Chapter 811: come back alive

  Chapter 811 To come back alive

   It was the Sixth Company of the Second Battalion of the 114th Regiment who was responsible for blowing up the bridge. Now only the company commander, Lieutenant Ivanov, instructor Yerushimovich, and two other wounded are left. Looking at several German firepower points at the bridgehead, Ivanov's eyes were about to burst into flames. In order to rush to the bridgehead and blow up the bridge, more than 20 soldiers in his company fell under the enemy's guns.

"Comrade company commander," the instructor Yerushimovich, who was injured in the leg, said to Ivanov while sitting behind a pile of bricks and rubble: "Although there are only four of us left, the order given to us by the superior The order still needs to find a way to complete it."

   "You all have injuries on your body, and it is difficult to move." Ivanov looked at the three subordinates in front of him who were all injured, and said with a firm expression: "I will complete the task of blowing up the bridge."

"Comrade company commander, let me blow up the bridge." A soldier who was shot in the abdomen heard Ivanov's words, his eyes were red, and tears could not stop streaming down his cheeks. He said emotionally: "My injuries are so serious, even if I don't blow up the bridge, I won't live long. Don't worry, I will climb to the bridge and blow up the bridge even if I climb."

"No, I can't let you go to die." Amidst the deafening gunfire, Ivanov shouted at his subordinates: "You are injured and unable to move. Get out of this hiding place. If you can’t walk ten meters, you will be shot to death by German machine guns. The task of blowing up the bridge is still up to me, understand?”

"I'm the instructor of the company," Yerushimovich said, looking at Ivanov with a serious expression, "I have no right to let the military commander take risks alone, even if you go to blow up the bridge yourself, you can't throw the bridge." Leave me alone, we must complete this task together."

Ivanov came to Yerushimovich and squatted down, put his hands on the other's shoulders, and said earnestly: "Comrade instructor, don't forget that we used to have a division of labor, and the things in life are yours." I have the final say, I have the final say on military matters. Now, I order you to stay, do you want to disobey my order?"

Seeing that the other party opened his mouth, he seemed to want to say something, and quickly added: "Our company has 138 people, and now there are only four of us left. I don't want the company to be revoked, so I order you to live, etc. When the troops retreat to the rear for repairs, rebuild the company as soon as possible, and avenge me and those comrades who died!"

Yerushimovich was deeply moved by Ivanov's last words. He held Ivanov's hand tightly and said solemnly: "Comrade company commander, you must come back alive." , we cannot do without you as the company commander."

   "Company Commander!" The other two wounded also said tearfully, "You must be alive. We are still waiting for the company to be rebuilt. You will continue to be our company commander."

Hearing what the instructors and soldiers said, Ivanov tried hard to squeeze a smile on his face, and said with a forced smile: "I will try to come back alive." After speaking, he stacked several explosive packs on the ground Get up, let the rope be fastened, and prepare to be dragged to the bridge to blow it up.

  However, he had just **** the explosive bag, and before he left his hiding place, he heard someone behind him shouting: "Lieutenant Ivanov, wait a minute. Lieutenant Ivanov..."

  Ivanov turned his head and looked back, only to see the second battalion commander with about twenty soldiers, bent over and taking advantage of the cover of the ruins, running towards him at a fast pace. When the second battalion commander came in front of him, Ivanov quickly reported to him: "Comrade battalion commander, Lieutenant Ivanov, commander of the sixth company, is preparing to carry out the task of blowing up the bridge, please give instructions!"

   "Lieutenant Ivanov, have you killed all the soldiers in your company?"

   "Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander." Ivanov did not hide, but replied truthfully: "Including me and the instructor, there are only four people left in the whole company."

After hearing this, the second battalion commander nodded slightly, glanced at the soldiers behind him, and said, "I guessed this would be the case, so I brought the rest of the battalion here. "

"Comrade battalion commander, I would like to make a suggestion." Ivanov pointed at the German machine guns tens of meters away, and suggested to the second battalion commander: "There is a distance of fifty or sixty meters from here to the bridge. Part of the area is exposed to the range covered by the German firepower. Therefore, I suggest that two machine guns be set up here to suppress the German firepower, and the personnel who cover the bridge bombing approach the bridge deck..."

