Baharov fell silent. He silently put the microphone back on the phone base, took off his military cap, and mourned for his fallen subordinates. Colonel Shechtman, who was standing next to him, also heard the earpiece clearly.
After hearing the news from inside, he also took off his military hat and paid a silent tribute to the sacrificed brigade commander.
About a minute later, Baharov put on his military cap again, turned to Shechtman who was standing aside and said: "Comrade Colonel, I heard that you are equipped with a weapon that can attack German tanks from a long distance. Is it true?"
Of?"
"It's true, Comrade General." Shechtman understood what Bakharov meant and quickly continued: "First let the remaining tanks find a place to hide to avoid encountering Tiger tanks and self-propelled anti-tank guns.
To attack, I asked the anti-tank team to move closer and kill the enemy's tanks and anti-tank guns at close range."
"Okay, I will immediately notify the tank brigade in front and ask them to temporarily stop the attack and find a place to hide."
Unexpectedly, things were not as simple as Baharov and Shechtman imagined. Because the infantry was too far behind, after the tanks of the tank brigade found a place to hide, they were still on their way over, so that this section of the battlefield suddenly
It became quiet, with only the numerous burning tanks and the smoking craters reminding people that a fierce battle was still going on here not long ago.
Five minutes later, Baharov suddenly received a call from Rotmistrov. The bespectacled commander asked angrily on the phone: "General Baharov, what on earth is going on?"
What's going on, why did you stop attacking?"
"Comrade Commander," Baharov replied with some embarrassment: "Behind the German position we are attacking, there are a large number of Tiger tanks and Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns. My tanks of the 170th and 181st brigades are behind them.
The attack resulted in heavy losses, including the loss of the commander of the 170th Brigade."
When he learned that one of Baharov's brigade commanders had died in the battle, Rotmistrov fell silent. After a while, he asked in a hoarse voice: "What are you going to do next?"
Baharov glanced at Shechtman beside him and replied: "I have discussed with the infantry division commander Colonel Shechtman. My tank will first find a place to hide, and his infantry will get close to it and use anti-tank weapons."
Weapons destroy enemy tanks."
"Colonel Shechtman?" Rotmistrov repeated the name and asked tentatively: "Whose subordinate is he? Is he a subordinate of General Klyuchinkin of the 69th Army?"
"No, Comrade General, I am not from the 69th Army." Shechtman, who was standing next to him, heard Rotmistrov mention his name and quickly said loudly and proudly: "My 254th Infantry Division.
It belongs to the 27th Army and is the unit of Major General Sokov."
"Oh, it turns out they are Sokov's troops." When he heard that the other party was Sokov's troops, Rotmistrov felt inexplicably relieved. He asked politely: "How do you plan to destroy the enemy's tanks?"
?”
"I plan to have the anti-tank team rush up and use rocket launchers to destroy the enemy tanks at close range."
"I have heard of rocket launchers, but never seen them." Rotmistrov said on the phone: "Although the enemy tanks have retreated, there are still infantry holding on to their positions. Are you sure yours?"
Can the anti-tank team successfully approach the enemy's tanks and anti-tank guns?"
Rotmistrov's words stopped Shechtman. He was thinking silently in his mind, how can he successfully break through the enemy's defense line and let the anti-tank team destroy the German tanks and anti-tank guns?
Seeing that Shechtman was still silent, Rotmistrov spoke again: "Our superiors ordered us to quickly break through the German defense line. I'm afraid we can't rely on infantry alone. I'll see if I can ask the air force to dispatch and let them
Providing air cover for you."
"Comrade Commander," Baharov learned that Rotmistrov was preparing to send out the Air Force. He couldn't help but be overjoyed and said repeatedly: "It would be great if we could get support from the Air Force. As far as I know, the Air Force
Nowadays, there is a kind of high-explosive aerial bomb, which is used to deal with German tanks. If you use these aerial bombs to blow up German tanks, even the strongest Tiger tanks may not be able to withstand them."
After Rotmistrov ended his call with Bakharov, he ordered someone to call Vatutin's command post. As soon as the call came through, he said straight to the point: "Comrade General, this is Rotmistrov."
Love, I would like to make a request to you now."
"General Rotmistrov, if you have any requests, please feel free to ask." Vatutin said: "As long as I can do it, I will definitely agree to it."
"My 18th Tank Corps launched an attack on the German Flag Guard Division in the southwest direction of the city. Now at the attack positions of the 181st and 170th Tank Brigades, the Germans have a large number of Tiger tanks and Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns, causing us to
In the recent attack, we suffered huge losses, and even the commander of the 170th Brigade was killed."
