When he learned that the German army that was repelled by his regiment was actually an engineer battalion, Guzman, the commander of the 650th regiment, could not sit still. He said to Vasily: "Comrade Captain, I really didn't expect that the one who attacked us was actually an engineer unit. It seemed that the enemy's troops were tight, so they had to send engineer units to attack."
Vasily guessed that Guzman would have some thoughts when he said this, so he didn't say anything, but just looked at the other person silently, waiting for the other person to say what happened next.
Sure enough, not long after, Guzman asked Vasily tentatively: "Comrade Captain, since the enemy on the opposite side is all engineers, you see, can we launch a counterattack and restore some lost positions from the enemy's hands."
Guzman's words made Vasily a little moved. If he could really take back some positions from the enemy, the division commander would probably look at him with admiration. But he thought again that his battalion is now distributed in three different areas, and even if he wanted to counterattack, the troops he could use were very limited. Moreover, if he launched an attack on the enemy's position without asking for instructions, he would probably be criticized by the division commander and the regiment commander.
Thinking of this, Vasily calmed down a lot. He was worried that Guzman would immediately dispatch troops and prepare for counterattack, so he quickly persuaded: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, our troops are limited, and it may be barely enough for defense; but it is far from enough for counterattack. Moreover, after we seize the position, we still need to divide our troops to guard it. In this way, our troops will become weaker. Once the enemy counterattacks, the positions seized through bloodshed and sacrifice will fall back into the hands of the enemy."
If Vasily was Guzman's subordinate, if he replied to Guzman in this way, he would definitely be scolded and even be labeled as "cowardly and panicked". Next, Guzman would find someone to take over Vasily and launch a counterattack on the enemy's positions according to his plan.
But Vasily belonged to the 41st Guard Division and came here to assist in the war. Even if the rank was only captain, Gusman, as a lieutenant colonel, could only give him three points. At this moment, hearing Vasily express his statement that he was unwilling to participate in the counterattack against the enemy, Gusman could only sigh in his heart and give up the idea of ​​counterattack. After all, he had too few troops in his hand. Without the cooperation of friendly forces, the counterattack he carried out was not possible at all.
"What a pity!" Guzman looked at the German position in the distance without any movement, and said with regret: "What a great opportunity to counterattack, I missed it like this..."
"Ltd Colonel!" Seeing that Guzman had not given up on his idea of ​​counterattacking, Vasily said seriously: "Although we have repelled the enemy's attack, if we really want to fight back, we may suffer a lot of casualties."
"Comrade Captain, there are no immortals in the war. As long as you can regain the position from the enemy, no matter how much the price you pay, I think it is worth it..." Guzman said abruptly and stopped as soon as he realized that Vasily said this, and he turned his head and looked at Vasily and asked in surprise: "What do you mean by the great casualties?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although the enemy attacking us is just engineers, I feel that it is different from the engineers I have seen in the past." Vasily analyzed to Guzman: "Look, the offensive method they just used has made our previous defensive tactics difficult to work. If it weren't for the use of snipers and mortars to deal with them later, I guess they would launch a full-scale attack on us after the assault guns destroyed our fire points."
"But, Comrade Captain." Although Guzman witnessed the entire battle, perhaps because the battle process was too easy, he firmly believed that the defeated enemy was just an engineer with weak combat power. "If it was really a well-trained unit, how could it be beaten by our snipers and mortars without the power to fight back? In my opinion, this is just an engineer with extremely poor combat power."
Vasily wanted to refute Guzman, but considering that the other party's military rank was much higher than his, if he argued with him in front of his subordinates, it would affect his WeChat, so he just smiled faintly and did not continue talking.
Guzman saw that Vasily didn't say anything, and was about to say something else, but suddenly he heard the phone ringing not far away, so he hurried over and picked up the microphone: "I am Guzman, where are you?"
"What? The meeting will be held tomorrow night?" After hearing a moment, Guzman suddenly showed a surprise expression on his face: "Is this true, Comrade Commander?... No, I don't doubt what you said, I just want to confirm... Don't worry, Comrade Commander, without your order, how dare I let the troops launch a counterattack at will..."
