Chapter 1104 The Vanguard of the Imperial Division

  Finding that the commanding heights outside the city were lost, how could the German army give up and immediately dispatch troops to counterattack, trying to regain the high ground from the hands of the Soviet army.

Through the binoculars, Andre saw the German tanks approaching in the distance, and the densely packed infantry behind them. Knowing that there would be a fierce battle ahead, he quickly called the sixth company commander Egor: "Comrade Captain, the enemy's When the tanks come up, you immediately send several anti-tank teams to quickly enter the craters in front of the position to hide, and prepare to destroy the enemy's tanks."

   When the sixth company commander arranged for the bazooka team to enter the bomb crater in front of the position in batches, Andre asked the radio operator to send a telegram to the commander to report the situation here to him, and at the same time asked the other party to send reinforcements as soon as possible.

When Ershakov learned that the Second Battalion had successfully captured the high ground, he immediately called the First Battalion Commander and said to him: "Comrade Major, the Second Battalion has successfully occupied the high ground in the east of the city. , is to rush over immediately, take over the defense from the second battalion, and then nail it there like a nail, not allowing a step back."

  After receiving the order, a battalion commander immediately agreed loudly, and then led his troops towards the high ground in the east of the city.

  If Sokov was here and heard the order from Yershakov, he would definitely scold him. The German troops in the city are limited. If they concentrate their forces to counterattack the highlands east of the city, then the troops in the city will be weakened. What the forward commander should do at this moment is not to strengthen the defense of the highlands east of the city, but to attack the city on the false garrison inside. As long as the Red Army Village is captured, the German troops attacking the highlands will collapse without a fight.

  When the first battalion rushed to the foot of the high ground, the German tanks were only 400 meters away from the trenches. Twelve tanks formed a wedge shape and pushed towards the trenches. Even across a hill, the commanders and fighters of the first battalion could clearly hear the roar of tank engines and feel the slight tremor of the ground.

   "Comrade battalion commander," the first company commander came to the battalion commander and asked curiously: "Can the enemy use tanks to fight on such a steep highland?"

  The battalion commander heard the roar of tanks on the opposite side of the hill, and immediately realized that something was wrong. Apparently, the plateau was steep to the east and flat to the west so that the Germans could put their tanks into battle. If he brought his troops up now, he might have to face the Germans head-on.

  Thinking of this, he quickly issued an order to his troops: "Stop advancing, build fortifications on the spot, and prepare for defense?"

   Several company commanders who didn't understand the order asked one after another: "Battle Commander, we have already reached the foot of the highland, why should we stop?"

   "Yeah, didn't the superior ask us to take over the defense of the second battalion, why did we stop advancing?"

   "..."

Faced with his subordinates' doubts, the commander of the first battalion waited for everyone to calm down again before he said: "Now the enemy is attacking the position of the second battalion. If we take over the defense at this moment, it will inevitably cause unnecessary panic. In that case, It will be very deadly to our army, the enemy can take advantage of our change of defense and launch a fierce attack, and the front line may collapse at that time. I think it is better to wait until the second battalion repulses the enemy's attack."

  Andre, who was at the top of the hillside, saw the troops of the 1st Battalion rushing over, and he was still secretly happy, thinking that the regiment leader was so thoughtful that he actually sent the 1st Battalion to support him. Unexpectedly, the first battalion stopped at the foot of the mountain and started to build fortifications on the spot. Such an operation made Andre a little confused. He explained to his chief of staff, and took two soldiers down the mountain.

   "First Battalion Commander," Andrei asked straightforwardly after finding the first battalion commander, "Aren't you here to take over our defense? Why did you stay at the foot of the mountain to build fortifications?"

"Major Andre, I was just about to inform you, but I didn't expect you to come down first." The first battalion commander repeated what he had just said to his subordinates, and he finally emphasized: "Don't worry, since the regiment The commander ordered us to take over your defense, and it will not be too late for us to go up after you have repelled this wave of German attacks."

  Andre thought about it carefully, and what the other party said seemed to make sense. If the first battalion is really allowed to enter the position at this moment, it may cause a short-term chaos on the position, and it may cause heavy casualties to the troops under the enemy's attack. So he just said briefly: "Comrade Major, we will hand over the defense to you after we repel this wave of German attacks."

