After repelling the attacking German troops, Roshakov's troops immediately began to strengthen the defense of the city.
There is no other reason, the enemy never left.
"The Germans are camped five kilometers outside our city, and their artillery barrels are still aimed at us. But we are completely powerless." Roshakov said regretfully to everyone, as he said, as long as the enemy still has artillery shells,
You can fight however you want.
The Soviet army's large-caliber howitzers have a maximum range of two kilometers, while the German 15o mm-caliber howitzers can fire up to ten kilometers quite normally. As for why they stopped firing, the only explanation is that they don't have enough shells.
However, rather than sit back and wait for death, the morale of the troops will be dampened.
After contacting the division headquarters and Yang Mingzhi's headquarters, the order they received was still to hold on to the city.
"According to the plan, if the prisoner rescue is successful, your mission will be over, and you should exit Homnich. But now the battle situation has greatly deviated from what was expected, and the enemy is weaker than expected. I have decided to expand the results, and you continue to think of ways
Delay the German troops of the two regiments in front of you until you receive the order to retreat." This was the deputy division commander's order. Rosakov must obey it and promised to stick to it to the end.
The soldiers continued to build stronger fortifications. Each machine gun fort was built with gravel and wood, and piled with snow. From a distance, these were just common small snow hills, but they were actually fortifications.
.
Different from the work of the soldiers, the two important commanders Roshakov and Kravsky summoned all the officers to the basement.
This was not a simple meeting, Roshakov had a new plan.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, he said with a straight face: "I won't say any more nonsense. The division headquarters ordered us that when the war situation is still unclear, we cannot evacuate the city without authorization. The rescue operation has been successful, and Comrade Deputy Division Commander plans to expand the results.
Because we must hold back the enemy in front of us and prevent them from retreating toward Lechica one by one."
"Isn't it possible? Which city has the deputy division commander decided to attack?" a company commander asked in surprise.
"That's exactly what it means, so we must think of a way to tell the enemy in front of us. Even if you don't come to attack me, I will attack you and hold you back. None of you are allowed to run!"
It was like announcing that an active attack was about to take place, and everyone's emotions were suddenly aroused.
"Captain! Beat him!"
"That's right! Instead of being attacked by enemy artillery fire at any time, we might as well take the initiative and destroy those damn artillery pieces!"
…
Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Roshakov felt itchy in his heart. "Okay! Since everyone has decided to fight, and no one among us objects, then we will attack. But before that, we must determine a careful action plan."
Two battles took place almost at the same time. One was when Yang Mingzhi burned down the Khaniskaya military station, and the other was when Roshakov took the initiative to counterattack.
After everyone's discussion, the target of the battle was fixed on the German artillery pieces. They were really hateful, and everyone did not want to be suddenly bombarded. Because, in the initial battle to harass Homnich, the Soviet troops frequently fired at them at night.
They fired artillery on the city and then retreated after the attack, which made the German army tireless and spent every day in fear.
To this end, the enemy's threat must be eliminated, and the troops still carry out their specialty - night attack. Send elite troops to take advantage of the night, destroy the enemy's artillery positions and then retreat. If the enemy counterattacks, then retreat while fighting.
So what kind of talents are elite troops? Roshakov and Kravsky are very self-aware. The most elite soldiers in the division are being led by deputy division commander Belekov. They are actually so crazy that they are almost arrogant in planning to attack Lechica!
In their opinion, the deputy division commander's best skills are long-distance raids and night raids, and they must be carried out at around three in the morning. In any night raid, the troops at the front are always marching forward with submachine guns in hand, often lacking in firepower.
Suppress the enemy.
Because the unit responsible for the offensive was Kravsky's battalion, and he was also the temporary deputy commander of this unit. The troops exchanged weapons, and Kravsky's unit received a large number of submachine guns and organized an assault battalion. In addition to
Automatic firepower, each person also carried at least four grenades. Some soldiers carrying rocket launchers, and a platoon from the artillery company with several small-caliber mortars also planned to participate in the operation.
The offensive started at three o'clock in the morning, and the assault battalion went out at one o'clock in the morning.
Klavsky was confident that he could seize the enemy's artillery positions and the troops would be able to return after a short walk.
His self-confidence became the morale of the soldiers, and everyone had been holding back their energy. This battle was not to prove themselves. Even if he later joined this infantry division bearing the title of Guards, since he joined, his combat ability
and will not disgrace the name "Konoe".
"Everyone adopts an offensive formation, and each combat group is at least thirty meters apart. No whispering is allowed before the battle begins." Klavsky ordered as he advanced.
On the other hand, Roshakov and others also set up Plan B. Once the battle situation on the frontline changed, fire support would be provided from the rear. More than a thousand people in Homnich were also ordered to prepare for battle.
