In fact, Vasily occupied that building was a complete accident.
After the German army broke through the sailors' defense line, under the cover of tanks, they rushed directly to the Soviet Street and approached the command of the 92nd Infantry Brigade. The guard platoon commanded by Krimov was disbanded in the melee. Vasily led a squad of soldiers to fight and walk, retreating to the other side of the street.
Vasily often performs sniper missions in the city and is familiar with the terrain of this area. In order to prevent being besieged by the superior German troops, he led people to hide in a half-blasted bookstore in the middle of the street.
Listening to the gunfire and explosions outside, some soldiers couldn't hold back and asked Vasily in a panic: "Comrade Sergeant, we will not be surrounded by the enemy when we stay here, right?"
Vasily knew that the German army was fighting the sailors outside and would not search for his place for the time being, so he comforted the soldiers and said, "The bookstore has been blown up halfway, and we are hidden here. As long as we don't shoot casually, the Germans will not be able to discover us at all."
"Then when will we stay here?" the warrior continued.
"We'll wait until dark here." Vasily looked outside and said, "I'll find a way to return to Mamayev's hill."
After learning that it was dark, they had the opportunity to return to Mamayevgang. The soldiers felt much more at ease. They knew very well that as long as they could return to Mamayevgang smoothly, they would be safe.
After dark, the sound of gunfire on the street had not stopped completely. Vasily went outside to observe the environment and couldn't help but complain. The road leading to Mamayevgang had been cut off by enemy tanks and various barricades. If he wanted to go back, the only way was to take a detour.
Vasily understood that with the twenty soldiers he led, if he wanted to forcibly break through the German defense, he would hit the stone with an egg, so he finally chose to detour. According to his plan, after coming out of his hiding place, he walked in the opposite direction of Mamayevgang, left Soviet Street from the square on January 9, and entered Red Petersburg Street...
But when the team arrived at the end of the street, Vasily's attention was attracted by a building. The building had a wide view to the south, west and north, and was an excellent artillery observation position. The east side of the building was the Volga River. As long as a universal machine gun was set up at the window, it could block the ferry in the distance with fire.
After seeing the building, Vasily changed his mind. He decided to occupy the building and firmly guard it. He quickly ordered the troops to stop advancing and hide on the spot.
The soldiers didn't know what happened, and they all looked at Vasily with surprise. He called the deputy squad leader aside, pointed to the building dozens of meters away, and said to him: "Comrade Corporal, have you seen that building?"
"Yes, I saw it, Comrade Sergeant." After answering Vasily's question, the deputy squad leader asked curiously: "Why do you think of asking this? Are you planning to lead us to occupy this building?"
"That's right, comrade Corporal, you guessed it right. I just wanted to occupy there." Vasily nodded and replied, "Didn't you find that the building has a very wide view? If we stick to it, we can completely block the small square in front with fire..."
"My God!" When the deputy squad leader heard Vasily say this, he was frightened and sweated. He reminded the other party carefully: "Comrade Sergeant, have you ever considered that we have less than twenty people left, are we capable of seizing such a building? Even if we can occupy the building without ammunition and supplies, how long can we last?"
"According to my observation, the enemy's defense in the building should not be strong." As a sniper, Vasily's observation is stronger than that of ordinary people. He immediately found that the German troops in the building were slack in defense, so he said decisively: "We will definitely be able to take down the building when the enemy is not prepared and launch an unexpected attack."
Seeing that Vasily had made up his mind and was not good to object, the deputy squad leader could only bite the bullet and said, "Okay, Comrade Sergeant, I will obey your command."
The next battle went very smoothly. The German army had only seven or eight soldiers in the building. Except for two sentries standing by the window chatting, the rest were lying on the beds of the houses that were not collapsed. The sentries thought they were all around them, so they were very vigilant. As a result, they were killed by Vasily and another soldier without even sending out a warning.
After killing the enemy's sentinels, the soldiers of the guard squad quietly entered the building and cleared the Germans inside one by one. Since the soldiers who were incorporated into the guard company by Selyosha were all veterans with rich combat experience, they cleared the enemies in the building without any casualties.
After clearing the enemy, the deputy squad leader asked Vasily for advice: "Comrade Sergeant, what should we do next?"
