The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Oil barrel transportation is relatively simple for supplies. After all, supplies do not require air. Just put ammunition and firearms into the oil barrels and seal them. What you need to pay attention to is not to load too many things and cause them to sink. He couldn't float at the bottom of the river.

It was more troublesome to transport a soldier. The problem was that the person needed air, and at the same time, there was no guarantee that the oil barrel would always keep one end upward and balanced while floating in the river... But this problem was quickly solved. The method was to float the oil barrel in the river. The bottom of the barrel contains some ammunition and is secured to the bottom with a partition.

In this way, even if a person makes some movements when getting in, the lower center of gravity will keep the oil drum standing upright in the water like a tumbler, and then just open a few small holes in the upper oil drum cover for breathing. .

Of course, the relatively gentle flow of the Volga River is also one of the conditions for the success of this method. Otherwise, the oil drum is likely to be knocked over and rolled in the water in the fast current.

But slow water flow can be a good thing or a bad thing.

The good thing is it's safer.

The bad thing is that it takes more time to float from Renok to the sandbar... The average flow speed of the Volga River is about 2 meters per second. The distance between Renok and the sandbar on the river channel cannot be accurately calculated. We can only use the distance from Renok to the central ferry in Stalingrad. Calculating the distance of 21 kilometers, multiplying by one and dividing by one, we finally get that it takes three hours to travel from Renok to Sandbank.

"Three hours?" Qin Chuan didn't expect it to take so long. He couldn't help but ask, "Can they do it?"

"That's not a problem, Major!" Alexander replied: "Everyone thinks this is a good method, just like lurking in the position for three hours without moving, it's no big deal!"

Qin Chuan nodded.

In fact, Qin Chuan knew that this task would not be as easy as they said. On the one hand, this was because the oil barrels had to float right under the eyes of the enemy, and there were many other unknown dangers. On the other hand, although the oil barrels could float in the water, Standing upright, but inevitably spinning, this is completely different from lurking in the position for three hours. You will become dizzy after just a few turns, especially if you are prone to seasickness... Vomiting in an oil drum is not a good thing. Because as long as one person's movement is discovered by the Soviet army, other people, including supplies, will be in danger.

But the fighting spirit and will of the German soldiers are beyond words. Although they knew the dangers involved, they still resolutely participated in this plan.

The first batch of oil barrels was transported to the middle of the Volga River and secretly put down at ten o'clock at night. There were 150 barrels in total, of which 100 barrels contained people and 50 barrels contained ammunition. In order to facilitate salvage, these oil barrels are tied together with ropes every ten barrels, that is, as long as one is hooked, a string will be brought up.

Then everyone was waiting anxiously.

In fact, it can't be said to be waiting. Both parties have made some preparations.

On Qinchuan's side, flares, fishing nets, long poles and other things were prepared to facilitate the fishing of oil barrels flowing across the sandbank. Qinchuan even organized a salvage team with good water properties to prepare for salvaging oil barrels that were farther away. .

On Alexander's side, reconnaissance planes were sent to conduct reconnaissance over the Volga River. If Soviet fishing boats were found, they would immediately send fighter planes to bomb, straf, and drive them away... The German Air Force usually did this, but it was special tonight.

Because Alexander was worried that the Soviets would salvage these oil barrels if they found them... The Soviets were short of oil, especially in Stalingrad, so it was not surprising that they would do this.

Later I learned that this had indeed happened. A string of oil barrels had been picked up by a Soviet fishing boat.

But unfortunately, these ten oil barrels contained ten German soldiers... The dozen Soviets on the fishing boat responsible for salvage were armed civilians, and they did not have their rifles with them when they were salvaging.

So the result is predictable. The German soldiers easily captured the fishing boat and sank it, and then continued to float down on the oil drums... It is said that they wanted to drive the fishing boat to the sandbank, but they discussed After a while I thought it was too dangerous and gave up.

What they did was correct. The target of the fishing boat was too big. When it got close to the sandbar, it would alert both the enemy and us. It is very likely that both the enemy and the enemy would consider it an enemy and be shot.

When the time finally reached three hours, Qin Chuan ordered three rounds of illumination bombs to be fired in the direction of the Soviet army. At the same time, a mortar was fired, and anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns were also fired indiscriminately on the opposite side.

On the one hand, this is to send a signal to the Soviet troops drifting in the oil barrels. On the other hand, it is to use the sound of gunfire to cover the sound of salvage, or it can also be said to attract the attention of the Soviet army.

Everything went very smoothly, one hundred and fifty oil barrels were fished out, and one hundred and thirty...a string of oil barrels containing supplies was leaked, and a string of oil barrels containing people were not salvaged, but the contents inside The soldiers climbed out and swam to the sandbank.

So from this point of view, it is easier to succeed in transporting people.

Because they have subjective initiative and can interact with the soldiers who come to search, they are easy to spot even in the dark.

Therefore, the next batch of supplies was immediately changed to a different delivery method. Each batch of fuel tanks carrying supplies was mixed with two oil barrels containing people, so that even supplies would not be missed.

That night, the German army transported a total of three batches of reinforcements in this way. Each batch contained 100 men and 50 barrels of supplies. They did not dare to transport more because they were worried that too many oil barrels floating on the river would cause trouble to the Soviet troops. doubt.

As a result, Shazhou Island's personnel and supplies were immediately enriched.

When the two friendly armies met on the sandbank, the situation was as close as real brothers... They hugged each other tightly as soon as they met, and their excitement was unspeakable.

It is easy to understand that they would feel this way.

For the reinforcements, these German troops on Shazhou Island are heroes and models for the German army. It is undoubtedly a pride for them to come here and fight with them.

For the original commandos, these reinforcements solved the problem of their survival and whether they could persist until the end to complete the mission.

This life-and-death relationship determines their solid friendship, not to mention that they share the same goal... Stalingrad.

After counting the list of supplies and personnel received, Qin Chuan couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the personnel received were from the 115th Infantry Regiment stationed in Lenok, and their quality was not as good as that of the 1st Infantry Regiment, the addition of 300 people injected fresh blood into Shazhou and solved the problem of Shazhou's shortage of troops. .

What Qin Chuan and others have to do now is to let these soldiers learn to use some Soviet-made equipment on the sandbank, such as anti-aircraft machine guns, as soon as possible.