Guchakov was still very satisfied with Narva's statement. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the other party: "Here's one!"
Narva took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, held it in his mouth, lit a match, first lit it for Guchakov, then lit the cigarette in his own mouth, and asked casually: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the main force
When will the troops arrive?"
"I guess we're almost there." After Guchakov finished speaking, he turned to a communications soldier next to him: "Ask the radio operator to contact the regiment headquarters immediately and ask them when they can arrive."
After the communications troops left, Narva said to Guchakov: "I heard that what we were blocking was the Grossdeutschland Division. They are the elite of the German Wehrmacht."
"What are the elites afraid of?" Guchakov said disdainfully: "Our troops have been fighting the elites of the German army since they were formed. The Imperial Division, the Skeleton Division, and the 19th Armored Division that was annihilated not long ago, they are
Not elites? They were annihilated by our army, especially the Imperial Division, which was annihilated twice by us. I really don’t know if that mustache in Berlin will be shameless enough to form it a third time.”
"If Mustache wants to form one, just form it." Narva said confidently: "Once he forms it, we will annihilate it once. It depends on whether he forms a new unit faster or we annihilate it faster!"
While the two were talking, a strange scream suddenly came from the air, "Shelter, shelling!" Guchakov's expression changed when he heard the sound, and he put the unfinished pipe in his hand.
Throwing it on the ground, he shouted loudly: "Hide, hide quickly..."
Before he could finish shouting, a shell landed a few meters away from the trench and exploded. The huge explosion masked his shout, and the air wave caused him to hit the trench wall hard. Guchako
The husband groaned and fell softly into the trench.
When Narva heard the sound of artillery shells flying over, he instinctively squatted down, thus avoiding the fate of being blown away by the blast. He saw Guchakov falling beside him, covering his abdomen with both hands, and kept
Heng Heng quickly called for a soldier to come over and dragged Guchakov into a nearby shell-proof cave.
"Comrade Captain," Narva asked impatiently as soon as he entered the shell-proof hole, "Where are you injured?"
"I wasn't injured," Guchakov said, sitting with his back against the earth wall, shaking his head, "I was just shaken by the air wave of the explosion. I'll be fine after a short rest."
Knowing that Guchakov was not injured, Narva's expression became relaxed, and he even joked with him: "Comrade Captain, I heard that when the commander was defending Moscow, it was only the town of Khimki
A garrison squad leader in the army. Once the town was bombed by enemy planes, and he was stunned by the falling aerial bombs. When he woke up, it was as if he was a completely different person. In less than two years,
He became a general from a corporal.
You were shocked by the shell today, maybe you can become a new person like Comrade Commander, and then you can hope to become a general."
Narva's words aroused good-natured laughter in the shell-proof cave.
Guchakov also had a dream of being a general in his heart, but when he heard Narva say this, he said with a straight face: "Captain Narva, Comrade Commander is my most respected superior. He has saved many lives in succession."
I died twice, and I hope you won’t make fun of him in the future. Do you understand?”
Narva did not expect that a random joke he made to lighten the atmosphere would actually cause such a big reaction from Guchakov. He could only reply with a blushing face: "Understood!"
Fortunately, Guchakov did not pursue the matter further, but ordered him: "After the enemy's shelling is over, you immediately organize manpower to repair the fortifications, treat the wounded and dig out the soldiers buried in the soil."
Narva saw Guchakov preparing to leave after explaining the work to him. He quickly grabbed him and said nervously: "Comrade Captain, the enemy is shelling outside. You can't go out."
"It is precisely because the shelling outside continues that I have to leave." Guchakov said loudly: "I want to stay in my command post and keep in touch with my superiors."
Guchakov rushed out of the shell-proof hole and saw the fierce shelling outside. Worried about being hit by flying shrapnel, he did not dare to get up and run. Instead, he crawled towards his command post.
.
When he climbed near the command post, he found that the command post had been destroyed by artillery fire. He couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Just when he thought that the contact with his superiors had been cut off, he heard someone calling him loudly next to him. When he turned around, he saw that he was not far away.
There is a bomb-proof cave at the entrance, and at the entrance squats the communications soldier he sent back.
