It was obvious that the enemy was right in front of him, and if they were blocked, it would be a great achievement. However, due to the rugged road, there was only one platoon and only two machine guns that had arrived here to suppress the firepower of the German machine guns from the church bell tower. There were more than twenty rifles and the firepower formed by the submachine guns could not stop the fleeing German army. Vanya was so angry that his eyes were about to spit out fire.
Sokov, who was leading his troops through the village and town, saw a series of soldiers who arrived one after another, who were suppressed by the German machine guns on the church bell tower and could not move in the cemetery. He quickly ran to a T-34 tank parked on the side of the road, and knocked it hard on the body with a butt several times.
The tank soldiers inside heard someone beating the tank outside, and quickly lifted the top cover of the turret and leaned out. Sokov saw a tank soldier drilling out of the tank, and quickly pointed to the German firepower point on the top of the church and shouted at him: "Tank hand, knock off the machine gun on the church bell tower."
The tank soldier nodded and then retracted into the tank. The tank slowly turned the turret and aimed at the church in the distance. After a loud bang, the shells accurately hit the bell tower. In the rising black smoke, the broken machine gun parts, broken legs of the human body were mixed with splashing gravel, and threw them around.
Seeing the machine guns in the church being killed, Vanya stood up from behind the hiding tombstone and shouted at the soldiers around him: "Comrades, follow me and destroy every *** bandit you see. Go ahead~~!" After shouting, he took the lead in rushing out of the cemetery with a submachine gun.
Although Vanya decisively led the first company of soldiers to launch an attack, it was too late. Most of the enemies had fled along the path, and they killed only more than twenty German soldiers who had broken the rear.
After more than four hours of battle, the Istrian Battalion successfully occupied Popkovo with the cooperation of the 146th Tank Brigade. This battle destroyed more than 300 German troops, seized fifteen heavy artillery discarded by the enemy, five tanks, two powerful artillery, more than a dozen anti-tank guns and mortars, as well as a large number of weapons and ammunition.
However, the Soviet army suffered heavy losses. The Istrian Battalion suffered more than 200 casualties. The 146th Tank Brigade, which cooperated with the cooperation, also lost nine tanks of various types. In addition, in the battle the day before, the two infantry battalions lost, the battle to capture Popkovo was only a tragic victory.
Upon learning that Popkovo had been occupied, Rokosovsky immediately rushed to the headquarters of the 11th Guards Division. As soon as he saw Chernesov, he said enthusiastically: "General Chernesov, I congratulate you! Congratulations to you on taking down this important stronghold of Popkovo. By the way, which regiment is the main attacker?"
"It was Major Sokov's Istria Battalion." Chernesov replied: "In cooperation with the 146th Tank Brigade, they took only more than four hours to capture this important German stronghold."
"This Sokov is not simple." Rokosovsky learned that it was Sokov's troops who made contributions again, and said with appreciation: "No matter how difficult it is to fight, as long as his troops take off, they can defeat the Germans."
"Comrade Commander, there is another situation, I want to report to you." Cherneshov said to Rokosovsky with a serious expression: "According to Major Sokov's report, the enemies in the villages and towns are no more than six hundred, which is far from the two thousand we know in advance."
"What, there are no more than 600 enemies in the villages and towns?" Rokosovsky asked with a frown: "Is the intelligence reliable?"
Chernesov nodded vigorously and said affirmatively: "This was reported to me by Major Sokov himself."
"Report!" The two of them were talking when suddenly a loud voice came from the door. Before Cherneshov could speak, Sokov had already walked in from outside the door and asked with a smile on his face: "Comrade Commander, can you come in?"
Chernesov and Rokosovsky looked at each other and saw a smile in each other's eyes. Chernesov smiled and scolded Sokov: "Major Sokov, you have come in, can I drive you out?" He paused for a moment, and then continued, "Comrade Commander is here too, please say hello to him."
Sokov, who had adapted to the indoor light, found that Rokosovsky was also here, quickly walked forward two steps, stopped his back and raised his hand to salute, and said loudly: "Comrade Commander, Major Sokov, the battalion commander of the Istrian Battalion, reported to you that I was ordered to accept the new combat mission in the front division headquarters. Please instruct!"
Rokosovsky nodded and said with a smile: "Major Sokov, please express my gratitude to your soldiers, thanking them for their bravery, tenacious and fearless spirit and great achievements in the war to defend their motherland."
Although Rokosovsky said some clichés, Sokov replied loudly after he finished speaking: "I am willing to serve the Soviet motherland!"
"You have served well." Rokosovsky praised again, turning the topic to the aspects he was interested in: "It is said that there are less than six hundred enemies in the villages and towns of Popkovo?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander." Sokov quickly replied with affirmation: "After the battle, I ordered people to count the German corpses and the number of people who escaped, less than six hundred."
After Sokov got the exact answer, Rokosovsky held the edge of the table with his hands and leaned over to look at the map spread above. After looking for a while, he pointed to a position and said to Chernesov: "Comrade Commander, come and see. A village, Marklaki, located fifteen kilometers southwest of Popkovo, is another important stronghold of the German army. If this stronghold is also occupied by us, the entire German defense in the direction of Jizdra will be crushed. Our remaining task is to eliminate the enemies stationed in the village of Bren and the small villages distributed in the vast plains without woods, so that they will not retreat to Jizdra..."
When Rokosovsky assigned a mission to Chernesov, Sokov, who was standing beside him, thought to himself: It seems that the superiors want my troops to continue to participate in the battle, but they don’t know whether they plan to attack Marklaki or to eliminate the enemies surrounding the occupied villages?
The answer was soon revealed. As soon as Chernesov and Rokosovsky finished speaking, they immediately continued: "Comrade Commander, I plan to leave a regiment to defend Popkovo, consolidate the defense of the surrounding areas, and prevent the enemy from shelling Suxinic from this direction. The other two regiments and Sokov's Istria Battalion rushed to the southwest direction overnight to seize Marklaki and crush the German army's overall defense in the direction of Zedra."
Regarding the plan proposed by Chernesov, Rokosovsky replied readily: "Okay, just follow the plan you said. The four divisions currently fighting on the right wing will immediately transfer them to support you after repelling the German attack."
Chapter completed!