Red Moscow

But before Klimov could find General Dmitriev, Lyudnikov called Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, it's not good, the German pontoon bridge is still tens of meters away. gone."

"Then what are you still standing there for?" Hearing that the German army was about to erect the pontoon bridge, Cuikov couldn't help feeling a little anxious, and said sharply, "Immediately use firepower to kill the enemy engineers and organize them to complete the pontoon bridge."

"No, Comrade Commander." Regarding Chuikov's order, Lyudnikov said in embarrassment: "I have organized many times to suppress firepower, but all the firepower points were destroyed by the German tanks on the other side."

After putting down the phone, Chuikov said to Sokov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation at Lyudnikov's place is very critical. I want to go over and have a look, and I will leave this place to you."

"Wait a minute, Comrade General." Seeing that Chuikov was about to go out, Sokov quickly stopped him: "I think I'll go. You are the supreme commander of the southern group. If anything happens, the troops will There will be chaos."

When Chuikov heard Sokov say this, he stopped, thought for a moment, nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I'll let you go to Lyudnikov. Remember, the order is clear , at all costs, to prevent the enemy of the 14th Armored Division from crossing the Aksai River."

"Don't worry, Comrade General," Sokov assured Chuikov. "As long as I'm alive, I don't think the enemy will be allowed to cross the Aksay River."

When Sokov set out, he did not bring the guards beside Chuikov, but borrowed a squad from Andrei, and went with him to the defense area of ​​the 138th Division.

As the chief of staff of the Southern Group, he is naturally very clear about where Lyudnikov's headquarters is. But when he arrived at the command post, he was rushed, and a staff officer who stayed inside told him that the division commander had gone to the river.

"Where is it?" Sokov knew the order given by Chuikov, which aroused Lyudnikov so much that he couldn't stay at the division headquarters and wanted to go to the front to command the battle himself. Sokov originally wanted to find Lyudnikov by himself, but he thought that the German tanks were constantly shelling the opposite bank. It would be too wrong for him to be killed by the German shells while scurrying around the front, so he Said to the staff: "Take me to him immediately."

Under the leadership of the staff officer, Sokov followed the traffic trench to the forward observation post, and found Lyudnikov who was directing the battle here. Seeing Lyudnikov, Sokov cut to the chase and asked: "Comrade Colonel, how is the situation here?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't want to hide from you, the situation here is terrible." Lyudnikov with a toothbrush mustache said to Sukov with a bitter face: "I ordered the machine guns to shoot at the engineers on the pontoon bridge. , As a result, as soon as the machine gun fired, it immediately attracted retaliatory shelling from the tanks on the other side. So far, we have lost five machine guns. If it is not that we have just replenished a batch of weapons and ammunition, it is estimated that all the machine guns in the division have been lost. .”

Sokov heard the sound of machine gun fire outside, and the bullet hit the iron plate of the floating bridge, splashing a series of sparks. "Comrade Colonel, it seems that there are still machine guns shooting outside?"

"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Lyudnikov nodded and said, "I ordered the commanders below to dispatch ten machine gunners, one to be in charge of mobile shooting, and the other nine to stand by. When the machine gunner died Immediately after that, the new machine gunners will pick up their machine guns and continue firing until all are sacrificed."

Sukov was not optimistic about the method that Lyudnikov came up with. He shook his head and said, "Comrade Colonel, I don't think your efficiency is high. Instead, a large number of experienced machine gunners were sacrificed." .”

"Then tell me, what should I do?" Lyudnikov stared at his red eyes, grabbed Sukov by the skirt, and said viciously: "If we don't do this, the German engineers will Set up the pontoon bridge, and then their tanks can rush over, and I don’t have any anti-tank weapons in my army. How can I stop them then? Tell me, how can I stop them?”

After breaking free from Lyudnikov's hand, Sokov said unhurriedly: "It's not difficult to deal with the German engineers, why do you insist on shooting them with machine guns? You know, shooting with machine guns will not only consume a lot of ammunition, but also attract shelling from German tanks, and even if you manage to knock out one or two engineers, it will not be worth the candle."

