After receiving Chuvashov's call, Sokov ordered the artillery to stop the shelling to prevent the artillery fire from accidentally injuring his own people. Because he had learned from the battle reports that the remaining German troops were compressed within five kilometers of Belgorod.
Kilometers from a settlement, the retreat road has been completely cut off by the 84th and 254th Infantry Divisions, and their destruction is only a matter of time.
At this moment, the German division commander was huddled in the basement of a house in a residential area. He was trembling and said to his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, the Russians have completely surrounded us. Please ask for artillery in the direction of Belgorod."
, provide us with artillery support and cover our breakout!"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander!" the division chief of staff who had just finished the call replied with a wry smile: "The Russians are not only shelling the positions north of Belgorod, but also dispatching the air force to carry out violent bombing of the artillery positions inside and outside the city.
.In other words, the artillery inside and outside the city cannot provide us with any help."
"Hell, this is hell!" When he learned that Belgorod was not only unable to send reinforcements to meet him, but also unable to provide basic artillery support, the German division commander was completely crazy: "How could the Russians do this at this time?
What about an attack on Belgorod?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, I have a bold idea." said the Chief of Staff: "The Russians north of Belgorod actually do not want to attack the city, but just want to contain the troops in the city so that they do not dare to leave the city easily.
Come rescue us."
When the division commander heard that what the chief of staff said made sense, he quickly grabbed the microphone on the table and said loudly: "I want to report this situation to the corps commander immediately."
"Your Excellency, Division Commander," unexpectedly, the Chief of Staff grabbed his hand, shook his head and said, "It's useless. I think the Army Commander may also be aware of the Russians' intentions, but he is powerless."
Hearing what the chief of staff said, the German division commander asked puzzledly: "Why?"
"Although we all know that the artillery bombardment launched by the Russians north of Belgorod is most likely just to contain the defenders in the city, but no one dares to take risks easily." The division chief of staff explained: "If we want to follow our division,
To rescue the Russians from the siege, at least one division of troops will be needed. In this way, the city's defense will definitely be weakened. If the Russians notice this and turn the feint into a strong attack, then the city will be lost.
Possibly. With such a risk, let alone the army commander, even if General Holt is in the city, he would not dare to make a decision easily."
"Then what should we do? Are we just going to be prisoners of the Russians?" the division commander asked irritably.
"Your Excellency, Division Commander," seeing that the Division Commander was a little agitated, the Chief of Staff quickly reassured him and said, "Our remaining troops are all gathered in this settlement. Now our soldiers have used individual bunkers and buildings to form a complete defense system.
, enough to hold on until dark, then you can consider breaking out."
"Why do we have to wait until dark? Can't we break out now?"
"The Russians have more troops than we do. If they break through during the day, they will not only be besieged by their superior forces, but they may also be bombarded from the air and hit by long-range artillery fire. By then, our breakout operations may be
fail."
"But when it gets dark, will we be able to break through the Russian siege?"
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, based on my experience in dealing with the Russians, as soon as it gets dark, their command system can only play a limited role, and then the large number of people will become a weakness for them."
"Their weaknesses?" the division commander asked, "What do you mean?"
"When it gets dark, the Russians have different units huddled together and lack unified command. At this time, they have to stop the attack." The division chief of staff said with some pride: "And we can take advantage of this opportunity.
Disguise yourself as a Russian and sneak through their defenses."
These words of the chief of staff gave the desperate German division commander a glimmer of hope: "Great, this is really great. As long as we can hold on until dark, we will have a chance to jump out of the Russian encirclement."
But not long after he was happy, he began to worry again: "But, where are we going to get so many Russian military uniforms?"
"This is easy to handle." The chief of staff continued: "There are many Russians in the settlements who rushed in and were killed by us. We can put on their military uniforms and sneak out at night."
"Tear off clothes from dead people?" The German division commander frowned and said, "These military uniforms are full of bullet holes and bloodstains. Will they be betrayed?"
"No. After dark, the visibility is already low. If the Russians don't get closer and observe, they won't be able to find any flaws. Your Excellency, Commander, don't worry."
The German division commander and chief of staff had wishful thinking that with the troops retreating into the settlements, they could hold out until dark. After all, after they retreated into the settlements, they successfully repelled three attacks by the 84th and 254th Infantry Divisions, making
The Soviet army left three to four hundred corpses in the settlements.
But what they didn't expect was that the Marine Corps and Infantry Brigades attacking from the north would suddenly exert force, break through their northern defenses, and approach the residential areas.
The troops commanded by Chuvashov were divided into three parts and launched attacks from three positions at the same time, making the German army lose sight of one and unable to carry out effective defense.
Less than twenty minutes into the battle, a battalion commanded by Major Shamrih invaded the settlement.
As Sokov's old subordinate, Shamrich was not only brave in combat, but also good at using his brain. Based on the street fighting experience he learned during the defense of Stalingrad, he successfully captured two buildings occupied by the Germans.
And using these two buildings as the starting point for the attack, they pushed forward bit by bit towards the center of the residential area.
Just as he was assigning tasks to the company commanders, instructor Shapovarenko came in from outside and reported to him excitedly: "Comrade battalion commander, I have some good news for you. The German division commander is staying in front on the left
In the basement of the building a hundred meters away."
"real?"
"real!"
Hearing Shapovalenko's affirmative answer, Shamrih did not ask the other party's source of information, but issued an order to the first company commander: "First company commander, lead your company to immediately attack the building on the left.
, we must capture the German division commander alive.”
"Don't worry, comrade battalion commander." The first company commander said confidently: "As long as our company takes action, not a single enemy can escape."
Soon, the first company launched an attack on the building where the German division commander was located.
Seeing the Soviet troops rushing towards the building, the machine guns and submachine guns in the windows on the second and third floors immediately started firing violently. The Germans tried to use intensive firepower to stop the Soviet attack.
But Shamrih had anticipated this. He not only arranged a machine gun position in the building to provide fire cover for the first battalion. He also arranged several sharpshooters to specifically attack the enemy's machine gunners, killing each one on sight.
The enemy's machine gun fire soon went completely silent.
Since the enemy's firepower was effectively suppressed, the first company commander quickly led his company into the building and started a battle for the building with the enemies who stood inside.