Chapter 1238 Who is responsible?

  When the Skeleton Division first launched an attack on the 305th Division's defense zone, Sokov got the news from the observation post. He hastened to command Koida: "Comrade Colonel, immediately order the 568th regiment and the artillery regiment to prepare for battle."

"Comrade Commander," Koida, who is also familiar with the situation, asked with some hesitation after hearing Sokov's order: "The enemy has just launched an attack on the defense zone of the friendly army, so why did you order the troops to prepare for combat so early?" Isn't it a little too early?"

"It's not early at all." Sokov waved his hand at the other party, and continued: "Comrade Colonel, you have never fought against the Skeleton Division, and you don't understand their horror. You know, in the battle in March, one of their divisions It defeated one of our guards. The troops standing in front of them now are the 305th Infantry Division with an incomplete organization. To be honest, I have no idea how long they can resist."

"Comrade Commander, can the artillery regiment be used later?" Koyda reminded Sokov: "Even if the enemy breaks through the friendly positions and conducts an armored assault, the bazookas they have can destroy most of the German tanks. .”

"The strength of the Skeleton Master has exceeded your imagination." Sokov said to Koida: "Even if you use one of your divisions to meet the Skeleton Master, I am worried that I will not be able to stop it, not to mention that there is only one regiment in that direction." .Also, a defeated friendly army will seriously affect our morale."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Koyda immediately realized that the 568 regiment would face an unprecedented fierce battle, and quickly asked: "Then tell me, how should we use the artillery regiment?"

"When the enemy launched an armored assault, the artillery regiment blocked and fired at the enemy." Sokov knew that the artillery regiment of the 188th Division had only 24 76.2mm cannons. Or follow the infantry, it is still very effective: "You tell them to let go of the tanks in front and deal with the armored vehicles and infantry behind. As for the tanks, let them be dealt with by soldiers equipped with anti-tank weapons .”

  The German army that broke through the position of the 305th division continued to rush towards the position of the 568th regiment as if it had been beaten with chicken blood. Seeing the fleeing Soviet commanders in front, the German tank soldiers did not shoot with machine guns as before, but galloped at full speed, preparing to tear a gap in the second line of defense before the defenders recovered their senses. .

  When they were five or six hundred meters away from the trench, there was the scream of shells piercing the air. But the tank soldiers sitting in the tank were not worried at all. According to their rich experience, these are artillery guns with a caliber of less than 100 mm. Even if they hit the tank, they would not be able to cause a fatal blow to themselves.

  Most of the first round of artillery shells fired by the Soviet army landed on the sides of the German tanks and exploded.

The commander of the artillery, who had originally questioned Sokov's order, saw through the binoculars that the shells fired did not pose any threat to the German tank soldiers, and adjusted his tactics in time. Bombs. Aim at German infantry and armored vehicles."

The armored vehicles and infantry charging behind the tank, because they did not encounter any decent resistance when breaking through the first line of defense, thought that the Soviet army on the second line of defense was even more vulnerable, so the charging infantry stood up straight Waist, not the slightest awareness of dodging bullets.

  The artillery shell fell on the German line and exploded, and the soldiers near the bombing point were immediately blown away. If it is an ordinary army, when encountering this situation, the surrounding soldiers will definitely lie down on the spot, or use the bomb crater to charge the Soviet position little by little in a short leap.

   But now it is the most fanatical SS members who are in charge of the attack. Regardless of the fallen comrades, they stepped over the corpses or wounded of their companions on the ground, and continued to charge forward, trying to rush into the second position of the Soviet army in the shortest possible time, as if they had just broken through the first line of defense. Tear another gap.

When the tanks rushing to the front saw that they would be able to rush through the Soviet trenches in ten or twenty seconds, they suddenly found many Soviet soldiers with bazookas on their shoulders kneeling on one knee in the crater in front of them. aimed at himself. The quick-reacting tank soldiers immediately fired with machine guns, knocking down the Soviet soldiers squatting in the crater. But before more tankers recovered their senses, they saw warheads flying towards their tanks one after another with long white smoke trails.

   After a series of loud bangs, the five tanks rushing to the front were easily destroyed by Soviet anti-tank fighters. The anti-tank hand who finished shooting immediately retracted into the crater and was loaded by the ammunition hand. Once loaded, they popped up again, selected a new target, and pulled the trigger.

