But when Sokov's troops launched an attack on the German second line of defense, Krelov was reading the battle report of the day to Cuikov: "... The attacks launched by the 37th and 39th Divisions of the Guards Infantry, the 308th, 95th and 195th Divisions of the Infantry, due to the tenacious defense of the German army and the powerful firepower they possess, our army has not achieved the expected results..."
After Krelov finished reading, he frowned and asked, "So, the attack we launched today has not achieved any results except for losing a large number of troops?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, that's exactly what it is." Krelov replied: "Although our commanders and fighters performed extremely tenaciously and bravely in the battle, the enemy's firepower was too strong and the strong fortifications, so the results achieved were minimal. Even if some troops wedged into the German defense zone for four or five kilometers, there were no decent fortifications in the occupied area, and once they were counterattacked by the German army, they could not defend at all."
Cui Kefu smiled bitterly and continued: "Comrade Chief of Staff, so, the results achieved by Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops are the only highlight of our counterattack today?"
"Comrade Commander, I can say that." Krelov agreed with Sokov's statement, but he said with regret: "But Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops are limited, and even if he can win on a local battlefield, the results will be inconspicuous."
"As long as his troops can reach Orlovka, set up defenses and defend there, and persist until the arrival of friendly forces, it will be an amazing victory." Although Cuikov knew very well that it would be extremely difficult for Sokov to break through the remaining three lines of defense with the existing troops of the German army, he still said with a lucky mentality: "As long as we can meet with friendly forces outside the encirclement, the situation of the war will develop in a direction that is beneficial to our army."
Krelov raised his hand and looked at his watch, saying to Cuikov: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov's troops should be attacking the second line of defense of the German army at this moment. I wonder if their progress is going well?"
…………
The defense of the German second line of defense was much tighter than the first line of defense. The Tank Battalion barely seized the position after losing seven tanks and the infantry battalion suffered more than 100 casualties.
After Sokov entered the position, he ordered the radio operator with an angry look on his face: "Runner, send a telegram to the Air Force and ask them why the fighter planes that support us have not yet appeared?"
The reason why he was so angry was that according to the prior deployment, the Air Force should have appeared in the air when the troops attacked the first line of defense of the German army. Unexpectedly, the second line of defense has been taken down, but he has not seen the shadow of the Air Force yet. Therefore, he was particularly angry and ordered a telegram to question Colonel Khostnikov.
Colonel Khostnikov quickly sent a call back, saying in the telegram: "As mice were found inside the fuselages of several aircraft, they bite the insulated lines, making the instruments on the aircraft unable to be used normally, resulting in the inability to dispatch fighters to provide air support to the troops."
After reading the telegram, Sokov was so angry that he threw it on the ground and said angrily: "Hell, this is really a ghost. Why does Colonel Khostnikov's flight regiment also encounter rats..."
Yakov waited for Sokov to vent his anger before asking tentatively: "Misha, is it because a mouse got into the airplane's fuselage that our air force could not provide air cover for the ground forces?"
"Yes, Yakov." Hearing Yakov's question, Sokov nodded with a wry smile and said, "This has happened before. The mice got into the fuselage of the plane and bit the insulated lines, making the instruments on the plane unable to work, and causing the plague among the pilots, which caused our air force to be unable to enter the battle for a long time."
"What should we do?" Yakov thought that with the cover of the Air Force, there should be no big problem in breaking through the remaining two lines of defense. Unexpectedly, he realized that the Air Force could not come for some reason, and he couldn't help but feel a little panicked: "What should we do when we are bombarded by the enemy?"
"It's getting dark, we must speed up our movements, otherwise when the sky is dark, the role our tanks can play will be greatly reduced." Sokov looked up at the sky and continued, "As for the enemy's air strikes, when the sky is dark, their air force will not play much role."
At this time, Bere and Wanya both came to search for Sokov and asked him for the next move. Seeing the arrival of the two, Sokov nodded at them, then pointed to the map resting on the trench wall and began to say: "Wenya, use the rockets he carried to attack the enemy's defense position; Colonel Bereya, you lead the tank battalion and detour from the left wing of the enemy's defense line, and attacked Vanya's troops forward and backward to break through the third line of defense of the German army."
"I understand!" Vanya and Bere replied in unison. After a while, Berere continued: "Comrade Brigade Commander, if it is almost dark today, we will probably not be able to continue to advance forward when we seize the enemy's position. Do you see if you can wait until dawn tomorrow before launching an attack on the enemy's fourth line of defense?"
"No, comrade Colonel, this is absolutely not possible." Sokov refused without hesitation about Bere's proposal: "The time we need now must advance towards Orlovka as quickly as possible. If the attack time is delayed until tomorrow, one is to give the German army an additional preparation time overnight, and the other is that we will be attacked by German artillery fire and bombarded by the air force during the daytime attack, which will inevitably cost a greater price."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," said Bo Leixin unwillingly when he saw Sokov rejecting his proposal: "You also know how to drive tanks, and naturally you know that tank soldiers stay in tanks have a very narrow vision. If you fight at night, this disadvantage will be more obvious."
"I understand what you mean, comrade Colonel. Since that's the case, your tank battalion will temporarily stop and rest after seizing the third line of defense." Sokov's eyes turned to Vanya: "I think the attack on the fourth line of defense of the German army will be completed by the infantry."
