red moscow

Chapter 2714

Although Sokov participated in the Great Patriotic War, he had never been to this region. When he was the commander of the 27th Army, he was indeed a popular candidate for the attack on Kiev, and the troops he commanded had the opportunity to be the first to rush into Kiev. Unfortunately, before the battle began, he was seriously injured and sent to Moscow for treatment, missing a good opportunity to make achievements.

Now, he must find an ideal foothold for himself and the remnant army in the shortest possible time.

The speed of the motorcycles was not very fast, because they were not in a hurry, but were carrying out a reconnaissance mission. The motorcycles were just their means of transportation. If they were traveling too fast, they would easily miss something important.

Andrei, who was driving the motorcycle, occasionally turned his head and saw Sokov sitting in the sidecar, looking around with a gun in hand. He couldn't help but ask curiously, "Sokov, what are you looking at?"

"I'm looking for a place where we can stay."

"A place to stay?" Andrei asked in confusion: "Sokoff, what do you mean? I don't understand."

"Andre, how long do you think the company can hold out if attacked by the Germans?"

Andre thought for a moment and replied, "I think it should be half an hour."

"Well, can we hold out for half an hour?" Andrei's confidence made Sokov laugh. "Do you think that with just over 70 people and thirty guns, we can hold out for half an hour under the Germans' attack?"

"Sokov, you didn't understand what I meant." Andrei explained: "It only took the Germans five minutes to defeat us, and the rest of the time was spent searching the woods for those scattered fighters."

Seeing that Andre had a clear understanding of the company's strength, Sokov nodded and continued: "I remember there are quite a few defense fortifications nearby. If we can allow the company to be stationed in them, then we will be able to hold out longer in the face of the German attack."

Andre said dejectedly: "If we can't escape the fate of being annihilated by the Germans, what's the point of finding the defense fortifications?"

"Andrei, you can't say that." Sokov said to Andrei, "If we can find a defense fortification for the company to move in, then this place can become a fire support point, which can accommodate more troops to move in, and then it may be possible to avoid the end of annihilation."

Hearing what Sokov said, Andrei raised his head and was much more confident than before: "If it is really as you said, after the company occupies a national defense fortification and turns it into a fire support point, maybe it can really stop the German attack."

The motorcycle left the woods and moved forward for a while. Suddenly, Sokov shouted excitedly: "Andrei, look to the right front."

Andrei turned his head and looked to the right front. He saw a group of half-man-high reinforced concrete bunkers on a slope a few dozen meters away. His eyes lit up: "Sokof, these are permanent fortifications built with reinforced concrete."

"Hurry up and ride over there," Sokov urged, "First check whether this fortification can be used."

Andre rode his motorcycle to a location more than 20 meters away from the bunker group and stopped. After the two men got off the motorcycle, they approached the bunkers cautiously with guns in hand to prevent any enemies from inside from shooting them.

Fortunately, the two were lucky. There was no one in the bunkers, so they were able to enter the fortifications smoothly.

After Sokov entered a bunker, he found it empty, with nothing inside except a few firing holes. The bunker was not big, and could only accommodate five or six people at most. There was a communication trench more than half a person deep outside, connecting this bunker with other bunkers.

"Sokov, look at the weeds here. No one has been here for a long time." After Andre saw the interior of the bunker clearly, he showed a disappointed expression on his face: "Even if we go back and tell the captain that there is a permanent fortification group here, do you think he will bring the company here?"

Sokov didn't say anything, but walked to a firing hole and looked out. He found that the firing range was very good. As long as two machine guns were set up, the road dozens of meters away could be easily blocked. It was a pity that there was no artillery in the company, otherwise even if the Germans sent out tanks, they could easily deal with them.

"Andrei, I think this place is good." Sokov turned to Andrei and said, "As long as the company is stationed here, we can use firepower to block the road below and prevent the Germans from advancing along the highway towards Kiev."

"However, the company is short of ammunition. Even if we occupy this group of bunkers, the role we can play against the enemy passing by here will be very limited."