When he learned that a tank brigade commander had died in the battle, Vatutin was shocked: "What, is the enemy's defense so tenacious? General Rotmistrov, what kind of help do you want me to provide?"
"I hope to get air support so that attack aircraft can carry aerial bombs specifically designed to deal with tanks to support the 181st and 170th brigades and destroy the German tanks on the ground so that they can successfully break through the German defenses."
Before giving the final reply to Rotmistrov, Vatutin first had to find out which infantry unit was assisting the tank army in attacking in this area: "Which unit is cooperating with the 18th Tank Army?
"
"It is the 254th Infantry Division of the 27th Army, and the division commander is Colonel Shechtman." Rotmistrov reported to Vatutin: "He told me that he planned to have the anti-tank group close to the enemy tanks.
Destroy enemy tanks with a rocket launcher."
"Isn't this great?" Vatutin said casually after hearing this: "Although the shooting distance of this anti-tank weapon is not as good as that of ordinary anti-tank guns, its penetration is very strong.
Within a range of 100 meters, even the thick armor of a Tiger tank can be penetrated."
"Comrade General, because the tank brigade's assault speed was too fast during the attack, it left the infantry too far behind. Now the infantry has not approached the enemy's position." Rotmistrov saw that Vatutin did not understand what he wanted to say.
Expressing his intention, he quickly continued: "In addition to the German Tiger tanks and self-propelled anti-tank guns, the position to be broken through also has a large number of infantry. I am worried that the friendly infantry will not be able to break through the enemy's defense line in a short time."
After Rotmistrov's explanation, Vatutin realized that he had just thought of the problem too simply. Now, after the tanks covering the attack suffered huge losses, they could no longer assault forward, and the infantry lost their tanks.
The difficulty of breaking through the enemy's position is increasing exponentially.
"Oh, I understand, General Rotmistrov." Vatutin also felt at this moment that the best way to quickly break through the German defense line was to dispatch the air force to destroy the Tiger tanks and self-propelled vehicles behind the German position.
Anti-tank guns, so that Soviet tanks can once again provide cover for the attacking infantry: "I immediately called the commander of the Air Force Group and asked him to dispatch attack aircraft to the location you designated to destroy the enemy's tanks and
Anti-tank gun."
An attack aircraft group on standby at the field airport took off in less than two minutes after receiving the order to attack. They quickly completed their formation in the air and flew towards the flag guard division's defense area.
A few minutes later, the assault aircraft regiment arrived over the battlefield, and the commanders and fighters of the 254th Division had just arrived at the anti-tank trench. Due to the suppression of German machine gun fire, the commanders and fighters could only hide in the anti-tank trench and fight in the distance.
The German troops on the position exchanged fire.
The Tiger tank behind the German position was quickly spotted by the fighter jets in the air because it was covered by a huge bomber. After seeing the situation clearly below, the fighter commander issued an order to his men: "
Everyone pay attention, everyone pay attention, attack the German Tiger tanks first. I repeat, attack the German Tiger tanks first."
"Understood!" "Understood!" The responses from many pilots immediately came from the communication channel.
After the order was clear, the attack aircraft lowered their altitude one after another and dived towards the Tiger tanks on the ground. To the well-trained and experienced attack aircraft pilots, the Tiger tanks covered with huge guns were like tanks on the training ground.
Target, as long as you aim at that position and drop the aerial bomb, you can easily destroy the enemy's tank.
More than a dozen aerial bombs dropped from the sky and exploded around the widely dispersed Tiger tanks. The rising mud obscured the pilots' sight, preventing them from confirming whether they had destroyed the target immediately.
When the pilots pulled up the attack aircraft and hovered at high altitude, they could clearly see that four tanks were burning blazingly, and the remaining tanks had also left their original positions and were making evasive maneuvers on the ground to avoid air attacks.
"Brothers," the flight leader said, feeling a little disappointed when he saw that the first wave of attacks only destroyed four Tiger tanks. He originally thought that at most two or three tanks could escape the bombing. But he was not discouraged, and
He shouted again through the communication channel: "Let's do it again, this time we will try to kill all the enemy's Tiger tanks."
A new round of attacks launched by attack planes once again destroyed three German tanks. The deflected aerial bombs also accidentally destroyed two Rhino self-propelled anti-tank guns. It was an unexpected surprise.
