After discovering that the commanding heights outside the city were lost, the German army could not give up and immediately dispatched troops to counterattack in an attempt to retake the high ground from the Soviet army.
Through the telescope, Andrei saw the German tanks approaching in the distance and the dense infantry following them. Knowing that there would be a fierce battle next, he quickly called the sixth company commander Yegor: "Comrade Captain, the enemy's
When the tanks come up, you immediately send several anti-tank teams to quickly hide in the craters in front of the position and prepare to destroy the enemy tanks."
When the sixth company commander arranged for the rocket launcher team to enter the crater in front of the position in batches, Andre asked the radio operator to send a telegram to the regiment commander, reporting the situation here to him, and at the same time requesting the other party to send reinforcements as soon as possible for support.
After Yershakov learned that the second battalion had successfully captured the high ground, he immediately called the commander of the first battalion and said to him: "Comrade Major, now that the second battalion has successfully occupied the high ground to the east of the city, your battalion's mission
, that is, he rushed over immediately, took over the defense from the hands of the second battalion, and then nailed it there like a nail, and was not allowed to retreat even one step."
After receiving the order, the first battalion commander immediately agreed loudly, and then led his troops towards the high ground east of the city.
If Sokov were here and heard the order given by Yershakov, he would definitely curse him. The German troops in the city are limited. If they concentrate their forces to counterattack on the high ground to the east of the city, then the troops in the city will be
After being weakened, what the forward commander has to do at this moment is not to strengthen the defense of the highlands east of the city, but to take advantage of the situation and attack the defenders in the city. As long as the Red Army Village is captured, the German troops attacking the highlands will collapse without a fight.
When the 1st Battalion arrived at the foot of the high ground, the German tanks were only 400 meters away from the trenches. Twelve tanks were arranged in a wedge shape and pushed towards the trenches. Even though they were separated by a hill, the commanders and soldiers of the 1st Battalion could clearly hear the tank engines.
There was a roar and a slight tremor on the ground.
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the first company commander came to the battalion commander's side and asked curiously: "Can the enemy use tanks to fight on such steep heights?"
When the battalion commander heard the roar of tanks from across the hill, he immediately realized that something was wrong. It was obvious that the high ground was steep on the east and flat on the west, so that the Germans could put tanks into battle. If he was leading the troops at this moment
If you go up there, you might have a head-on confrontation with the Germans.
Thinking of this, he quickly issued an order to his troops: "Stop advancing, build fortifications on the spot, and prepare for defense?"
Several company commanders who did not understand the order asked: "Batalion Commander, we have reached the foot of the highland, why do we stop?"
"Yes, didn't our superiors ask us to take over the defense of the second battalion? Why did we stop advancing?"
"..."
Faced with the doubts of his subordinates, the commander of the first battalion waited for everyone to become quiet again before he said: "The enemy is now launching an attack on the second battalion's position. If we take over the defense at this moment, it will definitely cause unnecessary panic. In that case,
It will be very fatal to our army. The enemy can take advantage of our change of defense to launch a fierce attack, and then the front line may collapse. I think we should wait until the second battalion repels the enemy's attack."
Andre, who was at the top of the hillside, saw a battalion of troops approaching, and felt secretly happy. He thought that the regiment commander was so considerate that he sent a battalion to support him. Unexpectedly, the first battalion stopped at the foot of the mountain.
In order to advance, Andre also began to build fortifications on the spot. Such operations made Andre a little confused. He explained to his chief of staff and took the two soldiers down the mountain.
"First Battalion Commander," Andre found the First Battalion Commander and asked straight to the point: "Aren't you here to take over our defense? Why are you staying at the foot of the mountain to build fortifications?"
"Major Andre, I was just about to inform you, but I didn't expect you to come down first." The first battalion commander repeated what he had just said to his subordinates. He finally emphasized: "Don't worry, since the regiment
The commander ordered us to take over your defense, and it won’t be too late for us to go up again after you repel this wave of German attacks.”
Andre thought about it carefully, and what the other party said seemed to make some sense. If the first battalion was really allowed to enter the position at this moment, it would probably cause a short-term chaos on the position, which might cause the troops to suffer casualties under the enemy's attack.
