The third battalion had nearly a thousand people. If it was used to attack the German artillery positions, the troops could not be fully deployed. Therefore, Sokov began to arrange troops: "The task of attacking the artillery positions will be completed by the Eighth Company of Lieutenant Yegor. The Seventh Company issued a warning to the south to monitor the enemy in that direction; Lieutenant Guchakov's ninth Company established defenses in the north of the artillery positions to prevent the German infantry regiment from coming to support after hearing the movement..."
After a series of orders were issued, Sokov stood up and asked the three company commanders: "Have the mission been clear?"
"It's clear!" The three company commanders replied in unison.
Just as Sokov was about to let them execute their orders, several people hurried over from afar. From their dressing, Sokov guessed that it was the scout sent by Andre. He turned his head and ordered Andre: "Andre, it seems that your scout is back. Go over and ask what happened."
Andre nodded, ran up and asked the scouts who had just returned to learn about the situation. Seeing that the scouts had returned, the company commanders guessed that the situation might have changed, so they did not leave, but stood there waiting.
After a while, Andrei walked back to Sokov and said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the scout reported that the German infantry regiment stationed in the north began to move south. Perhaps the attack ahead was not going smoothly, so they rushed to support it."
"Have the infantry regiments gone, or have only one part of them gone?" Sokov asked briefly.
Andrei knew Sokov's character and knew that he would definitely ask the bottom line, so when he learned about the situation from the scouts, he asked very carefully. At this moment, when he heard Sokov's question, he replied without hesitation: "The enemy has left a guard camp, the rest of the troops have already left."
"Comrades, the enemy situation has changed. Our combat deployment just now needs to be adjusted." After understanding the situation outside, Sokov said to the three company commanders: "The troops attacking the artillery positions are still the Eighth Company, and there is no change in this. Since the enemy's main force rushed to the south, the Seventh Company, which was originally planned to be deployed in the south, would appear a little weak. In this way, except for leaving two platoons in the north to monitor the enemy, the remaining few platoons are used to strengthen the Seventh Company."
After adjusting the deployment, Sokov asked casually: "Do you have any questions?"
He thought everyone would say no in unison, but as soon as he finished speaking, the seventh company commander raised his hand and asked cautiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, can I say a few words?"
"Tell me!"
The seventh company commander turned his head and looked at Lieutenant Guchakov, and then asked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, since our company and the main force of the Ninth Company are acting together, I want to ask, who should be commanded by the unit?"
When Sokov heard about the seventh company commander's question, he thought it was very reasonable. Two companies had about 500 people, and if there was no unified command, they would easily fall into chaos. So he stared at the two of them for a while and said, "In this operation, Lieutenant Guchakov, the commander of the ninth company, was responsible for commanding. You are his deputy. Do you understand?"
"I understand," although Sokov only let himself be Guchakov's deputy, the seventh company commander had no expression of frustration on his face, but instead agreed readily: "I will cooperate with Lieutenant Guchakov to complete this mission."
The company commanders of each company went back to assemble troops and prepared to rush to their respective combat locations. Sokov ordered the radio operators who followed him: "Immediately contact the 124th and 149th Brigades and ask them how it was going there?"
After about ten minutes, we received a call from the two brigade commanders. The situation on the south side of Gorokhov defended was better. Because they had a group of captured tanks as bunkers, and the German army had not attacked fortifications, they fought easily.
The situation on the north side of Borvinov's defending was much worse. The Germans launched fierce attacks on his position, and even rushed into the trenches twice. Fortunately, Borvinov personally led the guard company and drove the enemy out with bayonets and grenades.
Seeing that the area where Borvinov was defending was in danger, Sokov couldn't help frowning. He remembered the infantry regiment that had just been transferred from the forest area. If this army also engaged in the attack on the 149th Brigade, Borvinov and others could not defend their positions at all. Once the positions were lost, they would not only be opened to break through, but they would be closed by the enemy; at the same time, the enemy would also threaten Gorokov's rear.
Thinking of this, he said to the radio operator in a stern tone: "Send a newspaper to Colonel Borvinov and order him to hold his position at all costs. If he loses the position, I will shoot him."
After Sokov sent Bolvinov a tough telegram, he raised his hand and looked at the watch, and then said to Andre: "Captain Andre, judging from the current situation, the 149th Brigade is in a bad situation. Therefore, you must act quickly. After you take down the enemy's artillery position, you will immediately launch an attack from the rear of the enemy."