Seeing that Guchakov noticed him, the signal soldier shouted a few more times. Although his voice was not low, Guchakov couldn't hear what he was saying amidst the rumbling cannons, so he crawled towards him.
passed.
"Comrade Captain," when Guchakov climbed into the gun-proof hole, the communications soldier shouted loudly in his ear: "There is a telegram from the regiment headquarters. They will arrive with the main force of the division in an hour."
Knowing that the main force would arrive in an hour, Guchakov felt much relieved. He looked at the bombed command post not far away and said solemnly: "Have all the people inside escaped?"
"Yes, Comrade Captain." The communications soldier replied: "As soon as the shelling started, everyone in the command post evacuated. The radio operator withdrew into another shell-proof hole carrying a walkie-talkie on his back."
Malanjin, who was on the second line of defense, saw through his telescope that the first line of defense was shrouded in dazzling fireballs and gunpowder smoke, and the mud thrown up by the explosion of large-caliber artillery shells was at least ten meters high.
"Comrade division commander," the division chief of staff saw this scene and asked Malanjin worriedly: "It seems that the enemy is spending a lot of money. Judging from the sound of the artillery, they must have used no less than 100 heavy artillery pieces. Do you think the friendly forces are there?
How many people can survive such a bombardment?"
After taking a deep breath, Malanjin ordered the division chief of staff: "Chief of staff, call the friendly commanders on the first line of defense and ask them what the situation is there and whether they need our support?"
The division chief of staff agreed and turned around to make a call. But when he picked up the phone, he found that there was no sound at all. He turned around and asked the busy communications company commander at the side: "Comrade company commander, come here and listen to the call."
Why is there no sound at all?"
The communications company commander came over, put the microphone to his ear, listened, and then replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the phone line may have been blown down by artillery fire. I immediately sent someone to check the line."
When the communications company commander arranged for people to check the line, the division chief of staff came back and reported to Malanjin: "Comrade division commander, the telephone line leading to the first line of defense has been broken by enemy artillery fire. The communications company commander sent people to
Check the line, I'm afraid it will take some time before we can get in touch with the friendly commander in front."
After the German artillery fire lasted for an hour, it finally stopped. The tanks and infantry that had been preparing for attack in the distance launched an attack again towards the first line of defense where the Guchakov Battalion was stationed.
As soon as the enemy's shelling ended, the surviving commanders and fighters came out of the shell-proof caves and took the time to repair the fortifications, treat the wounded, and rescue their buried comrades from the collapsed shell-proof caves.
Guchakov also crawled out of the gun-proof hole, found a position with a wide view, raised his telescope and looked into the distance. At this time, a second lieutenant came over and reported to him: "Comrade Captain, the people behind our position are
The tanks were all destroyed by enemy fire."
After listening to the second lieutenant's report, Guchakov turned his head and looked behind him. Although he saw the dozens of tanks used as fixed turrets, most of them had been destroyed and were burning.
Seeing this scene, Guchakov's heart sank suddenly. He thought that without the assistance of the tank troops, it was basically impossible to block the enemy's armored troops. The rocket launchers and rocket launchers equipped in the battalion were basically impossible.
The new rockets have been exhausted in the previous attack.
At this moment, the roar of aircraft engines came from the sky behind him. Guchakov turned his head and saw dozens of Soviet aircraft with five stars painted on their fuselages, arranged in groups of four.
A neat formation flew towards the battlefield.
The commanders and fighters in the trenches cheered when they saw the Soviet planes appearing in the sky. With so many planes appearing at the same time, it was enough for the attacking Germans to have a good drink. When they heard the soldiers cheering, Guchakov also
He stood up straight and looked up at the plane flying overhead. Although he knew that the pilot couldn't see him, he couldn't help but stretch out an arm and wave it desperately in the air.
After some of the fighter planes crossed the Soviet defensive position, they lowered their altitude and launched a fierce attack on the German tanks and infantry that were rushing towards the Soviet position. The other part of the fighter planes maintained their original height and continued to move forward.
The plane should be bombing the enemy's artillery positions.
In order to successfully capture the Soviet position, General Herlein spent a lot of money and strengthened one of the only two Tiger tank companies in his possession to Colonel Lorenz.