Sokov remembered that when he was the commander of the 27th Army, he was chatting with a battalion commander under him. He heard him say that many of the defense fortifications near Kiev were only half-built and left there. However, there were basically hidden ammunition depots built near these fortifications. Unfortunately, this matter was not known to more people until after Kiev was recaptured in 1944. If his troops had enough ammunition at the time, they would not have been defeated by the German army in a short time.

Now that they have found a group of reinforced concrete bunkers, the next thing to do is to search nearby to see if they can find a hidden ammunition depot. Although Sokov has no clues at the moment, he still said to Andrei confidently: "Andrei, go back and ask the captain to bring the company here. As for the supply of ammunition and food, I will find a way to solve it."

When Andrei heard what Sokov said, his eyes widened in surprise: "Sokof, where are you going to get food? Are you going to the nearby collective farm? I tell you, that is a violation of discipline. If the captain finds out, he might just shoot you."

"Don't worry, Andrei." Sokov comforted him, "Even if we don't go to the collective farm, I can find a way to get food. Go find the captain and ask him to bring the company here as soon as possible. Don't waste precious time. If this place is occupied by the enemy, we will all be finished."

As Andrei left on his motorcycle, Sokov climbed to the top of the bunker and squinted his eyes to look around for the location of the ammunition depot.

According to Sokov's speculation, the ammunition depot must be on the same side of the road as the bunkers, because no idiot designer would design the ammunition depot on the opposite side of the road, forcing the soldiers to go to the opposite side to get ammunition in the face of enemy gunfire after running out of ammunition. If someone really designed it this way, they would definitely be sent to the Gulag as saboteurs or shot directly.

After checking for a while, he found that about 500 meters behind the bunkers, there was a patch of grass with different height and color from the surrounding grass. His eyes lit up and he thought, could the hidden ammunition depot be there? Thinking of this, he quickly jumped off the bunker and ran in that direction.

After arriving at the place, he lowered his head and searched the ground, while knocking on the ground with the butt of his submachine gun to see if there were any special sounds.

Soon, he heard a dull sound coming from the butt of the gun. He squatted down and dug up the dirt there with his hands. Sure enough, he found a wooden board underneath. Seeing the wooden board, Sokov couldn't help but feel ecstatic. He quickly cleaned the dirt on it and found the pull ring on the wooden board.

Sokov grabbed the pull ring with both hands, and with all his strength, he lifted it up. After a noise, the wooden board was lifted, revealing a staircase leading down, which looked like a basement. Sokov lifted the wooden door aside, looked inside for a while, and then walked slowly down the stairs.

Although the basement was dark, Sokov could vaguely see piles of things piled up inside, covered with waterproof canvas. He walked over, lifted a piece of canvas, touched it with his hand, and found a rectangular wooden box. According to his experience, the wooden box should contain guns.

Since there is a gun, it means there is also ammunition. After putting down the canvas, he walked to the side and lifted up another canvas. Although there was also a wooden box underneath, it was much smaller than the box he just touched. It was filled with either bullets or grenades.

In order to find out what was inside, he brought down a small wooden box. When he was about to go out, he tripped when he was going up the stairs. When he touched it with his hand, he found that the thing that almost tripped him was actually a crowbar. This was really like someone sending a pillow when he wanted to fall asleep.

Sokov carried the small wooden box outside, pried it open with a crowbar, and found bullets wrapped in oil paper inside. A smile appeared on his face. With these bullets, the company's ammunition problem was solved.

But after a brief moment of happiness, he could not help but frown again. He had seen the equipment in the company, except for two or three submachine guns, they were all Mosin-Nagant rifles. With such equipment, even if there was enough ammunition, it might not be a problem to deal with the enemy's infantry. But if they encountered the enemy's armored forces, they would be helpless.

