After nightfall, the troops of the 42nd Guards Regiment gathered by the river, preparing to board the ferry docked at the ferry and head to the city to join the main force of the division. Several ferries were bombed and sunk during the day, making it impossible to transport more than two thousand people from the 42nd Guards Regiment across the river at one time. The officers and soldiers of the Volga River Fleet provided many wooden boats or kayaks for the Guards soldiers to use to cross the river.
After boarding, the ship loaded with Guards soldiers headed for the other side. Everything was normal at first, but as soon as they drove to the side, several flares suddenly rose in the sky. Colonel Ye Lin, who was on one of the ferries, couldn't help but frowned when he saw the flares in the sky. He asked the helmsman who was steering the ship: "What's going on? Why are we lighting up the flares? Aren't we afraid that the Germans will find us?" "
The helmsman glanced at the slowly falling flares and said with a wry smile: "Comrade Colonel, the flares were not fired by our people, but by the German artillery observers lurking on the shore. They used the flares to indicate the direction of the artillery bombardment. You see Well, it won’t be long before they start shelling.”
As soon as the helmsman finished speaking, a series of screams came from the air. A moment later, the river surface that seemed calm just now was exploded by the sudden cannonballs. The water columns rising into the sky caused the ferry boat traveling in the river to begin to shake violently. Ye Lin hurriedly grabbed the railing next to it. , only to gain a firm foothold amidst the bumps.
He watched helplessly as a wooden ship not far ahead was directly hit by a cannonball and was instantly blown to pieces. The fragments of the ship's hull and the shattered bodies of the soldiers flew into the sky in the light of fire.
Ye Lin held on to the railing tightly and let the splashing water slap his face. He hoped in his heart that the bombardment would end soon so that his team could smoothly board the ferry on the right bank.
However, as the screams became more intense, more and more shells fell from the sky. Neither the ferry nor the soldiers riding in wooden boats could withstand the damage of the shells. Accompanied by the violent explosions of shells hitting the ships, the wooden boats filled with soldiers burst into flames, forcing the soldiers on them to jump into the water to escape in a hurry.
Just when Ye Lin thought that the ship his team was traveling on would not be able to pass through the shelling area smoothly, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the enemy's shells had landed far behind the fleet. Perhaps discovering that the Soviet fleet had entered a blind spot for shelling, the artillery observers hidden by the river stopped firing flares into the air, and the shelling also came to an abrupt end.
Seeing the boat approaching the shore, Ye Lin couldn't help but turn his head and look behind him. He saw that the originally dense formation of wooden boats and rubber boats had been blown to pieces by artillery fire. On the rippling river, there were floating boats. Standing next to the burning wreckage of the wooden boat, on the illuminated river surface, you can see the fallen commanders and soldiers, fluttering desperately in the cold river water, floating like boiled dumplings.
The ship finally docked at the ferry on the right bank. As soon as Ye Lin got off the ship, he heard a voice coming from the crowd in front: "Colonel Ye Lin, where is Colonel Ye Lin?"
Hearing someone calling his name, Ye Lin quickly raised his voice and replied: "I'm here!"
An officer wearing a large-brimmed hat trotted over after hearing Ye Lin's voice. He came to Ye Lin, and after confirming the identity of the other party, he straightened up and said: "Hello, comrade colonel. I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov, the guard platoon leader of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, and I am Feng Rodim General Tsev and brigade commander Lieutenant Colonel Sokov have ordered us to come here to meet you.”
"Hello, Comrade Second Lieutenant." Ye Lin extended his hand to the other party, "It's great to have you here to support us. When I was on the ship just now, I was worried about where the troops should head after landing ashore."
When Samoilov shook hands with Yelin, he asked tentatively: "Comrade Colonel, I just saw that your fleet was shelled by the Germans when it was crossing the river. I wonder what the casualties were?"
When Ye Lin heard this question, the muscles on his face twitched violently for a few times, and then he said angrily: "I don't have time to count now. Comrade Second Lieutenant, please take us to the garrison location quickly."
"Comrade Colonel, I will leave two people here. After your troops are assembled, let them take the troops to the designated location." Samoylov said to Yelin: "I have been ordered to take you to Mamayev Go and see our brigade commander and he will provide you with the weapons and ammunition you need."
