Red Moscow

In fact, it was a complete accident that Vasily occupied that building.

After the German army broke through the defense line of the sailors, under the cover of tanks, they rushed directly to Soviet Street and approached the headquarters of the 92nd Infantry Brigade. The guard platoon commanded by Klimov was broken up in the melee, and Vasily led a squad of soldiers to fight and walk, retreating to the other side of the street.

Vasily often carried out sniper missions in the city and was familiar with the terrain in this area. In order to prevent being besieged by the superior forces of the German army, he led people to hide in a half-destroyed bookstore in the middle of the street.

Listening to the sound of gunfire and explosions outside, some soldiers couldn't hold their breath and asked Vasily in a panic: "Comrade Sergeant, if we stay here, we won't be surrounded by enemies, right?"

Knowing that the German army was fighting with the sailors outside, Vasily would not conduct a search of his place for the time being, so he comforted the soldiers and said: "The bookstore has been bombed and collapsed in half, we are hiding here, as long as we don't shoot casually, The Germans would have no way of finding us."

"Then how long are we going to stay here?" the soldier continued to ask.

"We'll wait here until it gets dark." Vasily looked outside and said, "We'll find a way to return to Mamayev Post then."

Knowing that there is a chance to return to Mamayev Post after dark, the soldiers felt much more at ease. They knew very well in their hearts that as long as they could return to Mamayev Post smoothly, they would be safe.

After dark, the sound of guns and artillery on the street had not completely stopped. Vasily went outside to observe the environment, and couldn't help crying secretly. The road leading to the direction of Mamayev Hill had been blocked by enemy tanks and various barricades. Truncated, if you want to go back, the only way is to detour, other than force your way.

Vasily knew very well that with the twenty or so soldiers he led, if he wanted to forcibly break through the German defenses, it would be like hitting a stone with an egg, so he finally chose a detour. According to his plan, after coming out of the hiding place, go in the opposite direction to Mamayev's mound, leave Soviet Street from January 9th Square, and enter Red Petersburg Street...

But when the team reached the end of the street, Vasily's attention was attracted by a building. This building has a wide view no matter it faces south, west, or north, and is an excellent artillery observation position. To the east of the building is the Volga River. As long as a general-purpose machine gun is set up at the window, the ferry in the distance can be blocked with firepower.

After seeing this building, Vasily changed his mind. He decided to occupy the building and hold it firmly. He quickly ordered the troops to stop advancing and take cover on the spot.

The soldiers didn't know what happened, and they all looked at Vasily with surprised eyes. He called the deputy squad leader aside, pointed to the building tens of meters away, and said to him, "Comrade Corporal, have you seen that building?"

"Yes, I saw it, Comrade Sergeant." After answering Vasily's question, the deputy squad leader asked curiously: "Why do you think of asking this? Are you planning to lead us to occupy this building?"

"That's right, Comrade Corporal, you guessed right, I just want to occupy it." Vasily nodded and replied, "Didn't you realize that this building has a particularly wide view, if we stick to it, we can completely Use firepower to seal off the small square ahead..."

"My God!" The deputy squad leader was frightened into a cold sweat when he heard Vasily say this. He carefully reminded the other party: "Comrade Sergeant, have you considered that we only have less than twenty people left?" , Do you have the strength to seize such a building? Even if we can occupy the building, how long can we hold on without ammunition and supplies?"

"According to my observation, the enemy's defense in the building should not be strong." As a sniper, Vasily's observation ability is stronger than that of ordinary people. Said: "We will be able to take this building if we take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and launch an attack by surprise."

Seeing that Vasily had already made up his mind, the deputy squad leader could no longer object, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "Okay, Comrade Sergeant, I will follow your command."

The next battle went very smoothly. There were only seven or eight German soldiers in the building. Except for two sentries standing by the window and chatting, the rest were sleeping on beds in undamaged houses. The sentry thought that they were surrounded by their own people, so their vigilance was very low. As a result, they were killed by Vasily and another soldier without even sounding a warning.

After killing the enemy sentries, the soldiers of the guard squad quietly entered the building and cleared out the Germans inside one by one. Since the soldiers incorporated into the guard company by Seriosha were all veterans with rich combat experience, they cleared out the enemies in the building without any casualties.

After eliminating the enemy, the deputy squad leader asked Vasily for instructions: "Comrade Sergeant, what should we do next?"

