Regarding Sokov's request, Vasilyev only hesitated for a moment, then stared at Spasov and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how many such ships do you have in total?"
"About fifty." Spasov replied simply. "Half of them were fished out of the river by our soldiers. They have been blown to pieces. If they are not repaired, they will be put into the water." It will sink."
"You heard it all, Colonel Sokov." After listening to Spasov's report, Vasilyev asked Sokov with some embarrassment, "The number of wooden ships sounds like a lot, but there are not many that can be used. Are you still sure you want it?"
"Yes, Comrade Brigade Political Commissar." Sokov nodded vigorously and replied decisively, "We will send people to repair these ships, and we will use as many as we can repair."
Seeing that Sokov had made up his mind, Vasilyev simply said, "Well, since you plan to repair the ship yourself, then I will ask Lieutenant Colonel Spasov to take you to collect the ship."
During the war, many things were done very efficiently. Less than ten minutes after Sokov and Bely came out of the shelter, hundreds of sailors began to use the tools and materials provided by Lieutenant Colonel Spasov to repair the ships that were damaged by aerial bombs or artillery bombs.
Seeing the soldiers working in full swing, Spasov, who was standing aside to watch the excitement, said to Sokov, "Comrade Colonel, after the ship is repaired, tell your soldiers that as soon as the ship is put into the water, it must be Row to the other side as quickly as possible, so as to reduce the chance of being bombarded by the enemy."
Sokov pointed at the small steamer heading towards the opposite bank with thick smoke billowing from several chimneys on the river, and said strangely, "Lieutenant Colonel Spasov, if the Germans use artillery fire to blockade them at night, On the river, why do they turn a blind eye to these small steamers? This is really strange."
"There is nothing surprising." Spasov pointed to the direction of Mamayev Hill on the other side and said to Sokov, "Due to the obstruction of Mamayev Hill and some buildings, it is difficult for the German artillery fire to hit the river accurately. Therefore, they never waste artillery shells on the routes of small steamers, but use aircraft to bomb them during the day."
After introducing the situation, Spasov pointed in the direction upstream, "Colonel Sokov, the place where you are crossing the river is two kilometers upstream. You can cross the river from there to avoid wooden boats blocking the route."
Sokov knew very well that due to the constant flow of the river, wooden boats would definitely not be able to go in a straight line when crossing the river. To cross such a wide river, all boats would deviate from their target on the other side. Some boats would deviate from their target by several times when docking. Kilometers away is not unusual either. Sokov had no objection to Spasov's arrangement. He just asked curiously, "I heard what you just said. From where to cross the river, you may be bombarded by the enemy?"
"Yes." Spasov said in an affirmative tone, "There are German spies hidden on the other side. As soon as they find out that we are crossing the river in that direction, they will fire a signal flare in the sky to indicate the direction for their artillery."
"Do your superiors know about this situation?" When Belei heard this, he couldn't help but interjected and asked, "Why don't they send people to patrol the shore, so that they can discover the spies lurking in the city in time."
"It's hard to handle, Comrade Colonel." Spasov heard what Bely said and sighed deeply. "On the cliffs on the other side of the river, there are thousands of residents waiting to cross the river. Our manpower is limited. , it is impossible to detect the German agents hidden in the crowd."
"Colonel Bely, the troops in the city are tight." Seeing that Bely wanted to question Spasov, Sokov quickly stopped him and explained, "Maybe in a few days, the superiors will transfer these patrols to the third Join the battle on the front lines.”
Bely believed that Sokov's statement was very reasonable. He had spent some time in the city and naturally knew the extent of the shortage of troops. Not to mention a few days, the troops patrolling the shore might be transferred to the city at dawn to participate in brutal battles.
He turned to look at Sokov and said rather helplessly, "Comrade Brigadier, after the ship is launched, the soldiers must use all their strength to row to the other side as quickly as possible to reduce our risk of Damage from shelling.”
"Guchakov!" Even though the sailors were busy working not far away, Sokov didn't know when they would be able to repair the ship, so he was going to let Guchakov find Shamrih. Ask how the work is going: "Go and invite Captain Shamrih over. I have something to ask him."
