Burning Moscow

Chapter 1706 Race against time

Seeing Hitler hiding more than ten meters below our feet, but we didn’t mean anything to him, I couldn’t help feeling anxious. At this moment, a communications soldier who followed me from the Cui Kefu headquarters ran to me and reported to me: “Comrade General, your call is from the front army headquarters.”

I heard that it was a call from the front army headquarters, so I guessed it must be Zhukov. If we were attacking Hitler’s bunker, I would be very happy to report this good news to him; but now, I feel a guilty conscience. After putting on the headphones, I tremblingly said to the microphone: “Hello, Comrade Marshal? This is Oshanina. What instructions do you have?”

“How is your situation there, have you found any clues?” Zhukov asked casually.

“Yes, Comrade Marshal, we have found the location of Hitler’s bunker.” I know that I can’t hide this matter, so I can only report to him truthfully: “But at the entrance of the new Chancellery, it was bombed. The ruins of the buildings in China are covered, and even if cranes are used, it will take a few days to complete the cleanup.”

“What, did you find the entrance to Hitler’s bunker?” Zhukov was surprised by my words: “Lida, are you sure where you are now is the real entrance to the ground?”

“You can’t go wrong, Comrade Marshal.” I said in a positive tone: “I learned the exact location of the entrance to Hitler’s bunker from a captured German military doctor lieutenant colonel.”

Zhukov was silent for a while before he asked me tentatively: “Lida, if I send you enough hoisting equipment, how long will it take you to dig the entrance to Hitler’s bunker?”

Looking at the ruins in front of me, I smiled bitterly and replied: “Comrade Marshal, it is almost the ruins of the entire building, which is covered at the entrance of the bunker. Even if you send us enough lifting equipment, we will spend it. It will take a few days to fully dig out here…”

Before I finished speaking, the air suddenly heard the scream of shells piercing the air. “Shell, lie down, lie down!” Zinchenko’s hoarse cry sounded in my ears, and then I felt someone pulling me towards the building not far away.

After an explosion, countless bricks and tiles splashed on the top of the ruins, beating the soldiers around them. Everyone ran towards safety. While everyone was running, another series of shells fell towards us, and the slow-running soldiers were blown up a lot.

When we hid in a safe building, I heard Zhukov’s anxious voice from the headset: “Lida, can you hear me? What happened to you, how did I hear the shelling?”

“We are being bombarded by the Germans,” I looked at the flames and smoke that were still rising outside the building, and quickly judged that the opponent was bombarding with mortars, and quickly replied, “It’s a mortar. Maybe Germany. People came to us, so we sent a mortar team to bombard the upper floors of nearby buildings.”

After I finished speaking, I was in a state of anxiety, waiting for Zhukov’s next order. My mind was running fast, thinking about what should I do if Zhukov asked us to find a way to dig the entrance to the bunker.

Who knows Zhukov’s words, it surprised me: “Lida, since the entrance to the bunker cannot be cleared, then you should go back to Cuikov and urge him to take the Capitol earlier. Understand?”

“Yes, Comrade Marshal, I obey your orders.” I thought Zhukov would let me try to clean up the ruins, or send troops to search nearby to see if I could find another exit from the bunker, but I didn’t expect that he would let me go back to Cuikov. Going there, he hurriedly said, “I will go back to General Cuikov’s headquarters.”

When I returned to Trikov’s headquarters, the sky was already bright. Seeing me walking in from the door, Cui Kefu was particularly surprised. He asked me in astonishment, “Lida, why are you back? Have you found Hitler’s bandit nest?”

“Found it.” I walked to the table and sat down and said weakly, “But unfortunately, when our army attacked the Prime Minister’s Office, part of the building was collapsed with heavy artillery, and the reinforced concrete members that fell were just right. Covering the entrance of the bunker, even with the help of hoisting machinery, it will take a long time to clean up.”

“Although the entrance is blocked, there must be other entrances and exits.” Cui Kefu asked carefully: “Did you bring people around to search and find a new entrance?”

“No, Marshal Zhukov directly ordered me to come back after knowing that the entrance was blocked.” I looked around. Now in the busy figure in the headquarters, without seeing Pronin, I turned off the topic and asked: “Comrade Military Commissioner, go. Where is it, why haven’t you seen others?”

“Lida, although we are still fighting the Germans, the supply and medical work for the citizens of Berlin will also start.” Cui Koff explained to me: “In the German warehouses and food bases we occupied, only left The few flour and canned fish, meat, rice, and dairy products are gone. According to the report of the troops below, the German people are starving. Some brave children want a small piece of bread, a spoonful of hot soup or a spoonful of porridge. , Even braving the rain of bullets and artillery fire on the battlefield, ran to our cooking wagon to eat.

In order to build a good relationship with the German people, our soldiers took out the food in their lunch boxes and distributed them to the German children. They also stuffed canned food and sugar in the hands of the children and asked them to take them back to their families to eat. From tomorrow, we will send a kitchen wagon to provide local residents with a fixed amount of food.

In addition to food supply, the most troublesome is medical work. Due to the shelling of our army and the bombing of the US army, the water pipes and sewers were damaged. The lighting used oil lamps, and the heating relied on kerosene stoves and iron stoves. The bathrooms, kitchens, corridors, and even bedrooms were full of rubbish, smelling everywhere, filthy and dirty.

According to my instructions, Military Commissioner Pronin and the Minister of Logistics went to find a sufficient number of disinfection equipment, and mobilized German medical staff to work with us to control the possible plague. Their work these days is to restore the water supply to the water tower and clean up the sewers. For us, the war is about to end and it is time to start to restore the destroyed economy. ”

After daybreak, our attack on the Capitol restarted. Today, apart from our attack on the Capitol from the south, the 79th Army also attacked from the north.

