Red Moscow

  Chapter 92 Defense of the Highlands (Part 2)

  It always gets dark earlier in winter, and as soon as it got dark, the team led by Pavel set off. In order to avoid being noticed by the German army, they had to advance eastward first, and after walking five or six kilometers, they turned around and headed south, detoured to the vicinity of the German artillery positions, and launched a surprise attack when the enemy was unprepared.

   Traveling at night in a forest with extremely poor visibility and full of snow, Pavel, who led the team, could not see anything. He could only turn on the flashlight occasionally and use the compass to identify the direction. The soldiers of the squad followed behind him with deep feet and shallow feet. Occasionally, they accidentally bumped into a nearby tree, and the snow on the branches would slide down, leaving the soldiers with snow powder all over their heads and faces.

   I don’t know how long I’ve been away, Christopher from Erlian. He quickened his pace and came to Pavel's side, and said to him a little out of breath: "Comrade Corporal, everyone is very tired after walking so far, let's take a rest first."

Pavel, who had walked through the snow-covered forest for a long time in one breath, was also feeling tired. He nodded when he heard Christopher's proposal, and whispered to him: "Pass down, stop advancing, Rest here for five minutes!"

   Soon his orders were passed down one by one, and the soldiers who followed stopped, leaning against the tree trunk beside them, panting heavily. After walking for so long, Pavel felt that his military jumper had already been soaked in sweat. When he stopped, the cold wind blew, and he felt cold and wet.

   Just as Pavel was thinking in his heart, if he continued to stay, would he suffer from frostbite, when he suddenly heard Christopher asking from the side: "Comrade Corporal, how far have we traveled?"

  Pavel quickly shined a flashlight on his watch, and replied in a low voice: "We have been walking for more than two hours. According to the marching speed, it should be about five kilometers."

   "My God." Hearing Pavel's distance, Christopher wailed, "It's been so long, and I've just gone half way, I'm afraid I'm going to die of exhaustion."

   Regarding Christopher's complaints, Pavel said with some displeasure: "Christopher, if you feel that you can't walk, you can go back the same way."

"Comrade Corporal, see what you said." Although Christopher couldn't see Pavel's face clearly, he could hear his dissatisfaction from his tone, and quickly explained: "I was just joking." , don't be angry."

   "Okay, time is up." Pavel stood up and said to the soldiers who were resting: "Comrades, let's continue."

   After more than two hours of trekking, Pavel's team finally came to the vicinity of the German artillery position. He was worried that he would not be able to find the enemy's artillery position due to poor visibility. But when he got there, he realized that he was just worrying. The Germans lit a lot of fires in the garrison, and the light of the fire allowed Pavel and the others to discover the location of the artillery from a long distance.

  Pavel observed carefully for a while, and found that the same number of covered trucks were parked near the five artillery pieces. There were two fires burning near the car. Beside the fires, two German soldiers wearing helmets and military overcoats kept stomping their feet near the fires with their guns in their hands to keep warm. One or two hundred meters further, there is a tent, which should be the place where the German infantry lived.

When Christopher saw this situation, he said to Pavel excitedly: "Comrade Corporal, have you seen it? The Germans only have two sentries. We crawled over to kill them, and then blow up the cannon. We can complete the task."

"How do you know there are only two German soldiers? Maybe there are secret sentries." Pavel glared at Christopher, and said in a stern tone: "No one is allowed to take action until the distribution of the enemy's troops is known. "

  After repeated observations, Pavel finally figured out the distribution of the enemy's forces. The German artillery, except for two sentries, basically stayed in the truck; while the infantry, in addition to having double posts, also had two five-man patrols patrolling back and forth in the camp.

  Pavel retreated to the resting place of the squad, and whispered to the crowd, "Comrades in charge of each company, come to me for a meeting."

   Soon, three soldiers, including Christopher, surrounded him. They were all leaders elected by each company. Before assigning the order, Pavel asked the soldiers to circle around him to prevent the Germans in the distance from noticing the light of the flashlight when he assigned the task.

"Comrades," Pavel carefully turned on the flashlight, drew a sketch on the snow, and introduced the situation to the three: "Look, this is the artillery position of the Germans. Except for two sentry posts, the rest are Sleeping in the truck. The infantry camp is more than a hundred meters away.

  The task given to us by the battalion commander is to blow up the enemy's cannons. Therefore, I decided that the comrades of the first company are responsible for clearing the sentries on the artillery positions and placing explosives on the guns; the second company is responsible for monitoring the movements of the German infantry. , you are responsible for blocking them..."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Corporal." After listening to Pavel's order to himself, Christopher said with some pride: "I will never let an infantry rush to the artillery position."

Regarding Christopher's statement, Pavel nodded, and said to the soldiers of the machine gun company: "Your task is to be responsible for responding. After the bombing is successful, you will be responsible for covering the retreat of the comrades of the first and second companies. Understand Yet?"

   "Understood!" The three soldiers replied in unison.

   "Now that you understand everything, let's act."

   A company of soldiers crawled towards the German artillery positions. At a distance of two to three hundred meters in front, everything seemed to be going well. But when there were more than 30 meters away from the two sentries, a soldier accidentally broke a branch in the snow because of his eagerness for success. The sound of branches breaking alarmed the German soldiers who were warming up. The two quickly raised their guns, pointed in the direction of the sound, and asked loudly, "Who, where is who?"

  The Soviet soldiers could not understand what he was shouting, even if they understood, they would not answer. The German sentry felt that something was wrong, and immediately pulled the trigger. There was a "snap" sound, and the bullet hit the soldier who broke the branch. The falling snow powder made him panic. The submachine gun fired a burst at the two sentries.

  Amidst the crisp gunshots, one sentry fell to the ground, while the other lay down on the spot, desperately shooting in the direction of the bullets. But he fired two shots, and a grenade flying from a distance would send him straight to God. A company of soldiers lying on the ground jumped up and rushed towards the position of the cannon quickly. They wanted to blow up the cannon before the German army could react.

  But the German artillerymen who were sleeping in the truck had already been awakened by the gunshots. They didn't even have time to put on their clothes, so they raised their weapons and shot randomly outside the truck. The dense firepower actually overwhelmed the soldiers who had to lie down on the spot, lying on the ground and firing at them.

  When the German infantry heard the dense gunfire from the artillery position, they knew that they must have been attacked. Two patrols immediately rushed towards the place where the gunshots were fired. The German soldiers in the tents were also dressing one after another, ready to come out to support the artillery.

Christopher, who was in charge of monitoring the infantry, saw the enemy sentinel rushing over and shouted: "Fire!" The ten submachine guns of the second company fired together, knocking down half of the patrol team that rushed over, and the remaining German soldiers rushed to the ground. Find a place to hide, and fight back at the soldiers of the Second Company who intercepted them.

"It's broken!" Seeing this situation, Pavel was so angry that he punched the ground with his fist hard, and then shouted at the soldiers of the machine gun company: "Fire, we must suppress the German infantry, cover A company of fighters to blow up the enemy's cannons!"

  (end of this chapter)