Red Moscow.

  Chapter 15 The Battle in the Village

  German lieutenant Frank led a platoon of soldiers, took advantage of the night to pass through the Soviet positions outside Kryukovo, went to the village of Kryukovo, searched for the Soviet command deployed there, and destroyed it.

  German soldiers in white camouflage uniforms approached the village cautiously under the cover of trees and snowdrifts. The corporal, who led several soldiers to explore the way ahead, bent over and ran to Frank, and reported to him: "Mr. Lieutenant, we have observed carefully, and there is only one sentry at the entrance of the village."

   "What, there is only one sentry?" After listening to the corporal's report, Frank felt a little disappointed. If there is only one sentry at the entrance of the village, it proves that the level of the headquarters in the village is not too high. Is it worthwhile to take the risk of crossing the Russian defense line with your own people, but only destroying a regiment-level or even lower-level command post? Frank couldn't help thinking.

   Seeing that Frank remained silent, the corporal couldn't help feeling a little anxious. He turned his head and glanced in the direction of the village entrance, and then asked, "Mr. Lieutenant, what should we do next? Should we still enter this village?"

"Corporal," Frank looked at the other party and asked, "What level do you think the Russians' headquarters in this village is, regimental or battalion? We ventured out of the city and passed through the Russian defenses. Do you think it's worth just destroying one of their regiment headquarters or even the battalion headquarters?"

"Mr. Lieutenant, we are surrounded by Russians. Not to mention that their division headquarters are hard to find. Even if they are found, they are probably heavily guarded. It may not be so easy to get them." Seeing that Frank was unwilling to do anything, the corporal tried his best Persuading him: "I don't think the command post in this village is too heavily guarded. We can destroy it in the shortest possible time. When the Russian reinforcements arrive, we will have already moved."

   After the corporal finished speaking, he was silent for a moment. Seeing that Frank was still hesitating, he quickly added: "Mr. Lieutenant, even if we only kill a battalion-level command post, we can cause great confusion to the Russians."

"Okay, corporal." Frank felt that the corporal's words were very reasonable. No matter what level of command post there was in the small village in front of him, they could quickly knock them out and move them quickly, so he nodded and said : "You send people to kill the sentry at the entrance of the village first, and then we rush in. We must resolve the battle in the shortest possible time."

  The German corporal is an experienced veteran. He crawled close to the sentry who was walking back and forth. Taking advantage of his unpreparedness, he jumped up from the ground, covered the opponent's mouth with his hand, and then quickly wiped the dagger from his neck. The sentinel's blood spurted from the cut wound, staining the snow beneath his feet.

  The corporal slowly placed the sentry's body on the ground, wiped the blood on the sole of his boot with the dagger, and then gestured to the back. The German soldiers hiding a hundred meters away jumped up one after another and rushed towards the entrance of the village with their weapons in hand.

   Just as they rushed into the entrance of the village, a burst of submachine gun shooting pierced the silence of the night sky, and the first few German soldiers fell to the ground. They never dreamed that in addition to the clear whistle, the Soviet army actually arranged a secret whistle. However, the German army is a well-trained and battle-tested veteran after all. After a brief panic, they regained their composure. Frank left three German soldiers behind to suppress the hidden ruins of the dark post, while he led the rest and continued to rush towards the village.

When they rushed to twenty or thirty meters away from the barn, the corporal pointed to the location of the barn, and said to Frank: "Mr. Lieutenant, you see a light coming out of that wooden house, it must belong to the Russians." Command."

  Hearing that the barn in front might be the command post of the Russians, Frank immediately ordered everyone to open fire on the barn. Immediately after the order was issued, there was a burst of intensive gunfire. Machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles fired at the same time, smashing the wooden walls of the barn into countless small holes.

  Several soldiers who opened the wooden door of the barn and were about to rush out immediately fell to the ground, and the rest of the soldiers were pinned down by the German firepower and could not move. Lin Hua, who was hiding aside, stared at the enemies outside with his fire-breathing eyes, wishing he could fly over with his wings and stab them all to death with the bayonet in his hand.

  Andre crawled to his side, while dodging bullets from outside, he asked Lin Hua loudly: "Comrade platoon leader, the enemy's firepower is too fierce, what should we do?"

  In fact, Lin Hua was more anxious than anyone else. If the Germans kept beating him like this, if they rushed up and threw a few grenades in, everyone in the barn would be finished. Just when he was at a loss what to do, suddenly there was the sound of machine gun shooting next to the barn, which made the German firepower stagnant.

Seeing that the firepower of the German army outside became sparse, Lin Hua didn't care about it. He shouted: "Comrades, go!" Then he jumped up from the ground, holding a bayonet-mounted rifle, and leaned forward towards the outside. rush away.

  When the enemy's firepower became dense again, Lin Hua and the soldiers in the barn had all rushed out, selected a hiding place, and started shooting at the enemy on the opposite side.

As early as when the gunshots sounded at the entrance of the village, Second Lieutenant Vasily who lived in the private house was alarmed. He turned over and got out of bed, without even caring about putting on his boots, he rushed to the telephone, picked up the microphone and shouted loudly: "Hi! Hey, take me to the division department, take me to the division department."

  The chief of staff of the division who answered the phone, after hearing Vasily's panicked voice, asked with some displeasure: "Second Lieutenant Vasily, don't forget your identity, please remain calm."

   "Comrade Chief of Staff," Vasily said emotionally as he heard the dense gunfire from outside, "Our village was attacked by the Germans, we ask for support, we ask for support..."

   "How many troops does the enemy have?" The division chief then asked.

   "I don't know, Comrade Chief of Staff." Vasily replied in a panic: "I heard intensive gunshots outside, and feel that it is necessary to report the situation here to the division headquarters as soon as possible."

   "I see." The chief of staff of the division said lightly on the phone: "Order the troops to hold firmly, and I will send reinforcements to you soon."

   After Vasily put down the phone, he decided to go to the barn to find out the situation in person. While he was sitting on the edge of the bed putting on his boots, his landlady rushed out from the back room, hugged him, and said with tears, "Dear Vasily, please! Don't leave me, don't leave me alone!" Leave me to the Germans, please!"

"That's enough, stop screaming!" Vasily, restless, shouted loudly at the landlady: "I'm not going to run away, I'm going to fight my comrades." After speaking, he walked to the wall, He took off the holster hanging on it, took out the pistol, checked the bullets inside, and prepared to leave the room.

Seeing Vasily with a pistol ready to go out to fight the Germans, the landlady couldn't control herself any longer, she yelled, rushed forward and hugged his waist with both hands from behind, crying, "Vassily, Don't leave, don't leave here. If you go out, you will be killed by the Germans, you will be killed. If you are killed, what will I do!"

  (end of this chapter)