The German 15th Armored Regiment, after receiving Balck's call, immediately divided its troops into two groups.
One of them is heading east, hidden on the only way for the Soviet army to retreat, preparing to catch the Soviet tank troops by surprise.
On the other side, the covering infantry launched an attack towards the Soviet army's original defense area. The direction they attacked happened to be the location of the 19th Soviet independent tank brigade.
Twenty Soviet tanks were hidden in the woods nearby. Behind the tanks, there were two companies of infantry, hiding in the grass and preparing to fight.
Ruhle exposed half of his body from the turret, raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. He saw about twenty tanks rushing towards the original Soviet position. Behind the tanks, there were an equal number of armored vehicles.
The personnel carrier was full of German soldiers. He was timing it silently in his mind. According to the current advancing speed of the German army, in five minutes, it would pass in front of the forest where he was hiding. He quickly called his subordinates through the throat microphone.
Convey combat orders.
"Attention everyone, no one is allowed to fire without my order. I repeat, no one is allowed to fire without my order." He repeated this order several times because he was worried that some tanks would not hear it.
all over.
Five minutes later, German tanks and armored vehicles tried from a distance of more than 200 meters in front of the forest. Seeing that the time was ripe for shooting, Ruhle decisively gave the order to fire. As the order was given, the tanks hidden in the forest
The artillery fire was fired one after another, and the shells whizzed out, landed among the German tanks and armored vehicles, and exploded, sending up clouds of fire and smoke. Unfortunately, in the first round of firing, not a single shell hit the target.
Seeing that the first round of shooting was ineffective, Ruhle quickly issued new instructions to his tank crew through the throat microphone: "Don't be anxious, aim and hit. It may take some time for the Germans to discover our hiding position."
We must kill them all before the Germans open fire."
The shooting results in the second round did not disappoint Ruhelie. Two tanks and three armored vehicles were blown into fireballs. Ruhelie clearly saw that in the two destroyed tanks, the tank crew inside was one.
None of them could escape. On the contrary, after the armored vehicle full of soldiers was hit by bullets and caught fire, the soldiers covered in fire immediately jumped out of the vehicle and ran around dancing. Sometimes they ran wildly, and sometimes they threw themselves and rolled in the snow, trying to
Extinguish the flames within you.
"Well done, brothers." Seeing that the second round of shooting achieved such results, Ruhelie couldn't help but be overjoyed and said repeatedly, "I will ask for credit for you and every comrade who participated in the battle.
Keep shooting, shoot out all the artillery shells, and be sure to eliminate this fast German column."
After the German tanks and armored vehicles were hit by two rounds of artillery fire, they immediately realized that there was a Soviet anti-tank position nearby. They immediately changed their direction and fired into the forest. Because they were shooting aimlessly, they covered the infantry from the armored vehicles.
Come down and seize advantageous terrain.
The German soldiers who jumped out of the armored vehicles thought that there were only Soviet artillery in the forest, so they formed a dispersed formation, bent over, pressed their rifle butts against their abdomens, and trotted forward.
"The Germans are coming up." Seeing that the German infantry quickly rushed to a place more than 100 meters away from the ambush point, Ruhlie quickly shouted into the throat microphone: "Machine gun, use machine gun fire on the enemy immediately.
Suppression. Also, Chief of Staff, please immediately tell the infantry to stop sleeping, quickly prepare for battle, and come over to fight the Germans with bayonets."
The chief of staff was originally staying in the tank. After hearing Ruhle's order, he immediately got out of the tank and ran to find the infantry who were still resting behind, so that they could deal with the German infantry and anti-tank fighters.
After the German tanks fired two rounds, they discovered the hiding place of the Soviet tanks. Their shooting accuracy became increasingly higher. Many tanks were rattled by flying shrapnel, although they were not effective against the tank soldiers inside.
It didn't pose much of a threat, but it still made them feel frightened. Therefore, at some point, a German artillery shell flew over and hit their tank directly, blowing it up into a ball of fire.
As the German tank guns became more and more accurate, Ruhle could no longer stay outside. He quickly retracted into the vehicle and closed the turret's top hatch. He still ordered his men: "Shoot, with the highest possible accuracy."
Shoot at a fast rate and be sure to knock out the tanks that pose the greatest threat to us."
As soon as he finished speaking, a nearby tank was directly hit by a German tank gun and exploded into a fireball. Of the four tank crews in the car, only one driver who was covered in fire escaped. After receiving the order
The infantrymen who came over saw their comrade covered in fire and running around, so they quickly stepped forward and helped him extinguish the fire.
As soon as the German infantry rushed into the forest, the Soviet infantry who had been waiting for work rushed forward. The German infantry, who originally thought there were only tanks in the forest, were killed by surprise. The battle only lasted a few minutes before they retreated in despair.
.The Soviet infantry followed closely behind the German infantry and rushed towards where the armored vehicles and tanks were parked.
Seeing that the infantry was defeated, the German tanks and armored vehicles were afraid of accidentally injuring their own people and did not dare to open fire. They could only watch two to three hundred Soviet commanders and soldiers rushing towards them with weapons in hand.
But how could the German tank soldiers sit still and wait for death? They quickly targeted the Soviet tanks in the forest. The enemy tanks fired desperately, destroying the Soviet tanks hiding in the forest from time to time. And they were not much better.
, they destroyed more tanks.
After the battle lasted for a quarter of an hour, the German commander realized that if the battle continued, his small fast column might be in danger of being wiped out, and he quickly ordered his troops to withdraw from the battle.
At the end of the battle, the Soviet army lost six tanks and three were wounded. However, it destroyed fifteen German tanks and nine armored vehicles, and also killed more than one hundred German soldiers.
After the battle, the chief of staff came over and reported to Ruhle: "Comrade Brigadier, we have used up all our ammunition. What should we do next? Should we stay here, or should we blow up the tanks and move on foot?"
Ruhle knew very well that if the ammunition had not been exhausted, not a single German tank would have been able to escape. After hesitating for a moment, he said to the chief of staff: "Tell the soldiers to blow up all the tanks and move immediately."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, what should we do if we encounter soldiers who disagree with bombing tanks?" the chief of staff asked cautiously: "Send someone to drag them away. We must not affect the overall situation because of personal behavior."
This chapter has been completed!