Sokov's concerned words made Yershakov's nose feel sore. He reached out and pinched his nose to prevent himself from being too moved and crying in front of his subordinates. He replied in a low voice: "Don't worry.
Come on, comrade division commander, we will definitely complete the mission alive."
After putting down the phone, Yershakov said loudly to the three battalion commanders standing in front of him: "Did you all hear what the division commander said? He wants us all to go back alive!"
"I heard it!" the three battalion commanders replied in unison, with tears in their eyes due to excitement.
"If you want to return to Mamayev Heights alive, then return to your respective units immediately and urge the soldiers to seize the time to repair and strengthen the fortifications." Yershakov said to them in a stern tone: "With solidity
Fortifications, you will have a higher chance of surviving in the next battle. Do you all hear me clearly?"
"Listen clearly!"
"Go back to the troops." Yershakov waved to them and said: "Before the enemy starts attacking, build more air-raid shelters and shelters, so that more soldiers can fight against the enemy's bombing and
Survived the bombardment."
After the three battalion commanders left, the regiment chief of staff asked Yershakov with some concern: "Comrade commander, can we really block the enemy's attack? You know, the 351st regiment cannot stand in the face of the German offensive.
Within an hour, two-thirds of the casualties were lost.”
"Chief of Staff, stop talking." Although Yershakov knew that the next step was a fierce battle and it was still unknown how many of his troops would survive until the end, he did not want the words of the regiment chief of staff to affect his command.
Seeing the atmosphere in the place, he interrupted the other party impatiently: "Since our superiors ordered us to block the enemy here, then we must do everything we can to block the enemy here so that our friendly forces can retreat smoothly. As for the troops
We can temporarily ignore the casualties."
Before the soldiers of the Guards Regiment could build the fortifications, the enemy's artillery bombardment began. Since there were not enough shelters, most of the soldiers could only stay in the trenches. They huddled up and covered their bodies tightly with their hands.
ears to prevent their ears from being deafened by the loud sound of the cannon.
The German shelling lasted only half an hour and then stopped. When the battalion commanders saw that the enemy's shelling had stopped, they immediately came out of their hiding places, bent over and ran back and forth in the trenches, shouting at the top of their lungs.
The soldiers entered the shooting position. However, only a few soldiers could enter the position immediately. Most of them were either buried in the soil or sitting in the trenches in a daze. They had not yet woken up from the German shelling.
Fortunately, the Germans thought that after their last round of attack and fierce shelling, there were not many people left on the position, and they only needed to launch another charge to easily break through the Soviet defense line and cut off the front line.
Go out to the retreat of the Soviet troops in the direction where they are standing, and then eat them up bit by bit.
However, the Germans soon discovered that they were wrong. When the infantry rushed more than 100 meters away from the Soviet position, light and heavy firepower erupted on the position. The German soldiers rushing at the front seemed to have hit a wall.
Transparent walls fell down one after another in the dense rain of bullets. The remaining soldiers quickly jumped into nearby bomb craters or hid behind corpses to avoid bullets fired from the position.
The one responsible for the offensive mission was a company of the 546th Regiment of the 389th Infantry Division. The German company commander, who was hiding in the bomb crater, saw that the firepower on the position was far beyond his imagination, and quickly ordered the communications soldiers squatting aside:
"Immediately contact the regiment headquarters and say that the Russians' firepower is too strong and ask for tank support."
After receiving the report from the front, the German commander immediately reported to the division headquarters and asked for the assistance of Tiger tanks. However, he was scolded by the division commander Jenel: "There are only a few hundred Russians on the position, and you have an infantry company.
If you can get rid of them, why use Tiger tanks?"
After being scolded by Jenel, the regiment commander put down the phone and felt that his company commander would never ask for help if he had not encountered difficulties. After thinking for a while, he decided to dispatch a tank company temporarily assigned to him.
, launched an attack on the Soviet positions.
Yershakov, who was staying in the command post, saw the outlines of tanks appearing in the distance and heard the faint roar of tanks. He quickly counted them carefully through the telescope and found that there were six tanks in total.
Tanks. Thinking of one of the enemy's heavy tanks, I easily killed seven of our own tanks. Now six of them came at once. How could our own troops stop them?