Vasily stood aside, listening quietly to the conversation between Gusman and Lyudnikov, and constantly guessing in his heart: The meeting will be held tomorrow night. If we go to the division headquarters for a meeting, Lieutenant Colonel Gusman would definitely not be so excited. Could it be that he would go to the Army Command for a meeting? At this time, notifying a regiment-level commander to attend a meeting at the headquarters means a major military operation. Could it be that our army is going to launch a comprehensive counterattack against the enemy?
Just as Vasily was thinking about it, Guzman had finished talking to Lyudnikov. After he put down the microphone, he saw Vasily staring at him intently, and said with a haha: "Comrade Captain, the division commander just reminded me on the phone that without his orders, he would never attack the enemy without authorization. It seems that you are right. If I insist on my opinion and order the troops to counterattack the enemy, I will definitely be blamed by the division commander..."
Vasily automatically filtered the nonsense that Guzman said. He was eager to know where the other party would hold a meeting tomorrow night, so he asked cautiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I seem to hear Colonel Lyudnikov inform you to have a meeting. Can I ask, where you will have a meeting tomorrow night?"
"If someone else asked, I would definitely not tell him. But we are comrades-in-arms who fight side by side, so it would be okay to tell you." Gusman leaned close to Vasily's ear and whispered: "The division commander asked me to go to the Army Command with him tomorrow for a meeting."
Seeing that Gusman was indeed going to the Army Headquarters for a meeting, Vasily became happy. He looked around and saw that the closest communication soldier was also four or five meters away. As long as he spoke in a low voice, the other party could not hear it. He approached Gusman and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, tell me, does this mean that our army's large counterattack is about to begin."
"Although the meeting will only start tomorrow night, I don't know what the meeting is about for the time being." Gusman said thoughtfully: "But I think your speculation is likely to become a reality."
"I really envy you!" Seeing that Belkin had not called him, Vasily guessed that he was not qualified to attend such a military conference. He was happy and felt a little disappointed. However, in order not to affect Guzman's mood, he forced a smile and said, "You can go to the headquarters to attend such an important conference."
Guzman saw Vasily's thoughts and didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only raise his hand and pat the other person's shoulder, saying, "Comrade Captain, when I go to the meeting tomorrow, I will leave this to you."
"Don't worry, comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will never let the enemy approach our position." Vasily assured Gusman: "You can go to the meeting with confidence."
"The enemy is coming!" Just as the two of them were talking, they suddenly heard a series of shouts coming from outside: "The enemy is coming!"
The two of them quickly looked outside and saw several assault guns in the distance, guiding more than 100 German soldiers towards the position.
Gusman quickly picked up the phone and said to the microphone: "First Battalion Commander, battle alarm, the enemy attacked us, immediately order the troops to enter the combat post!"
After putting down the phone, Guzman raised his telescope and looked in the direction of the enemy. After looking for a while, he murmured: "Hey, why did the enemy change his tactics again? Without artillery fire cover, dare to attack us directly?"
"Ltd Colonel, this is normal." Vasily, who was on the side, said: "We went deep into the enemy's troops and destroyed the enemy's supplies hoarded at Kotluban Station and the 654th Mile Station. The enemy's ammunition and various military supplies are now facing a shortage, so naturally there are not so many shells to bombard us. This is also good, at least when we defend, we can reduce some casualties."
The German assault guns stopped five or six hundred meters away from the position, and then bombarded the Soviet positions with artillery fire to cover their infantry to advance forward.
"Ltd Colonel," saw this, Vasily said to Guzman anxiously: "Please contact the artillery immediately and ask them to destroy the assault guns with artillery fire, otherwise the fire points on our positions will be destroyed one by one by one by the assault guns."