"We only have 20 people, and this building has three unit doors. If we divide the troops to guard, the troops will become weak." Vasily, who had checked the terrain, said to the deputy squad leader: "I plan to concentrate all the people near the square. The third unit, and the first and second units only need to send one soldier to serve as guard."

"Comrade Sergeant, Comrade Sergeant." While the two were talking, a soldier rushed over and reported to Vasily: "There is movement in the basement of this unit, it may be the enemy."

Hearing that there were still enemies in the building, Vasily's face changed, and then he ordered the deputy squad leader: "You take five soldiers to guard here to prevent the Germans from entering the building again. The rest of the comrades follow me."

Vasily led the men and followed the soldiers to the door of the basement, and saw a closed iron door here. He stepped forward and pulled the handle, but the iron door remained motionless. A soldier came up to him and said, "Comrade Sergeant, shall we blow the door open with grenades?"

"Wait a minute, don't act rashly." Seeing that the soldier took out a grenade, Vasili was about to put it on the doorknob, and quickly stopped him: "I don't think there may be Germans in the basement."

"Not German?!" The soldier had a surprised expression on his face when he heard Vasily say this: "Could it be a small unit of our army that was dispersed?"

"The Germans are not fools. They will not deploy their troops in the basement. Once the door is blocked, they can only wait to die inside." Vasily analyzed to everyone: "Not only are there no Germans, but there will be no The small units of our army who have been dispersed will never hide in the building while the enemy is occupying it."

"Then who would they be?" asked the warrior.

"Needless to say, Comrade Soldier." Vasily said with a wry smile: "Nine out of ten people hiding in the basement are the residents of this building."

When the soldiers heard that the people in the basement might be residents of the building, they put away the grenades. He knocked heavily on the door with his fist and shouted inside: "Hey, people inside, listen up, we are the Soviet Red Army, you are already surrounded by us, put down your weapons and come out and surrender."

After the shouts of the soldiers stopped, there was no movement inside. The soldier cast a questioning look at Vasily, as if asking himself what to do next. Vasily ordered: "Comrade soldier, keep knocking on the door and make sure everyone inside comes out."

The soldier nodded after hearing this, then beat the door vigorously, and at the same time raised his voice and shouted: "Open the door, open the door quickly. If you don't open the door again, we will blow the door open."

This time there was finally a movement in the door: "Don't blow it up, don't blow it up, we are all on our own!"

"Open the door!" The soldier heard clearly that the people inside were speaking in Russian, turned his head and whispered to Vasily, "Comrade Sergeant, it seems that he is really one of our own." Then he shouted at the inside: "Hurry up! Open the door."

The closed door was opened, and an old lady with a headscarf poked her head out. Because it was pitch black outside, she couldn't see the people standing outside clearly. She asked tremblingly, "Are you from the Soviet Union?" Or German?"

"Nonsense, of course we are Soviets." The soldier yelled at her: "How many people are there, let them all come out."

Worried about scaring the old lady, Vasily stopped the soldier quickly, then walked over, took a flashlight at himself, and said to the old lady: "Old man, don't be afraid, we are all on our own."

Since Vasily's flashlight was fleeting, the old lady didn't see Vasily clearly at all, but she used her own method to distinguish whether the person standing in front of her was her own or a German. She reached out and touched Vasily's steel helmet, and then touched Vasily's collar patch, with a surprised expression on her face. She turned her head and shouted into the dark basement: "Come out, you are our comrades."

Following the old lady's shout, a dozen or twenty people came out of the basement one after another. Except for three middle-aged men, the rest were women and children. Vasily asked the three men, "Which unit do you belong to?"

The three men who were questioned pointed to the north at the same time and replied: "We are all workers in the nearby flour mill, and our family lives in this building."

After Vasily stepped forward to shake hands with the three, he said politely: "I am Sergeant Vasily of the Red Army. I regret to tell you that we are surrounded by Germans, so we must find a way to stick to this place. I hope to get your support." Help, are you willing to fight alongside us?"

"Comrade Red Army Sergeant," a burly middle-aged man replied, "My name is Shulka. I am a militiaman from a flour mill. I have received military training. I am willing to assist you in guarding this building."

Seeing his companion Shulka expressed his willingness to assist the Red Army to hold on to the building, the other two men were not to be outdone, and expressed their willingness to fight side by side with Vasily and the others to jointly defend their own homeland.