Chapter 601 Friendly Army

Sokov looked at Yakov and said earnestly and sincerely: "Yakov, if you want to fight side by side with me, you will have many opportunities in the future, but the task I entrust to you now is to **** the wounded across the river quickly." He was afraid that Yakov would go his own way, and he specifically emphasized, "The existence of a large number of wounded will greatly slow down the movement speed of the troops. If we can't stop the enemy, you can't let us leave these wounded to the Germans." Bar?"

  Yakov was once a prisoner of the Germans, and he knew very well in his heart what fate the wounded would suffer if they fell into the hands of the Germans. Therefore, even if he was unwilling to leave, he could only unconditionally carry out the order given by Sokov.

Just as they were talking, Vanya and Tenev rushed over with their troops. Sokov hurriedly called them to him and said to them: "Captain Vanya, Major Tenev, from now on, you The two were under the command of Major Yakov to assist them in transporting the wounded safely across the river."

At the meeting last night, Vanya knew that there was no bridge on this river, so after hearing Sokov's order, he asked with a bitter face: "Comrade Brigadier, isn't there no bridge on the river? Send the wounded there?"

"I just took a closer look. There are still some wooden boats on the shore that have not been sunk. They should be still usable after a simple repair." Sokov looked at Vanya and said, "If you repair these boats, you can put them back on the ground." The wounded were sent to the other side."

When Yakov took the soldiers from the first battalion and the guard battalion, carried the wounded down the hillside, and went to the river to repair the wooden boat, Sokov said to the remaining commanders: "...the terrain here is easy to attack. It is difficult to defend and lacks defense depth. Once the German army uses armored forces to attack, it will only take a short time to drive us into the river. Therefore, we must hurry up and build more fortifications in the south... so that the enemy launches an attack Only then can we rely on preset fortifications, deploy positions in depth, and firepower to carry out echelon defense."

   "Comrade Brigadier," Gurdiyev said with some embarrassment: "Our manpower is limited, and I am afraid it will be difficult to build a large number of fortifications in a short period of time."

   "Colonel Gurdiyev," Sokov did not answer him directly, but asked instead: "How many people do you have?"

Gurdiyev did not expect Sokov to ask himself this question, and his face turned red. When he reported the number of troops last night, he was worried that Sokov would transfer his men, so he underreported the number There were three hundred people. At this moment, when Sukov asked this question again, he stammered, "There are more than 1,100 people in the whole division."

"Using the regiment as a unit, divide the whole division into three echelons." After knowing the actual number of the 308th Infantry Division, Sokov directly issued an order: "Using the method of rotation, in the south of the existing position, Dig two to three trenches. After the trenches are completed, decide whether to build civil firepower points according to the specific situation."

Regarding Sokov's arrangement, the division's political commissar Sverling said cautiously: "Comrade Brigadier, once the enemy finds that we have built a line of defense here, they will definitely use shelling and bombing to destroy our fortifications. I am worried that our The fortifications cannot withstand the enemy's shelling and bombing."

"Political Commissar Sverin, I understand what you mean. You are worried about the defensive troops, who will suffer heavy casualties from the enemy's shelling or bombing." Sokov guessed what Sverin was worried about, so he comforted him and said: "After the trenches have been dug, a few more communication trenches must be dug to connect with the original German trenches. Once shelled, except for a few observation posts left to monitor the position, the rest of the commanders and fighters retreated to the rear trenches through the communication trenches. After the enemy's shelling is over, return to the front trench again."

   "That's a good idea." Swerin nodded after hearing this, then turned to Gurdiyev and said, "Comrade Commander, let's start building the fortifications now, maybe the Germans will come up soon."

  ...

   While the 308th Infantry Division was building fortifications, and the first battalion and the guard battalion were repairing ships by the river, Second Lieutenant Samoilov with a small team had already come to a forest five or six kilometers away from the river. Just as they were about to enter the woods, they heard the clang of the bolt being pushed, and then a loud voice asked sharply, "Stop, who are you?"