"What, let the infantry attack the German fourth line of defense independently?" Belle said unexpectedly: "Without the support of tanks, let the infantry attack the Germans' strong defense positions, which is undoubtedly a suicide act."
"Don't worry, Colonel Lei." Wanya grinned and said confidently: "Although we will encounter some difficulties when attacking without the support of tanks, we can use new rockets to deal a heavy blow to the enemy. While the enemy is in chaos, we can take the opportunity to rush forward."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Seeing that Vanya was so confident, Bere's concerns decreased a little, he looked at Sokov and asked, "I want to ask, when will we launch a new attack?"
Sokov raised his hand and looked at the time, saying to Bere and Vanya: "You two return to the army immediately and launch an attack on the enemy ten minutes later."
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Vanya asked with some concern: "We put all our troops into the attack, so who will protect your safety?"
"Comrade Captain, don't worry about this." Sokov patted the assault rifle on his shoulder with his hand, and said with a smile: "As long as this gun is on hand, more than a dozen or twenty enemies will not be able to get close to me. And the superiors sent us a battalion, and they are coming here. I think it will take a short time to arrive. You don't have to worry about my safety."
Shortly after Bere and Vanya left, a soldier who was in the trench suddenly shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, a convoy appeared behind us, which may be the enemy."
Hearing that the enemy was coming, Sokov immediately took the assault rifle in his hand and shouted loudly: "Prepare for battle!"
Although there were only a dozen soldiers in the trench, after hearing Sokov's order, they still put their weapons on the edge of the trench and prepared for combat. Guchakov, who had always been responsible for protecting Sokov's safety, even set up an MG34 machine gun and prepared to shoot immediately after the enemy approached.
Sokov raised his telescope and looked into the distance, and found a convoy of more than ten trucks. Although it was a truck with a canopy, Sokov still recognized it at a glance. It was a truck equipped by the Soviet army. He quickly put down the telescope and shouted to the side: "Don't shoot, you are your own!"
The convoy slowed down when it was more than 200 meters away from the trench. Except for the first car that continued to drive forward, the rest of the cars stopped one after another. Seeing that the truck that led the lead was coming, Sokov guessed that the other party might be afraid of causing misunderstandings, so he only sent a car to contact him. He quickly ordered Guchakov: "Guchakov, go over and see which part of the person who came."
Guchakov agreed, climbed out of the trench with his hands and feet, and trotted towards the truck. When he was still thirty or forty meters away from the truck, he waved his hands desperately at the other party, and shouted loudly: "Stop, stop quickly!"
The truck stopped five or six meters away from Guchakov, and jumped out of the passenger cab. He came to Guchakov, looked at his rank, and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, I am Major Tenev. Please tell Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, and say that the guard battalion of the Army Command was ordered to report."
When Guchakov heard what Tnev called him, he couldn't help but blush. Although he was demoted to corporal by Sokov, he now wore the rank of lieutenant, so that Tnev was wrong. He quickly explained: "Comrade Major, you've made a mistake. I am no longer a lieutenant, but a corporal."
"Ah, are you a corporal?" Tenev looked at the other party's military rank carefully and asked in surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, the situation is urgent, please do not make such a joke to us."
"Not a joke, Major Comrade." Guchakov explained to Tenev with a red face: "I was demoted to corporal because of a little mistake. The specific situation, because it involves the confidentiality regulations, I cannot explain it to you too much. Please forgive me."
"Don't worry, comrade corporal, I won't ask what shouldn't be asked." After Tnev changed his name to Guchakov, he urged the other party: "Take me to see Lieutenant Colonel Sokov quickly."
A few minutes later, Tenev followed Guchakov to the trenches and expressed his purpose to Sokov. Sokov held the other party's hand and asked, "Comrade Major, how many troops do you have?"
"The whole camp just made a supplement before crossing the river. There are currently 425 people." Tenev replied: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please give us orders."
"That's right, Comrade Major." Sokov immediately took the other party to the map and gestured with his hands, "My troops are about to attack the third line of defense of the German army. Your battalion will be on standby here for the time being. After they take down the enemy's position, you will continue to advance towards the fourth direction of the enemy."
Vanya's troops launched a feint attack from the German fortifications head-on, while Bere's tank troops detoured from the flank of the German defense line. When Tenev heard the sound of gunfire coming from not far away, he couldn't help but ask anxiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I heard that your troops are not large. Do you really need us to go up and help them?"
"God of Major, thank you for your kindness. But they really don't have any place to help you." Sokov asked Tnev now: "I want to ask, what weapons are you all equipped with?"
"Rifles and submachine guns." Tenev replied: "Each platoon has a turntable machine gun, and the output of firepower is considered medium."
Sokov pointed at the trench full of German corpses and continued to ask: "Comrade Major, have the soldiers search here to see if they can find the right equipment?"
"Thank you for your kindness." Tnev glanced at the weapons next to the German corpse, shook his head and said, "Our battalion is all Soviet-style equipment. If some German equipment is added, I am worried that it may add trouble to the supply."
While the two were talking, the radio operator suddenly called Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, Colonel Bereh wants to talk to you."
Sokov stopped his conversation with Tenev, walked to the radio operator, squatted down, took the headphones and the sender, and said loudly: "Comrade Colonel, I am Sokov, what's wrong with you?"
"Report to comrade comrade commander," Although the roar of the tank engine was loud, Sokov could still hear what Bere said clearly: "As we were marching, we met a girl in our twenties."
Chapter completed!