Regarding whether to blow up the tanks that consumed ammunition and fuel after breaking through the German defense line, Sokov felt that it should be determined based on the specific situation. For example, as soon as he led his troops to break through the German defense line, the enemy's large troops were pressing up. At that time, he was considering how to run away. Carrying these tanks was a burden and had to be blown up; but if Rokosovsky's troops rushed over from the opposite shore to meet, not only could they not blow up, but they might also have to take on the task of covering the attack of friendly forces.
Therefore, when reminding Yakov, Sokov said slowly: "Yakov, I agree with your opinion. Whether to blow up these tanks depends on the specific situation after breaking through the German defense line."
Yakov didn't expect Sokov to answer like this, and a surprised expression appeared on his face: "Misha, I see that you have always emphasized the need to blow up tanks at several meetings, and I thought you had to be willing to blow up these tanks."
"Yakov, the reason why I kept mentioning this matter at the meeting was that since friendly forces could not make breakthroughs in this direction, it might be because they could not use tanks." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I am worried that after breaking through the enemy's defense line, we will not be able to cross the river with these tanks. Instead of letting them fall into the hands of the Germans, it is better to blow them up all of them."
Yakov took out the cigarette box, handed a wrinkled cigarette to Sokov and asked, "Misha, before dawn, we will attack the enemy's defense line. How sure do you think we are successful?"
"I don't know," Sokov held the cigarette in his mouth, shook his head and said truthfully: "From the reconnaissance of Colonel Bere, the enemy's defense direction is towards the north. But it is hard to say whether we will be strongly resisted by them when we attack. Once we are unable to break through their defense for a long time, enemies from other directions will surround us from behind, and we may not be able to escape the destruction of the entire army."
"Misha," Yakov lit a match, helped Sokov ignite a cigarette, and asked tentatively: "I'll ask you one last time, don't you really need to report this to General Chokov? If we report the breakout plan, we might get some help from him!"
"Yakov, what kind of help do you think we can get after reporting the breakout plan?" Sokov took a puff of cigarette and continued: "Don't forget that although the 37th and 39th Guards were only a few kilometers away from us, due to the tenacious defense of the enemy, they could not achieve the goal of meeting with us."
From Sokov's reply, Yakov heard that his childhood friend was planning to make a gamble. He thought for a moment, and felt that Sokov's approach to take action first and then proceeding was undoubtedly correct, at least he didn't have to worry about leaking the news, which greatly increased the success rate of breaking through. He threw two cigarettes on the ground and crushed them with his toes, and said with a clear attitude: "Misha, I support your decision. If someone wants to hold you accountable in the future, I am willing to share the responsibility."
…………
Five minutes before the attack began, Sokov arrived at the lurking area of ​​the 308th Infantry Division. After finding Gurdiev, he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Colonel, are the troops ready for battle?"
"Yes, comrade comrade commander." Gurdiev replied respectfully: "All commanders and soldiers are ready to attack, and we will immediately launch an attack when the time comes."
Sokov raised his telescope and looked at the German positions in the distance. It was already dawn. He could clearly see one fortification after another, but there was no figure in these fortifications. He didn't know whether the Germans were sleeping or putting the direction of the warning in the north. He didn't notice that a thousand troops were ambushed a few kilometers south of them.
After putting down the telescope, Sokov sighed softly, looked at Gurdiev and said, "Comrade Colonel, it's so quiet here. I really can't bear to break the silence here."
"If we are going to break through the enemy's defense," Gurdiev raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Sokov: "I have to break the silence before dawn."
Seeing that the attack time was about to come, Sokov raised his telescope again, looked at the silent German position, turned to Gurdiev and said, "Comrade Colonel, tell the soldiers that before the tanks are put into battle, the offensive troops should try not to make too loud noises when approaching the enemy's position, so as not to be noticed by the enemy."
Gurdiev understood Sokov's meaning and knew that the later his troops were exposed, the closer they could get to the enemy's position, thus greatly reducing the casualties of the troops. Therefore, after hearing Sokov's advice, he nodded vigorously and replied: "Don't worry, comrade brigade commander, I will convey your order directly to the commanders of each regiment."
