Red Moscow

"Yes, I am Kirillov." After giving the other party an affirmative answer, Kirillov asked, "Where is Lieutenant Colonel Victor?"

The second company commander pointed in the direction of the church and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel and the remnants of the third company are trapped in the church."

"Since our troops are trapped, why don't you go to support them?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov," the second company commander replied with some embarrassment, "I have limited troops, and the road leading to the church is also blocked by German firepower. We can't get through at all."

"The German army blocked your way to the church with firepower?" Kirillov repeated the other party's words, and asked bluntly: "Comrade Captain, who told you this?"

"I said it, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." A strange voice suddenly sounded from the side.

Kirilov looked at the speaker and found that it was a middle-aged soldier. He frowned and asked the second company commander: "Comrade Captain, who is he?"

"He just took the risk to come from the direction of the church, and he came here specially to give me the order to Lieutenant Colonel Victor."

"Yes, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel. I was ordered to venture here to deliver orders."

Kirillov felt that since the other party could come here to convey orders, the statement that the Germans used fire to blockade and cut off the connection between the two troops did not appear to be so credible.

Thinking of this, he asked, "Did you encounter enemy fire when you came from the church?"

"No." Lokima shook his head after answering the question, realizing that the other party might have misunderstood, and quickly added: "Including me, the company commander has sent six people to deliver orders here. But except me Besides, the rest of the fighters died?"

"Ah, all sacrificed?!" Lokima's answer surprised Kirillov, "Then why are you okay?"

"Those comrades who died, in order to convey the orders of their superiors as soon as possible, all used the method of running, trying to block the area through this section of firepower, and all of them died without exception." Luojima explained: "After I received the order , I thought that no matter how fast I ran, I might not be as fast as the German bullets, so I crawled forward slowly. The distance was less than 200 meters, and I crawled for half an hour. .”

After listening to Lokima's explanation, Kirillov realized that he had wrongly blamed the other party, and quickly apologized to him: "I'm sorry, Comrade Warrior, I misunderstood you, please forgive my recklessness."

Lokima didn't expect that Kirillov would take the initiative to apologize to himself, and he seemed flustered for a while, not knowing what to say.

Fortunately, in order to resolve the embarrassing atmosphere, Kirillov changed the subject and asked Lokima: "Comrade soldier, when you came over, did you see clearly where the enemy's firepower is located?"

Lokima, who was still a little nervous at first, was diverted after hearing this question. He squatted down in the room, picked up a broken brick, put it in front of him and said, "For example, this is a church."

He picked up another brick, placed it a little farther away, and continued: "This is where Erlian is."

When everyone saw Luojima squatting down, they didn't know what he was going to do. After he put the two bricks, everyone understood what he was going to do. Immediately someone turned on the flashlight to illuminate him, and let everyone See more clearly.

After thanking the flashlight operator, Lokima placed a small brick next to the two bricks: "This is where the German firepower is located, more than 60 meters away from this road, and at two It is very difficult to kill him in the blind spot of the defense zone."

"Lieutenant Colonel Kirilov," as soon as Lokima finished speaking, the second company commander couldn't wait to say: "Why don't we order the troops to rush over directly. The Germans only have one machine gun, even if he conducts blocking fire, We can also have a lot of people rushing to the church."

"Comrade Captain, how could you have such an absurd idea?" Kirillov's face changed drastically after hearing this, and he said in a stern tone: "This comrade soldier also said just now that people can run as quickly as possible." No matter how fast, can it pass bullets? If we really order the soldiers to forcefully pass through the blockade, it will inevitably cause huge casualties."

"Then what should we do?" The second company commander asked a little at a loss: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, do you have any good ideas?"

"Comrade Warrior," Kirillov did not immediately answer the second company commander's words, but looked at Lokima and asked, "How far is the building we are in from the German firepower point?"

"Not very far." Lokima replied, "According to my judgment, no more than a hundred meters at most."

Kirillov nodded, then turned to the second company commander and said, "Although the German firepower is at the blind spot of the two troops, we can think of other ways to destroy it."

"What kind of destruction method?" The second company commander asked curiously; "The enemy's firepower point is in our shooting blind spot, how should we destroy it?"

