Dmitryev was nominally the artillery commander of the Southern Cluster, but he could command only two battalions of artillery, and the artillery of various calibers combined were only thirty, most of which were 82mm caliber mortars.
After hearing the shelling order issued by Cuikov, he immediately ordered the guards mortar battalion that he withdrew from the front line to open fire, bombard the German machine gun or mortar positions on the south bank of the Aksai River with all his strength, to cover the troops fighting fiercely with the German troops on the pontoon bridge, and to successfully withdraw his position.
Although the Soviet army had not many mortars, they had already locked on the target of the shelling, but they had not received orders from their superiors, so they had not fired. At this moment, they received the order from Dmitryev's gun, and the gunner, who had already been ready to fire the gun at the fastest speed.
The shells flew toward the German machine guns and mortars. Amid a series of explosions, the German machine gun firepower point was blown into the sky, causing huge mortars to the Soviet army, and they were also blown into parts with blue smoke, scattered on the river bank. When the German army tried to rush across the pontoon bridge saw that the Soviet army fired, they hurriedly stopped the melee with the Soviet army and retreated from the pontoon bridge in a hurry. The Soviet army was unable to pursue them because of heavy casualties and was unable to pursue them, so they took the opportunity to retreat.
The commander of the Frontier Regiment and other troops retreated to the position. As soon as the number of people was counted, they almost cried. When they attacked, there were more than 800 people in the entire regiment, but the soldiers who retreated to the position were only more than 70, including the wounded.
Seeing the sparse commanders and fighters retreating to the position, Sokov exhaled a breath of turbid air and then suggested to Cui Kov: "Comrade General, you can't fight like this, otherwise you won't wait until dark, and all the commanders and fighters of the 157th Division will be fought."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, I know you have a good way of fighting." Cuikov looked at Sokov and asked, "Then tell me, how should we fight?"
"At present, our troops are limited and we lack anti-tank weapons." Regarding Cuikov's question, Sokov said cautiously: "We can consider letting German tanks pass through our defense line, and then concentrate our forces to eliminate the German infantry following behind. Without the cover of infantry tanks, there is nothing scary, and our soldiers can easily destroy them."
"No, we can't take risks." After hearing Sokov's advice, Cuikov shook his head and said, "You must know that the 157th Division and the 138th Division were both defeated by the German army, and the commanders and soldiers were full of fear of the enemy. Although they had just performed well, once the enemy's tanks broke through their defense line, they would become panicked. Perhaps there would be a large number of soldiers who gave up their positions and fled because of fear, and the situation would be difficult to control."
Hearing Cuikov say this, Sokov understands his tactics and will definitely not be adopted by him. He can only sigh softly and ask: "Comrade General, can we get tanks from where? Maybe our soldiers will inspire their courage to fight when they see our tanks."
Sokov's words reminded Trekov. He frowned and thought for a while and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, you reminded me. Last night, the superiors sent us a tank company with four T-34 tanks, which may allow them to support the 157th Division."
Seeing the Soviet army retreating to its defensive position, the German tank troops dispatched. Eight No. 4 tanks, with the black smoke when they started, turned onto the floating bridge at high speed, and successively drove onto the floating bridge. The commanders and fighters hiding in the trenches looked at the huge steel body coming towards them and the hideous gun barrels on the body of the car. Many people were frightened. The machine gunners hurriedly picked up the machine guns and aimed at the coming tanks and fired wildly. The machine gun bullets hit the tanks like hail, but they could not slow down its movement speed at all.
Seeing the soldiers in the trench become a little panicked, a second lieutenant stood up bravely. While he tied bundles of grenades to his body, he said to the soldiers around him: "Comrades, there is nothing scary. With just a few grenades, the enemy's tanks will fall into their nests. If you are not afraid of death, come with me."
However, after he finished speaking, he received no response. The lieutenant sighed softly, reorganized the grenades tied to his body, climbed out of the trench with his hands and feet, and climbed over to the coming tank. But as a tank approached, he pulled the strings and rolled on the spot, lay on his back, and let the tank pass by himself.
The soldiers in the trench saw the lieutenant lying on his back and crawled into the bottom of the tank. Then a shocking explosion occurred, and the tank was wrapped in raging fire. Not long after, two German tankers covered in fire crawled out of the tank turret, fell down, and got up again, stumbled towards the back. The soldiers who came back to their senses picked up their weapons, aimed at the German tank hands trying to escape and shot them to death next to the tank.
With the second lieutenant as an example, many soldiers in the trench, including some wounded, tied grenades to their bodies, rushed out of the trench and climbed towards the tanks that were coming. Although the German tankers saw that many Soviet troops crawled out of the position and they also fired with machine guns, the targets they hit were very limited. Seeing that these soldiers were about to die with their tanks, the tankers became a little panicked. Some increased the accelerator and tried to rush over quickly; while others began to reverse, trying to get rid of these anti-tank soldiers. For a moment, the scene seemed particularly chaotic.
The infantry following far behind saw that their tanks were threatened by Soviet anti-tank players, hurriedly rushed towards the place with a short leap forward. They tried to eliminate the anti-tank players who left the trenches and cover their tanks to successfully break through the Soviet positions.
The soldiers crawled out of the position had no other weapons except the grenades tied to their bodies. Facing the German infantry coming over, they became lambs to be slaughtered. Several soldiers, after several shots, suddenly pulled the grenades on their bodies with the last little strength, and tried to die with the tanks passing by.
Chapter completed!