"Communicator!" Samoilov put down the phone, called a correspondent, and ordered him: "Call the two deputy company commanders here immediately and tell them that there is an important combat mission."
Lieutenant Sapochuk from the 98th Guards Division, when he was woken up from his sleep by the correspondent, asked a little irritably: "What's going on, why don't you let me sleep anymore?"
The correspondent was startled by Sapochuk's attitude. After a brief panic, he carefully replied: "Comrade Lieutenant, the company commander asks you to go to the company headquarters immediately, saying that you have an important combat mission."
When he heard that there was an important combat mission, Sapochuk's attitude immediately changed and he quickly asked: "Correspondent, do you know what the combat mission is?"
"I don't know." The correspondent shook his head and replied: "Comrade Lieutenant, you will know what the mission is when you go to the company headquarters."
Seeing that he couldn't get the answer he wanted from the correspondent, Sapochuk didn't dare to neglect, hurriedly bent down and put on his boots, and hurried to the company headquarters.
When he entered the company headquarters, he found that another deputy company commander, Lieutenant Serelkov, was talking to the company commander, Lieutenant Samoylov. In fact, both Sapochuk and Serelkov were originally company commanders.
, each commanding a company of hundreds of people. However, after Sokov formed the special company, he had no choice but to grievance the two company commanders and became deputy company commanders, while the original guard platoon leader, Lieutenant Samoilov, became two
A person's immediate boss.
Facing Samoylov, his boss who had a lower position than him not long ago, Sapochuk remained polite enough. He came to Samoylov, raised his hand in salute, and reported in accordance with the order: "Company
Comrade Commander, Deputy Company Commander Lieutenant Sapochuk..."
Unexpectedly, before he could finish speaking, Samoylov raised his hand and interrupted him: "Comrade Deputy Company Commander, the situation is critical now. This is not the time to follow orders. Let me tell you about the problems we are about to solve."
.”
After Samoilov's brief explanation, Sapochuk's eyes widened in surprise: "What, is it possible for the enemy to sneak attack on the Dnieper River Bridge?"
"Yes, everything so far continues to show that the enemy, who is wearing our military uniforms and infiltrating from the mechanized military defense area, is targeting the bridge on the Dnieper River." Samoilov emphasized: "As long as
If the bridge is blown up, the amount of supplies for the troops at the landing site on the right bank will be greatly reduced. Now that the Germans are launching another attack on the landing site at this time, it is estimated that our defense line may be breached."
"Comrade Company Commander, I think your worries are completely unnecessary." Sapochuk said: "You know, the defenders on the bridge are an established company with 120 people. If the Germans really only have
How can 20 people capture the bridge?"
Faced with Sapochuk's doubts, Serelkov said: "Lieutenant Sapochuk, you can't say that. Even though the number of Germans is not large, if they touch the sentries, they can sneak into the barracks and kill those sleeping inside.
The soldiers are fully capable of taking control of the right bank of the bridge in just a few minutes."
"Lieutenant Serelkov is right." Samoilov agreed with Serelkov's statement: "As long as the Germans control a section of the bridge deck, they can complete the blasting of the bridge."
"Comrade Company Commander," Serelkov waited for Samoylov to finish speaking, then took the initiative to ask for orders: "Let me carry out this task."
Sapochuk never felt that the Germans could cause any damage to the bridge, but when he saw Serelkov taking the initiative to ask for help, he quickly came out to fight for the task: "Comrade company commander, let me complete this task. I promise you
, we will never let the Germans cause any damage to our bridge."
Seeing that the two deputy company commanders were vying to complete the reinforcement mission, Samoylov hesitated. Who should be sent to lead the reinforcements? After thinking for a long time, he felt that Serelkov would be the most appropriate thing to do, and he should lead the troops.
There shouldn't be any problem with reinforcements. "I think this task should be left to Lieutenant Serelkov to complete."
Seeing the frustrated look on Sapochuk's face, Samoylov continued: "Lieutenant Sapochuk, don't be discouraged. Your company must rush to the bridge as soon as possible. If Lieutenant Serelkov can't deal with this
The enemy may still need your support."
Sapochuk, who was originally depressed, couldn't help but smile when he heard what Samoylov said. He felt that his status in Samoylov's mind was much higher than that of Serelkov, so he couldn't help but smile.