When Ye Lin heard that Samoylov said he would take him to see Sokov, he couldn't help but frown slightly. He thought to himself that this lieutenant colonel was quite arrogant and had a lower military rank than himself, yet he still asked her to go see him. But after hearing what he said next, he couldn't help but feel ecstatic. Almost all of his regiment were new soldiers, and half of them were not equipped with weapons. He was worried about weapons. At this moment, he heard that someone specifically provided weapons for him, so he hurriedly He urged: "Second Lieutenant, without further ado, take me to see your brigade commander immediately."
"Comrade Colonel," seeing that Ye Lin didn't explain anything to anyone else, he urged himself to go to Mamayev Heights. Samoylov quickly reminded him: "Do you think you should explain it to any commander? He is responsible for commanding the troops in your absence."
Samoilov's words reminded Ye Lin, and he quickly called his chief of staff and told him: "Comrade chief of staff, hurry up and assemble the troops. Later, the second lieutenant's subordinates will take care of you." Take it to the designated location.”
"Comrade commander," the chief of staff asked, "where are you going?"
Yelin pointed at Samoylov and said: "I followed him to the brigade headquarters of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. The brigade commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, said he could provide us with the weapons and ammunition we need."
The chief of staff couldn't help but smile when he heard what Ye Lin said, and said quickly: "Comrade leader, do you need to send someone to carry the supplies with you?"
Ye Lin thought that even if the infantry brigade provided him with weapons and ammunition, if he wanted to transport it, he would still need to send his own personnel, so he nodded and shouted to a commander who followed him off the ship: "Captain Dragan!"
"Here!" Captain Dragan, who was named by Ye Lin, stepped forward quickly and replied loudly: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
Ye Lin ordered briefly: "Take your troops and follow me."
Dragan was the commander of the first battalion and the first company. After hearing Ye Lin's order, he immediately shouted to the soldiers who had just disembarked: "Soldiers of the first company, come and assemble!"
When Yelin led Dragan's company and followed Samoilov toward Mamayev Hill, he asked curiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, how long have you been stationed at Mamayev Hill?"
Samoilov calculated in his mind and then replied: "Our brigade entered Stalingrad in July. Since then, we have been stationed at Mamayev Heights."
"You guys have a long time to stay." Ye Lin judged based on his own experience that the infantry brigade must have suffered heavy casualties when it held Mamayev Heights for two months. Maybe after his troops entered the city, they would To take over their defense, he asked tentatively: "The casualties of the troops must be huge, right?"
"We did pay some casualties in the battle to defend Mamayev Heights." Thinking of the results achieved by the infantry brigade in the past two months, Samoilov felt a sense of pride in his heart: "But We have complete defenses, and every enemy attack ends in failure."
When the troops arrived near Mamayev Heights, they were immediately stopped by lurking secret sentries. Samoilov stepped forward and said to several lurking posts: "I am Second Lieutenant Samoilov of the guard company. I came here on the order of the brigade commander to pick up the commander of the friendly forces at the ferry."
The sentry glanced at the group of soldiers behind Samoilov and Ye Lin, and said hesitantly: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I have no right to let an unfamiliar unit enter the tunnel before receiving orders from my superiors."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," Ye Lin saw that Samoilov was about to get angry at the sentry and quickly stopped him: "Comrade Sentinel did the right thing. He was performing his duties. Let's do this. The troops stay outside the tunnel and I will follow him alone. You go in." Seeing that Ye Lin was alone, he followed Samoylov into the tunnel, and the sentry did not stop him.
When Ye Lin walked into the headquarters, he saw the three commanders sitting at the table standing up. His eyes quickly swept over the three people, and when he saw that one of them was a political worker, probably a political commissar, he focused his attention on the other two officers with the rank of lieutenant colonel. After watching for a moment, he walked quickly to Sidorin, smiled and extended his hand to him: "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I am Colonel Ye Lin, commander of the 42nd Guards Regiment!"
"Hello, Comrade Colonel." Sidorin shook hands with the other party and explained awkwardly: "I am Chief of Staff Sidorin, and this person next to me is our brigade commander."
