Although the second battalion commander faithfully carried out the brigade commander's order and moved the remaining troops to the reverse slope to avoid the artillery bombardment, it was too late. The remaining 200 people of the second battalion were subjected to a new round of German artillery fire.
Afterwards, there were only less than a hundred people left.
Under such circumstances, it was obviously unrealistic for the Second Battalion to continue to defend the No. 1 Outpost Position. The brigade commander could only reluctantly send his most elite guard company to the No. 1 Outpost Position to take over the defense of the Second Battalion.
Before the troops set off, the brigade commander called the guard company commander in front of him and told him: "Comrade Captain, after the No. 1 outpost has been repeatedly bombarded by German artillery fire, it has been difficult to find complete defenses. If you follow the past
It is your practice to continue to stay in the incomplete fortifications after the enemy's bombardment begins. I'm afraid that when the bombardment ends, you won't even have any dregs left."
When the guard company commander heard what the brigade commander said, he was suddenly startled into a cold sweat and asked quickly: "Comrade brigade commander, what should we do when we are bombarded by the enemy?"
The brigade commander was afraid that the other party would not understand, so he drew a sketch on the paper and explained to the guard company commander while drawing: "...This is the No. 1 outpost position that your company wants to defend. The south slope is the direction of the enemy's attack.
, we call it the forward slope; and the corresponding north slope, we call it the reverse slope. When the enemy's artillery fire begins, you must move all your troops to the reverse slope, that is, the north slope, as soon as possible.
To avoid enemy bombardment."
Since the brigade commander was drawing pictures and explaining at the same time, the guard company commander quickly understood what he meant. After he finished speaking, he tentatively asked: "Comrade brigade commander, if we move everyone to the north slope to avoid the shelling, what will happen to the enemy?"
What should I do if I take advantage of the opportunity?"
The brigade commander held his forehead and said in a weak tone: "Comrade Captain, don't you leave a few soldiers on the position to monitor the enemy's movements?"
The guard company commander scratched the back of his head and said with an embarrassed giggle: "I understand, Comrade Brigade Commander. I will follow your arrangement. When the enemy's shelling begins, except for a few soldiers left to monitor the enemy's movements, the rest of the commanders and fighters will
They all moved to the reverse slope to avoid the shelling."
The guard company arrived at the No. 1 outpost position just in time. The German troops who rushed to the position were clearing out the stragglers who continued to resist. They did not expect that an organized Soviet army would rush up. The German officers and soldiers were distributed on various positions on the top of the hillside.
At this point, faced with the onrushing Soviet commanders and fighters, it was impossible to organize organized resistance.
After eliminating the German troops who rushed to the position, the guard company commander immediately ordered his men to search and rescue the wounded and repair the fortifications.
Soon, the deputy company commander came over and reported to him: "Comrade Captain, there are more than twenty commanders and fighters of the Second Battalion on the position, but most of them are injured."
After learning that there were only more than 20 people left in the second battalion, and most of them were injured, the guard company commander immediately gave up the plan to integrate them into his own troops, and ordered the deputy company commander: "Comrade deputy company commander, you send
Let a few soldiers escort them out of the highlands. They have completed their mission and leave the rest to us."
As soon as the soldiers of the guard company repaired a section of the fortifications, the German shelling began again.
The guard company commander, who was briefed by the brigade commander, naturally understood how to avoid the enemy's artillery fire in this situation. He quickly ordered the signal soldiers to raise flags and have everyone retreat to the reverse slope of the north slope.
When their guard company all withdrew to the north slope, the deputy company commander asked him with some guilt: "Comrade Captain, we have withdrawn all our troops to the north slope. What should we do if the Germans take the opportunity to launch an attack?"
"Don't worry, my comrade deputy company commander." The guard company commander said confidently: "Although it is German artillery fire that hits the artillery position, the artillery shells, regardless of whether they are Soviet or German, as long as they fall next to you and explode,
It can still kill you. As long as the shelling does not stop, the Germans will never start attacking, so you can stay here with peace of mind."
"But, comrade company commander." Although the deputy company commander also felt that what the company commander said was reasonable, he still felt uneasy. He reminded the other party: "Otherwise, we should send a few observation posts over to monitor the bottom of the hillside.
Enemy movement?"
"The enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, doesn't sending soldiers over now mean that they are going to die?" The guard company commander shook his head and said, "No, absolutely not."
Seeing that the company commander's attitude was so resolute, the deputy company commander knew that even if he continued to persuade him, he would not be able to change the other party's determination, so he could only say tactfully: "How about I take a few people to a position near the top of the hillside to wait for the enemy's artillery fire?
