The German artillery fire was fiercer than ever before, and the entire high ground was blown into a sea of ​​fire, with soil splashing and shrapnel. The soldiers spent a few days, and the fortifications built with great effort, were blown up by the artillery fire in a moment.
The commanders and fighters of the third company who were defending the high ground retreated to the fortifications on the north slope one after another before the large-scale artillery attacks of the German army began, leaving only a five-person observation team on the position to monitor the movements of the enemy.
Corporal Xie Miao, who had participated in the Grissa reconnaissance team, was the leader of this observation team. Faced with such fierce artillery fire, he could not observe the situation of the German army at all. He could only open his mouth, cover his ears, and curl up in the trenches to avoid artillery attacks. The shells that fell one after another exploded in front, back and left and right of the trenches. The soil brought by the air waves rushed towards him like water splashing, and in an instant half of his body buried in the soil.
He could not hear anything except the deafening explosion; he could not see anything except the smoke that covered the sky and the earth and the soil that was stirred up by the air waves. He prayed in his heart that the German shelling could pass quickly.
After the German shelling was over for a while, he climbed out of the soil with difficulty. He stood up and looked left and right, but did not see the soldiers under his command. He shouted twice at the top of his throat, but found that his voice was inaudible. It seemed that his ears were being shocked by the shelling. He turned his head and looked down the hillside, and saw several German tanks heading towards the direction of the high ground. Behind them was the wave-like formation of German infantry scattered soldiers. Seeing that the German army began to attack, Xie Miao quickly stuffed the whistle into his mouth and blew hard.
Saviev, who was staying in the fortification of the north slope, heard the German shelling, but there was no whistle coming from the position. He frowned and said to Stepan, who was sitting opposite him, "What's going on? Why haven't Corporal Xie Miao blew the whistle yet?"
Stepan listened to the movement outside and said in an uncertain tone: "Did all the soldiers in the observation group die in the shelling?"
The two came outside the fortification and looked up at the high ground shrouded by gunpowder. While considering whether they should send someone to check, a sharp whistle suddenly came from the high ground. Two long and one short whistle was the secret code for discovering the enemy's attack that had been agreed in advance.
"The enemy has begun to attack." Saviev pulled out his pistol and shouted at the cover where the soldiers were hiding: "The enemy is coming, and everyone enters the position!"
Belkin stood in the traffic trench outside the battalion command post, raised his telescope and looked at the Third Company, which was entering the highland from his hiding place. He thought to himself: The Germans' shelling was more violent than ever before, and it seemed that they were bound to win the highland. The Second Company and the Machine Cannon Company, as the reserve team, were taken away by the battalion commander. If the Third Company was completely wiped out, they could only send the guard platoon, engineer platoon, tank platoon and other direct troops.
Just when he was worried, he suddenly heard Selyosha standing beside him shouting excitedly: "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, look, the battalion commander and the soldiers of the other two companies are back!"
Belkin looked in the direction of his finger and saw hundreds of soldiers jogging over. The front was the battalion commander Major Sokov. Seeing this scene, his heart finally returned to his stomach. As long as the soldiers of these two companies came back, there would be enough troops to carry out defense warfare.
Sokov stopped next to the battalion command post, turned around and gasped, instructing the two company commanders behind him: "After returning to their respective garrisons, let the soldiers hurry up and rest, and be prepared to reinforce the second and third companies at any time." The two company commanders agreed and took their respective soldiers back to the station.
Sokov jumped into the traffic trench, came to Belkin and asked, "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander, how is the situation?"
"The Germans' shelling just now was very fierce." Belkin didn't know the situation on the high ground, so he could only tell Sokov what he knew: "But just as the enemy's shelling ended, the third company entered the position."
He saw Sokov turn his head toward the command post, and quickly followed him, asking a little worriedly, "Comrade Battalion Commander, are you not afraid that the division commander will blame him?"
"Deputy Battalion Commander, have you not seen us being attacked by the enemy? At this time, the troops will be drawn to the division headquarters, which will greatly weaken our army's strength and be detrimental to our defense." Sokov said without looking back: "I think the division headquarters can understand our difficulties."
The German tanks stopped at the foot of the mountain, and the infantry following behind increased their speed, crossed the tank, and rushed towards the hillside. Saveyev, who was lying next to a machine gun, saw the enemy rushing up the hillside, and quickly said to the soldiers on both sides: "Pause it down. No one is allowed to shoot without my order!"
The soldiers who received the order lay motionlessly on their shooting positions, pointed the black muzzle at the enemy, and patiently waited for Saviev's order to open fire. The entire hillside was quiet, and only the heavy footsteps and heavy breathing of the German soldiers as they climbed the hill were heard.
Seeing the enemy entering a hundred meters one after another, Saviev raised his right hand high above his head, then waved it down suddenly, and shouted loudly: "Fire!"
The machine gun roared, and then the entire company opened fire, and a dense sound of gunfire sounded on the position. The bullets spitted by the machine gun, submachine gun, and rifle were as dense as heavy rain, knocking down the enemies on the hillside in pieces.
The German army quickly lay down on the ground and fought back. After firing a few shots, they jumped up from the ground. Under the leadership of their respective commanders, they stepped on the bodies of their companions and continued to bend over and rushed to the position on the top of the mountain with difficulty. Seeing that the Soviet army on the top of the mountain opened fire, the tanks at the foot of the mountain also began to shell the shells and exploded. For a moment, gunpowders burst into full swings, and shrapnel were flying, cutting down the soldiers near the explosion point one by one.
Facing the rushing enemy, the condescending third company soldiers poured ammunition down without hesitation. However, due to the limitations of the terrain, in order to defeat the enemies who rushed into the shooting dead corner, some soldiers had to stand up and shoot. But as soon as they showed up, they were hit by the bullets fired by the German army and fell on their backs into the trenches.
When a group of German soldiers rushed to the near position, countless grenades suddenly flew out of the trenches and landed on the way to charge and exploded. The shrapnel splattered everywhere overturned one by one. A short distance of about twenty meters became an insurmountable natural barrier. The land under the feet of German soldiers had been soaked in sticky mud by blood. When they stepped on it, they kept ringing. The bodies killed by bullets and piled up there layer by layer.
Faced with such a tenacious defense of the Soviet army, the German commander knew that it would be meaningless to continue to fight, so he blew a whistle and notified the soldiers who were fighting desperately to retreat. After hearing the whistle, the German soldiers on the hillside were as if they were amnesty and rolled and crawled back at a faster speed than when they charged.
Chapter completed!