Chapter 1213 Cleverly Breaking the Enemy Formation
The estimated time of the attack was delayed by an hour than expected. This was because after Polubyarov's men took over the German equipment, they still needed some time to adapt and coordinate the attack.
Knowing that the friendly forces could not arrive on the battlefield on time, Katukov couldn't help but frowned. He turned to look at Sokov, who was also anxious: "Comrade Sokov, your troops' arrival on the battlefield will be delayed, which means that
Our original attack time will also be postponed. Do you have any good ideas so that the Germans cannot use this time to strengthen their defenses?"
"Comrade General, if you want to prevent the Germans from using this time to build fortifications, the best way is to shell the enemy's positions." Sokov didn't know whether Katukov knew that when the Germans encountered shelling, they would
He was promptly transferred to the second line of defense and specifically explained to him: "Every time the enemy is bombarded by our army, they will leave only a few soldiers to serve as observation posts, while the other soldiers are moved to the second line of defense.
Line of defense. If we keep bombarding the enemy's positions, they may withdraw to the second line of defense, causing our shells to hit empty space."
"Comrade Sokov, I have some understanding of what you are talking about." Katukov asked Sokov curiously: "Do you have any way to crack this enemy's move?"
"Comrade General, this is what I think about." Sokov felt that he had to find a way to make the Germans dizzy before the next plan could be successful: "First order your artillery to shell the enemy's position. The shelling will last five seconds.
Stop after a minute, and restart the artillery fire every quarter of an hour, also stopping after five minutes. If we do this several times, the Germans will be confused by us. They can’t figure out whether our army is preparing artillery fire before the attack, or whether it is the artillery fire preparation before the attack, or the
I just want to suppress them with artillery fire."
"Well, this is a good idea." Sokov's bad idea made Katukov's eyes light up: "We used to shell the enemy's positions for more than an hour each time, and the enemy had enough time to move to the rear.
. But if the artillery fire lasts for several minutes at a time, the enemy will be a little confused, wondering whether we want to attack or whether we are bluffing."
After Katukov said this, he stood up straight, called the chief of staff in front of him, and ordered him: "Comrade chief of staff, immediately call the commander of the artillery of the group army and ask him to use two artillery regiments to bombard the enemy's positions.
.Just as Comrade Sokov said, shelling should be carried out every quarter of an hour, for five minutes each time, so that the enemy cannot figure out our intentions."
When Sokov gave Katukov advice, the chief of staff was standing not far away. Hearing Sokov's words, he secretly thought that if he really bombarded the enemy's position in this way, he would definitely kill the enemy.
Confused. After Sokov finished speaking, he stared at Katukov nervously, fearing that his commander would reject Sokov's suggestion. At this moment, after hearing Katukov's instructions, he immediately agreed excitedly
He turned around and called the artillery commander.
The shelling soon began.
The two infantry battalions of the German 230th Infantry Division stationed on the position were commanded by a lieutenant colonel and deputy regimental commander. He heard the whistling of artillery shells in the air and quickly ordered the troops to retreat in an orderly manner.
The second position was intended to allow the Soviet army to waste artillery shells on a position with few people. But to their surprise, shortly after they withdrew to the second position, the Soviet artillery fire actually stopped.
When the German lieutenant colonel heard that the Soviet artillery bombardment had stopped, he felt very puzzled. He even found a position with a wide view and carefully observed the movements of the Soviet army. After watching for a while, although he did not find any sign of an attack by the Soviet army,
However, he did not dare to take it lightly and quickly ordered the troops to withdraw to the second line of defense and return to the first line of defense along the communication trenches.
Unexpectedly, as soon as the German army slowly entered the first line of defense, the Soviet artillery bombardment started again, killing many unprepared German officers and soldiers. Seeing that the situation was not good, the German lieutenant colonel quickly ordered the troops to withdraw to the second line of defense.
line of defense to avoid Soviet artillery fire.
However, the Soviet artillery bombardment was still short this time. It lasted only a few minutes and then stopped again. Having learned the lesson just now, the German lieutenant colonel did not dare to casually order the troops to return to the first line of defense to avoid being bombarded by the Soviet army again.