Seeing our troops approaching the Capitol with the help of the ruins and bomb craters, accompanied by tanks, I suddenly remembered that the first to put the red flag on the top floor of the Capitol was the commander of the 15th Infantry Division. I reminded Cui Kefu. : “General Cui Kefu, don’t you think our troops are missing something?”

Cui Kefu, who was holding the binoculars and looking into the distance, heard what I said, immediately put down the binoculars, turned to look at me, and asked in surprise, “What else is missing?”

I pointed at the dome of the Capitol in the distance and smiled and said to him: “General Cuikov, don’t you think we should put our red flag on the roof of the Capitol as soon as possible?”

My words reminded Trikov. He nodded and ordered Vladimirov who was standing behind us: “Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately call General Vagin of the 79th Guards Division and ask him to prepare the red flag immediately. Then let our soldiers put the red flag on the dome of the Capitol.”

According to the tradition of the Soviet army, putting a red flag on the top of an important building in a city means that the troops who occupy the city and put the red flag first will get meritorious service. Therefore, after my reminder, both Trikov and Vladimirov acted actively and notified the front commanders to prepare the troops for the flags to be planted on the Capitol.

Soon General Vakin called. He reported to Cuikov: “Comrade Commander, the flag is ready. The flag bearer of the 22nd Regiment of the 79th Division of the Guard Infantry is ready by Nikolai Masarov. The sergeant, and two deputy flag bearers, planted the flag on the top floor of the Capitol.”

The tank heading to the Reichstag became a key target of the German army. Before long, the seven or eight tanks accompanying the infantry charge were destroyed by the tanks and anti-tank guns deployed in the fortifications in front of the building, as well as the anti-aircraft guns on the roof. The infantry, who lost the cover of the tank, could not break through the dense German fire blockade, and had to retreat griefly.

Seeing that the army’s attack was repelled, Trikov snorted, left the window and walked to the table, and said to Pozharsky who was sitting there: “Comrade Artillery Commander, bombard the enemy in front of the building and the roof with heavy artillery. Artillery positions.”

As soon as Pozharsky left, Trikov told Vladimirov: “Chief of Staff, think of a way to transfer two more tank battalions. I don’t believe that the Germans can light them all up.”

After these two orders were issued, Cui Koff directly dialed the front line command of the 79th Guards Division and asked bluntly: “General Wakin, what happened just now? In the offensive army, why did I not see Red flag?”

“Comrade Commander, please listen to me.” Standing not far from Cui Koff, I could clearly hear the voice on the phone: “The 22nd Guards Regiment was suppressed by German fire during the attack. When the standard bearer Masarov fell down, he saw a German woman who was killed by a stray bullet lying there in the ruins next to him. A little girl was crying beside her mother. So he asked his comrades to cover himself. He crawled over. The enemy in a nearby building spotted him and fired at him with a machine gun, but continued to crawl forward bravely, cleverly avoiding the shot bullets and buried mines, to the crying little The girl crawled over. When he reached the little girl’s side, he bravely stood up, held the child, bent over and ran back to the division headquarters.”

When I heard about the flag bearer saving the little girl, I suddenly remembered that there was a 13-meter-high statue of the Soviet Army on the streets of Berlin in later generations: a massive Soviet soldier held a lonely little German girl in his left hand, and held his drooping right hand. With a heavy double-edged sword, stepping on the emblem of Fascism.

I didn’t expect that the prototype of this sculpture was actually a standard bearer in Cui Kefu’s army. It was really interesting. I quickly took out a pen and paper to record the incident, and plan to wait for Pronin to come back and let him publicize this heroic deed.

Before the new offensive began, Pozharsky’s artillery unit launched a violent shelling on the Capitol, first knocking out the anti-aircraft artillery position on the top of the building. Then, the intensive artillery fire destroyed the German anti-tank guns and two Tiger tanks arranged in the fortifications in front of the building.

After the bombardment was over, the two tank battalions Tan Kronlon drove into the square in front of the Capitol, opened a battle formation, stopped four to five hundred meters away from the target, and began bombarding the fire spots that emerged in the building to cover the infantry charge.

Although the commanders of the offensive troops continued to be hit by bullets or shrapnel during the attack, they fell on the way to the charge, but our soldiers were getting closer and closer to the steps of the Capitol.

Seeing this situation, I couldn’t help holding my breath, because the soldier in the front was only 50 or 60 meters away from the building. As long as he ran faster, he could rush into the building in 20 seconds at most. Unexpectedly, the soldier just rushed up the stairs, as if hitting an invisible wall, his whole body suddenly stopped, and then slowly fell on his back on the stairs.

The unknown soldier just fell down, and four or five more soldiers rushed up, but soon, they also fell one after another next to their comrades. After they fell, more soldiers poured in like a tide. Although soldiers continued to fall, more people rushed into the building.

“Awesome It is amazing!” Vladimirov exclaimed excitedly: “Comrade Commander, have you seen it? Our soldiers rushed into the Capitol and rushed in. Now. This is awesome!”

The troops of the 8th Guards Army rushed into the Capitol. It didn’t take long for a force to rush in from the other side of the building, and then rushed in. Seeing this scene, Vladimirov couldn’t help being a little dumbfounded. He asked in surprise: “Where did this force emerge from and what are they going to do? Don’t they know the task of capturing the Capitol? Has it been handed over to our army?”

“Chief of Staff, don’t get excited.” I quickly put down my binoculars, turned my head and said to Vladimirov: “You don’t care which unit is here, you just need to know that they are our friendly forces and are here to cooperate with us in destroying German fascism. of.”

Hearing what I said, Vladimirov murmured a little dissatisfiedly: “You know, but our troops rushed into the Capitol first. If their flags were put on the roof first, whose victory was due to whom? ?”

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