When Fomenko called the headquarters, the person who answered the phone was Chief of Staff Samyko.
"What?" After listening to Fomenko's report, Samyko said in surprise: "General Fomenko, are you saying that your sneak attack on Highland 103.9 has been noticed by the Germans?"
"It's very possible, Comrade Chief of Staff." Fomenko was still unable to confirm whether any enemies on the occupied highlands had escaped and reported back, but he still had an attitude of preferring to believe it or not.
He replied with a firm tone: "If the Germans discover that the high ground has been lost, they will definitely send troops to counterattack. Now we only have 30 troops on the high ground. I am afraid it will be difficult to withstand the German army's crazy counterattack."
"You can send people for reinforcements." Sameko said, "This will also enhance the defense power of the highlands."
"No, Comrade Chief of Staff. If I could send people there for reinforcements, I would have sent people there long ago." Fomenko explained to Samyko: "There are minefields and barbed wire barriers between our defense area and the high ground.
If it is not cleared, our commanders and fighters will not be able to pass."
"After the battle begins, will you be able to pass through these areas smoothly?"
"That's right." Fomenko said in a positive tone: "According to the original plan, after the artillery preparations begin, some artillery will bombard this area to clear the minefields and obstacles that block our attack. If
Our commanders and fighters will not be able to pass through here before the bombardment has started."
"Wait a minute, General Fomenko." Samyko heard that the Germans might have noticed that the 84th Division had occupied the high ground, and that the troops on the high ground had become alone. Should he support them and launch artillery bombardments on the enemy's positions in advance?
It’s not something I can decide on. “I’ll ask Comrade Commander for instructions and hear his opinion.”
Samyko did not hang up the phone, but reported to Sokov who was sitting next to him looking at the map: "Comrade Commander, General Fomenko called and said that the reconnaissance team that captured the high ground might have been captured by the Germans.
In order to ensure the victory of the offensive battle, he requested the artillery to start artillery preparations in advance."
Knowing that the action to seize the high ground might have been noticed by the Germans, Sokov felt that the time of the attack should be appropriately adjusted, otherwise it would be difficult to achieve the unexpected surprise of the attack. He thought for a while, raised his head and said to Samek
: "Comrade Chief of Staff, agree to Fomenko's request to carry out artillery bombardment of the enemy's defense area in advance."
Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. There were still 38 minutes until the bombardment started, and he continued: "The bombardment is half an hour ahead of schedule."
"Yes." After Samyko agreed resoundingly, he said into the microphone: "General Fomenko, Comrade Commander has an order to prepare for artillery fire in the enemy's defense area half an hour in advance. In other words, eight minutes later
, the artillery of the 1st Artillery Division and the 2nd Artillery Division will shell the enemy’s defensive positions at the same time.”
"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Fomenko was overjoyed when he heard that Sokov agreed to advance the artillery bombardment. In this way, even if the Germans knew that the high ground had been occupied by their own troops, they would only have less than eight minutes to respond.
, it was impossible to retake the high ground, and there was no time to adjust the deployment of troops: "I will get in touch with the artillery comrades immediately."
Not only Sokov but also Fomenko felt that another seven or eight minutes of bombardment would not have much impact on the entire battle situation, but they never dreamed that the German commander immediately sent out a company after learning about the loss of the high ground.
The officers and soldiers launched a counterattack on the high ground, trying to eliminate the Soviet commanders and fighters who captured the high ground.
Second Lieutenant Ivar, who was standing on the high ground, had just told all the soldiers that the artillery bombardment might be advanced, so that everyone should be prepared to avoid the artillery fire. When he just handed over the task, the veteran shouted to him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, the Germans are coming up
Already."
Lieutenant Ivar, who heard the shouting, ran quickly along the trench and asked loudly: "Where is the enemy?"
"At the foot of the mountain."
Looking in the direction of the veteran's finger, Second Lieutenant Ivar saw groups of German soldiers in scattered formations, bending over and climbing up the hillside. Although the German soldiers were still three to four hundred meters away
, but he still issued the order loudly: "Everyone is here, listen to my command and prepare to fight!"
After seeing the soldiers entering their respective shooting positions and pointing their guns at the enemies down the hillside, Ivar shouted again: "No one is allowed to shoot without my order."
According to Ivar's plan, after the German soldiers entered a range of 150 meters, he ordered the veterans to fire with machine guns. They saw that the enemy was suppressed on the hillside, making it impossible for them to rush to the high ground in a short time.
