The soldiers from Siberia had never met the Germans. When they saw the densely packed Germans in the distance, the reactions of the people were different. Some jumped back to the ravines and set up guns to shoot at any time; some stood there in a daze, staring blankly at the Germans getting closer and closer; but more soldiers, when they saw the Germans appear, turned around and fled back to the town where the smoke was still emitting.
Cuikov jumped into the ditch and asked loudly at Sokov beside him: "How many people can we use?"
"Less than twenty people." Sokov replied loudly, "and that includes the guard squad we brought."
"Damn it, we can't resist the Germans at all with our strength." Cuikov said, and crawled out of the ditch. He rushed over and pushed the soldiers who were still standing in a daze, and ordered them loudly: "Everyone goes to the ditch. Staying here will only become a target for the Germans. Go quickly and go to the ditch."
With Cui Kov's series of shouts, the dazed soldiers woke up and jumped into the ditch one after another. With their familiar comrades, they set up their guns tremblingly, ready to wait for the Germans to enter the range, and they would shoot.
"Comrade General," Sokov looked at a soldier not far away, and his whole body shook like a sieve because of fear. He couldn't help but ask Cui Kov with some concern: "Can we have such a few people stop the Germans?"
"Even if we can't stop it, we have to fight." Cuikov heard Sokov's question and immediately replied righteously: "We have no fortifications nearby. Once the Germans rush into the town, we will defeat our troops here."
Sokov knew very well that although he was taking a defensive position, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the German army, and the number of people was at a disadvantage. If the German army launched a strong attack, the battle would be resolved in at most half an hour. Therefore, he could only place his last hope on the company commanders who returned to the town to summon troops.
Seeing Sokov turning his head and looking towards the town, Cuikov asked dissatisfiedly: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy is right in front of you. Do you always look at what you do behind you? Do you want to be a deserter?"
"No, no," Sokov quickly waved his hand and said, "I'm looking at the company commanders who have returned to the town to help us."
"They have to spend time to regroup the troops when they return to the town, and they will never come in a while." Cuikov said to the Germans getting closer and closer: "We can only rely on our own strength to block the enemy. You must know that there are grasslands outside the town and the railway station. Even if the troops want to transfer, they will be caught up by the enemy soon. If the advantage of the terrain is lost, the troops without establishment will only become lambs to be slaughtered."
"Comrade General, don't worry." Sokov patted his assault rifle with his hand, and expressed his opinion to Cuikov: "As long as I am still alive, I will never take a step back." Sokov said this with confidence. No matter what, he is a person with the halo of the protagonist, so how could he die so easily?
"Very good, Comrade Chief of Staff." Cuikov nodded with satisfaction after hearing Sokov's statement, and said, "Since you have such courage, then we will fight side by side here and defeat the invading enemy."
When Sokov heard the word "destroy" rather than "destroy", he understood in his heart that Cuikov had no confidence in whether he could block the enemy's attack. However, in order to prevent the morale of the army, even as the commander of the army, he could only stay in the gully with the soldiers like an ordinary officer, preparing to fight to the death with the Germans rushing up.
Fortunately, the attacking Germans did not have any heavy weapons. Their two armored vehicles were parked three or four hundred meters away from the gully and used MG34 universal machine gun to strait the Soviet army's hiding place. Listening to the bullets flying over his head, the new soldiers who had never participated in the battle could not help but feel a little panicked. Before Cui Kefu gave the shooting order, he pulled the trigger. One person fired, which immediately caused a chain reaction, and the gunshots in the gully suddenly rang out.
"Damn, why did you shoot so early?" The sudden burst of gunfire scared Cui Kefu: "The Germans are still a few hundred meters away. We will shoot now. Apart from wasting bullets, we can't destroy many enemies at all."
"Stop shooting, stop shooting!" Sokov shouted at the soldiers on both sides with his throat. After they had all the bullets in the gun chamber and the ditch returned to peace, he continued: "From now on, no one is allowed to shoot without orders."
The soldiers hiding in the gully, except for a few veterans, are new soldiers who have just joined the army. They have no combat experience and are already extremely nervous when they see the Germans. When they hear bullets flying over their heads, they naturally can't help but shoot and fight back to eliminate the fear in their hearts.
After they finished their first shooting, their fear finally weakened. Hearing Sokov's shouts, they reloaded the bullets, set up their guns, aimed at the approaching enemy, ready to hear the orders and shoot again.
Sokov stared at the German soldiers getting closer and closer, thinking quietly that they were away from him to decide when to shoot. If the shooting was too early, these recruits with no combat experience would shoot the bullets to the point where they did not know how to shoot the bullets; if the shooting was too late, the enemy would instantly rush in front of him and wipe out the Soviet army, which was at a disadvantage.
When the German army was only one hundred meters away, Sokov shouted decisively: "Let's fire!" Before he finished speaking, he had already pulled the trigger first. Amid the dense gunshots, more than a dozen German soldiers who rushed to the front were shot and fell to the ground. Seeing that the Soviet army's firepower was not weak, the soldiers behind quickly lay down on the ground, raised their guns and began to fight back.
Sokov started well and knocked down two German soldiers. But after the Germans fell down, he could no longer achieve results and could only shoot in the hidden places of the enemy. Sokov's shooting attracted the attention of the German soldiers, with two submachine guns and a rifle suppressing and shooting him. The bullets made the gravel in front of him splash and jingle on the helmet.
