At dawn, Alitai only brought more than forty soldiers from the former tank company to the basement of the assembly workshop at noon. As soon as he saw Sokov, he saluted and then explained: "I'm sorry, comrade brigade commander, we are late. The soldiers of the tank company are scattered in various battalions, and it took a lot of time to gather them together."
Sokov knew that during his recovery period, due to Vitkov's improper command, the troops suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, the system of many special companies was broken up and assigned to each battalion. This was the case with Lieutenant Alitai's tank company. He nodded at Alitai, then reached out and said, "It's not too late, our newly formed tank battalion may not be put into battle until noon. During this period, you can take your comrades to familiarize yourself with the equipment."
"Tank Battalion?!" Alitai was stunned when he heard Sokov say this, and then asked back: "Comrade Brigade Commander, didn't you say that you would form a tank company? Why did it become a tank battalion again?"
Sokov guessed that it might have been Vitkov conveyed this to him, so he explained to him: "When the deputy brigade commander returned to Mamayev's hill, we did not have enough personnel to drive these tanks, so we could only consider organizing one company. The number of tank soldiers now far exceeds our vision, so after approval from our superiors, they were organized into tank battalions."
After figuring out what happened, Alitai showed a gratified smile on his face. With more tanks, it would be much easier to attack the Germans in the future. He asked Sokov respectfully: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I don't know where the battalion commander of the tank battalion is, I want to report to him first."
"Col. Bere." Sokov heard Alitai say he wanted to see the battalion commander of the tank battalion, and shouted at Berere, who was sleeping on the corner bench: "The company commander of the third company of Tanks has arrived, he wants to see you!"
When Bere heard Sokov's shout, he sat up from the bench, moved his muscles and walked towards Alitai. He pointed at Alitai with his hand and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, is this what you call the Third Company Commander?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel." Sokov nodded and said, "He is Lieutenant Alitai, the commander of the Third Tank Company."
"Hello, Comrade Lieutenant." Belei took the initiative to reach out to the other party and said with a smile: "I am Colonel Belei, the acting battalion commander of the Tank Battalion. Welcome to join my team."
When Alitai learned that the colonel in front of him was the battalion commander of the tank battalion, he was so surprised that his chin almost fell to the ground. He looked at Sokov and asked in a panic: "Comrade Brigade Commander, why is the battalion commander a colonel?" His implication was that you are just a lieutenant colonel, how can you command the colonel?
Sokov saw Alitai's doubts, smiled slightly, and then said, "Comrade Lieutenant, there is nothing strange. In addition to Colonel Bere, the tank battalion commander, there is also Deputy Brigade Commander, Colonel Witkov, and Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force. This is all for the need for victory, do you understand?"
"I understand!" Alitai nodded, then sorted out his military appearance, stood up and saluted Bele: "Comrade Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Alitai, the company commander of the Third Tank Company, reported to you, I obey your orders, please give instructions!"
"Comrade Lieutenant," Berei held the other party's hand and said, "The tank soldiers of the first and second companies are all affiliated with my tank brigade. They are already familiar with the newly received technical equipment. Therefore, after the battle begins, the first and second companies will attack the enemy first, and your company will stay as a reserve."
Alitai felt very uncomfortable when he heard that he had served as the reserve team, but then he thought that he and his subordinates had not driven a tank for several months. Once he received the tank, he immediately went into battle. He was definitely not as professional as the tank soldiers in other people's aspects of cooperation. Being a reserve team is not a bad thing, at least you can get more time to familiarize yourself with the equipment. So he nodded and replied: "Comrade Colonel, I firmly obey your orders."
…………
After dawn, the German troops stationed in the factory area launched a new round of attacks in various areas again. However, the section controlled by Sokov was not moving at all, as if it had been forgotten by the Germans.
Sokov stood on a section of driving tracks that had not yet collapsed in the factory. He raised his telescope and looked into the distance. He could clearly see the German regiment command and the simple defensive positions on the periphery.
Seeing Sokov observing the enemy situation, Bereclimbed up the ladder and came to his side, he asked curiously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what have you seen?"
Sokov handed the telescope to Bere, pointed his finger at the direction of the German command, and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, look, there are only simple field fortifications in the German command. Not to mention tank assault, even if you charge with pure infantry."
After carefully checking the deployment of the German command, Bere put down his telescope and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you said that you can take down the enemy's regiment command with infantry. I don't deny that. But have you ever thought that as long as the German army is in the trenches outside the regiment headquarters, they can stop your attack for a long time."
Speaking of this, Belei drew a big circle in the air with his hands and continued: "There are fighting around the Red October Tractor Factory. As long as the enemy finds that their regiment headquarters is attacked, they will definitely come to rescue from all directions. In this way, if you attack these infantrymen of the German regiment headquarters, you may fall into the enemy's encirclement."
Sokov originally said casually, but he didn't expect that Bo Lei would take it seriously. He laughed dryly, then said, "Comrade Colonel, I'm just a joke. When there are enemies on all sides, launching an attack on their command center must be done quickly, and to do this, you can only rely on your tank troops."
Bie Lei raised his hand and looked at the watch, then said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, according to your original plan, we should launch an attack on the enemy at noon. But the enemy opposite us has no intention of attacking at all. Why not launch an attack in advance? "
The reason why Sokov chose the offensive time at noon was that he was worried that the fuel and ammunition needed by the tank would not be in place in time. Seeing that Bethlei was so eager to enter the battle, he asked tentatively: "Is the ammunition and fuel all available?"
