After seeing the troops and militia entering the defensive positions one after another, Yakov persuaded Sokov: "Misha, this place is too dangerous. I think we should go back to the basement, where we can command the battle."
"No, although it is safer to stay in the basement than here, it is impossible to grasp the situation on the battlefield in time. I think it is more appropriate to stay here." Considering Yakov's special identity, if the other party has any shortcomings, I may not be able to explain it to the higher authorities. Therefore, he said tactfully: "Yakov, it's enough to have me here, you should go back to the basement first."
Yakov knew that he could not help him even if he stayed here. After telling Sokov to be careful, he hurried to the basement.
After Yakov left, Sokov and the radio operator left the driving track and found a suitable location in the ruins as an observation location. The reason why he did not continue to stay on the driving track was because the position there was too high, and he could stand high and look far, but if there were snipers in the German army, standing there would be an excellent target.
When the German tanks attacked the factory a few days ago, they suffered losses from anti-aircraft guns and were destroyed a lot. Therefore, after the tanks participating in the war came in from the gap in the fence, they only drove forward for less than two hundred meters, and then stopped in place, bombarded the Soviet positions with high-explosive artillery shells to cover the charge of the infantry.
Sokov calculated the distance. The German tanks were seven or eight hundred meters away from Ulanova's anti-aircraft artillery position. At such a long distance, the three 37mm caliber artillery could not penetrate the front armor of the German tanks. He sighed, called Ulanova, and told her: "Comrade Lieutenant, the German tanks are too far away from you. Even if you fire the gun, they cannot penetrate their armor. Don't fire casually, so as not to waste ammunition, do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Ulanova replied briefly.
The German infantry took advantage of the opportunity that the officers and fighters on the position were suppressed by tank artillery fire and rushed forward quickly. When they were about 100 meters away from the position, in order to prevent accidental injuries, the tanks behind stopped shelling. Brisky saw that the tanks stopped shelling and quickly blew a whistle.
The soldiers and militia who had just poked their heads out of the trench heard a long and short whistle and knew that it was the order to open fire, so they shot at the enemy who rushed over. As soon as they saw the fire on the position, German soldiers jumped into the crater to avoid bullets. Only a few slow-moving soldiers were hit by the bullets and fell head-on into the crater.
German machine gunners quickly set up machine guns at the edge of the crater and suppressed the Soviet army on the position to cover their companions' charge. Some soldiers who were shooting were hit by bullets and fell to the trenches. The firepower on the position immediately became sparse.
The German soldiers hiding in the crater saw that their machine guns suppressed the Soviet firepower, so they used a short leap forward to jump from one crater into another, and quickly approached the Soviet position.
Seeing that the Germans were getting closer and closer to their positions, and the soldiers were suppressed by German machine gun fire, they were unable to fight back effectively. Brisky was particularly anxious. He knew very well that as long as the Germans rushed into a distance of forty meters, they would drop bombs on the positions. His subordinates were better, and those newly added militia might be scared and turned around and fled.
Thinking of this, Brisky could no longer stay in the command post. He rushed into the trench from the command post, bent over and ran forward, shouting loudly: "Comrades, please greet the enemy with grenades, and you must not let them approach our position."
The soldiers who were originally somewhat panicked, immediately realized that if the Germans were allowed to rush forward, the enemy's grenades would be thrown into the trenches and the positions would be unable to be defended. They picked up the grenades, pulled the strings, and threw them forward. The militia who participated in the battle for the first time saw the soldiers throwing grenades, and they also followed suit and threw the grenades that were placed beside them in a hurry. Because of their nervousness, some of them even forgot to pull the strings.
"Boom boom boom..." The explosion sounded in front of the position, and the rising smoke blocked the German machine gunner's sight and slowed down their shooting speed. The Soviet army on the position took the opportunity to shoot outside with submachine guns, knocking down the Germans who had just rushed out of the smoke.
Seeing that the enemy's machine guns pose too great a threat to the defenders, Sokov quickly called Ulanova again: "Comrade Lieutenant, have you seen those machine guns?"
"See it!"
“Black them out for me.”
"clear!"
With Sokov's order issued, the three anti-aircraft guns that had been silent for a long time began to fire again. The high-explosive armor-piercing projectiles made the soil around the crater where the machine gunner was hiding, boiling like a pot. A machine gunner wanted to transfer his position, but as soon as he leaned over, the shells were smashed into pieces, splashing the craters everywhere.
