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 was no more water in the trenches, 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 Brigadier, please come with me, and I will take you to see the drainage area."
Under the guidance of Sokov, 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 was released and flooded the positions of the 2nd Battalion and 1st Company. Unexpectedly, Grisa's brain was quite good, and he actually discharged all the water in the trench to the front of the position. With such a wide water surface, the German tanks could not come over, and they could only rely on the infantry to wade one foot at a time. However, in front of the defensive position equipped with a large number of machine guns, they could only be killed in large numbers on the ground. in the 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. Against an exhausted enemy, it only takes a few machine guns to hold them off."
Sokov saw that the water in front of Grisa Company's position formed a natural barrier. He felt that as long as the German commander was not flooded, he would never choose the direction of attack here. Therefore, he safely took the accompanying soldiers and 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 some movement 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 Yelizavita finished speaking, he stood up and walked into an observation post nearby, picked up the phone hanging on the wall: "Hello, is this the company headquarters? I am sentry Yelizavita on duty tonight.”
"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," Griza said into the microphone while putting on his boots. "I'll go to your place right away to find out what the noise is."
When Yelizavita hung up the phone, Aino criticized him and said: "I didn't understand the situation and 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 then.”
Hearing what Aino said, Yelizavita was also very upset, but since she had already called the company commander, whether she would be criticized could only depend on her luck. So he bit the bullet and said: "Tonight we are the two of us on guard duty. If we notice something strange 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 Yelizaveta'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 flares rose into the sky, they illuminated the water in front of the position. However, the water was calm and nothing could be seen. Yelizavita'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.
As the flares rose into the sky, everyone's eyes turned to the river. I saw a row of small boats parked by the river, and countless German soldiers were jumping out of the boats and wading towards the position with guns in hand.
"Battle alert." Sokov turned to the platoon leader and said: "The enemy has begun to attack. Order your troops to enter defensive positions immediately."