"The ammunition and fuel of the first and second companies were prepared for us before dawn," said Bere. "The ammunition and fuel needed by the third company may not be ready until night. However, they are reserve teams and do not have to participate in today's offensive, so whether there is ammunition and fuel or not is irrelevant."
Sokov calculated silently in his mind that there were 36 T-34 tanks in the two tank companies. The defense at the German command was like paper to them, and it only took a light stab to break. Whether Alitai's third company participated in the battle was really irrelevant.
He looked up at the clear sky and said to Bere: "Comrade Colonel, it is easy for you to destroy the German command. My only concern is that when you retreat after completing your mission, you will be bombed by German planes. Therefore, before you go out, I will contact Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force and ask him to send a plane here to support you."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, can you really mobilize the Air Force?" Bie Lei asked in surprise: "When I heard you say this last night, I thought you were bragging?"
Sokov replied with some amusement and laughter: "Comrade Colonel, you can make other jokes, but you must not make jokes when it comes to determining our life and death. Yes, there is indeed a flight regiment under my command. I will contact their leader immediately and ask him to send a plane to support him. You can prepare now, your attack will start at exactly 10 o'clock."
"I have another question." Before leaving, Bere asked Sokov: "Which army do you plan to send to cooperate with us? I have looked carefully. There are only more than one hundred people in the regular army that sticks to the factory. If they are allowed to attack with us, your defense will become empty."
"It doesn't matter." Sokov replied: "Our dozens of tanks have taken the initiative to attack the enemy. The enemy needs to consider not how to attack, but how to defend. I will let Captain Brisky take his subordinates to act with you. As for the defense in the factory, it will be temporarily left to the militia in the assembly workshop to take charge."
After Bere left, Sokov called Yakov who was staying in the basement: "Yakov, immediately ask my radio operator to send a telegram to Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force to inform him of the attack time, from noon to ten o'clock in the morning, and make sure that he must send at least one squadron of fighter jets to provide air support to the tank troops responsible for the attack."
"Don't worry, Misha." Yakov assured Sokov, "I will do your business properly."
As soon as the attack time came, the thirty-six tanks of the Tank Battalion were divided into six rows, each with six platoons, and rushed towards the enemy's regiment command. The tanks bypassed the factory and carefully circled around the open space full of bullet craters to avoid falling into the pit. As soon as they left the factory, they began to accelerate and rushed towards the German command.
Yakov was eager to know the situation of the battle, so he left the basement and came to the observation point where Sokov was, and asked curiously: "Misha, how is the situation?"
"The tank has just left the factory and is launching an attack on the enemy's regiment command." Sokov said this, pointed his hand forward and said excitedly: "The enemy has discovered our tank and is preparing for defense."
Yakov raised his telescope and looked in the direction Sokov pointed, and saw the German soldiers in the German command jumping into the trenches and putting their guns on the edge of the trenches to block the Soviet attack. Behind the trenches, soldiers even pushed out several anti-tank guns.
When Yakov saw the appearance of the tank gun, he was startled, but soon calmed down. He was also an artilleryman, so he naturally recognized the anti-tank gun launched by the Germans. It was a 37mm anti-tank gun known as the "steps-blade". Knowing that this kind of artillery could not penetrate the front armor of the Soviet T-34 tank, he smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, did you see that the Germans actually pushed out their step--blades and wanted to stop our tank attack. It was simply a daydream."
Sokov also saw the German anti-tank guns. At first, he was a little worried, but when he heard Yakov say that it was an anti-tank gun known as the "step-knocking brick", he felt much more at ease. He knew that at the speed of the T-34 tank, the Germans would not fire two guns and would be crushed by the tracks. What he was worried about now was that the infantry led by Brisky was too slow and the distance between them and the tanks was already very wide.
"Misha," Yakov obviously noticed the problem that Sokov was worried about, and he turned his head and asked Sokov: "Why don't you let the infantry charge in tanks?"
Sokov smiled wryly and said, "I originally wanted to let all the infantry be on the tanks, but Colonel Bere said that if we were bombarded by German troops and machine guns during the attack, our infantry would suffer heavy losses. Therefore, the tanks would rush forward and the infantry landed far behind. It seemed that they could only wait until the tanks broke through the enemy's defense line before the infantry could clean up the mess."
When the Soviet tanks were still 800 meters away from the German trenches, the German anti-tank guns opened fire. The shells fired by the five anti-tank guns hit the open space, causing a stream of dirt to soar into the sky. The German artillery was of good quality. After just a dozen seconds, the second round of shells was fired. This time, a shell finally hit the front of a tank in preparation.
When the German artillery immediately cheered when they saw a tank hit, they quickly found that they were too happy. The tank that was shot was still rushing forward without hesitation. Except for a white dent on the front armor, there was no harm.
Although he knew that his anti-tank gun could not cause any damage to the Soviet tanks, the artillery soldiers were still loading, firing, loading, and firing, trying to prevent the Soviet tanks from approaching their trenches.
When the trenches were still eight hundred meters away, the Soviet tanks stopped one after another, and they bombarded the German positions with tank guns. The German army had only a simple trench, which could not withstand the bombardment of tanks. In a short while, they were knocked to the potholes. The bodies of soldiers hiding in the trenches were constantly being blown into the sky by the explosion of air waves and then scattered in pieces.
The infantry was beaten so badly that the artillery was not much better. The anti-tank gun directly hit by the tank gun was directly blown into parts; even if the shells fell next to the anti-tank gun and exploded, the flying shrapnel would cut down the German artillery.
Chapter completed!