The northern side of the bridge was still in the hands of the Soviet troops, and the Soviet troops at the southern end of the bridge were very relieved of the safety of the bridge, and did not expect the enemy to cross the river overnight.

Captain Heckler and two of his men left the bridge, got into the bushes on the west side of the bridge, and crawled west along the wire for more than thirty meters before they saw a figure shaking in front of the building in front of them.

Rifles on their backs walked up and down the dilapidated buildings, occasionally slapping themselves in the face or neck with waving their arms.

Captain Heckler knew that the sentinels in the distance were fighting mosquitoes. He gestured to one of his subordinates, who crept out of the bushes and crawled all the way around, making an arc and feeling behind the sentry.

The captain clearly saw that a black shadow suddenly stood behind the sentry, the black figure strangled the sentry's neck with his left hand, and the dagger in his right hand swiped lightly, ending the sentry's struggle, and then dragging the sentry into the darkness.

A moment later, a figure emerged from the darkness, rifle on his back, and continued to stand guard in the same position where the sentry had stood.

Captain Heckler listened intently, made sure that no vehicles were passing or approaching the bridge, boldly got out of the bushes, stood up, and swaggered towards the "sentry".

Rubbing shoulders with the "Sentinel", Captain Hackler walked to the building behind the Sentinel, which was the duty room of the janitor of the riverside dock.

Gently opening the door, the captain walked into the duty room, greeted by a snoring sound, and a figure draped in a blanket, lying on the desk sleeping soundly.

A PPK pistol with a silencer was pushed against the figure's head, and there was a soft "snort", and the snoring stopped abruptly.

The duty room, which narrowly escaped from the daytime fire, was shattered by the glass, and the wires reached through the glassless windows and connected to the detonator on the desk.

Captain Heckler summoned a sapper and told him to remove the detonator and turn around and walk out of the duty room himself.

On the docks, Captain Darkler's men left the hideout and entered the three remaining houses on the docks.

The report soon reached Captain Heckler, and the defenders in the three houses were cleared.

Captain Heckler handed over the defense of the docks to Lieutenant Seidel and his men, and led the scouts across the road to the woods on the east side of the road, with the two armies manned on the east and west sides of the bridge.

Shortly after Captain Heckler disappeared in the woods on the east side of the bridge, an infantry column lined up on the road south of the bridge and walked towards the bridge in the night, quickly attracting the attention of Lieutenant Seidel on the dock.

Lieutenant Seidel was wearing a camouflage uniform, but he was wearing a Soviet SSH-40 steel helmet on his head, and he was holding a Bobosha 41 submachine gun.

With his submachine gun on his shoulder, Captain Seidel paced leisurely towards the dock duty room, watching the marching columns from the south approach, praying silently in his heart.

They're just passing by, they're just passing by······

However, it backfired, and the marching column approached the bridge, as if they saw the figure of the "sentry" on the pier, turned around, and walked straight to the pier.

Captain Seidel paced to the corner of the dock watch room, used the wall to cover himself, took off the Bobosha Type 41 submachine gun from his shoulder, stuck it against the wall and whispered to the window of the watch room: "Machine gun ready." ”

In the window of the duty room, there was a slight "click", which was the sound of the machine gunner pulling the bolt and loading the bullet.

Seeing the Soviet marching column approaching, the "sentry" standing guard next to the duty room held a rifle and shouted in Russian: "Stop, password." ”

A loud voice came from the queue opposite: "Rainbow, return order." ”

Lieutenant Seidel hid in the shadows, staring at the queue in the distance, shouting in German for the sentry's answer.

"Fire."

After speaking, Lieutenant Seidel raised the Bobosha Type 41 submachine gun in his hand, aimed at the marching column that was striding closer, and pulled the trigger, and the blinding flames erupted from the muzzle, tearing through the black night.

The marching column on the opposite side was caught off guard and was knocked to the ground by submachine guns, and the corpses fell to the ground crackling.

In the duty room, machine guns followed suit, bullets rained out, hitting the unsuspecting Soviet soldiers, and the neat queue disappeared by a third in an instant.

More points of fire followed, joining the battle to encircle and annihilate the Soviet army.

Having lost about two-thirds of their men, the Soviet army, numbering about a company, came to its senses from the ambush, and the surviving soldiers fled in all directions, each seeking shelter and then firing at Lieutenant Seidl's troops on the docks.

Gunfire came and went, and bright flames flashed from time to time when the guns fired, illuminating the bridgehead.

