Chapter 666: Hard work (middle)

  Chapter 666 Hard Fight (Part 2)

  The bomb exploded not far from Chuikov, and the soil that was kicked up immediately covered him. Hearing the enemy planes in the sky go away, he couldn't wait to get out from the warm soil, crawled out of the crater on hands and feet, rushed to the shelter that had been destroyed long ago, and looked down.

   "Comrade Commander," the officer whose leg was crushed by the log, saw the disheveled Chuikov appearing in front of him, and said apologetically, "I have caused you trouble."

   "Look at what you said. I am your superior, how can I ignore you." Cuikov stepped forward to hold the other party's hand, comforting him and said, "Don't worry, we will rescue you."

   "Where is the military doctor?" The officer looked behind Chuikov and said weakly, "I have something to tell him."

   "Come here!" Cuikov turned his head and saw a soldier holding a shovel, and hurriedly told him, "Hurry up and call the military doctor."

  The military doctor was hiding in the bomb crater not far away. The soldier went out and yelled twice, and he followed. He cautiously came to Chuikov's side, bent down and asked respectfully, "Comrade Commander, what instructions do you have?"

   "I am not looking for you, but he is looking for you." Chuikov pointed at the officer who was pinned down by a log and said, "He said he has something to tell you."

  The military doctor quickly came to the officer and squatted down, asking, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

   "Comrade military doctor," perhaps because the injury was too severe, the officer had difficulty speaking, so the military doctor had to move his head closer to hear what he said clearly: "Can you amputate my leg?"

"What, amputation?" The officer's words startled the military doctor. He shook his head vigorously and said, "No, absolutely not. Now your waist is pressed by a log and you can't move. If you want to amputate, you can only choose Start from the waist. Under the present conditions, even if you were amputated from the waist down, you would die instantly due to massive blood loss."

  Chuikov didn't expect that the purpose of the officer looking for a military doctor was to amputate his limb so as not to cause unnecessary trouble to his comrades. The corners of his eyes couldn't help getting wet. Taking advantage of no one's attention, he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand, then stood up and faced the soldiers standing outside the shelter: "Comrades, please find a way to rescue this commander. I, Chuikov, please you." After speaking, he raised his hand and saluted the soldiers with a solemn military salute.

  ...

  Returning to the command post, before Chuikov could sit down, Krylov rushed to him and said in a panic: "Comrade commander, it's not good, something happened."

  Cuikov's heart skipped a beat, something happened? Could it be that the enemy has already occupied the Red October factory? He hurriedly asked nervously: "What happened, is the Red October factory lost?"

   "The Red October factory is lost?" Chuikov's words stunned Krylov, and he wondered why he hadn't received a report. But he soon understood that it was Chuikov who misunderstood himself and thought that the Red October factory had been lost, and quickly explained: "The enemy took advantage of our army's attention to concentrate on the Red October factory, the barricade factory and the The Silicate Factory unexpectedly launched an attack on the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory. At present, the 112th Division's defense zone is engaged in intense fighting."

Knowing that the battle took place in the defensive area of ​​the 112th Division, Cuikov felt more at ease, and said casually, "Chief of Staff, call Major General Zoludev on their right wing and ask the 37th Guards Division to be ready for support at any time. .”

"Comrade Commander, the bad news I want to tell you is related to General Zholudev." Krylov said with a sad face: "While the enemy launched an attack on the 112th Division's defense area, it also dispatched planes to bomb the 112th Guards Division. The defense zone of the 37th Division. General Zoludev's headquarters was hit by a bomb, and his life and death are now unknown. To make matters worse, Military Commissar Gurov was also in his division headquarters at the time..."

   Hearing this, Chuikov suddenly felt blackness in front of his eyes, and golden stars bursting out. If Krylov hadn't found out that something was wrong and supported him in time, he might have fallen to the ground. Cuikov took two deep breaths, stabilized his emotions, and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, who reported it to you, and is the source reliable?"