As soon as it weakens, we will observe the enemy's movements in time."
"Go, go." The deputy company commander kept nagging in his ear, which made the company commander feel very upset. Since he wanted to take people to a position near the top of the hillside to observe the enemy's situation, he simply let him go, so he
He readily agreed to his request.
When the No. 1 outpost position was under shelling, Guchakov held up his binoculars and observed the situation here intently on the position of the 73rd Infantry Brigade in the distance.
Askel, who stood behind him, watched for a while, sighed softly, and said: "Comrade Brigadier, the friendly forces still use the same old style of fighting. When facing the enemy's powerful artillery fire, they still put their troops in position.
Being bombed at the position caused unnecessary casualties to the troops. I'm worried that if we continue fighting like this, they will soon be exhausted."
"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are right." Guchakov agreed with Askel's statement: "If we continue to fight like this, the friendly forces will soon be exhausted. Once this happens,
Their entire army has been wiped out, and our left wing is directly exposed to the enemy. When the enemy chooses us as the target of attack, we will be attacked from two directions at the same time, and we will face a lot of pressure."
"Then what should we do?" Askel asked.
"I think we need to help them." Guchakov knelt down on one knee, picked up a branch, and began to draw a picture on the ground: "Comrade Chief of Staff, look, this is the defense area where our brigade is located.
It is the No. 1 outpost position that the enemy is attacking crazily. In order to prevent the friendly forces from being completely lost and leaving us passive, I think we can send a force to attack, go back to the enemy's rear, and attack them. In this way, the friendly forces will
The stress you bear will be greatly reduced.”
After Guchakov finished speaking about his plan, he looked up at Askel, who was bending down and standing aside: "Comrade Chief of Staff, do you agree with my plan?"
When Askel was explaining to Guchakov, he deduced the plan in his mind and felt that there was great hope of success. He nodded and said: "Comrade Brigadier, I agree with your opinion." There was a slight pause.
Seconds later, he asked tentatively, "Which battalion do you plan to send to complete this task?"
"Where is Captain Mikhailev?"
Hearing Guchakov's question, Askel replied with a bitter look on his face: "Where else can I be, naturally in the 1st Battalion."
When Sokov appointed Guchakov as the commander of the 73rd Infantry Brigade, he felt that it was obviously inappropriate for the deputy brigade commander, Colonel Weisbach, to serve as Guchakov's deputy for a long time, so he had the idea of transferring him.
.As for the position of deputy brigade commander, Captain Mikhailev, commander of the first battalion, was assigned to concurrently assume the position.
Now Weisbach has been promoted to the commander of the 300th Infantry Division, but Captain Mikheyev has never had the consciousness to be the deputy brigade commander and always stays in the battalion where he serves as the battalion commander. At first, Guchakov even said that he was
sentence, but as time goes by, I just let it go.
At this moment, knowing that Captain Mikhailov was in the first battalion, Guchakov said to Askel: "I think the task of harassing the German army's flank and rear should be left to Captain Mikhailov."
"I think it's okay." Askel nodded and said, "The first battalion is the most powerful unit in the entire brigade. Both commanders and ordinary soldiers have rich combat experience. They are responsible for sneak attacks on the enemy's rear.
, even if you encounter any danger, you can get out of it in time."
Seeing that his opinions had reached consensus with Askel again, Guchakov ordered the other party: "You call Captain Mikheyev immediately and ask him to come to me. I will personally assign tasks to him.
.”
Before Askel could make a call, Mikhailev appeared in front of the two of them. He smiled and asked Guchakov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, are there any combat tasks that you want to entrust to our first battalion?"
"
After Guchakov and Askel looked at each other, they both saw surprise in each other's eyes. Guchakov did not answer the other party's question directly, but smiled and asked: "Comrade Captain, who told you, said
Do we have a mission to give to your battalion?”
"Comrade Brigade Commander, this is all my guess." Mikhailev suppressed the smile on his face, pointed to the No. 1 outpost in the distance and said to Guchakov: "I see that the enemy has been
They kept attacking outpost position No. 1. There were no solid defenses on the position, and the defenders suffered heavy casualties from the enemy's shelling."
At this point, he sighed softly and said helplessly: "If our troops were holding on to a defensive line without solid fortifications and faced such a fierce bombardment by the German army, they would definitely move to a safe anti-slope position first.
Wait for the enemy's bombardment to end before reentering the position.
