The German soldiers stationed on the right bank of the Don River Bridge watched helplessly as Soviet tanks destroyed the machine gun positions at the bridgehead on the left bank, and then rushed to their location with full force. The German soldiers without any anti-tank weapons knew that there was only a dead end to stay and stood firm, so they jumped out of the fortifications and fled to the wilderness in panic.
After the Tank Brigade easily occupied the Don River Bridge, the brigade commander immediately sent a report to Wolsky and reported the news. Wolsky learned that the bridge had been occupied, and repeatedly said yes and reminded the other party: "Col. Let your people immediately build new fortifications near the bridge to prevent the possible counterattack of the German army. When the 59th Mechanized Brigade, which followed you, arrive, you will cooperate with them to seize Karachi during the march."
Perhaps because the battle to seize the Don River Bridge was too easy, the tank brigade commander had the idea of ​​underestimating the enemy. He promised that the troops would hurry up and build fortifications, waiting for the Mo's brigade to arrive before attacking Karachi. But as soon as he put down the phone, he ordered a tank battalion to stay in the Don River Bridge, and the remaining troops immediately launched an attack on Karachi.
The chief of staff of the brigade whispered, "Comrade Brigade Commander, didn't the commander let us wait for the mechanized brigade to launch an attack on Karachi? If he knew that you acted without permission, he might..."
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by the tank brigade commander: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the winner will not be blamed. As long as our brigade can take Karachi, even if the commander knows that we have violated the order, he will not say anything. OK, stop talking, let the troops be prepared for attack immediately."
On a night with extremely poor visibility, launching an attack on a strange city and not receiving support from infantry is a wrong decision, but since the brigade commander has issued a combat order, the chief of staff is not good to say anything, so he can only arrange to assign attack or stay-attachment tasks to them according to the locations of each battalion.
The offensive battle started half an hour later. As soon as the tanks without infantry cover entered the city, German anti-tank hands continued to rush out from the buildings on both sides of the street and threw anti-tank grenades at the moving tanks. Without infantry cover, tankers with narrow vision could not find these damn anti-tank hands in time. In a series of explosions, one T-34 tank after another was blown up by the Germans and parked on the street to burn.
Seeing that the situation was not good, the tank brigade commander quickly ordered the tanks entering the city to retreat. However, even so, there were almost two tanks in the tanks of the tanks that had been destroyed by the enemy on the streets.
Seeing that the attempt to seize the city failed, the chief of staff of the brigade quickly said to the brigade commander: "Comrade Colonel, I think it's not too late to launch an attack on the city after the mechanized brigade arrives."
The brigade commander who had just suffered a defeat was no longer as stubborn as before the battle began. After hearing the Chief of Staff, he nodded and said helplessly: "Okay, let's wait until the mechanized brigade arrives before launching an attack on the enemy."
After more than two hours of long waiting, the 60th Brigade of Mechanized Combined with their combat finally arrived at the periphery of Karachi. As soon as Lieutenant Colonel Karapeqiang, the brigade commander of the 60th Brigade of the Moto Infantry Brigade saw the tank brigade commander, he apologized: "I'm sorry, comrade Colonel, all the cars of our brigade were handed over to the 51st Army, and the soldiers could only rely on their own legs to rush on their way."
"Hello, comrade Lieutenant Colonel." The Chief of Staff stepped forward and shook hands with Karapeqiang, and said in understanding: "Without the car, it will definitely affect your marching speed. When the soldiers have a good rest, we will attack Karachi again."
Karapeqiang heard something was wrong from the Chief of Staff’s words, and frowned and asked, “Why, Comrade Chief of Staff, have you already launched an attack on Karachi?”
"Yes." The tank brigade commander said in shame: "Without the cover of infantry, the tanks we rushed into the city were killed by the German anti-tank hands. But now that you are here, I think we have greater confidence in seizing the city. By the way, when can you launch an attack on the city?"
The Mechanized Brigade had just arrived at the periphery of Karachi, and the soldiers had already become exhausted. It was obviously unwise to launch an attack at this moment. After calculating silently in his heart, Karapeqiang replied: "It is expected to take three hours before the attack on Karachi will be launched."