The deputy shooter and ammunition saw that the machine gunner was beaten into pieces, so they dared not to lean on to continue shooting. They could only lie at the bottom of the crater, and listened to the shells flying over his head trembling.
After the machine gun fire point was removed by anti-aircraft guns, the German attack ended in vain. Looking at the enemy who was retreating like a tide, Sokov called Ulanova again and asked, "Comrade Lieutenant, how much ammunition do you have?"
"There is still half a cardinality." Ulanova asked back, "Lt. Colonel, what instructions do you have?"
"When the enemy launches another attack, you will immediately remove all your ammunition." Sokov asked to the microphone: "Do you understand?"
"Ltd Colonel," Ulanova asked in confusion about Sokov's order: "Are you going to let us leave the anti-aircraft guns to the enemy?"
"Lt. Ulanova," Sokov knew very well. If he did not explain clearly to Ulanova, the other party might not withdraw after firing all the shells, and he had to live and die with the anti-aircraft guns. "If you shoot all the shells, even if the Germans seized our anti-aircraft guns, it would be useless. As long as we have a counterattack, we can retake these anti-aircraft guns from the enemy. Do you understand?"
After Sokov's explanation, Ulanova understood the other party's intention and quickly replied: "I understand, lieutenant colonel, I will immediately take the soldiers to retreat after the shells are exhausted later."
Sokov looked up at the sky and found that the air combat was still going on. Don’t see that the Germans had a larger number of aircraft, but because there were many bombers, the Soviet air force had the upper hand so far.
Just as Sokov was planning to learn about the situation from Raisha via radio, the phone at his feet suddenly rang. He quickly knelt on one knee, picked up the microphone and put it in his ear and said, "I am Sokov!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Cuikov's roar came from the receiver: "Sokov, you idiot, idiot, do you know what you are doing?"
Sokov didn't understand why Cuikov was so angry, and replied in confusion: "Comrade Commander, I am commanding the troops to fight against the German army."
"Don't you know that we will launch a counterattack against the enemy the day after tomorrow? What's the matter with you taking the initiative to attack the enemy at this time?" Cui Kefu said furiously: "Are you going to alert the enemy and expose our combat intentions to the Germans?"
After figuring out the reason why Cuikov got angry, Sokov quickly explained to him: "Comrade Commander, I saw that the defense of the 102nd Infantry Regiment of the German Army was relaxed, so I sent the Tank Battalion and the Fourth Battalion to remove it, not wanting to expose our army's strategic intentions. Who knew that he stabbed the hornet's nest and the enemy attacked us from several directions."
After hearing Sokov's explanation, Cuikov was still angry: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, do you know your reckless behavior today? If our counterattack failed due to the Germans' awareness, you would be sent to the military court."
Sokov knew very well that during the Patriotic War, going to the military court was synonymous with the death penalty. He thought to himself that even if he did not take the initiative to attack the enemy, the counterattack against the German army would not achieve any results. Therefore, he retorted: "Comrade Commander, although today's attack is a bit reckless, the Germans must think it is just an ordinary counterattack. After all, we often repeatedly compete with the enemy for those lost positions. Moreover, in today's battle, we can still consume part of the German army's vitality to reduce the pressure for our army's subsequent counterattack..."
As soon as Sokov said this, he suddenly heard a scream, and then an explosion came from nearby, and the gravel that was raised hit Sokov's head and body like raindrops. Although he was wearing a steel helmet, Sokov still felt dizzy and nauseous.
"Hey, what's wrong with you? Why don't you talk?" Cui Kefu's dissatisfied voice came from the receiver: "Do you think you are commanding a division or an army, and it also consumes the enemy's vitality. With just a few people like you, how many enemies do you think you can destroy?"
"Comrade Commander," Sokov replied, enduring the pain all over his body, "even if we can only eliminate one hundred or two hundred enemies, our army will face less resistance when carrying out a counterattack..."
Cuikov noticed something was wrong with Sokov's voice, so he asked with concern: "What's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"A bomb exploded not far away, maybe it was a bomb dropped by an enemy plane." Sokov explained weakly: "I was hit by the flying bricks and stones, and my head was a little dizzy..."
"Okay, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you don't have to say anything more." Cuikov said on the phone: "I know that even if you have a tank battalion, if you want to block the enemy's crazy attack, your strength may not be enough. So, I have a mixed regiment here, with about 400 people, and I will send it to you immediately."
Chapter completed!