Bronnikov knew very well that his argument was feeble. Not to mention the commanders present, even he could not convince himself. If the Wehrmacht was besieging the factory, there might be some upright officers. For humanitarian purposes, the captured wounded were treated. But now there were SS troops known for their brutality outside the factory. If the wounded fell into their hands, they might not have any chance of survival.
Sure enough, as soon as he finished speaking, Captain Qi Wen objected: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, how can you leave our wounded with the enemy? Isn't this sending them to a dead end?"
"Captain Chivin, these wounded are all our comrades-in-arms. Do you think I am willing to let them fall into the hands of the Germans?" Bronnikov said solemnly: "Don't say we are going to carry out a breakout operation next. Even if the enemy takes the initiative to make way for us, it will take us a long time to move them out without sufficient transportation."
Captain Chiwen didn't know that what Bronnikov said was reasonable, but he still couldn't bear to abandon hundreds of wounded soldiers to break out. He took a chance and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, is there anything other than this?" Besides, is there nothing we can do anymore?"
"No." Bronnikov shook his head and said: "If we want to successfully break out of the enemy's encirclement, we can only reluctantly abandon the wounded."
As soon as his voice fell, the command post suddenly became extremely quiet. Things were now in a dilemma. Breaking out with the wounded would definitely become a drag on the breakout troops, and might even lead to the failure of the breakout operation; leave them behind. , which is tantamount to sending them to death.
Just when everyone was in a dilemma, a wounded man lying on a stretcher spoke up. He said with difficulty: "Comrade commanders, if you want to break out, you will definitely need someone to provide cover. Why don't you give this task to us wounded men?" .”
The wounded man who spoke was a lieutenant of the 25th Guards Division. His legs were blown off by artillery shells during the battle. Several of his soldiers carried him off the battlefield on a stretcher. Bronnikov Seeing that he was seriously injured, they ignored him when assigning tasks. Now that he heard that he was willing to take on this arduous task, he pondered for a moment and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, you are all seriously injured, how can you participate in the battle?" Woolen cloth?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," the injured lieutenant looked at Bronnikov and said with a sad smile: "We are all a drag on the troops. If you take us with you, you may not be able to break through the German encirclement. But it is better to let We will leave behind and block the enemies rushing up from behind, so that you can concentrate your efforts to break out from the front."
"But the seriously wounded are all lying on stretchers and unable to move," Captain Chiwen said with a frown, "How can they fight?"
"This is very simple." The lieutenant continued: "Put us in the fortification, and give us a gun and a grenade. When the enemy rushes up, the gun is used to destroy the enemy; the grenade is left for Our own, and we will never let ourselves become prisoners of the Germans."
Bronnikov held the lieutenant's hand tightly, and after a long time he said: "Comrade Lieutenant, as long as we can successfully break through, we will definitely avenge you."
After Captain Chivin waited for Bronnikov to finish speaking, he asked cautiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, when will we break through?"
"We will carry out the breakout operation at four o'clock in the morning." Bronnikov looked at his watch and said to everyone in the room: "Although it is already dawn at that time, the Germans should still be sleeping. We can attack
They were caught off guard. Also, if you operate during the day, the troops will not be easily dispersed."
The breakout time is coming soon.
In order not to be noticed prematurely by the enemy, after the breakout operation began, Bronnikov did not take the lead in using Captain Chivin's tank company. Instead, he ordered the infantry to quietly approach the enemy's position, preparing to first kill the sentries on duty, and then
Quickly occupy enemy positions.
However, the infantrymen who quietly approached the enemy's position were spotted by a sentry when they were still more than thirty meters away. Seeing that the sentry wanted to warn, a Soviet soldier pulled the trigger without hesitation and shot him down.
The enemy's sentry was hit. However, in the quiet early morning, the sudden gunfire sounded as shocking as a cannon.
Seeing that the target had been exposed, the commander leading the team jumped up from the ground, raised his pistol just above his head, and shouted: "Brothers, follow me!"
Seeing that the commander stood up first, the soldiers who were crawling also stood up from the ground, held their weapons, and rushed towards the enemy's position shouting "Ula".
