The time spent building a bridge on the ice was far beyond the original idea. Engineers from the Front and Army worked overtime for a day and a night until two o'clock the next afternoon, the bridge was completed.
Sokov was very happy when he heard the observation post report that the bridge had been erected, but for the sake of safety, he took Yakubov to the observation center on the top of the mountain, raised his telescope and carefully observed the ice surface to confirm whether the bridge was erected. When he saw that a bridge spanning the two sides of the straits appeared on the ice, he nodded with satisfaction and turned to Yakubov and said, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, when you return to the command center, send a telegram to your troops immediately and ask them to cross the river as soon as possible."
As soon as the two returned to the command center, Yakubow sent a report to the commander in charge of his regiment through the division's radio operators, notifying the troops to cross the river immediately.
While Yakubow was sending a newspaper, Sokov specifically instructed Sidolin: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the comrades in the Preparatory Regiment are not familiar with the terrain. You immediately send a few soldiers to guard the bridge. After they cross the river, take them to the already assigned positions and hand them over to the commanders of each regiment for the distribution of troops."
After Sokov finished speaking, he nodded and said, "It is a good idea to mix the commanders and fighters of the reserve regiment with the original troops. This can help them become familiar with the environment here as soon as possible so that they can better engage in combat."
Since the commanders and soldiers of the Preparatory Regiment were about to cross the river, Sokov felt it was necessary to tell the leaders of the regiments immediately so that they could all be happy, so that they would not always complain in front of themselves, saying that the troops were seriously reduced, and they hoped to be supplemented by the troops. Now that a regiment would add 800 people, their strength would be improved.
He first called the command center of the deflation regiment, and wanted to tell Belkin the first to tell the good news and learn about the situation in the barricade factory. After the phone was connected, Belkin took the lead and asked: "Misha, I have an important thing to ask you."
"What's the matter?"
"Captain Andre reported to me that you had arranged a deputy battalion commander for him." Belkin asked on the phone: "I want to ask, what's going on, why did he suddenly equip him with a deputy battalion commander? Do you have to send someone to monitor him if you don't trust him?"
"I'll send someone to monitor Captain Andre?" Sokov felt amused and cried when he heard Belkin's statement. He asked back: "My political commissar, it's incredible who you heard of this, right?"
"Don't worry who told me." Belkin's mouth was still quite tight, and he refused to reveal to Sokov at all who made such an analysis for him, but asked: "Misha, for the sake of our former partner, can you tell me the truth, why did you suddenly think about arranging a deputy battalion commander for Captain Andre?"
"My political commissar, I called you just to tell you about this, but I didn't expect you to ask first." Sokov thought of arranging Zumingte to serve as deputy battalion commander of the Third Battalion, but did not communicate with Belkin. He could not help but blushed a little, and then said openly to the microphone: "The superior sent us a reserve regiment with four full infantry battalions. After research by the Chief of Staff and the Deputy Division Commander, he decided to distribute these four battalions equally to your four regiments to supplement your lost troops in the battle."
Hearing Sokov say this, Belkin realizes that he might have blamed him wrongly. He asked tentatively: "Misha, then, is the deputy battalion commander you have arranged from the preparatory regiment?"
"Yes, this deputy battalion commander named Zumingte is indeed a member of the reserve regiment." Sokov nodded instinctively and replied, "He came to me with the regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov to contact me, and was recognized by Colonel Ivanov. The deputy division commander told me that Zumingte was once the best battalion commander under him, with rich command and combat experience, and was later transferred to General Romanov's 172nd Infantry Division. He was once captured by the German army during the battle. Although he later escaped from the prisoner-of-war camp, he was sent to the punishment camp for special reasons..."
After listening to Sokov's detailed introduction, Belkin said thoughtfully: "Misha, according to what you said, this Lieutenant Zumingte should be an excellent commander. Isn't it a bit of a slight genius to only let him serve as deputy battalion commander?"