Unexpectedly, while Ivar and others were waiting for the Germans to enter the optimal firing range of 150 meters, the Germans had already set up several mortars at the foot of the hillside to bombard the highlands. The shells roared and fell on the highlands.
Pillars of mud rose into the sky, and an unlucky soldier happened to be hit by a cannonball, causing his flesh and blood to fly everywhere.
"Sharpshooter!" Seeing the fierce enemy artillery fire, Ivar had to order the soldiers to hide and avoid the artillery fire. At the same time, he shouted loudly: "Come to me."
Following Ivar's shout, the sharpshooter in the team came to Ivar: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what are your instructions?"
"Did you see the German mortars down the hill?"
"Yes, I saw it."
"Kill the German gunners!" Since falling shells continued to explode nearby, Ivar had to get closer to the sharpshooter and said loudly: "He is too much of a threat to us."
The sharpshooter agreed, then found an ideal shot and aimed at the mortar operator three hundred meters away. After a simple aim, he pulled the trigger. Although he was a sharpshooter in the team, his marksmanship was not as good as that of a professional.
The sniper fired three shots in a row, but only one shot hit the target.
A German artilleryman who was holding a shell and was about to load it suddenly froze, and then fell straight to the ground. An ammunition hand next to him saw his companion being shot and fell to the ground, and he quickly ran over and bent down to pick it up.
Just as the cannonball was about to be loaded, another bullet flew in, hit the front of his helmet, and then flew out from the back of his head with a line of blood foam.
Seeing that two of their companions had been shot and fell, the remaining artillerymen instinctively believed that there were Soviet snipers nearby and dared to continue the artillery fire. They all found concealed positions to hide in order to avoid becoming the targets of snipers.
Without the suppression of German artillery fire, the soldiers hiding in the trenches re-entered the fighting position, pointing their guns at the approaching German troops, waiting for Ivar's firing order.
And Ivar was busy counting the number of people at the moment. In the short one or two minutes of German shelling, there were actually two casualties and three wounded. Seeing such heavy casualties, Ivar was really heartbroken. These reconnaissance personnel he brought out
The soldiers were all elites in the army, but they fell under the enemy's fire without firing a single shot.
After the attacking infantry entered a range of 150 meters, Ivar ordered the veteran's machine gun to fire first. The sound of gunfire was the order, and then the sound of gunfire on the position rang out, including the sound of rifle shooting and the sound of submachine gun fire.
.Many of the charging German soldiers fell down. The remaining soldiers quickly fell down on the spot and fired back at the top of the mountain.
Some experienced soldiers, after hiding in a safe position to shoot, would often take advantage of the Soviet shooting gaps on the highlands to quickly approach the positions on the hillside by leaping or rolling. Because they were too close to the positions, the trenches
If the soldiers wanted to hit them, they had to lean out and shoot. As a result, they were quickly beaten to pieces by the enemy's random shots.
"Grenade!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Ivar quickly shouted: "Use a grenade to blow up the enemy."
But his voice was covered by gunshots and explosions, and the people around him couldn't hear what he was shouting at all. Seeing that others couldn't hear what he was shouting, Iva quickly grabbed a grenade, pulled the string and fired directly
Throw it at the enemies who were hiding in the blind spot. After a loud bang, a German soldier who was hiding well was pulled up from the ground by the air wave of the explosion. After staggering forward for two steps, he lay directly on the ground.
The ground was motionless.
After seeing Ivar's actions, the surrounding soldiers followed suit and threw grenades at the enemies hiding in blind corners. After a series of explosions, many enemies were killed and injured, and the remaining ones rolled away.
He crawled to the ground and retreated.
Even though the German attack was ineffective, the German captain who was commanding at the foot of the hillside figured out based on the firepower on the hillside that there were not many people in Iva's squad. After his men retreated, he picked up a loudspeaker and loudly
He shouted: "Russian soldiers, you have no way out. Hurry up and put down your weapons and surrender. I will give you the treatment you deserve as a prisoner."
Although the German captain's Russian pronunciation was unprepared, the commanders and fighters on the hillside could understand what he meant. Not to mention that the main force's attack was imminent, even if the commanders and fighters were to fall into the German encirclement after going deep alone, it would be impossible for the commanders and fighters to do so.
Lay down your arms and surrender to the Germans.
"Sharpshooter!" Ivar didn't want to hear what the other party was shouting, so he quickly ordered the sharpshooter, "Kill the German radio."
