Iron Cross

In the dim night, Romanian Navy Captain Bernard sailed on the Don River with three destroyers and four shallow-water gunboats. Autumn and winter are the dry seasons of the Don River, but for destroyers and shallow-water gunboats, this water depth is enough. According to combat requirements, this batch of warships went upstream through the mouth of the Don River in the Sea of ​​Azov in the early morning of November 12, and they were the first troops to take action - earlier than two German armored divisions.

At this time, the main force of the German Black Sea Fleet was still continuing to besiege a number of Russian ports in the direction of the Caucasus, fighting with the remnants of the Red Army's Black Sea Fleet, and the German Air Force cooperated with their actions, trying hard to create the illusion of an imminent landing. The entire Azov Sea direction was calm, which successfully attracted the attention of the Red Army Air Force and Navy. No attention was paid to the Azov Sea area, and no plane came to conduct reconnaissance throughout the morning. In the afternoon, light snow began to fall, which meant reduced visibility and limited flight reconnaissance. Bernard and all the Romanian naval officers and soldiers were overjoyed. They sped up their progress and slowly drove upstream at a speed of 16 knots. At the same time, they prepared firepower on the opposite bank to deal with emergencies. According to the plan, they will arrive at the key area at 8 o'clock tonight. It is the river section where the 62nd and 64th armies of the Red Army are preparing to cross the river. If they are not careful, they will be discovered. The Soviet and German sides have been fighting for several days over crossing and counter-crossing. Although the Red Army has made great efforts, it still has not been able to cross the river, and even the pontoon bridge has not been built.

Getting closer and closer to the key waters, listening to the sound of gunfire from afar, Bernard and a group of Romanian navy were nervous. Although the Russians had no combat power worth mentioning in the Don River, it would not be good if they were discovered and attacked by concentrated fire. The maneuverability advantage of warships is not worth relying on in this case, but the combat order must be executed. Not to mention that there are German military observers and liaison officers stationed on each warship, the prospect that the Germans may not deliver the French warships to the navy due to their own unfavorable combat is difficult for him to bear the anger of the top leaders - the naval marshal is keeping a close eye on those outdated old battleships.

During the voyage, snow had begun to cover the terrain on both sides, but he could still distinguish the traces left by the two sides in the previous days around the construction of the pontoon bridge and the ferry: the destroyed pontoon facilities, the destroyed artillery and heavy equipment, and a large number of bodies soaked on the river surface. He carefully checked and found that they were basically Russians, but the bodies on the shore had been cleaned up. Looking at the bodies that had been soaked and swollen by the river water and spread with the waves as the warship moved, and vaguely seeing the red river water, everyone felt their scalps tingling - perhaps there will be a good harvest of fish in the Don River next year, but I don’t know if anyone dares to eat it.

Perhaps the goddess of luck heard everyone’s prayers, or perhaps she knew that it was not wise to expose herself on the shore. When sailing in the key battle waters, the Red Army did not discover the entire Romanian fleet, and the other side probably did not expect the enemy to have such a bold move. Standing on the deck, Bernard only saw the artillery of both sides flying in the sky, drawing a series of flames and rushing towards the target, and no shells were aimed at the river surface.

"Go, go..." He made the sign of the cross while nervously urging the ships to follow.

At one o'clock in the morning, all the attacking forces had entered the designated positions. There was no large-scale artillery bombardment, and even the usual green flares were not used. The 160,000 German troops marched in silence to open the curtain of the Hequbu Campaign. Snowflakes floated in the night sky, and the temperature dropped to minus 7 degrees Celsius. The tank tracks rolled over the frozen ground, but there was no large-scale snow accumulation yet, and the ground was not muddy. This was a very favorable environment for armored raids.