He was concerned about whether he was playing a reserve role. Serelkov, on the other hand, just smiled faintly after listening to Samoilov's words. His idea was very simple, which was to lead the troops to the bridge as soon as possible to confirm whether it had been occupied by the Germans.
.
Ten minutes later, Serelkov led his men in eight trucks and rushed to the left bank of the bridge.
The sentry on the left bank saw a convoy parked nearby. The commanders and fighters inside got off the carriage and immediately began to line up. Seeing this, the sentry guessed that something might have happened and quickly reported to the company commander on the phone: "Comrade company commander, we are coming outside.
There is a convoy, and a lot of people got out of the car, please come over and take a look."
The commander of the garrison company, who was awakened by the sentry, learned that a convoy was coming. He quickly got dressed and walked out of the house. He came to the position where the sentry was on duty, looked at the commanders and soldiers who were gathering not far away with sleepy eyes, and shouted.
Hatcher asked the sentry: "What's going on? Where did the troops come from?"
"Comrade Company Commander, I don't know either." The sentry replied with some embarrassment: "I saw the convoy approaching with its headlights on, and then stopped not far away. The people sitting in the carriage began to get out of the car and line up. I
I felt the need to report to you, so I called."
When the company commander was about to step forward and ask about the other party's origins, he saw an officer walking over with two soldiers.
When the officer came to him, the company commander saw clearly that the other party's rank was just a lieutenant. He coughed heavily and planned to speak to the other party in a condescending manner. But before he could speak, the other party had already said: "You
Is he the commander of the garrison company? I am Lieutenant Serelkov, the deputy commander of the special company, and I was ordered to strengthen the defense of the bridge."
"Strengthen the defense of the bridge?" After hearing what Serelkov said, the commander of the garrison company asked somewhat vaguely: "Our strength to defend the bridge is sufficient, there is no need to strengthen it."
"Comrade Captain," Serelkov glanced at the other party's rank and said respectfully: "We received a notice from our superiors that based on reliable intelligence, the enemy may destroy the bridge. We were ordered to come to strengthen the defense of the bridge.
, smash the German conspiracy."
After hearing what Serelkov said, the commander of the garrison company replied carelessly: "Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant, our company has 120 people, distributed on both sides of the bridge. So far, nothing unusual has been found. I think it should be
There must be something wrong with your intelligence source."
"The intelligence comes from the group army headquarters." Serelkov heard what the garrison company commander said. He did not get angry, but said coldly: "Is it wrong for you to question the intelligence from your superiors? If it is wrong, it will not be used.
We are special."
Seeing Serelkov push down such a big hat, the expression on the garrison company commander's face immediately changed. He nodded and bowed to Serelkov: "Comrade Lieutenant, before you arrived, there was no movement on the bridge. Maybe it was true."
Was it a mistake?"
Serelkov ignored him and asked directly: "How many troops do you have on the right bank of the bridge?"
"There is a platoon of 40 people." The garrison company commander replied: "The deputy company commander is responsible for the command."
Serelkov frowned and thought for a while, then asked: "Can you get in touch with the deputy company commander on the right bank?"
"No problem." The garrison company commander readily agreed, "I'll call the deputy company commander right away."
The phone rang for a long time before a lazy voice came from the receiver: "Who is it?"
"Who are you?" The commander of the garrison company did not identify himself, but asked vigilantly: "Aguminte?"
"Yes, I am." The voice in the receiver asked: "Who are you?"
"I am the sentry on the left bank." The commander of the garrison company said: "I follow the regulations and check the sentry on the right bank regularly. It's okay, you can continue on duty."
After the commander of the garrison company hung up the phone, he raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead and said to Serelkov who was standing next to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, you are right, something may really happen on the right bank."
This time it was Serelkov's turn to be puzzled: "Comrade Captain, I see you only said two sentences during the call. How could you tell that something happened on the other side?"
"The reason is very simple," the commander of the garrison company said with a frown: "There are no soldiers named Aguminte among the troops at the bridgehead on the right bank. Also, I have never stipulated that the sentry posts on the right bank should be determined regularly. Based on this,
I knew something might have happened on the right bank."
After listening to the analysis of the garrison company commander, Serelkov confirmed that something must have happened on the right bank, and ordered three platoon commanders to come to him and said to them: "Comrades, the Germans have occupied the right bank of the bridge. It is possible that the Germans have occupied the right bank of the bridge.
We are preparing to destroy the bridge. Our current task is to completely eliminate the Germans before they blow up the bridge."
