The three German engineer battalions stationed in the barricade factory launched an attack on the territory occupied by the Soviet army from three directions. Not only was the defense zone of the 650th Regiment attacked, but the defense zones of the 544th and 768th Regiment also attacked.
The Soviet commanders and fighters who were standing on the position found that the German troops attacking today were completely different from the past. They did not follow behind tanks or assault guns and attack their positions with scattered lines, but instead used groups of three or five, using the cover of bullet craters or ruins, and used short leap forward tactics to approach the position bit by bit.
Faced with the enemy's attack, the Soviet commanders and soldiers still used the original tactics to deal with it. But soon, they discovered something was wrong. They fired at the enemy, but because the enemy showed up for a lot of time, the bullets fired rarely hit the target. The machine guns deployed at the firepower point were often destroyed by German assault guns before firing a bullet with a bullet plate.
Just when the commanders and soldiers were at a loss, Lyudnikov called and told several regiment commanders how to deal with the attack launched by this special German army. At the same time, he also specifically reminded the leaders of each regiment to make sure to figure out the number of attacking the German army.
After receiving the call from Lyudnikov, the commanders of each regiment immediately arranged the way to deal with the enemy and the officers and soldiers below. The soldiers immediately adjusted their tactics and no longer blindly fired at the scattered German army, but used snipers and mortars to deal with the enemy.
The German machine gunner set up a machine gun in the crater and aimed at the Soviet position to shoot. After firing less than two shots, the machine gunner was shot by a bullet flying out of the opposite position. Seeing his companion fall, the deputy shooter quickly took over his position and continued to shoot, but not long after, he was also shot by a head.
Machine gunners have become the priority target of snipers. The fate of artillery observers who indicate the targets of assault guns will not be much better. Once the Soviet army discovers their location, they first use machine gun fire to block their hiding place; then, the snipers will snipe the observers who emerge. Even if the artillery observers hide in the craters and remain unmoved, it is not safe. Therefore, the Soviet army will bombard the craters with mortars and blow the enemies hidden inside to the point of blood and blood.
The German engineers and battalions, who were in their respective command positions, saw that their attacks did not work, and in order to reduce unnecessary casualties, they quickly issued a retreat order. The German soldiers nestled in the crater were being beaten by Soviet snipers and mortars. When they heard the retreat orders from behind, they heard the sound of nature and quickly withdrew their original departure position in an orderly manner.
Seeing that the attacking enemy had retreated, the regiments immediately sent people to check the German corpses and learn about the number of the troops from the documents they carried. Ten minutes later, Lyudnikov received calls from the leaders of each regiment to listen to their reports to him.
After recording the reports of each regiment in the notebook, Lyudnikov looked up at Sokov, who was sitting opposite him and said, "Col. Sokov, it seems that your estimate is correct. The enemy attacking our positions is indeed the engineer troops. The numbers are the 50th Armored Engineer Battalion, the 162nd and 294th Engineer Battalion."
After hearing Lyudnikov's words, Sokov smiled faintly and said casually: "Comrade Colonel, do you know what it means to launch an attack on the factory by the enemy?"
"If, as you said just now, the engineer barracks are elite German troops, and the Germans use them here, does it mean that they are bound to win the barracks factory?" Lyudnikov said tentatively: "Am I right?"
"The barricade factory is certainly an important goal, but isn't the Derrensky factory?" Sokov said slowly: "The barricade is one of their most elite troops. At this moment, they are committed to the battle to seize the barricade factory, which means that their troops and ammunition are becoming exhausted, and they try to completely capture the barricade factory through the battle of the barricade."
"Oh, the enemy's troops and ammunition are becoming exhausted?" After hearing Sokov's statement, Lyudnikov's face showed a surprised expression: "So, the chance of our guardianship of the barricade has been greatly improved."
"Comrade Colonel, I think the issue you are currently considering is not just how to defend the barricade factory." Sokov waved his hand at Lyudnikov and said, "but how to completely eliminate the enemies who broke into the factory."
"What, what are you saying?" Lyudnikov said in surprise: "Col. Sokov, do you know what you are saying? Our existing troops have great difficulties in blocking the enemy's attack. How can we talk about destroying them?" If the person who said this was not Sokov, who had great military achievements, but someone else said it, he would have been scolded by Lyudnikov long ago.
"Comrade Colonel, have you forgotten what I said?" Sokov reminded the other party: "As the surface of the Volga River is frozen, reinforcements and materials gathered on the east bank will enter the city on a large scale. Then we will have enough troops to fight the enemy to the death."
As soon as Sokov finished speaking, the telephone in front of him rang. He grabbed the microphone and put it in his ear, and said hurriedly: "I am Colonel Sokov, where are you?"
"It's me." A familiar voice came from the receiver: "I'm Peter."
"Hello, Comrade Director." Sokov knew very well when he heard that it was Peter who called him. He must have asked for the self-propelled artillery matter, and hurriedly, "Have you received the drawings and notes I sent to you?"
"Received, Colonel Sokov." Peter replied, "I called you just to talk to you about this..."
"Comrade Director, I will briefly explain my shooting ideas to you." Sokov was worried that Peter would not understand his annotations, so he explained to him: "The self-propelled artillery you delivered to us is too simple. There is only a circle of protective plates around the artillery to protect the crew, which is obviously not enough. As long as a shell explodes next to the artillery during the battle, it will cause casualties to the crew.
...According to my design ideas, the two GAZ-202 engines are arranged in parallel to replace the linear type of the T-70, and the enclosed armor plate with a thickness of 10~35 mm is added. The cockpit is in the middle of the two engines and is driven by a driver; the ZIS-3 gun is installed in the superstructure, and the entire superstructure is rearward, and the gunner is three people..."
