The Soviet tanks stopped in place and fired. The shell fired by the German anti-tank gun hit a tank again. But to the dismay of the artilleryman, the shell turned into a ricochet again, leaving only a hole in the front armor.
An inconspicuous dent was made.
The hit Soviet tank slowly rotated its turret and fired a shot from the anti-tank gun aimed at the Germans. The roaring shells landed next to the anti-tank gun and exploded. The fire engulfed the artillerymen who were loading the shells.
When the smoke cleared, several German artillerymen had fallen in a mess near the explosion point.
Briski, with the commanders and fighters of the fourth battalion, was originally far behind. When he saw the tanks parked in front and fired at the enemy's position, he half-turned around and shouted loudly to his men: "Comrades, our
The tanks have suppressed the enemy's firepower, come with me!"
"Hurrah!" Following Briski's shout, all the soldiers shouted loudly, turning from a brisk walk to a trot, and then entered a sprint state!
Briski rushed to the front of the opposite side. He threw himself behind the No. 101 tank driven by Bely, picked up the microphone and shouted loudly: "Comrade Colonel, we are coming up!"
"Understood!" Bely, who was sitting in the tank, heard Briski's voice and replied equally loudly: "We will continue to move forward. Pay attention to the German anti-tank crews and don't let them get close to our tanks."
"Don't worry, comrade colonel." Briski assured Bely: "We will never let enemy tanks get close to you."
Belly's tank and the tanks of the other two company commanders were equipped with vehicle-mounted radios. After ending his call with Brisky, he issued an attack order to the two company commanders: "Everyone is here, move forward, keep moving forward!
"
As the order was given, the tanks driven by the two company commanders were the first to start. Although no signal soldiers leaned outside the tanks to send signals, the nearby tanks saw that the company commanders' tanks had moved, and they also moved forward.
.The Soviet tanks were moving forward neither too fast nor too slow. If they were too fast, they would be afraid that the infantry would not be able to keep up; if they were too slow, they would be afraid of slowing down the infantry's attack speed.
When the attacking force was only more than 200 meters away from the German trenches, the two remaining MG34 machine guns in the trenches opened fire. Although the bullets jingled on the armor of the T-34 tank and splashed countless sparks, there was no trace of it.
Didn't slow down the tank's forward speed.
Since the anti-tank artillery unit had been destroyed by Soviet tank fire, in order to prevent the Soviet tanks from approaching, several German anti-tank soldiers holding explosive bags got out of the trench and crawled forward.
, approached the Soviet tank and attempted to blow it up.
When the enemy wanted to blow up the tank, the Soviet soldiers following the tank would naturally not agree. As soon as they saw an enemy getting up from the ground, they would shoot with submachine guns and beat the anti-tank fighters into sieves.
Yakov, who was watching the battle in the factory, saw the progress of the troops and couldn't help but curiously asked Sokov: "Misha, as far as I know, the German regiment-level headquarters is usually seven or eight kilometers away from the front.
The division headquarters is even thirty kilometers away. But how come the German regiment headquarters is only two or three kilometers away from your defense zone?"
Regarding Yakov's question, Sokov smiled faintly and replied: "Yakov, I think there are two possibilities. The first possibility is that the small team I sent behind enemy lines was destroyed with new rockets some time ago.
The enemy felt that it was not safe in the rear, so they set up the headquarters so close to the front.
The second possibility is that the enemy has too great an advantage in the factory area and has been suppressing our troops until we can only carry out forced defense and cannot take any counterattacks. Therefore, the German commander arrogantly believed that,
No matter where they set the headquarters, there will be no danger."
"Didn't you say that you had the tanks circle the assembly workshop two days ago, making the enemy mistakenly think that the area you were defending was a tank brigade?" Yakov continued to ask: "Did the enemy find out?
Even though you have so many tanks, do you still not pay the necessary attention?"
"Yes, I had a group of tanks circle around the factory two days ago, which really scared the enemy and made them afraid to attack us." Sokov explained with a smile: "But they sent a group of tanks around the factory the next day.
