Chapter 1207 Reunion

   Seeing that the machine gun firepower points on the Soviet army's position were destroyed, the German infantry who had just hidden got up from the ground one after another, and in groups of three or four, they quickly approached the Soviet army's position by using short leap tactics.

  Although the machine gun fire points were destroyed, there were still dozens of soldiers in the trenches. How could they watch the enemy soldiers approaching the soldiers. Therefore, after the enemy entered the range of 150 meters, they fired one after another. Assault rifles were fired one hundred and fifty meters away, forming a dense firepower net. The German soldiers who tried to pass through the middle were all smashed into a sieve by random guns.

   Seeing that the infantry's attack was frustrated, the German tanks mobilized in time and drove towards the Soviet position. The idea of ​​the tank commander is very simple. There are not many shells left. It is obviously unrealistic to use shells to destroy the Russians hiding in the trenches. Now the only way to cover the infantry charge is to kill the Russians. headquarters.

  The German tanks were approaching the trenches and hit the arms of the battalion commander. He quickly called two soldiers and asked them to climb out of the trenches with cluster grenades and look for a suitable opportunity to blow up the enemy tanks.

  But the enemy tanks discovered this attempt of the Soviet army. An MG42 machine gun just set up in the distance aimed at the two soldiers who climbed out of the trench and fired wildly. The dense bullets made the soil around the two soldiers boil like a pot, and soon one soldier was unfortunately shot, lying there motionless covered in blood. But another soldier, still clutching the cluster grenade, continued to climb forward bravely.

  An officer came to the guard battalion commander and said to him nervously: "Comrade battalion commander, the enemy's machine guns are too powerful. It seems that our soldiers can't get close to the enemy's tanks."

   "Behind us is the division headquarters," the battalion commander said with a serious expression, "Do you want the German tanks to knock down the division headquarters?"

  The officer turned his head and glanced at the wooden house more than a hundred meters behind him, and said in an uncertain tone: "Comrade battalion commander, I think comrade commander has seen that the situation here is not good, and he may have moved."

"It's impossible." The guard battalion commander shook his head and said, "The attack of the main force in the north has not achieved any results. Even if the division commander wants to transfer, where can they transfer to? I think the division commander's character is definitely still there at this moment." Commanding the battle in that cabin."

The guard battalion commander’s guess is correct. Gritsenko is in his headquarters at the moment, talking on the phone with a regiment commander at the front: “…What did you say, the position has been taken down? But, ten minutes ago, you told I, say that our army will not be able to take the enemy's position until at least noon....What, what? You can successfully take the enemy's position with the Marine brigade attacking from the enemy's flank?...The Marine brigade from what Where did it come from?...I don't know? What did you do when you were the commander of the regiment? I report."

  The chief of staff of the division waited for Gritsenko to put down the phone, and quickly asked, "Comrade commander, what happened at the front?"

  "We fought all night and failed to capture the position, and it was taken down."

   "What, the position was taken down?" The division chief of staff asked in surprise, "How did it take it down?"

"The other party didn't make it clear, but said that just after their attack was repulsed by the Germans, rockets suddenly attacked the enemy's position, and then sailors from the Marine Brigade rushed out from the enemy's flank, and captured it in one fell swoop. They have overrun the enemy's position. Now, they are rushing to the depths of the enemy's defense, and it will not take long before they can join forces with the friendly troops heading south."

"Then do we need to transfer the headquarters?" The chief of staff of the division couldn't help being ecstatic when he learned that the position that could not be attacked for a long time was captured, but he quickly regained his composure. Thinking of the danger the division is facing now, he reminded Gritzen Co: "The enemy tanks are getting closer and closer to us."

   Hearing what the chief of staff said, Gritsenko hurried to the window and found that three enemy tanks had approached the trench defended by his own soldiers. In just a minute or two, the tracks of the German tanks would be able to run over the trench.

   Right at this moment, beside a tank that was moving, suddenly a cloud of mud rose into the sky. Seeing this, the chief of staff of the division immediately yelled: "Damn it, what's going on here, where is the artillery firing?"