.But after waiting for a long time, he saw no movement on the Soviet position, so he could only order the troops to return to the first line of defense again. This time, as soon as the troops reached halfway, the Soviet artillery shells fell on the first line of defense again.
The defense line exploded, frightening the German officers and soldiers who were returning to their positions and turned around and ran away.
In this way, within an hour, the Soviet army carried out four artillery bombardments on the German positions, which stunned the officers and soldiers who stood on the positions. When they heard the sound of artillery again, the troops on the first line of defense no longer
Eager to withdraw to the second line of defense, they were worried that they might have to rush back as soon as they reached the second line of defense. Otherwise, they would be exhausted to death before the Russian ground attack started.
Katukov, who was staying in the observation post, saw the embarrassment of the German army through the telescope, and excitedly patted Sokov on the shoulder: "Comrade Sokov, your method is really wonderful. After several rounds of
The Germans have completely messed up the shelling, and I think if we launch an attack at this time, we can successfully seize the enemy's position even without using your plan."
At this moment, Polubyarov came over and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, our attack force has arrived at the designated position and is ready to fight at any time."
Sokov smiled and nodded, and then said to Katukov: "Comrade General, my troops are in position and your troops can attack the enemy."
Katukov made a gesture to his chief of staff, who immediately issued an attack order to the attacking troops via phone. As the order was issued, more than thirty tanks of the 100th Tank Brigade immediately launched into action.
Amidst the roar of the tanks, they drove towards the enemy's position, and charging behind these tanks were soldiers of an infantry regiment.
Seeing that the Soviet offensive had begun, the German lieutenant colonel immediately began to issue orders, ordering the troops holding on to the first line of defense to resolutely block the Soviet offensive. The German officers and soldiers who received the order entered their respective shooting positions one after another, and set up
Good gun ready to shoot.
The anti-tank artillerymen pushed their anti-tank guns out of hiding, with only the muzzles and half of the gunfire exposed, and aimed at the rumbling Soviet tanks. When the Soviet tanks were within a short distance of the trenches,
When there were still four to five hundred meters left, the German anti-tank artillery opened fire decisively.
The whizzing shells first landed on the moving tanks and exploded, sending up clouds of mud. Then, their shooting accuracy became much better. After a while, three Soviet tanks were destroyed and stopped on the battlefield.
The fire was burning. After the tank soldiers, who were covered in fire, escaped, they either rolled on the spot and extinguished it, or with the help of the infantrymen nearby, they extinguished the fire on their bodies and trotted back to the starting position of the attack.
Half of the tanks used in the attack by the 100th Tank Brigade had some kind of malfunction, so that when they were only three to four hundred meters away from the German position, half of the tanks broke down and could only be parked in place and used as fixed turrets.
The artillery bombarded the firepower points on the German position and covered the infantry advancing forward.
Sokov, who was staying in the observation post, saw this and said to Katukov: "Comrade General, can my troops come out?" Seeing Katukov nodding yes, he turned around and stood behind him.
Polubyarov said, "Comrade commander, convey the order to your subordinates and let them go into battle immediately. Remember, the drama must be acted out, so that the enemy will not be deceived."
"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Polubyarov said with a smile: "The Germans may have never dreamed that a group of German infantrymen who came out from behind the Russians and were equipped with German tanks were actually ours.
People are pretending. I believe that by the time they realize something is wrong, it is already too late."
Ten minutes later, a "German force" equipped with more than 20 tanks emerged from the rear of the Soviet army. First, the tanks lined up and fired at the Soviet tanks that were shooting at the German positions. After a while,
In a short time, seven or eight Soviet tanks were hit and caught fire. Of course, if someone in the German army observed carefully, they would unexpectedly find that those Russian tanks that were destroyed by friendly tanks would have holes on their bodies before they were shot.
There were thick puffs of smoke, as if someone had placed a smoke can on top.
Shortly after the tank battle began, the Soviet infantry, which was advancing towards the German position, turned around to attack the "German troops" appearing behind them. Officers and soldiers on both sides were shooting non-stop, and some people were constantly shot and fell to the ground. Most of the officers and soldiers who fell to the ground were
They all rolled into a nearby crater.