"What, it will take three hours?" The tank brigade commander widened his eyes in surprise when he heard Karapeqiang say this: "Lieutenant Colonel, have you ever thought about what would happen if the commander knew that we were not going to attack for a long time?"
"There is no way, comrade Colonel." After Karapeqiang and the tank brigade commander finished speaking, he spread his hands, shrugged his shoulders, and said helplessly: "The soldiers are very tired now and cannot launch a hasty attack. They can only wait for them to recover a little bit before they have the chance to achieve their goals in one go."
Although Karapeqiang has already said this, the tank brigade commander also knew that he was talking about the truth. He could think that he had almost two tank companies reimbursed during the attack just now, and he felt as if he was cut off. After a moment of silence, he shook his head and said, "No, Lieutenant Colonel Karapeqiang, I think three hours are too long, I can only give you an hour of rest. After an hour, I hope to see the battle against Karachi start again."
"Comrade Colonel," Kalapechan explained to the tank brigade commander patiently: "In the snow at night, there may be one-fifth of the soldiers who fall behind in our brigade. What I said is to wait for these soldiers who fall behind to arrive. Three hours of rest is the minimum, and this is to ensure that we will succeed in the attack."
Karapeqiang's words calmed down the tank brigade commander, and he felt that the other party made sense. More than two hours ago, the reason why he failed to attack Karachi was because he was too eager to succeed. If he urged the Mechanized Brigade to rush into the battle this time, the final outcome would probably not be too wonderful.
Seeing that both of them were not speaking, the Chief of Staff quickly came out to help Karapeqiang's helping: "Comrade Brigade Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Karapeqiang is right. He has to wait until the commanders and soldiers of the Mechanized Brigade arrive before entering the battle, so that the chance of seizing the city will be greater. I think that since we have been waiting for so long, we don't care about waiting for two or three hours. Besides, it was already dawn at that time, and the soldiers could see clearly the enemies hiding nearby when attacking and effectively eliminate them."
Seeing that his chief of staff was also helping Karapeqiang speak, the tank brigade commander stared at Karachi, who was shrouded in the darkness and asked Karapeqiang: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if we launch an attack in three hours, do you think it will be successful?"
"The chance of success is very high." Karapeqiang did not give the tank brigade commander an accurate reply: "After dawn, the commander will arrive with the 59th and 36th brigades of mechanized brigades. Even if the defenders of Karachiri can block the attack of our brigade and yours, can they still block the attack of a mechanized brigade?"
When the tank brigade commander heard this, he finally made up his mind: "Okay, comrade Lieutenant Colonel. Just as you said, I will give you three hours of rest."
At dawn, the officers and soldiers of the Tank Brigade and the 60th Mechanized Brigade launched another attack on Karachi. Since the German army had no fortifications outside the city, the attacking troops easily rushed into the city.
Unexpectedly, as soon as they entered the city, the German army used mortars and machine guns to attack the infantry following the tanks from the buildings on both sides. The commanders and fighters who had no street fighting were immediately in chaos after being suddenly attacked. The battle lasted less than ten minutes, and the troops rushing into the city were fucked by the German army.
Seeing the troops' attack failure, the tank brigade commander was a little anxious. He said to Carape in a powerful voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, look at your soldiers. Once they were attacked by the German army, they were in chaos. Not only did they not serve as a cover for the tank, but they ran around the streets, making our tanks dare not move or fire at will, and they became targets for the German anti-tank hands."
"I'm sorry, comrade Colonel." Seeing that his troops performed so poorly in the battle, Karapeqiang felt very ashamed: "My troops have just been formed, and the commanders and soldiers have only fought regular positional offensive and defensive battles, and are still very unfamiliar with urban street fighting, so they will inevitably panic in the battle."
Before the tank brigade commander could strike again, the communications soldier on the side reported to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the commander is going to talk to you."
As soon as the tank brigade commander put on his headphones, he heard Volsky's voice coming from it: "Comrade Colonel, what's the situation? Have you taken Karachi?"
