The bomb landed not far from Chuikov and exploded, throwing up dirt and immediately covering him. Listening to the enemy planes in the sky disappearing, he immediately climbed out of the warm soil, crawled out of the crater on his hands and knees, rushed to the long-destroyed shelter, and lowered his head to look inside.
"Comrade Commander," the officer whose leg was pinned by the log saw the disgraced Chuikov appearing in front of him and said apologetically, "I have caused you trouble."
"Look what you said. I am your superior, how can I ignore you." Chuikov stepped forward and held the other person's hand, comforted him and said: "Don't worry, we will rescue you."
"Where is the military doctor?" The officer looked behind Chuikov and said weakly: "I have something to tell him."
"Here comes someone!" Chuikov turned around and saw a soldier holding a shovel, and quickly ordered him: "Hurry up and call the military doctor."
The military doctor was hiding in a bomb crater not far away. The soldier went out and shouted twice, and he followed. He cautiously came to Chuikov's side, bent down and asked respectfully: "Comrade Commander, what are your instructions?"
"I'm not looking for you, but he is looking for you." Chuikov pointed at the officer whose waist was pinned down by the log and could not move, and said, "He said he had something to say to you."
The military doctor quickly came to the officer's side and squatted down, asking: "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Comrade doctor," perhaps because the injury was so serious, the officer had difficulty speaking, so that the military doctor had to move his head closer to hear what he said clearly: "Can you amputate my leg?"
"What, amputation?" The officer's words startled the military doctor. He quickly shook his head and said: "No, absolutely not. Now your waist is pressed by a log and you can't move. If you want amputation, you have no choice but to do it." Start from the waist. Under the current conditions, even if you are amputated below the waist, you will die immediately due to massive blood loss."
Chuikov also didn't expect that the purpose of the officer's search for a military doctor was to amputate his limbs so as not to cause unnecessary trouble to his comrades. The corners of his eyes couldn't help but moisten. When no one was paying attention, he quickly wiped away the tears that came out of his eyes with the back of his hand, then stood up and faced the soldiers standing outside the shelter: "Comrades, please find a way to rescue this commander. I, Chuikov, take care of you." After saying that, he raised his hand and saluted the soldiers with a solemn military salute.
…………
Returning to the command post, before Chuikov could sit down, Krylov rushed in front of him and said in a panic: "Comrade Commander, it's bad, something happened."
Chuikov's heart skipped a beat. Something happened? Could it be that the enemy has occupied the Red October Factory? He quickly asked nervously: "What happened? Is the Red October Factory lost?"
"The Red October Factory was lost?" Chuikov's words stunned Krylov, who wondered why he didn't receive the report. But he soon understood that Chuikov had misunderstood him and thought that the Red October Factory had been abandoned. He quickly explained: "The enemy took advantage of our army's attention to focus on the Red October Factory, the Barricade Factory and The Silicate Factory unexpectedly launched an attack on the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory. Currently, intense fighting is taking place in the defense zone of the 112th Division."
After learning that the battle was taking place in the defensive area of the 112th Division, Chuikov suddenly felt more at ease and said casually: "Chief of Staff, call Major General Zoludev on their right wing and ask the 37th Guards Division to be ready for support at any time. .”
"Comrade Commander, the bad news I want to tell you is related to General Zholudev." Krylov said with a sad face: "While the enemy launched an attack on the 112th Division's defense area, they also dispatched aircraft to bomb the Guards Division. The defense area of the 37th Division. General Rudev's headquarters was hit by a bomb, and his life and death are now unknown. What's worse is that Military Commissar Gurov was also in his division headquarters at the time..."
When Chuikov heard this, his eyes suddenly turned black and stars were rising. If Krylov hadn't noticed that something was wrong and helped him in time, he might have fallen to the ground. Chuikov took two deep breaths, calmed down his emotions, and then asked: "Comrade Chief of Staff, who reported this to you? Is the source reliable?"
