The battle to attack the small village started an hour later. Not only did the 483rd Tank Battalion participate in the attack, but also an infantry battalion of the 300th Infantry Division. After five minutes of rapid artillery fire, the infantry, guided by the tanks, headed toward the village.
launched an attack.
When the troops launched an attack on the village, Colonel Timofevich, the commander of the 219th Tank Brigade, said to Weisbach, the commander of the 300th Division who was supervising the operation: "Comrade Colonel, only one infantry battalion is sent to participate in the attack. Isn't the strength too small?
Point? If the attack does not go smoothly, we will need to continue to increase our troops."
After hearing what Timofevich said, Weisbach looked at him strangely and asked in confusion: "Colonel Timofevich, are you so unsure of our soldiers?"
"It's not that I don't have confidence, Colonel Weisbach." Timofevich replied with a wry smile: "Not long ago, when I commanded the troops to attack this village, I didn't pay attention to the enemies in the village at all. As a result, the battle ended
, I don’t know how many enemies were destroyed. Anyway, I lost more than two-thirds of my tanks, and I have almost lost the ability to continue fighting.”
Weisbach understood what Timofevich was worried about, so he arranged for him to say: "Colonel Timofevich, don't worry. There are many reasons for the failure of your brigade's attack. I think if there were infantry accompanying it at that time, it would
The action of covering the tanks might have wiped out the enemies in the village long ago."
After hearing what Weisbach said, Timofevich suddenly didn't want to talk to him, feeling that the other party was mocking him. In order to resolve the embarrassing situation, he raised his telescope and looked at the charging troops in the distance.
Seeing tanks and infantry entering the German minefields, Timofevich couldn't help but feel his throat rising. You know, his tank brigade lost a total of 11 tanks in the minefields, and the wreckage of these tanks is still there today.
It's burning in the minefield.
But what Timofevich was worried about did not happen. I don’t know whether all the mines in the minefield were crushed in the previous round of attack, or were detonated in the recent shelling. Anyway, when the troops passed through the minefield,
There was no explosion as imagined.
When he saw the troops passing through the minefield and approaching the village, Timofevich began to worry again. He was afraid that anti-tank guns or tanks would fire from behind a certain wooden house and destroy the moving Soviet tanks; he was also afraid that
In the ravine beside the village, German machine guns suddenly fired, knocking down the soldiers who were charging forward in pieces.
"Colonel Timofewicz," Weisbach put down his telescope and turned to ask Timofewicz: "Did you really engage in a fierce battle with the enemy in this village?"
"Needless to say, Colonel Weisbach." Facing Weisbach's question, Timofevich looked very angry. He pointed to the still burning or smoking tank wreckage in the distance and said: "That's it.
The tanks of our brigade were destroyed by the enemy."
Weisbach saw the wreckage of the tank and understood that Timofevich had not lied. Instead, he asked doubtfully: "Colonel Timofevich, I would like to ask how many enemies there are in the village and why they were killed in such a short period of time."
Did you pay so many casualties within a short period of time?"
Hearing Weisbach's question, Timofevich replied awkwardly: "I'm sorry, Colonel Weisbach, I don't think I can answer your question. Because whether it is outside the village or in the village,
I saw no trace of the enemy, only my tanks, one after another being hit by bullets and bursting into flames."
After hearing this, Weisbach boldly put forward his hypothesis: "So, there may be only German tanks and anti-tank guns in the village, and there is no infantry at all."
"It's possible." Timofevich carefully recalled that after his own tank was destroyed by the Germans, the tank soldiers who escaped from the tank basically escaped to a safe place smoothly. In this way, the people in the village
The German army had no infantry at all. If they had had infantry to coordinate operations during the attack, the huge casualties they would have suffered might have been avoided.
While talking, tanks and infantry rushed into the village, but there was still no reaction from the enemies in the village. This made Weisbach and others very puzzled: "What on earth is going on? Why is there no movement from the enemies in the village."
"
"Comrade Division Commander," Deputy Division Commander Atakuz, who had always remained silent, suddenly said with a sneer: "I think the enemies in the village may have withdrawn from the other side of the village when our army launched the artillery bombardment."
