Ten minutes before the battle started, all commanders at regiment level and above gathered at Sokov's forward headquarters. Seeing these school-level officers dangling in front of him, Sokov felt evil in his heart.
I thought: If a shell fell at this moment, not only would all the division-level commanders of the 31st Guards Division be wiped out, but they would also take the lives of two artillery regiment commanders and a tank brigade commander.
However, this thought only flashed through his mind. If a shell really fell, the lives of others would not be saved, and he would not be able to escape the same fate. Sokov calmed down and asked his three commanders: "You all
Are you ready?"
"Ready, comrade division commander." The three regiment leaders replied in unison.
When his eyes turned to Lyabinkin and Peter, before he could speak, Lyabinkin had already smiled and said: "Comrade Major, we are also ready. We only need to give your order to attack the enemy."
The position opened fire."
Sokov nodded slightly at Lyabinkin, and then turned his attention to Colonel Gustov, who was a little repelled by him: "Comrade Colonel, have all your tank brigades entered the starting point?"
"Yes, Comrade Major. All 31 tanks in the brigade have entered the designated positions. We are just waiting for the time to lead the infantry to attack." After Gustov said these words dryly, in order to ease the atmosphere
, he continued: "But my tank only carries high-explosive bombs. It can destroy the enemy's fortifications and eliminate the enemy's infantry. But if it encounters the enemy's tank, I will have nothing to do."
"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Sokov replied with a smile: "Since the German army did not invest tanks in the battles in the past few days, I believe that your tank brigade will not encounter enemy tanks in today's battle.
Your mission is to use the tracks to crush the fortifications along the way and destroy those enemies who dare to resist."
"Don't worry, Comrade Major." Gustov also replied with a smile: "I will convey your order to every tank soldier."
Sokov raised his wrist to check the time, and then said to everyone: "Comrade commanders, it's almost time. Let's go back to our respective units and make final preparations before the attack."
As the minute hand on the watch pointed to the twelve position, Sokov nodded to Potukin who was holding the microphone aside, indicating that the artillery bombardment could begin. Potukin, who understood and understood, quickly said into the microphone: "The division commander's order: fire~
!”
Just ten or twenty seconds later, the roar of artillery was heard outside. Sokov walked to the lookout, raised his binoculars and looked at the German positions in the distance, only to see that the enemy's forward positions had been shrouded.
Amidst the smoke, it seemed that the artillery power of the two artillery regiments was really not weak.
After Potukin put down the phone, he walked to Sokov's side, raised his telescope and looked into the distance, and asked with some worry: "Comrade Division Commander, can the tactics we use really capture the German outer positions?"
?”
Sokov, who was observing the enemy's situation, heard Potukin's question and replied without looking back: "I think it should be effective. If this still fails to capture the enemy's position, then we can only attack the infantry corps."
That’s how we carried out a forceful attack.”
Five minutes passed quickly, but when the artillery fire began to extend, the commanders and fighters of the 1137th Regiment, who were already ready to attack, launched a charge towards the enemy's position under the guidance of the tanks of the tank brigade.
In order to ensure that the infantry could keep up with its own speed, the tanks drove very slowly. The infantry followed the tanks step by step in platoon units and rushed towards the enemy's position.
Before the troops could approach the enemy's forward position, the phone on the table suddenly rang. Sokov put down his binoculars and turned to look at the ringing phone, wondering who was calling just after the battle.
What? He walked over, picked up the phone, and said: "I am Major Sokov, where are you?"
"I am Ma Lining." Ma Lining's questioning voice came from the receiver, "Comrade Commander asked me to ask you, what did you do? Why did you only bombard the German first line of defense for a few minutes and then extend the artillery fire?
? And before the artillery fire stopped, the infantry launched a charge under the cover of the tanks. What on earth is going on?"
Facing a series of questions from Malinin, Sokov calmly replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I reported to Comrade Commander yesterday that the enemy usually retreats to the second line of defense when being shelled by our army.
After our army's bombardment was over, they returned through the communication trenches. This time I took advantage of the situation and bombarded the first line of defense for five minutes. After the enemy retreated to the second line of defense, I then extended the artillery fire to eliminate the enemy as much as possible.
At the same time, I ordered the troops to decisively launch a charge at the enemy's favorable opportunity to avoid shelling, so as to achieve maximum results with minimum casualties."
After listening patiently to Sokov's words, Malinin nodded slightly and said: "I understand, Major Sokov, I will convey your original words to the comrade commander. I wish you good luck!"
Putting down the phone, Sokov returned to the lookout, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. He saw that the tanks had crushed all the barbed wire fences along the way under their tracks, and they were only one or two hundred meters away from the first German position.
.At this moment, a tank suddenly stopped. Just as Sokov was wondering, a nearly one-meter-long flame appeared from the muzzle. The shell fell into the German trench, and then an explosion occurred.
In the smoke, a German soldier could be seen dancing and flying into the sky, then falling to pieces.
Seeing this scene, the corners of Sokov's mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly. He shook his head and said angrily and funny: "These tank soldiers! The enemies who can clearly be killed with directional machine guns actually have to use tank shelling, as if they
It seems like there is no end to the cannonballs we carry.”
Potukin put down his telescope and said to Sokov with a smile: "Comrade division commander, I think these tank soldiers did it right. The German soldiers killed by the tank guns should be the enemy's observation posts in the first line of defense. If they use
Machine gun fire may not be able to kill him. Now a shell flies over and blasts him into the sky, so that the commanders and soldiers who are attacking can clearly see it, which is very helpful in improving morale."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right." Sokov agreed with Potukin's statement. He knew very well that even if the tank crew killed the enemy's observation post with a machine gun, only a few soldiers would see it.
