The soldier who reported the news hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said: "The buildings on both sides of the street have been blown up. If we want to pass through the ruins, we will definitely be discovered by the enemy."
"Since we can't pass through there," Chuikov said decisively when he learned that the enemy had controlled that area, "let's go around other neighborhoods."
"Comrade Commander," Klimov heard what Chuikov said and quickly reminded: "We don't know if other streets are also controlled by the Germans. If we go around and find that we still can't pass, it will be troublesome to go back. ”
"Then what do we do? Should we just rush across the intersection?" Chuikov frowned and asked, "Didn't you hear that the enemy placed a tank and a machine gun position at the intersection? We didn't even Fa rushed over."
"I think we can try it. We can quietly approach the intersection from the ruins that collapsed next to it, and then rush over quickly." Klimov said cautiously: "A group of five people, pass through the ruins, anyway, everywhere It’s all the sound of gunfire, so as long as we don’t make much movement, the enemy shouldn’t be able to spot us.”
Chuikov listened to the gunshots and explosions around him, and his mind was rapidly thinking about the plan proposed by Kerimov. At this moment, a soldier ran from behind and reported to him anxiously: "Comrade Commander, the enemy, it was later discovered that a large number of enemies are coming towards us."
"Where?" Chuikov was shocked when he heard the news and asked quickly: "How many are there?"
"It's about two hundred meters away from us," the soldier said hurriedly: "About a platoon of troops are forming a search formation and coming towards our hiding place. It is estimated that they will be able to get here in ten minutes at most."
Chuikov made a decisive decision: "Just as Klimov said, a group of five people will approach the intersection from the collapsed building next to the street, and then rush over quickly. Be careful, be quieter, ten million Don’t alert the enemy.”
As the order was given, the team members immediately formed groups of five and sneaked into the ruins next to the street against the wall, and then cautiously approached the intersection. But when the first group rushed over, Chuikov was still on tenterhooks, fearing that he would be discovered by the enemy. But after passing two groups in a row, neither of them attracted the attention of the German army. Chuikov's heart finally returned to his stomach. He felt that it should not be a problem to pass the intersection smoothly.
Chuikov was in the third group. In addition to Klimov and a guard, there were two female radio operators in the same group. When they ran out of the ruins and bent down and ran quickly across the street, a female soldier accidentally tripped on a stone on the ground and couldn't help but screamed "Ah".
Although the sound she made was not loud, unfortunately, the gunshots and explosions around her suddenly became quiet at this moment, making her voice appear particularly abrupt. The German machine gunner who was staying behind the sandbag fortification immediately looked in the direction of the sound and saw a few black figures quickly crossing the street. Seeing this situation, he almost instinctively pulled the trigger.
The sudden sound of machine gunfire was mixed with the screams of the female soldier. Although Chuikov also wanted to save the female soldier, he knew better that in the face of German machine gun fire, he could only protect himself. The few soldiers who stayed on the other side of the street saw that Chuikov and the others were in danger. They immediately opened fire without hesitation to attract the German machine gun fire and cover Chuikov's escape.
After Chuikov fled in embarrassment into the ruins across the street, he turned around and saw that only Klimov and a female signal soldier were left beside him. The other two people should have fallen to the enemy's gunfire. He glanced at the few soldiers across the street who were still exchanging fire with the enemy, gritted his molars and said to Klimov: "Let's go!"
In order to cover Chuikov's escape, the five soldiers in the last group opened fire decisively, attracting the enemy's firepower. The German troops who were searching in the distance heard the intensive gunshots here and rushed over along the street with loud shouts.
Chuikov and the others ran forward in the ruins, trying to leave this dangerous area as soon as possible. As I was running, I suddenly heard someone shouting softly from behind the masonry and rubble in front of me: "Klimov, Klimov, is that you?"
Klimov felt that the voice sounded familiar, so he quickly grabbed Chuikov and whispered to him: "Comrade Commander, it seems that our people are in front. They should be the two groups that went over first." Then he He shouted in a low voice toward the direction of the sound, "It's me, I'm Klimov."
As soon as he finished speaking, two soldiers came out from behind the rubble. They came to Chuikov and asked with concern: "Comrade Commander, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Chuikov recognized the two soldiers in front of him, both of whom were guards of the Protection Command, and asked quickly: "Where are the others?"
A soldier quickly turned around and pointed to the broken wall not far away: "Comrade Commander, they are all there."
After continuing on the road, Chuikov ordered Klimov to lead two soldiers to explore the road ahead for safety reasons. He and the remaining people were about thirty meters behind.
Klimov, who was leading the way, did not walk through the streets in order to prevent encounters with the enemy again, but walked through the ruins of buildings next to the streets. After walking for an unknown amount of time, he suddenly heard someone asking: "Hey, which part are you from?"
Klimov was startled by the sound. He hurriedly hid behind a pile of rubble with two other soldiers, pointed his gun at the direction of the sound, and asked warily: "Which part are you from?" ?”
A soldier wearing a military poncho and a steel helmet walked out from a broken wall not far away, came to the rubble pile where Klimov and the others were hiding, and said in a low voice: "I am from the 73rd Infantry Brigade. Sniper, my name is Vasily Zaitsev. Which unit are you in?"
When Klimov heard the name of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, it was as if he heard the sound of nature. He stood up and walked around the rubble, came to Vasily, held his hand and said excitedly: "Comrade Vasily, I am the adjutant Klimov of the Army Group Headquarters, and it is great to meet you here."
"Hello, comrade commander." Vasily straightened his body and asked politely: "Is there anything I can do for you?"