A large number of aircraft came to bomb, thinking that our tank brigade was almost lost in the bombing, so there was no mobile regiment headquarters position."
"Misha, do you think we can capture or kill German regimental officers in today's battle?"
"It's hard to say." Sokov shook his head and said: "German officers are greedy for life and fear death. Don't look at them setting up their headquarters so close. Once they find out that the situation is not good, they will definitely abandon themselves.
His subordinates fled."
"Damn coward." When Yakov heard what Sokov said, he couldn't help but cursed in a low voice: "If you are so afraid of death, why bother to set up the headquarters so close to the front line?"
"Yakov, the enemy's officers are all greedy for life and afraid of death." Sokov looked into the distance with a contemptuous expression on his face: "Our division-level headquarters is usually only a few hundred meters away from the front line, and
The German regiment-level headquarters is at least a few kilometers away. This shows how afraid their commander is of death. Tell me, can such an army win the final victory against us?"
"This is definitely not possible." After Yakov finished saying this, he turned around and looked left and right, and saw that he and Sokov were the only two people on the track. The guards were all staying in the factory building below.
Then he asked in a low voice: "Misha, I want to ask you a question, and I hope you can answer me truthfully."
Sokov nodded and said: "Yakov, if you have any questions, just ask them. As long as I know the answer, I will answer you truthfully."
"Do you think," Yakov asked hesitantly, "that our troops can hold Stalingrad?"
After he asked this question, he saw a surprised expression on Sokov's face and quickly explained: "The question I asked was just a private question as a friend and has no other meaning. If you feel it is difficult to answer,
You don’t have to answer me.”
"Yakov, I can tell you very seriously." Sokov looked at Yakov and said resolutely: "We will definitely be able to defend Stalingrad. Not only can we defend Stalingrad, but we can also completely eliminate it.
Attack all enemies in the city."
Regarding Sokov's statement, Yakov smiled bitterly and said: "Misha, you don't need to comfort me. I have been to the city two or three times and I know the situation here very well. To put it bluntly, If the counterattack fails soon, the city will not be saved at all."
Sokov raised his eyebrows and asked Yakov in surprise: "Yakov, who told you that there would be a counterattack soon?"
Yakov smiled bitterly again and said: "The plan to implement a counterattack in the north of Stalingrad may be known to a limited number of defenders in the city, but to me, it is not a secret. I am even better than you. It’s too early to know.”
Seeing that Yakov already knew the counterattack plan two days later, Sokov curiously asked: "Yakov, do you think our counterattack can be successful?"
"It won't succeed." Yakov shook his head and said: "Although there are three armies due north of the city, and there is Rokossovsky's front army in the northwest, but if you want to succeed, I think it is There is no possibility." He was deeply afraid that Sokov would refute his point of view, so he also made a special explanation: "Although two or three brigades or an infantry division will be added to the troops in the city, the troops participating in the counterattack in the city will not only There is no air support, and even artillery support is very limited. Can you tell me, with such troops and technical equipment, can it break through the German defense line?"
Sokov clearly remembered that not only the Soviet counterattack in September ended in failure, but even the counterattack in early October also failed to make any progress, and instead consumed precious reserves, making the battle in the factory area even more complicated. Difficult. So after hearing Yakov's question, he shook his head and said: "Yakov, you don't have the conditions to fight back at all now. Even if you reluctantly launch a counterattack, it will be difficult to last, and it will definitely end in failure." .”
"Yes, Misha, you are right." Yakov handed a cigarette to Sokov and then said: "I think the same as you, such a counterattack is meaningless. And the superiors Therefore, the purpose of formulating such a counterattack plan is to save Stalingrad from the danger of falling. But the consequences of their doing so will make the situation in Stalingrad even more unfavorable."
Sokov knew that as Yakov, he must know a lot of things that he did not know, but he did not ask any more questions. Instead, he raised his telescope and looked into the distance to see how the troops were progressing.
