Chapter 1109

  The fast column of the German army quickly advanced towards the Red Army Village along the road to the northwest. When they entered the ambush circle of the 125th regiment, they were immediately attacked from both sides of the road. Facing the rocket launchers ahead of this era, German tanks and armored vehicles have unfortunately become targets for shooting.

  The tank soldiers who escaped from the tank became the targets of sharpshooters. As for the infantry sitting in the armored vehicle, most of them survived after the armored vehicle was destroyed, and they immediately launched an attack on the anti-tank teams ambushing on both sides. Facing the large number of German infantry, several anti-tank groups were quickly wiped out.

  Sidorin learned about the battle at the front through the phone, and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, the German fast column has entered the ambush circle of the 125th Regiment, and the battle is ongoing."

   "What kind of battle results have been achieved?" Witkov, who was sitting next to Sokov, couldn't wait to ask: "Have you dealt a heavy blow to the enemy's fast column?"

"It went well at first," replied Sidolin. "Since the march of the German fast column was two kilometers long, we attacked only the first half of the march. The enemy found that we had a large number of anti-tank weapons. , The soldiers on the armored vehicles behind all got out of the vehicles to fight. Some of our anti-tank teams were wiped out by the enemy."

"What, an anti-tank team was wiped out by the enemy?" Hearing this news, Vitkov couldn't help but frowned. He looked at Sukov and asked, "Comrade Commander, if the enemy captures our rocket launcher, But what to do? With their production capacity, they can completely imitate such weapons in a month or two. In this way, our advantage in anti-tank will be lost."

"No way, Comrade Colonel." Sokov said with a wry smile: "The only way to prevent our new weapons from being captured by the Germans is not to use them at all. As long as the new weapons are not used on the battlefield, the enemy will even want to capture them." , and there is nowhere to seize it.”

"Colonel Sidolin," Sokov felt at the moment that the division headquarters and the group headquarters were together, which was really inconvenient. Some called themselves division commanders, and some called themselves commanders. It sounded confusing to him, let alone others. up. Even when he gave an order, he had to call out the other party's name: "Call Colonel Ershakov and order him to immediately put Major Shamrih's third battalion into battle. I believe that with the combat effectiveness of the sailors, it will soon This enemy can be defeated."

  Shamrih's third battalion did not participate in the ambush, but stayed behind as a reserve team for the whole regiment. Listening to the gunfire in front, my comrades and the enemy were fighting in full swing, while I was still waiting in the simple fortifications, the commanders and fighters, mainly sailors, seemed extremely irritable.

  But after hearing Yershakov's offensive order, the commanders and fighters of the third battalion immediately cheered. Along the road, they launched an attack on the enemy who was still fighting fiercely with their comrades in the distance. They used the destroyed tanks and armored vehicles on the road to drop bombs and shoot while charging, and approached the place where the enemy gathered step by step.

Although there are still a lot of enemies in the distance, they can see a group of Soviet troops rushing towards where they are. At first, they wanted to find a suitable place to block, but when they found that the surrounding area was open and could not rely on fortifications for defense, Can't help but become panicked.

  The anti-tank fighters hiding in the snow on both sides of the road felt a little powerless when they were attacked by the German infantry frantically. But seeing the commanders and fighters of the third battalion rushing up at this moment, their morale immediately rose. When the soldiers join together and continue to attack forward, the anti-tank fighters will become the main force to clear the obstacles.

  When they saw German soldiers hiding in tanks or armored vehicles and shooting at the charging troops with machine guns, they used rocket launchers to destroy the German tanks or armored vehicles to clear the way for the infantry. The enemies behind saw the large Soviet troops coming up, and they didn't dare to fight any more. They all turned around and fled to the armored vehicles behind, just like the direction they came from last time.

   Hearing that the German army had retreated, Sokov quickly ordered the troops to stop the pursuit. Now that the large troops have not arrived, the Red Army Village is basically an empty city. If the enemy emerges from other directions, the city may be lost. And the 125th Regiment, which went deep alone, was also in danger of being cut off.

While waiting for the large troops to come, Vitkov pointed to the map and said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, look, if the troops of the Army Group South can go north, the troops of the 21st Army will follow suit. Then we can form a huge defensive position with the Donetsk-Red Army village at the center."

"The idea is good, but the Germans will definitely not allow this to happen." Sokov analyzed to Witkov: "Why was General Vatutin's Southwest Front Army defeated in just a dozen days? The German army was defeated? In addition to their lack of supplies, there is another important factor, that is, the German army has regrouped a large number of troops and launched an offensive against the weak part of our army.

  If we really gather the Southern Front Army and the 21st Army in the existing area as you said, then it will definitely become a thorn in the side of the German army, and they will definitely try to destroy us. But if we only control the Donetsk-Red Army Village line, it will give the Germans an illusion that we only have the ability to control the existing area, so they will shift their attention to other directions. "

   "If the enemy really turns their attention in other directions, won't I be equally dangerous once they wipe out our friendly forces?"

  While the two were analyzing the occupation, Sidolin, Anisimov and others sat aside and listened quietly, and no one expressed their opinions. Hearing the phone ring, Sidolin picked up the receiver and put it to his ear: "I am Colonel Sidolin, where are you?"

After listening for a while, Sidolin showed joy on his face. He covered the microphone with his hand and reported to Sokov: "Comrade commander, Major Tenev, the commander of the guard battalion, reported that the personnel they sent to search the nearby forest, Some detachments were found. According to these commanders and fighters, they have been trying to find a way back to our defense line."

"how many people?"

  Sidorin hastily moved his hand from the microphone and asked, "Comrade Major, how many people have your subordinates taken in?"

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin quickly gave Sokov an approximate figure: "There are about six hundred people."

