After confirming the arrival of the reinforcements, Sokov personally went to the defensive position in the west of the city to supervise the battle. Seryosha received Sokov in his command post.
As soon as Sokov sat down, he asked Selyosha straightforwardly: "Shelyosha, I want to ask you, how did you set up your defense?"
Selyosha placed a sketch just drawn in front of Selyosha, pointing to the red and blue arrows above and said, "Misa, please see, there are two hills on both sides of my company's defensive positions, and I placed a platoon on each side. When the enemy attacks the frontal positions of our company, the troops deployed on the hills can harass the enemy from the flanks."
Sokov stared at the map for a while, then shook his head and said, "Seryosha, your arrangement is not appropriate."
“Where’s the wrong place?”
"One enemy attacking your frontal positions, once firepower is attacked from both wings, will definitely divide their troops to capture these hills." Sokov pointed at the two hills on the front of the defensive position: "There are too few troops standing on the hills, and it will be possible to be eliminated by the enemy soon. After the enemy occupy these two hills, establish a machine gun position on it, implement firepower suppression on your defensive positions, and cover the frontal attack of the remaining troops. Tell me, how long can the troops you command support in this situation?"
Sheryosha, who was already full of confidence, immediately realized the seriousness of the problem after hearing what Henry said, and hurriedly asked, "What should we do?"
"Put the main forces on the hills on the left and right wings." Sokov said decisively: "As for the front position, only two squads need to be left."
"Only two squads are left on the front position?" Sheryoshao was shocked when he heard Sokov say this: "Can this little force block the enemy's attack?"
"Seryosha, have you not paid attention to the regional characteristics of your defense?" Sokov pointed to the map and said to Seryosha: "The enemy who attacks the frontal positions will be killed by firepower from the hills on both sides. If the enemy wants to attack the frontal positions of your company with all their strength, they must first occupy the hills on both sides.
They can use firepower to support the hill on the right, the defensive positions on the left and front. By the same token, when the hill on the left is attacked, they can also receive firepower support from friendly forces.”
After listening to Sokov's arrangements, Selyosha quickly ordered people to call the first and second platoon leaders to the command post and convey Sokov's orders to them. Finally, he asked habitually: "Is there any other problem?"
"Yes, comrades-Comrade Commander." The platoon leader asked unexpectedly: "The total strength of our two platoons is only more than 120. It may be difficult to block more than 200 German troops. I wonder if I can let the third platoon support us?"
Regarding the question of the first row leader, Selyosha did not dare to make decisions, so he could only turn his attention to Sokov, hoping that he could give his subordinates a satisfactory answer.
"One row leader, I know that the number of troops fighting and blocking here is a little less." Sokov is now a clever woman. With only such a small amount of troops in his hand, he will naturally be in a difficult situation to use: "But the three rows stay in the city are to prevent the enemy from breaking through our defense line and defending the city. As long as they can hold the enemy in the city, they can arrive for our large army and gain valuable time."
"Comrade Commander, I would like to ask, when will our main force arrive?" The platoon leader continued, "You always have to tell us a rough time so that we can have a clear idea."
"Before I came here, I had contacted Lieutenant Colonel Papuchinko, the leader of the 122nd Regiment." Sokov knew that he had to tell the other party the truth to strengthen their determination to hold their positions: "He has drawn two elite companies to form advance troops and is rushing towards us as fast as possible. If nothing unexpected happens, they will arrive here at 1:00 pm."
When they learned that friendly troops were speeding up toward him, the two platoon leaders showed joy on their faces. The platoon leader asked excitedly: "Comrade Commander, then, we only need to stick to it until one pm to wait for our reinforcements?"
"A row leader, if nothing unexpected happens," Sokov replied with a smile: "Then the vanguard of the 122nd Regiment will come to reinforce us at 1:00 pm."
After the two platoon leaders left, Selyosha, who had not spoken, tentatively asked Sokov: "Misha, are the words you just told the two platoon leaders true?"
"Of course it's true." Sokov asked back with a little confused, "Seryosha, don't you believe what I say?"
"It's not that I don't believe it." Selyosha shook his head and said, "It's the road situation is too bad. Even if the reinforcements take a car, the marching speed will probably not be much faster. Misha, I'm going to tell you, I'm even ready to sacrifice."
"Seryosha, what are you talking nonsense?" The war was about to come, but Seleyosha said such unlucky words in front of him. Sokov quickly stopped the other party: "You will not only not die today, but also tomorrow. You will live to see our red flag and the day it is planted in the Berlin Capitol. When the war is over, you can marry a wife, have a group of children, and then tell them what we have experienced like a story. Let the children understand how hard-earned their happy life is."
After hearing the prospect described by Sokov, Seryosha smiled on his face: "Misha, if I really could live to win, it would be better..."
As the two were talking, the radio operator sitting in the corner suddenly shouted at Sokov: "Comrade Commander, Lieutenant Samoilov wants to contact you."
Sokov rushed over and took the headphones and the megaphone, and asked loudly: "Samoilov, how is your situation there?"
"Report to the division commander," Samoilov's panting sound came from the headphones, and there were gunshots and explosions in the background: "We have already fired with the enemy and are retreating in an orderly manner towards the defensive position of the Selyosar Company."
"Comrade Lieutenant, use alternating cover to retreat to the defensive position of the Selyosar Company." Sokov said loudly to the sender: "You must pay more attention to safety and must come back alive!"
Selyosha, who was standing next to him, immediately said to Sokov after he finished the call: "Misha, this place is too dangerous, you might as well withdraw to the city."
