Red Moscow

After dictating the content of the telegram, Sokov returned to his seat and sat down, thinking to himself: In real history, the German army dispatched more than 2,000 sorties on August 23 to carry out a mad attack on Stalingrad. The bombing was indiscriminate, and because of the appearance of this butterfly, the bombing time was postponed for half a month. In such a long period of time, at least more than 100,000 citizens were evacuated to the east bank, and perhaps the casualties caused by the bombing would be much smaller.

The reply from the Front Army Command arrived very soon, and the above content was very simple, ordering Sokov to quickly send someone to find out whether Chuikov's headquarters survived the bombing. No matter what the result is, it needs to be reported immediately, so that the front army headquarters can decide whether to send a new army commander to take over the city's defense.

After reading the telegram, Sokov got up and walked quickly to the door, shouting outside, "Come here!"

Following his shout, a soldier ran over immediately, straightened his body and waited for Sokov to give an order. Sokov pointed at the other party with his hand, and ordered: "Immediately call the third platoon leader, Second Lieutenant Samoilov, I have important tasks for him to complete."

After receiving the notification, Samoilov came to Sokov's headquarters soon. After he raised his hand and saluted, he said in accordance with the order: "Comrade Brigadier, Second Lieutenant Samoilov is here on orders, please give instructions!"

"Second lieutenant," Han Zhan didn't go around in circles with him because of time constraints. After briefly introducing the situation, he said bluntly: "The enemy planes outside are bombing the city frantically, and the group army headquarters has lost contact with the outside world. Order us to quickly find out whether General Chuikov and the others are still alive. I plan to order you to take a few soldiers and go to the Tsaritsin Cave to contact the headquarters. How about it, can you complete the task?"

Seeing Sokov looking at him expectantly, Samoilov immediately replied loudly: "Report to Comrade Brigadier Commander, I promise to complete the task."

After accepting the task assigned by Sokov, Samoilov took two soldiers in a jeep, braved the enemy's bombing, and rushed towards the city. But as soon as he entered the city, he found that the car could not move forward. The road ahead was full of bricks and rubble accumulated by collapsed houses. In addition to the countless fleeing citizens, driving was not as fast as walking. Seeing this situation, he ordered decisively: "Get out of the car, let's walk to the Tsaritsyn Catacombs." The three left the jeep and headed towards Pushkin Avenue against the fleeing crowd.

Samoilov was shocked by what he saw and heard along the way. Almost all the buildings were burning, and some blocks had become unrecognizable. There were bricks, stones, rubble and ruined walls everywhere. Pose a dead citizen or soldier. A soldier may have seen such a tragedy for the first time, and said to Samoilov in a panic: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, this place is too dangerous, let's go back."

"No, the order I received was to go to Pushkin Street to find the headquarters of the Army Group." Hearing what the soldier said, Samoilov immediately said with a straight face: "If we can't complete the task, even if we die in the city, we will die." Cannot go back to Mamayev Post. Do you understand?"

The soldier who persuaded Samoilov to go back quickly shut his mouth obediently after hearing these words. And another soldier said to Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, look at this street that has been bombed beyond recognition. We are not familiar with the city, and we might get lost. It is better to change the road."

"Another way?!" Samoilov and the others had been wandering around this area for a long time, but because the street had changed drastically, they couldn't find a place to go directly to Pushkin Street. They stopped several fleeing citizens one after another, but everyone was confused, thinking about escaping, and no one had the heart to show them the way, so they never asked how to go. At this moment, when I heard the soldier's suggestion to change the road, I asked curiously: "Where do you think we should go?"

"On the way we came, I noticed that the Tsaritsa River was nearby." The soldier quickly replied, "It is said that an entrance to the Army Group Headquarters is on the river bank. We should be able to find the headquarters as long as we walk along the river bed." .”

"This is a good way." Samoilov agreed with the soldier's proposal: "We will pass by the riverbed of the Tsaritsa River, no matter how bombed by the Germans there, the terrain structure will not change. Variety."

The three left the street, went down to the bed of the Tsaritsa River, and walked upstream based on their feelings. Not long after they walked, they were spotted by an enemy plane in the sky. Seeing the enemy plane swooping down towards him, Samoilov quickly yelled: "Lie down!" Then he faced the direction of the enemy plane and lay on the ground with his head in his hands.

The enemy plane swooped down from the sky and fired at them with its on-board machine gun. The bullets hit the river bed, splashing the mud and killing the two soldiers who hadn't recovered. After the German pilots pulled the plane up, they deliberately circled in the sky, only to fly to other places when they saw that there was no movement on the ground.

Seeing the enemy plane going away, Samoilov hurriedly crawled from the ground, leaned over to check his two subordinates, and found that they had already been shot and died. Samoilov sighed helplessly, and continued up the river with his gun in hand to find the army headquarters.

After walking about 500 meters, a voice suddenly came from not far away: "Stop, if you go any further, I will shoot!"

Samoilov stopped quickly and looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a soldier with a rifle standing up from a bomb crater not far away. Pointing his gun at Samoilov, he asked sharply, "Password!"

"I mean Comrade Soldier," Samoilov replied, not knowing whether to laugh or cry when he saw the other party asking for his password, "I'm from Mamayev Post. How do I know what your password is here?"

"Come from Mamayev Post?!" The soldier who was obviously a sentinel heard Samoilov say this, and moved his gun away, but still asked vigilantly, "Then what are you doing here?"

"I was ordered to get in touch with the Army Group Command." If someone asked him where he was going in other places, Samoilov would definitely not tell him. But the place where this soldier appeared was very strange, maybe the headquarters of the army group was nearby, so Samoilov told him the truth: "Do you know where the headquarters is?"

