The Germans used at least a dozen artillery pieces to continuously bombard the river. The exploding shells raised black water columns one after another from time to time. ｗｗｗｗ． ?r?anwenA`comAlthough the wooden boat Sokov was riding in was not hit by the enemy's shells, the river water falling from the sky made everyone on the boat feel as if they had just climbed out of the water.
Sokov sat in the cabin, clutching the side of the boat with both hands. Now he has no time to shout anything to the soldiers around him. Not to mention that the explosion of artillery shells will cover his voice. Even if there are soldiers nearby who hear his words, all they can do is to speed up the oar in order to speed up as soon as possible. Get out of the enemy's shelling zone. He prayed silently in his heart, hoping that more of the soldiers who followed him across the river would reach the other side alive.
Just when Sokov was on the verge of despair, he suddenly discovered that the rising water column had fallen far behind the fleet at some point. Samoilov put his head close to Sokov's ear and shouted loudly: "Comrade Brigadier, we have escaped the German shelling area. We are safe now."
"Thank God!" Sokov thought silently in his heart: "We finally got rid of the German shelling area." He turned his head and glanced at the two soldiers who were still hanging outside the side of the ship, and quickly shouted to the other soldiers: "You are still here?" What are you doing? Pull them up quickly."
As Sokov's order was issued, except for the few soldiers who were rowing, the remaining people immediately reached out to the robes hanging on the side of the ship and pulled them up with all their hands. After the two climbed into the cabin, Sokov saw clearly that one of them was Guchakov, and he quickly asked with concern: "Guchakov, are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Guchakov shook his head, exhaled a breath, pointed his hand behind him, and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, many of our soldiers have fallen into the water, hurry up and rescue them. Get up."
Sokov stood up and looked behind him. He saw that the German shelling had stopped. The wreckage of burning wooden boats was still floating on the shaking water, billowing black smoke, and the two bombed wooden boats were quickly capsized. , throwing all the soldiers in the boat into the river. Some soldiers who fell into the water splashed desperately in the cold river water, like boiled dumplings.
Seeing this scene, Sokov quickly ordered Samoilov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, give orders to the ships behind to rescue those soldiers who have fallen into the water."
Samoilov agreed, stood up and came to the stern of the ship, holding his hands on the side of the ship and shouting loudly to the back: "The brigade commander has an order, immediately rescue those comrades who have fallen into the water! The brigade commander has an order..."
In fact, even if Sokov did not issue an order, the surviving wooden boats had stopped moving and were rescuing nearby comrades who fell into the water. After hearing Samoilov's cry, all the ships stopped and not only retrieved the fallen soldiers, but also the bodies of some comrades floating by the side of the ship.
As soon as Sokov and others landed on the west bank, a patrol of more than a dozen people ran over, led by a staff sergeant. He asked loudly: "Comrades, which section are you from and who is the commander?" ?”
"it's me!"
The sergeant came to Sokov, stood at attention, straightened his body and reported: "Comrade commander, the captain of the 309th Patrol Team, Sergeant Nachinkin, is reporting to you that we are performing patrol missions. May I ask you Which part is it?”
When Sokov learned that it was a patrol coming, blood suddenly rushed to his head. If they hadn't discovered the agents hidden among the residents in time, how could his fleet have been bombarded by the enemy? He grabbed Naqinjin by the lapel of his clothes and said viciously: "I am Colonel Sokov, commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade. The troops I lead are reinforcements that have just arrived from the other side. Comrade Sergeant, do you know I know that because of your negligence, you failed to discover the German agents hiding among the residents in time, so many of my comrades died under enemy fire."
Knowing that he was actually a colonel in front of him and the supreme commander of the heroic unit that stood on Mamayev Heights, Nachinkin became panicked. He said somewhat incoherently: "Comrade Colonel, this... this is not... not us. It's your fault. The German spies are very cunning. He...they hide...among the residents, and we...our people...are seriously...severely short of manpower..."
The soldiers on the patrol saw their captain being grabbed by the collar of his clothes by an officer, and rushed over in a hurry to try to help their captain. Unexpectedly, when Samoylov saw the other party rushing towards him, he was worried that they would be disadvantageous to Sokov. He quickly gave an order, and dozens of soldiers around him swarmed up, surrounded the patrol soldiers in the middle, and fired at them with black holes of gun muzzle. Target them.
The tense situation around him startled Sokov. He quickly shouted at Samoylov: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what are you doing? How can you point the gun at your own comrades? Listen to me Order, put down your guns immediately!"
