But before Klimov could find General Dmitriev, Lyudnikov called Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, it's bad, the German pontoon bridge is still a few dozen meters away from completion."
Already."
"Then what are you still doing?" Hearing that the German army was about to build the pontoon bridge, Chuikov couldn't help but feel a little anxious and said sternly: "Use firepower to kill the enemy's engineers immediately and organize them to complete the pontoon bridge."
"No, Comrade Commander." Regarding Chuikov's order, Lyudnikov said awkwardly: "I have organized fire suppression many times, but all the firepower points were destroyed by the German tanks on the other side."
After Chuikov put down the phone, he said to Sokov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation at Lyudnikov's place is very critical. I want to go over and take a look, and I will leave this place to you."
"Wait a minute, Comrade General." Seeing Chuikov about to go out, Sokov quickly stopped him: "I think it's better for me to go. You are the top commander of the Southern Group. If something unexpected happens, the troops will
There will be chaos.”
Chuikov stopped when he heard what Sokov said. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, you will go to Lyudnikov. Remember, the order is clear.
, we must prevent the enemies of the 14th Armored Division from crossing the Aksay River at all costs."
"Don't worry, Comrade General." Sokov assured Chuikov: "As long as I am alive, I don't think the enemy will be allowed to pass through the Aksay River."
When Sokov set out, he did not take the guards around Chuikov, but borrowed a squad from Andrei to accompany him to the defense area of the 138th Division.
As the chief of staff of the Southern Cluster, he naturally knew very well where Lyudnikov's headquarters was. But when he arrived at the headquarters, he missed it. A staff officer who stayed inside told him,
He said that the teacher had gone to the river.
"Where?" Sokov knew about Chuikov's order, which stimulated Lyudnikov so much that he couldn't stay at the division headquarters and wanted to go to the front line to direct the battle himself. Sokov originally wanted to
He went to look for Lyudnikov, but he thought that the German tanks were shelling continuously on the other side. It would be too unfair if he was killed by the German shells while running around at the front, so he said to his staff: "
Take me to him immediately."
Under the leadership of the staff, Sokov followed the communication trench to the forward observation post and found Lyudnikov who was directing the battle here. As soon as he saw Lyudnikov, Sokov asked straight to the point:
"Comrade Colonel, how is the situation here?"
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't want to hide it from you. The situation here is terrible." Lyudnikov, who had a toothbrush beard, said to Sokov with a grimace: "I ordered the machine gun to shoot at the engineers on the pontoon.
, as a result, as soon as the machine gun fired, it immediately attracted retaliatory artillery fire from the tanks on the other side. So far, we have lost five machine guns. If it had not been for a batch of weapons and ammunition that had just been replenished, it is estimated that all the machine guns in the division would have been lost.
."
Sokov heard the sound of machine gun shooting outside. The bullets hit the iron plate of the pontoon, causing a series of sparks. "Comrade Colonel, it seems there are still machine guns shooting outside, right?"
"That's right, Comrade Chief of Staff." Lyudnikov nodded and said, "I ordered the commander below to deploy ten machine gunners, one responsible for mobile shooting, and the other nine on standby. When the machine gunner died
After that, a new machine gunner immediately picked up the machine gun and continued shooting until everyone died."
Sokov was not optimistic about the method that Lyudnikov came up with. He shook his head and said: "Comrade Colonel, I think this is not very efficient. Instead, it will lead to the sacrifice of a large number of experienced machine gunners."
."
"Then tell me, what should I do?" Lyudnikov stared with red eyes, grabbed Sokov's lapel, and said viciously: "If we don't do this, the German engineers will
Set up the pontoon bridge, and then their tanks can rush over in a majestic manner. I don’t need any anti-tank weapons in my troops. How will I stop them then? Tell me, how should I stop them?"
After Sokov freed his clothes from Lyudnikov's hand, he said slowly: "It's not difficult to deal with the German engineers. Why do you have to use machine guns to shoot at them?"
We know that firing with machine guns will not only consume a lot of ammunition, but will also attract shelling from German tanks. Even if we barely kill one or two engineers, it will be a waste not worth the gain."
From the tone of Sokov's words, Lyudnikov guessed that he must have thought of a good way, so he asked humbly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, may I ask, do you have any way to eliminate the German engineers?"