"Comrade company commander," the platoon commander waited for Serelkov to finish and said first: "Let's take the platoon as a unit and search for the other side. If the whole company is concentrated on the bridge, the Germans only need to use one machine gun
Blocking the bridge deck will cause us huge casualties."
"I agree with you." Serelkov readily agreed to the platoon leader's suggestion and told him: "You lead the first platoon of soldiers up first, I will lead the second platoon, and the third platoon will be responsible for the response."
As the order was issued, a row of commanders and soldiers dispersed into formation and cautiously advanced along the bridge to the right bank with weapons in hand.
Serelkov was about to send someone to report to Samoilov when he saw a jeep approaching in the distance. He recognized at a glance that this was the vehicle Samoilov was riding in, and quickly called the commander of the garrison company to join him.
Welcoming him.
As soon as Samoylov got out of the car, he saw Serelkov and an officer approaching, and quickly asked: "Lieutenant Serelkov, how is the situation here?"
Serelkov did not answer his question immediately, but first introduced him to the commander of the garrison company beside him: "Comrade commander, this is the commander of the garrison company of the bridge. Judging from the situation we have so far, the right bank of the bridge has already
It fell into German hands."
"The right bank has fallen into the hands of the Germans?" Samoilov's brows immediately frowned: "How did you come to such a conclusion?"
"Comrade Company Commander," although the company commander of the garrison company saw that Samoilov's military rank was not higher than his own, he knew that the other party's status was higher than his own, so he introduced to the other party what just happened as a subordinate, and finally said:
"According to my judgment, the defenders on the right bank have been controlled by the Germans and have even been killed."
After hearing this, Samoilov nodded and turned to ask Serelkov: "Lieutenant Serelkov, what measures have you taken?"
"I have ordered a platoon to launch a search formation and advance towards the right bank, trying to eliminate all the enemies before they blow up the bridge."
As soon as he finished speaking, intensive gunshots suddenly came from the bridge.
"No," Serelkov exclaimed: "The enemy discovered our search troops and fired first!"
Samoylov listened carefully and realized that among the gunshots coming from the bridge, they were all firing from rotary machine guns. The enemy must have taken control of the defenders on the right bank and seized the machine guns in their hands to block the soldiers of the special company.
.
"Immediately send the second and third platoons up to support." After Samoylov ordered Serelkov, he shouted at the commander of the garrison company: "Comrade commander, how many people do you still have in your hands? Put them all in."
To fight, we must destroy the enemies on the other side as soon as possible and protect the bridge under our feet."
When Serelkov and the commander of the garrison company went to perform their mission, Samoilov ordered the radio operator to contact the headquarters and had a wireless conversation with Samoyko, who had already woken up: "Comrade Chief of Staff, this is Samoilo
Lieutenant Husband.”
"Comrade Lieutenant, what's the situation like there? Why did I hear gunshots?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, according to the intelligence analysis we have, the Germans have occupied the right bank." Samoilov reported loudly: "The gunshots you heard were from the special company's advance to the right bank.
German machine gun fire."
"I understand." Samek said on the other end of the phone: "Comrade Lieutenant, I will send someone to support you as soon as possible."
After saying that, Sameko put down the phone and told the communications soldier: "Put me through the infantry brigade."
When Guchakov's voice came from the receiver, Samyko said angrily: "Comrade Major, the enemy has controlled the right bank of the Dnieper River Bridge. Why haven't you launched an attack yet?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff," Guchakov thought that it had been a long time since his troops had been dispatched, but so far they had not launched an attack on the enemy. He was also puzzled. He quickly said: "Please wait a moment, I will
Find out what happened as soon as possible."
He did not put down the phone, but said to Chief of Staff Askel on the side: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please contact Captain Mikhailev immediately and ask him why his troops have not launched an attack on the enemy yet?"
Askel immediately ordered someone to contact Mikhailev: "Comrade Captain, it has been so long, why haven't your troops launched an attack on the enemy yet?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," Mikhailev replied: "My subordinates told me that everything was normal on the bridge and no trace of the enemy was found. Maybe we were mistaken. Therefore, I ordered them not to take any action for the time being.
Wait for my next order."
"Comrade Captain," Askel said, "Now we have confirmed that the right bank of the bridge has fallen into the hands of the Germans. You should go out immediately and eliminate them one by one to ensure the safety of the bridge.