"This is very easy to handle." Kirillov pointed to the bricks on the ground and said to the second company commander: "Comrade Captain, you immediately send people to the roof, use rocket launchers to destroy the enemy's firepower points, and use machine gun fire to attack the remaining enemy. enforce repression."

"Understood." The second company commander nodded, then called a squad leader, and told him: "You take people to the roof, use rocket launchers to destroy the enemy's firepower points, and use machine gun fire to suppress or eliminate the remaining enemies. Do you understand? "

"Understood, Comrade Company Commander." The squad leader agreed, turned and left the room.

After the squad leader left the room, Kirilov asked Lokima, "Comrade soldier, what's your name?"

"My name is Lokima."

"Comrade Lokima, can you tell me what's going on with Lieutenant Colonel Victor?"

"Not too good, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Lokima replied, "We only have seventy people left, half of them are wounded, and the ammunition is almost exhausted."

"You captured the headquarters of the German army. What about the commanders of the German army? Where are they now?" Kirillov asked, "Did you eliminate them or capture them?"

"Nothing, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Lokima said: "The Germans are very cunning. Before we rushed into the church, their commander hid in the basement. We don't have the weapons to attack the fortifications, so we can't seize the basement for the time being. The German officers and soldiers entrenched inside."

While Kirillov was asking Lokima about the situation, there was a loud explosion outside, followed by machine gun fire. Kirillov just listened to it, and he heard that it was a rotary machine gun commonly used by the Soviet army when it was shooting. He only heard sporadic 98K rifle shooting. It seemed that the German officers and soldiers performing the blockade mission had almost been wiped out. .

At this time, the troops brought by Kirillov also gradually entered the house where he was. And the second company commander asked belatedly: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, how many troops have you brought?"

"This is the vanguard." In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Kirillov deliberately exaggerated the facts: "The remaining troops will arrive one after another. Even if the friendly army cannot break through the German defense from the south, we still have enough strength to clear the town of the enemy .”

Sure enough, as soon as this remark came out, the second company commander, who was still in a nervous mood, suddenly gained confidence. The town was full of more than 2,000 German troops. That's not much of a problem.

Kirillov shook his head at Lokima and said, "Comrade Lokima, the German firepower that blocked the passage has been cleared, we can go to the church now."

In a short while, Kirilov led a battalion of troops towards the location of the church.

The third company commander on the ground saw so many people suddenly pouring out on the street, and thought it was the German army coming to attack. Just when he ordered the soldiers to prepare for battle, he suddenly heard someone shouting loudly: "Comrade company commander, I am Lokima."

"Rockima?!" The third company commander couldn't help being taken aback after hearing this, and then asked, "Who is the person beside you?"

"It's the comrades of the 252nd Division. They came here specially to support us."

Hearing that it was the 252nd Division who came to support, the commanders and fighters on the ground immediately cheered. The third company commander even stood up and limped forward to greet him.

Kirillov greeted the third company commander, and after sending his subordinates to take over the defense, he asked bluntly, "Where is Victor?"

"In church."

"Take me there quickly."

Victor, who was sitting in the church hall, was thinking about how to deal with the German officers and soldiers hiding in the basement, when he suddenly heard a rush of footsteps, turned his head, and saw a familiar figure appearing in front of him. He quickly got up to meet him, raised his hand to salute the other party: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov! I really didn't expect that I would see you here."

"Comrade Commander knows that the situation of your battalion is very dangerous, and the 233rd Division is not very expected, so I was temporarily transferred, entered from the east of the town, and rushed over to support you." Kirillov briefly introduced the situation Then he asked, "How is your situation here?"

"The Germans are hiding in the basement below," Kirillov pointed to the basement entrance next to the shrine not far away. "I organized two attacks, but they were unsuccessful, and many people were killed or injured instead."

"To attack the underground fortifications, you must master the tricks, otherwise, even if there are heavy casualties, it may be difficult to achieve results."

"Then what should I do?"