After hearing Sokov's order, Samoylov reluctantly waved his hand to the soldiers around him and ordered: "Put down your guns!" The soldiers put down their guns, but still stood there without moving. Staring at the dozen soldiers on the patrol with eager eyes.
Sokov let go of Nachinkin's shirt, pushed him away, and asked in a vicious tone: "Comrade Sergeant, we still have troops to cross the river. Can you clear out all the spies hidden among the residents?" Clean, so that they have no chance to send out signals to guide the enemy's artillery."
Naqinjin straightened his clothes and said cautiously: "Colonel, the residents hiding in this area all live in caves on the cliffs. As long as two people are posted at the entrance of each cave to guard them, no one is allowed to enter or exit. This will avoid the situation of spies sending signals again.”
It has to be said that the plan proposed by Nachinkin is the most suitable for the current situation. Sokov nodded and silently remembered the other party's name. Then he called Samoylov and ordered: "Comrade Major, take twenty soldiers to assist Sergeant Nachinkin in sealing the entrances of each cave."
Before Samoylov could speak, Nachinkin said hastily: "No, Comrade Colonel. There are at least more than sixty caves in this area. The soldiers under my command plus the people you sent can only Block the entrances and exits of more than a dozen caves.”
"Mobilize the masses!" Sokov couldn't help but get angry again when he heard Naqinjin's complaint. "Senior Sergeant Naqinjin, to do such a thing, we can't just rely on our soldiers, we must also know how to mobilize the masses and let them Help us guard the cave entrance. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Colonel." Seeing Sokov getting angry again, Nachinkin nodded hurriedly and half-understood, and replied: "I will go back to mobilize the masses and find some trustworthy residents to help us blockade The entrance of the cave will not allow German agents to come out and send signals again."
After Samoilov and his men left with the patrol, Sokov asked Guchakov who was standing aside: "How many ships did we lose?"
Just when Sokov was talking to Nachinkin, Guchakov was counting the remaining ships and casualties. When Sokov asked, he immediately replied: "Thirteen ships were destroyed by artillery fire, and two other ships were seriously damaged and sank before they even reached the shore. Fortunately, there were sailors on board, and they all swam. shore."
"What about the casualties?"
"The statistics have not yet been fully calculated." Guchakov replied quietly: "But the number of casualties should exceed a hundred."
Sokov was eager to get back to the brigade headquarters. He didn't want to stand by the river all the time and blow the cold river breeze, so he asked: "Where is Captain Vanya? Is he still alive?"
Guchakov pointed in the distance and said, "Captain Vanya is gathering troops over there. Do you need me to call him over?" Seeing Sokov nodding in approval, he immediately ran over there. past.
In less than two minutes, a wet Vanya appeared in front of Sokov and asked respectfully: "Comrade Brigadier, what are your instructions?"
"Comrade Captain," among the commanders and soldiers who crossed the river with Sokov, Vanya was the highest-ranking one. Sokov said to him: "You led a battalion of soldiers to stay in this area to guard, and you found someone wearing civilian clothes. Anyone who enters your security area and refuses to listen to warnings will be shot to death on the spot. Do you understand?"
Vanya's men also suffered more than thirty casualties in the shelling just now. Vanya was holding a fire in his heart. When he heard Sokov's order, he immediately replied loudly: "I understand. , Comrade Brigadier."
"I'll go back to the brigade headquarters first," Sokov said to Vanya: "When you see Colonel Bely later, remember to ask him to return to the brigade headquarters as soon as possible."
After Sokov finished explaining the work to Vanya, he led Guchakov and a troop of two hundred sailors and walked towards the north hill of Mamayev Hill a few hundred meters away. On the way, he asked Guchakov casually: "Guchakov, do you know which army is stationed in Beigang now?"
"Since you took away the fourth battalion," Guchakov replied, "Captain Golia's 192nd Battalion has been responsible for the defense of Beigan."
Sokov originally planned to ask Guchakov to take a few soldiers to contact him first to avoid any misunderstandings with the sentry later. But then I thought about it, it was only a few hundred meters away from Beigang. Maybe Guchakov had rushed to Beigang with his troops before he had time to get in touch with Goliya. Thinking of this, he gave up the idea of sending people to contact him, and instead led the soldiers into four columns and slowly advanced in the direction of Beigang.
When they were still forty or fifty meters away from the east slope of Beigang, there was suddenly a clanging sound of pushing the gun bolt in the darkness. Then, Sokov clearly heard someone asking sharply: "Who is it? Everyone, stop and give me the command!"