Sokov looked up at Ivanov sitting opposite him, and saw his deputy division commander looking down at the map in front of him, as if there was something important on it attracting him. Sokov knew in his heart that he and Belkin were talking about Zumingt, and Ivanov deliberately avoided his gaze in order to avoid suspicion. He said to the microphone: "My political commissar, I also know that the position of the deputy battalion commander is a bit low, but if he wants to obtain a higher position and military rank, he needs to perform well in the battle. If he can really prove to be an excellent commander, let alone the deputy battalion commander, it is not impossible to be a deputy regiment commander or even the regiment commander."
Belkin and Sokov were once partners, and they knew very well that as long as they were the commander he liked, they would be reused no matter what their past identity was. He did not continue to discuss this issue, but asked Sokov carefully: "Misha, when will the reinforcements you mentioned arrive at us?"
When Sokov saw Yakubov coming towards him, he said to the microphone: "We just sent a call to the troops on the other side. I'm afraid they will start crossing the river within an hour. I think you will get a supplementary troops before dark. By the way, I'll also arrange for you a deputy regiment commander, so you might as well get to know each other first."
"Deputy Commander?!" Belkin asked in surprise: "Misha, where are you going to transfer a deputy commander to me?"
"It is Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov, the leader of the Preparatory Corps," Sokov said to the microphone: "The troops he commanded were all scattered into various regiments, and he himself became a bare-pole regiment commander. Therefore, I arranged for him to be your deputy in your regiment, and I hope you two can cooperate well."
After saying that, Sokov waved to Yakubov and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I am talking to the commander of the reduction team, and you come over and talk to him, and get to know each other."
Yakubov took the microphone from Sokov and put it in his ear. He said respectfully: "Hello, Comrade Commander, I am your deputy Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov, I am very happy to know you."
"Hello, Lieutenant Colonel." Belkin heard a strange voice talking to himself. After hearing the other party reveal his identity, he said politely: "On behalf of all the commanders and soldiers of the reduction team, I welcome you and your subordinates to be one of us..."
While Yakubow was talking to Belkin, Sokov whispered to Sidolin who had just finished the phone. He asked the other party to call several other regiment commanders to inform everyone of the good news that the soldiers were about to be replenished, so that everyone would be happy. Although he was talking to Sidolin, his eyes kept glancing at Yakubow to see how he reacted when talking to Belkin.
It turned out that he was worried that he would be somewhat emotional if he asked a leader like Yakubow to be the deputy leader of Belkin. However, judging from his conversation with Belkin, he seemed quite satisfied with his arrangement.
After a while, Yakubov put down the phone and looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, I wonder when will you send someone to the barricade factory?"
"No, no hurry, Lieutenant Colonel Yakubov, don't worry now." Seeing that Yakubov was so anxious to go to the barricade factory, Sokov waved at him and said, "Your troops have not crossed the river yet. After they all crossed the river, it is not too late to take the Fourth Battalion to the barricade factory."
Yakubov heard Sokov's voice outside the painting and knew that he had no intention of going to the barricade factory alone at this moment. It would be better to wait for the troops to cross the river and then take the Fourth Battalion to the barricade factory. The defenders in the factory saw such reinforcements coming, which could have a more motivated effect.
The commanders and fighters of the Preparatory Regiment had just begun to cross the river, and the German attack on the barricade factory began again.
When he was staying in the battalion command post, Captain Rivasili saw one or two hundred German infantry rushing towards his defensive position under the cover of five assault guns. He quickly called Belkin and reported to him: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's assault guns are coming up, I ask for artillery fire support."
"Comrade Captain, I'm afraid I can't agree to your request." But Belkin said unexpectedly: "It's snowing outside, with limited visibility, and the artillery positions deployed in the rear cannot see the enemy clearly."
"What should we do?" Vasily asked anxiously: "You can't watch the enemy assault guns approach the positions and use artillery fire to destroy our fire points one by one?"
