When the Soviet air force bombed the German artillery indiscriminately, von derrebel's heart was bleeding. You know, these artillery were all the artillery he could collect at present, but was blown into piles of scrap iron by Soviet bombs under his nose.
After finally seeing German fighter planes appear in the air and beat two Russian planes that bombed and fired their artillery down, von derrebel couldn't help but cheer. He even thought in his heart: After the battle is over, he must wear the Iron Cross medal for these brave pilots.
But the good times did not last long. With the emergence of Soviet fighter jets, the situation reversed. Five German fighter jets, which had the advantage in numbers, were shot down by Soviet fighter jets, and the other three were also injured, and almost destroyed the entire army. What's more, after the German fighter jets retreated from the battlefield, Soviet bombers bombed the tank troops' assembly ground. In addition, artillery soldiers in Kursk were also constantly bombarding, causing more than 20 tanks in the division to turn into burning torches.
After finally waiting for the Soviet bomber formation to fly away from the battlefield, Von Derebel hurriedly ordered the tanks to evacuate the battlefield, and two anti-tank artillery companies blocked the Soviet tanks that rushed up.
When the air force began to bomb the assembly ground of German tanks, Alitai led his tank company to charge. Alitai's command tank took the lead and rushed to the front of the entire company. When it was more than 300 meters away from the temporary position built by the German army, Alitai suddenly heard a loud noise in the "shou" land, and then the entire tank body shook. Based on his years of combat experience, this was attacked by German anti-tank guns, but fortunately, such a 37mm caliber anti-tank gun could not penetrate the front armor of the T-34 tank at such a long distance.
Before Alitai's orders, the pilot had stopped the tank and was ready to let the gunners destroy the German anti-tank gun. The tank hand slowly turned the turret to try to find the location of the enemy's anti-tank gun. At this moment, another shell flew over and accurately hit the left side of the turret. Fortunately, the shell still failed to penetrate the tank's armor.
The tanker quickly turned the turret to the left and searched for the anti-tank gun that had just opened fire. Before he could find it, several anti-tank armor-piercing bombs flew from different directions. Some fell to the ground and exploded, causing a stream of soil to soar into the sky; while some hit the tank body, which became a jumper because it could not penetrate the armor.
Although Alitai knew in his heart that the armor-piercing shells caused by the German anti-tank guns were difficult to pose a threat to his tanks. However, it was also annoying that the shells were always twitching on the armor plates. He quickly ordered the gunner: "Start the target quickly and destroy it."
Not only Alitai's tanks were attacked by German anti-tank guns, but the other tanks also encountered the same problem. German anti-tank gunners hid in different positions and fired at the Soviet tanks rushing up. Although this anti-tank gun, known as the "step-down" cannot penetrate the armor of the T-34 tanks, they can throw rats and dare not drive at the fastest speed, thus gaining valuable time for the retreating German tanks.
The third company commanded by Guchakov was the third company commanded by Guchakov. Seeing that the tank covering the charge of infantry was attacked by the German anti-tank artillery, he couldn't help but be anxious. Without the cooperation of the tank, his infantry company without heavy weapons would be in danger of being destroyed if it was counterattacked by the German army.
He hid in a safe place and observed for a while and found that although the German shells kept hitting Soviet tanks, they had not destroyed a tank. He stood up from his hiding place, raised his pistol over his head, and shouted loudly: "Comrades, move forward!"
"Comrade Commander," said a new soldier lying next to him, panickedly, "The German artillery is still firing artillery, so let's wait for the tank to rush forward before talking."
"Don't worry, Comrade Warrior." Guchakov leaned over and grabbed the soldier's collar, lifted him up from the ground, and then said to him: "The enemy's artillery is attacking our tanks with armor-piercing bombs. As long as it is not hit by itself, it will not cause any harm to us." After that, he pushed hard on the back of the new soldier, "Don't bend, rush forward!"
"Clash with me, comrades!" Guchakov was afraid that the soldiers would still have any concerns, so after shouting, he took the lead in rushing forward.
Seeing that the company commander had already taken the lead in charge, the soldiers could not hold on the ground, and they stood up straight, pressed the butt on their abdomen, shouted loudly, and rushed forward after Guchakov.
Andre, who was watching the battle in his own observation center, first saw that the tank company was blocked by German anti-tank guns and had to stop. But after a moment, he saw the infantry charging behind the tank climbing up from the ground, crossing the tank that was still in place, and rushing towards the enemy's position.
When he saw this scene, Andrei couldn't help but want to curse, thinking that Lieutenant Guchakov was really unreliable. He actually launched a charge against the German artillery with his infantry. The enemy could only fire a few shots at you, and he could kill you. But the next scene surprised him and found that the charge troops were not bombarded by the enemy as he imagined, but rushed to the artillery position smoothly, and then started close combat with the enemy's artillery with grenades, submachine guns, rifles, and enemy artillery.
After being blocked by anti-tank guns, the tank company stopped in place to shoot at the enemy's anti-tank gun position. However, because the German anti-tank guns were well hidden, the results of Soviet tank artillery were limited. At this moment, seeing the infantry rushing forward and easily destroying the enemy's anti-tank gun positions, they started again to cover the infantry to rush forward.
In addition to two anti-tank companies, the German army's broken rear troops also had an unsatisfied infantry company. When they saw that the Soviet tanks were stopped by their own anti-tank guns, they seized the time to dig individual bunkers and tried to build a temporary defense line here to cover the retreat of the main force.