The surviving Soviet soldiers were engrossed in engaging the Germans on the dock, and some of the Soviet soldiers even turned around and fled to the east side of the road before stopping, turning around and lying on the side of the road to engage the Germans on the dock, but did not notice the swaying figures in the woods behind them.

The marching column of the Soviet army also attracted the attention of the Germans in the woods east of the bridge, and seeing that some of the Soviet soldiers had taken refuge on the east side of the road, exposing their backs to themselves, Captain Heckler and his men did not have the slightest sympathy, and opened fire on the enemy who was exposed in front of them.

The bullets flew out of the woods, instantly knocking the Soviet soldiers who fled to the east side of the road to the ground, the dead bodies rolled to the ground, the wails of the wounded followed, and the dozen or so Soviet soldiers who fled to the east side of the road were immediately swept away.

A platoon of scouts burst out of the woods and onto the road, flanking the surviving Soviets with friendly forces on the pier on the west side of the road.

The crossfire destroyed the last courage of the Soviet troops, and the surviving twenty or thirty Soviet soldiers fought and retreated, taking advantage of the cover of night to break away from the battle and flee the way they came.

With the Soviets fleeing, the brief fighting at the bridgehead stopped, and Captain Heckler and Lieutenant Seidel were very angry, although they had won a skirmish, the sudden appearance of the Soviet troops exposed their whereabouts in advance, and it was likely to lead to unpredictable consequences.

Calling in the signal corps, Captain Heckler asked the signal corps to get in touch with the rear, adjust the battle plan, and prepare for the possible battle for the defense of the bridge that may break out next······

About an hour later, south of Rostov-on-Don, inside the city of Bataiysk, Marshal Budyonny hurried into the headquarters of Lieutenant General Malinovsky.

Lieutenant General Malinovsky pointed to the bridge on the map, in the Aksai district east of the city of Rostov-on-Don, and said: "Comrade Marshal, we have just received reports that a small group of the enemy has infiltrated the southern bank of the bridge and seized control of the bridgehead on the southern side of the bridge. Also, the comrades of the 56th Army reported that the city of Chartri, northwest of Rostov-on-Don, had already been occupied by the enemy, and that tomorrow, no, after dawn today, the enemy from the north-western direction would launch an attack on Rostov-on-Don. ”

Marshal Budyonny asked: "What do you think of the current situation?" ”

"In order to seize the bridge, the enemy did not hesitate to risk using small units to infiltrate at night. To the east, the enemy in the town of Bagaevskaya has also broken out of the bridgehead, has crossed the Manech River, and is attacking in the direction of the city of Bataiysk, which is expected to reach this morning. I have a bad feeling that the Germans seem to have the intention of going south. ”

"Do you think it is possible for them to send a large force south at the same time as they are attacking Moscow, so to disperse their forces?" Marshal Budyonny asked.

"From the perspective of common sense, it is very unreasonable for them to do this, but judging from the current battlefield situation, they really have this tendency."

Marshal Budyonny said: "I still think that the general secretary is right that the enemy is only trying to build a bridgehead on the south bank of the Don River in preparation for a future big move south. Because the cities of Rostov and Bataiysk were transportation hubs, the enemy regarded them as key areas of care, and built bridgeheads on a relatively large scale. They were supposed to want to capture the city of Batesk as a starting point in the future. We must make targeted deployments, first using the city of Batesk as the center to resist and buy time for the troops, and then build a backup line of defense south of the city of Bataisk.

If I'm not mistaken, the enemy will stop and go on the defensive after taking the city of Bataisk. We have to trust the judgment of the general secretary that the enemy's main direction of attack is Moscow, and not too many forces will be wasted on us. ”

Seeing that Lieutenant General Malinovsky was still hesitant, Marshal Budyonny said: "If the enemy really moves south, it will be bad luck for us, but it will be good for the war situation. Dragging a significant part of the enemy's forces with our sacrifices can relieve the pressure in the direction of Moscow, and this sacrifice is worth it, do you think? ”

Lieutenant General Malinovsky nodded and said, "Okay, I think we should adjust the deployment. The fact that the enemy dared to break out of Bagaevskaya shows that their forces are stronger than we expected. I propose to cancel the counteroffensive in the Bagaevskaya area, take a defensive position against them, first destroy the enemy who has infiltrated the bridge in the Aksai district, or send the air force to blow up the bridge and delay the enemy's crossing of the river. ”

Marshal Budyonny said: "This is the best, in short, we must buy enough time for the construction of a new defensive line." ”

Lieutenant General Malinovsky said: "I immediately adjusted my deployment and sent reserves to recapture the bridge. ”

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