Early the next morning, Sokov took several soldiers to the position in the south of the city to learn about the drainage conditions of the trenches here. After the car stopped near the position, Sokov took the lead and jumped into the trench. Although there were no more trenches
There was stagnant water, but the soil on the ground had not yet dried out, and it was as soft as stepping on a thick carpet.
Grisa, who was still sleeping in the company command post, heard the soldier's report that Sokov had come to inspect the position. He quickly arranged his military appearance and ran out to greet him.
Seeing Grisa running towards him, Sokov rushed to ask: "Comrade Lieutenant, has all the water in the trenches been cleared?"
"Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander." Grisa quickly replied: "Through the efforts of the entire company, all the water in the trenches was drained before dark last night."
Sokov walked a long distance in the trench and saw no water anywhere. He was very curious about where Grisa and the others drained the water, so he asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, I want to ask
, where did you drain the accumulated water, did you drain it back to the Tenebra River?"
After listening to Sokov's question, Grisa smiled and replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, please come with me, and I will take you to see the drainage area."
Under Sokov's guidance, he came to the forefront of the position. When he saw clearly the vast ocean in front of the position, he couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, have you drained all the water to the front of the position?"
Grisa nodded and replied affirmatively: "Yes, we have drained the water in this open space, which is equivalent to forming a natural barrier. If the Germans want to launch an attack from here, their soldiers will
We had to wade through knee-deep water so that our soldiers could kill them all like target practice."
Looking at the waterlogged area in front of him, which was several kilometers wide and five to six hundred meters deep, Sokov nodded with satisfaction. He said to himself: This is really a blessing in disguise. The Germans sent saboteurs to destroy the gate on the Tenebra River.
, the water flooded the position of the 2nd Battalion and the 1st Company. Unexpectedly, Grisa's brain was quite good, and he actually discharged all the water in the trenches to the front of the position. With such a wide water surface, the German tanks could not come over.
The infantry could only be waded on foot, one foot deep and one foot shallow. However, in front of the defensive position equipped with a large number of machine guns, they could only be killed in pieces in the stagnant water.
"Yes, very good." Sokov said approvingly: "If the Germans want to attack your company's position, they must first cross the Tenebra River, and then trek five to six hundred meters to reach your position.
Facing an exhausted enemy, only a few machine guns are needed to stop them."
Sokov saw that the water in front of Griza Company's position formed a natural barrier. He felt that as long as the German commander was not confused, he would never choose the direction of attack here. Therefore, he safely took the
The accompanying soldiers rushed to the west position of the city to inspect.
Both Sokov and Grisa believed that the enemy would not choose a direction full of water to attack. However, at two o'clock in the morning, the sentry Yelizavita, who was on duty on the position, vaguely heard
There was something moving in front of the position. Just as he was lying on the edge of the trench to check, another sentry named Aino came over and asked curiously: "Hey, Yelizavita, what are you looking at?"
"I heard something moving by the river." Yelizaveta pointed to the dark river with her hand and said, "The sound came from that direction."
Aino squinted his eyes, built a pergola with his hands and looked in the direction pointed by Yelizavita, but since there was no moon in the sky, he could not see anything clearly. He could only shake his head and said: "But I didn't see anything.
."
"No, this matter needs to be reported to Comrade Company Commander immediately." After finishing speaking, Yelizavita got up and walked into an observation post nearby, picked up the phone hanging on the wall: "Hello, is this the company headquarters?
I am the sentry on duty tonight, Yelizavita."
"Comrade Yelizaveta," the person who answered the phone was Grisa. He heard that the caller was a sentry on duty, so he asked politely: "Do you have anything to report to me?"
"Comrade Company Commander," Yelizaveta said uneasily, "I seem to hear something moving by the river."
"Motion, what's the noise?" Grisa, who was awakened by the ringing of the phone, was still a little confused at first, but when she heard Yelizavita say there was movement by the river, she immediately became sober: "Please speak clearly.
, what’s going on by the river?”
"I can't tell, Comrade Company Commander." Yelizavita said: "It feels a bit like a person rowing a boat. Unfortunately, there is no moon in the sky, so I can't see anything clearly."
"I know," Grisa said into the microphone while putting on his boots, "I'll go to your place right away and listen to what the noise is."
When Yelizavita hung up the phone, Aino criticized him and said: "I didn't understand the situation, so I called the company commander. If the company commander comes later and finds that there is no movement by the river, but you
If you heard me wrong, I will definitely criticize you."
Hearing what Aino said, Yelizavita was also in a state of anxiety, but since he had already called the company commander, whether he would be criticized could only depend on his luck. So he bit the bullet and said: "Today
The two of us are on guard duty tonight, if we notice anything unusual and don’t report it in time, we will be punished afterwards.”
Griza arrived quickly, followed by a platoon leader and a soldier. He flashed the flashlight in the faces of Yelizavita and the others, then quickly extinguished it, and then lowered his voice.
He asked loudly: "Is it Comrade Yelizaveta?"
"It's me, Comrade Company Commander." Yelizaveta was afraid that Grisa wouldn't know his position, so she reminded him specifically, "I'm just a few steps ahead of you."
Grisa came to Yelizavita's side and asked in a low voice: "What's going on? Is there any movement?"
Yelizavita pointed forward and said: "Comrade company commander, it's in the direction of the river. I heard the sound of rowing boats, but it was too dark and I couldn't see anything clearly."
"Signal soldier." After Grisa waited for Yelizavita to finish speaking, he turned to the soldiers who followed him and said, "Shoot a flare into the sky."
The signal soldier agreed, loaded a flare into the gun, and fired a shot into the air. After the flare rose into the sky, it illuminated the water in front of the position, but the water was calm and nothing could be seen.
Yelizaveta's face turned red. He felt that he must have heard wrong. How could the German army appear in such a bad area?
Just as the flare was extinguished, Grisa suddenly raised his voice and said to the signal soldier: "Fire another flare, toward the river. Do you understand?"
"Understood." The signal soldier agreed. After loading the flare again, he raised the muzzle of the gun at an angle and pulled the trigger again.
When the flares rose into the sky, everyone's eyes turned to the river. I saw a row of small boats parked by the river. Countless German soldiers were jumping off the boats and wading in the direction of the position with guns in hand. Come.
"Battle alert." Sokov turned to the platoon leader and said: "The enemy has begun to attack. Immediately order your troops to enter defensive positions."