It was tragic. So he simply said: "Comrade Major, we will hand over the defense to you after we have repelled this wave of German attacks."
Looking at Andre's retreating figure, the first battalion commander couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The temperature outside was still below zero, but dense beads of sweat broke out on the first battalion commander's forehead.
After the German tanks approached the position, the rocket launchers hidden in the craters were ordered to shoot at the tanks. Rockets trailing white smoke were fired directly at the moving German tanks. Some tanks were hit and soon
It stopped motionless, but more tanks continued to move forward.
The infantrymen who were following the tanks discovered that there were many Soviet anti-tank fighters hiding in the bomb craters in front of the trenches. They sped up to catch up, chose a suitable position to set up their machine guns, and fired at the Soviet anti-tank fighters.
.
Don't forget that the rocket launcher is a powerful anti-tank weapon, but when launching it, the rocket launcher must stand up straight or half-crouch, exposing most of the body to the enemy's firepower. That's it. Several rocket launchers have just stood up from the crater.
He stood up, but before he could shoot, he was shot into pieces by the enemy's bullets. Without saying a word, he fell directly into the crater.
The Sixth Company originally deployed seven anti-tank positions in front of the position. However, due to the machine gun firepower of the German infantry, these anti-tank positions were basically lost in less than ten minutes. Seeing that the German tanks were getting closer and closer to their positions.
, Yegor was anxious, and he quickly shouted to the left and right: "Go out with a few people and blow up all the German tanks."
Following his order, five or six soldiers soon climbed out of the trench, holding an anti-tank grenade in each hand, and crawled towards the German tanks in the distance. But their whereabouts were very unclear.
They were quickly noticed and were immediately bombarded by tank guns and machine gun fire. In a short time, the few soldiers who went out were all killed.
Just when Yegor was still planning to send people to blow up the tank, Andre came back from the foot of the mountain. Seeing Yegor's blind command, he quickly stopped him and ordered: "Use new rockets to attack the tanks behind the tank."
As long as the infantry can kill the enemy's infantry, their tanks will not pose much of a threat to us without the support of the infantry."
The reflector tube of the new rocket was swung to the position. In less than a minute, more than twenty rockets flew towards the dense formation of German infantry. After a series of explosions, countless stumps and broken arms flew into the air.
, when the smoke cleared, there were no more standing people in the originally crowded attacking formation.
"Egor," seeing that many of the German infantry were wiped out by rockets, Andre gave Yegor a new combat order: "Let your people go out to blow up tanks. You must kill one of these German tanks."
A lot of land was left."
The tanks without infantry cover were like a bunch of lambs to be slaughtered in front of the anti-tank crews. Although the tank crews used vehicle-mounted machine guns to knock down many Soviet soldiers who rushed towards them, more soldiers rushed to the tanks.
Anti-tank grenades capable of destroying tanks were thrown.
Seeing that the tanks leading the attack in front were wiped out one by one by the Soviet army, the soldiers following behind became frightened. They did not have the courage to continue fighting, so they retreated one after another.
After repelling the German attack, destroying more than a dozen tanks, and killing more than 200 soldiers, the Second Battalion completed its mission and handed over its defense to the First Battalion at the foot of the mountain.
After the troops withdrew from the top of the mountain, Andre said to several company commanders: "Since the first battalion has just dug trenches here, let's rest here. Maybe our battalion will have to go up again sometime."
Regarding Andre's statement, Yegor expressed doubts: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the strength of the counterattack enemy does not look very good. I think that with the strength of one battalion, we can completely stop them. I'm afraid we will catch up with the large forces."
I’m afraid there won’t be any combat missions until then.”
What happened next proved that Andre had foresight.
After the German army's counterattack on the highlands failed, the garrison commander in the city prepared to shrink his troops and defend the Red Army village with all his strength to prevent the Soviet army from occupying it. However, at this moment, his adjutant reported to him: "Mr. Colonel, the Empire
The division's troops arrived. They heard that the high ground east of the city was occupied by the Russians and were preparing to launch a counterattack there."
When he learned that the Imperial Division was coming, the commander felt much more at ease. He said to the adjutant: "Tell the other party's commander what requirements they have. Just ask them and we will try our best to satisfy them."