"It's Colonel Omelchenko, the commander of the 109th Guards Regiment!" Krylov understood the purpose of Chuikov's question. He was worried about spreading false information to shake the morale of the army, so he quickly replied affirmatively: "His commander The headquarters is not far from the division headquarters, and it was he who witnessed the division headquarters being hit by a bomb."

   "Organize people to rescue immediately." Chuikov worried about the safety of Gurov and Zholudev, and quickly ordered Krylov: "Be sure to rescue the military commissar and Zolludev."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Commander, Colonel Omelchenko is already organizing a rescue." Krylov said with a serious expression: "If we are lucky, we will definitely be able to rescue people."

"The military commissar and General Zholudev are buried in the headquarters. The oxygen below will probably run out soon. Colonel Omelchenko is immediately asked to find a way to connect two tubes to feed the people buried below. Oxygen.” Cuikov felt that if Ludev’s command center was only collapsed by the earthquake, the casualties should not be too great, but if the oxygen in it was exhausted, no one would survive: “After the pipe is connected, start to pour in After supplying oxygen, it’s not too late to dig it out slowly.”

   "You are still thoughtful." After flattering Chuikov, Krylov went to the table and picked up the phone, called Colonel Omelchenko, and conveyed Chuikov's meaning to him.

  With the passage of time, the situation near the factory area not only did not improve at all, but showed signs of deterioration. Colonel Yermorkin, the commander of the 112th Division, called and reported to Krylov: "Chief of Staff, about fifty enemy tanks have broken through the left flank of our division and are rushing towards the tractor factory."

"Hold it, Colonel Yermorkin, let your men hold it up for me." Originally, Krylov was upset when Zholudev was buried in the ruins, but now he heard Yermorkin Said that the enemy's tanks were rushing towards the factory from the left flank of the 41st Guards Division, and he couldn't help being anxious: "If the enemy is allowed to rush into the tractor factory, I will send you to a military court."

"Come on, Comrade Chief of Staff." Unexpectedly, Colonel Yermorkin retorted: "I have less than a thousand men left, and I don't have any heavy weapons. If I want to defend such a wide area, how can I block it?" enemy…"

Before Krylov could speak, Chuikov snatched the microphone from his hand and whispered in his ear, "Comrade Colonel, I am Chuikov. Immediately disperse all your people to nearby buildings, Tell them to spare the enemy tanks and only hit the infantry who follow behind them. Understand?"

Knowing that Chuikov only ordered his own men to destroy the enemy's infantry, Yermorkin felt that he should be able to do so, so he replied straightforwardly: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will let the soldiers hide in the buildings. Destroy the infantry following the tanks."

   "Comrade Commander," seeing Chuikov put down the phone, Krylov couldn't wait to ask: "Is it appropriate for us to let the enemy's tanks charge towards the tractor factory like this?"

"There is nothing inappropriate, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Chuikov looked at Krylov and said: "If there is no infantry cover, even if the enemy's tanks rush to the tractor factory, the troops standing there will still have a way to destroy them. "

  Since Chuikov has already said that, Krylov can’t say anything more. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly said: "By the way, why haven't you received Sokov's report until now? I don't know how the battle is going on at Mamayev Hill?"

"Call and ask immediately." Chuikov is also very concerned about the situation at Mamayev Post. He knows that once the commanding heights are lost, the enemy will gain a greater advantage, so he urged Krylov: "Look at them How is the battle going there, can we stop the enemy's attack?"

   Just when Chuikov and Krylov were eager to understand the battle situation on Mamayev Post, Sokov's troops had successfully repelled the Romanian army's attack. Sidolin had seen the power of the new rockets before, so he could naturally imagine the power of the thunder cannon; but it was the first time Ivanov had seen that shocking scene, densely packed enemy infantry under the cover of tanks Down, coming towards Mamayev Hill, dozens of flying thunder cannons placed on the hill, fired two rounds in a row, and immediately filled the foot of the mountain with gunpowder smoke. When the gunpowder smoke cleared, Ivanov saw that the enemies flooding in like a tide had disappeared. On the land that was still emitting green smoke, there were pieces of broken and incomplete corpses everywhere, and there were even two Panzer III tanks. It was overturned by the power of the explosion of the dynamite package, and it stood there burning blazingly.