"Comrade Captain, why are you smart before, but now you are confused?" Belkin heard Vasily complain and said with some regret: "Have you forgotten the secret weapon in your hands?"
"Secret Weapon?!" Vasily repeated Belkin's words, suddenly remembered the new weapon that he had almost forgotten, and asked quickly: "Comrade Commander, are you talking about the bazooka?"
"That's right." Belkin replied affirmatively: "I heard from the division commander that this is specially used to fight enemy tanks. Now the situation is special. I approve your battalion to use bazooka to deal with the German assault guns."
Although the rocket launcher has been equipped with troops for a while, since he has never participated in actual combat, the commanders and soldiers are skeptical about whether the rocket launcher can deal with enemy tanks and assault guns, and Vasily is no exception. He smiled wryly and asked Belkin: "Comrade Commander, the enemy's assault gun has a frontal armor of 50 mm and has a certain slope. If the rocket is hit, it may form a jump."
"I said, Comrade Captain, why are you so long-winded?" Seeing Vasily chattering in his ears, Belkin was a little impatient: "When will the things that the division commander invented are not easy to use? Don't forget that the new rockets equipped by your battalion were also invented by the division commander. Since new rockets can make the Germans cry and howl, the assault cannons that the rocket launcher will not disappoint us."
Seeing that the enemy's assault guns were getting closer and closer, Vasily did not dare to neglect them. He quickly put down his phone, called a communications soldier, and told him: "You should immediately inform the anti-tank platoon and let them carry rockets to the crater in front of the position, choose the right time to attack the enemy's assault guns."
The first battalion of Vasily had an anti-tank platoon, with five anti-tank teams under it, each equipped with a rocket launcher. After receiving Vasily's order, the anti-tank teams climbed out of the trenches and hid in the crater dozens of meters ahead. Fortunately, the snowflakes flying in the sky blocked the enemy's sight, preventing them from discovering these anti-tank hands in time.
Each anti-tank team has five people, a shooter responsible for launching rockets, a sub-shooter, and an ammunition player. The rest are team leaders and a combat experienced battle, equipped with submachine guns, responsible for protecting the shooter.
Seeing that the enemy's assault gun entered a firing range of 100 meters, the leader of Team 1 poked his head out to observe the situation, and then gave the shooting order to the shooter. The shooter steadily placed the bazooka on his shoulders, and his eyes passed through the scope, quickly locked the assault gun entering the range, and decisively pulled the firing trigger.
A rocket with tail flame rushed towards the assault cannon a hundred meters away. After a few seconds, it hit the target accurately and made a loud noise. Then the assault cannon was wrapped in flames and smoke. After continuing to drive forward for more than ten meters, it stopped and burned.
The success of Team 1 greatly inspired the soldiers of the other four groups. The shooters also stood up one after another, followed their comrades, carried the rocket launcher on their shoulders, and aimed at the enemy's assault guns to pull the trigger. Four rockets were bored one after another, and without exception, they all hit the moving assault guns, turning them into piles of burning wreckage.
The German soldiers following the assault gun were stunned. They did not hear the roar of shells in the air at all. They saw several balls of fire coming out of the craters in front of the Soviet army's positions, and then the assault guns that opened the way in front of them caught fire and exploded one after another. The ammunition in one of the assault guns exploded, and the flying shrapnel swept down the soldiers following behind.
The remaining German soldiers hurriedly hid in the spot to prevent themselves from being injured by flying shrapnel. After a while, they carefully raised their heads and looked towards the Soviet position, trying to figure out what weapons the Soviet army used to destroy their assault guns? After a while, they saw that the Soviet position was quiet. If there were not five assault guns in front of them, the German officers and soldiers would have thought they had hallucinated.
The German officers commanding behind found that the assault guns were destroyed by the Soviet army. They knew in their hearts that it would be unrealistic to attack again without the cover of the assault guns, so they issued an order to retreat. When the German officers and soldiers heard the order to retreat, they crawled from the ground and fled to the back with their waists.
Chapter completed!