Since the two sides were seventy or eighty meters apart, the grenade could not be thrown at such a long distance. Sokov and the other party could only keep firing, consuming each other's ammunition, betting on who was not lucky and were the first to be hit by the bullet.
Although Sokov could barely support him, the situation of the soldiers in other areas was much worse. In order to hit the enemy who was lying on the ground and shooting, the new soldiers had to poke out of the ditch, and became targets for the enemy. The soldiers who were shot fell one after another in the ditch, and the firepower on the Soviet side began to weaken.
Hearing the gunshots on both sides became sparse, Sokov was a little anxious. He rushed to Cui Kov, who was squatting beside him, and shouted: "Comrade General, the situation is not good, we may not be able to defend it. You retreat first, I will leave cover."
"Retreat, where to retreat?!" Regarding Sokov's proposal, Cuikov sneered and said, "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I can tell you that as long as you leave this gully, you will lose your life immediately."
Perhaps in order to verify the correctness of Cui Kov's statement, a soldier who was frightened and mentally collapsed, threw away the weapons in his hand, climbed out of the gully, and fled towards the town. As a result, he was hit by a bullet shot from behind. The soldier who was running was staggered by the bullets and then fell to the ground.
Sokov's assault rifle only carried four magazines with him. After only ten minutes, there was only the last magazine. At this moment, he felt a little regretful. If he was carrying a German submachine gun now, he would not have to worry about the bullets. However, this assault rifle used special short bullets, and there would be no room for replenishment after it was exhausted. When the Germans rushed up, they would have to fight with them.
However, at this critical moment, Sokov suddenly heard the shouts of "Ula" coming from behind him. He turned his head and found that it was the company commanders who were returning to the town to summon troops and rushed out of the town with his subordinates.
Although the combat effectiveness of these troops was not very good, they rushed out of the town and frightened the German soldiers. The German soldiers got up from the ground one after another, retreating in panic, and shot at the Soviet soldiers rushing up.
The battle ended quickly, a German armored vehicle was destroyed, more than 20 German soldiers were killed, and more than a dozen slow-running soldiers were captured.
Cuikov came out of the ditch, looked at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield, and said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, go back to the town to clean up, and we continue to move westward."
"What, Comrade General." Sokov was shocked when he heard Cuikov say this: "If we go west further, we may rush to the middle of the Germans. I think we should lead the troops here and return to the Aksai River defense line."
"No, we can't go back." Cuikov said firmly: "We have not found the commander and the division headquarters of the 208th Division. If we leave them behind, they may become prisoners of the Germans, so we still need to continue to move westward to find their whereabouts."
As the two were talking, Krimov walked out of the town with a dejected look. He came to Cuikov and lowered his head and said, "Comrade Commander, the radio operator died in the bombing just now, and our radio station was smashed by the collapsed ceiling."
Cui Kefu's face immediately turned pale: "So, we have lost the last communication equipment and cannot contact the outside world?"
"I think this is the case, Comrade Commander." Krimov nodded and said, "I think we should return to the Aksai River defense line immediately with this severely damaged unit."
When Sokov heard Krimov's same suggestion to Trekov, he looked at Trekov curiously, wanting to know what decision he would make.
Unexpectedly, Cui Kefu shook his head and said firmly: "Even if we lose communication equipment and lose contact with the outside world, our mission has not been completed. We need to continue to look for the commander of the 208th Division who has lost contact and his division headquarters. Only after we find them can we return to the Aksai River defense line."
As soon as Trekov finished speaking, Krimov immediately replied: "I understand, Comrade Commander, I will arrange for people to prepare the army so that I can continue to move westward."
Several company commanders came over and volunteered to Cui Kefu: "Comrade General, please let us go west with you and look for our missing division commander!"
"I'm sorry, a few company commanders." However, Cui Kefu rejected their request and said to them with a stern face: "I think you will stay here, treat the wounded and assemble the troops. When I take your division commander and the division headquarters back, we will return to the north together."
"Comrade Commander," Krimov saw two jeeps coming, and reported to Cuikov: "The truck that the guard squad was riding in was blown up in the air raid just now. I found this jeep in the town and let the guard squad soldiers take this car."
"Let the guard squad take this car," asked Choikov, "Will it be too crowded?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Krimov said: "The soldiers of the guard squad, after the battle just now, were still four people left, and they could all be squeezed into this car."
Cuikov opened the door of his jeep and said to Krimov: "Comrade Adjutant, order the soldiers to get in, and we must set out immediately. On the battlefield, every minute is precious. We must find them before the German army sieges the 208th Division and bring them safely to our newly built defense line."
Before getting on the car, Sokov was still muttering in his heart: Should he find a German submachine gun so that even if he encounters enemies on the road, he still has weapons to defend himself.
When Cuikov saw Sokov standing by the car, he looked whispering, and quickly shouted: "Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, we are going to set off, are you still standing there?"
"Comrade General," Sokov heard Cui Kev call himself, and quickly got into the jeep and said apologetically: "I am considering whether I should bring a submachine gun to defend myself, so that even if I encounter an enemy on the road, I don't have to worry."
Cuikov pointed to the assault rifle that Sokov held in his hand and asked in confusion: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don't you have a weapon? There is no need to find another submachine gun, right?"
"Comrade General, you don't know." Although Sokov knew that several thousand of these assault rifles had been produced, he could not guarantee that Cuikov had used this assault rifle, so he explained to him: "This assault rifle uses a new type of bullet. Once it is exhausted, there is no place to replenish it."
Chapter completed!