Red Moscow

  Chapter 39 The Amateur Tanker

   After receiving Lin Hua's order, Pavel and others escorted the four captives to the dam. When the defenders of the dam saw a few captives escorted by comrades from the friendly army, they took the initiative to come and receive them.

  The second lieutenant who led the team saw that Pavel and the others had only handed over three prisoners, but planned to take away the remaining German corporal. He couldn't help feeling a little anxious, and quickly asked Pavel: "Comrade Corporal, there is another German prisoner, where are you going to take it?"

   Pavel glanced at the other party, and replied casually: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I have received an order from our company commander to bring this prisoner to him."

  Hearing what Pavel said, the second lieutenant showed a disappointed expression on his face. He pointed to the house in front of him and said, "The comrades of your company are in that room. You can go there to find him."

   Pavel, Sergei and others entered the room with the prisoners, and saw Lin Hua talking to the two platoon leaders at the other end of the room. He quickly walked across the room, came to Lin Hua and raised his hand in salute: "Comrade Company Commander, Corporal Pavel was ordered to bring the prisoners to report!"

"You have worked hard!" Lin Hua shook hands with Pavel, Sergey and others one by one, and said to them: "You find a place to sit and rest first, we will continue our journey after we finish our repairs here. When the time comes, I want to rest, but I don’t have time.”

After Pavel and the others were settled, Lin Hua turned to Ernst and said, "Mr. Corporal, don't be afraid. It's my idea to let you follow our actions. Don't worry, we will guarantee your safety. "

   Ernst saw that his companion was handed over to the defenders on the dam, but he was brought here. He thought he would be dragged out and shot, and he was always uneasy. After listening to Lin Hua's assurance to him at this moment, the boulder hanging in his heart finally fell to the ground.

  Due to the continuous fighting, the soldiers of the third company were extremely tired, and fell asleep shortly after sitting down. While Lin Hua was sleeping soundly, he suddenly felt someone shaking his body, and at the same time kept calling his name: "Sokov, Lieutenant Sokov, wake up!"

  Lin Hua opened his eyes in a daze, saw an officer squatting in front of him, and asked casually, "What's the matter?"

  The other party saw that Lin Hua had woken up, and immediately finished speaking in a raised voice: "Your supplementary soldiers have arrived, and they are at the door."

  Hearing that the supplementary soldiers had arrived, Lin Hua suddenly opened his eyes wide. When he saw clearly that the officer squatting in front of him was the battalion commander, Lieutenant Chakov, he hurriedly stood up and saluted him, and at the same time said a little embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Comrade battalion commander, I was too sleepy just now and didn't notice you." coming!"

Chakov stood up and said generously: "It doesn't matter, you have been fighting too hard for days. I also want you to rest for a while, but no, the superior ordered your company to rush to Iraq immediately after completing the repairs." Stella City. Let's go, the supplementary soldiers are outside, let's go out together."

  When the two walked outside side by side, Lin Hua asked with concern: "Is there a commander coming with you?"

When Chakov heard Lin Hua's question, he was taken aback for a moment, and then he guessed what was on his mind. He quickly comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Lieutenant Sokov, the team is led by a second lieutenant. You are still in charge of this company." company commander."

  Knowing that the commander leading the team had a lower rank than himself, Lin Hua immediately felt much more at ease. Hearing the commands of "Stand at attention" and "Slow down" from outside the door, he knew that there was a queue outside, so he hurriedly quickened his pace.

  When Lin Hua walked out of the room, he saw five rows of soldiers standing neatly outside the door. A second lieutenant stepped forward, raised his hand to salute Lin Hua, and reported dryly: "Comrade Lieutenant, Second Lieutenant Vasily is here to report to you. I will lead fifty-seven recruits here to accept your command. I will wait for your orders." ,Please advise!"

When he saw clearly that the second lieutenant leading the team was actually Vasily whom he met in Kryukovo Village a few days ago, Lin Hua couldn't help laughing. He raised his hand to return the salute, then held the other's hand and said, "Hello, Second Lieutenant Vasily, I didn't expect us to meet again so soon." When he said this, Lin Hua couldn't help feeling secretly in his heart, it's really a turn of events, a few days ago, he had to listen to Vasily's command, but now he has become own subordinates.

  The next replenishment was very simple. Lin Hua asked Vasily to be the leader of the third platoon, and assigned twenty soldiers to him. After finishing all this, Lin Hua bid farewell to Pantai Layev and Chakov, and then led his troops towards the direction of Istria.

  The troops marched for about five or six kilometers, and suddenly there was the sound of machine gun fire in front of them, and there were also two dull explosions. Lin Hua immediately became vigilant. After taking off the rifle on his shoulder, he raised his right hand high to signal the troops to stop advancing.