"I understand." Andre replied confidently: "At most a quarter of an hour, we can take away the enemy's artillery position, and then concentrate our forces to attack the enemy's rear to rescue the 149th Brigade."
The German artillery might never have dreamed that the Soviet army would appear near them, so that they did not establish any defense at all. The sentry on duty saw the Soviet army appearing on the edge of the forest. As soon as he shouted, he was hit on the forehead by a flying bullet. He raised his body back and fell straight to the ground.
As soon as the sniper killed the enemy's sentinel, Lieutenant Yegor jumped up from the ground first, waved his pistol, and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Comrades, rush with me! Go forward~!"
The soldiers jumped up from the ground, held the weapons in their hands, and shouted and rushed towards the German artillery position.
The warning issued by the German sentries alarmed the artillerymen resting on the position. Seeing the Soviet soldiers rushing over from the edge of the forest, they rushed to the place where light weapons were piled up, trying to prevent the Soviet army from seizing the position. However, the number of guns in the artillery was a minority after all. An artillery regiment was not as good as an artillery company in close combat without infantry cover.
The soldiers ran away in just over a dozen seconds. The soldiers in the front row threw the stringed grenades into the densest place of the enemy. A series of explosions passed, and the German artillery were cut down by flying shrapnel. Some died on the spot, while others were injured but not dead. They fell to the ground and covered their wounds and howled.
The soldiers equipped with submachine guns took the opportunity to step forward and fired at the surviving enemies with the submachine guns in their hands, harvesting their lives frantically. In just two or three minutes, the artillery positions were filled with corpses.
Second Lieutenant Yegor rushed to a cannon and shot dead a wounded soldier who tried to pull the grenade and die with the surrounding soldiers. Then he shouted loudly: "Don't be too slow, quickly clean the battlefield and eliminate the remaining enemies."
Although the German army was almost twice as many as the Soviet army, since most artillery soldiers had no weapons, they had almost no power to resist the Soviet soldiers rushing up. In less than a quarter of an hour, except for more than 100 who surrendered voluntarily, the rest were either shot to death or blasted by grenades.
Before the battle started, Sokov and Andre found a wide-open position on the edge of the forest, and observed the progress of the battle. Seeing that the soldiers of the Eighth Company took down the artillery position so quickly, they were also surprised. He turned his head and said to Andre: "Comrade Captain, your subordinates are doing well. Let's go to the artillery position to take a look."
Second Lieutenant Yegor, who was commanding the soldiers to clean the battlefield, saw Sokov and Andre coming, hurried over and report to them: "Braft Commander, Battalion Commander, my company has eliminated 385 enemies and captured 179 people in the battle just ended. In addition, 32 artillery pieces, as well as a batch of light weapons and supporting ammunition."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Andrey turned his head and asked Sokov after Yegor's report: "This batch of artillery may not be pulled back. What should you do about it?"
"If these cannons fall back into the hands of the Germans, they will still be used to continue bombarding us." Sokov ordered without hesitation: "Blast the cannons immediately and blow them up without leaving any ground. Let the soldiers stuff grenades into the barrel and blow up these cannons."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Yegor said hesitantly when he heard Sokov's order: "It would be a pity that all such good guns were blown up."
"What a pity?" Andrey stared at his subordinate and taught his lesson: "Are you going to leave all these artillery to the Germans and let them deal with us?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, please listen to my explanation." Yegor looked at Sokov and said, "In addition to seizing 32 artillery pieces, we also seized more than 100 shells. I think even if we want to bomb the cannons, we should shoot out all these shells."
Sokov thought that the front was full of fire, but these artillery soldiers were doing nothing and had no shells. Unexpectedly, there were more than a hundred shells, which was really beyond his expectations. So he said to Yegor decisively: "Comrade lieutenant, immediately use the soldiers who had been artillery soldiers in the company to shoot out all these shells, so that the Germans can taste the flavor of their own shells."
It was a pleasant thing for Yegor to be able to bombard the German troops with German shells. He agreed loudly, then turned around and ran to the place where the soldiers were the most, shouting loudly while running: "Who has been an artilleryman, who has been an artilleryman? Come to me immediately to gather!"
With his shouts, many soldiers soon gathered around him and said in a lingering manner: "Comrade Commander, I have been an artilleryman, I used to be a cannon leader." "I am a loader."...
Chapter completed!