Lyudnikov guessed from Sokov's tone of voice that he must have thought of a good solution, so he asked modestly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, may I ask, do you have any way to eliminate the German engineers?"

"Are there any snipers in the division, or sharpshooters?" Sokov asked.

"There are no snipers, but there are several sharpshooters. I don't know what you want sharpshooters to do..." Lyudnikov just said this, and suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead, and said angrily : "Confused, why am I so confused. Just send a few sharpshooters to aim at the German engineers and shoot. Why let the machine gunners fight the enemy for consumption? Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you, I will immediately arrange the sharpshooters to go Against the German sappers."

There were sharpshooters on the ground, and as Lyudnikov's order was issued, four or five sharpshooters immediately began shooting at the engineers who were building the bridge. Although the firepower of the machine gun is powerful, it is not accurate enough to shoot targets more than a hundred meters away, and often the German tanks on the opposite bank will find out just after half a shuttle, and then attract firepower, which will only increase unnecessary casualties. And sharpshooters generally change places with one shot, leaving German tanks at a loss.

Seeing more than a dozen engineers who were being reinforced, they were shot and fell on the pontoon bridge or fell into the rushing river. The German commander ordered that there must be Soviet snipers on the other side, and ordered the bridging operation to be suspended.

Although the German army retreated, the pontoon bridge they built was less than 20 meters away from the north bank. If the Germans built the bridge regardless of casualties, they could still erect the pontoon bridge connecting the two banks within half an hour. German tanks can come rumbling over. In order to eliminate this hidden danger, Sokov decided to send someone to blow up the bridge.

When it comes to bombing bridges, engineers are the most professional. So Sokov ordered someone to find the engineer company commander, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade company commander, do you have any leftovers from the explosives sent by the city defense committee last time?"

"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The engineering company commander nodded and replied affirmatively, "There are still more than 400 kilograms. Do you want to use this batch of explosives now?"

Sokov pointed to the pontoon bridge that was about to be completed on the river, "If I order you to blow up the pontoon bridge on the river, what are you going to do?"

"The pontoon bridge is still more than ten meters away from the shore." The engineer company commander looked at the pontoon bridge and said, "The soldiers who perform the task of blowing up the bridge need to swim more than ten meters before they can install explosives on the bridge. However, this matter It will have to wait until night.”

"Why can it be done at night?" Sokov asked puzzled.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think you have also seen the German tanks on the other side." The engineer company commander explained: "If the bridge is blown up during the daytime, our soldiers will be immediately blocked by German firepower as soon as they step into the water. There will certainly be huge casualties."

After the engineer company commander finished speaking, Sokov didn't speak immediately. He thought to himself: I didn't expect that this company commander, like Lyudnikov, has a lack of strings in his mind, he does things too rigidly, and doesn't know how to be flexible at all. . For example, Lyudnikov will use machine gunners to fight against the Germans for problems that can be solved by snipers; the company commander also asked him to blow up the bridge, only to know that the soldiers carried explosives on their backs for ten days. Didn't you think there is a simpler way to go up the pontoon bridge a few meters and then install explosives?

"Comrade Company Commander," Sokov looked at the short engineer company commander in front of him, and asked, "Aside from letting the soldiers swim up the pontoon bridge with explosives on their backs, is there no other way?"

The engineer company commander thought for a while, then shook his head, and said resolutely: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. I think this way of blowing up bridges is the only feasible way at present."

Seeing a teacup on the table, Sokov went to the table, pointed to the teacup and said to the engineering company commander: "Comrade company commander, if this is a small boat, it is full of explosives." Holding his teacup, he continued, "Since we let this small boat full of explosives go down the river and explode suddenly when it reaches the German pontoon bridge. Tell me, what will happen?"

"It goes without saying that the pontoon bridge will definitely be blown up." After the engineer company commander blurted out his thoughts, a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Chief of Staff, your method is really great. I will immediately Arrange people to prepare the boat, and after dark, float the boat full of explosives down the river and blow up the enemy's pontoon bridge."