Almost at the same time, under the cover of night, the 24th Army of the Red Army was crossing the river in an orderly manner on the pontoon bridge at the bend of the Don River. According to the adjustment of troop deployment in the past two days and the requirements of the front, the 21st Army of the Red Army was ready to launch a large-scale offensive against the German army in front with the support of follow-up troops. After clearly obtaining the support troops and combat orders, Chistyakov, who was originally a little anxious, finally stopped hesitating and boldly let the main force of the 21st Army move forward to cooperate with the 27th Army. Even the three divisions left behind at the bend of the Don River began to advance. According to the predetermined plan, the 24th Army will take over the rear defense after dawn. With his worries resolved, he can launch an attack with all his strength.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, when the human body feels the sleepiest, Yeroshenko, a Red Army soldier on duty, hid in his sentry post and stamped his feet, hoping to warm himself up with this amount of activity. Suddenly there was a slight motor sound from a distance, and then the sound became louder and louder. He expressed it was strange because he had not heard that any troops were about to be mobilized at night. He pushed Joseph next to him, who was beating evenly. He was snoring and couldn't wake up. Yeroshenko was a recruit who was only recruited into the army this summer. Before that, he worked on a collective farm. He suffered from moderate gastric ulcer and was not suitable for military service according to the conscription regulations. However, after Barbarossa, he encountered large-scale troops. The lost Red Army no longer cared about this. After receiving training hastily, he was stuffed into the army like a duck. This young man who knew nothing about military career was scared by this. Fortunately, Uncle Joseph took good care of him. There are plus. However, Joseph, a veteran, is good at everything else, but there is one problem that makes people unbearable - he likes to drink too much. They should have been on duty together, but now the drunk Joseph sleeps like a dead pig. He can even discuss it. There was no one there, so he couldn't report it yet. Once the company commander knew about the situation, he would probably shoot Joseph without saying a word.

This situation has happened more than once, and the last time he encountered it was even more troublesome. The drunk Joseph first cried before drinking - because he had not had a sip of vodka for 2 years, and then he was drunk. After that, his whole body convulsed, and later he realized that there was something wrong with the wine Joseph brought. Yeroshenko, who had been sick, was very sensitive and expressed instinctive fear. However, Joseph, who woke up later, told him in a nonchalant tone: "What is this? I saw with my own eyes a whole platoon died because they drank A certain brand of antifreeze.”

"Antifreeze?" Yeroshenko opened his mouth wide and expressed difficulty in understanding this, "Can you drink that thing?"

"It contains alcohol and is drinkable. I also drank a few sips when I was in a panic. But don't drink too much. You will feel dizzy after drinking that stuff. Drinking too much will kill you. Those unlucky guys just drank too much." "More."

"How did you deal with it in the end?"

"What can I say?" Joseph was silent for a long time before he squeezed out a few words. "The Ministry of Internal Affairs investigated the case and looked at the body. The final conclusion was that bad elements poisoned the body. For this reason, a logistics officer was shot."

"This is really, really..." Yeroshenko felt that he could not say a word, and finally lowered his voice and said, "Didn't the Ministry of Internal Affairs unjustly accuse a good person?"

"Unjustly accused?" Joseph said in a sarcastic tone, "What kind of injustice is this? At least this guy lost the antifreeze... My younger brother was called unjustly accused. He only made a few jokes about Comrade Stalin and was labeled as a counterrevolutionary. , and was sent to a concentration camp.”

"Concentration camp?" Yeroshenko asked in surprise, "Isn't that something that the Germans have?"

"Didn't you learn from us?" Joseph sighed heavily when he said this, "We are nothing, the Gulag is hell on earth..."

Somehow, at this moment today, Yeroshenko remembered the comment of "hell on earth" again. He couldn't shake Joseph who had fallen asleep, and could only continue to stare at him in a daze. He didn't realize it until he got there. It's actually a tank.

He said to himself: "Didn't it mean that we would launch an attack tomorrow? Why would the tanks come back?"

He was puzzled, and finally decided not to think about these meaningless questions, but this world did not leave him much time to think. He did not notice that the tanks on the opposite side were all painted with iron cross logos, and soon the machine gun and artillery destroyed the outpost, and poor Yeroshenko, together with Joseph in his sleep, were blown into the sky by mortars.

At 2:15 in the morning, the phone rang suddenly at the 21st Army headquarters, followed by an angry report from the staff officer on duty: "Our sentries discovered that the Germans were dispatching in large numbers. The 173rd Division on the left and the 108th Division on the right both reported that they were in contact with the enemy. The tank troops exchanged fire and the troops were caught off guard and are currently retreating to resist. "

"Where are the two divisions?" Chistyakov asked subconsciously.

The combat staff immediately reported the latest location.

"What?" He suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. He used the lantern to check the map situation and found that this was the unit in the middle and in the front.

"Where did the enemy come from?" He was furious and shouted angrily. "There are obviously other troops blocking them in front. Why did the enemy appear in this position? If it was a large-scale enemy attack, why didn't I hear the violent attack? The sound of shelling?"

"This..." The combat staff all expressed difficulty in answering this question.

Buchin hurried over and asked the first thing he said: "Has Comrade Karpov reported the situation?"

"No, everything is normal with him, and he can launch an attack tomorrow as required."

Chistyakov, who was upset by the news, said: "Order all troops to destroy the infiltrating German tanks, and at the same time, the attack time of the main force will be advanced to 5 o'clock to start, disrupting the enemy's deployment..."

"Yes!" The staff officers rushed to issue orders...