While shaking hands with Sidorin, Ye Lin looked at the young lieutenant colonel next to him with some surprise, thinking: "What the hell, why is the commander of the infantry brigade so young?"
After everyone got to know each other, Sokov asked Ye Lin to sit down, poured him a cup of tea, and asked: "Comrade Colonel, what were the casualties of your regiment when they crossed the river?"
Although after Ye Lin landed, he followed Samoilov here before he had time to count the casualties of the troops. But after hearing Sokov's question, he still smiled bitterly and said: "The specific number is not clear, but I estimate there are three to four hundred people."
Three or four hundred people? Hearing this uncertain number of casualties, Sokov couldn't help but tremble. He thought that after crossing the river during the day, the Guards Division had lost at least nearly 2,000 people to the enemy's artillery fire and bombings. Now the 42nd Guards Regiment had suffered another casualty. Three to four hundred men were lost, which meant that a regiment of troops was lost in the Volga River before the troops officially entered the battle.
Sokov quickly changed the subject: "Comrade Colonel, I heard from General Rodimtsev that your regiment is almost entirely composed of new recruits, and half of them have no weapons."
"Yes, that's the case." Ye Lin said with some embarrassment: "Because the troops were hastily transferred to Stalingrad just after they were formed, many soldiers did not have weapons."
"Comrade Colonel, we have prepared a batch of weapons for you. You can send people to move them later." Sokov nuzzled at Samoilov and said, "Let Second Lieutenant Samoilov take it later." Your people, go to our underground warehouse to collect weapons."
Ye Lin said briefly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I brought a company with me when I came here, and now they are outside the tunnel."
"Since the troops are here, why are they still staying outside the tunnel?" After Sokov asked this question, before Ye Lin could answer, he turned his attention to Samoylov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what on earth is going on?" what's going on?"
"It's the lurking sentry deployed at the door." Samoilov replied with a bit of laughter and laughter: "They said they can't let unfamiliar troops enter the tunnel casually."
"Nonsense, absolutely nonsense." Sokov pointed at Samoylov and said to him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, go outside the tunnel immediately, bring in the comrades of the Guards Division, and take them to collect us Weapons for them.”
After Samoilov left, Sokov handed Ye Lin a list he had prepared. Ye Lin took the list and only glanced at it a few times before his eyes widened. After he quickly read the contents above, he asked Sokov in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, are all these weapons prepared for us? "
"Yes, Colonel Yelin." Sokov replied with a smile: "It's all prepared for you."
"One thousand rifles, thirty light machine guns, ten heavy machine guns, and matching ammunition..." After Ye Lin read out the contents on the list, he said with tears of gratitude: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I thought you would be at most We prepared four to five hundred rifles, but we didn’t expect so much equipment to be given to us.”
After a pause, Ye Lin asked hesitantly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, why did you give us so many weapons and ammunition?"
"Colonel Yelin," Sokov said straight to the point in order to eliminate Yelin's doubts: "To hold Stalingrad, it is not enough for our brigade alone. We need the full cooperation of friendly forces. If your The troops' weapons and equipment are too poor and can easily be defeated by the Germans on the battlefield. Once you are defeated by the enemy, our flanks will be exposed to the enemy, and the battle will be difficult to fight."
After Samoilov led Dragan's company into the tunnel, he went directly to the underground warehouse where weapons and ammunition were stored. Hearing that his troops were going to get equipment, Ye Lin couldn't sit still and ran over in a panic.
Seeing Ye Lin's leaving figure, Sokov thought to himself: "I have provided you with so many weapons. I believe that every soldier can get his own weapon. In this way, I hope it will not appear in the movie." It's that stupid thing where two people charge into the enemy's intensive fire with one gun and five bullets."
While the soldiers of the Guards Division were still receiving their weapons, the division commander Rodimtsev called Sokov. Apparently he knew through some means that the Yelin regiment had landed, so he asked bluntly: " Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have Colonel Ye Lin and his troops arrived?"
"Yes, Comrade General." Sokov quickly and respectfully replied: "My people have brought the main force of the Guards Regiment to the designated location. And the regiment leader, Colonel Ye Lin, is currently in my tunnel fortifications. , leading a company of soldiers to receive the weapons and ammunition I provided for them. Comrade General, do you need me to call Colonel Ye Lin?"
