Under the leadership of the soldiers, Sokov soon arrived at the location where Bely and Vanya stayed.
Seeing Sokov coming, Bely said to him seriously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the tank crew led by Captain Sereda has lost contact with us."
Sokov knew that three tank crews, including Captain Sereda, and more than twenty soldiers were leading the way. When he heard that they had lost contact, he couldn't help but asked anxiously: "Have you sent anyone to look for them?"
them?"
"Found it," Vanya nodded and replied: "Only the bodies of more than twenty soldiers were found. It seems that they were killed in the German bombing. No wreckage of any tanks was found. Captain Sereda must have gone somewhere else.
place, but we are temporarily unable to get in touch with you.”
"Time is of the essence. We will put the matter of Captain Sereda aside for the time being." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch: "We must organize an attack immediately and strive to break through the German defensive positions in the shortest possible time."
After Sokov finished speaking, he saw Bely frowning and thinking about something with a solemn expression, so he asked curiously: "Colonel Bely, do you have any questions?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Bely replied: "Currently half of the infantry has not caught up. If we rush to launch an attack with this small force, I am afraid it will be difficult to succeed."
"Yes, Comrade Brigade Commander." Vanya expressed support for Bely's statement: "I think we should wait until all the troops arrive before launching an attack on the enemy.
"
"There is no time, the attack must start immediately." In order to dispel the concerns of the two men, Sokov continued: "I have asked General Guryev that the enemy's strength on the opposite position is limited and there are no anti-tank weapons. I
What it means is that the armored battalion will be used to carry out the assault first, and the infantry will follow up later."
"Even if the enemy does not have any anti-tank weapons," Bely said with concern: "Once they find that our tanks are not covered by infantry, they can use explosive packs or cluster grenades to blow up our tanks."
"Let Lieutenant Valenla's spherical tank open the way in front and use a wedge-shaped assault." Sokov waited for Bely to finish speaking, then said without hesitation: "The spherical tank has strong firepower, high speed, and the enemy's explosives
Bags and cluster grenades are of little use to it. If we use it to lead an assault, I think we can easily break through the enemy's position."
"Comrade Brigadier, our troops are limited." Vanya reminded Sokov carefully: "If we break through the enemy's defense line and leave troops for defense, our forward assault force will become even weaker.
"
"Comrade Captain, you can rest assured on this." Sokov said to Vanya: "I will discuss with General Guryev later. Once we break through the enemy's defensive position, his troops will take over.
defense."
Seeing that Sokov had considered all the issues that needed to be considered, Bely and Vanya stopped saying anything, agreed, and turned back to their respective units to make final preparations before the attack.
Five minutes later, the tank crew commanded by Lieutenant Valenla drove a spherical tank past Sokov. Although Sokov knew in his heart that he stayed in the tank just because he was shouting outside.
Valianla and the others couldn't hear it at all. But when the tank passed by him, he still waved the assault rifle in his hand and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Go forward, Valianla! Crush the German defense lines and kill you!"
Every German who arrives. March on, Valencia!"
When Guriyev, who was staying in the observation post, saw the spherical tanks leading a group of T-34 tanks forward, his eyes almost fell to the ground. He asked in surprise: "Oh my God, the round tanks in front of them are
What is that thing?"
However, after he finished speaking, no one in the observation center answered the call because no one knew what it was. This equipment, which was kept strictly confidential not long ago, shocked everyone when it appeared in front of them.
.
The spherical tank was traveling very fast, especially Lieutenant Valenla, who was eager to make meritorious deeds, so the tank was traveling very fast, and soon the other T-34 tanks were far behind.
The German troops who were holding on to their positions were also stunned when they saw a strange tank appear in the field of vision. Like the soldiers of the Guards Division, no one knew whether this spherical thing was the Soviet army.
What kind of new equipment is there? However, when the German commander on the position saw that the distance between the ball tank and other T-34s had been opened, he immediately organized soldiers and climbed out of the trench carrying explosive packages and cluster grenades to test
Blow up this strange Soviet tank.
The spherical tank has a very wide field of vision. When the tank crews in the vehicle saw the enemy crawling out of the trench, they guessed that the enemy wanted to bomb the tank, so they fired at them with parallel machine guns and knocked them down one by one.
A soldier finally risked his life and rushed to the side of the spherical tank, but sadly discovered that the explosive packs and cluster grenades he carried could not be placed on the body of this kind of tank, let alone blow it up.
Just when they were worried, several T-34s following far behind stopped, aimed their guns at the spherical tanks and fired. These tanks used grenades, which exploded after landing on the ground.
At most, the shrapnel could only make the armor of the ball-shaped tank clank, but the German soldiers near the explosion point were blown to pieces.
A German soldier whose legs were broken by a parallel machine gun endured the pain and lay on the path of the spherical tank. When he saw that the spherical tank was still more than ten meters away, he suddenly pulled the fuse of the explosive pack.
Trying to die with this weird tank.
There was a loud "boom", and the tank crew following behind saw the spherical tank covered by the rising smoke. They couldn't help but feel a little bit in their hearts. They instinctively thought: Is this the end of the spherical tank?
However, when the smoke cleared, they saw that the spherical tank was still rushing towards the enemy's position unabated. The machine gun on the vehicle kept firing, knocking down the German soldiers who climbed out of the trench. In the trench
An MG34 machine gun kept firing bullets at the spherical tank, but it could not slow down the forward speed of the spherical tank at all.
Faced with such persistent German machine gunners, the gunner in the tank adjusted the direction of the muzzle, aimed at them, and hit the target with just one shot, blowing the machine gun into parts. The first and second machine gunners and ammunition handlers were all blown to pieces.