But what about the friendly forces? They always stayed on the position. Since there were no solid defenses, the commanders and soldiers who stayed on the position were needlessly sacrificed under the enemy's artillery fire."
"You are right, Comrade Deputy Brigadier." Askel waited for Mikhailev to finish speaking, addressed him by his title, and continued: "The brigade commander and I saw the friendly troops continued to suffer casualties in the enemy's artillery fire.
I felt very sad, so I decided to help them.”
"What should our battalion do?" Mikhailev asked.
"You try to find a way to go back to the enemy's rear." Guchakov said: "Then give the Germans a good beating so that they can no longer launch an attack on the No. 1 outpost in a short period of time. Do you have any questions?
?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander," Mikhailov raised his head and said to Guchakov: "I think it is of little significance just to destroy the enemy's infantry. This unit has been eliminated by us, and new units will continue to come.
Come here. We can help friendly forces once or twice, but we cannot help them all the time."
"Then what do you think?" Guchakov felt that Mikhailev seemed to have some novel ideas, so he said in an encouraging tone: "Just say it, even if you say it wrong, I won't blame you."
"I think the attacking troops can be divided into two groups, one group to deal with the German infantry attacking the outpost position, and the other group to deal with the enemy's artillery." Mikhailev said: "As long as the enemy's artillery is killed, then they
The offensive momentum will be greatly weakened, and the casualties of the defensive troops will also be greatly reduced."
"This is a good idea." Askel felt that what Mikhailev said was very reasonable, so she took the initiative to analyze it and said to him: "According to my judgment, the enemy's artillery position will not be more than five kilometers away from us.
"After staring at the simple sketch on the ground for a while, he bent down to pick up a branch and drew a stroke, "I think the enemy's artillery should be at this position."
Mikhailev glanced at the position painted by Askel and said confidently: "Comrade Chief of Staff, if the German artillery positions are really here, then my troops will be able to completely destroy them within two hours."
.”
"Two hours is too long." Unexpectedly, Guchakov said unexpectedly: "I think it is best to resolve the battle within an hour, so as to effectively reduce the casualties of friendly forces."
When Askel heard what Guchakov said, she immediately cried out: "Comrade Brigade Commander, although it is only a few kilometers from us to the enemy's artillery position, the march alone takes an hour. It does not count as getting close to the enemy.
After the artillery position, the time required to break through the enemy's infantry defense line..."
"Comrade Chief of Staff!" Before Askel finished speaking, Mikhailev interrupted: "I think it is not impossible to destroy the enemy's artillery positions within an hour."
Askel was stunned when he heard this. He kept thinking in his mind: "Didn't you hear what I just said? It will take at least an hour to march on foot from here to the enemy's artillery position.
In addition, there must be infantry on guard near the enemy's artillery. It will take a lot of time to break through the enemy's infantry defense and get close to the artillery position. Destroying the German artillery position within two hours, let alone one hour, is considered very fast.
Already."
Mikhailev saw the dissatisfaction on Askel's face, and smiled and said to him: "Comrade Chief of Staff, have you forgotten the new rockets equipped in our troops? With this weapon, we can even
The enemy's artillery positions can be destroyed from several kilometers away without getting close to them."
The words awakened the dreamer, Askel was confused, and still calculated the first battalion's attack route and the time required according to the original idea, thus forgetting that the new rockets they had could even be fired several kilometers away.
Launch an attack on German targets.
Thinking of this, he chuckled, then nodded vigorously and said: "Comrade Captain, what you said makes perfect sense. Since our army has new rockets, why do we need to get close to the enemy's artillery positions and fight with the infantry on guard?
What? As long as you install the launcher one or two kilometers away from the artillery position and directly bombard the enemy's artillery position, it will be enough to turn it into a sea of fire."
"Comrade Captain," Guchakov said sternly to Mikhailev now that he had an attack plan: "Now that the mission has been clarified, you should return to the army immediately and lead the soldiers to set off."
After Mikhailev left, Askel shook his head and said to Guchakov: "Comrade Brigadier, it's not okay for the deputy brigade commander to do this. He still regards himself as a battalion commander and only wants to
I wanted to lead the soldiers to charge into battle, but I didn't expect to sit in the headquarters and study the battle plan with us."
Guchakov had nothing to do with Mikhailov's practice of always forgetting his identity and being active at the forefront. He waited for Askel to finish complaining, then said with a wry smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't be anxious.
, when the fighting here is over, I will report this matter to Comrade Commander to see if he can send us a new deputy brigade commander."