Red Moscow

  Chapter 331 Continue West

  This army from Siberia, the soldiers have never met the Germans face to face, and seeing the densely packed Germans in the distance, everyone's reaction is different. Some jumped directly back into the gully, setting up their guns and ready to shoot at any time; some stood in a daze, staring at the Germans who were getting closer; Appeared, turned around and fled back to the town where the smoke was still billowing.

  Chuikov jumped into the ditch and asked Sokov loudly, "How many people can we use?"

   "Less than twenty people." Sokov replied loudly: "Including the guard squad we brought."

"Damn it, with our strength, we can't repel the Germans at all." Chuikov said, and crawled out of the ditch again. He rushed to push the soldiers who were still standing in a daze, and ordered them loudly: "Everyone arrives!" Go to the ditch, stay here and you will only be a target for the Germans. Go to the ditch quickly."

   Following Chuikov's series of shouts, the dazed soldiers woke up and jumped into the ditch one after another. Together with his familiar comrades, he mounted his gun tremblingly, ready to wait for the Germans to shoot as soon as they came within range.

"Comrade General," Sokov looked at a soldier not far away, shaking like chaff all over his body because of fear, he couldn't help asking Chuikov worriedly: "Can we stop the Germans with so few people?" ?”

"Even if we can't stop it, we have to fight." Chuikov heard Sokov's question, and immediately replied righteously: "We don't have any fortifications nearby. Once the Germans rush into the town, they will kill the enemy." We're crushing troops here."

Sokov knew very well in his heart that even though he was taking a defensive position, the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army was far inferior to that of the German army. In addition, they were at a disadvantage in terms of numbers. If the German army launched a strong attack, it could be resolved within half an hour at most. fighting. Therefore, he could only pin his last hope on the company commanders who returned to the town to gather troops.

   Seeing Sokov keep turning his head to look in the direction of the town, Chuikov asked a little dissatisfied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy is right in front of you, what are you always looking behind? Do you want to be a deserter?"

   "No, no," Sokov quickly waved his hands and said, "I'm looking to see if the company commanders in town have brought troops to reinforce us."

"It will take time for them to return to the town to regroup their troops. They won't be able to come in a while." Cuikov looked at the Germans who were getting closer and said, "We can only rely on our own strength to block the attack." The enemy. You know, the town and the train station are surrounded by grasslands. Even if the troops want to move, they will be overtaken by the enemy soon. Without the advantage of terrain, troops without an organizational structure will only become lambs waiting to be slaughtered."

"Comrade General, don't worry." Sokov patted his assault rifle, which never left his body, and said to Chuikov: "As long as I am alive, I will never take a step back." Sokov said There is confidence in these words, no matter what, he is a person with the halo of the protagonist, how could he die so easily.

   "Very good, Comrade Chief of Staff." Chuikov nodded in satisfaction after hearing Sokov's statement, and said, "Since you have such courage, then we will fight side by side here and defeat the invading enemy."

   Hearing that the word Cuikov said was "defeat" instead of "destroy", Sokov knew in his heart that Cuikov didn't have much confidence in whether he could stop the enemy's attack. However, in order not to shake the morale of the army, even if he is the commander of the group army, he can only stay in the gully with the soldiers like an ordinary officer, ready to fight to the death with the German army rushing up.

   Fortunately, the attacking German army did not have any heavy weapons. Their two armored vehicles parked three to four hundred meters away from the gully, and frantically fired at the Soviet hiding place with MG34 general-purpose machine guns. Hearing the bullets whizzing past his head, the new soldier who had never participated in a battle couldn't help feeling a little flustered, and pulled the trigger before Cuikov gave the order to shoot. One person fired a shot, which immediately caused a chain reaction, and the gunshots in the gully suddenly rang out.

"Damn, why did you shoot so early." The sudden burst of gunfire scared Chuikov: "The Germans are still a few hundred meters away. If we shoot now, apart from wasting bullets, we won't be able to eliminate many enemies at all. .”