On the contrary to the advancing Soviet army, the morale of the German army was very low due to the defeat and diseases caused by the cold.
The German commanders Hoffmann and Freud were ordered to stand outside the city of Homnich and be on guard against the Soviet troops occupying Homnich advancing towards Lechica.
But this was completely a misunderstanding. The Soviet army was worried that the two German regiments would rush to help Lechica, while the German army was worried that these two regiments would withdraw and Lechica would be violently attacked by the Soviet army. Both sides surrounded the small town of Homnich.
This small town, no matter how small, suddenly had a confrontation with as many as 7,000 people. Now it was up to the Soviet army to break the military balance.
The German soldiers slept in their own comfort zone one by one. There was no need to go to war or head-to-head confrontation with the Soviet army, and cruel street fighting would not have happened. As long as they did not die fearlessly, even the cold was bearable. Many German soldiers had very simple ideas.
, since the Soviets did not take the initiative to launch a large-scale attack, they were happy to obey orders and continue to defend.
The German army still set up several machine gun forts in the artillery positions, but the cold temperature at night and exhaustion made the defenders drowsy.
Not far behind the artillery position, there were a large number of tents, which were the German barracks. The maned army horses were not afraid of the cold, they knelt down to sleep, and the whole camp was very quiet.
The moonlight was not very bright. On this cloudy day, the Soviet army was dispatched.
They were like the city of Troy attacking Agamemnon's beach camp at night. Without warning, the Soviet army had already touched the artillery position.
The soldiers directly used the Mosin Nagant as a short spear and stabbed the sleeping defenders to death. Due to the negligence of the German army, large-caliber heavy artillery was captured by the Soviet army.
"They are really violent guys!" Klavsky patted the cannon body and ordered: "The first company is responsible for exploding the artillery. The second and third companies will advance two hundred meters to establish defensive positions and prepare grenades.
While blowing up the artillery, you are responsible for bombing the enemy's camp."
The soldiers immediately started to explode, and when they were exploding the artillery, they also discovered the German army's trick - there was only one shell left in each cannon, and it was placed stupidly next to the artillery.
The soldiers were dumbfounded now. If there was an accident while exploding the artillery and they were killed, their limbs would be scattered over an area of one square kilometer.
However, he did not dare to disobey the order, and informed Klavsky truthfully of the situation.
"What's going on? I ordered you to blow up the artillery. Why haven't you done it now?" Kravsky was lying in the snow nest, holding a submachine gun in his arms, looking extremely anxious.
"Battal Commander! The enemy's heavy artillery shells are right next to the artillery. If they explode, we may all be killed," the soldier said.
"No way!" Klavsky was stunned for a moment, but after a second thought, he ordered: "Then blow up the barrel. As long as there are debris in the barrel, the enemy will explode if he fires."
"Follow the order!" The soldiers immediately began to take action. Several strange explosions were heard in the gun barrel. After that, a large number of grenades were thrown out by the two companies. Can bombs with a large number of fragments were added, and wooden handle grenades were connected in series.
The explosion killed and injured many German soldiers in their sleep.
The explosion woke up Hoffman. His camp was closest to the artillery camp. "Damn it! This is an enemy attack! Everyone, go fight!" He shouted as he rushed out of the camp with a quick step, and the Luger pistol in his hand crackled.
Light magazine.
Seeing that he had succeeded, Klavsky immediately ordered all the soldiers to retreat. No one dared to fight. The assault battalion seemed to have just thrown some grenades and withdrew. In fact, this was not the case, because some artillery appeared to be fine on the surface, but in fact the internal rifling was
It's a mess, and there's even a lot of debris.
Clough ordered everyone who was retreating: "Everyone must use all their strength, if you don't want to be killed by the explosion!"
The soldiers didn't quite understand why the battalion commander said this. Anyway, these words were quite scary, so they just ran away.
Hoffmann and many awakened soldiers were about to fight back, but the Soviet soldiers had already run away, and the machine guns fired aimlessly in the direction of Homnich along with green laser bullets.
Anxiously, he even ordered: "Artillery! Fire two rounds at the city to retaliate for their sneak attack!"
It was a peaceful day, and the artillerymen didn't know that the artillery pieces had been tampered with. Military orders were hard to disobey, and they were all sleepy-eyed. When the artillerymen opened the bolt, there was a little warmth inside, but no one noticed.
When a 150 mm caliber artillery shell was inserted, a violent explosion occurred at the moment of firing. The entire artillery was blown to pieces, and fragments flew everywhere. Many German soldiers lay down with their guns, and the air waves also blew many down.
people, including Hoffman.
He was forcefully blown into the snow, with his upper body exposed, but the shocked soldiers pulled him up.
He was dragged out, his mind filled with anger. "These damn Soviets, when daybreak comes, the entire regiment will attack. I will capture Homnich and kill them all!" (To be continued.) 8