Chapter 128 Adjustment
Withdrawing from the original ambush point does not mean withdrawing from the battle. Just over ten minutes later, Sergeant Shayikin, with a torn sack on his back, appeared under a tank less than 20 meters away from the original hiding place.
This was a German tank. In the previous battle, this tank was destroyed by Molotov cocktails thrown by Soviet soldiers. The entire tank was burned black. At the hatch of the tank, a charred corpse was stuck there with its face up, with a wide-open mouth and two twisted arms, as if telling the pain he had experienced before his death.
There was also half a body under the tank. The reason why it was half a body was because the lower half of the body was burned. However, the guy wearing the German tank soldier's uniform was much luckier because he was obviously not burned to death. The almost entire exploded skull and the red and white blood plasma under the skull showed that he was hit in the head and died on the spot.
Now, Sergeant Shayijin was lying next to the corpse, and less than half a foot away from him was the corpse's face, which was missing half.
Sergeant Shayikin, who had experienced several fierce battles, was certainly not afraid of a corpse. He was not even afraid of living fascists, let alone a dead one. Lying here, he just felt a little nauseous. Not only were the corpses around him disgusting, but the strange smell in the air also made him feel sick.
The fascist in the tank's cockpit must have lost control of his bowels and bladder. Yes, that must be the case. Sergeant Shayikin had encountered this situation before. People who were burned to death always seemed to lose control of their bowels and bladder at some point, and no one knew why.
Thinking of his past experiences in battle, Shayijin couldn't help but take another look at the corpse beside him. Perhaps from this corpse of the fascist, it can be seen that these invaders have already shown signs of defeat. You know, in the previous battles that Shayijin participated in, the fascists never abandoned the corpses of their accomplices, at least they would not abandon the corpses of their accomplices in the area they controlled. And now? This corpse is right on the fascist position, but no one came to collect it. This is enough to explain the problem.
After adjusting his crouching position, Sergeant Shayijin carefully observed the surrounding situation. The fascists had already left his initial ambush point. It was obvious that they probably didn't notice him at the time, and the reason they went to that place might just be accidental.
However, no matter what the reason is, it is always right to make necessary transfers. Just as the instructor said, there is no coincidence in the world of snipers, because coincidence and necessity are equally deadly.
The abandoned tank is a good hiding place because the ground is relatively wet. In this way, when shooting, there is no need to worry about dust blowing up and exposing your position. Sergeant Shayijin is very satisfied with this location. In addition, there is no sunlight here, so the lens of the sight will not reflect light. Sergeant Shayijin believes that the reason why the previous ambush point was abandoned may be directly related to the reflection of the sight.
The growth of any sniper requires experience, and the prerequisite for gaining experience is to stay alive. Therefore, protecting yourself is often more important than shooting the target, which is what the instructor has repeatedly emphasized before.
Now, with a good ambush point that is not easy to be discovered, and the best retreat route has been chosen, Sergeant Shayijin is ready to start today's shooting mission. He has even determined the target: not far from the ruins of the building in front, two fascists are each carrying six or seven kettles to a depression in the north to get water. There are 15 kettles in total, and it seems that there are at least 15 fascists guarding the ruins of the building. This situation needs to be recorded and reported to the regiment headquarters. Perhaps after dark, the regiment can arrange an assault team to recapture the ruins.
After the German army shifted its main attack direction to the Mamayev Kurgan line, the 62nd Army began to send snipers to various fronts in the urban area. Initially, there were more than a dozen people, which expanded to more than 30 people a day later. After that, the number continued to increase. Sergeant Shayikin was just one of the many Soviet snipers.
According to the orders of the army group command, the tasks of these snipers were not only to shoot German officers and soldiers, but to a large extent, they were also responsible for reconnaissance tasks, investigating the ruins of buildings occupied by the German army and providing intelligence for the assault team's counterattack.
In order to stop the German army's advance in the city of Stalingrad, Yuri, who was in charge of the temporary command of the 62nd Army, mobilized all the means at his disposal, including using smoke screens to block the sight of German fighter planes, close defense, sniper warfare, and all available forces to compete with the German army for buildings that had become ruins.
In street fighting like this, the Soviet army suffered heavy casualties, but the attacking German army also suffered heavy losses. Now, what the two sides were fighting in Stalingrad was perseverance, determination, and blood.