"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "In this case, how can I, the division commander, retreat in the last minute? Tell the two platoon leaders that after Samoilov and his men retreated, they will attack the pursued enemies hard. The better they fight, the safer we will be here."
A few minutes later, the gunshots and explosions from outside were clearly heard. Sokov walked out of the command post, found a place with a wide view, and raised his telescope to look into the distance. He saw two groups of people on the snow in the distance, coming one by one to the other toward his position.
Through the telescope lens, Sokov could clearly see seven or eight people running in front, namely Samoilov and his subordinates. Sokov remembered that when he went out, there were about twenty people, but now there are less than half of them left. I don’t know if the rest were sacrificed or broken up.
The enemies who pursued Samoilov and others, after entering the shooting range of the high ground on both sides, the commanders and soldiers on the high ground opened fire at the same time. The firepower net composed of dense bullets immediately knocked down a small amount of the chasing enemy. The remaining enemies quickly lay down on the ground and fought back at the high ground on both sides indiscriminately.
When Samoilov led his men to the frontal defensive position, there were very few enemies left who were hit by firepower on both sides.
"Comrade Commander," Samoilov didn't expect that he could see Sokov as soon as he entered the position. He asked in surprise: "Why are you here?"
"Comrade Lieutenant, why can't I come here?"
"Comrade Commander, the enemy's large army is coming soon." Samoilov said anxiously: "I'm worried that it can't stop them here at all, so you'd better retreat first."
"No, I'm not going anywhere," Sokov said stubbornly: "I'm going to stay here and fight with my soldiers."
"Comrade Lieutenant," Selyosha saw that Samoilov was trying to dissuade Sokov, and quickly stopped him: "I just persuaded him for a long time, but he refused to retreat. No matter how much you say, it would be useless. He would never take a step back today."
"But there are many enemies, and I am worried that this little force will not stop them at all." Perhaps in order to enhance the persuasion, Samoilov also appeared and said: "I originally brought nineteen soldiers to perform reconnaissance missions, but after fighting fire with the enemy, it took less than a quarter of an hour to leave only seven or eight people left by my side. The rest are either sacrifices or injuries. Although the soldiers in our guard battalion have stronger combat power than other troops, when we encounter this German army, we are no match for them at all."
"Lt. Samoilov, thank you for your hard work, let's go to the side to rest first." Sokov did not want to discuss a change of issue with Samoilov, so he ordered him, "Leave the enemies here to deal with it."
After more than ten minutes, there were dense German troops in the distance. Sokov counted secretly and found that there were more than two hundred people, and I'm afraid there were countless 400 people. His expression immediately became serious. He put down his telescope and said to Selyosha: "Shelyosha, something seems wrong. The enemy coming is not the two hundred people Samoilov mentioned, but four hundred people."
"What, four hundred people came?" Sheryosha was also shocked when he heard this number. According to his idea, his own little force was barely able to block the attack of the enemy's 200 people. But now that the number of enemies has doubled, it is worth discussing whether the original plan can succeed.
After the German army reassembled in the distance, they formally launched an attack. Perhaps the German commander thought that there were not many defenders on the high ground on both sides of the left and right sides, so they did not attract enough attention, but instead concentrated their forces to attack the frontal positions.
Seeing that the enemy ignored the high ground on both sides, Sokov couldn't help but laugh. He said to Selyosha who was lying beside him: "Shelyosha, the Germans have regarded us as the focus of their attack and did not divide their troops to deal with the troops on both sides. In this way, they will suffer a great loss."
When the German army was still 150 meters away from the front position, the officers and soldiers in the position fired at the same time. Since most of the officers and soldiers in the guard battalion were equipped with submachine guns, each platoon also had an MG34 machine gun. Although the number of people was a little smaller, the firepower configuration was extremely powerful.
The bullet formed a fire net in front of the position. No German officers and soldiers who tried to pass through this fire net were good. They were either beaten into sieve on the spot or were shot and fell into the snow and screamed. When shooting on the frontal position, the high ground on both sides remained silent. When they saw the German attack being frustrated and began to retreat, the machine guns on the high ground opened fire. Amid the sound of gunfire, the German officers and soldiers who were running back also fell in the rain of bullets in groups.
"It's so beautiful." Seeing that the German army was easily repelled, Selyosha couldn't help but smile: "Misa, with the German army's combat effectiveness, even if I launch three or four attacks, I will never let them break through the defense."
"Seryosha, don't underestimate the enemy." Sokov reminded Seryosha: "Although the enemy does not have any technical equipment, they have an advantage in military strength. As long as they launch a strong attack, we will probably have a big problem if we want to block them."
"What's the problem?" Selyosha said disapprovingly: "Misa, when you see the attack launched by the enemy, under our dense firepower, you can't get any good at all, so you obediently retreat."
"Shelyosha, let me ask you, what standard weapon is your company equipped with?"
Selyosha hesitated for a moment and replied hesitantly: "We even equipped all the German weapons."
"Yes, you even have German weapons." Sokov said with a blank expression: "Seryosha, do you know what this means?"
"I don't know." Seryosha replied truthfully.
"Since you are equipped with German weapons, it means that you cannot get ammunition supplements from the city's warehouse." Sokov said with a wry smile: "Once your bullets are exhausted, you will have to fight with the enemy at that time."
A few months ago, Selyosha saw the scene of the Marine Battalion fighting with the Romanian army fighting for bayonets with his own eyes, and the scene can only be described as tragic. Now the feng shui turns to make his company rush up to fight bayonets with the enemy. When she thinks of this, Selyosha feels a headache.
Chapter completed!