Since the city was severely damaged, Klimov couldn't figure out the direction at all after walking for so long. When he saw people from Sokov's troops, he immediately asked impatiently: "How far is Mamayev Hill from here?" How far?"
"Less than two kilometers, comrade commander." Vasily glanced at Klimov and the two soldiers behind him, and asked curiously: "Are there just the three of you?"
"There are still many people behind us." After finishing speaking, Klimov turned around and ordered a soldier: "You should go back immediately and report to Comrade Commander that we have encountered snipers from the 73rd Infantry Brigade here and ask them to Come over here as soon as possible.”
Chuikov rushed over quickly. He stepped forward and held Vasily's hand and said: "Comrade Vasily, I know you. On the first day you went to the battlefield, you sniped and killed a German colonel and a major. To disrupt their attack on the station's staff quarters is truly remarkable."
In response to Chuikov's compliment, Vasily grinned and then said: "Comrade Commander, this is not the place to talk. The Germans may be here soon. Let's get out of here first."
Everyone followed Vasily and shuttled through the maze-like masonry and rubble. Chuikov couldn't help but secretly sigh in his heart. If he hadn't met the sniper Vasily, even if his group barely escaped from the Germans, they would have Get lost in this ruins.
Under the leadership of Vasily, everyone finally arrived at Sokov's headquarters after half an hour's march. Sokov, who was discussing the day's combat deployment with Sidorin, saw Chuikov walking quickly into the room. He couldn't help but froze for a moment, then walked over quickly, and asked in surprise: "Comrade Commander, are you ready?" Why are you here?"
"Hello, Lieutenant Sokov." Chuikov nodded to Sokov and said: "The army headquarters is surrounded by the enemy, so we can only evacuate the headquarters in batches."
Sokov glanced behind Chuikov and asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, are you the only one? Where are the Military Commissar and Chief of Staff?"
"Comrade Military Commissar took the staff of the headquarters and took the inland gunboat from the crossing of the Tsaritsa River and left by water." Chuikov walked to the table and sat down, picking up a cup of hot tea on the table and taking a sip. And then, he continued: "The remaining people in the headquarters, every twenty people formed a small team, and left the headquarters in batches. The small team led by the chief of staff left the headquarters before me. As for where they are now ,I am not sure as well."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin saw his old superior coming and hurriedly came over to salute. After a brief greeting, he asked tentatively: "Do you think it is necessary to get you to Mamayev Heights safely?" Report the news to the front army headquarters. This way, even after the chief of staff and military commissar arrive at the new headquarters, they can know your whereabouts in a timely manner."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sidorin, you are right." Chuikov immediately called the female telegraph operator waiting outside and told her: "Yelena, immediately send a report to the front army headquarters saying that I have successfully We have arrived at Mamayev Hill. If Krylov or Gurov ask, please let them know."
While Elena was sending the report, Sidorin carefully asked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, is your journey going well?"
"We had a firefight with the enemy halfway and lost seven comrades." Chuikov said solemnly: "If we hadn't happened to encounter Vasily who was lurking, we would probably still be wandering around in that area."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you have heard it, it was Vasily who brought the commander and the others here." Upon hearing this, Belgin immediately suggested to Sokov: "We should give him credit!"
Regarding Belkin's proposal, Sokov nodded slightly and said: "Comrade political commissar, in addition to giving him credit, I think he can also be awarded a military rank." He thought for a moment and added, "Grant him the rank of sergeant. You have no objection, right?"
"I agree!" After Belkin nodded in agreement, he turned to Sidorin and asked: "Chief of Staff, what do you think?"
"I agree with the brigade commander's proposal to grant the soldier Vasily the rank of sergeant." Seeing that Sokov and Belkin had reached an agreement on this matter, Sidorin naturally would not object, and also suggested: "I suggest Let Vasily lead the sniper team."
"Comrades," Chuikov waited for the room to regain calm before asking, "How is the situation here with you?"
"Comrade Commander, please allow me to report to you." Sidorin respectfully reported to Chuikov in accordance with the regulations: "The enemy's attacks on us during the day were all repelled. According to our statistics, About nine hundred enemies were killed, and the number of wounded was also no less than this number."
"It was a good fight." After hearing such results, Chuikov smiled and nodded, and then asked: "What are your casualties? If the enemy continues to attack tomorrow, can you defend it?"
Regarding Chuikov's question, Sidorin did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned to look at Sokov next to him, and then said cautiously: "Comrade Commander, the enemy used 305 mm heavy artillery to launch an attack on Mamayev Heights today." The bombardment destroyed the surface fortifications of Nangang and caused a lot of casualties to the commanders and soldiers who stayed in the fortifications. If they continue to bombard us with heavy artillery tomorrow, I don’t know if our fortifications can withstand their shelling."
"305mm heavy artillery?!" Although the battle results reported by the infantry brigade mentioned that the German army used artillery of this caliber, the critical battle in other areas at that time had already made Chuikov so anxious that he could not pay attention to the enemy's attack. What caliber of artillery was used at Mamayev Kurgan. After hesitating for a moment, he asked: "The artillery of this caliber should be a rail gun. The enemy will not have many artillery shells. I think it is unlikely that this kind of artillery will be used to bombard you tomorrow."
"Comrade Commander," Sidorin waited for Chuikov to finish, grinned, and then said: "If the enemy does not use this artillery tomorrow, I think we will have no problem holding our position. In a daytime battle During the battle, the enemy suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, while our casualties were only more than 700. Even if we fight hard, we can win the final victory."
"There are still too few troops in the city," Chuikov sighed and said, "Especially after today's battle, except for your brigade, all the structures have been disrupted, and we are unable to carry out effective command at all. . It seems that I need to ask my superiors to send reinforcements."