A few minutes later, the commanders and soldiers of the 308th Infantry Division stood up from their hiding place, put the butt on their abdomen, leaned their waists, and walked towards the enemy's position with great strides. Although there were thousands of people acting, the sound they made was not loud. As long as the German sentinels did not pay special attention to the south, they would not be able to initiate the Soviet army in their rear.
But the soldiers walked halfway, and suddenly the roar of the tank engine came from behind. Sokov turned his head and saw the tanks of the tank battalion coming in a wedge-shaped formation, becoming bigger and bigger in his sight.
The appearance of the tank alarmed the sentry on duty, but he found that the defense of the sound showed that there were a large number of Soviet infantry, who were approaching the position in a scattered formation, and were frightened to death. Fortunately, he did not forget his responsibilities, so he quickly fired a gun into the sky and shouted loudly: "Russians, Russians are coming!"
The shouts of sentries and the rumbling of tank engines woke many German soldiers from their sleep. They rushed out of their sleeping cover and entered the shooting position, but they soon discovered that the north side of the position was silent and there was no trace of Russians at all. On the contrary, all this sound came from behind them.
The German army hurriedly turned the MG34 machine gun in the sandbag fortification and began to shoot wildly at the Soviet infantry hundreds of meters away. More than a dozen mortar groups also put the gun on it, and after a brief calculation, they couldn't wait to start firing.
When Sokov saw the attacking troops, he was suppressed by the German machine gun fire, he had to lie down on the spot. The German mortar shells fell into the queue and exploded, breaking some unlucky soldiers into pieces.
Seeing the continuous casualties of the troops, Sokov couldn't help but rush up to his head. He wanted to rush forward with an assault rifle and kill all the enemy machine gunners and mortars. Then he understood his responsibilities more clearly in his heart. As a commander who takes charge of the overall situation, he should be instructing the troops to attack, rather than charging into battle like ordinary soldiers.
He pointed at the machine gun fire point in the distance and said to Gurdiev: "Comrade Colonel, immediately contact the commander in front, and let the sniper kill the enemy's machine guns and mortars, and then use our machine gun to suppress the enemy's firepower and cover the troops to launch a charge."
"I understand, comrade comrade," Gurdiev agreed readily, "I will contact the commander in front immediately and convey your order to them."
Just as Gurdiev was contacting the commander in front, the tanks of the tank battalion had already reached the vicinity of Sokov. Since it was still far from the enemy's position, Sokov didn't have to worry about being injured by stray bullets. He jumped out of his hiding place and raised the assault rifle high above his head. Regardless of whether the people in the tank could hear his shouts, he waved the assault rifle while shouting at the top of his lungs: "Advance! Brothers of the tank soldiers, use artillery fire to destroy the enemy's fire points and cover the infantry's attack. Go forward! Go forward!!"
More than a dozen tanks rumbled past Sokov, and set off a battle formation as they marched, rushing towards the German position with great momentum. The infantry may have to walk for more than ten minutes between two or three kilometers, but for the galloping tanks, only four or five minutes is enough.
The tank stopped 800 meters away from the German position. Berlei issued an order to all the tank soldiers through the on-board radio station: "Everyone should pay attention, everyone should pay attention, each vehicle group selects the target to fire! Repeat, each vehicle group selects the target to fire!"
After the two rounds of shooting, the fire points and mortar positions exposed on the German positions were destroyed by artillery fire. Bi Lei opened the hatch and poked half of his body from the turret. After checking the results for a while, he decisively issued the second order: "All people pay attention, keep moving forward, keep moving forward! Pay attention to the German anti-tank hands!"
As more than a dozen tanks of the Tank Battalion continued to gallop forward, the infantry, which were suppressed by the German fire, also got up from the ground and rushed forward after the tank. Once German soldiers were found rushing out of the position, no matter whether the other party was preparing to blow up the tank or came out to surrender, they would all be shot into sieves.
If the German army had a large number of long-range anti-tank weapons, they might be able to block the Soviet attack, but they only had some anti-tank grenades in their hands. Those anti-tank hands climbed out of the trenches and before they could throw the grenades, they were sieved by the Soviet infantry following behind the tank. Moreover, there was a fire guide on each tank. Once they found that there was another German fire point there, they would notify the tanker by phone, and the tank would stop and use artillery fire to destroy the fire point that poses a threat to the infantry.
Chapter completed!