Chapter 812 Finding the Missing Lieutenant

After the soldiers who reported the news left, the second battalion commander couldn't help sticking his head out from behind the ruins, and looked towards the direction of the bridge. He saw that there was no movement from the several German machine gun firepower points. One of the firepower points could even see A soldier in a steel helmet was lying beside a general-purpose machine gun with his arms outstretched.

Seeing this situation, the commander of the second battalion couldn't help being overjoyed. He thought that he was so far away from the road bridge, and he was shocked by the explosion just now. died. Thinking of this, he quickly ordered the soldiers around him: "You take back all the German machine guns, and when the enemy attacks again, we can use their machine guns to teach them a lesson."

   The soldiers who received the order agreed, bent down and ran out from behind the ruins where they were hiding. They quickly came to the firepower point of the German army, picked up the machine guns and ammunition next to the German soldiers, and ran back quickly.

  A soldier held a machine gun and ran back to the second battalion commander and squatted down, asking him for instructions: "Comrade battalion commander, do you think we need to go along the river to find Lieutenant Ivanov?"

   To be honest, the Second Battalion Commander really wanted to take people down the river to find the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov. But his rationality told him that it was impossible to do so. Not to mention whether Ivanov is still alive after the violent explosion just now? Even if he is alive, this area has been occupied by the Germans. If he leads people along the river to search, he may become the target of the Germans. Because he resolutely rejected the soldier's proposal: "No, the Germans have already occupied this area, and they will not give us a chance to search along the river."

   "But, Comrade Battalion Commander." Seeing that the battalion commander rejected his proposal, the soldier still felt somewhat uncomfortable: "Don't we care about Lieutenant Ivanov's life or death?"

  The second battalion commander was taken aback when he heard what the soldier said, and then realized that when he just sent someone to report, the soldier's hearing might not have returned to normal, and it was normal that he didn't hear his order. He quickly said to the soldiers: "I have sent people to the regiment headquarters to report the news, asking the friendly forces downstream to help us find the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov."

After listening to the words of the second battalion commander, the soldiers realized that they had misunderstood the battalion commander, and explained with some embarrassment: "I'm sorry, comrade battalion commander, I didn't know that you should send someone to the regiment headquarters to report and ask the friendly army to find Ivanov. Regarding the lieutenant, please forgive me for my recklessness..."

"Okay, there's no need to say any more." Although the Germans have not responded so far, since this area has fallen into their control, they will definitely send troops over soon. The second battalion commander does not want to waste precious time. After the subordinate explained, he interrupted the other party directly and told everyone: "Comrades, before the enemy comes over, let's retreat to the original defensive position."

   After listening to the soldiers sent by the second battalion commander to report the situation, the head of the 114th regiment hurriedly reported to Zolludev, and begged him to contact the friendly army and send someone to find the whereabouts of Lieutenant Ivanov by the river.

After learning that Ivanov, the hero who blew up the bridge, was missing, Joludev quickly comforted his subordinates: "Don't worry, Comrade Colonel, I will immediately get in touch with the commander of the 45th Infantry Division and ask them to send their troops to the river. We are going to look for Lieutenant Ivanov. Whether he dies or lives, we will find a way to find him."

   After finishing the call with the head of the 114th regiment, Ruolujev ordered someone to connect to the headquarters of the 45th division and revealed his identity. Colonel Sokolov, the division commander who was directing the operation, learned that it was General Zholudev who called him, and quickly took the phone from the staff officer, and said politely: "Hello, Comrade General, this is Sokolov Sir, do you have any instructions?"

"It's like this, Colonel Sokolov, didn't we receive an order from the Army Group Command to blow up the road bridge on the river outside the factory?" Zoludev said politely into the microphone: "One of my My subordinate, after blowing up the highway bridge to the west of the factory, he disappeared. I would like to ask you to do me a favor and send someone downstream to find his whereabouts. I wonder if it will work?"

