interrupted him and urged him: "Captain Vasily, what are you still dawdling about? If the enemy is allowed to attack from the east of the village later, Slip away, I'll be the only one asking."

Seeing that Sokov was so stubborn, Vasily knew that it was useless to say anything, so he could only nod his head, and led three rows of soldiers to detour to the east of the village.

After Vasily left, Sokov straightened his crooked helmet, took off the submachine gun on his shoulder, opened the safety, and waved his hand forward: "Start attacking!"

The guard squad of Sokov and Oleg walked in the forefront of the attacking team, followed by fighters from two machine gun companies. The troops formed into a scattered formation, holding weapons in their hands, and striding towards the village occupied by the enemy.

The defenders in the village, in addition to the two platoons of the Wehrmacht, also had a squad of SS soldiers. The gunshots Sokov and the others heard were that they were shooting the villagers. The villagers were divided into groups of ten by the SS, and they were taken one by one to the edge of the village and shot, and the bodies were thrown in the trenches dug already.

After they shot the second group of villagers, when they were about to bring the third group of villagers to be tortured, suddenly a Wehrmacht soldier on duty shouted loudly: "Russians, there are Russian troops, approaching the village."

Hearing that a Russian army was heading towards the village, the SS assault team leader quickly ordered the villagers to be escorted back to the church; the Wehrmacht officers and soldiers ran out of the village one after another, jumped into the trench outside the village, and prepared for battle. As for the corpses of those villagers, they placed them outside the trenches as sandbags.

When the troops led by Sokov were two hundred meters away from the village, they were violently shot by the Germans. As soon as the gunshot rang out, Sokov quickly fell down in the snow, crawling forward with hands and feet. On the other hand, there were two unlucky soldiers in the guard squad who were hit by bullets and fell to the snow with a thud, the blood flowing from the wounds stained the snow beneath them red.

Although the machine gun company has no artillery since its establishment, the number of machine guns has increased with the increase in the number of seizures. The three platoons of the whole company have a total strength of 200 people, and each platoon has eight machine guns. Except for the main and deputy machine gunners and an ammunition man, the rest of the soldiers are equipped with submachine guns, and their firepower far exceeds that of a battalion of the German army. It is not difficult at all to capture a village guarded by only two platoons.

The enemies in the village relied on trenches and firepower points to try to prevent Sokov's troops from approaching the village, but their resistance, under the attack of a dozen MG34 machine guns, seemed so insignificant. There is a German machine gun in the civil firepower point, and it has become the target of public criticism before a single ammunition belt is finished. Four or five machine guns are aimed at it and shoot, and the bullets drilled from the shooting holes will beat the machine gunner who is shooting madly to blood. .

After killing the German machine guns, the MG34s turned their guns and suppressed the German troops in the trenches. Although there were seventy or eighty German soldiers hiding in the trenches, the dozens of machine guns of the machine gun company still suppressed them so much that they couldn't hold their heads up. The second lieutenant of the German army who was hiding in the trenches with the soldiers had a feeling of wanting to cry: when did the firepower of the Russians become so strong, a company has more than a dozen machine guns.

Under the cover of machine gun fire, Sokov led the rest of the fighters, sometimes crawling forward, sometimes jumping up from the ground, bending over and running a few steps forward, lying down and shooting. In this way, in a short while, they arrived at a place less than 20 meters away from the trench. Following Sokov's order, dozens of stringed grenades drew a beautiful arc in the air and landed on the ground. The front and back of the trench exploded, splashing out large groups of flames and smoke, and blasting the German soldiers who were trying to continue shooting, they were bloody.

The second lieutenant of the German army saw that the general situation was over, and knew that if he continued to fight, he would die. He quickly squatted in the trench and shouted loudly: "Don't fight, don't fight, we surrender, we surrender!" After shouting, he tied a white handkerchief in a On the rifle, stick out the trench and wave it desperately.

Amidst the gunshots and explosions, Sokov vaguely heard the second lieutenant's shout. Although he couldn't hear what the other party was shouting, the white flag sticking out from the trench immediately made him understand: the Germans surrendered. !

He quickly raised his right hand high, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Stop shooting!" On the battlefield where the gunfire was dense, his voice could not be heard very far, but the machine gunners who were shooting behind could all see his gesture. , They stopped shooting one after another.

After Sokov gave the order to stop shooting, he lay on the ground for a while, and when the sound of the machine gun firing behind him stopped, he stood up and walked towards the trench with the gun in his hand. When he came to the trenches, he saw the German soldiers squatting in the trenches, and shouted with great majesty: "Hunder Hoch!"

The German soldiers in the trenches breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Sokov's somewhat broken German. When they saw the second lieutenant standing up first with a rifle tied with a white handkerchief in both hands, they threw away their hands one after another. After picking up the weapon in the gun, he stood up.

Sokov heard the dense gunshots in the village, and judged that the third platoon of soldiers led by Vasily rushed into the village from the east, and quickly ordered the platoon leader who came over: "Take people to the village immediately." Go to support Captain Vasily and destroy those enemies who are still stubborn."