Chapter 1040 Start the War (Part 1)

  According to Sokov's prior assumptions, the German army could only mobilize enough troops to attack Luhansk after annihilating the Soviet Sixth Army and the Popov Rapid Group.

   But he soon discovered that his guess was wrong, and it was a big mistake. The German 333rd Infantry Division, which was supposed to besiege Popov's rapid group, suddenly appeared near Luhansk. The 71st Guards Division, which had just entered the defense zone and had not had time to build a position, was violently attacked by the German army.

  Due to the sudden drop in temperature in the past two days, the snow that had begun to melt was frozen again. Under the cover of artillery fire, German tanks charged towards the positions of the 210th and 213th Guards Regiments.

  After their first attack was repelled, the German army dispatched a large number of planes to bombard the positions of the two guard regiments indiscriminately, turning the Soviet army with only simple positions into scorched earth.

   Knowing that the north of the city had been attacked, Sokov was also very anxious. He quickly called Sivakov and asked them about the situation there: "Comrade Colonel, how is the situation there?"

"Comrade commander," Sivakov had to shout into the microphone at the top of his voice because shells or bombs fell near the division headquarters and exploded from time to time: "the enemy has planes in the sky, tanks and artillery on the ground, and they are attacking our division. The two regiments standing on the front line have already suffered more than half of the casualties. Do you think I should send the 219th Guards Regiment, which is the second echelon, into battle?"

"Don't worry, Colonel Sivakov." Hearing that Sivakov was eager to put the reserve team into battle, Sokov quickly stopped him, "The enemy is bombarding your position indiscriminately, send troops to On the front line, it can only increase unnecessary casualties, I think it’s better to wait.”

After hanging up the phone, Sokov asked Vitkov in a daze: "Chief of Staff, tell me, why didn't the Germans attack from the west or southwest, which is easy to attack and difficult to defend, but why did they choose to attack from the west or southwest?" What about the north side?"

"Comrade Commander," Witkov replied: "If the terrain in the north is still as muddy as it was a few days ago, the German army will definitely choose to attack from the west or southwest. But to catch up with the sudden drop in temperature these two days, Those muddy places are freezing again, which is conducive to the deployment of their mechanized troops. Besides, they should know that our army basically has no decent fortifications in the north. As long as they break through the defense area of ​​the 71st Guards Division, they can quickly rush into the city... "

  Bely waited for Vitkov to finish speaking, and asked Sokov tentatively: "Misha, why don't I take the tank brigade to attack from the flank and teach the Germans a lesson?"

  Using tank brigades to attack the flanks of the German army, as soon as Bely's proposal was put forward, it was immediately approved by everyone. Sidolin also said excitedly: "The deputy division commander is right. The enemy's attention is now concentrated on the north, and they will not even notice that we will attack from their flanks."

"The two tank brigades, artillery division and rocket launcher battalion promised by the superior have not arrived for a long time." Sukov frowned and said, "Now our entire combat group has only one tank brigade of Colonel Bely. The land was consumed in the battle, so how should we fight the next battle?"

   "Then what should I do?" asked Witkoff.

"Call Colonel Gorishny, the commander of the 75th Guards Division, and order him to transfer a regiment of troops to the north of the city." Sokov said to Witkov: "Once the German army breaks through the defense line of the 71st Guards Division, they will It must be resolutely blocked, and the enemy must not be allowed to rush into the city."

   "What about Colonel Sivakov's troops?" Witkov asked Sokov for instructions, "Should we just watch them being wiped out by the enemy's artillery fire?"

   "Sending reinforcements up at this moment is also death." Sokov said firmly: "Immediately call Sivakov and order him to hold the position resolutely at all costs and not allow a single step back."

  After giving this order, he ordered someone to summon Samoilov and said to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, follow me to the church in the city center, where I will continue to command the battle."

  Samoilov led the guard platoon and escorted Sokov to the church. Sokov climbed up the bell tower of the church, raised his binoculars and looked towards the direction where the battle was most intense. He saw that the German shelling and bombing had ended, but the defenders' positions were still covered in layers of gunpowder smoke. Following the back of the tank, he trotted towards the position.

  When the enemy was still one or two hundred meters away from the Soviet position, the machine guns on the position opened fire, and some soldiers who followed the tank were shot and fell down immediately.

  Seeing that the infantry was under attack, the German tanks hurriedly stopped to aim at the firepower point and fired. At the beginning, the point of impact was still a little far from the point of fire of the machine gun, but after two shots, the German tank soldiers found the right direction and blasted the firing machine gun with one shot.

   Seeing that the machine gun fire points on the Soviet army's position were destroyed, the German tanks continued to move forward, while the infantry got up from the ground and rushed forward with shouts.

  If the position under attack is defended by the 41st Guards Division, at this distance, it is up to the anti-tank fighters to attack the enemy tanks with bazookas. However, Sivakov's troops were not equipped with such weapons. Facing the rushing German tanks, they could only use anti-tank grenades and Molotov cocktails to blow up the German tanks.

  But because the German tanks were followed by infantry, many anti-tank fighters fell into the enemy's hail of bullets as soon as they left their positions. It often takes more than 20 soldiers to sacrifice to blow up a German tank.

Seeing this scene, Sokov couldn't help being furious. He quickly grabbed the microphone, connected to the division headquarters of the 71st Guards Division, and asked loudly: "Colonel Sivakov, where is your artillery regiment? Why don't you Fire the cannon, are you going to save the cannonball for the bastard?"

   "Comrade Commander," Sivakov said aggrievedly, "Our artillery regiment is all howitzers, and we don't have anti-tank guns. It may be difficult to destroy German tanks."

"Cannons can't deal with the enemy's tanks, can't they also deal with their infantry?" Sokov said angrily: "As long as you use artillery fire to destroy the infantry covering the tanks, then the soldiers will leave the trenches and blow up the Germans." tank. Got it?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Sivakov quickly replied: "I immediately ordered the artillery to fire toward the front."

   A few minutes later, the rear of the German army rushing towards the Soviet position, there was a cloud of dazzling flames and smoke. It was the artillery of the 151st Guards Regiment, which began to bombard the attacking German infantry. The artillery shells fell on the German infantry and exploded, blowing up the enemy's blood and corpses from time to time.

  Although the flying shrapnel made the armor plates of German tanks jingle, they did not pose much threat. But without the cover of infantry, the German tanks quickly became the prey of Soviet anti-tank fighters. With the sound of explosions one after another, the German tanks parked in front of the position all caught fire amidst the explosion of anti-tank grenades or Molotov cocktails, emitting billowing smoke.

  The tank was on fire, and the tank soldiers inside who could stay still were ordered to open the hatch and scramble to escape. But they forgot that their position was only a few hundred meters away from the Soviet position. The tank soldiers who managed to escape were either shot to death or surrendered to the surrounding Soviet soldiers with their hands raised high.

  (end of this chapter)