Regarding Zholudev's request, Sokolov said with some embarrassment: "Comrade General, it's hard to handle. You said that your subordinate disappeared after the bridge was blown up. I'm worried that he was already in the explosion and was killed." His body is broken to pieces, and it is almost impossible for my people to find him."

"Colonel Sokolov," Zholudev obviously guessed that the other party might reject him, hastily added: "I heard from the commander on the scene that Lieutenant Ivanov, who was in charge of blowing up the bridge, was pulling the bomber." After the fuse, he dived into the water and swam downstream. That is to say, he has every hope of surviving."

   "Comrade General, since you said so, I will immediately send someone to look for it by the river." After Colonel Sokolov made his statement, he asked tentatively, "I don't know his name?"

"His name is Ivanov, and he is a lieutenant of the Guards." Seeing that the other party agreed to help him find it, Ruoludev said solemnly: "Whether you find him or his body, you must find him." Inform me. On behalf of all the commanders and fighters of the 37th Guards Division, I would like to express my gratitude to you!"

   "You're welcome, Comrade General." Seeing that Zholudev was so polite to him, Sokolov looked a little embarrassed: "We are friendly troops, and it is right to provide help to you."

  As soon as he put down the phone, Sokolov asked his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, which of our troops is stationed by the river?"

The chief of staff did not hear the conversation between the division commander and Zholudev. When he suddenly heard this question, he couldn't help hesitating for a moment, and then asked: "Comrade commander, are you talking about the Volga River? It's almost a kilometer away, so there's no garrison troops..."

  Seeing that the chief of staff misunderstood what he meant, Sokolov quickly waved his hands and explained to the chief of staff: "I am not talking about the Volga River, but the river that surrounds the Dzerzhinsky factory on three sides."

After the chief of staff figured out which river Sokolov was asking about, he looked down at the map in front of him, and then replied: "Comrade commander, the 187th regiment is stationed by the river, and not long ago, they blew up the factory. The highway bridge to the north…”

Knowing that the 187th regiment was stationed by the river, Sokolov hurriedly said to the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call Lieutenant Colonel Kisley, the deputy head of the regiment, and order him to take a company and go along the river to find An overboard lieutenant."

"The lieutenant who fell into the water?!" Hearing Sokolov's order, the chief of staff showed a surprised expression on his face, and he asked inexplicably: "Comrade commander, I don't understand why you need to mobilize people to rescue a What about the lieutenant who fell into the water? You know, the river outside the factory is only about 30 meters wide, and the current is not too fast. Even if the water is a little deeper, he can climb up to the bank by himself after falling into the water."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you didn't hear the call I just had with General Joludev." Sokolov patiently explained to his Chief of Staff: "One of their Guards lieutenants is blowing up the western He disappeared after the road bridge. General Rudev called me because he wanted us to send people down the river to find the lieutenant."

"So that's the case." After Sokolov's explanation, the chief of staff finally made it clear what was going on, and quickly replied, "I'll call Lieutenant Colonel Kisley and ask him to send someone to find the drowned man." lieutenant."

  In this way, the task of finding Lieutenant Ivanov fell on Kisley. When he led a company of soldiers and began to search along the river, the company commander who led the team asked curiously: "Comrade deputy commander, what are we doing?"

"I have received an order from the division headquarters," Kisley explained to the company commander, "that a lieutenant of the Guards of the friendly army disappeared after blowing up the road bridge to the west. According to the judgment, he may be killed by the river. After rushing down, our mission is to find him. Do you understand?"

"Understood." After the company commander figured out the mission, he shouted at the three platoon leaders under him: "Take people to search carefully by the river to see if there are any people floating on the river. Once you find it, find a way immediately Get him up."

   Dozens of soldiers who received the search mission walked upstream along the river, their eyes sweeping back and forth on the river. Before carrying out this task, they really didn't notice that there were so many floating objects on the crossing river, and corpses could be seen floating past from time to time, but most of them were German corpses.

  After searching for almost an hour, the soldiers still found nothing. The company commander said to Kisley with some disappointment: "Comrade deputy commander, did you say that the lieutenant would have been blown to pieces when the explosion occurred. If that is the case, we will search here, that is Waste of time."

