Red Moscow

In the early morning, a steam locomotive dragged a long line of stuffy wagons, and slowly drove into Stalingrad's Central Railway Station, heading for platform No. 9. The military column slowly stopped on the platform. The guard company commander Orel led a group of soldiers with guns, and got out of the carriage at the rear of the car. After getting off, they immediately pulled out a cordon facing the platform.

After setting up the cordon, Seryozha turned around and said loudly towards the door: "Brigade Commander, Political Commissar, the cordon has been set up, please get out of the car!"

As soon as his words fell, Sokov appeared at the door. He looked towards the platform and saw seven or eight soldiers standing not far away, looking towards his position. Seeing this situation, he guessed that the other party should be The people sent by the city defense committee to meet him. After getting off the car, he didn't walk over immediately, but waited for Belkin to get off the car, and the two walked over side by side.

The soldiers waiting there saw Sokov and Belkin walking towards them, and rushed to meet them. The major leading the team asked tentatively: "Is it Lieutenant Colonel Sokov of the 73rd Infantry Brigade?"

"Yes, I'm Sokov. This is my political commissar Belkin." After introducing himself and Belkin, Sokov looked at the major in front of him and asked tentatively, "I don't know how I should calling you?"

The major quickly stood at attention, raised his hand in salute, and replied clearly, "Report to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am Major Ozor from the City Defense Committee, and I have been ordered to come to greet you."

"Hello, Major Ozor." Sokov raised his hand to return the salute, and then asked politely, "So, are you going to cooperate with us in building fortifications?"

"That's right, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ozor replied respectfully, "I am a construction engineer, and I will assist you in building fortifications on Mamayev Hill."

Sokov exchanged some pleasantries with Ozor, then turned to Seryozha who was standing behind him and said, "Seryozha, it's almost time, let the commanders get out of the car!"

Seryozha promised, and ran towards the front of the car with two soldiers, shouting loudly as he ran: "Get out of the car, everyone! Get out of the car, everyone!  …"

Following his yell, the closed car doors were opened one after another with a "crash", and the commanders and fighters who had been in it for more than ten hours all jumped out of the car impatiently, stretched their waists on the platform, and the activities were over. With a somewhat stiff body, he greedily breathed the fresh morning air of Stalingrad. Quite a few fighters who urgently needed to urinate stood in a row on the platform, facing the carriages and began to urinate, and the air was soon filled with an unpleasant smell of urine.

Fortunately, Ozor has long been used to this kind of thing, and he said to Sokov without changing his face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the army has someone to receive them, I will take you to Mamayev Post first."

As soon as he walked out of the train station, Sokov saw the famous fountain in the middle of the square outside the station that he had seen in many film and television works. He couldn't help speeding up his pace, walked to the fountain, looked up at the sculpture of six young pioneers holding hands and dancing around a crocodile in the middle of the pool, and thought to himself: In the "Soldiers Coming to the City", the sniper Vasily He hid in this fountain pool and killed five German officers and soldiers with five bullets, and became famous in one fell swoop.

The sculpture in the fountain, which symbolizes the struggle between justice and evil, miraculously survived after the tragic Stalingrad Defense War. As soon as the battle was over, the people of Stalingrad did not bother to repair the damaged buildings around them, but gave priority to restoring the fountains and sculptures to their original state.

Ozor saw that Sokov was very interested in the fountain, so he introduced it to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the sculpture of this fountain is the fairy tale "Dr. They were traveling in Africa, but unfortunately they were caught by the thief Balmare and roasted on the fire. Dr. Aipolite immediately sent a crocodile and an orangutan to save them. After a fierce battle, the crocodile ate them. The young pioneers were saved after losing the thief Balmare. This is the scene where they danced around the crocodile after they won the victory..."

Although Sokov has seen this fountain and sculpture in many film and television works, he does not know its origin. After Ozor’s science popularization, I immediately understood why this sculpture was called a symbol of the struggle between justice and evil.

Mamayev Hill is still two kilometers away from the station, and if you walk, you will have to walk for at least half an hour. Fortunately, Ozor had already arranged a jeep outside. After beckoning Sokov and Belkin into the car, he ordered the driver to drive towards Mamayev Kurgan.

"Comrades, two commanders," Ozor, who was sitting in the co-pilot's seat, turned to Sokov and Berkin on the way to Mamayev Post, and said, "Mamayev's name comes from the name of the Mongolian army. Batu Khan, who camped here on his westward march to Europe. There is a hill formed by an ancient Tartar tomb..."