"It's Colonel Omelchenko, the commander of the 109th Guards Regiment!" Krylov understood the purpose of Chuikov's question. He was worried about spreading false information to shake the morale of the army, so he quickly replied affirmatively: "His command The headquarters is not far from the division headquarters, and he witnessed with his own eyes that the division headquarters was hit by a bomb."
"Organize manpower for rescue immediately." Chuikov was worried about the safety of Gurov and Zoludev, and quickly ordered Krylov: "Be sure to rescue the military commissar and Zoludev."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander, Colonel Omelichenko is already organizing rescue operations." Krylov said with a serious expression: "If we are lucky, we will be able to rescue people."
"The Military Commissar and General Zholudev are buried in the headquarters. I am afraid that the oxygen below will soon be exhausted. I immediately asked Colonel Omelchenko to find a way to connect two pipes in and provide oxygen to the people buried below. Oxygen." Chuikov felt that if Lujeffe's headquarters was just collapsed by the earthquake, the casualties should not be too great, but if the oxygen inside is used up, no one will survive: "Wait until the pipe is connected, and start pushing inside. After supplying oxygen, it’s not too late to dig out slowly.”
"You are still thoughtful." After flattering Chuikov, Krylov walked to the table, picked up the phone, called Colonel Omelchenko and conveyed Chuikov's meaning to him.
As time goes by, the situation near the factory area has not improved at all, but has shown signs of deterioration. Colonel Yermolkin, the commander of the 112th Division, called and reported to Krylov: "Chief of Staff, about fifty enemy tanks have broken through the left flank of our division and are rushing towards the tractor factory."
"Hold it, Colonel Yermolkin, let your people hold it for me." Originally, Krylov was upset if Rudev was buried in the ruins, but now he heard that Yermolkin He said that the enemy's tanks were rushing towards the factory from the left wing of the 41st Guards Division. He couldn't help but become anxious: "If you let the enemy rush into the tractor factory, I will send you to a military court."
"Come on, Comrade Chief of Staff." Unexpectedly, Colonel Yermolkin retorted: "I have less than a thousand men left, and I don't have any heavy weapons. I have to defend such a wide area, how can I block it?" enemy……"
Before Krylov could speak, Chuikov had already snatched the microphone from his hand, put it to his ear and said: "Comrade Colonel, this is Chuikov. Immediately disperse your people to nearby buildings. Let them spare the enemy tanks and only attack the infantry following the tanks. Do you understand?"
Knowing that Chuikov only asked his own people to destroy the enemy's infantry, Yermolkin felt that he should be able to do it, so he readily replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will let the soldiers hide in the building. Eliminate the infantry following the tanks."
"Comrade Commander," Krylov asked impatiently when he saw Chuikov put down the phone: "Is it appropriate for us to just let the enemy's tanks rush towards the tractor factory?"
"There is nothing inappropriate, my comrade chief of staff." Chuikov looked at Krylov and said: "Without the cover of the infantry, even if the enemy tanks rushed near the tractor factory, the troops standing there would still be able to destroy them. "
Now that Chuikov has said so, Krylov can't say anything else. He was silent for a moment and suddenly said: "By the way, why haven't I received a report from Sokov until now? I wonder what the fighting situation is like at Mamayev Heights?"
"Call and ask immediately." Chuikov was also very concerned about the situation at Mamayev Heights. He knew that once the commanding heights were lost, the enemy would gain a greater advantage, so he urged Krylov: "Look at them What's the fighting situation there, and whether it can block the enemy's attack."
Just when Chuikov and Krylov were eager to learn about the battle situation at Mamayev Heights, Sokov's troops had successfully repelled the Romanian army's attack. Sidorin had seen the power of new rockets before, so he could naturally imagine the power of thunder cannons; but this was the first time for Ivanov to see such a shocking scene, with dense enemy infantry under the cover of tanks. Down the hill, they rushed towards Mamayev Hill. Dozens of thunder cannons placed on the hillock fired two rounds in a row, and the foot of the hill was suddenly filled with smoke. When the smoke cleared, Ivanov saw that the influx of enemies had disappeared. The smoke-y land was littered with pieces of mutilated corpses, and even two Panzer III tanks. It was overturned by the force of the explosion of the explosive pack and burned there as it stood.