Shamrich was repairing a wooden boat not far away. When he heard Guchakov saying that the brigade commander wanted to see him, he followed Guchakov to Sokov without even having time to put down the ax in his hand.
"Comrade Captain," seeing Shamrih coming to him, Sokov did not beat around the bush, but asked straight to the point, "When can the ship be repaired?"
"Comrade Brigadier, these wooden boats are very damaged." Shamrih replied truthfully, "It may take until dawn at the earliest to repair all the boats."
"What, it can't be repaired until dawn." Shamrich's answer startled Sokov. He knew very well that if he crossed the river at night, he would be shelled by the Germans. But if we wait until dawn to cross the river, we will not only be bombarded by artillery, but also bombed by enemy planes. Under the double blow of enemy shelling and bombing, it is unknown how many of the troops who crossed the river in wooden boats could reach the other side alive.
Thinking of this, he frowned and said to Shamrih, "No, Comrade Captain, we can't wait that long. Once we wait until dawn before crossing the river, the enemy's air force and artillery will jointly strangle us. In order to allow more If the soldiers reach the other side alive, they must cross the river overnight."
After Shamrih waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he was silent for a moment and replied, "Comrade Brigadier, it is not impossible to cross the river before dawn. But in this case, the number of ships we can use will be greatly reduced. .”
"Comrade Captain, how many ships do you estimate can be used?"
"No more than thirty." Shamrih was afraid that Sokov would be dissatisfied with the number he said, and specifically emphasized, "This is the limit that we can achieve when we try our best. Since the soldiers had to carry their weapons and supplies with them, each boat could only carry a maximum of fifteen people.”
After listening to the numbers reported by Shamrih, Sokov began to calculate silently in his mind: "One boat can hold fifteen people, and thirty boats are four hundred and fifty people. With just three trips back and forth, almost all the soldiers can be transported." and transport supplies to the other side." He nodded in the store and said to Shamrih, "Comrade Captain, in order to speed up the repair of the ship, we will temporarily ignore the severely damaged ships. You can concentrate on repairing the relatively complete ships. .”
After Shamrich left, Spasov reminded Sokov, "Comrade Colonel, even if you have thirty ships, it will take at least three trips back and forth to transport all the soldiers and supplies to the other side. I It seems that you might as well wait one more day and wait until tomorrow night before crossing the river, so as to avoid losses to the troops."
Spasov's words made Bely's heart beat with excitement. He knew very well that if the German army really wanted to use artillery fire to block this section of the river, no matter how fast the soldiers rowed the boats, there would definitely be sacrifices. If we really waited until tomorrow night to cross the river, these casualties could be avoided. After all, the enemy's artillery fire was helpless on the route of the small steamer.
"Misha," Bely pulled Sokov aside, called him by his nickname, and said in a low voice, "I think you can consider Lieutenant Colonel Spasov's opinion and wait until tomorrow night to cross the river. That way It can greatly reduce the casualties of the troops. After all, we have limited troops. If we can lose one less one when crossing the river, we will have more strength in the subsequent battle."
Sokov admitted in his heart that Bely's words made sense, but he understood even more clearly that the troops at Mamayev Heights were weak at the moment, and the Soviet counterattack had failed. The Germans were likely to concentrate their superior forces against them. Mamaev Hill launches a new attack. With the existing defense forces on the hill, whether it can hold the position is a big question.
It was out of this consideration that he shook his head and rejected Bely's proposal. "Colonel Bely, even if we wait until tomorrow night to cross the river, it is possible for us to reach the other side unscathed. But have you ever considered that once daybreak, The Germans launched an attack on Mamayev Hills, and Sidorin and others may have lost their position due to lack of troops."
Sokov was worried that Bely would not realize the seriousness of the problem, and specifically added that "the terrain on the west side of Mamayev Heights is flat, while the east side is steep, similar to the terrain of the unnamed highlands we captured a few days ago. If the enemy Sticking to the hill, no matter how brave our soldiers are, they will definitely make huge sacrifices to be able to retake Mamayev Hill."