Sokov moved seven or eight wooden boxes out of the basement, and after prying them open, he found that some were filled with bullets, some were filled with grenades, but there was no food. This discovery made Sokov somewhat disappointed. Bullets and grenades were good for fighting the enemy, but they could not be used as food. What should he do?

Moreover, after Andre returned to the company's base and reported the situation to the captain, the captain said with a stern face: "Andre, I only asked you to scout the Germans' movements, but I didn't ask you to find a new base. This is just nonsense."

Seeing that the captain seemed unwilling to lead the company to the bunkers, Andrei felt anxious and said quickly: "Captain, I think what Sokov said makes sense. If we occupy the bunkers on the roadside, we can hold out for a while even if we encounter a German attack. I have carefully checked that the bunkers are in a good location. As long as we set up a few machine guns, we can block the road below."

"Andrei, don't you know how much ammunition we have left in our company?" The captain said dissatisfiedly, "Sokov is a new recruit and doesn't know anything. But you, a veteran who has been in the army for five or six years, actually followed him in making trouble."

"Captain," seeing the captain's face full of reluctance, Andrei decided to use his trump card: "Sokov told me that as long as the troops entered the bunker group, he would be able to get the ammunition, food, and even medicines we need." The item of medicines was added by Anthony on his own initiative. He knew that there were several wounded soldiers in the company and their injuries were not light. If they did not receive medical treatment, they might not be able to hold on for long.

The medicines Andrei mentioned touched the captain's heart. He was worried about several wounded soldiers under his command. When he learned that Sokov was able to get the medicines, he quickly grabbed Andrei and said excitedly: "Andrei, is what you said true? Can Sokov really find the medicines our wounded need?"

Things have come to this point, and Andrei can only bite the bullet and say: "Yes, Comrade Captain, Sokov said he can find medicine, so we don't have to worry."

The captain, who was originally reluctant to lead the troops away, learned that Sokov could really find the medicine, and hurriedly ordered the troops to assemble and march at a forced pace to the group of bunkers discovered by Sokov and Andrei.

When Andrei led the captain and the company to the bunkers, he was stunned by the pile of wooden boxes outside the fortifications. He asked Sokov, who was sitting next to him to rest, "Sokov, where did you get these things?"

When Sokov saw the captain coming out, he quickly stood up, stood at attention and saluted him, saying, "Captain, these are the ammunition I got. There are 30 boxes of grenades and 50 boxes of rifle bullets, which are enough to make our company fully ammunitioned."

Upon learning that Sokov had obtained so much ammunition, the captain's eyes lit up. He rushed to the wooden boxes, opened one, and saw that it was indeed full of bullets. An expression of ecstasy appeared on his face.

After checking the contents of the wooden box, the captain turned around and asked Sokov who was standing behind him: "Sokov, tell me, where did you get these ammunitions from?"

"Look, right there." Sokov pointed in the direction of the basement and said, "There is a basement in the bushes over there. It is a secret arsenal where our army stores ammunition. In addition to bullets and grenades, it is also filled with large wooden boxes containing guns, but I can't move those boxes back by myself."

Knowing that there was an underground arsenal storing ammunition on the grass not far away, the captain suddenly became excited. He selected more than 20 strong soldiers and followed Sokov over.

The group soon arrived above the basement. Sokov pointed down and said, "Captain, the things are all down there. But the light is not good, so everyone should be careful when moving things."

"Sokov, how did you find such a hidden ammunition depot?" The captain looked at Sokov with suspicion and asked vigilantly.

"That's right." Sokov began to make up another lie to make the captain believe him: "I have a neighbor who once participated in the construction of these national defense fortifications. He told me that in order to ensure that these fortifications receive timely supplies, underground arsenals are usually built near the fortifications to store the ammunition and food needed by the troops."

"Are there any medicines?" the captain asked impatiently.

"Maybe." Sokov answered uncertainly, "It's too dark down there, I can't see clearly, so I don't know if there is food or medicine."

"I have a flashlight here." The captain took out a flashlight from his briefcase, "I'll go down and take a look myself."

(End of this chapter)