The Soviet tanks hiding in the distance saw the Tiger tanks and self-propelled anti-tank guns hidden behind the German positions, which posed a huge threat to them, and were scurrying around under the bombardment of aircraft, so they came out of their hiding places one after another. Some of them stopped.
In front of the anti-tank trench, artillery fire was used to destroy the firepower points on the German position and cover the infantry's charge; while other tanks were looking for roads to bypass the enemy's anti-tank trench so that after the infantry captured the enemy's position, they could cover their charge towards the enemy.
The depth of defense development.
Without the cover of Tiger tanks and self-propelled anti-tank guns, the German officers and soldiers suddenly panicked when faced with the Soviet tanks that rushed up around the anti-tank ditch. If it were the Wehrmacht, the defense line might collapse; but at this time the defenders in the position
The army was the SS. They knew what would happen if they fell into the hands of the Soviet army. They knew they were outmatched, but they still resisted tenaciously.
After the commanders and fighters of the 254th Division jumped into the trenches, they started a close battle with the stubborn enemies inside. Seizing every section of the trench, every communication trench, and every shelter required the lives of dozens or even dozens of commanders and fighters. Fortunately, the Germans'
The number was small, only more than 400, and this exhausting battle came to an end with the death of all German officers and soldiers.
Sokov, who was dozens of kilometers away, could not see the battle with his own eyes, but he was always uneasy in his heart. He was worried that his two divisions would suffer heavy casualties in this comprehensive counterattack. If you have any questions
Let's ask how the troops' attack is going, but these two divisions are not under my command now, and I even have contact with the commander, which is a taboo behavior.
When he was considering whether to call Vatutin and ask himself about the performance of the two divisions on the battlefield, he suddenly saw Samoilov breaking in from the outside and said breathlessly: "Report
Comrade Commander, the additional troops our superiors gave us have arrived."
"Oh, have the additional soldiers given to us by our superiors arrived?" Sokov couldn't help but be overjoyed when he heard the news, and quickly asked: "Where are they now?"
"On the open land near the headquarters."
"Chief of Staff, Comrade Military Commissar." Anyway, there was nothing going on in the headquarters at the moment. Sokov decided to call Samyko and Lunev to go and see these new recruits given to him by their superiors: "Let's go and see them together.
look."
When Sokov passed by Samoilov, he saw that instead of a happy expression on his face, he looked gloomy. He asked curiously: "Comrade Lieutenant, are you worried about something?"
"
"Comrade Commander," Samoilov said hesitantly: "This batch of new recruits may not satisfy you. You must be mentally prepared first."
Sokov didn't care at all about Samoylov's statement: "Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant, Comrade Marshal has already told me that these people have no combat experience and they must be trained to be combat-effective.
The troops may have certain difficulties, but I think we should be able to overcome these difficulties. Let's go and see the new recruits given to us."
Sokov took two steps and saw that Samoylov was still standing there without moving, so he turned to him and said: "Comrade Lieutenant, please call the commander of the 182nd Division, Colonel Khokhlov, and ask him to lead the people."
Come and receive new recruits."
Sokov and the other three people left the headquarters and immediately saw dozens or hundreds of trucks parked on the open ground dozens of meters away. The trucks were surrounded by people wearing new military uniforms. They must have been supplemented by their superiors.
of new recruits.
When the three of them walked over and saw clearly the new soldiers lined up in the open ground, they were all dumbfounded. After a while, Lunev asked: "Comrade Commander, these are the new soldiers Marshal Zhukov gave us.
"
Samyko waited for Luniev to finish and immediately added: "Now I finally understand why Lieutenant Samoilov had such an expression after reporting the news of the arrival of the new recruits to us."
Sokov looked at the more than two thousand recruits wearing new military uniforms in front of him, and even thought about hanging himself. Zhukov only told himself that these people had not received military training and had no combat experience. At this moment, he finally understood why the other party
You will say so. Among the recruits in front of you, they are either old men in their fifties or sixties, or children of thirteen or fourteen. Such people cannot go to the battlefield at all. It is normal for them to have no combat experience.
Recalling the rumors I heard before, during the defense of Moscow, Rokossovsky once ordered people to clear out all the recruits who were under the age of 18, not to let them stay on the battlefield full of dangers, but to return to the battlefield.
Go to the rear, lest they sacrifice their young lives in vain.
Now that he has replenished himself with more than 2,000 old men and child soldiers, Sokov feels in a dilemma: Should he keep them or let them return to the rear?