Two days later, the German army appeared again in the defense zone of the 1st Battalion of the 122nd Regiment. This time, the enemy was no longer a dozen scouts riding motorcycles, but a squadron of infantry covered by tanks and armored vehicles.
Seeing clearly that the enemy was gathering in the distance, Captain Vasily quickly picked up the phone and reported to the regiment commander Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko: "Comrade Commander, there are a large number of German tanks and infantry appearing on the front of my battalion. They are gathering, as if they are preparing to attack us."
"I understand." Papuqinko replied briefly after hearing this: "Correspondence on the enemy. Once they have any new trends, they will report to the regiment headquarters in time."
After finishing the call with Captain Vasily, Papchinko answered the division headquarters and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I have just received a report from the first battalion commander. On the front of their defensive positions, there were a large number of German tanks and infantry gathering, and it seemed that they were preparing to launch an attack."
When Sokov heard that the information came from the first battalion, he naturally believed the authenticity of the information. After Papuqinko finished speaking, he immediately said: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, let the soldiers enter the position and prepare for battle. I'm afraid that a fierce battle will take place in no time."
"Comrade Commander, our regiment lacks enough anti-tank weapons. Can you please give us some support?"
Before learning that the German army had appeared, Sokov was always very anxious, but his mood became calm at this moment. After listening to Papchinko's request, he said lightly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, have you forgotten the bazooka equipped in your regiment? That is the strongest individual anti-tank weapon of this era. Although there are not many, it is still not a big problem to kill twenty or thirty German tanks."
"What about artillery and tanks?" Papchinko felt that there were no artillery and tanks behind him, so he was a little confident: "When can they provide us with artillery support?"
"Don't worry, we will provide you with artillery support at the right time." Sokov felt that Papchinko had become a little panicked because of the sudden appearance of the German army, so he comforted him and said: "The power of the 100 new rockets equipped by the first and second battalions is not inferior to that of an artillery regiment. These rockets are enough to send thousands of German soldiers to their God."
Before hanging up the phone, Sokov once again told him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you are the leader of the regiment, and you have more than 4,000 commanders and soldiers under your command. Don't affect your morale and morale because of your panic. If the situation is dangerous, just call me and I will help you."
"Comrade Commander," Anisimov, who was standing beside him, asked in confusion when he heard what Sokov said: "I don't understand. We can clearly provide artillery support for the 122nd Guards Regiment, why do you refuse?"
"Comrade Political Commissar, I do not agree with the reasons for using artillery fire too early. There are two aspects." Seeing Anisimov's puzzled, Sokov explained to him: "First, our frontier troops have a large number of new rockets and rocket launchers, which are the weapon of the enemy's infantry and tanks; second, the number of tanks and artillery we have is limited. If we use tanks and self-propelled artillery during the first battle, we will expose our strength."
"Comrade Commander, I want to ask, will the enemy be distracted by our false positions?" Cidolin asked cautiously: "If we cannot distract our enemy, will our efforts be wasted?"
"Even if the fake positions cannot work this time, it does not mean that they cannot work in the future." Sokov explained to Cidolin: "Maybe the next time the Germans attack, they will concentrate artillery bombardment or bombard our positions with aircraft. At that time, these fake positions arranged not long ago will be used."
The frontier battle began soon.
The German army was not sure how much troops the Soviet army had deployed in the direction of Luhansk, so before the attack, there was no artillery bombardment. The infantry rushed towards the position of the first battalion under the cover of tanks.
Captain Vasily stood in his command post, holding a telescope and looking at the German tanks getting closer and closer. He couldn't help but feel excited. He didn't know whether the minefield in front of the position could slow down the German tanks' advance speed. He put down the telescope, picked up the phone, and connected the company's command post of the second company. He asked Guchakov, who was answering the phone with some confidence: "Captain, how many anti-tank mines are buried in front of your position?"
"There are twenty." Guchakov reported to Vasily while observing the approaching German tanks, "From the route of enemy tanks, at least five tanks will be crushed with anti-tank mines."
Before he could finish his words, a dull explosion came from a distance. A moving German tank was blocked by the rising snow powder and soil. When the snow powder and soil fell, Guchakov clearly saw the tank rolling smoke from the bottom. He quickly reported to Vasily: "Comrade Battalion Commander, a tank has touched a mine. I didn't see anyone escaping from inside. It seems that the German tank soldiers were all reimbursed."
"I saw it, comrade Captain." Seeing the mines buried in the Second Company and easily killed a German tank, Vasily felt relaxed. He thought to himself: There is nothing scary about the German tanks. We not only have anti-tank mines, but also new rocket launchers. As long as we kill the German tanks, their infantry will not be worrying. The dozens of new rockets equipped in our battalion are enough to blow these German infantry up to blood.
Less than a minute after the first tank was blown up by a mine, another tank was crushed onto the mine. This time, the ammunition in the car exploded. The turret that was blown away fell into the snow not far away, and it hit an anti-tank mine without bias, causing another explosion and was blasted into the air again.
Two tanks were blown up, and the remaining German tanks stopped in place. They shot aimlessly towards the position of the Second Company, waiting patiently for the engineers behind to clear mines for them.
After discovering the German army's intentions, Guchakov quickly called a communications soldier and told him: "You go and notify the sniper team on the position. If you find that the German engineers appear, kill them immediately. You must not let them clear mines."
After a loud reply, the communications soldier turned around and ran out of the command post.
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Guchakov said to the microphone: "The enemy's tanks were frightened by our mines. They dared not move forward any further. They were probably waiting for the engineers behind to come to clear the mines. I have given orders to the snipers. As long as I see the engineers of the enemy, they will kill them immediately. They must not let them clear the mines!"
"Captain Guchakov, your decision is correct." Vasily said with relief after listening to Guchakov's report: "As long as their engineers are destroyed, the enemy's tanks will not dare to advance. Without tanks as guidance, the German infantry will not be able to break through our defense at all."
"That's right, right." Seeing that the enemy's tanks were stagnant, Guchakov also said with a relaxed expression: "From the current situation, we only need to use a few snipers to prevent the enemy from moving forward."