Just when he was extremely anxious, he suddenly heard a "Huh" sound from the Chief of Staff on the side, and asked curiously: "Chief of Staff, what did you see?"
"Comrade Commander," the Chief of Staff put down his telescope and turned to Yershakov and said, "How come the enemy only dispatches Panzer III tanks? In this way, the anti-tank guns on our position are enough to deal with them."
"What, this is the Panzer III?" When Yershakov heard what the Chief of Staff said, he quickly raised his telescope and carefully observed the German tanks in the distance. Soon he found that what the Chief of Staff said was true.
All he could see were Panzer III tanks equipped with 50mm short-barreled artillery. He couldn't help but murmured: "Strange, why did the Germans dispatch Panzer III tanks? Could it be that these tanks just now almost defeated the entire 351st Regiment?
destruction?"
When the Soviet anti-tank fighters on the position first saw the enemy tanks appearing in the distance, they were as worried as Yershakov. When they saw clearly that it was the weakly armored Panzer III tank, they were overjoyed.
He quickly set up his anti-tank gun and fired at the approaching tanks.
Panzer III tanks have always fought in conjunction with Panzer IV tanks, and these Panzer III tanks that appeared in front of the Soviet army were equipped by Jenel to the Tiger tank detachment to prevent them from being attacked by Soviet infantry. Because
Jenel was unwilling to use his precious Tiger tanks to deal with the defeated Soviet troops in the blocking position, so the commander of the 546th Infantry Regiment could only use the Panzer III tank, which was used as a cover, for the main attack.
There was a complete independent anti-tank company on the position, equipped with 27 anti-tank rifles. After loading the bullets, no one of the anti-tank soldiers fired, but quietly waited for the enemy tanks to enter the range.
The commander of the anti-tank company is a middle-aged man in his forties. His face was blackened by gunpowder smoke from the shelling that ended not long ago. At this moment, he was hiding behind a mound, staring intently.
The approaching German tanks were secretly calculating how much time they had left for the fighters to open fire.
Although anti-tank rifles can effectively destroy enemy tanks and armored vehicles at a distance of three hundred meters, for the sake of safety, the company commander stared at the approaching tanks and said to the soldiers beside him: "Pass this down, there is no such thing."
My order, no one is allowed to fire!"
His order was quickly conveyed to the ears of every anti-tank soldier. Everyone was holding long anti-tank guns and aiming at the approaching German tanks. As long as the company commander gave the order, they would not hesitate.
Hesitantly pulls the trigger and destroys the tank heading towards him.
The German soldiers lying on the ground saw that there was suddenly no movement on the position, and thought that the Soviet army was frightened by the Panzer III tank that came to support them. They carefully climbed up from the ground, holding their guns, and adopted the tactic of short leap forward.
Quickly approach the Soviet position.
Seeing that the enemy tank was only two hundred meters away from the position, the commander of the anti-tank company took off the helmet on his head, swung it downwards, and shouted loudly: "Fire!"
His shouts were muffled by gunfire and explosions, and only two nearby anti-tank soldiers heard it. They immediately pulled the trigger on the target they had already locked in front of them without hesitation. And the anti-tank soldiers beside them
, after hearing the noise, knowing that the company commander had given the order to fire, he also opened fire in turn, shooting at the tanks in front.
The first round of firing from the 27 anti-tank guns brought five of the tanks to their knees. Some of the bullets missed the tanks, but hit several German soldiers following the tanks, and immediately drilled large holes in their bodies.
holes. Looking at the robes whose bodies were almost torn by bullets, the German soldiers around them fell to the ground again with a roar.
The remaining tank, unaware that the other tanks had been destroyed by Soviet anti-tank rifles, was still rumbling forward, trying to quickly rush through the Soviet trenches and hold its position.
It caused panic among the Soviet troops. However, its attempt did not succeed. It drove forward another forty or fifty meters and was hit by more than a dozen armor-piercing incendiary bombs. The vehicle's ammunition exploded, knocking off the turret.
, it hit the infantry formation at the back, and two unlucky soldiers were smashed into pieces on the spot.
Seeing that all the enemy tanks had been destroyed, the anti-tank company commander excitedly stood up from his hiding place, raised his pistol and shouted: "Comrades, follow me and drive the Germans away from our position!"