   As soon as the words fell, a burst of flames suddenly appeared on the body of the German tank driving in the west. After a while, the tank was enveloped in flames and thick smoke.

  The chief of staff of the division quickly searched the surrounding area, and shouted excitedly: "Comrade commander, tank, our tank."

   "Tank, what tank?" Gritsenko frowned and said displeasedly: "Where did the tank come from?"

   "Comrade commander, quickly look to the west." The chief of staff of the division pointed to the west, and shouted excitedly like a child: "There are many tanks of our army in the west."

  Major General Gritsenko hurriedly looked in the direction pointed by the division chief of staff, and saw a dozen T-34 tanks lined up in the distance, rushing out from the flank of the German army. The soaring dirt and the destroyed German tanks I saw just now are all their masterpieces.

The field of vision in the tank is limited. The German tanks driving towards the Soviet trenches did not find the Soviet tanks coming out from the side at all. As a result, after a round of shelling by the opponent, the two tanks became burning on the battlefield one after another. torch.

  Seeing the tanks covering the German infantry attack, they were destroyed by friendly tanks. The guard battalion commander stood up straight from the trench and shouted at the soldiers on the left and right: "Comrades, follow me!" The soldiers rushed over, running, and kept shooting, killing those enemies who seemed to be threatening to them.

  The number of the German army was roughly the same as that of the Soviet army, but the charging Soviet soldiers each had an assault rifle and had an absolute advantage in firepower. Many German soldiers who were shooting with rifles were knocked to the ground by the oncoming bullets while still pulling the bolt after firing a shot.

   In less than five minutes, the German army that rushed to the division headquarters was killed by the guard battalion and the tank troops who came.

   While cleaning the battlefield, a soldier came to the battalion commander with a tank soldier and reported to him: "Comrade battalion commander, this is the tank battalion commander of the friendly army."

"Hello, Comrade Battalion Commander." The tank battalion commander raised his hand first and said, "I am the commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 100th Tank Brigade. I was ordered to launch a feint attack on the enemy, but the scouts reported to me that here There was a battle going on, and I was worried that our troops would be in danger, so I rushed over with the whole battalion."

   "Comrade Major, thank you very much." The guard battalion commander shook hands with each other and said emotionally: "If you came half an hour late, I think our entire army will definitely be wiped out."

  ...

Zhukov, who was sitting in Shumakovo, saw that it was already dawn outside, and the battle at Sokov was not over yet. He couldn't help feeling a little worried. He hurriedly called Novikov, the commander of the Moscow Air Force, and said bluntly. He asked calmly: "Comrade General, I am Zhukov, I would like to ask, how much air power can you use now?"

   Novikov heard Zhukov's question, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Marshal, you are now in the Voronezh Front Army. They can be equipped with an air force group army. Isn't the existing air force not enough?"

"It's not enough, it's not enough." Although Zhukov knew that Novikov couldn't see it, he still shook his head and said: "Yesterday not only all the fighter planes of the 2nd Air Force Army of the Voronezh Front took off to compete with the enemy for air supremacy, even The 16th Army of the Air Force, which Rokossovsky’s Central Front belongs to, is also fully engaged in the battle. If you want to completely control the airspace over Kursk, you need more aircraft.”

"Comrade Marshal, I understand what you mean." Although Novikov is the commander of the Soviet Air Force, he is also a clever woman who can't live without rice. Air forces are needed on all fronts. He has no air forces to dispatch. And the new air force is being formed, and the pilots are still studying in the aviation school. Even if they want to enter the battlefield, they have to wait until the end of the year. So he said euphemistically: "If you really need more air force, you can directly contact the Supreme Commander himself to see if you can draw air force from other fronts to strengthen Kursk."

   Zhukov remembered that he had promised Sokov to provide air support to his troops after dawn, so he asked cautiously: "How long will it take?"

   "I think as long as the Supreme Commander himself agrees, we can complete the transfer of the Air Force within a week at most."

"What, it will take a week." Zhukov frowned and said, "No, it's too long, I can't wait that long. I need an air force right now to provide air support for Sokov's attacking force .”