"Stop shooting, stop shooting!" Sokov hurriedly shouted at the soldiers on the left and right, and after they had fired all the bullets in their guns and the ditch regained calm, he continued: "From now on, No one is allowed to shoot without an order."

  The soldiers hiding in the gully, except for a few veterans, are all new soldiers who have just joined the army. They didn't have any combat experience. When they saw the Germans, they were already terribly nervous. When they heard the bullets flying over their heads, they couldn't help but shoot back to eliminate the fear in their hearts.

  After shooting them for the first time, the fear in my heart finally subsided. Hearing Sokov's shout, they reloaded their bullets, set up their guns, aimed at the approaching enemy, and prepared to hear the order before firing.

  Sokov stared at the German soldiers who were getting closer and closer, and silently calculated the distance between them and him to decide when to shoot. If you shoot too early, these recruits with little combat experience will not know where to shoot the bullets; if you shoot too late, the enemy will rush to the front in an instant and wipe out all the Soviet troops who are at a disadvantage.

   When the German army had only the last 100 meters left, Sokov shouted decisively: "Fire!" Before the words fell, he had already pulled the trigger first. Amid the dense gunfire, the dozen or so German soldiers who rushed to the front were shot and fell to the ground. Seeing that the firepower of the Soviet army was not weak, the soldiers behind quickly lay down on the spot, raised their guns and began to fight back.

  Sokov got off to a good start, directly knocking down two German soldiers. But after the German fell down, he could no longer achieve results, and could only shoot at the enemy's concealed place. Sokov's shooting caught the attention of the German soldiers, and two submachine guns and a rifle suppressed him. Bullets spattered the gravel in front of him, clanging against the helmet.

  Because the distance between the two sides was 70 to 80 meters, the grenade could not be thrown at such a long distance. Sokov and the opponent could only shoot continuously, consuming each other's ammunition, and betting who would be unlucky and be hit first by the bullet.

  Although Sokov can barely support here, the situation of the soldiers in other areas is much worse. Inexperienced novice fighters had to lean out of the ditch in order to hit the enemy lying on the ground shooting, and became the target of the enemy. The soldiers who were shot fell in the ditch one after another, and the firepower on the side of the Soviet army began to weaken.

Hearing the gunshots from left and right became sparse, Sokov became a little anxious. He shouted to Chuikov who was squatting aside: "Comrade General, the situation is not good. We may not be able to hold it. You retreat first, I will stay." Get under cover."

   "Retreat, where to retreat?!" Regarding Sokov's proposal, Chuikov sneered and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I can tell you that as soon as you leave this ravine, you will lose your life immediately."

  Perhaps in order to verify the correctness of Cuikov's statement, a warrior who was frightened to a nervous breakdown screamed strangely and threw away the weapon in his hand, crawled out of the ravine, and fled towards the town. As a result, he didn't run very far when he was hit by a bullet from behind. The running soldier was staggered by the bullet, and then fell headlong to the ground.

  Sokov's assault rifle only carried four magazines with him. After only ten minutes, there was only the last clip left. At this moment, he regretted a little. If he was carrying a German-made submachine gun, he would not have to worry about bullets at all. But this kind of assault rifle uses special short-barreled bullets, and there is no place to replenish them when they are exhausted. When the Germans rush up, they can only fight with them with bayonets.

But at this critical moment, Sukov suddenly heard the shout of "Ulla" from behind him. He turned his head and found that it was the company commanders who had returned to the town to gather troops. The town rushed out.

  Although the combat effectiveness of these troops was not very good, they rushed out of the town in a swarm, which still frightened the German soldiers. The German soldiers got up from the ground one after another, and while retreating in a panic, they shot at the Soviet soldiers who rushed up.

  The battle ended quickly, a German armored vehicle was destroyed, more than 20 German soldiers were killed, and more than a dozen soldiers who were running slowly were taken prisoner.