After looking around, Kirillov pointed to a corner not far away, and said to Victor: "Find an anti-tank fighter to stand on the rubble over there, and bombard the entrance of the basement with rockets. When the enemy is confused, throw the grenade downward. Be careful, let the anti-tank fighters protect themselves, so as not to be injured by the flames bounced back from the wall when the rocket is fired. "

Victor didn't dare to neglect, so he quickly called an anti-tank man and asked him to carry the bazooka to the pile of rubble in the corner and fire a rocket towards the entrance of the basement. In order to ensure that he would not be burned by the fireworks, Victor specially asked someone to find a blanket, soaked it in water, and put it on him.

Taking advantage of the time when the anti-tank fighters were preparing, Victor glanced outside the church and saw that many commanders and fighters were busy, so he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many people did you bring?"

Although Kirillov lied to Lokima just now, but in front of Victor, he told the truth: "There are only two battalions, about 800 people."

Victor thought that Kirillov would bring at least one regiment of troops with him, but now he heard that there were only two battalions, and his smile froze on his face: "What, there are only two battalions with more than 800 people? How could there be only two battalions? How about such a small force?"

Seeing the doubts on Victor's face, Kirillov could only explain to him: "Victor, my division was divided into two parts a while ago. One part is near the headquarters of the Army Group, while the other part is in the Victoria Division. The Lishanka area is used for defense. Since we have been fighting with the enemy and have not been replenished in time, the strength of the entire division does not exceed 3,000 people.

I heard that you were in danger, so I selected more than 800 combat-experienced veterans and rushed here. The Germans in the town were attracted to the center of the town and the south of the town by you. When we entered from the east of the town, we only encountered a patrol team of a few people, and they were easily dealt with without disturbing the people in the town. enemy. "

Seeing that the anti-tank fighters were in place, Victor began to evacuate everyone, trying to stay away from the entrance of the basement, so as not to be injured by flying shrapnel or rubble.

After a loud bang, the entrance to the basement was shrouded in thick smoke, and screams and wailing came one after another from inside. Before the gunpowder smoke cleared, the soldiers ordered to drop the bomb rushed up and threw the flaming grenade into the entrance. Another series of explosions sounded, and the screams and wailing just now came to an abrupt end.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Victor turned his head to look at Kirillov, and said with surprise, "I really didn't expect it to work so well. At least the Germans guarding the door were almost as good as rockets and grenades."

He stood up and was about to order the soldiers to rush into the basement, but Kirillov stopped him: "Victor, don't worry, wait a little longer."

"Wait a little longer?" Victor asked puzzled, "Wait for what?"

Kirillov looked towards the corner of the wall, and saw the anti-tank fighter coming down from the rubble, and the blanket on his body was still steaming. It looked like his back would have been baked had it not been covered by a soaked blanket.

The anti-tank man came to Victor, straightened his body and reported to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have completed the task, please give instructions!"

Just when Victor was about to let the meritorious anti-tank fighter go to rest, Kirillov suddenly said: "Comrade soldier, I have to work hard for you to refill another rocket."

For the orders issued by the superiors, the anti-tank fighters naturally have to carry out the orders unconditionally. Just when he turned around and was about to go to the rubble pile again, he was stopped by Kirillov: "Comrade soldier, you don't have to go to the rubble pile this time, just squat down." At the door of the basement, just fire a rocket down there."

The anti-tank man agreed, took off the blanket that was still steaming from his body, handed it to a soldier who came over, and then went to his ammunition man to help him load the rocket.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Victor asked puzzled about Kirillov's arrangement, "I think the Germans near the entrance of the cave should be almost dead. Why didn't they rush in immediately?"

"The enemies near the entrance of the cave are indeed almost dead. But what about the other enemies in the cave?" Without waiting for Victor to answer, he asked himself and said, "Seeing that the defenders at the gate were killed by us, the Germans must have Someone will be sent to guard as soon as possible to prevent us from rushing in.

At this moment, the gunpowder smoke at the entrance of the cave has not yet dissipated, and even if our soldiers rushed in, they would not be able to see clearly. As for the Germans hiding in the dark, this can kill them one by one like shooting a target. I asked the anti-tank fighters to fire rockets again, in order to destroy the enemies coming from nearby.

After completing this bombardment, when the smoke clears, our soldiers can rush into the basement. I estimate that by then the defense force inside will be exhausted by us, and it will be extremely easy to catch the German commander. "