Red Moscow

"Communication soldier!" Samoilov put down the phone, called a correspondent, and told him: "Call the two deputy company commanders immediately, and tell them that there are important combat missions."

Lieutenant Sapochuk from the 98th Guards Division was woken up from sleep by the correspondent, and asked a little irritably: "What's the matter, why don't you let people sleep?"

The correspondent was taken aback by Sapochuk's attitude. After a brief panic, he replied cautiously: "Comrade lieutenant, the company commander asks you to go to the company headquarters immediately, saying that there is an important combat mission."

Hearing that there was an important combat mission, Sapochuk's attitude changed immediately, and he asked quickly, "Commissioner, do you know what the combat mission is?"

"I don't know." The correspondent shook his head and replied, "Comrade Lieutenant, you will know what the mission is when you go to the company headquarters."

Seeing that he couldn't get the answer he wanted from the correspondent, Sapochuk didn't dare to neglect, bent down and put on his boots, and hurried to the company headquarters.

When he entered the company headquarters, he found another deputy company commander, Lieutenant Serelkov, talking with the company commander, Lieutenant Samoilov. In fact, whether it is Sapochuk or Serelkov, both of them were originally company commanders, each commanding a company of hundreds of people. But after Sokov formed the special company, he had to wrong the two company commanders to become deputy company commanders, while the original guard platoon leader, Lieutenant Samoilov, became the immediate boss of the two.

Facing Samoilov, a boss whose position was lower than himself not long ago, Sapochuk maintained enough politeness. He came to Samoilov, raised his hand and saluted, and reported according to the regulations: "Even Comrade Commander, Deputy Company Commander Lieutenant Sabochuk Feng..."

Unexpectedly, before he finished speaking, Samoilov raised his hand and interrupted him: "Comrade deputy company commander, the situation is critical now, and it is not the time to abide by the rules. Let me tell you about the problems we are about to solve .”

After Samoilov's brief explanation ended, Sapochuk's eyes widened in surprise: "What, is it possible for the enemy to sneak attack on the Dnieper River Bridge?"

"Yes, from the current situation, it continues to show that the enemy wearing our uniform and infiltrating from the mechanized army defense area, their goal is the bridge on the Dnieper River." Samoilov emphasized: "As long as If the bridge is blown up, the amount of supplies received by the troops on the landing field on the right bank will be greatly reduced. Now that the Germans are launching an attack on the landing field again at this time, it is estimated that our defense line may be breached."

"Comrade company commander, I think your worries are completely unnecessary." Sapochuk said: "You know, the garrison on the bridge is an established company with a full 120 people. If the Germans really only have 20 people, how could they take down the bridge?"

Faced with Sapochuk's question, Serelkov said: "Lieutenant Sapochuk, you can't say that. Don't look at the small number of Germans. If they touch the sentry, they will sneak into the barracks and kill the sleeping people inside." The fighters are fully capable of controlling the right bank of the bridge in just a few minutes."

"Lieutenant Serelkov is right." Samoilov agreed with Serelkov's statement: "As long as the Germans control a section of the bridge deck, they can complete the blasting of the bridge."

"Comrade company commander," Serelkov waited for Samoilov to finish speaking, and asked for orders: "Let me carry out this task."

Sapotchuk never felt that the Germans could cause any damage to the bridge, but when he saw Serelkov volunteered, he hurried out to fight for the task: "Comrade company commander, let me complete this task. I assure you , absolutely will not allow the Germans to cause any damage to our bridge."

Seeing that the two deputy company commanders were vying to complete the reinforcement task, Samoilov hesitated, who should be sent to lead the reinforcements? After thinking for a long time, I feel that Serelkov is the most appropriate to handle the matter. There should be no problem if he leads the troops to reinforce. "I think this task should be handed over to Lieutenant Serelkov to complete."

Seeing Sapochuk's dejected look, Samoilov continued: "Lieutenant Sapochuk, don't be discouraged, your company must rush to the bridge as soon as possible. If Lieutenant Serelkov can't handle this The enemy may need your support."

Sapochuk, who was originally depressed, couldn't help showing joy on his face when he heard what Samoilov said. He felt that his status in Samoilov's mind was much higher than that of Serelkov, so he didn't want to Care about whether you play the role of the reserve team. As for Serelkov, after listening to Samoilov's words, he just smiled lightly. His idea was very simple, that is, to lead the troops to the bridge as soon as possible to confirm whether it had been occupied by the Germans.