When the sentinel heard that he was looking for the headquarters, he couldn't help raising his vigilance, and pointed his gun at Samoilov again: "What are you looking for for the headquarters?"

"Although we have lost contact with the Army Group Command, the connection with our superiors has not been interrupted." Samoilov explained to the soldiers: "I came here to find the Army Group Command on the orders of my superiors."

After Samoilov finished speaking, the sentinel shouted not far behind: "Comrade adjutant, there is a commander here who said he came from Mamayev Post."

"From Mamayev's post?" The sentinel had just finished speaking, when an officer stepped out from the corner of the river bank, and he strode towards this direction while asking: "What is he doing here? "

"Is it yours, Comrade Klimov?" Samoilov's eyes were sharp, and he recognized the person walking towards him at a glance. It was Chuikov's adjutant Klimov, and quickly greeted him: "I am Samoilov, do you remember me?"

After Klimov approached, he looked Samoilov up and down, and then a surprised expression appeared on his face: "It turned out to be you, Comrade Sergeant, no, you are now a second lieutenant. You come here What are you here for?"

"That's right, Comrade Klimov." Samoilov knew that if he didn't explain why he came, he probably had no hope of seeing Chuikov, so he said to Klimov: "Because of our connection with the Army Group Command It was interrupted, so the brigade commander sent me here to restore contact with Army Group Command."

"Let's go, let's talk in the tunnel." Klimov put a hand on Samoilov's shoulder, and walked towards the entrance of the cave not far away, saying: "We Not only have I lost contact with you, but I have also lost contact with my superiors and all the troops. Comrade Commander has sent a large number of people to restore contact with the various troops."

Walking to the corner of the river embankment, Samoilov saw a hole. There were many bomb craters beside the hole. It seemed that this place was also bombed by enemy planes. Several soldiers squatted in the bomb crater, using their vigilance. looking around. As soon as he approached the tunnel, Samoilov felt very stuffy and a little out of breath, just like the last time in the tunnel where all the entrances and exits were deliberately closed in order to lure the Germans into the trap at Mamayev Gang.

Samoilov asked Kerimov: "Comrade adjutant, why is your tunnel so stuffy?"

"No way." Klimov shrugged his shoulders, spread his hands, and said helplessly: "The German bombing caused the exit leading to Pushkin Avenue to be bombed and collapsed. And in order to avoid air raids, the tunnel flooded into Two or three hundred people came, so the air in the tunnel will inevitably be a bit turbid."

Klimov brought Samoilov to the room where Chuikov was, and introduced to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, this second lieutenant is from Mamayev Post."

"Hello, Comrade Commander." Seeing Chuikov standing in front of him alive, Samoilov felt a lot more at ease. He hurried forward to salute, and at the same time reported: "The platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade Guard Company Second Lieutenant Samoilov reports to you that I am here to restore contact with you under the order of the brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov."

"Due to the heavy bombing by the German army, all our communication with the outside world has been cut off." Cuikov said sadly: "I have sent a lot of people to try to restore contact with the outside world, but so far there is no news. You come Did you encounter any danger on the way?"

Hearing Chuikov's question, Samoilov's mouth twitched violently a few times, and then he replied: "Comrade Commander, we were shot by enemy planes on the bed of the Tsaritsa River, follow me Unfortunately, the two soldiers who got up to carry out the task were shot and died."

"The enemy's bombing caused us a lot of casualties." After Chuikov said this, he asked back: "Why did Lieutenant Colonel Sokov think of resuming contact with us?"

"Comrade commander, the situation is like this." Samoilov replied: "We have received a call from the headquarters of the front army, saying that they have been unable to get in touch with you, and they have seen the enemy planes bombing so violently. has fallen..."

"As long as there is one of us," Chuikov suddenly became emotional when he heard the words of the city fall: "the city will never fall into the hands of the Germans. By the way, how did Sokov reply?" Superior?"

"Comrade Brigadier said: Stalingrad has not fallen, we are still fighting, and we will never hand over the city to the enemy easily."

"Good! Good! Good!" Chuikov couldn't help applauding after hearing Samoilov's words: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov said really well, we will never hand over the city to the enemy easily, we Fight to the last man."

"Comrade Commander," Samoilov continued: "The brigade commander ordered me to come here to see if the Army Group Command still exists. If it is still there, let you assign us the next combat mission." The last sentence The words were added by Samoilov on the spur of the moment.

Chuikov turned around and asked Krylov who was beside him: "Chief of Staff, what tasks are you going to assign to Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops?"

When Krylov heard Chuikov's question, he walked over quickly and replied: "Comrade Commander, according to my estimation, after the German army saturates the city, their next move is to launch an attack on the city. Mamayev Hill is the commanding height of the whole city, and it must be the focus of the German attack, as long as the infantry brigade can hold it there, it will be better than anything else.”

"Chief of Staff, you have the same thoughts as me." Chuikov nodded, and said to Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, please go back and tell Lieutenant Colonel Sokov that his task is to hold on to Mamayev Post, At no time should the enemy be allowed to occupy it. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Samoilov nodded vigorously, and replied: "I will take your words to him."

"Comrade Second Lieutenant, your mission has been completed, you can go back to Mamayev Post." Chuikov waved at Samoilov and said, "Enemy planes are still bombing the city, you have to be more careful on the way." ah."

Samoilov raised his hand to give a ring salute to Chuikov and Krylov, and then assured him: "Please rest assured, Commander and Chief of Staff, I will definitely return to Mamayev Post safely and take you Take the words to Comrade Brigadier Commander."