The German lieutenant colonel who was staying on the second line of defense saw a friendly mechanized force suddenly appear from the rear of the Soviet army and started a fierce fire with the Soviet army. His eyes widened in surprise. He called to the man beside him.
A staff officer asked: "Do you know where this army came from?"
The staff officer looked in the direction of the "fierce fighting" in the distance and said thoughtfully: "I heard that part of the Imperial Division's troops were isolated behind the Russians. I wonder if it is this troop."
The German lieutenant colonel carefully checked the symbols on the tanks and soldiers in the distance, and said in surprise: "Yes, I saw their 'Wolf's Kiss' mark, they must be the Imperial Division troops that broke through."
After the staff officer waited for the German lieutenant colonel to finish speaking, he tentatively asked: "Mr. lieutenant colonel, do you want to order our troops to attack and escort them into our position?"
"There is no need for this. Our people will continue to hold their positions." Unexpectedly, after hearing this, the German lieutenant colonel shook his head and said, "I believe they have the strength to break through the Russian encirclement and come over to join us." The reason why he said this
, because the SS officers and soldiers were too domineering. Even if I went out to rescue them, the other party would probably not give me a good look, so why bother asking for trouble?
In a short time, the "German troops" that rushed out from the Soviet position successfully penetrated the Soviet ranks and rushed to the German position. Although the Wehrmacht soldiers staying in the position did not usually wait for
He saw the SS, but now he saw that they had repelled the Soviet attack and successfully rushed over to join him, and he couldn't help but cheer.
After the tank crossed the trench, it continued towards the second line of defense in the rear. Some of the infantry following it jumped into the first trench, while others continued to follow the tank towards the second line of defense.
"What's going on?" When the German lieutenant colonel saw the tanks driving straight towards his position, he asked the staff in a panic: "Why don't they stay at the first line of defense, but they want to drive towards us?"
Where’s the second line of defense?”
Although the staff officer felt that the tanks were parked on the first line of defense, which would be helpful for attacking during counterattacks. But when he saw the tanks heading towards the second line of defense, he was thinking that maybe these tank soldiers had just escaped from the Russian encirclement.
After escaping, I was still in a state of shock and needed to find a safe place, and the second line of defense was obviously safer than the first.
After seeing tanks and infantry entering the German second line of defense one after another, Sokov put down his telescope and said to Katukov: "Comrade General, the time is ripe for your troops to attack again.
We will definitely capture the enemy's position this time."
Following Katukov's order, three red signal bombs rose into the air. This was the signal for the attack. Thousands of commanders and soldiers on the starting position who were already ready to go jumped out of the trenches with shouts and headed towards the distance.
The German positions were rushed towards.
Seeing the Soviet army launching another attack, the German officers and soldiers in the position quickly prepared for battle. Even the anti-tank guns were aimed at the Soviet tanks mixed with the infantry. But at the moment when the German officers and soldiers were ready for battle,
, intensive gunshots suddenly rang out from behind, and the submachine guns and rifles in the hands of the "SS officers and soldiers" fired at the same time. This was a one-sided massacre. At this close distance, the German officers and soldiers who were shot did not survive at all.
In just one minute, the trenches were filled with German corpses and weapons.
Through the telescope, the German lieutenant colonel discovered the internal strife taking place in the first line of defense. He was stunned and murmured: "What on earth is going on? Why do the SS officers and soldiers want to kill my soldiers?"
?”
The staff officer who advised him was also dumbfounded. He didn't know why the SS troops who had just entered the position shot at his own people. This can't be blamed on his slow reaction, but on those German tanks.
The SS equipment caused them to mistakenly think that the troops coming from the Soviet rear were the remnants of the Imperial Division.
Just when the two of them were at a loss what to do, the staff officer suddenly saw a tank parked in the position. The turret was slowly rotating. Soon, the black muzzle was pointed at the location of the headquarters. Only then did the staff officer understand.
, this so-called remnant of the Imperial Division might have been disguised by the Russians. He quickly grabbed the German lieutenant colonel, pulled him and ran outside, shouting: "Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, no, those SS
The army is disguised by the Russians..."
Before he could finish his words, he heard a loud bang and the smoke-filled headquarters collapsed, burying the German lieutenant colonel, staff officers and several communications soldiers in the rubble.