At this moment, the Soviet tanks had rushed into the German minefields. As the tank tracks were crushed, mines continued to explode. Fortunately, the Germans had only laid infantry mines and no anti-tank mines, so the damage to the tanks was minimal. When the tanks passed through the minefield, Briski and his men stayed at the edge of the minefield, waiting for the tanks to open up several passable roads for them in the middle of the minefield.
The tank drove out of the minefield and continued to drive forward, collapsing the barbed wire fence pulled by the Germans. Seeing this, Briskey gave the order to charge again, and led his men along the road opened by the tank. Rush towards the enemy's trenches.
There were very few German soldiers left in the trenches. The rest were either killed by artillery shells or were killed by Soviet soldiers' submachine guns when they left the trenches to bomb tanks. Others saw that the situation was not good and had long since fled along the communication trenches.
When Briski and the others rushed to more than 20 meters away from the trench, they stopped one after another, took out grenades and threw them out. When the smoke from the explosion rose, they continued to rush forward with the tank.
When the tracks of the tank crossed the trench, some fast-running infantrymen also rushed to the trench. They first fired at the trench with their submachine guns, then jumped into the trench and rushed left and right to clear out the remaining German officers and soldiers in the trench.
Brisky followed Colonel Bely's tank and rushed towards an isolated house more than 200 meters behind the trench. According to the intelligence he had obtained in advance, that was the German regiment headquarters.
There was a sandbag fortification piled outside the building, and the MG34 machine guns in the fortification were firing wildly at all times. Some soldiers rushed too fast and escaped from the cover of the tank body. Unfortunately, they were hit by dense bullets. They seemed to be hit by
He stood on a transparent wall, his body paused, and he either held his chest and fell on his back, or turned around in a circle and then fell softly to the ground.
As soon as Briski took a look outside, he felt his helmet was knocked by something, and then there was a clanging sound. He was so frightened that he quickly retracted his head, grabbed the phone and called Bely loudly: "Comrade Colonel,
Comrade Colonel, have you seen that machine gun outside the building? Take it out quickly, take it out quickly!"
"Don't yell, I have eyes." Belei's somewhat impatient voice came from the receiver: "I immediately ordered the gunner to kill it."
Tank No. 101 stopped, and its muzzle was aimed at the German firepower point not far away. With a loud "bang", the German firepower point was hit by the tank gun. The sandbag was blown to pieces. The two German machine gunners behind the sandbag,
The explosion caused a wave of air to rise high, and then was thrown aside.
A tank rushed up quickly. As it advanced, it rotated the turret and turned the barrel to the rear. As soon as it completed this action, the tank body collided with a building. A building with an ordinary brick-concrete structure.
, how could it withstand such a collision with the tank body, it immediately collapsed, and the tank continued to rush forward with its huge inertia.
Briskey saw that the building had collapsed and knew that even if there were people inside, they would probably be crushed to pieces. He quickly rushed up with two soldiers. He came to the rubble and lowered his head to carefully search for survivors, but
After watching for a long time, except for a few deformed corpses of German soldiers, no one alive was seen.
Bely's tank came to a stop outside the building. He opened the hatch cover to reveal half of his body. He lowered his head and asked Briski, who was looking for something: "Comrade Captain, what are you looking for?"
"I want to see if there are any German regiment commanders among the dead." Briski replied simply.
"Comrade Captain, you are wasting your time." Bely reminded Brisky: "You should hurry up and look for the German maps and documents. Those things are the most useful to us."
Bely's words reminded Brischi, and he quickly ordered the soldiers near the ruins: "Don't be idle. Come and search to see if you can find German maps or documents." As the order was issued,
, the soldiers standing around rushed over and started looking for useful documents and maps in the ruins.
Seeing this scene in the distance, Yakov asked Sokov in confusion: "Misha, what are your men looking for in the ruins?"
Sokov saw a group of people busy in the ruins. He was stunned for a moment, then guessed what they were looking for, and said to Yakov: "I guess Briski and the others are looking for German maps or documents.
Things, these things are very helpful to us in defending the city."