The Soviet army moved quickly, and the German army responded quickly. When the Soviet soldiers had just rushed to the edge of the trench and before they had time to jump down, the German army's shouts and sporadic gunshots came from the position. Both sides
The officers and soldiers started a melee.
After a few minutes of melee, the Soviet army successfully occupied the first German trench. Just as they were preparing to continue to expand their victory, the German tanks deployed not far away opened fire. The shells landed in the ranks of the Soviet commanders and soldiers and exploded.
The soldiers near the point were immediately blown away by the air waves, but the remaining soldiers used the cover of craters and ruins to quickly approach the enemy tank.
Bronnikov, who was directing the battle in the command post behind, saw that the enemy tanks had opened fire, and quickly ordered Captain Qi Wen: "Comrade Captain, now it is your tank's turn to go on stage. You must destroy the enemy tanks as soon as possible.
Tear a gap in the enemy's defense line."
The four tanks of the tank company drove out from their hiding places, stopped three to four hundred meters away from the German tanks, adjusted the position of the muzzle, and then opened fire at the opponent. Because the firing was too hasty, the four shells were only
One shot hit the target and broke the track on one side of the German tank.
Seeing that the four shells only interrupted the tracks of the German tanks, Captain Chiwen shook his fist in anger, and then ordered all the tanks: "Reload again, this time we must destroy the enemy tanks."
Soon, the Soviet tanks, which had been reloaded, once again aimed at the German tanks and fired. This time they were lucky, hitting three out of four times. The armor-piercing bullets caused the ammunition in the vehicle to explode, blowing the turrets of the German tanks into the sky.
.
Soon after the battle started on the east side of the factory, Tansen, who had set up his headquarters in the west, received the news. He quickly ordered that in addition to the defenders on the east side, the troops on the other three sides would attack the factory at the same time, trying to pass this
method to crush the Soviet breakout operation.
However, the German troops who rushed into the factory encountered resistance from the seriously wounded. However, the combat effectiveness of the seriously wounded could not be compared with that of healthy soldiers. The areas they defended were quickly lost to the German attacks. But those
At the last moment of his life, the wounded soldier fired the grenade without hesitation and died together with the oncoming German troops.
The desperate fighting style of the seriously wounded soldiers frightened the German officers and soldiers who tried to break through their positions. Every time an explosion sounded, the enemy would temporarily stop the attack, wait until there was no movement in the front position, and then cautiously restart
attack.
When the German troops stormed into the factory from three sides, a soldier promptly reported to Bronnikov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the enemy has attacked us from the north, west, and south, and has now rushed into the factory."
When Bronnikov heard the soldier's report, he just nodded slightly and continued to use his telescope to observe the ongoing breakout battle in the east. He said with his usual expression: "I understand. Report to me if there is any new situation."
Seeing Bronnikov's indifferent expression, the militia captain next to him thought he had not heard the soldier's report clearly, so he quickly approached him and said loudly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the enemy has rushed in from the north, west and south."
The factory, with just a few hundred of our seriously injured people, cannot stop them at all."
"Comrade Captain," Bronnikov put down the telescope, turned to look at the militia captain and said, "What do you want me to do? Send people to reinforce the wounded? If we do this, at best we will lose the position.
It will only be delayed for a while, but the force we use to break through will be weakened, causing the breakout to fail. We are now racing against time to see whether we will break through the enemy's defense first, or the enemy will rush to us first."
Hearing what Bronnikov said, the militia captain fell silent. After thinking for a moment, he realized that Bronnikov was not alarmist. Sending troops to reinforce those areas under attack would definitely disperse the troops.
As a result, the assault force was insufficient and unable to break through the enemy's defense line.
Seeing the enemies rushing into the factory, advancing step by step towards the temporary command post, Bronnikov couldn't help but feel extremely anxious. However, in order not to cause panic among the commanders and soldiers, he still forced himself to remain calm and continued to observe the breakout to the east.
Action. He secretly thought to himself that fortunately the factory was as big as a medium-sized city. It would take some time for the enemy to rush to him. As long as the assault force could break through the enemy's defense line before then, he still had a glimmer of hope.