Guzman looked at the assault guns in the distance and found that they no longer fired blindly without targets. The shells had accurately landed on the position and exploded. Although it was not clear what casualties the enemy's shelling caused to the officers and fighters on the position, Guzman knew in his heart that if the assault guns kept firing, they might not be able to effectively fight back under the suppression of artillery fire before the enemy's infantry rushed into the position.
Guzman picked up the phone and reported to the division commander Lyudnikov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has launched an attack on our regiment's position. This time they dispatched several assault guns. I asked the artillery to fire immediately and destroy these damn assault guns so that our soldiers can calmly eliminate the attacking infantry."
"I get it, Lieutenant Colonel Guzman," said Lyudnikov to the microphone. "I will contact the artillery and let them provide you with artillery cover."
After finishing the call with Guzman, Lyudnikov looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "Col. Sokov, the enemy attacked the position of the 650th Regiment, and there were several assault guns that were accompanied by the infantry attack. Look, can you order artillery soldiers to use artillery fire to destroy these assault guns?"
When Sokov heard the sound of gunfires outside, he had gone out to observe the situation. At this moment, he heard the request from Lyudnikov, and nodded and said, "Okay, comrade Colonel, I will call Major Savage immediately and ask them to fire at the enemy."
"Major Savage, I am Sokov." After the phone was answered, Sokov did not say anything nonsense, but asked directly: "Did you see the enemy attacking the 650th Regiment's position?"
"Yes, comrade Colonel, we see it." Savage waited for Sokov to finish his words and asked for instructions: "I am just about to call you to ask if I can fire the enemy."
Considering that the large counterattack was nearly ten days away, if the shells were consumed too early, he would never have any long-range anti-tank weapons, so he asked tentatively: "How many shells do you have?"
"After these two days of fighting, there are an average of fifteen shells per cannon." Savage reported to Sokov: "There are ten high-explosion bombs and five armor-piercing bombs."
Sokov didn't know when the shells would be replenished, so he said cautiously: "Major, you may not be able to replenish any ammunition for a long time, so you must save shells and try to kill the enemy's assault guns with the least amount of shells."
Since the assault gun has no turret, the entire body of the car is much smaller than that of the tank. It is necessary to use direct aiming shooting at a long distance to destroy these assault guns. It is not a skilled artillery, so it is really impossible to do it. After receiving Sokov's order, Savage thought about the running positions on which skilled artillery soldiers were distributed.
After seeing Savage answering the phone, Brisky stood by the table in a daze, and asked curiously: "Comrade Major, what happened? Why are you standing here in daze?"
"Comrade Captain," said Savage to Brisky with a wry smile: "Col. Sokov just called me and said that we might not get any supplies for a long time, so he asked us to use the least shells to destroy the enemy's assault guns. I was wondering, what positions are my skilled gunners on now? It is necessary to gather them together to deal with the enemy's assault guns."
"Comrade Major, I think your method is feasible." Brisky was still very self-aware. Although he had achieved considerable results in the past two days, he understood very well that his subordinates were just trying to fight for the real artillery. After leaving the artillery, he relied on the infantry under his command that even if the artillery fired, he did not know where the shells would fly. Therefore, he strongly agreed with Savage's proposal: "The skilled artillery should be summoned immediately to eliminate the enemy's assault guns."
The skilled artillery was distributed in different positions. Savage deployed more than a dozen of the best artillery soldiers on the No. 1 position by phone. After all the people arrived, he decisively issued an order: "Aim at the enemy's assault guns and fire!"
After the artillery was in place, it immediately aimed at the target quickly and immediately fired as soon as the shells were loaded. None of the two shells tested could hit the target. One shot hit the open space more than ten meters in front of the assault gun, while the other shot flew directly over the assault gun and landed in a ruined wall behind and exploded.
The skilled artillery was different from those novices. When they saw the first shell missed, they immediately adjusted the shooting angle of the artillery. In the second round of shooting, the shells fired by the five artillery fired two assault guns into burning torches. Seeing that the enemy's assault guns were destroyed, the artillery was greatly encouraged and aimed at the remaining assault guns to fire.
Chapter completed!