The commander of the anti-tank company took the lead in the charge. Those soldiers in the company who did not operate anti-tank rifles also carried their weapons and followed their company commander forward. Seeing that the commanders and fighters of the anti-tank company were charging, a battalion held on to this position.
The commanders and soldiers, who could still hold back, jumped out of the trenches one after another and rushed forward bravely.
The German soldiers lying on the ground were originally frightened when they saw that their own tanks were destroyed. But now they saw the Soviet troops coming like a tide on the position. How could they dare to fight? They quickly got up from the ground, turned around and headed towards
Running back. There were also a few soldiers who, while retreating, fired at the advancing Soviet troops, trying to slow down the charging speed of the soldiers.
The number of these soldiers who fired was limited and could not stop the soldiers' charge. After a while, they were either shot to death or stabbed to death with bayonets. In the infantry company responsible for the attack, except for seven or eight people, they escaped quickly.
After death, the rest were lying in a mess on the battlefield.
In the command post, Yershakov was secretly rejoicing after seeing six enemy tanks destroyed by the anti-tank company. Suddenly he saw the commanders and fighters of the first battalion launching a countercharge against the enemy. He couldn't help but get angry. He charged
He went to the telephone and asked the communications soldier to connect to the command post of the first battalion. He asked the first battalion commander angrily: "First battalion commander, the task I gave your battalion is to hold the position. Who gave you the authority to let the soldiers go?"
Carrying out counterattack?"
Why did the soldiers launch the charge? The first battalion commander was also confused at the moment. After being criticized by Yershakov, he quickly defended: "Comrade commander, I did not give the order to countercharge, and I don't know why the soldiers
Will suddenly attack the enemy..."
"Find out what's going on immediately and report to me." Just as Yershakov was about to put down the phone, he suddenly remembered that the counterattack troops followed the fleeing enemies and rushed into part of the position lost by the 351st Regiment, and added:
"Now that you have restored some of the lost positions, you should immediately adjust your deployment and rearrange defenses on these positions."
The first battalion commander did not expect that Yershakov would actually let him take over the lost positions. He could only reply with a wry smile: "Understood, comrade commander, I will immediately arrange manpower to strengthen the defense there."
It is a good thing for Yershakov to be able to recover part of the lost positions. After all, more than 2,000 people in a regiment are crowded into a narrow area of less than 200 meters in length and width. If the enemy's artillery fire density is any greater,
Some troops will suffer very alarming casualties.
After he ended the call with the commander of the first battalion, he called the commander of the second battalion and ordered him to transfer all the excess troops to the area vacated by the first battalion to strengthen the defense.
Perhaps it was the first battalion's counterattack that gave the regiment chief of staff the dawn of victory. He said to Yershakov with some excitement: "Comrade commander, since the counterattack carried out by the first battalion can restore a section of the lost position. Then
When the enemy attacks next time, we will carry out another countercharge, and we may be able to recapture all the lost positions of the 351st Regiment."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," seeing his Chief of Staff being so blindly optimistic, Yershakov felt the need to give it a beating, and said with a serious expression: "The counterattack of the First Battalion was carried out very suddenly, don't say
The Germans haven't come to their senses, and even you and I haven't figured out what's going on. As long as the Germans suffer a loss once, they will learn a lesson next time, and maybe they will figure out how to counterattack us.
Therefore, it is better not to take risks casually. As long as we can block the enemy's attack, it will be a great victory for us."
"I understand, comrade commander." After hearing Yershakov's words, the regiment chief of staff immediately realized that he was too optimistic. The success of the counterattack just now did have a huge element of luck. If
If we really follow the same pattern again, the Germans may directly bombard the troops carrying out the counterattack, using artillery fire to wipe out the soldiers on the way to the charge. "Although we have repelled the enemy's attack, we cannot take it lightly, they may
The next attack will be more intense, and we must take necessary countermeasures."
"Comrade Chief of Staff," seeing that the Chief of Staff realized his mistake, Yershakov reached out and patted him on the shoulder and said: "Anyway, we have won a victory, and we can tell you the good news.
In the division, let the division commander and the others be happy too."