Ten minutes later, Serelkov took his men to the left bank of the bridge in eight trucks.

The sentry on the left bank saw a convoy parked nearby, and the commanders and fighters inside immediately started to line up after getting out of the car. Seeing this, the sentinel guessed that something might have happened, and quickly reported to the company commander by phone: "Comrade company commander, a convoy is coming outside, and there are many people getting off the car, come and have a look quickly."

The commander of the garrison company, who was awakened by the sentinel, learned that a convoy was coming, so he quickly got dressed and walked out of the house. He came to the position where the sentry was on duty, looked at the officers and fighters who were gathering not far away with sleepy eyes, and asked the sentry, "What's going on, where did the troops come from?"

"Comrade company commander, I don't know either." The sentinel replied with some embarrassment: "I saw the convoy coming over with its headlights on, and then stopped not far away. I felt the need to report to you, so I called."

When the company commander was about to step forward to inquire about the origin of the other party, he saw an officer walking over with two soldiers.

When the officer came in front of him, the company commander saw clearly that the opponent's rank was only a lieutenant, so he coughed heavily, intending to talk to the opponent in a condescending manner. But before he could speak, the other party had already said: "Are you the company commander of the garrison company? I am Lieutenant Serelkov, the deputy company commander of the special company, and I was ordered to strengthen the defense of the bridge."

"Strengthen the defense of the bridge?" Hearing what Serelkov said, the commander of the garrison company asked a little confused: "We have enough strength to defend the bridge, and there is no need to strengthen it."

"Comrade Captain," Serelkov glanced at the other party's military rank, and said respectfully: "We have received a notice from our superiors that according to reliable information, the enemy may destroy the bridge. We are ordered to strengthen the defense of the bridge. , to crush the German conspiracy."

Hearing what Serelkov said, the commander of the garrison company replied carelessly: "Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant, our company has 120 people, distributed on both sides of the bridge. So far, nothing unusual has been found. In my opinion, it should be There is something wrong with your intelligence source."

"The intelligence comes from the Army Group Command." Hearing what the commander of the garrison company said, Serelkov did not get angry, but said coldly: "Do you question the superior's intelligence? If it is wrong, you will not use it." We are very connected."

Seeing Serelkov push down such a big hat, the expression on the face of the commander of the garrison company changed immediately. He nodded and bowed to Serelkov: "Comrade Lieutenant, there was no movement on the bridge before you arrived, maybe it is true." Was it a mistake?"

Serelkov ignored him, but asked directly: "How many troops do you have on the right bank of the bridge?"

"There is a platoon with 40 people." The commander of the garrison company replied: "The deputy company commander is in charge."

Serelkov frowned and thought for a while, then asked, "Can you get in touch with the deputy company commander on the right bank?"

"No problem." The commander of the garrison company readily agreed, "I'll call the deputy commander right away."

The phone rang for a long time before a lazy voice came out of the receiver: "Who is it?"

"Who are you?" The commander of the garrison company did not reveal his identity, but asked vigilantly, "Aguminte?"

"Yes, I am." The voice in the receiver asked back, "Who are you?"

"I'm a sentry on the left bank." The commander of the garrison company said, "I'm checking the sentry on the right bank at regular intervals according to regulations. It's okay, you can continue to be on duty."

After hanging up the phone, the commander of the garrison company wiped the sweat off his forehead and said to Serelkov who was standing beside him, "Comrade lieutenant, you are right. Something may have happened on the right bank."

This time it was Serelkov's turn to be puzzled: "Comrade Captain, I saw that you only said a few words during the call. How can you tell that something happened on the other side?"

"The reason is very simple." The commander of the garrison company frowned and said, "There is no soldier named Aguminte in the troops at the bridgehead on the right bank. Also, I have never stipulated that the guard post on the right bank should be fixed regularly. Based on this point, I knew something might be wrong on the right bank."

After listening to the analysis of the commander of the garrison company, Serelkov confirmed that something must have happened on the right bank, so he ordered the three platoon leaders to come to him and said to them: "Comrades, the Germans have already occupied the right bank of the bridge. We are preparing to destroy the bridge. Our current task is to completely wipe out the Germans before they blast the bridge."