After contacting the commander of the Imperial Division, the adjutant reported to his superior: "Mr. Colonel, what has just arrived are the 5th and 6th infantry companies of the Imperial Division and a tank company. They hope you can use artillery fire to bombard the high ground.
Cover their attack on the high ground."
"Okay." Naturally, the German commander would not refuse the request made by the Imperial Division. He quickly ordered his adjutant: "Immediately order all artillery fire to target the Russian positions on the high ground and fire."
Ten minutes later, the German commander's order was implemented. More than 70 artillery pieces of different calibers fired towards the top of the mountain. Although the Second Battalion stationed on the top of the mountain had reinforced fortifications after taking over the defense, these simple field battles
Fortifications, where did they know about the bombardment of artillery fire?
Since there was no shelter, the soldiers could only huddle in the trenches to avoid the German shelling. From time to time, some people were blown away by the explosive air waves of the artillery shells, or knocked down by flying shrapnel. The health workers became the busiest people on the entire position.
, shouts calling for them came and went.
While the health workers were treating the wounded, the stretcher bearers braved artillery fire to carry the bodies of the fallen soldiers out of the trenches and placed them on the reverse slope of the hillside. A battalion commander saw the bloody corpses of the soldiers in front of him
More and more often, the whole body begins to tremble unconsciously.
Several commanders of the Second Battalion at the foot of the mountain also saw this tragic scene. After the muscles on Yegor's face twitched violently for a few times, he said to Andre: "Comrade Battalion Commander, our battalion will attack from
In the defensive battle just now, the casualties did not exceed 400, right? But look at the corpses placed on the hillside, there are at least more than 200, and many of them have not had time to be carried out."
"There are no solid fortifications on the top of the mountain." Andre said to his subordinates: "Under the enemy's intensive artillery fire, still forming such a dense formation is tantamount to letting the soldiers die. I am very worried.
If the German artillery shells continue like this, by the time the bombardment ends, I am afraid that more than half of the battalion will be damaged."
"Then I will prepare the soldiers for battle and be ready to take over the defense of the first battalion at any time."
Andre nodded and said to the company commanders: "I would like to remind everyone that once our battalion goes to the top of the mountain to defend again, only one company can enter the position at a time. In this way, even if we are severely bombarded by the Germans, we
It can also reduce casualties.”
After the artillery bombardment, the two infantry companies of the Imperial Division, under the guidance of the tank company, rushed towards the position where smoke was still billowing. They did not adopt a dense formation like the Wehrmacht soldiers who attacked in the previous group, but
They were a group of three or five people, spread out widely, following the tank, trotting forward.
The soldiers of this Imperial Division had very high technical and tactical skills. When they were still two hundred meters away from the position, many Soviet commanders and soldiers had not yet woken up from the shelling. A few soldiers who had woken up found the enemy rushing towards them.
, shouted loudly, and then they only felt their mouths moving, but could not hear any sound. It turned out that their ears had been deafened by the recent shelling.
Since you can't hear, then you can only shoot at the enemy. I hope other comrades can see your shooting, follow you and shoot at the enemy, and eliminate all the enemies who are trying to regain their position.
The machine gun on the position began to fire, but often before the shot was completed, the machine gunner fell down on the machine gun, and the deputy gunner next to him took his place, but not long after the fight, he suffered the same fate. The reason why
This happens because there are many sharpshooters in the Imperial Division. Although their level is not as good as professional snipers, it is extremely easy to deal with those machine gunners with obvious targets.
Fortunately, when the German army was still more than fifty meters away from the position, most of the surviving commanders and fighters re-entered their position. They continued to shoot and drop bombs at the charging German army, and tried their best to prevent the enemy from charging.
Get into your own position.
The officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division, who were still progressing smoothly, suddenly realized that the force in front of them was more powerful than the Soviet army they had defeated some time ago. Some soldiers had even rushed to a place less than ten meters away from the trench.
But they were either shot to death randomly or blown up by grenades. The two sides engaged in fierce shooting and threw grenades at each other at a distance of twenty or thirty meters.
This chapter has been completed!