The German company commander who was staying at the station saw that the number of guerrillas preparing to attack the station was large. In addition to leaving more than 30 people to be responsible for the alert inside the station, he brought the remaining more than 100 soldiers into the fortifications outside the station.
The armored vehicles that Guchakov and Vvga were parked in more than 800 meters away from the station. Not only is the view here, but the machine guns and mortars of the station defenders cannot be used, making it an ideal command position.
There were nearly a thousand guerrillas following them. According to Guchakov's prior instructions, after the soldiers of the squad destroyed the fortifications outside the station with rockets, the guerrillas attacked the station again.
But what he could not have imagined was that just as the guerrillas from different regions gathered, a guerrilla captain who was eager to be complacent led his team members to attack the station first. When a group of guerrillas, led by the captain, shouted to charge towards the station, the emotions of other guerrillas in line were somewhat affected. They turned their attention to their captains to see if they needed to charge with this brave guerrilla team.
"Hell, what's going on?" Guchakov, who was standing on the armored vehicle and observing the terrain, saw a guerrilla team suddenly launched an attack first, and his face turned pale. He asked at Vovga beside him: "Comrade Vovga, who is the commander of this guerrilla team that acts without permission? Who gave him the power to act without permission?"
"It's Liujikov's guerrillas." Vovga replied with a red face: "They are not big, only more than one hundred people, and there are a total of 69 people participating in the operation." After a moment of pause, he added, "He has always had conflicts with us, and he has almost no contact. If the guerrilla headquarters had not given them an order, they might not have participated in this operation."
"Comrade Vovga, send someone to call them back." Guchakov couldn't help but sigh in his heart when he learned that Vovga had conflicts with the other party. However, for the safety of the guerrillas, he still said to Vovga decisively: "We are not ready for an attack yet. At this moment, we are rashly attacking, which is equivalent to going to die."
"I'm afraid that Liu Jikov will not listen to me..." Vovga had just said something, but when he saw Guchakov's gaze that was about to eat people, he quickly changed his words and said, "I'll send someone to call them back now." After that, he turned around and got out of the armored vehicle, called a team member, and asked him to call Liu Jikov back.
Although Vovga's movements were quite quick, after receiving the order from Guchakov, he immediately got out of the car and asked someone to inform Liujikov to return. But he was still one step late. In just one or two minutes, Liujikov's guerrillas had rushed to more than 200 meters away from the outer position of the station.
The German company commander hiding in a civil bunker saw the guerrillas on the opposite side launching a charge, but did not immediately order the shooting, but patiently observed the attacking troops and equipment. After seeing clearly the guerrillas rushing over, they were all full of weapons, and even several people holding grenades or shovels, his heart suddenly felt much more at ease. He stood up straight and said to the officers and soldiers on the left and right: "Don't worry, everyone is the guerrillas with no combat power. When they enter a range of 100 meters, they will fire at the same time."
It was not long before the guerrillas led by Liu Jikov were less than one hundred meters away from the German fortifications. The German company commander calmly issued a shooting order: "Fire!"
Outside the station are field fortifications, several crisscrossing trenches, paired with three civil and industrial fire points. If one side of the attacking party prepares artillery in advance, a round of artillery shells can flatten such fortifications to the ground. However, for guerrillas without artillery fire or even machine gun cover, such simple fortifications can become an insurmountable natural barrier.
With the firing order issued, a dense gunshot sounded in the field fortifications, and the three machine guns also roared. The players who were charging, as if they were struck by lightning, fell to the ground with their bodies as if they were struck by lightning. If it was a regular army attack, they would usually lie down on the spot and fight back after being intercepted by the enemy's firepower. Unfortunately, the guerrillas who participated in the battle at this moment were guerrillas with no experience in attacking. The players in front fell down, and the players behind stepped over the bodies of their comrades and continued to rush forward, and they all fell into the fire net composed of German firepower without exception.
