When the second platoon leader led the soldiers to the first platoon, with the help of the light emitted by the logs that were emitting flames, he saw clearly that many German soldiers had rushed into the position and were fighting with his comrades. He quickly shouted: "Comrades, drive the enemy out of the trenches." After shouting, he raised his hand and shot down a German soldier rushing over.
The casualties of the first row of soldiers were not too great in the battle, but after they found that the Germans had rushed into the trenches, they seemed a little panicked. Just as they were struggling to support, they saw the comrades in the second row shouting and rushed up, and their morale was suddenly boosted. In just a few minutes, more than 30 German soldiers who rushed into the trenches either died in battle or became prisoners. After destroying the enemies in the trenches, the soldiers rushed to their shooting positions and shot at the enemies rushing to the positions.
Seeing that the attack could not work, the surviving German officers and soldiers retreated back to the river bank. They were preparing to wait for reinforcements across the river to arrive before launching an attack on the Soviet position. After all, in the attack not long ago, they once broke through the Soviet position. If there were more troops at that time, they might have gained a foothold in the position.
However, the wooden boats they were riding in were still in the center of the river, and suddenly screamed in the sky. When the idea of "The Russians started shelling" flashed through the minds of the German officers and soldiers on the river bank, the river surface was already blown up by the sudden artillery shells. Amid the violent explosion, water columns soared into the sky, causing the hull to shake violently in the river. The wooden boats hit by the shells were instantly blown into pieces. Seeing that the situation was not good, the soldiers on the boat jumped into the ship to escape, and fluttered desperately in the river like a pot. The officers and soldiers with good water and good life swam back to the other side, but more people drowned in the flutter or were killed by the shells.
The German officers and soldiers who remained on the river bank saw that the reinforcements were almost destroyed by the sudden artillery fire. They were afraid that the next artillery fire would fall on them, so they dared not stay there. They shouted and fled to the upstream and downstream respectively.
The second platoon leader on the position saw that the German army on the river bank was scared away by artillery fire. After discussing with the first platoon leader, he called Grissa for instructions: "Comrade Commander, our artillery fire destroyed the German reinforcements. The enemy who stayed on the river bank saw that the situation was not good, had already fled in all directions. Look, should we attack immediately?"
"Strike?" Grissa heard the second platoon leader say this and sneered: "Since the German army has escaped, how can we chase after it in the dark? Also, how can we let our soldiers pass through the flooded area hundreds of meters in front of the position?"
Seeing that his request was rejected, the second platoon leader blushed and asked, "What should we do?"
"Treat the wounded, repair fortifications, and count the ammunition consumption of the troops." Grissa told the other party: "In addition, after dawn, send people to the position to count the results and figure out how many enemies have been eliminated."
As soon as the sky was dawn, Grissa called Sokov and reported the detailed results to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, in the battle in the early morning, we killed 213 German troops. As for the number of German troops killed by our artillery fire in the river, it is impossible to count, but the number is estimated to be less than 100. Three mortars, 2 MG34 machine guns, 157 rifles, 7 pistols and 31 submachine guns were seized..."
"Lt. Grissa, you have reported the results of the battle. Next, tell me, how many people have you suffered casualties in this battle?" Sokov asked with a stern face after Grissa finished speaking, "Also, how much ammunition have you consumed?"
"I sacrificed 34 people in the battle and injured 41 people. As for ammunition," Grissa said it quite smoothly when reporting the number of casualties, but when talking about the ammunition consumed, he became hesitant: "It consumed more than I expected."
"More than you expected?" Sokov immediately raised his voice when he heard Grissa say this, and asked, "Lt. Grissa, I want to know the exact number."
Grissa hesitated for a moment, and finally spoke: "In this battle, we consumed more than 49,000 bullets in a row."
"What? It consumed 49,000 bullets?" Although Sokov considered that the number of new recruits in the Grissa Company wasted bullets during the battle, he never dreamed that such a small-strength battle would consume nearly 50,000 bullets, which was equivalent to each soldier in the company firing one hundred bullets. Sokov thought of the red army of China, each soldier had only five bullets in his gun. When charging, he fired one shot for a period of time. After three shots, he brought two remaining bullets to fight the Japanese invaders for bayonets. If they could have such a huge number of bullets, they could at least eliminate more than ten times more enemies.
The muscles on Sokov's face twitched violently, then suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "Lt. Grissa, I want to ask, why do you consume so many bullets?"
Faced with Sokov's questioning, Grissa blushed and replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you also know that the recruits in my company account for three-quarters. They have no combat experience. Only by firing constantly during the battle can they resolve their fears. Especially the new soldiers who use submachine guns, they almost kept pulling the trigger. The 71-round drums were all shot in just a dozen seconds."
After listening to Grissa's explanation, Sokov thought that if he had not found German weapons and Soviet standard weapons in the occupied German warehouse, then if the war continued today, the commanders and fighters of the 1st Battalion, the following battle could only hold rifles without bullets and fight with the enemy for bayonets.
"Lieutenant Grissa, since your company has suffered such great casualties, please withdraw and rest for a few days." Sokov considered that Grissa's company had too many new recruits, so that the combat effectiveness of the troops was sparse, so he decided to replace them and rest and hurry up to train so that he would not waste ammunition in the next battle. "I will let Captain Vasily send a company to take over your defense."
"Comrade Brigade Commander, you can't do this!" Hearing that Sokov was about to replace his company and rest, Grissa became anxious: "Although our company has made some sacrifices in the battle, we still have enough strength to stick to our existing positions. Comrade Brigade Commander, please don't take us down."
"This is an order, there is no room for bargaining." Sokov said in an unquestionable tone to Grissa's plea: "Prepare to execute it now!" After finishing the call with Grissa, Sokov picked up another phone and answered the second battalion headquarters. "I am Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, let Captain Vasily answer the phone. I have important things to find him."