"We only have twenty people, and this building has three unit doors. If we are divided into troops, the troops will become weak." Vasily, who has checked the terrain, said to the deputy squad leader: "I plan to concentrate all the people in the three units near the square, and Units 1 and 2 only need one soldier to serve as the guard."
"Comrade Sergeant, Comrade Sergeant." Just as the two were talking, a soldier suddenly ran over hurriedly and reported to Vasily: "There is movement in the basement of this unit, which may be an enemy."
When he heard that there were enemies in the building, Vasily's face changed and then ordered the deputy squad leader: "Take five soldiers here to prevent the Germans from entering the building again. The rest of the comrades come with me."
Vasily followed the soldiers to the front of the basement door and saw a closed iron door here. He stepped forward and pulled the handle, but the iron door did not move at all. A soldier came over and said to him, "Comrade Sergeant, let's blow the door open with grenades?"
"Wait a minute, don't act rashly." Vasily saw the soldier taking out a grenade and was about to stuff it on the door handle, and quickly stopped him: "I think the basement may not be a German."
"Not a German?" The soldier said this and showed a surprised expression on his face: "Is it the small army that was broken up?"
"The Germans are not fools. They will not deploy their troops in the basement. Once the door is blocked, they will have to wait for death inside." Vasily analyzed to everyone: "It is not only not Germans, but also a small army that has been broken up by our army. They will never hide in and do nothing while the enemy occupied the building."
"Who will they be?" the warrior asked.
"Is this a matter of necessity, Comrade Warrior?" Vasily said with a wry smile: "Nine out of ten people hiding in the basement are the residents of this building."
When the soldier heard that the people in the basement, perhaps the residents in the building, put away the grenades, knocked heavily on the door with his fists, and shouted at it: "Hey, listen to the people inside, we are the Soviet Red Army, you are surrounded by us, put down your weapons and surrender quickly."
After the warrior's shouts stopped, there was no movement inside. The warrior cast inquiring eyes at Vasily, as if asking himself what to do next. Vasily ordered: "Comrade Warrior, keep knocking on the door and make sure everyone inside comes out."
After hearing this, the soldier nodded, punched the door hard again, and raised his voice and shouted: "Open the door, open the door quickly. If we don't open the door again, we will blow the door open."
This time, there was finally a movement in the door: "Don't blow it up, don't blow it up, we are all our own people!"
"Open the door!" The soldier heard clearly that the person inside was speaking Russian, turned his head and whispered to Vasily, "Comrade Sergeant, it seems that he is really his own person." Then he shouted inside, "Hurry up and open the door."
The closed door was opened, and an old lady in a turban poked her head out from the inside. Because it was pitch black outside, she could see clearly the person standing outside. She asked tremblingly: "Are you Soviet or German?"
"Barring nonsense, of course we are Soviets." The warrior shouted at her, "How many people are there in there, let them all come out."
Vasily was worried about frightening the old lady, so he quickly stopped the warriors, then walked over, shone the captured flashlight at himself, and said to the old lady: "Old man, don't be afraid, we are all our own people."
Because Vasily's flashlight flashed in a flash, the old lady didn't see Vasily clearly at all, but she used her own way to tell whether she was a man or a German standing in front of her. She reached out and touched Vasily's helmet, and then touched Vasily's collar, with a look of surprise on her face. She turned her head and shouted into the dark basement, "Everything comes out, it's our comrades."
With the old lady's shouts, more than a dozen or twenty people came out of the basement one after another. Except for three middle-aged men, the rest were women and children. Vasily asked at the three men: "Which unit do you belong to?"
The three men who were asked pointed their hands to the north at the same time and replied: "We are all workers from nearby flour mills, and our home lives in this building."
After Vasily stepped forward and shook hands with the three of them, he said politely: "I am Vasily, a sergeant of the Red Army. I regret to tell you that we are surrounded by Germans, so we must find a way to stick to this place. I hope you can get your help. Are you willing to fight side by side with us?"
"Comrade Sergeant of the Red Army," replied a middle-aged man with a burly figure, "My name is Shurka, I am a militia from the flour mill. I have received military training. I am willing to help you guard this building."
Chapter completed!