Chapter 161: Openly repairing the plank road and secretly assassinating Chencang (Part 2)
When Sokov saw the soldiers of the second company climbing on the tanks that had been activated one after another, he nodded to Vasiuk, who was half exposed from the turret, indicating that it was time to attack. Vasiuk immediately shouted into the transmitter
: "Tank brigade, move forward!" Following his order, more than twenty tanks that were already ready to go immediately formed a battle formation, carrying the soldiers and galloping towards Popkovo in the distance.
Although there was knee-deep snow on the offensive road, it was not a problem for the T-34 tanks and KB heavy tanks with wide tracks. In just five minutes, the tank group rushed to the distance of Bop
Less than five hundred meters from Kovo.
Seeing the Soviet tanks rushing towards the villages and towns, the German assault artillery, regardless of the fact that the Soviet bombardment had not stopped, came out from their hiding places and fired condescendingly at the tank brigades.
The shells fired by the German assault artillery landed in the queue of tanks and exploded. The air waves lifted the black soil mixed with snow high into the air, and then scattered it down like heavenly flowers. They rushed to the front.
A T-34 tank was directly hit by German artillery and immediately burst into flames. The soldiers sitting on the tank were killed or injured. There were also several soldiers sitting on the tank who were hit by shrapnel flying in all directions.
, fell off the car one after another.
Sokov stood in the observation post, using his binoculars to look at the tank rushing forward under enemy fire, as well as the commanders and soldiers sitting on the vehicle. From time to time, he saw soldiers being hit by shrapnel and jumping from the speeding tanks.
The car fell down, making him feel like a knife.
The tanks of the tank brigade rushed down the slope one after another and entered the blind spot of the assault artillery. The tank crews adjusted the direction of the tanks and rushed toward the villages and towns along the slope. German soldiers hiding in bunkers and fortifications
, hurriedly fired. Bullets fired from machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles hit the tank's turret, splashing a series of sparks, but they did not slow down the Soviet tank's track advancement at all.
The T-34 tank rushing at the front stopped on the slope, slowly rotated the turret, and aimed its 76mm cannon at the soldiers who were shooting wildly in the fortifications. After a loud bang, the sandbags blocking the road ahead were
A gap was opened in the fortification, and the German soldiers who were hiding behind and shooting were blown to pieces.
After the tank crew finished shooting, they continued to drive forward. The weapons in the hands of the soldiers on the tank and the directional machine guns fired at the broken sandbag fortifications of the German army at the same time, knocking down the enemies who appeared one by one.
Seeing the long queue of Soviet tanks driving up the slope, some of the German soldiers behind the sandbags saw that the situation was not good, dropped their weapons, turned around and fled towards the villages and towns. But the soldiers who continued to resist
, was crushed to pieces by the high-speed rotating tracks.
At the end of the slope was a platform. Chernyshev, who was observing the battle situation from his headquarters, saw that the tanks of the tank brigade had arrived at the entrance to the village of Popkovo. He was afraid that if he continued the shelling, he would accidentally injure his own people.
He quickly ordered the artillery to stop firing.
After the tanks drove onto the platform one after another, they drove into the village in a row of three vehicles. The soldiers of the second company also jumped off the tanks one after another, followed the tanks in the blind spot, and followed suit along the street toward the tanks.
Villages and towns advance.
A German machine gun team hid in a half-exploded building at the entrance of the village and tried to shoot at the infantry following the tank. But they had just fired a few rounds when they were killed by the tank that was clearing the way in front.
Found it. Three tanks stopped at the same time, turned their muzzles to aim at the position of the machine gun, and fired one shot. The three shells hit the target at the same time. The brick wall that had been blackened by gunpowder smoke collapsed, and the machine gun hiding behind it collapsed.
The group was buried together among the broken bricks and rubble.
Watching the Soviet artillery fire stop, the German soldiers who had escaped from the artillery fire came out of their hiding places one after another. When they found the Soviet tanks approaching along the street, they couldn't help being frightened. But they all experienced it.
The veteran of many battles returned to normal after a brief panic, immediately entered his defensive position, and began to fight back with various weapons.
The three tanks that opened the road were successively destroyed by the German assault artillery hidden in the ruins of the building, and burned on the street. Standing at the entrance of the village, Andre, the second company commander, saw the street through the smoke of the burning tanks.
On the other side of the road, a German tank was slowly driving over, followed by dozens of bent German soldiers. The German assault artillery was firing in this direction non-stop.
He quickly shouted at the top of his lungs: "Disperse, the infantry disperse, go to the ruins and take cover, and prepare to destroy the enemies who are rushing over."
But his shouts were covered by the sound of gunfire, and few people heard what he was shouting. Fortunately, the two platoon leaders of the first and second rows saw the enemy infantry under the cover of artillery fire and tanks.
, rushed towards the entrance, and took the initiative to lead his subordinates to find a hiding place in the ruins.
Under the attack of German artillery, two more T-34s were hit by bullets and caught fire. Even the tank of the tank brigade commander Colonel Vasiuk was hit by two shells. But fortunately, the shells only hit him.
The heavy tank he drove had two white marks on it, which did not penetrate the tank's front armor at all.
When the German gunners saw that they had hit the target, they were secretly proud. When the smoke cleared, the hit heavy tank not only did not catch fire, but instead turned the muzzle to aim at itself. Just when they were about to fire again, the tank where Vasiuk was located
The gun was fired first. The 152mm heavy artillery shell hit the German artillery without any bias. After a loud noise, a huge crater appeared on the spot. In addition to the broken artillery parts on the edge of the crater, several German artillerymen
It had been blown to pieces with no bones left.
After completing the shooting, Vasiuk continued to look for targets, preparing to eliminate the assault artillery hiding in the ruins one by one and then lead the infantry to charge into the town.
Belkin, who was in the distant observation post, saw that the second company charging with the tank brigade was engaged in a close battle with the Germans at the entrance of the village. He quickly asked Sokov for instructions: "Comrade Battalion Commander, we are
Shouldn’t the machine gun battery also be put into battle?”
"Wait a minute, comrade deputy battalion commander." Although Sokov had long wanted to lead the cannon battery to the high ground to eliminate the enemies in the villages and towns, considering that there was no news about the two companies that had detoured back to the German flank.
None, so he could only stand still for the time being: "After seeing the signals from the 1st and 3rd companies, we will put the machine gun battery into battle."