.Now a single shot sent him to the west, but it can be seen by almost all the soldiers participating in the battle. The improvement in morale is self-evident. Watching the powerful commanders and soldiers follow the tank and shoot towards the enemy
Rushing to the position, he couldn't help but say with emotion: "The tank brigade fired for the first time and killed an enemy with a tank gun. The effect produced seems to be very good."
It didn't take long for the commanders and fighters of the 1137th Regiment to occupy the first German position. Except for a few people left to hold on to their positions, they continued to follow the tanks and move towards the second line of defense, which was still under shelling.
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch again, and found that there were only two minutes left before the bombardment ended. He quickly turned around and walked to the telephone, picked up the microphone and asked the communications soldier to connect to the 1135th Regiment. He heard a voice coming from inside.
When he came out, he said decisively: "Colonel Bindasov, it's your turn."
When Bindasov saw Pavel's troops successfully occupying the first German position and advancing deeper into the enemy, he felt extremely envious. At this moment, when he heard Sokov's order, he immediately responded loudly.
Said: "Understood, comrade division commander, we will attack immediately."
A few kilometers away from Sokov's command post, a group of commanders were staying in an observation post built on high ground, using telescopes to observe the situation on the battlefield. If Sokov was here, he would definitely be surprised.
It was discovered that in addition to Rokossovsky and other group army leaders, General Zhukov, commander of the Western Front, was also among them.
Zhukov saw that the artillery bombarded the German positions for only a few minutes before they began to fire extended shots, and the infantry also followed behind the tanks. He was very curious about this new style of fighting, so he ordered Malinin to send Sokov
I called and found out what was going on.
Now when he saw the commanders and fighters of the 1137th Regiment occupying the German first line of defense almost without a fight, without any pause, and launching an attack deep into the enemy, a rare smile appeared on his usually serious face. He put down his binoculars
, looking at Rokossovsky standing next to him, he called the opponent by his nickname and said: "Koschka, it seems that this little Misha is not simple. He actually occupied the first line of defense of the German army like this."
"Yes, he is full of clever ideas." Regarding Zhukov's statement, Rokossovsky nodded in agreement: "If he had ordered his troops to attack Zizdra earlier, maybe the losses we would have suffered would have been smaller.
many."
"It seems that the commanders and fighters of the 31st Guards Division will have no problem in seizing the German outer positions." Zhukov said with a sigh: "I just don't know if they can still perform as well as they do now in street fighting.
so good."
"Don't worry, Comrade Zhukov." Rokossovsky looked at Zhukov and said with a smile: "I talked to Misha during the military meeting yesterday, although he did not tell me in detail how to deal with it.
The German army is fighting in the streets, but from the look on his face, I'm afraid he already has a detailed plan in mind, so we'll just wait here for good news about him."
"I think, in order to speed up his victory, we should help him." After Zhukov finished speaking, he called a staff officer who came with him and ordered him: "Immediately, in my name, give the Air Force Group
The commander gave an order to immediately dispatch a fighter squadron and a bomber group to Zizdra for support."
After the staff walked away, Zhukov explained to Rokossovsky: "After Mischa's troops occupy the German outer positions, the enemy will definitely retaliate. Therefore, I asked the air force to dispatch to support him, and the fighter planes can repel the enemy."
The incoming German aircraft and bombers can bomb targets deep within the German army, such as artillery positions."
Hearing what Zhukov said, Rokossovsky felt a little sour in his heart. He secretly said that when he attacked two days ago, he asked Zhukov for air support, but was rejected by the other party. Now he only saw Sokov's troops.
After occupying a German position, they rushed to send out air force support. The gap between the two must be too big.
Although he was a little jealous of Zhukov's preference for Sokov, Rokossovsky thought that the other party was his subordinate after all, and Zhukov's support for him was equivalent to his support. Therefore, when Zhukov finished speaking, he laughed
He said: "Comrade General, don't worry. If Major Sokov's troops are in danger, our other troops will not stand idly by and we will provide timely support."
When the infantry following the tank charge were less than 50 meters away from the second German position, the artillery regiment's shelling stopped. Although many artillery shells missed and landed ten or twenty meters in front of the attacking team.
There was an explosion somewhere, but fortunately the shrapnel hit the tank, and the infantry following behind did not suffer any damage.
The German army never dreamed that the Soviet army would launch artillery fire a few minutes after shelling the first line of defense. Those officers and soldiers who had just retreated along the communication trenches from the first line of defense suffered heavy losses under the intensive artillery fire.
They finally waited until the bombardment stopped, but before they could recover, they felt the ground beneath their feet shaking slightly. A German machine gunner curiously looked out from the trench and saw Soviet tanks lined up in neat rows.
The shape rushed up, and behind the tank, groups of infantry could be clearly seen.
Seeing the Soviet troops rushing up, the machine gunner quickly turned to his colleagues who were still running out of the dirt and shouted: "The Russians are coming, the Russians are coming!" After shouting several times, he found that he had no idea what he was doing.
He couldn't hear any sound. His ears had been deafened by the shelling just now.
The machine gunner quickly mounted the MG34 machine gun on the trench that was riddled with holes, aimed at the overcoming Soviet tank, and suddenly pulled the trigger. A series of bullets flew out, hitting the tank body like hail and clanking,
But it can't slow down the tank's speed at all.
The tank that was strafed stopped, slowly rotated the turret, aimed at the position of the German machine gunner and fired a shot. There was a loud "boom", the gunfire sprayed out a long flame, and the shell accurately hit the fire point.
, the machine gun that was shooting wildly was blown into a pile of parts, and the machine gunner operating the machine gun was blown to pieces.
The commanders and soldiers following the tank saw that they were not far away from the enemy's position, so they rushed out from behind the tank, crossed the tank in groups, and rushed towards the enemy's position with shouts.