While Belkin was listening to Ozor's explanation with great interest, Sokov was thinking in his heart: "I didn't expect Mamayev Hill to be a tomb. In the next few months, this mountain Tens of thousands of innocent souls will be added to Qiushang. I hope I can live until the end of the battle, and don’t become one of these innocent souls.”

The jeep stopped at the foot of the Mamayev Hill, and Ozor took Sokov and Belgin to the top of the hill. He first pointed to the north, and introduced to them: "Comrades, two commanders, we are standing on the southern slope of Mamayev Hill. From here, we can overlook the entire city of Stalingrad and the Volga River. A large area can be controlled here, including the Volga River transportation line that is the lifeblood of Stalingrad. You see, the opposite is the north slope, and the cylindrical metal buildings on it are the oil tanks of the oil refinery. In addition, for the entire Stalingrad The water tower that provides drinking water in Gele is built 100 meters away from the oil tank..."

Hearing this, Sokov sneered in his heart, thinking to himself: The Germans only need a few shells or aerial bombs to blow up the oil storage tank on the north slope and turn it into a sea of ​​flames. Once the water tower is destroyed, the water supply of the entire city will be interrupted, and residents can only go to the river to drink water.

Ozor naturally couldn't guess what Sokov was thinking, and pointed to the east and said: "The east is the pier. As a city on the banks of the Volga River, Stalingrad is the land and water transportation link between Europe and Asia. hub,……"

Belkin couldn't help interrupting the other party when he heard this, and interjected: "The superior originally planned to let our troops come to Stalingrad by boat from Kazan, maybe because of the convenience of water transportation in Stalingrad. .”

"There is such a possibility, Comrade Deputy Battalion Political Commissar." Ozor said to Belkin with a smile on his face: "If you really take a boat down the river, and you can still see the beautiful scenery along the way, it will be regarded as out to travel."

Belgin smiled and said, "Major Ozor, we are not traveling, but here to fight the Japanese invaders." He turned his face to Sokov, "Are you right? , Comrade Brigadier."

"That's right, we are here to fight the Japanese invaders." Sokov turned to Ozor with a straight face: "Comrade Major, I would like to ask how you plan to build the defense near Mamayev Hill What about the work?"

Regarding Sokov's question, Ozor said somewhat disapprovingly: "How else can it be repaired? Of course, it is to build trenches and reinforced concrete bunkers on the hills, and lay minefields and barbed wire fences on the west side of the hills."

"What about anti-tank trenches?" Sokov waited for Ozor to finish speaking, and immediately asked: "Comrade major, why didn't you mention anti-tank trenches in the defense plan you mentioned? You know, Emma Ma The slope of Yevgang, the German tanks cannot drive up, but they can still stop at the foot of the hill and use artillery or machine gun fire to cover their infantry rushing up the hill."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't worry." Seeing Sokov's impatient tone, Ozor quickly explained, "It's not that we don't want to build anti-tank trenches, but that 400 meters to the west of the hill is a road connecting the city. The ring railway line at the north and south ends. Once the enemy approaches this area, we can dispatch armored trains for mobile defense, and use powerful artillery fire to destroy all enemies who dare to approach here."

"Circum-city railway line and armored trains?" Hearing what Ozor said, Sokov quickly raised his binoculars and looked westward. Sure enough, he saw a railway line in the distance. Although he didn't see the armored trains, he did. But he knew in his heart that Ozor was not lying. Once the battle started, the armored train could use this railway line for mobile defense and destroy the enemies attacking the city with artillery fire. However, in his impression, during the entire defense of Stalingrad, he didn't seem to have heard anything about the record of the armored train. It should be that the armored train was destroyed by the German army shortly after the start of the defense.

Ozor talked with Belkin for a while, then turned to find Sokov holding up his binoculars, looking towards the west of the hill. Ozor thought that Sokov was in a hurry to see the armored train, so he smiled and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the armored train leaves every four hours. If you want to see it, you have to wait at least three months." Hours, so it just completed its patrol an hour ago, and is currently repairing and resupplying in the station."

Sokov put down his binoculars, turned to face Ozor and said, "Comrade Major, I disagree with the defense plan you proposed. If you really build the fortifications on Mamayev Hill according to your idea, once here If it is attacked by the Germans, then the defenders on the hill will receive a fatal blow."

Ozor was stunned, and after a while, he asked, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I was ordered to assist you in the construction of fortifications. If you have any ideas, feel free to bring them up, and I will fully cooperate with you." Completed."