When Volodya heard Sokov's question, he was like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw. He grabbed Sokov's other hand, shook it vigorously and said: "Uncle Commander, the Germans have The people in our village were locked up in the church, and they said they would kill them all after dark. We crawled out of the drainage ditch, please go and save them."
"What? The Germans are going to kill all the people in your village?!" Hearing Volodya's crying words, Vasily standing aside immediately became anxious and quickly urged Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, We have to rush there as soon as possible, otherwise the villagers will be killed by the Germans."
When Sokov heard that the villagers were about to be massacred by the German army, he was also very anxious, but he did not lose his position because of this. As the saying goes: a sharpened knife never fails to chop wood. He wanted to learn more about the German army from Volodya. After seeing the deployment situation, he then asked: "Varodia, tell me, how many Germans are there in the village, what equipment do they have, and what is the firepower deployment?"
Faced with Sokov's series of questions, Volodya was a little confused. He hesitated for a long time before answering: "There are more than a hundred of them. But, uncle commander, what is equipment and how to deploy firepower?" "
Volodya's words made Sokov realize that he had made a common-sense mistake. The military terms he inadvertently said were not suitable for a seven or eight-year-old child, even for an adult who had not received any military training. People may not be able to understand it either. In order to give Volodya a more vivid understanding, he quickly stood up and shouted at the marching troops: "The troops stop advancing!"
Following Sokov's order, the troops walking towards the outside of the village stopped. The soldiers didn't know what was going on. They just stared at Sokov and the two children he was holding with curious eyes.
Sokov brought Volodya and Anton to the front of the queue, pointed at the weapons in the hands of the soldiers, and asked: "Children, look at these guns in the hands of the uncles. The Germans in the village What are they?”
The soldiers of the Istrian battalion were all equipped with German equipment, so the two children easily recognized the weapons they had seen. After Volodya and Anton whispered a few words, Volodya wanted to run to a soldier carrying a machine gun, pointed at the G34 machine gun and said, "In the trench dug by the Germans at the entrance of the village, they built a The little wooden house has this inside.”
Although Volodya's expression was not accurate enough, Sokov understood it: the German army had a civil firepower point at the entrance of the village, and there was such a machine gun inside. He nodded slightly and said encouragingly: "Varodia, keep talking."
After figuring out the general distribution of the German troops, Kove suddenly thought of a key question, and curiously asked Volodya: "Volodia, how do you know that there are troops of your own in this village? Who are they?" Did I tell you?"
"No one told us." Volodya shook his head and said, "I just heard that our troops came to Sushinich, so I crawled out of the drainage ditch with Anton and prepared to go to the city to look for them. Our troops met you as soon as we got here."
Vasily came over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the troops have been assembled outside the village. Please give them a few words to boost their morale."
Sokov nodded, quickly came to the front of the phalanx, and said loudly to the soldiers who held their heads high: "Comrades, I just received intelligence that the German army is about to massacre our villagers. Please tell me, what should we do?"
Sokov's words were like a handful of salt thrown into a red-hot iron pot, which exploded immediately. The soldiers said at once: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we must stop the Germans and not let them kill our villagers."
"Battal Commander, please understand, let us set off now to eliminate the Germans."
…
In the face of the fierce anger of the soldiers, Sokov remained silent. Instead, he waited for the team to regain calm before he continued: "It is almost ten kilometers from here to Village No. 4, and it takes at least three hours to walk. But in order to prevent the Germans from massacring the villagers, I hope Can we all speed up our march and arrive at Village No. 4 within two hours? Can we do it?"
After Sokov finished speaking, there was silence in the team, and then there was a roar like a mountain and a tsunami: "Yes, we can do it!"
Regarding the soldiers' answers, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, then waved his big hand and announced: "Let's go!" As the order was issued, the soldiers of the machine gun company immediately formed four columns and walked towards the No. 4 No. 4. Head towards the village.
Considering the long journey and not wanting Volodya and Anton to suffer along with them, Sokov planned to leave them in the village. Unexpectedly, after hearing what Sokov said, the two children became stubborn and insisted on following the troops. Volodya also said with certainty: "Uncle Commander, don't worry, we know the way home. Even if we can't keep up with you, we won't get lost." It was precisely because of hearing what Volodya said, Sokov finally made up his mind to take his two children with him to Village No. 4.
At the beginning, Sokov was worried that the two children would not be able to keep up with the team. After walking two or three kilometers, he looked back and unexpectedly found that the two children had been following the team about ten meters behind. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart: After all, they are a fighting nation, and even a child of seven or eight years old is so strong.
Sokov quickened his pace, walked to Vasily's side, and said to him breathlessly: "Captain Vasily, leave a soldier to take care of these two children and leave them alone in this wilderness. In my heart Not grounded.”
Vasily nodded, called a burly warrior from the team, pointed at the two children who were behind the team, and said a few words to him. The soldier who accepted the order raised his hand and saluted Vasily, then turned and walked towards the children.
After two hours of rapid march, Village No. 4 finally appeared in everyone's sight. Vasily asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the soldiers are a little tired after a long and rapid march. Do you think we should let them rest for a while before we launch the attack?"
Breathing heavily, Sokov stared at Vasily and said: "Captain Vasily, the villagers may be massacred by the Germans at any time. The longer we delay here, the greater the danger they face... "
Before he could say anything, a row of gunshots came from the direction of the village. Upon hearing this voice, Sokov's expression suddenly changed. He ordered Vasily in an unquestionable tone: "I order the cannon battery to launch an attack immediately!"