  Looking at the back of Andre going away, the first battalion commander couldn't help secretly heaving a sigh of relief. The outdoor temperature was still below zero, but the first battalion commander's forehead was covered with sweat.

  After the German tanks approached the position, the rocket launchers hidden in the crater were ordered to shoot at the tanks. One after another, rockets trailing white smoke pierced directly at the moving German tanks. Some tanks were hit and soon stopped in place, but more tanks continued to move forward.

The infantry following the tanks found that there were many Soviet anti-tank fighters hiding in the bomb crater in front of the trench, so they speeded up to catch up, chose a suitable position to set up their machine guns, and fired at the Soviet anti-tank fighters. .

  Don't see that the rocket launcher is a sharp anti-tank weapon, but the rocket hand must stand up straight or half squat when launching, exposing most of the body to the enemy's firepower. Just like that, several rocketmen just stood up from the crater, and before they had time to shoot, they were smashed into a sieve by the enemy's bullets, and they fell directly into the crater without saying a word.

  The 6th company originally arranged seven anti-tank positions in front of the position, but due to the development of machine gun firepower of the German infantry, these anti-tank positions were basically lost in less than ten minutes. Seeing that the German tanks were getting closer and closer to his position, Yegor became anxious, and he quickly shouted to the left and right: "Go out and blow up all the German tanks."

  Following his orders, soon five or six soldiers, holding an anti-tank grenade in each hand, climbed out of the trench with hands and feet, and crawled towards the German tanks in the distance. But their whereabouts were soon discovered, and they were immediately bombarded by tank guns and strafed by machine guns. After a short time, all the soldiers who went out died.

   Just when Yegor was about to send someone to bomb the tank, Andrei came back from the foot of the mountain. Seeing Yegor's blind command, he quickly stopped him, and at the same time ordered: "Use the new rockets to attack the infantry behind the tank. As long as the enemy's infantry is killed, their tanks will be nothing to us without the support of the infantry." threatened."

  The reflectors of the new rockets swung towards the position, and in less than a minute, more than 20 rockets flew towards the dense formation of German infantry. After a series of explosions, countless stumps and broken arms flew into the air, and when the gunpowder smoke cleared, there were not a few standing people in the attacking queue that was crowded with people.

"Yegor," seeing that many of the German infantry had been wiped out by rockets, Andrei gave Yegor a new combat order: "Let your people go out to blow up tanks, and you must take one of these German tanks away." A lot of places are left."

  A tank that has lost its infantry cover is a group of lambs waiting to be slaughtered in front of the anti-tank fighters. Although the tank soldiers used vehicle-mounted machine guns to knock down many Soviet soldiers rushing towards them, more soldiers impulsively rushed to the tanks and threw anti-tank grenades that were enough to destroy the tanks.

   Seeing that the tanks leading the attack were all reimbursed by the Soviet army one by one, the soldiers who followed were frightened. They didn't have the courage to continue fighting, so they retreated one after another.

   Repelled the German attack, wiped out more than a dozen tanks, and killed more than 200 soldiers. After completing its mission, the second battalion handed over its defense to the first battalion at the foot of the mountain.

   After the troops withdrew from the top of the mountain, Andre said to several company commanders: "Since the first battalion has just dug trenches here, let's rest here. Maybe our battalion will have to go up sometime."

Regarding Andrei's statement, Yegor expressed doubts: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the counterattack enemy's strength doesn't look very good. I think that with the strength of a battalion, we can completely stop them. Before that, I’m afraid there won’t be any combat missions.”

  What happened next proved that Andre had the foresight.

  After the German army's counterattack on the highland failed, the defender commander in the city prepared to shrink his troops and defend the Red Army Village with all his strength to prevent the Soviet army from occupying it. However, at this moment, his adjutant reported to him: "Mr. Colonel, the troops of the Imperial Division have arrived. They heard that the highlands in the east of the city were occupied by the Russians, and they are going to launch a counterattack there."