"Comrade company commander," said the platoon leader as soon as Serelkov finished speaking, "Let's use the platoon as a unit to search the opposite bank. If the entire company is concentrated on the bridge, the Germans only need to use one machine gun Blocking the bridge deck can cause us huge casualties."

"I agree with your opinion." Serelkov readily agreed to the proposal of the platoon leader, and told him, "You lead the first platoon of fighters up first, and I will lead the second and third platoons to respond."

As the order was issued, a row of commanders and fighters spread out and carefully marched along the bridge to the right bank with their weapons in hand.

Serelkov was about to send someone to report to Samoilov, but saw a jeep approaching in the distance. He recognized at a glance that this was the car Samoilov was riding in, and quickly called the commander of the garrison company to meet him.

As soon as Samoilov got out of the car, he saw Serelkov and an officer approaching, and quickly asked, "Lieutenant Serelkov, how is the situation here?"

Serelkov did not answer his question immediately, but first introduced the commander of the garrison company beside him: "Comrade commander, this is the commander of the garrison company of the bridge. Judging from what we have so far, the right bank of the bridge has already fell into the hands of the Germans."

"The right bank has fallen into the hands of the Germans?" Samoilov immediately frowned: "How did you come to such a conclusion?"

"Comrade company commander," although the company commander of the garrison company saw that Samoilov's military rank was not as high as his own, he knew that the other party's status was higher than his own, so he introduced what happened just now to the other party as a subordinate, and finally said: "According to my judgment, the defenders on the right bank have been controlled by the Germans and have even been killed."

Samoilov nodded after listening, turned to Serelkov and asked, "Lieutenant Serelkov, what measures have you taken?"

"I have ordered a platoon to launch a search formation and advance towards the right bank, trying to destroy them all before the enemy blasts the bridge."

As soon as he finished speaking, there were suddenly intensive gunshots on the bridge.

"Not good," Serelkov exclaimed: "The enemy discovered our search force and opened fire first!"

Samoilov listened carefully. Among the gunshots from the bridge, there were rotary machine guns firing. The enemy must have controlled the defenders on the right bank and seized the machine guns in their hands to stop the soldiers of the special company. .

"Let the second and third platoons go up to support immediately." After Samoilov ordered Serelkov, he yelled at the commander of the garrison company: "Comrade company commander, how many people do you have in your hand? Put them all in." Fighting, we must destroy the enemy on the other side as soon as possible, and keep the bridge under our feet."

When Serelkov and the commander of the garrison company went to perform their missions, Samoilov ordered the operator to contact the headquarters, and had a wireless conversation with Sameko, who had already woken up: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is Samoilo Lieutenant husband."

"Comrade Lieutenant, how is the situation there? Why did I hear gunshots?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the intelligence analysis we have, the Germans have already occupied the right bank." Samoilov reported loudly: "The gunfire you heard is that the special company was advancing to the right bank. German machine gun fire."

"I understand." Sameko said on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Lieutenant, I will send someone to support you as soon as possible."

After speaking, Sameko put down the phone and ordered the communications soldier: "Get me through the infantry brigade."

When Gutchakov's voice came out of the receiver, Sameko said angrily: "Comrade Major, the enemy has already controlled the right bank of the Dnieper Bridge. Why haven't you launched an attack yet?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Guchakov thought that his troops had been dispatched for a long time, but so far, they had not launched an attack on the enemy, and he was also puzzled. He hurriedly said: "Please wait a moment, I will find out what happened as soon as possible."

He did not put down the phone, but said to the Chief of Staff Askel, "Comrade Chief of Staff, you should contact Captain Mikhaiev immediately and ask why his troops haven't launched an attack on the enemy yet?"

Askel immediately ordered someone to contact Mikhaiev: "Comrade Captain, it has been such a long time, why hasn't your troops launched an attack on the enemy yet?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," replied Mikhaiev. "My subordinates told me that everything was normal on the bridge and that no trace of the enemy was found. We may have made a mistake. So I ordered them to take no action for the time being. Wait for my next order."

"Comrade Captain," Askel said, "Now we have confirmed that the right bank of the bridge has fallen into the hands of the Germans, and you immediately dispatch to wipe out all of them to ensure the safety of the bridge. Understand?"