However, both the Germans and the Moscow Supreme Command were clear about one thing: the longer the battle dragged on, the more advantageous it would be for the Soviet side. After all, this was a battle on Soviet soil. In addition, in terms of the comprehensive strength comparison between the two countries, the Soviet Union, which was several times larger in size, also had an absolute advantage.
Of course, the most important point is - winter is coming!
…
At the entrance of an underground bunker next to the city's expert building, Yuri, wearing a dirty military coat, jumped out of the jeep and walked quickly towards the bunker entrance. Behind , followed the guards and two middle-aged officers.
The guard was Arseni, and now Yuri only had this one guard by his side. The two officers were Major General Rodimtsev, commander of the 13th Guards Infantry Division, and Colonel Sarayev, commander of the Stalingrad defense.
The underground bunker was an underground warehouse before the war with a large space inside. Now, it has become the temporary headquarters of the 62nd Army—not Yuri’s headquarters, but the real 62nd Army headquarters.
The 62nd Army Command led by Chuikov had just resumed contact two hours ago. They were previously trapped in the oil station at the Central Railway Station. The fire caused by the explosion at the oil station three days ago trapped the entire command. It was not until today that the fire was extinguished in the rain and they were able to escape.
The entire 62nd Army Command, including Chuikov, Krylov and others, can be said to have truly escaped death. They were first nearly burned to death by the fire, and then, they were almost captured by the German army. After finally escaping to the urban area controlled by the Soviet army, the entire command's guard company had been wiped out, and Colonel Sarayev's son was also killed in the battle.
Influenced by the order that "commanders must personally go to the front line", although the Soviet army's fighting will and morale have been significantly improved, the death rate of middle and low-level commanders remains high . Colonel Sarayev's son is a lieutenant.
There were two Soviet soldiers guarding the entrance of the bunker. When they saw Yuri coming in, they hurriedly stepped forward and saluted. However, Yuri did not return the salute, but went straight into the underground bunker impatiently.
The lights were on in the underground bunker, powered by a diesel engine. Due to unstable voltage, the light bulbs flickered, which was very uncomfortable for the eyes. The most unbearable thing was that the diesel engine made a very loud buzzing noise that made the ears numb.
When Yuri walked into the underground bunker, there were more than a dozen people gathered in the huge bunker. Chuikov and Krylov were among them. What surprised Yuri was that Khrushchev, who was dressed in casual clothes, was also there.
Unlike the previous meetings, Khrushchev today was wearing a military uniform, except for his military cap, and there was no badge on his collar indicating his rank.
Seeing Yuri walk into the bunker, more than a dozen people, including Khrushchev, turned their eyes to him.
"Comrade Commissioner!" Yuri subconsciously stopped, stood up straight, saluted Khrushchev, then turned his gaze to Chuikov and Krylov, greeting them with his eyes.
Originally, Khrushchev's expression was very serious. He had just crossed the river two hours ago for the purpose of inspecting the headquarters of the 62nd Army. Of course, inspection was just an excuse. The real purpose was to investigate the reason why the headquarters of the 62nd Army lost contact.
In the past three days, Yuri was in charge of the 62nd Army's operations and had no to pay attention to other things. Therefore, he didn't know how much impact the loss of contact with the army headquarters had on the front headquarters. But Khrushchev, the military commissar of the Stalingrad battle group, knew it clearly. In fact, in the past two days, the front headquarters was preparing to build a new 62nd Army headquarters. At the same time, the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs was also using intelligence forces to try to find out whether Chuikov and others had been captured by the German army.
Now, the army command headed by Zhukov has returned. Although according to their unified statement, the reason the command lost contact was because it was trapped by a fire, the matter is not over yet, because both the Political Department and the Military Commission will investigate this statement to determine its authenticity.
Taking all of the above into consideration, the decision made by the front headquarters and the Military Commission was to make some personnel adjustments to the 62nd Army Command while conducting an investigation. In order not to affect the continuation of the campaign, the personnel subject to the adjustments did not include commanders like Chuikov, but were limited to the Military Commissioner, the political workers of the command, and some staff members.
The reason why Khrushchev personally went to the Stalingrad war zone was to do this job well.
The first person to be adjusted in the 62nd Army Command is Krylov, who will leave the 62nd Army and be transferred to the front headquarters.