Before they could build the fortifications, the Soviet tanks rumbled again. The German company commander hurriedly ordered the machine gunners to shoot at the rushing tanks. The dense bullets jingled on the armor plate, but the Soviet tanks still approached the German individual bunker without any influence.
The German company commander saw that the tracks of the Soviet tank would crush the unfinished individual bunker in a minute or two, so he gritted his teeth and ordered the soldiers beside him to rush up and blow up the tank with cluster grenades. According to his idea, although the Soviet T-34 tank was behind the armor plate, the view inside the tank was very limited. As long as his soldiers rushed up from the blind spot of the tank's vision, they could successfully blow up the tank.
Two German soldiers each held a bundle of cluster grenades and got up from the ground, rushed towards the Soviet tanks with their waists. After they tried to approach, they threw the grenades into the middle of the tracks, so that they could blow through the tank's weak abdomen and achieve the goal of destroying the tank.
Unexpectedly, when they were seven or eight meters away from the tank, several Soviet soldiers suddenly leaned out from behind the tank. They used their rifles and submachine guns to shoot at the German soldiers. After knocking two soldiers holding grenades to the ground for two circles, they fell to the ground, and the grenades they were holding also fell far away.
Seeing that his soldiers could not get close to the Soviet tanks, the German company commander knew that it would be meaningless to continue to fight, so he issued an order to retreat: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" He was eager to escape, forgetting that once his troops escaped these simple bunkers and were exposed to open unobstructed areas, they would become targets for Soviet commanders and fighters.
Sokov stood in the bell tower and saw the enemy retreating, but the troops following the pursuit were only Alitai's tank company and a small number of infantrymen. He picked up the phone and asked Andre: "Captain Andre, the enemy has retreated, why don't you pursue it? Are you putting so many troops on the position, are you waiting to get a bastard?"
Hearing Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone, Andrei said a little aggrievedly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there are only about 700 people left in our camp. If the entire line attacks, if I am counterattacked by the German army, I am worried that I will not be able to defend the position."
"You can only make the enemy more confused by attacking on the whole line. In this way, they will lose the power to counterattack." Sokov said to the microphone: "I order you to attack on the whole line immediately. If you miss the opportunity to fight, I will remove your post."
After Sokov put down the phone, he said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you are right. Due to the bombing of our air force and the bombardment of artillery, the enemy has completely fallen into chaos. This is a great time to counterattack." Andre did not dare to disobey the order issued by Sokov. He immediately ordered a full-scale counterattack and pursued the fleeing enemy.
"The troops of the third battalion are still too weak." Beerkin looked at the commanders and fighters who were jumping out of their positions and charging forward, and asked tentatively: "The direction of defense of the first battalion and the second battalion, no movement of the enemy has been found yet. Do you see if we draw troops from them to participate in the counterattack?"
"No," Sokov shook his head and said, "Even if the other directions are calm, we cannot use the troops of the first and second battalions at will. Who knows whether the Germans will hide nearby and wait for our troops to be transferred away and the troops become empty, they will launch an unexpected attack. If that happens, our defense line will collapse in an instant, and if we want to defend Kursk, it will become an unfinished task."
Although Belkin thought Sokov's words were reasonable, he still said unwillingly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, even if the troops of the first and second battalions are not used, the reserve team deployed in the city center can always be transferred to support the third battalion, right? I am worried that the losses caused to the enemy with the hundreds of people of the Third Battalion will be very limited."
"Comrade Political Commissar, with our existing strength, it is impossible to destroy the enemy. They can only drive them away from afar." Sokov explained to Belkin: "As long as the German troops attacking the city are not destroyed by us, the enemy will not send new troops. The 297th Infantry Division has been defeated twice in a row, and their officers and soldiers have become fearful of us. Even if they launch a new attack soon, they will become cautious due to the failures of the first two times. In this way, we will have greater confidence in defending the city."
As the two were talking, a correspondent soldier ran up from downstairs panting and handed a telegram to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, it is a telegram from the Front Command."
After reading the telegram, Sokov said to Belkin: "It was General Malining, the chief of staff of the Front Army. He asked us how the situation is here?" After that, he turned to face the correspondents and said, "Call back to the headquarters, saying that with the cooperation of the pilots, we have successfully crushed the German attack. The third battalion commanded by Captain Andre is launching a counterattack against the fleeing enemy."
After receiving Sokov's telegram, Malinin couldn't help but smile. He quickly came to Rokosovsky, put the telegram he had just received in front of him, and said, "Comrade Commander, look, this is the telegram sent by Sokov. With the cooperation of the air force, they have successfully crushed the German attack and launched a local counterattack."
"Good job." Rokosovsky nodded after reading the contents of the telegram: "Their troops are limited, and as long as they can drive the enemy away from the city, it will be an amazing victory. Chief of Staff, you call the Air Force Commander Krasovsky and ask him to continue sending planes to Kursk, and strengthen the city's defense through practical air cover."
After Rokosovsky finished speaking, Malining nodded and then asked, "Comrade Commander, I will call General Krasovsky immediately, but how should Misha respond to him?"
"No need to reply," Rokosovsky shook his head and said, "From Misha's performance, he is an excellent commander. He will know what to do next. There is no need for us to point fingers here to avoid affecting his command. Do you understand?"
"I understand, Comrade Commander." Malining agreed and turned around and left.
And Belkin, who was on the bell tower, has seemed a little absent-minded since Sokov ordered the correspondents to send a report to the Front Command and looked downstairs from time to time. Seeing his actions, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Political Commissar, what are you looking at?"
Since he was a partner with Sokov, Belkin did not hide his intentions, but answered truthfully: "I am waiting for the call from the Front Command."
Chapter completed!