Before Ivanov finished speaking, he saw the second battalion commander shaking his head. He thought that the other party said that there were not so many machine guns in the battalion, so he quickly changed his words and said, "There are not two machine guns, one is fine. Just need to restrain them The enemy's firepower can cover the people who bombed the bridge from approaching the bridge deck."

"Lieutenant Ivanov, you made a mistake." Seeing that Ivanov misunderstood himself, the second battalion commander explained to him: "I shook my head, not to say that there are no machine guns to provide cover for the comrades who bombed the bridge. , but I just received an order from the regiment headquarters that we need to adjust our tactics so that we don’t have to risk the intensive firepower of the enemy to get close to the bridge.”

"Comrade battalion commander, I don't understand what you mean." Ivanov was confused by the words of the second battalion commander, and he asked in puzzlement: "The road approaching the bridge deck is blocked by enemy machine guns. Can the road lead to the bridge?"

"I said, Comrade Lieutenant, why are you so stupid." The second battalion commander said to Ivanov with a wry smile: "Since the road leading to the bridge deck has been tightly blocked by German machine guns, then we are completely You can change the way to blow up the bridge. For example, approaching the pier of the highway bridge from the water surface and detonating the explosive package can also blow up the bridge."

   "Get out of the water?!" Ivanov heard this, and subconsciously looked towards the river not far away, only to see a lot of floating objects on the river, which were flowing towards the road bridge with the current. He thought about it for a moment, and then asked his own question: "Comrade battalion commander, we put the explosives on the wooden board, and we can indeed float along the current. But I have a problem, after the explosives float under the road bridge , how to detonate it?"

"Comrade Lieutenant, your superiors have explained what you are thinking about." The second battalion commander pointed to the explosive packs piled up in the distance, and said to Ivanov: "We put the explosive packs into the oil drum, and according to the burning of the fuse, Speed, to set the length of the fuse, so that it can ensure that the explosive package can explode directly when it floats under the highway bridge."

Regarding the statement made by the second battalion commander, Ivanov immediately expressed his objection: "Comrade battalion commander, we are not engineers and cannot accurately calculate the burning speed of the fuse, nor can we accurately set the length of the fuse." If the empty oil barrel full of explosives exploded just under the bridge, that would be great. However, if the explosive package explodes earlier or delayed, not only will it not cause any damage to the bridge, but it will arouse the vigilance of the Germans .If the Germans find out about this way of blasting, if they want to use this method to blow up bridges in the future, I am afraid that they will not be able to achieve their goals.”

After patiently listening to Ivanov's explanation, the commander of the second battalion felt that what he said was somewhat reasonable, so he asked back: "Lieutenant Ivanov, what do you think should be done to ensure that the gasoline barrel filled with explosives packs What about the explosion when it reaches the bottom of the bridge?"

"This is very easy to do. Just send someone to float to the bottom of the bridge with the gasoline tank, and then ignite the fuse. This will definitely blow up the highway bridge." After Ivanov finished speaking, he took the initiative to report to the second battalion The commander asked Ying: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I made this suggestion, and I beg you to let me carry out this task."

"No, you can't go." When the second battalion commander thought of detonating explosives under the bridge, he guessed that this was a death mission with no return, and Ivanov was the most trusted company commander under him. It would be very unworthy to sacrifice in vain like this, so he rejected the other party's request without hesitation: "I think it's better to send someone else to carry out this task."

When Ivanov saw that the battalion commander objected to his own execution of this task, he immediately guessed what was on his mind, and quickly explained to him: "Comrade battalion commander, don't worry, after I ignited the fuse at the bottom of the bridge, the explosive package was released." It will take more than ten seconds before it explodes, and I think I should have enough time to get out."

   "That's it." Knowing that Ivanov was going to perform the mission and had hope of surviving, the battalion commander's objection was not so strong. After all, his superiors gave him a death order to blow up the road bridge no matter what. After staring at the flowing river for a while, he nodded slowly, and said, "Okay, Lieutenant Ivanov, it's up to you to carry out this task, and now we're going to prepare the explosive kits for blowing up the bridge. "

  The battalion commander took Lieutenant Ivanov and several soldiers to the place where the explosive packages were piled up, and stuffed these explosive packages one by one into the empty oil drum. Seeing that the two empty oil barrels were filled with explosives, and the battalion commander was about to order someone to push the oil barrels into the river, Ivanov said first: "Comrade battalion commander, I think we should find a rope and put the two barrels together." Gasoline cans tied together."

