Golikov was still a little confused at first. After he looked at the map for a while and found the location of the cemetery, he asked in surprise and joy: "What? What did you say? You occupied the cemetery?!"
"Yes, Comrade Golikov!" Mikhailovich said: "Hurry up and give the order. The time has come to retake Mamayev Heights!"
Golikov did not hesitate, and immediately turned to Krylov and said: "Organize an attack on Mamayev Heights immediately, the sooner the better!"
"Yes, Comrade Golikov!"
When Krylov passed on the order, Golikov asked Mikhailovich in confusion: "How did you do it?"
"Sewer, Comrade Golikov!" Mikhailovich replied: "The Germans thought we would hold on to the hospital, but in fact we have been preparing to occupy the cemetery!"
"Good idea!" Golikov said with a smile: "So, you have deceived me too!"
"Sorry, Comrade Golikov! We can't risk leaks!"
"No, you are doing the right thing!" Of course Golikov will not mind this, especially since there is hope of retaking Mamayev Heights at this time... This is more important than anything else.
"Hold the cemetery!" Golikov said, "until we take Mamaev Kurgan and reinforce you!"
"Yes, Comrade Golikov!"
Before he finished speaking, the battle on the road started.
It was a German motorized company.
The German troops attacking Mamayev Heights were originally motorized infantry divisions. The characteristic of the motorized infantry divisions was that they were equipped with vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, etc., and could rely on these vehicles to maneuver quickly.
Therefore, as soon as Lieutenant Colonel Edmond discovered that he had been deceived, he immediately sent a quick reaction force to reinforce Mamayev Heights, and the main force followed up from the rear.
According to common sense, the Soviet army should let these quick reaction troops go and launch a surprise attack on the main force in the rear.
But the focus of this battle was to capture Mamayev Heights rather than to ambush the enemy.
This rapid reaction force has a company of more than 100 people. If they are allowed to reach Mamayev Heights, it will be a large reinforcement force for the more than 300 defenders of Mamayev Heights. This is
It will exponentially increase the time for the Soviet army to capture Mamayev Heights and also bring greater danger to the 82nd Infantry Regiment.
Therefore, Shurka made a prompt decision and gave the order to open fire after the German motorized infantry company entered the ambush circle.
The Germans were completely unprepared, so when gunfire rang out along the highway, they immediately panicked.
The first person to be blown over was the three-wheeler who was leading the way.
The German army usually uses tricycles for reconnaissance. The reason is not only that tricycles are highly maneuverable, but also because they are cheap and have good observation capabilities... Even if they are attacked, they only need a few tricycles and three soldiers per vehicle. Compared with
That's much better for cars and armored vehicles.
More importantly, a machine gun mounted on the side seat of a three-wheeler has considerable attack power, and can often independently resolve harassment and ambushes by guerrillas.
But of course they weren't so lucky this time.
Valery pressed the switch, and the explosive package buried in the middle of the road exploded.
Of course, as was Valery's habit, these explosive bags were filled with steel balls, so with a "whoosh" of wind and a "ding" sound of hitting the tricycle, all three tricycles were lost.
It hit the side of the road. One of the vehicles was directly blown over by the explosive charge. It turned several times in the air and then hit a tombstone heavily. The German soldiers on it did not need to think about it to know that their brains had burst.
Then came the scream of rockets, and several rockets exploded the two cars following them into a ball of fire.
The reaction of the German soldiers was quite fast. Those who survived jumped out of the car immediately and organized defense.
But there was no place to defend in the middle of the road, it was completely empty.
On the contrary, the Soviet troops used the cover of tombstones to shoot from both sides.
The tombstones in this cemetery are about 1.5 meters high. The soldiers only need to lean a little to hide in them, and then they can observe and shoot with their guns from the side.
This gave the Soviet army a completely disproportionate geographical advantage over the German army.
Then, after several flares were launched into the air, more than a dozen fleeing German soldiers were knocked to the ground. More than a hundred corpses and burning cars covered the entire road.
This was the end of the initial small battle, and the Soviet army won a complete victory.
However, this also made the main force of the German army wary.
Upon hearing the gunshots, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond immediately stopped the troops' advance, then turned on his flashlight and opened the map under the cover of his raincoat.
"Cemetery!" said Lieutenant Colonel Edmond. "They occupied the cemetery!"
"This is not good news, Lieutenant Colonel!" said the adjutant: "The terrain of the cemetery is not suitable for tank operations!"
Of course Lieutenant Colonel Edmond knew this. The neatly arranged tombstones would be the biggest obstacle to the tank's progress.
"Is there any other way for us to go around?" Lieutenant Colonel Edmond asked.
"I don't think so, Lieutenant Colonel!" The adjutant shook his head: "There are narrow valleys on both sides. To be precise, there is a gully on the south side... We may find some gentle positions to cross the gully. I mean in the Engineer Corps
With help! But..."
"but what?"
The adjutant pointed at the map and said: "What we want to reinforce is Mamayev Hill. If we cross the gully and bypass the cemetery area, it means that we have to cross back again. Otherwise, we will be separated from Mamayev Hill.
A gully!"
Then Edmund understood that they had to destroy the enemies occupying the cemetery in front of them.
"Then what are you waiting for?" Edmund said: "Organize an attack immediately and let our tanks and assault guns run over the enemy's corpses!"
"Yes, Lieutenant Colonel!" the adjutant replied.
But although the adjutant said so, he didn't think so in his heart.
It is not easy to break through the cemetery, it is like a natural trap for tanks, especially at night.
What the adjutant didn't know was that Edmond already regretted it.
If he had known this would happen, he should have deployed heavy troops to guard the cemetery.
This is an irony, a naked irony.
Because not long ago, Edmond was still laughing at those people in his heart, laughing at them for leaving a strategically important place like the hospital to the enemy.
Now, Edmund himself made the same mistake...he ignored the defense in such an important place.
But who could have thought of this?
Under the inertial thinking of conventional combat, the place where the troops pass is the rear. If there are no enemy intervening troops or airborne troops, they cannot have problems.
Now Edmund knew that was not the case, but it was too late.