The person responsible for bombing the bridge was the Sixth Company of the Second Battalion of the 114th Regiment. Now only the company commander, Lieutenant Ivanov, the instructor Yerushimovich and two other wounded people were left. Looking at several German firepower points at the head of the bridge, Yi
Vanov's eyes almost burst into flames. In order to rush to the bridge and blow it up, more than 20 soldiers in his company fell under the enemy's gunfire.
"Comrade Company Commander," the instructor Yerushimovich, who was wounded in the leg, said to Ivanov while sitting behind a pile of bricks and rubble: "Although we only have four people left, the orders given to us by our superiors
We still need to find a way to complete the order."
"You are all injured and have difficulty moving." Ivanov looked at the three injured subordinates in front of him and said with a firm expression: "Let me complete the task of blowing up the bridge."
"Comrade Company Commander, it's better for me to blow up the bridge." When a soldier who was shot in the abdomen heard Ivanov say this, his eyes turned red and tears flowed down his cheeks uncontrollably. He said emotionally:
"My injuries are so serious. Even if I don't blow up the bridge, I won't survive for long. Don't worry, I will climb up to the bridge and blow up the bridge even if I have to crawl."
"No, I can't let you die." Amidst the deafening sound of gunfire, Ivanov shouted at his subordinates at the top of his lungs: "You are injured and unable to move. Get out of this hiding place.
If you can't walk ten meters, you will be killed by a German machine gun. The task of blowing up the bridge is still up to me, do you understand?"
"I am the instructor of the company," Yerushimovich looked at Ivanov and said seriously: "I have no right to let the military commander take risks alone. Even if you go to blow up the bridge yourself, you can't throw it away.
Come on, we must complete this task together."
Ivanov came to Yerushimovich and squatted down, put his hands on his shoulders, and said sincerely: "Comrade instructor, don't forget, we used to have a division of labor. You can't do anything about life."
I have the final say on military matters. Now, I order you to stay, do you want to disobey my order?"
He saw the other party open his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, and quickly added: "There are 138 people in our company, and now there are only four of us left. I don't want the company to be revoked, so I order you to survive and wait.
When the troops withdraw to the rear for replenishment, rebuild the company as soon as possible to avenge me and those comrades who sacrificed their lives!"
Ivanov's last few words deeply moved Yerushimovich. He held Ivanov's hand tightly and said solemnly: "Comrade Company Commander, you must come back alive.
, we can’t live without you as company commander.”
"Company commander!" The other two wounded men also said with tears in their eyes: "You must live. We are still waiting for you to continue to be our company commander after the company is rebuilt."
After hearing the words of the instructor and the soldiers, Ivanov tried his best to put on a smile on his face and said with a forced smile: "I will try to come back alive." After saying that, he stacked several explosive bags on the ground.
Get up, let the rope be tied firmly, and prepare to drag it to the bridge and blow it up.
However, he had just tied the explosive bag, and before he left the hiding place, he heard someone shouting vaguely from behind: "Lieutenant Ivanov, wait a minute. Lieutenant Ivanov..."
Ivanov turned his head and looked back, and saw the second battalion commander and about twenty soldiers, bending down and taking advantage of the cover of the ruins, running towards him quickly. Waiting for the second battalion commander to arrive in front of him
, Ivanov quickly reported to him: "Comrade Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Ivanov, commander of the Sixth Company, is preparing to carry out the task of blowing up the bridge, please give instructions!"
"Lieutenant Ivanov, have all the soldiers in your company been killed?"
"Yes, Comrade Battalion Commander." Ivanov did not hide anything, but answered truthfully: "Including me and the instructor, there are only four people left in the whole company."
After hearing this, the second battalion commander nodded slightly, glanced at the soldiers behind him, and said: "I guessed that this would be the case, so I brought the rest of the battalion over.
"
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I would like to make a suggestion." Ivanov pointed at the German machine gun fire a few dozen meters away and suggested to the second battalion commander: "There is a distance of fifty or sixty meters from here to the bridge.
Part of the area is exposed to the range of German firepower. Therefore, I suggest that two machine guns be set up here to suppress the German firepower and cover the bridge bombers as they approach the bridge..."