"Six hundred people." Sokov thought for a while, and said to Sidolin: "During the battle to seize the city, the first battalion of the 125th Regiment suffered relatively heavy casualties, so let's replenish them with all the soldiers. By the way, I am asking Major Tenev how many of these commanders are wounded so that I can arrange for health workers to bandage and treat them."

   When Sidolin called, Sokov also specially added: "For those who do not want to be incorporated into the army, all of them should be brought to the division headquarters, and let me talk to them in person."

  The problem that Sokov was worried about at the time did not happen. Among the detained commanders and fighters, there were several school-level officers. When they heard that they were assigned to the first battalion as soldiers, they were not upset at all. On the contrary, they were very cooperative.

  Sokov found it very strange, so he only found out after sending someone to inquire. These commanders and fighters are all from Popov's rapid group. They have several tank corps and many infantry divisions. They have fought here for a long time. Not only did they not take Donetsk and the Red Army Village, on the contrary, they were also captured by the German army It fell apart.

  Now the troops of the 41st Guards Division have easily captured the city with only one regiment. People in any era respect the strong. Since the troops of the 41st Guards Division can easily defeat the Germans, it is an honor for me to be included in this army.

  The German army retreated, and after the lost troops were supplemented to a certain extent, the 125th Regiment withdrew again to its original defensive position and began to repair the fortifications.

  Some newly recruited officers, when they heard that they were asked to dig fortifications, they could not help but complain. But when they saw that the head of the regiment, Ershakov, was also digging a trench with a shovel, he immediately shut up obediently, picked up tools and began to build fortifications.

At dawn, the two division commanders, Sivakov and Gorishny, came to Sokov's headquarters, saluted him and Vitkov, and reported: "Comrade Commander, Comrade Chief of Staff, Guards 71st ( 75) Master is ordered to come, please give instructions!"

After shaking hands with the two men, Sokov said earnestly to them: "Two commanders, I know that after a long journey, the commanders and fighters are very tired. But now is not the time to let them rest. The enemy is fighting day and night. They rushed towards us all the time, trying to regain the positions recovered by our army in the shortest possible time.

   Therefore, after the two of you return to your respective units, you must immediately mobilize everyone, overcome fatigue, and hurry up to build fortifications. In this way, when the enemy comes again, you will have fortifications to rely on. "

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." The two division commanders replied in unison: "We will return to the troops immediately and urge the soldiers to rush to repair the fortifications to resist the enemy's attack."

   Waiting until noon, Colonel Bely arrived with his tank brigade.

Seeing Bely's appearance, Sokov was really overjoyed. He stepped forward and shook the other's hand, and said excitedly: "Colonel Bely, you came at the right time. We have enough infantry in the city now, but we lack artillery and Tank soldiers, if the enemy uses armored forces to carry out an assault, we really can't stop them. With you doing this, we immediately have confidence."

   "Hello, Colonel! Nice to meet you." Witkov held Bely's hand and asked with concern: "How is your tank going into battle?"

"The road leading here was basically destroyed by the German army, so we moved very slowly." Bely replied: "There are about 20 tanks that can be put into battle today. The remaining tanks are more or less malfunctioning. It needs to be overhauled before it can be put into battle."

   "Twenty tanks are not bad." Sokov knew in his heart that Colonel Bely's tank brigade was equipped with the best T-34 tanks available today, so there was no need to worry about falling behind even if it encountered a Tiger. "In this way, our soldiers don't have to risk their lives to deal with German tanks."

   "Misha, where do you think the Germans will come from?" Bely asked: "As long as we know where the enemy may appear, we can cooperate with the infantry to fight in that direction."

"There is a road in the west and northwest of the city, and you can enter the city from the outside." Sokov said to Bely: "Before dark yesterday, the 125th Regiment ambushed a fast column of the German army on the road in the northwest, Successfully repelled them, adding valuable time to our defenses.

  If the German army still comes to attack the city, the road they can choose is to enter the city from the west, and we can wait for their arrival there! "

"Well, what you said is very reasonable, Misha!" Bely waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and said approvingly: "I think the road to the northwest must be full of wrecks of destroyed tanks and armored vehicles. Human armored vehicles will probably not be able to pass, so the west will be their only road."

  After assigning the task, Bely suddenly put a hand on Sokov's shoulder, looked at him and said, "Misha, can we find a quiet place and have a good talk?"

   Fortunately, in the war-era cities, there was never a shortage of vacant houses. Soon, the two found a place to sit in a half-collapsed room without a roof, and after silently smoking a cigarette, Bely said, "Misha, I just saw Asiya and Ada , seems to be heading towards the west of the city. How can you put the two of them in danger?"

  Biely’s words reminded Sokov that during this period of time, he was only busy directing operations, and he didn’t care enough about Asiya and Ada. The two must have taken the initiative to go to the front to treat the wounded because they were bored.

   "Samoilov," Sokov was very anxious when he learned that Asya and Ada were in danger. If Asiya was in danger, he would feel distressed; and once Ada was in danger, he would have no way to explain to Rokossovsky, so he decided to find a way to keep the two of them in a safe place.

  After he separated from Bely, he returned to the headquarters and told his most trusted guard platoon leader: "Samoilov, take a few people immediately and bring back Asiya and Ada."

  Samoilov, who followed Sokov to the north and south, naturally understood that his teacher was most concerned about Asiya and Ada. He didn't dare to neglect, he quickly raised his hand and saluted, then turned and walked out of the headquarters.

  Looking at Samoilov's back, Sokov wondered to himself: Should Assia and Ada be given a special order, so that they must never go to the front line to treat the wounded without authorization at any time. After all, the original health team has now been upgraded to a field hospital. Not only do health workers need to treat the wounded at the front, but also someone needs to treat the wounded in the hospital.

  (end of this chapter)