At eleven o'clock sharp, the frontal offensive battle of the 1st Tank Battalion began.
However, this attack was different from the previous one. Its purpose was not to capture Rzhev, but just to attract the attention of the German army or to cover up the voice of the first infantry.
Then, amid gunfire and explosions, the First Battalion began climbing the cliff.
It was still Sergeant Yevdokim who took the lead because he could find his way through the darkness and snow cover.
Ivanovich, who was following closely behind, dug a hole in the snow with an engineer shovel while following behind... This made it easier for those following him to follow.
The weather is very cold. Around eleven at night is the lowest time of the day, and it may drop to minus 50 degrees. Especially on this cliff, there is a mountain wind blowing, and Shulka feels that his only exposed eyelids are cold.
About to be frozen.
But what worries Shulka more is not this, but the fact that he is wearing a thick cotton coat and is fully armed with a rifle, grenades, etc. Under such circumstances, moving along the cracks of the cliff is almost the same as walking on a tightrope.
Ivanovich's idea was indeed good. After adding a few nails, the boots were much more stable when walking on the snow. As for the pain... my feet were so cold that I didn't feel much, so I couldn't feel it at all.
Things went smoothly than expected, except that two soldiers fell down the mountain during the process.
But luckily, they didn't seem to be seriously injured, mainly because there was snow everywhere to act as a buffer, and maybe they hadn't climbed very high yet, so Shulka saw them standing up in the snow after they fell down the mountain.
I got up and joined the climbing team again.
If there was any surprise, it was that when we were about to reach the top of the cliff, we heard a burst of shouting in German.
There are Germans on the top of the cliff?!
This discovery was so frightening that Yevdokim immediately stopped the team and lay down motionless.
Ivanovich had people pass the information to Shulka one after another: "Enemy found!"
This information shocked Shulka. In this case, as long as the Germans threw a few grenades here, it might cause heavy casualties to the first battalion and lead to the failure of the entire combat plan.
But after thinking about it, Shulka responded: "That might be the enemy's artillery observers, go ahead and kill them!"
"Yes!" The soldiers passed the orders one after another.
It makes sense for Shulka to make such a judgment.
If the Germans discovered the movements of the 1st Battalion, then they should not have made any noise to be noticed by Yevdokim and others.
This was the basis for Shulka to order the troops to move forward.
Secondly, the Germans will keep making sounds, probably using radios to guide artillery fire... The top of the cliff is a good artillery observation position.
If this were the case, then there wouldn't be many German troops on the cliff top, and artillery observers would often only need a few people.
It turns out Shulka was right.
This matter was led by the veterans who were leading the way... Under the guidance of Yevdokim, they secretly climbed to the top of the cliff.
It was not easy to find people in the darkness and snow, but the German artillery observers kept shouting, and they even shouted loudly in order to make the other party hear their words clearly amidst the sound of artillery fire.
What they didn't know was that the veteran and others had sneaked up behind them, then suddenly pressed their heads into the snow and stabbed their lungs from the back... The lungs were a bigger target, only
It is necessary to flatten the thorn, then lift it diagonally from the side ribs into the lungs.
The lungs are the respiratory organs, and blood will soon be sucked back through them and fill the mouth and nose, making it impossible to make a sound.
If there is any sound, it is the sound of swallowing when drowning in your own blood.
At this time, the veterans were already very experienced. Unlike in the Brest Fortress, assassinating several sentries required several people to help suppress and stab them several times at the same time to ensure that the other party did not make a sound.
Then the veteran used a flashlight to signal safety below, and the Soviet soldiers climbed up from the cliff one after another.
The people who climbed up first did not attack immediately. They spread out and found a place nearby to lie down... They were all white and it was difficult to blend in with the surrounding snow once they lay down. It was difficult to see anything unless you looked carefully.
On the other side, the German artillerymen were confused because they had lost contact with the artillery observers.
Just as Shurka guessed, the German army was guided by a team of artillery observers for every five guns, which made it easy for them to implement various forms of fire suppression.
The person who commanded this howitzer team was Captain Shalott. He shouted on the walkie-talkie for a while but got no answer, so he shouted to the two communication soldiers next to him: "Soldier, there seems to be something wrong with our artillery observer. Maybe it is."
Their radio station is broken, take your radio station and rush to their location immediately!"
"Yes!" Bauer responded, then took his men and carried the radio on their backs and ran toward the cliff.
Signal soldiers often need to repair lines in the snow, so they are equipped with bamboo slippers that can easily walk in the snow.
These slippers are made very large and are put on the boots like spread-out duck paws and then tied up.
Although it is also inconvenient to move like this, because the force-bearing area is increased, you will not be able to run with one foot deep and one foot shallow as usual, and you will trip over if you are not careful.
On the other hand, communications soldiers are usually very physically demanding.
This is a principle followed by all troops... The most common thing that communications soldiers do is to pull telephone lines on the battlefield or connect telephone lines that have been cut or blown up by the enemy.
Therefore, communications soldiers are not required to have good marksmanship or be smart, but they are required to be able to run, and run far and fast, otherwise they will miss the opportunity to fight.
Sometimes the communication soldiers are even required to climb the telephone poles and complete the wiring with one hand only by relying on their feet and one hand.
This is why, needless to say, even if the communication soldiers are injured or even have one of their hands blown off, they can still complete their wiring tasks.
Ball and his men were experts at this, so they carried a radio on their backs and ran on snow slippers like rabbits towards their destination.
They arrived at their destination in ten minutes, but before they found the artillery observer, they found several figures on the cliff.
"What is that?" the subordinate asked in panic.
Bauer was stunned for a moment, and then ordered: "Pick up your weapon, Fred, the enemy climbed up from the cliff! I will cover you, you should go back and report..."
But before he finished speaking, Ball realized that he was too careless.
White "snowmen" stood around them, and they actually walked into the enemy group without realizing it.