  The sudden sound startled Samoilov, and he almost picked up the submachine gun in his hand and shot it towards the woods. But fortunately, he controlled his emotions in time, because he heard that the people in the woods were speaking proficient Russian, and they should not be the enemy, so he hurriedly replied loudly: "Don't shoot, it's your own!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the crackling of feet stepping on dead branches and the rustling of bushes in the forest, and then two soldiers with Mosin Nagant rifles walked cautiously from the forest. Get out of the woods. Although they saw several soldiers in Soviet uniforms appearing in front of them, and the officer leading the team was wearing a blue hat with a large brim, which represented his identity as the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the soldiers still asked cautiously: " What part are you, and why are you here?"

"Comrade fighters," Samoilov was somewhat disappointed when he saw two ordinary soldiers walking out of the woods, but he still explained patiently: "We are from the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Break out in the direction of Orlovka, the brigade commander sent us to this area to find friendly troops, can you take us to meet your superiors?"

When the two soldiers heard what Samoilov said, they gathered together and muttered a few words in a low voice, and then a slightly older soldier said: "Well, since you are our own people, then follow me." Come on." After speaking, he turned and walked towards the woods, leaving behind his companions.

  When Samoilov and the others followed the soldier towards the woods, the soldier who had been standing still followed. He walked behind Samoilov and the others with a gun in hand, vigilantly monitoring every move of these people, intending to shoot without hesitation when he noticed any changes in the other party.

The radio operator walking beside Samoilov noticed that there were soldiers following behind with guns like escorting prisoners, so he said to Samoilov with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, there seems to be something wrong." , Another soldier followed us with a gun, obviously treating us as enemies."

After hearing what the operator said, Samoilov sneered and said: "Comrade operator, if you were in that soldier's position and saw a group of unknown people appearing in front of you, you would also maintain the same vigilance." .”

  They came to a clearing among the trees and saw a dozen tents lined up neatly here. The soldiers leading the way led them to a tent, stopped them, walked to the door of the tent and shouted loudly: "Report!"

   After a while, the curtain was lifted from the inside, and an officer wearing the rank of captain came out from inside. He looked at the soldier calling the report and asked, "What's the matter?"

   "Report to Comrade Company Commander," the soldier quickly straightened up and replied, "We found a few suspicious people near the forest and brought him here."

Seeing the soldier reporting to the captain, Samoilov guessed that he might be the person with the highest military rank here, so he took a few steps forward, walked up to him, and said bluntly: "Comrade captain, I am from the 73rd Infantry Brigade." Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader, has something important to contact your superior, please take me to see your superior."

When the captain saw someone interrupting his conversation with his subordinates, he was very upset at first, but when he saw the blue hat Samoilov was wearing on his head, his expression changed, and he replied in a panic: " Comrade Second Lieutenant, please wait a moment, I will report to my superior immediately!"

   "Go and report!" Samoilov waved at him and said, "It would be great if we could report our situation to your division commander."

   "Understood." Although Samoilov's military rank was lower than his own, the captain still nodded and said, "Please wait a moment, I will give you an answer soon."

The captain returned to the tent and called for instructions. After only a few minutes, he got out of the tent again and said to Samoilov with a smile: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I am ordered to send you to the division headquarters. Please come with me." Bar."

   There was a covered truck next to the camp. The captain invited Samoilov to sit in the cab with him, and let the rest of the fighters get into the back compartment. After everyone got into the car, the captain told the driver: "Drive, go to the division headquarters!"

   On the way, the captain asked Samoilov curiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, may I ask you, where are you from?"

   Regarding the question of where he came from, Samoilov did not intend to keep it secret from the captain, so he replied truthfully: "We broke out from Orlovka."

"Breakout from Orlovka?" The captain couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise after hearing Samoilov's words: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I want to ask, how did you cross that river? "

Samoilov looked at the captain and replied in a daze, "We broke through the German defense line and arrived at the river smoothly. It happened that there was a wooden boat by the river that was still intact, and we crossed the river on that boat. "

Hearing what Samoilov said so lightly, the captain couldn't help but gasped, and he said cautiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, you may not know that two days ago, in order to cross the river and break through the German defense Go to Orlovka to join the friendly army, one of our divisions was almost wiped out by the river, and only a dozen people survived in the end."

  (end of this chapter)