Although the Workers' New Village, which was defended by Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko's 122nd Guards Regiment, has become a ruin, it is still impossible for the enemy to pass through this ruin. The troops entering the New Village will always be hit by fire from all directions or grenades thrown from the ruins.
Although the troops transferred to this combat area were the Romanian First Infantry Division, their fighting will not be as good as the Romanian 13th Infantry Division. At least the officers and soldiers of the 13th Division dared to fight bayonets face to face with the defenders on Mamayev's post. Although they lost the ability to continue fighting due to heavy casualties in the end, their tenacity towards them on the battlefield was recognized by the officers and soldiers on both sides.
However, when the officers and soldiers of the First Infantry Division were attacked by the firepower of the defenders, they either lay on the ground and set off guns or turned around to run back. For a whole day, they pushed the workers' new village less than 200 meters away, but they paid the price of more than 400 casualties.
When Cuikov learned that Sokov was planning to launch a small-scale counterattack against the enemy in the workers' new village, he couldn't help but look forward to it. From dawn, he kept raising his hand to look at his watch and asked Krelov over and over again: "Chief of Staff, is there a call from Mamayevgang?"
"No, Comrade Commander." However, Krelov's answer was unchanged: "Mamayevgang did not call us."
"What the hell is going on?" Cui Kefu said to himself: "It's already dawn, why haven't they launched a counterattack yet?"
"I don't know." Krelov shook his head and comforted Cuikov, "Comrade Commander, you didn't say that Colonel Sokov had a very good way of fighting and often gave unexpected surprises. I was thinking that he had not taken action for a long time, and he might have had other plans."
"Other plans?" Cuikov looked at Krelov in surprise and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what plans do you think he has?"
"I can't explain this clearly." Krelov shook his head again and said, "I always have a feeling that Colonel Sokov's counterattack will be completely beyond our expectations."
Seeing that the answer could not be guessed, the two of them did not continue to guess. After all, the situation between the Barrier Factory and the Derrensky Factory was still in danger. Although the town of Gorodise, where the enemy stocked up ammunition, had been destroyed by Sokov's send, the enemy who attacked the two factories still had some inventory of ammunition. The offensive momentum may not be as good as the previous two days, but the offensive has not stopped.
Krelov asked Cuikov for advice: "Comrade Commander, according to the frontier report, the German offensive momentum has been greatly weakened today. Do you see, will we take advantage of this opportunity to launch a counterattack against the enemy like Sokov?"
Cuikov thought for a long time, then shook his head and rejected Krelov's proposal: "The troops we deployed in the direction of these two factories have been greatly weakened, and the ammunition is also facing insufficient ammunition. If they are allowed to counterattack the enemy in this situation, it is equivalent to letting them die.
The Chief of Staff called the commanders of each division. After repelling the enemy's attack, he immediately adjusted his deployment, strengthened and improved the fortifications, and prepared to deal with the more cruel battles that followed."
Seeing that Cui Kov disagreed with his counterattack, Krelov didn't say anything. After all, he knew very well about the situation of the troops and knew that even if he barely launched a counterattack, the chance of success was not high. So he got up and walked towards the correspondents, preparing to convey Cui Kov's orders to the commanders of each division.
At about 2 pm, Sokov, who was staying in the Mamayevgang command, received a call from Papchinko, and the other party reported to him on the phone: "Comrade Commander, we have repelled several attacks by the enemy on the Workers' New Village. Not long ago, the observation post reported to me that the enemy had transferred a batch of anti-tank guns and set them up several hundred meters away from the Workers' New Village. He used direct aiming and shooting to fire grenades to destroy the fire points we set up in the ruins."
When Sokov learned that the German army used anti-tank guns to fire grenades to destroy the firepower points in the workers' new village, he hurriedly asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what caliber anti-tank gun is the enemy using?"
"According to the observation post, it should be an anti-tank gun with a caliber of 75mm." Papuchinko replied on the phone: "There are eight such anti-tank guns in total."
"Ltd. Col. Papuchinko," Sokov asked bluntly after he finished speaking, "Is Lieutenant Agafeng by your side?"
"Yes, comrade instructor, he is by my side." Papuchinko asked tentatively: "Do you need to talk to him?"
"Leave the microphone to him and I have something to say to him."
Hearing Agafon's voice coming from the receiver, Sokov said to the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant, you must have known about the enemy's eight 75mm anti-tank guns, right?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel, I have been staying by Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko and heard the report from the observation post." Agafon misunderstood what Sokov meant and said wisely: "Don't worry, when I attack later, I will give priority to these anti-tank guns."
"Wrong, comrade Lieutenant, you're wrong." Sokov heard the other party misunderstanding his meaning and quickly explained: "I'm asking you to find a way to seize these anti-tank guns."
"Seither these anti-tank guns?" Agafon asked in confusion: "Comrade Colonel, when the enemy attacks the workers' village, there are no tanks or assault guns. Even if these anti-tank guns are seized, they will not have much effect."
"Comrade Lieutenant, why have you forgotten that the enemy's anti-tank guns are used to deal with the firepower points in the workers' new village, that is, they use not armor-piercing bombs but grenades." Seeing that Agafon was still unaware, Sokov could only continue to explain to him: "If this batch of anti-tank guns is really captured, then the troops who are stuck in the workers' new village can use these anti-tank guns to deal with the enemy's infantry in the following days."
At this point, Agafon finally realized the real purpose of Sokov's capture of anti-tank guns. He quickly replied: "I understand, comrade Colonel, we must find a way to seize these anti-tank guns."
Seeing that Agafon finally realized his intention, Sokov ordered him: "Comrade Lieutenant, give the phone to Lieutenant Colonel Papchinko, I have something to explain to him."