According to his idea, after heavy artillery bombardment of the Russians' crude defensive positions, it is estimated that there will not be many living people left. Even if there are, when the Panther tank battalion reinforced by the Tiger tank company rushes to the trench, even if
Without using tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns, even if they are crushed by crawlers, they can kill all the remaining Russians.
Unexpectedly, while the tanks were still moving, a large number of Soviet fighter planes appeared in the sky. Some of them, after crossing the Soviet defense line, lowered their altitude and attacked the tanks on the ground.
The frontal armor of the Tiger tank is indeed very thick. The front armor of the car body is 102 mm thick, and the mantlet armor directly in front of the turret is 135~150 mm thick. However, the armor on the top is very weak. When encountering the Soviet army's special ground attack
Attack aircraft are like lambs to be slaughtered. In addition, the Soviet attack aircraft are also equipped with newly developed aerial bombs specifically designed to deal with German tanks.
Therefore, after the Soviet attack planes completed two waves of attacks, five of the nine tanks of the Tiger tank company were directly hit by aerial bombs and were destroyed on the spot. The two tracks of another tank were blown off, only
Able to stop in place motionless.
The Soviet attack planes dropped bombs and strafed German targets on the ground. In just a few minutes, they destroyed more than a dozen German tanks and killed more than a hundred German soldiers. Just as the pilots were
When they raised the altitude again and prepared for another attack, the scream of artillery shells piercing the air suddenly sounded on the battlefield again. However, this time the artillery shells did not fall on the Soviet position, but all hit the German army.
An area filled with tanks and infantry.
It turned out that the main force of the 188th Division had arrived nearby not long after the bombardment started. The division commander, Colonel Koida, saw that the German artillery fire was fierce. If he let the troops enter the position at this time, it would be like letting them die. Therefore, he could
What he did was to send a report to Sokov and give him a detailed report on what happened here.
When Sokov learned that part of the 188th Division was in danger under enemy artillery fire, he naturally would not sit idly by and ignored it. He quickly contacted Konev and asked him to dispatch the air force to carry out air strikes against the German troops in the blocking area.
When he discovered that Sokov was about to call Konev, Samyko curiously asked: "Comrade Commander, our army group is now affiliated with the Voronezh Front. You bypassed General Vatutin and asked General Konev for help.
Does it fit?"
"There is nothing inappropriate, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waved his hand towards Samyko and said: "Although the German army has withdrawn southward from the Prokhorovka area, the main force of the front army is still in that direction. The air force
It is no exception. If I ask General Vatutin for air support, it is a question whether he agrees. Even if he agrees, it is still unknown when the air force will arrive on the battlefield. Whether the position will still be in the hands of our army by then
, it’s hard to say.”
As Sokov's chief of staff, Samyko naturally knew the importance of this blocking mission, so he no longer tried to persuade Sokov, but took the initiative and said: "Comrade Commander, if this is the case, then you should contact Kone
General Husband. If the superiors want to hold you accountable in the future, I will bear the responsibility together with you."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are worrying too much." Lunev heard what Samyko said and said with a smile: "Have you forgotten what the commander often said, the victor should not be blamed.
As long as we can complete the tasks assigned to our army by our superiors, it doesn't matter who we ask for air cover."
Konev was also very interesting. After he received the call for help from Sokov, without saying a word, he immediately ordered the air force to dispatch an aviation division and rushed to the blocking site to reinforce Sokov's troops and attack the German targets on the ground.
Carry out indiscriminate bombing.
In this battle, the most depressing thing was the German commander Colonel Lorenz. He thought that the Russian positions that had been bombarded by heavy artillery had no chance of blocking his powerful offensive. Unexpectedly, the tanks and infantry responsible for the offensive mission
Before approaching the Russian position, they were bombarded by the Russian Air Force.
Not only did the offensive troops suffer heavy casualties during the bombing, the artillery positions that had just completed the artillery bombardment in the rear and had not had time to move also became the target of Russian bombers. For a time, the artillery positions were blown into a sea of fire, and countless artillery pieces were bombed.
It turned into a pile of scrap metal. If the artillery shells were not basically exhausted and caused explosions, it is estimated that few artillerymen on the position would have survived.