"This is impossible." Atakuz's words caused a huge reaction from Timofevich: "On the other side of the village, I sent tank troops to monitor. If the Germans really withdraw from the village, they will
You will definitely report to me as soon as possible."
Atakuz sneered and asked: "Comrade Colonel, please explain why our troops have rushed into the village, but the enemy still has not moved?"
Timofevich's heart skipped a beat. It had been more than three hours since he wanted to withdraw his troops from the village. Maybe the Germans had already retreated. Thinking of this, he turned to Weisbach and said: "
Comrade Colonel, I have an ominous premonition. Maybe the Germans in the village have withdrawn from the village after severely damaging our brigade. What we are attacking now is just an empty village."
"An empty village?" After Weisbach repeated Timofevich's words, his heart was full of questions.
Timofewicz saw that Weisbach was dubious, and quickly added: "You know, it has been three hours since our brigade withdrew from the village. The Germans may have been worried about our retaliation, and they might have withdrawn long ago.
The village.”
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Weisbach still had doubts about Timofevich's statement, but in order not to hurt the other person's self-esteem, he turned to look at Atakuz and asked: "What do you think of this?"
Something?"
Atakuz glanced at Timofevich on the side, and then turned his gaze back to Weisbach: "Comrade division commander, it's hard to say this. Until now, the enemy in the village has not moved at all. Why?"
It looks like they have already withdrawn. But it seems inappropriate to easily judge that the enemies have withdrawn just based on the fact that the enemies in the village did not fight back."
After saying these ambiguous words that neither side would offend, Atakuz finally added: "Fortunately, our troops have already rushed into the village. We will know the answer soon as to what is going on."
As soon as he finished speaking, a green signal flare was raised in the village, indicating that the troops had occupied the entire village.
"Comrade division commander, look quickly, it's a signal flare fired from the village." Atakuz couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he saw the signal flare rising into the sky, and quickly said to Weisbach: "This means that our troops have occupied the village.
"
Weisbach also saw the signal flare in the air, but he did not speak immediately. Instead, he listened to the movement outside and found that he could not hear any gunshots or explosions. He turned to Timofevich and said: "Timofewicz"
Colonel Mofevich, it seems you are right, the enemies in the village all evacuated the village before our attack began. What our troops occupied was just an empty village."
"Comrade division commander, how do you know it's an uninhabited village?" After hearing what Weisbach said, Atakuz asked unconvincingly: "Maybe our commanders and soldiers have encountered the enemy in the village."
"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Weisbach said to Atakuz in a pleasant tone: "You will know if you listen carefully. There were no gunshots or explosions in the village, which proves that our commanders and soldiers did not make any sound at all in the process of occupying the village.
There was no fighting. What does this mean? It means that all the enemies in the village have long since escaped, and all we captured was an empty village."
After Weisbach said this, he asked a staff officer standing not far away: "Is the maintenance station chief here?"
"Yes, Comrade Division Commander, he is already here." The staff officer replied, "He is now outside the observation post."
"Invite him in quickly."
After a while, the staff officer came in from outside with a man wearing dark blue casual clothes and a peaked cap: "Comrade division commander, this is the station commander of the maintenance station."
Weisbach extended his hand to the middle-aged man with gray hair and said friendly: "Hello, Comrade Station Commander, I am Colonel Weisbach, commander of the 300th Division. This is Timo, commander of the 219th Tank Brigade.
Colonel Fevitch, the tanks you want to bring back to the maintenance station belong to their brigade."
After shaking hands with the station commander, Timofevich asked politely: "Comrade station commander, more than 40 of our tanks were destroyed by the Germans. How long will it take you to drag the wreckage of these tanks to the maintenance plant?"
The maintenance station director received the order and brought people here to pull out the destroyed tanks, but he did not expect that there would be more than forty tanks. He was stunned. After a long time, he murmured: "Commander
Comrade, I didn't expect that so many tanks were destroyed by the enemy. Our maintenance station only has three armored tractors that can tow tanks. I think it will take at least two days to tow all these wreckage to the maintenance station."