Before Ivanov finished speaking, he saw the second battalion commander shaking his head. He thought the other person said that there were not so many machine guns in the camp, so he quickly changed his words and said: "If you don't have two, one will do. You just need to contain it."
The enemy's firepower can cover the bridge bombers from approaching the bridge."
"Lieutenant Ivanov, you are mistaken." Seeing that Ivanov misunderstood what he meant, the second battalion commander explained to him: "I shake my head, it does not mean that there are no machine guns that can provide cover for the comrades who bombed the bridge.
, but I just received an order from the regiment headquarters. We need to adjust our tactics so that we no longer have to brave the enemy's intensive firepower to approach the bridge."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I don't understand what you mean." Ivanov was confused by the words of the second battalion commander. He asked incomprehensively: "The roads approaching the bridge are all blocked by enemy machine guns. Where can I find them?"
Can the road lead to the bridge?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, why are you so stupid?" the second battalion commander said to Ivanov with a wry smile: "Since the road leading to the bridge has been tightly blocked by German machine guns, then we are completely
You can use another way to blow up the bridge. For example, approaching the pier of the highway bridge from the water and detonating the explosive package can also blow up the bridge."
"Go from the water?!" Ivanov heard this and subconsciously looked towards the river not far away. He saw a lot of floating objects on the river, flowing towards the highway bridge with the current.
He thought for a moment, and then asked his question: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we put the explosive package on the wooden board, and it can indeed float along the current. But I have a question. After the explosive package floats under the highway bridge,
, how to detonate it?”
"Comrade Lieutenant, the issue you are considering has been explained by your superiors." The second battalion commander pointed to the explosive packages piled in the distance and said to Ivanov: "We put the explosive packages into the oil barrel and burned them according to the fuse.
Speed, to set the length of the fuse, so as to ensure that the explosive package will explode directly as soon as it floats under the highway bridge."
Ivanov immediately expressed his objection to the second battalion commander's statement: "Comrade battalion commander, none of us are engineers. We cannot accurately calculate the burning speed of the fuse, nor can we accurately set the length of the fuse.
.If an empty oil barrel filled with explosives explodes just under the bridge, that would be perfect. However, if the explosive package explodes in advance or delayed, not only will it not cause any damage to the bridge, but it will arouse the vigilance of the Germans.
.If this method of blasting is discovered by the Germans, and they want to use this method to blow up the bridge in the future, they may not be able to achieve their goal."
After the second battalion commander patiently listened to Ivanov's explanation, he felt that what he said made sense, so he asked: "Lieutenant Ivanov, what do you think we should do to ensure that the gasoline barrels filled with explosives?"
What about the explosion when it reaches the bottom of the bridge?”
"This is easy to do. Just send someone to float to the bottom of the bridge with the gasoline barrel, and then pull the fuse. This will definitely blow up the highway bridge." After Ivanov said this, he took the initiative to report to the Second Battalion.
Chang Qingying: "Comrade Battalion Commander, this suggestion was made by me. I beg you to let me carry out this task."
"No, you can't go." When the second battalion commander thought of detonating explosives under the bridge, he guessed that this was a death mission with no return, and Ivanov was the most trusted company commander under him.
It would be very unworthy to die in vain, so he rejected the other party's request without hesitation: "I think it's better to send someone else to carry out this task."
Seeing that the battalion commander objected to his carrying out this task, Ivanov immediately guessed what he was thinking and quickly explained to him: "Comrade battalion commander, don't worry, after I lit the fuse under the bridge, the explosive pack
It will take more than ten seconds before it explodes, so I think I should have enough time to escape."
"That's it." Knowing that Ivanov had gone on a mission and had a chance of survival, the battalion commander's objection was not so strong. After all, his superiors had given him a fatal order to blow up the highway bridge no matter what.
After staring at the continuously flowing river for a while, he nodded slowly and said, "Okay, Lieutenant Ivanov, it's up to you to perform this task. Now let's prepare the explosives for blowing up the bridge.
"
The battalion commander took Lieutenant Ivanov and several soldiers to the place where the explosive packages were piled, and stuffed the explosive packages into the empty oil barrels one by one. He saw that the explosive packages filled two empty oil barrels.
, when the battalion commander was about to order people to push the oil barrels into the river, Ivanov said first: "Comrade battalion commander, I think we should find a rope to tie the two gasoline barrels together."