  Chuikov came out of the ditch, glanced at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield, and said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, go back to the town to clean up, and we will continue to move west."

"What, Comrade General." Hearing what Chuikov said, Sokov couldn't help but turn pale with fright: "If we go further west, we might rush into the midst of the Germans. I think we should lead the troops here and return to Acres. Let's block the river defense line."

"No, we can't go back yet." Cuikov said resolutely: "We haven't found the commander and division headquarters of the 208th Division yet. If we leave them, they may become prisoners of the Germans, so we still need to Continue heading west to find their whereabouts."

  The two were talking, and Klimov came out of the town dejectedly. He came to Chuikov, bowed his head and said, "Comrade Commander, the radio operator died in the bombing just now, and our radio station was also smashed by the collapsed ceiling."

  Chuikov's face immediately turned livid: "So, we have lost our last communication equipment and can't get in touch with the outside world?"

   "I think so, Comrade Commander." Klimov nodded and said, "In my opinion, we should return to the defense line of the Aksai River immediately with this heavily damaged army."

  Sokov heard that Klimov also made the same suggestion to Chuikov, so he looked at Chuikov curiously, wondering what kind of decision he would make.

Unexpectedly, Cuikov still shook his head, and said firmly: "Even if we lost our communication equipment and lost contact with the outside world, our mission has not been completed. We need to continue westward to find the commander of the 208th Division who lost contact." and his division headquarters. Only after we find them can we return to the Aksai line."

  Klimov waited for Chuikov to finish speaking, and immediately replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately arrange for people to prepare the army group so that we can continue to advance westward."

  Several company commanders came over and volunteered to Cuikov: "Comrade General, please let us go west with you to find our missing division commander!"

"I'm sorry, comrades of the company commanders." However, Cuikov rejected their request, but said to them with a straight face: "I think you should stay here, treat the wounded, and gather troops. Wait until I bring your division commander and When the division headquarters returns, they will return to the northern line of defense together."

"Comrade Commander," Klimov reported to Chuikov when he saw two jeeps approaching, "the truck on which the guard squad was riding was blown up in the air raid just now. I found this truck in the town. A jeep, let the soldiers of the security squad sit in this car."

   "Let the soldiers of the security squad take this car," Chuikov asked, "Will it be too crowded?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." Klimov said: "The soldiers of the guard squad, after the battle just now, there are still four people left, and they can all be squeezed into this car."

Chuikov opened the door of his jeep and said to Klimov: "Comrade adjutant, order the soldiers to get in the car. We must start immediately. On the battlefield, every minute is precious. We will send the 208th Division to the German army. Find them and bring them safely to our new line of defense before division headquarters is encircled."

  Before getting into the car, Sokov was still wondering: Should he find a German-made submachine gun, so that even if he encounters enemies on the road, he still has weapons to defend himself.

  Chuikov saw Sokov standing beside the car, looking like he was talking, and quickly shouted: "Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, we are about to leave, are you still standing there in a daze?"

"Comrade General," Sokov hurriedly got into the jeep when he heard Chuikov calling himself, and said apologetically, "I'm thinking about whether I should bring a submachine gun for self-defense, so that even if I meet the enemy on the road, I don't have to worry about it." gone."

  Chuikov pointed to the assault rifle Sokov was holding in his hand, and asked puzzledly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don't you have a weapon? There is no need to find another submachine gun, right?"

"Comrade General, you don't know something." Although Sokov knew that thousands of such assault rifles had been produced, he could not guarantee that Chuikov had used this assault rifle, so he explained to him: "This assault rifle It uses a new type of bullet, and once it runs out, there is no place to replenish it."

Hearing what Sokov said, Chuikov also realized that once the gun in Sokov's hand ran out of bullets, it would be like a fire stick, so he ordered Klimov, who was sitting in the co-pilot seat: "Comrade adjutant, you Find a Popov submachine gun, and equip it with more bullets, so that even if we encounter enemies on the road, we will have the ability to protect ourselves."

  (end of this chapter)