"Are there any snipers or sharpshooters in the division?" Sokov asked.
"There are no snipers, but there are several sharpshooters. I wonder what you want the sharpshooters to do..." As soon as Lyudnikov said this, he suddenly raised his hand and slapped himself hard on the forehead, saying in annoyance.
: "Confused, why am I so confused? Just send a few sharpshooters to shoot at the German engineers. Why let the machine gunners fight with the enemy? Comrade Chief of Staff, thank you, I will arrange sharpshooters immediately.
Against the German sappers."
There were sharpshooters on the position. As Lyudnikov's order was issued, four or five sharpshooters immediately began to shoot at the engineers who were building the bridge. Although the machine gun firepower was powerful, the shooting accuracy was difficult for targets more than 100 meters away.
But it was not enough, and often they would be discovered by the German tanks on the other side just after half a shot, and then they would be covered by fire, which would only increase unnecessary casualties. The sharpshooters usually fired one shot and moved to another place, leaving the German tanks at a loss.
Seeing that more than a dozen engineers who were being reinforced were shot one after another and fell on the pontoon bridge or fell into the rushing river, the German commander ordered that there must be Soviet snipers on the other side and ordered the bridge-building operation to be suspended.
Although the Germans retreated, the pontoon bridge they erected was less than 20 meters away from the north shore. If the Germans built the bridge regardless of casualties, they could still build the pontoon bridge connecting the two sides within half an hour.
German tanks could rumble over. In order to eliminate this hidden danger, Sokov decided to send people to blow up the bridge.
When it comes to blowing up bridges, the most professional ones are engineers. So Sokov ordered the engineer company commander to be called in and asked straight to the point: "Comrade company commander, are there any leftover explosives sent by the city defense committee last time?"
"Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff." The engineer company commander nodded and replied affirmatively: "There are still more than 400 kilograms. Do you want to use this batch of explosives now?"
Sokov pointed to the pontoon bridge on the river that was about to be completed, "If I order you to blow up that pontoon bridge on the river, what are you going to do?"
"That pontoon bridge is still more than ten meters away from the shore," the engineer company commander said, looking at the pontoon bridge: "The soldiers carrying out the task of blowing up the bridge need to swim over these ten meters before they can install explosives on the bridge. However, this matter
It can’t be done until night.”
"Why can it be done at night?" Sokov asked puzzledly.
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I think you have also seen the German tanks on the other side." The engineer company commander explained: "If the bridge is blown up during the day, our soldiers will be immediately blocked by German firepower as soon as they hit the water.
It will definitely cause huge casualties."
After the engineer company commander finished speaking, Sokov did not speak immediately. He thought to himself: I didn't expect that this company commander, like Lyudnikov, had a missing string in his mind, was too rigid in doing things, and didn't know how to adapt at all.
For example, when it was clear that a problem could be solved with snipers, Lyudnikov would use machine gunners to fight the Germans; the company commander also asked him to blow up the bridge, but he only knew that he would let the soldiers swim with explosives on their backs.
After climbing more than ten meters onto the pontoon and setting up explosives, didn’t you think there was a simpler way?
"Comrade Company Commander," Sokov looked at the short engineer company commander in front of him and asked: "Besides letting the soldiers swim up to the pontoon bridge with explosives on their backs to blast, is there no other way?"
The engineer company commander thought for a while, then shook his head and said resolutely: "No, Comrade Chief of Staff. I think this method of blowing up the bridge is the only feasible method at present."
Sokov saw a teacup on the table, so he walked to the table, pointed at the teacup and said to the engineer company commander: "Comrade commander, if this is a small boat, it is filled with explosives." He pushed it with his hands.
Holding the tea cup, he continued, "Since we let this small boat filled with explosives go down the river and suddenly explode when it reaches the German pontoon bridge. Can you tell me, what will be the result?"
"Needless to say, the pontoon bridge can definitely be blown up." After the engineer company commander blurted out his thoughts, a look of surprise appeared on his face: "Chief of Staff, your method is really great. I will immediately
Arrange people to prepare ships, and after dark, float the ships filled with explosives down the river and blow up the enemy's pontoon bridge."