When the battle progressed to six o'clock in the morning, a group of enemies rushed in from the south, less than 200 meters away from Bronnikov's command post. Seeing this, the militia captain anxiously said to Bronnikov: "
Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the enemy has rushed up, let's get out of here quickly, otherwise we will become prisoners of the enemy."
When Bronnikov saw the enemy appearing not far away, he panicked for a while, but he understood better that if he left with the people from the command post at this moment, it would definitely affect the morale of the commanders and soldiers, so he called a
He was named a sergeant and ordered him: "Comrade sergeant, have you seen the enemy rushing from the south?"
"I saw it."
"I'll give you two classes of people, you go and block them."
It is simply impossible to block the German attack with two squads of troops on open ground. But because the factory was shelled and bombed, there are bricks and rubble everywhere, which is very beneficial to the defenders. 1
The soldiers commanded by the soldiers relied on these terrains and fortifications to hold back enemies twice as many as themselves.
Under the cover of the Qiwen tank company, the troops who broke out from the front moved forward bit by bit. Although soldiers continued to be shot and fell during the attack, the other commanders and soldiers turned a blind eye. They were bent on breaking through the enemy's attack as soon as possible.
At the defensive line, you can jump out of the encirclement. As for the fallen comrades, they are handed over to the health workers behind for rescue.
When Chiwen looked through the lookout hole in front of the tank and found that there were no enemies in front of him, he immediately realized that the breakout had been successful. He quickly opened the hatch of the turret and fired a white flare with a signal gun to notify Bronnikov: The enemy
The defense line has been breached.
Seeing the white flare rising into the air, Bronnikov breathed a sigh of relief and said: "Thank God, we finally broke through the enemy's defense line." Then he ordered the remaining troops to immediately move eastward and tear them apart from the assault troops.
Open the gap and jump out of the enemy's encirclement.
When Tansen learned that the Soviet army had broken through his defenses in the east, he was furious. He called the commander of the regiment who was holding on to the east and threatened him: "I order you to stop the counterattack immediately and tear the Russians apart."
Seal the gap you opened, and if a Russian escapes, I will shoot you."
After receiving Tansen's order, the German commander immediately mobilized two companies of troops to launch a counterattack, trying to block the breach opened by the Soviet army.
Seeing the swarming German troops, Captain Qi Wen quickly ordered several other tanks: "Brothers, the Germans want to seal our breakthrough, don't be stingy with ammunition, hit me hard, and make sure our army breaks through smoothly.
"
The tank crews who received the order aimed at the German troops with their tank guns and fired at them. The shells landed in the German ranks and exploded. From time to time, soldiers were blown up by the shells and danced into the air, or were knocked down by flying shrapnel, but the remaining morale remained.
He still rushed forward without fear of death, trying to rush in front of the Soviet army as soon as possible and start a close combat with them.
Fortunately, Bronnikov came over with more than 300 soldiers at this moment. When he saw the enemy rushing towards the breakthrough, he quickly seized the favorable terrain and used intensive firepower to kill the rushing enemies. The Germans did not expect that the breakthrough would suddenly happen.
When so many Soviet troops emerged, a large area was immediately knocked down by the intensive firepower, and the remaining soldiers retreated like a tide.
Seeing that the attacking enemy retreated, Bronnikov quickly stood up and shouted to the commanders and soldiers lying on the left and right: "Brothers, the enemy has been repulsed by us. Hurry up and rush out along the breach, as fast as possible."
Jump out of the enemy's circle."
Bronnikov ran with the soldiers for a while. When he passed Captain Chivin's tank, he stopped and hit the armor plate of the tank hard with the handle of his pistol, while shouting loudly: "Hey,
Captain Chivin!"
Captain Qi Wen, who heard the knocking outside, opened the hatch cover again and stuck his head out: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's going on?"
"All the troops that can be brought out from the factory have rushed out. You should hurry up and follow."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Captain Chivin shouted loudly to Bronnikov: "You go first, I will catch up later."