"No, comrade Commander." The tank brigade commander heard Wolsky's question and replied bitterly: "We launched two attacks on the city, but neither of them succeeded. Now the troops are gathering again and are ready to launch another attack."
Wolsky was still a little disappointed when he learned that his troops could not capture Karachi. However, he did not blame the other party, but said to the tank brigade commander: "Comrade Colonel, stop the attack temporarily. It is not too late to launch an attack on the enemy after the mechanized 59th and 36th Brigades arrive."
"I understand, comrade Commander." The tank brigade commander took a certain amount of time to reassemble the troops, so he readily accepted Wolsky's order: "I immediately understand that the troops suspend the attack and wait patiently for the arrival of the subsequent troops."
After dawn, Colonel Stensky's 59th Mechanized Brigade, who arrived first, said hello to Karapechan and the commander of the tank brigade, stood at the window of the temporary observation room, raised his telescope and looked at Karachi in the distance. After looking for a while, he put down his telescope and asked, "Where are you attacking the city from?"
"South." The tank brigade commander and Karapeqiang answered in unison.
"It is not enough to attack from one direction alone, so that the enemy can calmly focus the defense on the south." Skensky shook his head and said, "I think it should launch an attack from the east or the north."
"Comrade Colonel," after the tank brigade commander waited for Skensky to finish his speech, he asked politely: "I wonder where you plan to attack?"
"Near my brigade, launching an attack on the city from the north." Skensky said without hesitation: "As for the attack on the east, it will be completed by the mechanized 36th Brigade that follows behind."
As he was talking, Lieutenant Colonel Rodionov, the commander of the 36th Brigade, also arrived with his troops. After listening to Skensky's proposal, he did not immediately express his opinion, but held the telescope and observed Karachi for a long time. After putting down the telescope, he said to the tank brigade commander: "Comrade Colonel, I have a request, I don't know whether to say it or not."
When the tank brigade commander heard Rodionov say this, he became a little anxious: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, just ask if you have any questions. As long as I know, I will tell you."
"I think to seize the city, I need to get the support of artillery fire." After Rodioff said this, he saw the three of them smiling bitterly, and then said, "I know that the artillery is still far behind us, and I'm afraid it won't be able to get there for a while. Therefore, I suggest sending at least one tank company to the high ground on the right bank, and using tank guns to bombard the fire points in the city or the positions where the enemy gathers, to provide artillery fire support for the troops attacking the city."
After Rotioff's reminder, the three commanders quickly raised their telescopes and looked at the high ground on the right bank of the Don River. They were all experienced commanders. After looking at the high ground and then looking at the location of Karachi, they all felt that the plan Rotioff said was completely feasible.
After the tank brigade commander put down his telescope, he turned his head to his chief of staff and said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, immediately lead two tank companies to the high ground on the other side, and carry out artillery bombardment at the German fire points or the positions where troops gather in Karachi."
The chief of staff of the brigade agreed and took a three-wheeled motorcycle to the Don River Bridge. He drew two companies from the tank battalion that was guarding the bridge and rushed to the high ground to establish a shooting position.
By the time the two tank companies were in place on the high ground on the right bank, three mechanized brigades had entered the attack position. As a red signal flare representing the attack rose into the air, the Soviet army launched an attack on the city from three directions at the same time.
The German army tried to use the same trick to stop the Soviet army's attack. However, the number of Soviet troops attacking the city was too large, and the offensive was launched in three directions, making the enemy unable to defend. The city defense commander finally assembled a reserve force to launch a counterattack against the Soviet army, and was bombarded by fierce tank artillery fire from the right bank, causing heavy losses to the officers and soldiers.
The battle lasted until 11:00 noon. Seeing that the situation was over, the German city defense commander ordered his subordinates to stop resisting and put down their weapons to surrender to the Soviet army. The German officers and soldiers who had been unable to support them had been given an amnesty after receiving the order from the city defense commander. They stopped shooting at the Soviet army one after another, stretched out the white flag that had been prepared out of the window, shaking desperately, and surrendered to the Soviet army outside.
Chapter completed!