Bely personally led the tank battalion and participated in the battle to seize the unknown heights. He knew very well that if the Germans occupied Mamayev Heights and held it by danger, they would have to rely on more than a thousand troops to recapture Mamayev Heights. Yevgan is a fantasy. After thinking about the cause and effect, he finally made up his mind and said to Sokov, "Okay, Misha, I agree with you. We will cross the river overnight. Even if we suffer some sacrifices, we must reach Mamayev before dawn." Post."
With the efforts of the sailors, more than 30 wooden boats were repaired and put into the river at one o'clock in the morning. When the soldiers were boarding the ship, Sokov said to Bely, "Colonel Bely, I will cross the river with the troops first. When the ship returns, you will follow across the river."
As a rule, when a unit is crossing a river, the highest-ranking commander will not get on the boat together, lest they be caught by enemy artillery fire. Therefore, after hearing Sokov's arrangement, Bely did not raise any objections. He nodded, and then said to Sokov with concern, "Misha, you are the leader of a brigade. Please pay attention to your own safety when crossing the river. .”
"Don't worry, Colonel Bely." Sokov replied with a smile, "Although the river is so fast, as long as our soldiers paddle faster, we may have reached the other side before the enemy's agents have time to launch the signal bomb. .”
While talking, Sokov saw that the soldiers had already boarded the ship, so he said hello to Bely, and took Samoylov and Guchakov onto a wooden ship not far away. After Sokov stepped into the wooden boat, he whispered to the soldiers sitting on the boat, "Comrades, are you all ready?"
"Ready!" A dozen soldiers sitting on the boat replied in unison.
"Let's go!" As the order was given, hundreds of oars reached into the river and began to row vigorously, splashing countless water splashes on the edge of the wooden boat.
Sokov stood on the bow of the boat and looked at the other shore, silently calculating the distance in his heart. The distance from the east bank to the west bank was about one kilometer. At the speed of the soldiers paddling, they could reach the other bank in half an hour at most. Including the time to board and disembark, a round trip would take about an hour and a half, and it would take at most five hours to get all the troops across the river in three stages. In this way, there is hope to reach Mamayev Heights before dawn.
Sokov looked at the other side for a while, then looked up at the sky. But until the fleet reached the center of the river, it was quiet all around. Only the sound of the river flowing and the soldiers paddling could be heard. He thought smugly in his mind, "Maybe we chose the time to cross the river well. The German agents lurking among the residents did not notice that we were crossing the river, so they could not send signal flares to their artillery."
However, just as he was thinking this, a dazzling flare suddenly rose in the sky, illuminating the fleet of ships moving in the river. "Damn it, it's been discovered!" The moment he saw the flares appearing, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He understood that his fleet had been discovered by German agents. The artillery directed the attack direction. Sokov quickly shouted at the top of his voice, "Comrades, speed up, rowing to the other side is victory!" As Sokov shouted, the soldiers speeded up the oars, making the entire fleet move faster.
Sokov stood on the bow of the boat and looked at the other shore, silently calculating the distance in his heart. The distance from the east bank to the west bank was about one kilometer. At the speed of the soldiers paddling, they could reach the other bank in half an hour at most. Including the time to board and disembark, a round trip would take about an hour and a half, and it would take at most five hours to get all the troops across the river in three stages. In this way, there is hope to reach Mamayev Heights before dawn.
Sokov looked at the other side for a while, then looked up at the sky. But until the fleet reached the center of the river, it was quiet all around. Only the sound of the river flowing and the soldiers paddling could be heard. He thought smugly in his mind, "Maybe we chose the time to cross the river well. The German agents lurking among the residents did not notice that we were crossing the river, so they could not send signal flares to their artillery."
However, just as he was thinking this, a dazzling flare suddenly rose in the sky, illuminating the fleet of ships moving in the river. "Damn it, it's been discovered!" The moment he saw the flares appearing, Sokov's heart sank suddenly. He understood that his fleet had been discovered by German agents. The artillery directed the attack direction. Sokov quickly shouted at the top of his voice, "Comrades, speed up, rowing to the other side is victory!" As Sokov shouted, the soldiers speeded up the oars, making the entire fleet move faster.
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