Facing such an invulnerable tank, the enemies on the position were frightened. Without waiting for orders from their superiors, they ran along the communication trenches towards the positions behind them. The officers surprisingly did not stop the soldiers from escaping. On the contrary
Join them and run towards the back. When the ball tank rushed to the trench and stopped, there was no living German soldier in the trench except for corpses.
Seeing Sokov's tank troops one after another rushing to the enemy's trenches and stopping, and the infantry rushing towards the enemy's positions not being intercepted by artillery fire, Guryev could not help but be surprised and said: "What a hell, the Germans
Was our position just taken down by friendly forces?"
"Comrade General," Sokov's voice came from the door: "I need your help."
Seeing the German resistance being destroyed like a child's play, Guryev was in a particularly good mood. After hearing Sokov's request, he said carelessly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you need anything, just ask, as long as it's me
If you can do it, I will give you my full support."
"That's it, Comrade General." Sokov pointed to the direction in the distance where the battle had just ended, and said to Guryev: "The troops in my hands are limited, and I hope that your troops can take over the defense."
"No problem, I will send a battalion to take over your defense immediately." After Guryev said this, he asked curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I feel very strange why the Germans did not attack when you attacked.
Shelling or bombing you?"
"Comrade General, this is actually very simple." Sokov said lightly: "The enemy planes did not bomb us. Maybe they ran out of ammunition and were returning to replenish fuel and ammunition. As for why they were not attacked
To intercept, I guess our tanks advanced too fast, so fast that before the enemy could react, we had already rushed in front of them, leaving them no time to notify the artillery to intercept and fire on us."
"You make sense." After listening to Sokov's analysis, Guryev nodded, and then asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what are you going to do next?"
"There are still a few hours before dark," Sokov replied: "I plan to continue to push forward and try to reach Orlovka before dark."
If Sokov had said this an hour ago, Guriyev would have thought he was bragging, but after the battle just now, Guriyev felt that Sokov's troops were fully capable before dark.
Continuously break through the four directions of the German army and reach Orlovka as quickly as possible.
Out of concern, Guryev asked specifically: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you seem to have a few fewer people. Do you think you need me to send troops to assist you in the attack?"
Although Sokov's troops were seriously insufficient, he politely rejected Guryev's proposal: "Comrade General, thank you for your kindness. My army has its own set of tactics. If we fight with unfamiliar troops,
If you cooperate, I'm afraid it will affect the combat effectiveness. However, you can send a small team with a radio to follow us. Once we occupy a certain German position, you can send troops to take over the defense to avoid having to fight again.
Take the Germans back."
His proposal was rejected by Sokov, and Guryev looked very unhappy. He wanted to get angry, but what the other party said seemed reasonable. He had lost a position that more than two thousand people had not taken, and they almost
He succeeded without any loss. Just when he was feeling depressed, he heard Sokov's words, and suddenly there was a smile on his face again, and he quickly replied: "Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I'll be ready right away."
A liaison team will accompany you. At the same time, the 120th Guards Regiment will follow behind you and take over the defense of the areas occupied by you at any time."
Sokov left the headquarters and got on an armored vehicle parked not far away. Yakov, who was waiting impatiently in the car, saw Sokov appear and looked behind him specifically, curious.
The ground asked: "Misha, didn't General Guryev send troops to you?"
"He offered to send troops to me, but I refused." As soon as Sokov sat down, he ordered the driver: "Drive!"
After the armored vehicle started, Yakov asked strangely: "Misha, you now have about thirty tanks and more than 500 soldiers. With such a force, it would be suicide to break through the four lines of defense of the German army.
Since General Guryev is willing to send troops to you, this is a good thing, why do you refuse?"
"Our troops have experience in infantry-tank coordinated operations, but the Guards Division may have less experience in this area." Sokov explained to Yakov: "If I rashly accept the troops of the Guards Division, on the surface
It seems that the number of people has increased, but because the two sides are using different tactics, not only will the combat effectiveness not be improved, it may even have a counterproductive effect."
Regarding Sokov's statement, Yakov pondered for a long time, and finally nodded in agreement and said: "That's right. Although you have fewer people, your combat effectiveness is incomparable to General Guryev's troops. You are here
It broke through the first line of defense of the German army with almost no casualties, and the Guards Division lost more than 2,000 people in front of this line of defense. It is really effective to have two troops with different combat styles fighting together.
It might be counterproductive."
Although Yakov agreed with Sokov's statement, the lack of troops was still a problem that worried him: "But your troops are limited. If you leave a part of the troops to guard the defense line every time you occupy it, in the end we will
The force that can be put into attack will become weaker and weaker."
"I have already agreed with General Guryev," Sokov replied: "He will send a liaison team to accompany us. Once we occupy the German position, they will notify nearby troops to take over those
Defense of the position.”
"If so, that would be great." Yakov nodded and said: "After we capture the enemy's positions, we can continue to advance, and the task of holding on to these positions will be left to the comrades of the Guards Division.
Responsible."
"Operator!" Sokov turned to the operator and said, "Get in touch with Colonel Bely immediately and ask if the ball tank was damaged during the battle and whether it can participate in the next battle."
"You can put the matter of contacting Colonel Bely on hold for a while." Yakov reminded Sokov: "Since we have broken through the first line of defense of the German army, should you send a telegram to Chuikov and tell him the good news?
tell him?"
If Yakov didn't remind him, Sokov really didn't think of reporting the good news to Chuikov. He quickly added to the radio operator: "Send a report to the commander first and tell him about our breakthrough of the German defense line. Then we will talk to Colonel Bely
get in touch."
This chapter has been completed!