As for whether to blow up tanks that have been depleted of ammunition and fuel after breaking through the German defense line, Sokov believes that it should be determined based on the specific situation. For example, as soon as he led his troops to break through the German defense line, the enemy's large forces overwhelmed him.
When we came up, we were thinking about how to escape. Carrying these tanks was a burden and had to be blown up. But after breaking through the enemy's defense line, Rokossovsky's troops came from the other side to join forces. That way
Not only cannot it be blown up, but it may also be tasked with covering friendly attacks.
Therefore, in response to Yakov's reminder, Sokov said unhurriedly: "Yakov, I agree with you. Whether to blow up these tanks depends on the specific situation after breaking through the German defense line."
Yakov did not expect Sokov to answer like this, with a surprised expression on his face: "Misha, I saw that you emphasized the need to blow up the tank in several meetings every time. I thought you had to blow it up.
I'd rather have these tanks explode."
"Yakov, the reason why I kept bringing this up in the meeting is because the friendly forces are unable to break through from this direction, probably because they cannot use tanks." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I'm worried that we
After breaking through the enemy's defense lines and being unable to carry these tanks across the river, rather than letting them fall into the hands of the Germans, it would be better to blow them all up."
Yakov took out his cigarette case, handed a crumpled cigarette to Sokov and asked: "Misha, before dawn, we will launch an attack on the enemy's defense line. How successful do you think we are?
Confidence?"
"I don't know," Sokov held the cigarette in his mouth and shook his head and said truthfully: "Judging from Colonel Bely's reconnaissance, the enemy's defense direction is all towards the north. But when we attack, will we
It’s hard to say whether we will encounter tenacious resistance from them. Once we are unable to break through their defenses, and enemies from other directions surround us from behind, I’m afraid we will not be able to escape the end of the entire army being destroyed.”
"Misha," Yakov lit a match, lit Sokov's cigarette, and asked tentatively: "Let me ask you one last time, do you really not need to report this matter to General Chuikov? If we report it,
Maybe we can get some help from him for our breakout plan!"
"Yakov, what kind of help do you think we can get if we report our breakout plan?" Sokov took a puff of cigarette and continued: "Don't forget, although the 37th and 39th Guards Divisions are with
We are only a few kilometers apart, but due to the enemy's tenacious defense, they were unable to complete their goal of joining us."
From Sokov's reply, Yakov heard that his childhood friend was planning to make a desperate move. He thought for a moment and felt that Sokov was undoubtedly right to adopt this method of killing first and telling later. At least he didn't have to worry about leaking the news.
This greatly improved the success rate of breaking out. He threw the cigarette he had taken two puffs on the ground, crushed it with his toes, and said clearly: "Misha, I support the decision you made. If someone wants to be held accountable in the future,
, I am willing to help you share the responsibility."
…………
Five minutes before the attack started, Sokov came to the area where the 308th Infantry Division was lurking. After finding Gurdiev, he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Colonel, are all the troops ready for battle?"
"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Gurdiev replied respectfully: "All commanders and fighters are ready to attack. We will launch an attack immediately when the time comes."
Sokov raised his binoculars and looked at the German positions in the distance. It was already dark at this time, and he could clearly see one fortification after another, but there was not a single person in these fortifications, and he did not know whether the Germans were sleeping.
, still placed the warning direction in the north, and did not realize that a few kilometers south of them, there was an ambush of a troop of thousands of people.
After putting down the telescope, Sokov sighed softly, looked at Gurdiev and said: "Comrade Colonel, it's so quiet here. I really can't bear to break the silence here."
"If we want to break through the enemy's defense line," Gurdiev raised his hand to look at his watch, and then said to Sokov, "we have to break the silence before dawn."
Seeing that the time for the attack was coming, Sokov raised his telescope again, glanced at the silent German position, turned to Gurdiev and said: "Comrade Colonel, tell the soldiers, before the tanks go into battle,
, when the attacking troops approach the enemy's position, try not to make too much noise, so as not to be noticed by the enemy."
Gurdiev understood what Sokov meant. He knew that the later his troops were exposed, the closer they would be to the enemy's position, thereby greatly reducing the casualties of the troops. Therefore, after hearing Sokov's instructions, he nodded vigorously.
, replied: "Don't worry, Comrade Brigade Commander, I will convey your order directly to the commanders of each regiment."