Novikov waited for Zhukov to finish speaking, sighed softly, and said: "Comrade Marshal, I really want to help you, but I'm really sorry, I, the air force commander, is now a bare-handed commander, and I don't have any mobilized air forces."

  Zhukov asked a few more questions, seeing that he could not get the desired air support from Novikov, he could only sigh softly, and said, "Okay, then I will think of another way."

   Lunev, who was sitting next to him, was still a little lucky when he heard Zhukov call Novikov. When he saw Zhukov put down the phone in disappointment, his heart also turned cold, and he asked tentatively: "Comrade Marshal, so we are unable to provide any air support for Commander Sokov?"

  Zhukov glanced at Lunev, did not speak, but took a sip of the already cold tea on the table. Frowning and thinking for a while, he said to Lunev: "You send a telegram to Misha and ask him how his situation is. Let him give me an accurate answer. How long will it take before I can eat it?" The Imperial Division of the German Army?"

   Lunev heard Zhukov's order, so he didn't dare to neglect, and quickly asked the operator to send an inquiry telegram to Sokov.

  At this moment, Sokov was getting more and more flustered. He thought that the Imperial Division had been rebuilt, and he had suffered a heavy blow from himself. It would not take much effort to eat him. But I didn't expect that when the battle entered dawn, the remaining German troops were still stubbornly resisting. According to Major General Gritsenko's report, the division has now reduced its staff by more than half, its offensive strength has been severely weakened, and the enemy is still continuing to attack them. Fighting back, they could not continue to move closer to the troops going south.

   After seeing Major General Gritsenko's telegram, Sokov scolded his mother angrily. He didn't expect this battle to be fought like this. It seems that the 384th Division should not have been given the roundabout task in the first place. If other divisions were allowed to participate in the battle or invest more troops, the battle might have ended long ago.

  But there is no regret medicine in the world. No matter how much Sokov regrets in his heart, he cannot change the status quo. Seeing Sokov walking back and forth in the room like an ant on a hot pot, Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov, the commander of the infantry brigade who had rested for several hours, approached him and asked with a smile: "Comrade commander, when is our brigade resting?" It's been long enough, see if you can get us into battle again. I assure you, no matter how tenaciously the Germans in front fight, as long as our brigade goes out, the battle can be settled in an hour at most."

The words of Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov made Sokov a little bit excited: Now the 62nd Brigade has been unable to break through the German defenses, and the 84th Brigade, which has detoured to the left wing of the German army, has no news. Try it out, maybe you can break the current deadlock.

Just when Sokov was about to make a decision, a staff officer suddenly came to him with a telegram and reported to him excitedly: "Comrade commander, good news, good news. Colonel Chuvashov's navy The 84th Brigade has successfully detoured to the left flank of the German army and launched an attack by surprise. Now they have joined forces with the troops of the 384th Division and are actively moving north. It is believed that they can achieve peace in a short period of time. Reunion of troops going south."

  At this time, the radio operator came to Sokov and said nervously: "Comrade Commander, I just received a telegram from Comrade Military Commissioner."

  Although Lunev sent a telegram to himself, it seemed a little strange, but Sokov asked casually: "What did the telegram say?"

   "Ask when we will be able to deal with the current enemy."

Chuvashov's troops joined forces with the 384th Division, which gave Sukov confidence in his heart. He took a deep breath and said to the radio operator: "Call back Comrade Military Commissar, we hope to completely solve the current situation before eight o'clock in the morning. enemy."

After Uzakov waited for the telegrapher to leave, he raised his hand and looked at his watch, and asked Sokov tentatively: "Comrade Commander, it is already six o'clock. According to our current style of play, we can finish before eight o'clock." fight?"

"According to the current style of play, it must be difficult to end the battle before eight o'clock." Sokov looked at Lieutenant Colonel Uzakov and said with a smile on his face: "But if you put your brigade into battle, wouldn't you Can the progress of the battle be greatly shortened!"

"Great, Comrade Commander, this is really great." Seeing that Sokov was about to put his infantry brigade into battle, Uzakov was overjoyed, and he said repeatedly: "On behalf of the commanders and soldiers of the brigade, I assure you that I will never let you down."

  (end of this chapter)