The position held by Andre's Third Battalion in the east of the city was a defense fortification built by the Soviet army before the war. Due to various reasons, it was not completed until the outbreak of the war. In addition, the Soviet army was defeated and the German army was advancing too fast.
Soon, the fortifications did not play any role, and the city fell into the hands of the German army.
After the German army occupied the city, they ignored the fortifications around the city. They neither sent people to reinforce nor station troops. If the German army deployed a squad of troops in the fortifications, Sokov wanted to lead his troops to sneak attack on Kur.
Sk, it’s not an easy thing either.
Although the Germans once shelled the position of the third battalion for half an hour, only the criss-crossing trenches were severely damaged. Only a handful of the one-meter-thick reinforced concrete fortifications were destroyed by artillery fire. Precisely because there were
The fortifications were solid, so Andre was confident of holding on to his position even without artillery support.
Andre stood in his observation post and looked at the German tanks approaching the position with his binoculars. His mood became uneasy. The soldiers who stayed in the trenches and fortifications, except for the soldiers who were replenished from the prisoner of war camps,
, there are also nearly a thousand recruits who just joined the army yesterday. Although they have served as militiamen or received military training, when the enemy tanks rushed in front of them and machine guns fired at them, they did not know whether they stayed in their positions and continued to fight.
Or will he turn around and run away?
The German tanks stopped five hundred meters away from the position. Since there was no barbed wire or minefields in front of the Soviet position, there was no need for them to continue moving forward to clear the way for the charging infantry. They lined up,
Use artillery fire to suppress the firepower points on the Soviet position.
Although there was support from tank artillery fire, the German infantry waited for the machine gun company to set up machine gun positions step by step and began to fire at the Soviet positions.
rushed to the position.
Seeing the German troops rushing towards their position, the recruits hiding in the fortifications became a little uneasy. The enemy was still three to four hundred meters away from the position, so they started firing their guns, and the bullets flew out as if they were free.
, but few of the German soldiers charging in the distance were shot and fell to the ground. They continued to rush toward the position without stopping.
The exposed firepower point became the first target of the German tank gun. Shells flew over one after another and accurately hit the target. Amidst the huge explosions, soldiers were lifted into the air from time to time by the air waves of the explosion, and then again.
It fell heavily. Many soldiers near the explosion point were also cut down by flying shrapnel.
The newly appointed first company commander saw that the enemy was still several hundred meters away from his position, and his soldiers suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire. He was worried that if things continued like this, his own men would be killed before the enemy could rush to the position.
They were all dead. He quickly asked Andre for help: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the first company suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire. Please support me. I request support."
When Andrei saw that the company's position was being bombarded by tanks, he was particularly anxious, but Sokov was unwilling to provide artillery support for them, so he had no choice. Although he complained about Sokov for a while, he quickly
I figured it out. Although there are artillery in the city, as long as they open fire, they will inevitably be counterattacked by the German artillery. Although there are many artillery captured in the warehouse, there are only a few dozen soldiers who can use these artillery. Once
They all died, so no matter how many artillery guns there are, it will be in vain.
Therefore, in response to the first company commander's request for help, he could only harden his heart and say: "Comrade Lieutenant, use the reinforced concrete fortifications on the position to resolutely block the enemy's attack. When necessary, I will send troops to reinforce you."
When the first company commander saw that the battalion commander, Captain Andre, would not send reinforcements to him, he could only bite the bullet and order the troops to shrink, and evacuated the surviving soldiers in the trenches to the fortifications, preparing to rely on strong reinforced concrete fortifications to resist the German attack.
.Not long after, he discovered how correct the decision he had made was.
When the German infantry was less than 200 meters away from the position, the MG34 machine guns set up in the fortifications opened fire violently, knocking down the charging German troops in large numbers. Seeing the firepower emerging from the Soviet position, the attacking troops were inflicted
Inflicting a lot of casualties, the tanks behind immediately aimed at these fortifications and opened fire violently. The 75mm short-barreled artillery equipped by the No. 4 tank, although using high-explosive shells, was very lethal to enemy infantry and fortifications.
However, when faced with these reinforced concrete fortifications in front of them, they seemed a bit powerless. Unless the artillery shells flew directly in from the firing holes, they would not be able to destroy these firepower points that were constantly killing German officers and soldiers.
The German tank crews were troubled by the inability to destroy the Soviet fortifications, and the Soviet troops who stood firm on the ground were also troubled by the German tanks. Since there were no anti-tank guns, they could only stare at them. In fact, there were many in the warehouse.
There are few German 37mm anti-tank guns, but Sokov considered that this anti-tank gun, known as a "stepping stone", has an effective range of only three hundred meters and cannot deal with German tanks parked four to five hundred meters away. Therefore,
It is not assigned to the troops below at all.
Sokov, who was staying at the command post in the city, had been learning about the situation on the battlefield from Andrei and the observation post outside the city via phone. After learning that the third battalion had performed poorly in the battle, Sokov
Frowning, he said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, it seems that the situation is worse than we imagined. Although the Third Battalion has expanded from more than 100 people to more than 1,500 people, their combat effectiveness has not increased.
Therefore, I am worried that it will be difficult for them to block the enemy's attack."
"Then what should we do?" Belkin asked quickly.
Sokov stared at the map in front of him, frowning and said: "There are only two ways at present. One is to send the tank troops to attack in advance and hit the enemy hard from the side; the other is to start building fortifications in the city and prepare for street fighting with the enemy.
.We must use every street and every building in the city to fight against the enemy, consuming their strength while waiting for reinforcements to arrive."
"I agree." Since receiving the order to hold on to Kursk, Belgin has been considering that although he has added thousands of new soldiers, they have no combat effectiveness at all. Instead of fighting the enemy outside the city, it is better to retreat inside.
In the city, engage in street fighting with the Germans to render their aircraft and artillery useless, so that they can better defend the city. Therefore, when Sokov mentioned preparing for street fighting, he immediately expressed his approval: "Comrade Brigadier,
You stay here and continue to command, while I mobilize the residents to build fortifications in the city."