"Tie two oil barrels together?" Hearing Ivanov say this, the battalion commander asked in confusion: "Why?"
"Look," Ivanov pointed to the highway bridge in the distance and said to the battalion commander: "I plan to let the oil barrel float to the bridge pier and then pull the fuse. If the two oil barrels are not tied together
, when it is washed away by the current, I am afraid that only one of them will be detonated."
The battalion commander felt that what Ivanov said made sense, so he asked the soldiers to tie two oil barrels together and push them into the water. When the oil barrels filled with explosives reached the river, one-third of them were still floating.
Seeing this situation on the water, the battalion commander felt somewhat reassured. This would at least ensure that the explosive package would not get wet by the river water.
In order to make things easier, Ivanov took off his military coat before entering the water, leaving only a white shirt. He stood in the water above his knees, holding on to the rope connecting the two oil drums, looking at
The battalion commander asked: "Comrade battalion commander, I'm about to set off. Do you have any other instructions?"
"Lieutenant Ivanov," the battalion commander looked at his brave subordinate, his nose felt sore, but he tried hard to control his emotions and said in a calm tone: "Pay attention to safety, and we must come back alive!
"
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." Ivanov grinned at his battalion commander and said, "I believe that I will come back alive!" After saying that, he jumped into the water and dragged two oilmen with him.
The bucket headed for deep water.
When the oil barrel began to drift down the water, in order to prevent himself from being discovered by the enemies on the shore, Ivanov plunged into the water and followed the oil barrel toward the highway bridge. The second battalion commander was hiding behind the ruins.
, watched the two oil barrels floating toward the highway bridge with a worried look on his face, praying secretly in his heart that the enemy would not discover Ivanov.
After two or three minutes, two oil barrels were blocked by a bridge pier. Seeing that the oil barrels were no longer drifting forward, Ivanov, who was submerged in the water, thought he might have reached a certain place, so he resurfaced.
I saw two oil drums parked on the left and right sides of the bridge pier respectively. Because there were ropes tied in the middle, they could not continue to drift forward.
Seeing this, Ivanov couldn't help but be overjoyed. This way, he didn't have to worry about finding a suitable place to fix the oil drum. In today's place, just pulling the fuse is enough to blow up the bridge. He put the two
He took out the fuse from the oil drum and cursed in a low voice: "Damn Germans, you all should die." Then he suddenly pulled the fuse.
Seeing the fuse burning "thorny", he grinned, then plunged into the water with all his strength, and swam rapidly downstream with all his strength.
Ten seconds later, a huge explosion was heard from the bridge pier. The highway bridge quickly collapsed in the sky-high water column, and the broken bridge pier and bridge deck suddenly fell into the river. Another highway bridge connecting the family area and the factory area fell into the river.
This turned into nothing.
Although they were still far away from the explosion point, the Second Battalion Commander and the others who were hiding behind the ruins were still shocked to the point of being dizzy. It felt like there was a piece of cotton stuffed in their ears. When they heard other people talking, their voices seemed to come from a distant place.
It seems so low that it is inaudible.
The second battalion commander yelled at a soldier who was responsible for monitoring the river for a long time. Only then did the other party vaguely hear clearly that the battalion commander was asking himself if he had seen Lieutenant Ivanov. He quickly shook his head and replied equally loudly:
"Comrade Battalion Commander, I saw that Comrade Lieutenant had already dived into the water before the bridge was blown up. He may be somewhere downstream at the moment."
The second battalion commander didn't get the answer he wanted from the soldier. He quickly reached out and grabbed a soldier not far from him and ordered him loudly: "Go to the regiment headquarters immediately and report that we have successfully blown up the bomb."
The highway bridge to the west of the factory. However, Lieutenant Ivanov, who was on the mission to blow up the bridge, is currently missing. He may have been washed downstream by the river. Please ask the regiment headquarters to contact friendly forces to help find the whereabouts of the lieutenant. Do you understand?"
"I understand." The soldier replied quickly.
After hearing this, the second battalion commander said uneasily: "Repeat what I just said."
The soldier did not dare to neglect, and quickly repeated what the second battalion commander said. After hearing this, the second battalion commander felt that he was right, so he slapped the other man on the back and urged: "You still
What are you doing in a daze? Hurry up and report to the regiment headquarters!"