Just when he was about to send people to the front to find out what happened, Vanya quickly came to his side and volunteered to say: "Comrade company commander, listening to the sound of gunshots, it seems that there is a war ahead, I will take people to Let's see what's going on."

  Vanya took two soldiers to the front, and it didn't take long before he sent a soldier back to report. The soldier reported to Lin Hua: "Comrade company commander, there is a sandbag fortification on the side of the road ahead. I don't know when it was occupied by the Germans. They blocked the road with two machine guns. A company of the Ninth Guards Division is fighting with them." Let's fight."

  Hearing that there were Germans blocking the way ahead, Lin Hua quickly shouted to the back: "Stay in the third row, follow me in the first and second rows!"

   A few minutes later, he led his troops to the position where the friendly forces were blocked. Vanya came to Lin Hua with a captain, and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, this is the company commander of the Ninth Guards Division."

  In order to avoid becoming the target of enemy snipers, Lin Hua did not salute the other party, but simply shook hands and asked, "Comrade Captain, tell us about the situation here!"

  The captain nodded and said: "The enemy blocked our way forward with two machine guns. I organized two charges without success. Instead, more than 30 soldiers were killed or injured."

Lin Hua looked up at the situation in front of him, and saw a sandbag fortification on the side of the road more than a hundred meters away. Two MG-34 machine guns protruded from the shooting holes in the middle, and they were shooting wildly towards the road. There were many corpses of Soviet soldiers lying in disorder. Seventy or eighty meters away from the fortifications, there was a wrecked truck, and several soldiers hid behind the truck and fought back.

  When Lin Hua looked back, he saw a T-34 tank parked 20 meters away in front of the left. He pouted his lips towards the tank and asked curiously, "Comrade Captain, why don't our tank soldiers destroy the enemy's fortifications?"

The captain glanced at the tank parked on the side of the road, sighed and said, "Comrade lieutenant, you don't know. This tank hit a mine while moving, and the tracks were blown off. Our tank men came to repair the tracks, which were just repaired." After finishing, they were beaten to death by the enemies that appeared suddenly." He pointed behind the snowdrift by the side of the road with his hand, and continued, "Their corpses are there."

  Lin Hua glanced in the direction of the captain's finger, and sure enough, he saw three corpses in tank uniforms neatly placed behind the snowdrift. He turned his head to look at the captain and asked, "Comrade captain, in other words, as long as there are tank crews, this tank can be put into battle?"

Although the captain did not know the reason for Lin Hua's question, he still answered truthfully: "Yes, that's right. As long as there are tank soldiers, this tank can be put into battle at any time." After saying this, he sighed, Said with regret: "It's a pity that the tankers have all died..."

   Before the captain finished speaking, he saw Lin Hua handing over the rifle in his hand to Vanya and taking off his military coat. He asked in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, what are you going to do?"

After Lin Hua took off his army coat, he also threw it to Vanya, pointed at the tank, and said to the captain: "Comrade captain, after I drive the tank and destroy the enemy's fortifications, you will lead the soldiers to rush up." .”

  Hearing what Lin Hua said, the captain asked in surprise: "What did you say, Comrade Lieutenant? Do you know how to drive tanks?"

"That's right, I can drive a tank." Lin Hua nodded, and then told the captain: "Comrade Captain, please remember that when I drive a tank and destroy the enemy's fortifications, you will lead people to rush up." Speaking of this, he shrugged his shoulders and added a little embarrassedly, "It's a pity that I command and drive the tank, but I don't know how to fire the cannon, otherwise the enemy's fortifications will be blown away with one shot."

  Lin Hua said that he can drive a tank, he is really not bragging. In the south of Moscow in later generations, there is a tank museum, which contains tanks of various periods of the Soviet army. A military fan friend of his knew the commander in charge, so he often took Lin Hua to drive a tank to play. Instead of sitting in a tank, drive a real tank. Although I know acquaintances, driving a tank is not free. The hourly fee is 1,000 rubles. Lin Hua's favorite is this T-34 tank. After spending 100,000 rubles, he can finally control this tank as skillfully as driving a car.

  Lin Hua sat in the cockpit, found a tank cap thrown by the tank soldiers on the seat, put it on his head, then started the engine of the tank, and rushed towards the German fortifications 100 meters away.

  The German soldiers who were hiding behind the sandbags and shooting saw the Soviet tanks parked by the side of the road, and suddenly drove towards them with full horsepower. They hurriedly turned their guns and fired wildly at the tank.

  Lin Hua, who was sitting in the tank, heard the dense machine gun bullets hitting the armor like hail. But there was no panic at all, because he knew very well that the German machine gun bullets could not penetrate the T-34's armor at all.

  (end of this chapter)