After seeing the situation on the battlefield, Ivanov returned to the headquarters and said excitedly to Sokov: "Comrade division commander, I really didn't expect that the thunder cannon you developed is so powerful. I The army destroyed at least thousands of enemies with almost no casualties."
Regarding the huge results achieved, Sokov was very modest: "Comrade Deputy Division Commander, the reason why we have achieved such great results is indeed because of the huge power of the thunder cannon; on the other hand, Romania The German army underestimated the enemy. They thought that we would engage in a hand-to-hand battle with them like the previous few days. Therefore, the formation was particularly dense during the attack, so that our flying thunder cannons could exert the maximum effect. If the German army attacked, they would The infantry formations will be relatively dispersed, and the results we will achieve will be much smaller."
"In any case, annihilating thousands of Romanian troops at once is an amazing victory." Ivanov said with unfinished content: "I think we should report to the army headquarters immediately and tell the commander and others the good news."
When Sokov was hesitating whether to wait to teach the Romanian army another lesson before reporting the results to Chuikov, the phone on the table rang without warning. Sidorin picked up the phone and listened for a moment, then handed it to Sokov and said: "Comrade division commander, this is the commander's phone number."
"Hello, Comrade Commander." Sokov asked respectfully into the microphone: "Do you have any instructions?"
"How is the fighting situation there?" Chuikov asked loudly on the phone: "Has the enemy launched an attack on you?"
"Yes, the Romanian army in front of Mamayev Hill launched an attack on us." Sokov replied proudly: "But their attack has been blocked by us, and thousands of soldiers have been eliminated by us. .”
"What, you killed thousands of enemies?" Chuikov, who was suffering from the defeat of his troops, asked in surprise after hearing Sokov's answer: "What about your casualties?"
"About a dozen people were injured, but no one died." Sokov said this quite helplessly. It stands to reason that as soon as the enemy rushed to the foot of the mountain, they were hit by flying thunder cannons and suffered heavy losses. Even the shadow of his own soldiers was lost. If you don't see it, there will definitely be no casualties in the troops. But those injured soldiers were so excited that they fell into the crater and sprained their feet or their waists when carrying explosive packages: "In the next battle, I will remind the soldiers to pay attention and try to minimize the risk of accidents." necessary casualties.”
After hearing Sokov's report, both Chuikov and Krylov were dumbfounded: Thousands of enemies were eliminated, but he only injured a dozen people. Is this possible? If someone else reported it like this, even if the attacking enemy was the Romanian army with poor combat effectiveness, the two would definitely think that the other party was bragging without hesitation. But if Sokov reported it like this, the credibility would be much higher.
"Colonel Sokov," Chuikov, who had not yet woken up from the shock, asked confusedly: "How did you achieve such a battle loss ratio?"
"Comrade Commander, I made a new type of defensive weapon last night that can effectively deal with the enemy's attack." Sokov originally wanted to introduce the thunder cannon to Chuikov, but then he thought about it. It wasn't that he didn't trust other troops. , but they are worried that after they are equipped with thunder cannons, once they are captured and copied by the German army, they may be used against themselves. By then, it is unknown whether they can defend Mamayev Heights with their own strength. Therefore, this kind of thing of shooting oneself in the foot must not be done.
Sokov's words aroused Chuikov's great interest: "This new defensive weapon, can you tell me what it is?"
"Comrade Commander, if you are interested, you can come to Mamayev Heights and see for yourself." After quick thinking, Chuikov decided not to promote the flying thunder cannon throughout the entire army. However, as his superior, Chuikov , but it would give him a long experience: "I will let you see with your own eyes how this weapon can destroy the enemy in front of our position."
"Okay." Although Chuikov felt that Sokov's words and deeds were a bit abnormal, he thought for a moment and decided to go to Mamayev Heights to see this new weapon in person before deciding whether to equip it on a large scale within the group army: "I I will rush to Mamayev Heights as soon as possible to see the new defensive weapons you mentioned."