After watching the situation on the battlefield, Ivanov returned to the headquarters and said excitedly to Sokov: "Comrade commander, I really didn't expect that the flying mine cannon you developed is so powerful. I The army wiped out at least a thousand enemies with almost no casualties."

Regarding the huge results achieved, Sokov was very modest: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, the reason why we have achieved such great results is that on the one hand it is indeed because of the great power of the Flying Thunder Cannon; on the other hand, it is the Romanian The army underestimated the enemy. They thought that we would start a hand-to-hand battle with them as in the past few days. Therefore, the formation was particularly dense during the attack, so that our flying mine cannons could exert the greatest effect. If the German army attacked, they would The infantry ranks will be relatively dispersed, and our battle results will be much smaller."

   "In any case, it is a remarkable victory to wipe out thousands of Romanian troops at one time." Ivanov continued to say, "I think we should report to the Army Group Command immediately and tell the commanders the good news."

  Sokov was hesitating whether to report the results to Cuikov after teaching the Romanian army another lesson, when the phone on the desk rang without warning. Sidolin picked up the receiver and listened for a while, then passed it to Sokov, and said, "Comrade Commander, this is the commander's call."

   "Hello, Comrade Commander." Sokov respectfully asked into the microphone: "Do you have any instructions?"

   "How's the battle situation there?" Chuikov asked loudly on the phone: "Has the enemy launched an attack on you?"

"Yes, the Romanian army on the front of Mamayev Post launched a round of attack on us." Sokov replied proudly, "But their attack has been blocked by us, and thousands of soldiers have been wiped out by us." .”

   "What, you have wiped out thousands of enemies?" Chuikov, who was having a headache for the army's retreat, asked in surprise after hearing Sokov's answer: "What about your casualties?"

"Probably more than a dozen people were injured, and no one was sacrificed." Sokov was quite helpless when he said this. It stands to reason that the enemy had just rushed to the foot of the mountain, and they were hit by flying thunder cannons. I didn't see it, and there will definitely be no casualties in the troops. However, those wounded soldiers fell into the bomb crater and sprained their feet or flashed their waists because they were too emotional when they were carrying the explosives: "In the next battle, I will remind the soldiers to pay attention and try to minimize unnecessary damage. Necessary casualties."

   Hearing Sokov's report, both Chuikov and Krylov were dumbfounded: Is it possible to kill thousands of enemies while only wounding a dozen of them? If someone else reported it like this, even if the attacking enemy was the Romanian army with poor combat effectiveness, the two would definitely think that the other party was bragging without hesitation, but Sokov's report would be much more credible.

   "Colonel Sokov," Cuikov didn't wake up from the shock, he asked ignorantly, "How did you achieve such a battle loss ratio?"

"Comrade Commander, I made a new type of defensive weapon last night, which can effectively deal with the enemy's attack." Sokov originally wanted to introduce the Flying Thunder Cannon to Cuikov, but after another thought, it wasn't that he didn't trust other troops. , but worrying that after they are equipped with flying mine cannons, once they are captured by the German army and imitated, they may use them against themselves. It is unknown whether they can hold Mamayev Post with their own strength. Therefore, this kind of thing that shoots one's own feet with stones is absolutely unacceptable.

  Sokov's words aroused Chuikov's great interest: "A new type of defensive weapon, can you tell me what it is?"

"Comrade Commander, if you are interested, you can come to Mamayev Post to see for yourself." After quick thinking, Chuikov decided not to promote the Flying Thunder Cannon to the entire army. However, as his superior, Chuikov , but it can let him gain insight: "I will let you see with your own eyes how this weapon wipes out the enemy in front of our position."

"Okay." Although Chuikov felt that Sukov's words and deeds were a bit abnormal, after thinking for a while, he decided to go to Mamayev Post to see this new weapon in person before deciding whether to equip it on a large scale within the army group: "I I will hurry to Mamayev Kurgan as soon as possible to see the new defensive weapons you speak of."

  (end of this chapter)