Less than two minutes later, the gunshots on the German positions were silent. In front of their fortifications, there was no one standing. The guerrillas who charged at the station all fell under the guns of the German army. Not all the team members died, and some wounded were lying in the pile of corpses and screaming loudly.
The German soldiers on the position turned their heads and looked at the company commander beside him and asked him for instructions. Should they go out to capture a few prisoners? The German company commander saw the intention of his subordinates, so he shook his head and said, "We have insufficient troops and do not have the ability to take in prisoners. I think the Russians on the other side will not send anyone to save them when they see the tragic situation of their companions. Give these wounded people a pleasure and don't let them suffer any more."
Hearing the order of the company commander, several soldiers with good marksmanship quickly pointed their guns at the wounded who were still squirming in the pile of corpses, and pulled the trigger from time to time to relieve the other party's pain.
Everything the German soldiers did to the Liujikov guerrillas was seen by the guerrillas who were preparing to attack in the distance. They were shocked to see their comrades lying under the guns of the enemy; they were angry when they saw the enemy shooting at the wounded.
Several guerrillas rushed to the armored vehicles and shouted at Guchakov who was standing in the vehicles: "Comrade Commander, the Germans are massacring our comrades. What are you waiting for? Is it time to give orders to attack?"
It was less than five minutes before Guchakov discovered that Liu Jikov acted without permission to the guerrillas were annihilated by the enemy. It was obviously impossible to complete the assembly of the troops in such a short time. Seeing his comrades fall at the enemy's gun, but he was powerless, Guchakov was also very sad. However, he also understood that if he was not prepared and launched a rash attack, the fate of the Liu Jikov guerrillas was the lesson of his large army.
Thinking of this, he said to the captains under the car with a stern face: "Don't worry, wait until we destroy the enemy's field fortifications, and then launch an attack on the station." After that, he no longer paid attention to these people, but instead ordered the accompanying gunners, "What are you still rubbing against? Set up the launch tube immediately and fire rockets at the enemy's position."
The gunner raised his head and asked Guchakov: "Captain, how many shots are there today?"
Guchakov replied without hesitation: "Use three-cylinder launch method, each cylinder fires three rockets! We must destroy the fortifications outside the station."
"I understand!" The gunner agreed and called on his companions to start setting up the launcher and began to aim at the target.
When he returned to the armored vehicle, he saw the gunner setting up a launcher and asked Guchakov curiously: "Comrade Commander, do you use this fortification that can destroy the Germans?"
Before Guchakov could answer, the gunner had already faced the armored vehicle and straightened his body to report to Guchakov: "Captain, the launcher has been set up and the target has been locked. Please instruct!"
After listening to the gunner's report, Guchakov raised his hand over his head, waved it down suddenly, and ordered loudly: "Flame!"
Not to mention ordinary guerrillas, even Vovga had never seen the power of the new rockets. When he saw three rockets dragging long flame tails towards field fortifications outside the station, he thought at best the power of the mortar.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the rocket landed, it covered the German positions. One of the firepower points was directly destroyed. In the rising flames and smoke, the machine gunner's bodies were flying in the air, with broken legs and machine gun parts scattered all over the ground. Then the German soldiers surviving in the fortification crawled out of the trench filled with smoke and fled to the station in a panic expression. However, before they could run far, the second rockets followed one after another, directly covering them in the explosion of flames and smoke.
Seeing the German fortifications, under the attack of rockets, if paper-paste toys were as fragile as if Vovga was shocked, his eyes almost fell out, and he kept muttering: "My God, I really didn't expect that this thing was so powerful that it would destroy the German positions in an instant."
"Stop shooting!" Guchakov saw that two rounds of rocket attacks had completely destroyed the simple field fortifications of the German army. He felt that there was no need to waste precious new rockets anymore, so he ordered the gunner to stop loading in time. Then he said to Vovga: "Comrade Vovga, what are you doing here? The enemy fortifications have been destroyed by me. The next task of seizing the station will be completed by the comrades of the guerrillas."
