Red Moscow

  Chapter 18 Breaking the wall and opening the way

Seeing that Xie Dulin actually believed Lin Hua's Arabian Nights words, the major couldn't help becoming anxious: "Comrade Commander, we are fighting a war, but children are playing games! Fortifications that a battalion of us can't take down, he alone Can the defensive platoon that is not satisfied with the number be taken down?"

Xiedulin waved to the battalion commander and ordered: "Comrade major, quickly take Sokov to the front and prepare everything he needs." Followed Lin Hua to leave the regiment command post.

   As soon as the two spoke, Xiedulin immediately ordered the chief of staff: "Call the tank battalion and ask them if they can draw out tanks to cooperate with our regiment's attack on Gogol Street."

  Hearing what Xie Dulin said, the chief of staff couldn't help asking curiously: "Comrade commander, do you promise Sergeant Sokov to complete the task of attacking the fortified area alone? Why do you still need to contact the tank battalion?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Seidulin said, looking at his stubborn chief of staff, somewhat dumbfounded, "Sergeant Sergeant Sokov is very appreciated by Comrade Commander, although I don't see anything special about him. place, but since he has made such a request, he must be allowed to try. No matter whether it succeeds or fails in the end, we can explain to Comrade Commander.”

  After figuring out Xiedulin's intentions, the chief of staff immediately called the battalion commander of the tank battalion and told him that when his troops were attacking Gogol Avenue, they encountered tenacious resistance from the German army, and asked him to send tanks for support.

   After the major left the headquarters, he brought Lin Hua and the soldiers of the garrison platoon to the entrance of Gogol Street. The major stood behind a pile of sandbags, pointed to the barricades hundreds of meters away, and said to Lin Hua with great distress: "Comrade sergeant, that is

   German fortifications. In order to seize it, our battalion launched three consecutive charges, all of which ended in failure and lost a full company. "

Lin Hua took a closer look. On this street, which is no more than 20 meters wide, there are various obstacles everywhere. The bodies of those fallen comrades are gathered near these obstacles. It can be seen that they are climbing over When it was blocked, it was killed by German firepower. He turned his gaze to both sides of the street, and saw that there were three-story brick-and-concrete buildings, which were very suitable for the "breaking the wall and opening the way" tactic.

  After understanding the basic situation of the battlefield, he became more confident in capturing the enemy's fortifications. He turned to the battalion commander and said, "Comrade Major, please prepare the grenades for us as soon as possible. I plan to attack as soon as possible."

Don't look at the fact that the battalion commander had a lot of dissatisfaction with Lin Hua when he was in the regiment command post, but now he is worried about him: "Comrade sergeant, you have to think clearly, you only have twelve people, if you want to take down the enemy's fortifications , this is simply impossible.”

   "Comrade battalion commander, please rest assured, I am confident that I can take down this fortification." Lin Hua said confidently: "Please ask someone to prepare enough grenades for us."

  The battalion commander called the second company commander not far away, and ordered him to bring two boxes of grenades to Lin Hua's garrison platoon. After the second company commander left, the battalion commander asked Lin Hua with concern: "Sergeant Sukov, what do you think?"

Lin Hua knew that even if he successfully captured the enemy's fortifications and was promoted to company commander by Xie Dulin, he would have to accept the command of this battalion commander for a long time to come. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to establish a good relationship with each other. of. Before he talked about his combat plan, he asked the major to analyze the current situation. He pointed to the barricades in front of him and said to the major: "Comrade battalion commander, in addition to building barricades in the middle of the street, the German army is still on the two sides. Various bright and dark firepower points were arranged in the buildings on the side. The reason why our army's attack was frustrated was that when our army charged, we had to clear the obstacles on the street while advancing under the firepower of the German army. Pay a huge price."

   "That's right, that's right," the major felt that Lin Hua's words were very reasonable, nodded and asked, "Then what are you going to do?"

"Have you seen the building next to it?" Seeing that the major agreed with his opinion, Lin Hua went on to say, "In order to avoid being flanked by fire from two sides when we advance on the street. I plan to lead the soldiers into the side In the building, after blowing up the inner wall, approach the enemy's barricade from inside the building."

After the major heard Lin Hua's tactics, he couldn't help applauding: "Great, Comrade Sergeant, your idea is really great!" He slapped the sandbag in front of him forcefully, and said annoyedly, "I don't know what to do." Why didn't I think of such a good tactic." Then he advised Lin Hua, "There is a long corridor in every building, you just need to blow up the inner walls at both ends of the corridor."

   While talking, the second company commander had already brought two boxes of grenades over. Lin Hua hurriedly shouted to the soldiers standing beside him: "Don't be dazed, quickly put grenades in your backpacks, as many as you can."

When Lin Hua and the others loaded the grenades and were about to set off, the major suddenly stopped Lin Hua, and he stretched out his hand and said, "Come on, let's get acquainted. My name is Ivan Valko, and I am the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 1077th Regiment. You can call me Ivan from now on."

  Lin Hua quickly stretched out his hands to hold the opponent's hand, and said in a panic, "My name is Mikhail Sokov."

   "Then I will call your nickname Misha from now on," Major Ivan held Lin Hua's hand tightly, and said in a friendly manner, "I hope you all come back alive!"

   "I will, Major Ivan." Lin Hua let go of Ivan's hand, took a step back, raised his hand to his forehead and saluted, then turned around and led the soldiers into the nearby building.

  Because of the guidance of Major Ivan, Lin Hua did not blow up the outer walls of each house next to each other as originally planned, but only blew up the walls of two sections of the corridor. Not only has a large number of grenades been saved, but the advancement speed has also been greatly accelerated. Although the explosion of the grenade was not small, fighting was happening everywhere in Kryukovo. Therefore, the German army standing in the middle of Gogol Street did not realize that the danger was approaching them step by step.

  In the building on the north side of the barricade, there were five or six German soldiers. They were all focused on the street, and they didn't even notice that the Soviet army had entered the building. After hearing a dull explosion, one of the German soldiers came out with a gun to check. Unexpectedly, as soon as he went out, he bumped into Lin Hua. Before he could shout, the bayonet in Lin Hua's hand had already stabbed broke his heart.

   Christopher, who followed closely behind, rushed into the house quickly, raised his submachine gun and fired at the German soldiers with their backs to the door. The German soldiers were caught off guard and screamed and fell down. One of the German soldiers, driven by the huge impact of the bullet, turned out of the window and fell heavily on the ground, hiding in the barricade. The German soldiers were taken aback.

  Lin Hua led everyone to the window and smashed down the stringed grenade. The grenades that exploded one after another set off clouds of flames and gunpowder smoke, and the German soldiers in the fortifications were cut down by the shrapnel flying around.

Major Ivan, who was staying in the sandbag fortifications at the street entrance, saw the barricades in the middle of the street, and suddenly there was gunpowder smoke and continuous explosions. He knew that Lin Hua and the others had succeeded, and he quickly raised his pistol high. Above the head, shouted loudly: "Comrades, go!"

As soon as he yelled, the sound of "Ula" like a mountain roar and a tsunami came to mind around him. The soldiers hiding in the fortifications came out of their hiding places one after another, armed with weapons, shouting loudly, and rushed along the street. To the barricade that was once insurmountable.

  The German soldiers in the building on the south side saw the Soviet army charging again. He tried to repeat the same trick, condescendingly shooting at the soldiers on the street, but just as he emerged, he fell under the guns of the soldiers in the opposite garrison platoon.

  (end of this chapter)