Hearing that it would take two days to drag so many tank wrecks to the maintenance station, the muscles on Timofevich's face couldn't help but twitch violently. After taking a deep breath, he asked tentatively: "Station
Comrade Chang, then I would like to ask you, out of so many destroyed tanks, how many can be repaired?"
"It's hard to say, Comrade Commander." The maintenance station leader replied: "We have to see the damage to the tank before we know whether the tank can be repaired."
"Where are those tanks?" Timofevich pointed to the 11 tanks in the minefield and asked impatiently: "How many of them can be repaired?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." The maintenance station director looked at the still burning tanks, shook his head and said, "These tanks are no longer worth repairing. At best, we can only take some usable parts from them and assemble them."
On other tanks that can be repaired."
Timofevich closed his eyes in pain. The 11 tanks in the minefield were no longer worth repairing. I wonder how many of the more than 30 tank wreckage still left in the village can be repaired?
While Timofevich was talking with the maintenance station chief, the infantry battalion commander who had occupied the village called Weisbach and reported to him: "Comrade division commander, our battalion has occupied the entire village. After some search,
After that, no trace of the enemy was found. It seemed that they had already withdrawn from the village before our shelling began."
"It's true, the Germans evacuated the village before the battle started." Weisbach muttered in his mind, and then asked: "Comrade Battalion Commander, have you conducted a careful search of the village?"
"After a careful search," the battalion commander replied, "we found many traces of tracks being crushed by German tanks, as well as many shell casings from anti-tank gun shells."
After confirming that there were no Germans in the village, Weisbach ordered the communications troops to help him connect to the headquarters. He planned to report the situation here to Sokov.
When Sokov learned that the call was from Weisbach, he quickly took the phone from the communications director, put it to his ear and asked: "Is it Colonel Weisbach? I'm Sokov, how is the situation there?
?”
"Report to Comrade Commander, we have captured the village."
"The village has been captured, which is great." Sokov asked: "What are the results you achieved?"
"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I'm afraid I have to disappoint you." Weisbach reported: "After five minutes of rapid artillery fire, an infantry battalion of our division, under the cover of the 483rd Tank Battalion, launched an attack on the village.
.During the entire offensive process, our troops did not encounter any resistance. When they rushed into the village, they found that the village was already deserted. The enemy had already withdrawn from the village before our attack began."
"What, the enemy withdrew from the village before our attack started?" Sokov asked with a frown: "Did our troops occupying the village conduct a careful search of the village?"
"We have searched." Weisbach, who had guessed that Sokov would ask this question, quickly replied: "The battalion commander who occupied the village reported to me that in addition to the track marks of German tanks and a pile of artillery shell casings, there were
Nothing was found. It seems that the enemy has already withdrawn from the village, and we are attacking an uninhabited village."
"Oh, that's it." After hearing this, Sokov replied with some disappointment: "I know." After a pause, he continued to ask, "I don't know how many of those tanks that were destroyed in the battle can be destroyed.
repair?"
"I'm not sure. The specific number of tanks that can be repaired will only be known after the comrades from the maintenance station enter the village to check." Weisbach replied: "Seeing that the village was occupied by our army, the maintenance station director has already led his men into the village.
We have arrived in the village and are ready to start bringing those tanks that can still be repaired back to the maintenance station."
Sokov knew that some maintenance equipment was too heavy and must be placed in the maintenance station. This meant that the destroyed tank had to be dragged into the maintenance station before it could be repaired. He then asked: "How long does it take for the comrades at the maintenance station to repair it?"
Tow these destroyed tanks back to the repair station?"
"About two days." After Weisbach said this, he was worried that Sokov was too strong, so he quickly added: "This is what the maintenance station manager said, it is already the fastest speed."
Then, Weisbach asked: "Comrade Commander, what should we do with this village? Should we keep the troops and hold on, or should we give up?"
"Before the comrades in the maintenance station pull away all the tank wreckage, you have to send people to guard the village to prevent the Germans from affecting the normal work of the comrades in the maintenance station."
This chapter has been completed!