"According to the report from the superior, the lieutenant swam downstream before the bridge was blown up." Kisley was also very anxious to find the missing lieutenant Ivanov, but he still tried hard to control himself emotions, so as not to affect the morale of his subordinates: "Comrade Captain, it has not been a short time since the highway bridge was blown up. Maybe he has been washed ashore. Ask your people to search carefully, and don't miss any Clues."

The soldiers continued to look for the whereabouts of Ivanov by the river. They not only wanted to see if there was anyone they were looking for among the bodies floating on the river, but also checked the floating debris that had been washed to the bank. Whether the husband was washed ashore.

  However, they searched for another hour, but still found nothing. Just when everyone was about to give up, a soldier came over with a five or six-year-old girl and reported to Kisley: "Comrade deputy head, we found this little girl by the river. Find something to eat by the river."

  Kithley knelt down in front of the little girl, and asked kindly, "Little girl, what's your name?"

   "My name is Rangna." The little girl might be used to seeing soldiers, so she didn't feel stage fright at all, and asked, "Do you have any food on you? I haven't eaten for two days."

   "Yes, yes," Kisley took out a pack of rusks from his satchel, handed it to the little girl, and asked curiously, "Jeanna, where are your parents?"

While eating hungrily, Jeanne replied vaguely: "I got separated. When we crossed the river and boarded the boat, my parents and I were separated because of too many people. I don't know where they are now. "

  Hearing what Jeanna said, Kisley's nose couldn't help sore. He raised his hand and touched the scarf wrapped around the little girl's head, and asked softly, "How did you survive alone?"

"After my parents and I were separated, I walked up the river and finally came here." Jeanna said: "Here, I met a few little brothers, and they said that occasionally there would be food boxes floating on the river. Come down, as long as we find a box, it will be enough for us to eat for several days. But I haven’t found a box floating down from the upstream for two days in a row...”

  Jeanna seemed to think of something when she said this, so she asked Kisley curiously: "Comrade Commander, I see that you are looking for something by the river, are you also looking for food?"

  Jeanna's words made Kisley laugh, and he replied with a wry smile: "Jeanna, we are not looking for something to eat, but a person who floated down from the upper reaches."

   "The person who floated down from the upper reaches?" Jeanna couldn't help showing a surprised expression when she heard Kisley say this: "What kind of person are you looking for?"

Kisley suddenly thought that Jeanna had been looking for food by the river in this area, her eyes must have been staring at the river, she might have seen something before and couldn't explain it, so she quickly grabbed her arm and asked anxiously: "Let's Na, you have been by the river, have you seen anyone floating down from the upper reaches?"

"Before you came, I saw an uncle in a white shirt floating down from the upstream on his stomach on a plank." Jeanna said disapprovingly while chewing on the rusk, "I don't know if he is what you are looking for. people."

   "Where is he?" Knowing that Jeanna saw a person floating down from the upper reaches, Kisley couldn't help being overjoyed, "Hurry up and take us there."

Jeanna led them forward for more than 100 meters, and came to a small backwater area. Kisley saw a man in a white shirt lying motionless in the **** on the bank, as if he had Passed out. He walked over quickly, bent down to help the other party sit up, stretched out his hand to sniff, and found that he was still breathing, he quickly looked up at the soldiers who followed and asked, "Which one of you has wine on you?"

  The company commander quickly took off the military jug he was carrying, opened the lid, handed it to Kisley, and said in a low voice, "This is the vodka distributed by the superior, I haven't drunk it yet."

  Kithley took the kettle and sniffed it close to the mouth of the jug. The smell from it was indeed alcohol, so he asked the company commander to help open the man's mouth, and poured a few gulps of vodka into his mouth.

   Maybe it was too hasty to drink. After a while, the unconscious man coughed violently and opened his eyes with difficulty. When he saw clearly a group of soldiers standing around him, he first collected himself, and then asked in a weak voice, "Where am I? What part do you belong to?"

  (end of this chapter)