   "Tie two oil barrels together?" Hearing what Ivanov said, the battalion commander asked in puzzlement, "Why?"

"Look," Ivanov said to the battalion commander, pointing to the highway bridge in the distance, "I plan to let the oil drum float to the bridge pier and then pull the fuse. If the two oil drums are not tied together , will be washed away by the current, I am afraid that only one of them can be detonated."

  The battalion commander felt that what Ivanov said made sense, so he asked the soldiers to tie the two oil barrels together and push them into the water. One-third of the oil drum filled with explosives was still floating on the water. Seeing this situation, the battalion commander felt relieved, at least to ensure that the explosives would not get wet by the river.

  For convenience, Ivanov took off his military coat before going into the water, leaving only a white shirt. He stood knee-deep in the water, grasped the rope connecting the two oil drums, looked at the battalion commander and asked, "Comrade battalion commander, I'm leaving, what instructions do you have?"

"Lieutenant Ivanov," the battalion commander looked at his brave subordinate, his nose felt sore, but he tried his best to control his emotions and said in a calm tone: "Be careful and come back alive! "

"Don't worry, Comrade Battalion Commander." Ivanov grinned at his battalion commander and said, "I believe that I will come back alive!" The barrel headed for deep water.

  When the oil barrel began to drift down the water, Ivanov plunged into the water in order to prevent himself from being discovered by the enemies on the shore, and drifted towards the road bridge with the oil barrel. The second battalion commander, who was hiding behind the ruins, looked worriedly at the two oil barrels floating up and down towards the road bridge, praying secretly, hoping that the enemy would not find Ivanov.

   After two or three minutes, the two oil barrels were blocked by a bridge pier. Seeing that the oil barrel stopped moving forward and continued to drift, Ivanov, who was submerged in the water, felt that he might be somewhere, so he resurfaced. He saw that two oil barrels were parked on the left and right sides of the pier, and they could not continue to drift forward because of the rope tied in the middle.

   Seeing this situation, Ivanov couldn't help being overjoyed. That way, he doesn't have to worry about finding a suitable place to fix the barrel. In today's place, just pulling the fuse is enough to blow up the bridge. He grabbed the fuses out of two oil barrels, cursed in a low voice: "Damn Germans, you all go to hell." Then he yanked the fuses.

  Seeing the "stinging" burning of the fuse, he grinned, and then plunged into the water with all his strength, swimming downstream quickly.

   Ten seconds later, there was a huge explosion from the pier. The road bridge collapsed rapidly in the water column, and the broken piers and bridge deck crashed into the river. Another road bridge connecting the family area and the factory area just disappeared.

Although they were still far away from the explosion point, the Second Battalion Commander and the others who were hiding behind the ruins were still dizzy from the shock, and when they seemed to have a piece of cotton stuffed in their ears, the voice seemed to come from a distant place when they heard someone talking. It seems low and inaudible.

  The second battalion commander yelled at a soldier who was in charge of monitoring the river for a long time, and the other party only vaguely heard that the battalion commander was asking himself if he saw Lieutenant Ivanov. He quickly shook his head and replied loudly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I saw that Comrade Lieutenant had dived into the water before the bridge was blown up. He may be somewhere downstream at this moment."

The second battalion commander didn't get the answer he wanted from the soldiers. He quickly reached out and grabbed a soldier not far away from him, and told him loudly: "Go to the regiment headquarters immediately and report that we have successfully blown up the bomber." The highway bridge to the west of the factory. However, the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov, who carried out the task of blowing up the bridge, is unknown at the moment, and he may have been washed downstream by the river. Please ask the regiment headquarters to contact friendly troops to help find the whereabouts of the lieutenant. Do you understand?"

   "Understood." The soldier quickly replied.

  After hearing this, the second battalion commander said worriedly: "Repeat what I just said."

  The soldier didn't dare to neglect, and quickly repeated what the second battalion commander said. The second battalion commander felt right after hearing it, so he slapped the opponent on the back and urged: "What are you still doing in a daze, hurry up and report to the regiment headquarters!"

  (end of this chapter)