After introducing his ideas, Sokov asked Peter tentatively: "Comrade Director, I want to ask, according to my design plan, how long does it take for you to produce a sample car?"
Peter stared at the content he recorded for a while and replied, "Comrade Colonel, according to your plan, even if we arrange for overtime, it will take at least five to seven days to produce a prototype car."
Sokov was very disappointed when he heard that he could only produce one prototype car, and it took five to seven days. But then he thought that the current production capacity of the Red October factory was simply not comparable to that of the enemy before the enemy rushed into the city. The time given by Peter should be the limit they could reach.
Thinking of this, Sokov no longer had to force himself, so he could only say, "Okay, comrade director, then ask the comrades in the factory to speed up and make sure to produce new self-propelled artillery in the shortest time."
"Don't worry, comrade Colonel, we will not let you down." After Peter said this, he suddenly remembered that he had handed over two self-propelled artillery that had not yet been tested to Sokov. He didn't know if he had participated in the battle, so he asked tentatively: "Have you put into battle the two self-propelled artillery I handed over to you?"
"Not yet, Comrade Director." Sokov just finished speaking, he heard Peter sigh on the phone, as if he felt sorry for the failure of this new weapon to enter the battle in time, so he quickly added: "But don't worry, I can't think of those two self-propelled cannons to participate in the battle for a long time."
The call with Peter was not over yet, and the phone ringing in front of Lyudnikov rang again. Sokov thought it was the commander below who called to report to Lyudnikov, but he didn't care. Unexpectedly, after hearing this for a moment, Lyudnikov stood up, straightened his body and said respectfully to the microphone: "Hello, comrade Commander, I am Lyudnikov. What instructions do you have?"
When Sokov heard that it was a call from Trekov, he was not interested in continuing to chat with Peter. After saying a few quickly, he hung up the phone and pricked up his ears to listen to the conversation between Lyudnikov and Trekov.
"Col. Lyudnikov," asked Trekov on the phone: "How is your situation? Is the enemy still attacking you?"
"Yes, Comrade Commander, not long ago, the enemy dispatched three engineer battalions and launched an attack on us, but we all repelled." Lyudnikov said: "We are preparing to deal with a new round of attacks that the enemy may launch."
"Engineering Battalion? The enemy actually put all the engineers into offensive battles. It seems that their troops were seriously insufficient." Cuikov was not from later generations, and the first time he heard that the German army dispatched three engineers to attack the barricade factory, he instinctively thought that the enemy had insufficient troops, so that even the weak combat power had been put into battle.
From Cuikov's words, Lyudnikov realized that the other party might not have figured out the nature of these three engineering battalions, and explained: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's engineers are not the kind of engineers we know. Their combat effectiveness is much stronger than ordinary German troops, and the tactics they use are different from other German troops." At this point, he paused for a moment, looked at Sokov, who was standing aside, and added, "If Colonel Sokov had not proposed a response in time, I think the battle would have not ended yet, and our army would have suffered much greater losses than it is now."
"Why, Sokov is there with you?" Cuikov was surprised to learn that Sokov was staying in the barricade factory at this moment. Although he knew that Sokov had led his troops into the barricade factory, after so long, he thought that the other party had returned to Mamayev. Thinking of Lyudnikov's attempt to fire artillery at his command, Cuikov hurriedly asked, out of concern for Sokov, "How is he? He is not injured, right?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Lyudnikov shook his head and replied, "Col. Sokov is fine, not injured at all."
"It's good if you're not injured, then I'll be relieved." Cui Kefu said this, paused for a moment, and continued: "Tomorrow evening, the Army Command will hold a military meeting, and all commanders at the regiment level and above in the city will attend. If there is no danger on the road from the barricade factory to the headquarters, you and Sokov will come to have a meeting."
When he learned that a military meeting was to be held tomorrow, Lyudnikov looked at Sokov opposite him in surprise, and then asked Cui Kov carefully: "Comrade Commander, can you reveal the content of the meeting to me?"
"Sorry, Colonel Lyudnikov, I cannot meet your request for the time being." Cuikov said coldly: "As for the content of the meeting, you will know when you arrive at the headquarters tomorrow."
Although Cuikov was unwilling to disclose the content of the meeting, Lyudnikov was also a smart person. He realized that what Sokov said to him would soon come true. In the days to come, the issue he had to consider was no longer how to defend the barricade factory, but to work with the new troops to clear the enemies occupying the factory one by one.
As soon as he put down the phone, Lyudnikov said to Sokov excitedly: "Col. Sokov, good news! Commander Trekov notified us to attend tomorrow night's military meeting. It seems that your guesses are accurate."
Sokov was worried that the enemy would penetrate the rear of the defense line, and the road from the factory to the Army Command was not as safe as expected. He looked at Lyudnikov and said, "Comrade Colonel, I am worried that there might be enemy stragglers on the road to the headquarters. If a large group of people were attacked by the Germans on the way to the meeting, there would inevitably be casualties. Once a regiment-level commander died, it would definitely affect the subsequent command and operation. In order to avoid this, I feel it is necessary to send troops to patrol the area to eliminate the enemies infiltrating the rear of our defense line."
Lyudnikov knew that the road to the headquarters was very unsafe. Although the two self-propelled artillery were transported from the Red October factory, it was very peaceful along the way, but that was because Sokov dispatched a guard platoon to respond. Even if there were lurking enemies, they would not dare to act rashly when they saw such a formation. But if he brought a group of commanders to a meeting, the lurking German soldiers would never let go of such an important goal. Once his subordinates suffered casualties, it would be really not worth the loss.
Chapter completed!