Tapunov immediately explained his intentions, and he estimated that these people would gladly agree.

Ivansky, the head of the village, the guerrilla brigade leader, burst into tears for a while: "Thank you so much, we can always eat when we get to the swamps in the south?" In winter, there won't be a single person who gets frozen? ”

"Of course, we had plenty of food and clothing, and we even had briquettes. When you arrive in our guerrilla republic, you are under the leadership of a collective farm, and everything returns to its former life. We, the soldiers, will keep you safe. ”

Ivansky, who had not known the so-called guerrilla republic until then, listened to the enticing promises of the officers, and he wished to flee from this piece of water with the villagers tonight and run to the happy land to the south.

These partisans were people with backbone, and Ivansky did not want to simply leave. Besides, he saw that these soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition were very generous in contributing a lot of food, and for the first time in months, everyone had eaten well, and many of them even burped.

With this great sincerity, Ivansky was reluctant to leave simply, so he suggested: "Sir, I don't think we can simply leave. The troops you led were ordered to attack Loyev. In that case, I can bring my people to join you, even if it is only a small effort, but it can be regarded as a reward for your meal. ”

"Huh?" Tepunov didn't know how to answer for a moment. He looked at the villagers, especially the armed guerrillas. If these people are very strong, it is not impossible to temporarily replenish them in the brigade.

However, the condition of the militants is dire.

Tepinov politely refused: "Dear village chief, you are willing to fight for the Motherland at once, I am touched by the fighting spirit of you and your fighters!" ”

"Yes! So you said yes? ”

"Nope! I refuse. Take a look at your warrior's weapons, and quite a few of them are armed with vintage smoothbore guns. We are not fighting Napoleon's army, but the Germans and those traitors. I welcome you to join the army of the motherland, and when you have received regular military training, you have eaten and drunk well and trained your muscles before you can go into battle. ”

Ivansky sighed: "Alas, what you said makes a lot of sense. We are indeed so weak that we can only be beaten passively. We are desperately hiding in Tibet, when will we be a head! Thankfully, you're here. ”

Tepnov nodded: "Of course, your people personally went into battle to fight, and I am against it." I have no objection to you being able to provide a group of guides. ”

"Guide? Sure, but what do you want to guide for? ”

"Understanding the battlefield, especially this swamp, of course."

At this moment, Tepunov has a lot of problems, especially some information that Rychev learned from the guerrilla squad leader, and after some scrutiny, Tepunov realized that there is still a big article in it.

For example, how did they steal the enemy's arsenal and get some explosives? Since they can drop explosives, they must have no problem stealing military rations.

It was impossible for them to swagger across the bridge, but they probably crossed the Dnieper and infiltrated the city after reaching the other side of the river.

"It seems that you are not purely passively beaten either, you blew up the enemy's train, where did your explosives come from," Tepnov asked. As far as I know, it was the result of stealing the enemy's arsenal. ”

Ivansky cautiously replied: "It is true that he stole from the enemy." We made some rafts, generally as fishing tools, and we also tried to cross rivers to steal food. We found that the enemy's grain warehouse and ammunition depot were in the basement, and we only stole some explosives, not any food. In this operation, we also lost five people. ”

"Their granaries and ammunition depots are underground, which is really unexpected." Tepunov became emotional, "Tell me, when did you go to steal, how much food and ammunition does the enemy have?" ”

Ivansky could only estimate that he would have enough food to feed all the enemy for a week. Having penetrated deep into the enemy's ammunition depots, he knew that the enemy did not have any heavy weapons, "I was told that the enemy had some large-caliber mortars, which appeared to be three or four. The rest, mostly bullets and grenades, and some explosives packs. The enemy is not very armed, and you will be able to defeat them easily! ”

"Of course, not only to liberate Loyev, but also to destroy the enemy's reinforcements as much as possible." Tepunov muttered a few words, and then ordered someone to record the old man's important information.

After all, these people are all controlled by the troops, and they have a great bitterness, and there will never be traitors among them. Therefore, Tepunov briefly explained his plan to the old man.

He was concise and concise, and summed it up in one sentence: ambush here, after the enemy appeared at a glance, he crossed the river to attack.

"We don't know anything about the hydrology of this area, and the enemy must know about it. We will ambush at least 2,000 of our elite here, and we will have the ability to quickly cross the river to the right bank of the river. How many rafts do you have now and how many people can it carry? What is the average depth of the Dnieper River in this area, and are there shoals? Can you pass through the water? ”

To this end, Ivansky reported one by one.

The guerrillas had only five rafts, made of red pine. Pine is rich in pine resin, which makes it easier to float, and the trunk is very straight, making it a good material for rafts compared to birch and zelkova.

Not only did they make rafts out of red pine, but this was also the main material used to build their houses. Taking into account the real needs, the partisans made nine rafts, each of which was not large.

Ivansky said with some concern: "A raft can carry up to five people, I see that your troops carry a lot of loads, maybe the raft can only carry two or three people." ”

"Looks like we're going to have to hurry!"

After some negotiations, the partisans fully understood the intentions of this Soviet army, and they admired its bravery and surprise.

For paratroopers, the bodies of these fighters can be described as iron. The large units of the paratrooper brigade were encamped, and at this time they were already stationed in their respective defense areas. Most were groggy and asleep, and a few sentinels were alert to any unusual sounds in the surrounding forest.

The reason why the Lychev battalion was sent deep into the swamp was because the battalion was the best to rest.

Allies are hurrying to sleep and recharge for the battles ahead.

The Rychev battalion met in its own way - a massive cutting down of trees.

Tepnov gave a death order: "All the officers and men of the battalion, each squad must build a raft before dawn enough for the whole squad to cross the river!" If any of the rafts built by the squad are right, I will personally ask the commander for credit. ”

The vast number of fighters of the Rychev battalion did not have the slightest resistance to the assault on the construction of rafts. Even the rank and file soldiers are well aware of where they will be in this battle – probably the center of the battlefield.

Whether or not we can completely annihilate the enemy's reinforcements depends to a large extent on whether the paratrooper brigade, a strange force, is decisive in attacking.

As for how to make rafts from existing vines and pine trees, the guerrillas had ample experience. Ivansky selected twenty capable men who would serve as guides for the paratrooper brigade, and now as "raft engineers". 、

Eventually, when the sky was blue, Rychev, who was out of breath and tired and refused, handed over an inspiring answer to his brigade commander.

Twenty-five rafts in all, each large enough to step on six heavily armed soldiers, or the equivalent of five hundred kilograms.