"Comrade Commander!" Papuqinko took the call and said respectfully: "What instructions do you have?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you must be very clear about the order of attack. In the evening, take advantage of the favorable opportunity when the enemy begins to retreat and decisively use tank assault and infantry follow-up tactics to defeat the first Romanian army division in front of you." Sokov reminded on the phone: "Remember, our tanks are limited in number and they can pose little threat to the enemy. Therefore, infantry must follow closely behind the tanks to seize the enemy's supplies and capture prisoners. Do you understand?"
"I understand, comrade of the division commander!" Papuqinko replied respectfully, "I will execute your order seriously."
…………
In the evening, when the commander of the Romanian First Infantry Division saw that it was getting late, he ordered the troops to stop the attack. In order to prevent the troops entering the Workers' New Village from being attacked by the Soviet army at night, all the troops were withdrawn from the attack starting point and prepared to wait until dawn tomorrow before launching a new attack on the Workers' New Village.
Papchinko and Agafon stood on the second floor of a building, lifted their telescopes and looked at the retreating enemy in the distance. Seeing the enemy's infantry withdrawing from the workers' new village, Papchinko was unmoved and did not give any orders to attack. Until he saw the Romanian artillery, dragging the anti-tank guns out of the artillery positions one after another, hanging them behind the truck, ready to follow the troops behind.
Seeing this situation, Papchinko put down his telescope, turned his head to Agafon on the side and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, your tank team can come out. As soon as you start, my troops will emerge from the ground and follow you to attack the enemy."
Agafon raised his hand and saluted, turned around and prepared to leave. Papchinko hurriedly reminded him from behind: "Lieutenant, pay attention to your feet. The floors here are half blown through by the enemy's shells. If they fall down, no one will help you command the tank team to fight."
"Don't worry," Agafon grinned and said, "Our tank soldiers have very good eyesight. They will never fall downstairs with one foot." A motorcycle parked behind the building. The motorcycle riders on it immediately started the motorcycle as soon as Agafon got on the car and headed towards the tank's parking position.
A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko heard the roar of the tank engine from the north. He knew that it was Agafon's tank team attacking. He quickly picked up the phone beside him and said to the microphone: "Second Battalion Commander, Second Battalion Commander, you will attack with the battalion that came yesterday, follow our tank and launch an attack on the enemy."
The Romanian artillery, who was pulling anti-tank guns toward the back of the truck, heard the louder and louder sound of tanks. Several people were discussing privately: "The sound came from the north. Did the German tanks drive over?"
"It's possible," said another artillery: "In the direction of the barricade factory, there are many areas that are difficult to use tanks to fight. I think the Germans will eventually transfer the tanks back here..."
Before he could finish his words, he saw a tank bypassing the ruins of the workers' new village and appearing in his own vision. "Hey, it's not the German tank, it's the Russian tank. Alarm, combat alarm! Get ready for battle immediately."
The artillery with him looked in the direction where the sound of the tank engine came, and indeed saw the Russian tanks appear in his sight. Seeing five or six tanks launching combat formations and rushing towards his position, the Romanian army artillery was frightened and lost its courage to fight. He threw the anti-tank gun, spread his feet and fled towards his position.
While they were running away, they shouted loudly: "Russians, Russian tanks are coming!"
The artillery and infantry who were retreating heard their shouts and thought they were joking. When they saw the Soviet tanks pounced towards them in a fierce manner, they were immediately panicked. The infantry climbed onto the trucks one after another. No matter what, the four wheels were definitely faster than their two legs.
The artillery sitting on the truck saw groups of infantry climbing desperately on the car, and was reluctant to get on the car, so that they could quickly punch and kick the soldiers who were climbing, trying to kick them all out of the car so that the vehicle could speed up.
When Lieutenant Agafeng attacked with the tank team, he was worried that he would be attacked by the Romanian army's anti-tank guns. At this moment, he saw the enemy in chaos and everyone was busy escaping. No one was worried about stopping to block his own tank team. He was overjoyed and quickly issued combat orders to other tanks through the on-board radio station: "All tanks should be careful, choose their own targets to shoot, be careful not to destroy the enemy's anti-tank guns!"
With the order issued, the moving tanks had a brief pause, fired a shot at the enemy in the distance, and drove forward; stopped and continued to drive forward. Since the enemy did not have tanks, Agafon and his team used not armor-piercing bombs, but grenades. The shells fell beside the truck and exploded. The flying shrapnel hit the enemy climbing the truck, falling from the truck like ripe apples. Seeing that the truck was not safe, the infantry trying to climb onto the truck changed their minds, and they jumped out of the truck, ran forward.
The tank driven by Agafon knocked over a truck, crushed the soldiers and the vehicles under the tracks, and shouted loudly at the microphone: "Brothers, shoot with machine guns and machine guns to eliminate these enemies."
Hearing Agafon's orders, the tanks who had already rushed into the middle of the enemy stopped the shelling, but instead used car-mounted machine guns to strafuse the enemy's infantry and knocked them down in pieces.
The Romanian soldiers who were fleeing saw Soviet tanks massacre them, and the Soviet infantry rushed out of the ruins. They knew that they would have a dead end to resist. They quickly threw away the weapons in their hands, squatted in the crater and raised their hands high.
Seeing that the enemy surrendered, Agafon continued to issue an order to the tank soldiers: "Brothers, continue to rush forward, and must cut off the enemy's retreat so that none of them can escape."
"I understand!" When the tankers heard Agafon's order, they immediately increased the accelerator, crushed the fleeing Romanian army, crushed them out of flesh-and-blood alleys, trying to completely cut off the enemy's retreat.
Chapter completed!