Guchakov's words woke Vvga from the shock. He nodded, got off the armored vehicle again, rushed to the front of the team, and shouted loudly to the team members: "Comrades, the fortifications of the enemy at the station have been destroyed by the comrades of the regular army. Blast, brothers, avenge the comrades who just died!"
Nearly a thousand guerrillas saw the enemy's fortifications with their own eyes. Under the attack of the new weapons of the regular army, they were instantly destroyed. They immediately boosted their morale and rushed towards the station with Vovga. Although they had maintained a dense formation this time, they no longer had to worry about any dangers. The German soldiers in the field fortifications were almost wiped out under the attack of two rounds of rockets.
The guerrillas with high morale rushed to the trenches that were still emitting thick smoke in less than three minutes. Seeing the Germans lying on the ground, whether they were dead or not dead, they would stab them hard with the bayonet in their hands, which was to exude the anger in their hearts for their sacrificed comrades.
The more than 30 German soldiers in the station, facing the tide of guerillas, desperately pulled the trigger and tried to stop them from rushing into the station. Their resistance made some of the players who rushed to the front roll to the ground, but then more players rushed up and killed them all with bayonets or butts.
The battle to seize the station only lasted fifteen minutes and ended with the victory of the guerrillas. When Vvga reported to Guchakov who was rushing to the car, he said with emotion: "Comrade Commander, if it weren't for Liu Jikov and others' actions, it would have affected the morale of the troops, our casualties might have been much smaller."
After hearing Vvvga's words, Guchakov did not follow his words, but asked directly: "Have you sent someone to check the warehouse?"
"After we occupied the station, we found two railway employees. They took the initiative to cooperate with our comrades to check the German warehouse in the station." Vovga reported to Guchakov with some pride: "We also found a large amount of military supplies on the platform, which should have been the Germans who had just unloaded the truck."
Guchakov first ordered the radio operator to send a message to Mixiga to understand the attack on their side. Then he asked Vovga: "Comrade Vovga, if you are the commander, how do you plan to deal with this batch of supplies?"
When Vvga was stunned when he heard Guchakov asked himself the question, he replied, "Is this a matter of saying that it must be burned out all the fires and must not be left to the Germans."
"If it's just a fire, we can attack the station with rockets." Guchakov obviously disagreed with Vovga's statement. He shook his head and said, "Why do you have to mobilize so many troops to engage in such a large-scale enemy-back attack?"
Vvga was a little confused, and he asked in confusion: "Comrade Commander, then tell me, how should we deal with the mountain of materials piled up at the station?"
"I think there must be trucks in the station. You can organize people and move useful things away." Guchakov replied confidently: "If you really can't move, it's not too late to burn things before we evacuate."
…………
The German radio operator at the station sent out the news of the loss of Kotluban Station in the form of a telegram before being beaten to death by guerrillas. After seeing the telegram, the commander of the 113th Infantry Division felt that it was incredible that the small guerrillas had the ability to seize the station?
In order to figure out what happened, he asked the regiment commander to call the commander of the defender of the Kotluban Station and ask how the station was in the situation? When he learned that the telephone line of the station had been completely interrupted, he confirmed the fact that the station had fallen. He did not dare to hide such a big thing and quickly reported it to the Group Army Command.
Paulus was discussing with several commanders in the headquarters about how to crush the Soviet offensive. A communications officer came over and handed a telegram to Schmid with a serious expression. After seeing it, Paulus immediately stopped telling it, looking at Schmid and asked, "Chief of Staff, what happened?"
"Hiss Commander!" Schmid walked towards Paulus with a telegram and said, "Cotluban Station is lost."
As soon as Schmid finished speaking, the whole room fell into an awkward and suffocating silence. Although it was only a few dozen seconds, everyone was shocked: What, the Cotluban Station was lost? Who did it? Did the Russians fall from the sky?
Paulus did not receive the telegram from Schmid, but asked with a stern face: "Chief of Staff, what's going on? Where did the Russians emerge to seize the Kotluban Station where we stockpiled a large amount of supplies?"
Chapter completed!