The sharpshooter agreed, raised his gun and fired in the distance. Although he was the sharpshooter of the team, his marksmanship was not comparable to that of a sniper, not to mention that the target was still more than 300 meters away. If he wanted to hit the target directly
, the difficulty level is very high. Not long ago, it took him five rounds of bullets to kill two German gunners.
The German captain who was shouting was hiding behind a big rock with a loudspeaker. The sharpshooter aimed at his position and pulled the trigger continuously, but the bullets failed to hit the target. They all hit the rock, splashing countless stone chips.
It hit the German captain on the face, causing him to shrink behind a stone in pain.
Seeing that he failed to hit the target, Ivar was so angry that he punched the mound in front of him and then ordered the sharpshooter: "Keep shooting and be sure to knock out the German commander."
The German captain who almost took a bullet learned the lesson. He hid behind a rock and continued to shout to the hillside with a loudspeaker: "Russians, listen, your retreat has been cut off by our minefields and barbed wire fences, and the frontal attacking troops are much smaller than the others."
You are several times more numerous. I advise you to immediately lay down your arms and surrender, otherwise you will be responsible for all the consequences."
When Second Lieutenant Ivar heard the German captain's shouting, he couldn't help but blood rushed to his head. He rushed to the veteran's side, grabbed the MG42 from the opponent's hand, aimed at the position of the horn, and pulled the trigger crazily. This kind of
The machine gun was a powerful weapon against infantry, but it was of little use against the rocks where the German captain was hiding. Ivar fired the remaining half of the bullet chain in one go, but did not injure the German captain at all.
When the veteran next to him saw that the bullet chain was finished, he quickly helped to replace it with a new one so that Ivar could continue shooting. But Ivar had calmed down at this moment and knew that there was no use in continuing to shoot the German commander unless he
The bullets can penetrate thick rocks, otherwise everything is in vain.
Ivar knew that the ammunition on the high ground was limited. If he hurriedly fired all the bullets, he would have to fight with the Germans with bayonets when they rushed up. After the veteran changed the bullet chain, he did not continue to shoot at the hiding place.
The German captain behind the rock fired, but targeted the enemies exposed in sight.
Before a bullet chain was finished this time, the scream of artillery shells piercing the air could be heard in the air. A moment later, these artillery shells flew over the high ground and landed on the German defensive position in the distance, making a loud noise.
There was an earth-shattering explosion, and there were dazzling fireballs and pillars of black smoke rising into the sky.
Seeing the German position in the distance being blown into a sea of flames, Ivar immediately understood that this was the artillery that had started artillery preparations in advance, and quickly shouted to the left and right: "Hide, everyone, hurry up and take cover, pay attention to the artillery, be careful not to be caught."
Shrapnel hit."
Following Ivar's shout, the soldiers who were shooting at the enemy at the foot of the mountain stopped shooting one after another and squatted in the trench with their guns in hand to avoid shells that might accidentally land on the high ground.
The German captain commanding the attack at the foot of the mountain saw that his rear was blown into a sea of flames by Soviet artillery fire. He couldn't help but panic. He looked at the shells falling on the high ground and saw the smoke rising from the explosion. He was worried that his troops would
They were wiped out by Soviet artillery fire and hurriedly issued an order to retreat.
Although artillery shells fell on the high ground, the German captain did not have to worry at all. Their position was exactly on the reverse slope of the high ground. From the position of the Soviet artillery, no matter how many shells were fired, it would be difficult to hit them.
But the confused German captain had no idea of this. He just wanted to lead his troops and escape from the troubled place as soon as possible.
Second Lieutenant Ivar, who was hiding in the trench, was not worried that the Germans would take advantage of the opportunity of shelling to rush up, because the shrapnel produced by the shells that occasionally landed on the high ground and the explosion were enough to smash the German soldiers who rushed up the high ground into pieces.
Knock down.
When everyone is avoiding the artillery bombardment, artillery observers have to risk their heads to observe the effects of the artillery bombardment, and from time to time provide various shooting data to the artillery units through walkie-talkies to correct deviations in shooting.
Although the German commander in Svetlovodsk District received the news that the high ground had been lost, he did not take it to heart at all and arranged a company to retake the high ground. Outside, he got back into the warm bed and continued to sleep.
, had no idea that the Soviet army was about to launch a fierce bombardment on them.
It was precisely because of the disapproval of the German commanders that they failed to adjust their deployment in time. As soon as the Soviet artillery bombardment began, those officers and soldiers who were still sleeping in the shelters became victims of the artillery fire. Those who were lucky enough to escape from the shelters
People were scurrying around like headless flies, running wherever there were more people, until they fell in pieces under Soviet artillery fire.