   Knowing that it was the Imperial Division that had arrived, the commander felt more at ease. He said to the adjutant: "Tell the other commander what request they have, just ask them, and we will try our best to satisfy them."

After contacting the commander of the Imperial Division, the adjutant reported to his superior: "Mr. Colonel, the 5th and 6th infantry companies and a tank company of the Imperial Division have just arrived. They hope you can use artillery to bombard the high ground. Cover their attack on the high ground."

   "Okay." The German commander naturally would not refuse the request made by the Imperial Division. He quickly ordered his adjutant: "Immediately order all artillery fire to aim at the Russian positions on the high ground."

   Ten minutes later, the order of the German commander was carried out. More than seventy artillery pieces of different calibers fired towards the top of the mountain. Although the second battalion stationed on the top of the mountain had reinforced its fortifications after taking over the defense. But these crude field fortifications have never been bombarded by artillery fire.

  Because there was no shelter, the soldiers could only huddle in the trenches to avoid the German shelling. From time to time, some people were blown away by the explosion of the shells or knocked down by the flying shrapnel. The health workers became the busiest people on the entire position, and shouts for them came and went.

  While the health workers were treating the wounded, the stretcher bearers braved the artillery fire and carried the remains of the sacrificed soldiers out of the trenches and placed them on the reverse **** of the hillside. When the first battalion commander saw more and more **** corpses of soldiers in front of him, his whole body began to tremble unconsciously.

  The commanders of the Second Battalion at the foot of the mountain also saw this tragic image. After the muscles on Yegor's face twitched violently a few times, he said to Andrey: "Comrade battalion commander, from the offensive to the defensive battle just now, the casualties of our battalion did not exceed 400 people, right? But look at the people on the hillside. There are at least two hundred corpses on display, and there are still many that have not been brought out in time."

"There is no solid fortification on the top of the mountain." Andre said to his subordinates: "Under the enemy's current intensive artillery fire, still forming such a dense formation is tantamount to letting the soldiers die. I am very worried. If the German shells continue to bombard like this, after the shelling is over, I am afraid that more than half of the first battalion will be damaged."

   "Then I will let the soldiers prepare for battle and be ready to take over the defense of the first battalion at any time."

Andre nodded and said to the company commanders: "I would like to remind everyone that once our battalion goes up to the top of the mountain for defense again, only one company can enter the position at a time. It also reduces casualties."

   After the bombardment ended, the two infantry companies of the Imperial Division, led by the tank company, rushed towards the position that was still billowing with gunpowder smoke. They did not adopt a dense formation like the Wehrmacht soldiers who attacked in the previous wave, but a group of three or five people scattered widely, following behind the tank, trotting forward all the way.

  The soldiers of the Imperial Division had a very high technical and tactical level. When they ran two hundred meters away from the position, many Soviet commanders and fighters had not yet woken up from the shelling just now. A few soldiers who woke up, found the enemy rushing, and shouted loudly, and then they only felt their mouths moving, but they couldn't hear any sound. It turned out that their ears had been deaf in the shelling not long ago. .

  Since I can’t hear, can I just shoot at the enemy? I hope that other comrades can see my shooting, shoot at the enemy with me, and wipe out all the enemies who try to regain their positions.

  The machine guns on the ground began to fire, but often before finishing the shot, the machine gunner fell headfirst on the machine gun, and the deputy shooter next to him took his place, but after a short time, he suffered the same fate. The reason for this situation is that there are many sharpshooters in the Imperial Division. Although their level is not as good as professional snipers, it is extremely easy to deal with those machine gunners with obvious targets.

Fortunately, when the German army was more than 50 meters away from the position, most of the surviving commanders and fighters re-entered their positions. They continued to shoot and drop bombs at the charging German army, and tried their best to prevent the enemy from charging. into their positions.

   The officers and soldiers of the Imperial Division, who were progressing smoothly, suddenly realized that the troops in front of them were more powerful than the Soviet army they had defeated some time ago. Some soldiers even rushed to a place less than ten meters away from the trenches, but they were either killed by random gunshots or bombed by grenades. At a distance of 20 to 30 meters, the two sides engaged in fierce shooting and throwing grenades at each other.

  (end of this chapter)