A few minutes later, the commanders and fighters of the 308th Infantry Division stood up from their hiding places, put their rifle butts against their abdomens, bent their waists, and strode towards the enemy's position. Even though there were thousands of people in action, they were
The noise made was not loud. As long as the German sentries did not pay special attention to the south, they would not be able to detect the appearance of Soviet troops behind them.
But when the soldiers had walked halfway, the roar of tank engines suddenly came from behind. Sokov turned around and saw the tanks of the tank battalion approaching in a wedge-shaped formation, and the tanks became bigger and bigger in his sight.
The appearance of the tank alerted the sentry on duty, but he found that the defense where the sound appeared was actually a large group of Soviet infantry, approaching the position in skirmish formation, and was frightened to death. Fortunately, he did not forget his own
Duty, he fired his gun into the air and shouted loudly: "Russians, Russians are coming up!"
The shouts of sentries and the rumble of tank engines woke up many German soldiers from their sleep. They rushed out of the sleeping shelter and entered the shooting position, but they soon discovered that the north of the position was completely silent.
There was no trace of the Russians. On the contrary, all these sounds came from behind him.
The German army hurriedly turned the MG34 machine gun mounted in the sandbag fortification and started shooting wildly at the Soviet infantry a few hundred meters away. A dozen mortar groups also mounted the gun mount, and after a short calculation, they couldn't wait to fire
The ground begins to emit.
When Sokov saw the attacking troops, they were suppressed by German machine gun fire and had to lie down and take cover. German mortar shells landed in the formation and exploded, blowing some unlucky soldiers to pieces.
Seeing the constant casualties in the troops, Sokov couldn't help but blood welling up in his head. He wanted to rush forward with an assault rifle and kill all the enemy's machine gunners and mortar crews. Then he understood his responsibilities better.
As a commander who takes charge of the overall situation, what he should do is direct the troops to attack, rather than charge into battle like ordinary soldiers.
He pointed at the machine gun fire point in the distance and said to Gurdiev: "Comrade Colonel, immediately contact the commander in front and ask the snipers to kill the enemy's machine guns and mortars, and then use our machine guns to suppress the enemy."
firepower, the covering troops launched a charge."
"Understood, Comrade Brigade Commander." Gurdiev readily agreed: "I will immediately contact the commander in front and convey your order to them."
Just when Gurdiev was in contact with the forward commander, the tanks of the tank battalion had already arrived near Sokov. Since it was still far away from the enemy's position, Sokov did not have to worry about being injured by stray bullets.
He jumped out of his hiding place, raised the assault rifle high above his head, and regardless of whether the people in the tank could hear his shout, he waved the assault rifle while shouting at the top of his lungs: "Forward! Brothers of the tank crews"
We, use artillery fire to destroy the enemy's fire points and cover the infantry attack. Advance! Advance!!"
A dozen tanks rumbled past Sokov, formed a battle formation as they marched, and charged menacingly towards the German position. The infantry might have to walk for ten minutes to cover a distance of two to three kilometers, but against
For a speeding tank, only four or five minutes is enough.
The tank stopped 800 meters away from the German position. Bely issued an order to all the tank crews through the vehicle radio: "Everyone pay attention, everyone pay attention, each vehicle crew chooses its own target to fire! Repeat, each vehicle crew
Choose your own target and fire!"
After the two rounds of shooting, the exposed fire points and mortar positions on the German position were all destroyed by artillery fire. Belly opened the hatch cover, leaned out half of the turret, checked the results for a while, and decisively made the second move.
The order: "Attention everyone, keep moving forward, keep moving forward! Watch out for the German anti-tank crews!"
When a dozen tanks of the tank battalion continued to gallop forward, the infantry suppressed by German firepower also got up from the ground and rushed forward behind the tanks. Once they discovered that German soldiers rushed out of the position, no matter what
Whether the opponent is preparing to blow up tanks or surrenders, they will be shot and beaten into pieces.
If the Germans had a large number of long-range anti-tank weapons, they might be able to block the Soviet attack, but they only had some anti-tank grenades. Those anti-tank soldiers climbed out of the trenches and were followed before they could throw the grenades.
The Soviet infantry behind the tanks formed a sieve. Moreover, there was a fire director on each tank. Once another German fire point appeared there, he would notify the tank crew by phone, and the tank would stop and destroy it with artillery fire.
That firepower point that poses a threat to the infantry.
Ten minutes later, the battle ended. Since Sokov had repeatedly emphasized to commanders at all levels when specifying the breakout plan, no prisoners would be taken in, so as not to affect the troops' breakout. Therefore, when the first echelon occupied the German position
, none of the hundreds of garrison soldiers survived.