   "Bazooka, it's a bazooka." In a tank that fell behind, sat the commander of the German tank battalion. He had the experience of exchanging fire with Sokov's troops. When he first saw the tank in front of him being destroyed, he was quite surprised. He thought that the Soviet army had deployed some anti-tank guns nearby, so he quickly ordered the driver to stop so that he could observe from a distance.

   When he saw clearly that the weapon that destroyed his tank was actually the bazooka that made him terrified, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. He hurriedly told all the tanks through the car radio: "All the tanks listen to my order, stop advancing, stop advancing, retreat to a distance of 500 meters, and then fire at the Russian position. I repeat, all The tank stopped advancing and immediately retreated to a safe distance of 500 meters..."

   After giving the order, the tank he was in reversed first, and quickly retreated to a safe distance of 500 meters. Although it will be attacked by Soviet artillery fire there, the opponent's artillery has a small caliber and cannot destroy its own tanks. During the retreat, he reported to the head of the armored regiment through the car radio: "Mr. Colonel, we were attacked by Russian rocket launchers and had to choose to retreat."

   "What, you were attacked by a rocket launcher?" For the officers and soldiers of the Skeleton Division who fought against Sokov's troops in March, this kind of rocket launcher that can easily destroy tanks within a range of 100 meters is a nightmare for all armored soldiers. Knowing that his troops had been attacked by rocket launchers at this moment, the head of the regiment was frightened into a cold sweat: "According to the information we have, the defense in front of us is only ordinary Russian troops. How could they have rocket launchers? You You can't make a mistake, right?"

  The words of the regiment commander made the commander of the tank battalion who gave the order without authorization a little hesitant. He was worried that he had read it wrong, so that he gave the retreat order by mistake. I am about to order other tanks that are retreating to carefully observe the direction of the Soviet position to see if there are rocket launchers for anti-tank use.

   At this moment, the infantry line, which lost the cover of the tank and was still rushing forward with the armored vehicle, was attacked by intensive rocket bombs falling from the sky. Through the lookout hole, the tank battalion commander clearly saw that the front had turned into a sea of ​​flames, in which countless limbs and arms, as well as fragments of various weapons rose up from the sea of ​​flames.

   Seeing this situation, if the tank battalion commander still doesn't know what they encountered with Sokov's troops, then he, the battalion commander, can be beaten to the end. He shouted loudly: "Mr. Colonel, yes, we encountered Sokov's troops. They are not only equipped with rocket launchers, but also portable rockets. Our infantry is all gone."

   "Retreat, retreat immediately." The regiment leader roared in panic: "Our precious tanks cannot be wasted in such meaningless battles."

  The tank regiment withdrew. Although it was withdrawn in time, it still lost a third of its tanks. When the armored vehicles were attacking, they were destroyed by Soviet artillery fire, and part of them were lost when they retreated. Only half of the armored vehicles withdrew to the newly occupied Soviet frontline positions. The worst was the German infantry. It was a full battalion of 850 people who launched an attack on the second line of defense. In the end, only more than 30 people were withdrawn, and the battalion was beaten to nothing.

   Max Simon, who learned that his attacking force had suffered huge losses, couldn't help but become a little angry. After learning about the situation from several regiment-level officers, he learned that the opponent he encountered might be Sokov's troops, so he immediately went to the headquarters to ask Hausser to question him.

  He came to Hausser, slammed his military cap on the opponent's table, and asked angrily, "Your Excellency, why didn't you tell me that it was Sokov's troops who were fighting us."

It was the first time that Hausser saw a subordinate dare to question himself like this, so he said with a straight face: "General Simon, what are you talking about? Your front is just the 305th Division with an incomplete Russian organization, not Sokov at all." troops."

"That's right, the first line of defense our division broke through was indeed defended by the Russian 305th Division. But their second line of defense was defended by Sokov's troops." Max Simon said angrily: "Because of your wrong information, I lost a full battalion in less than ten minutes of fighting."

"It's impossible." Through his acquaintances at the headquarters, Hausser knew that the troops standing in front of the Sixth Armored Division were the 188th Division commanded by Sokov, while the weaker 305th Division was in front of him. division. So he said convincingly: "My information comes from the Army Group Command. I don't think Marshal Manstein will use this kind of thing to deceive me."

Hearing that the other party had brought out Manstein, Max Simon couldn't say anything more. He picked up the military cap on the table, put it on his own head again, and said to Hausser: "Your Excellency, Commander, I beg you , We must find out what is going on, why Sokov's troops appeared in front of our division."

   "Are you sure, the defenders who repelled your attack are Sokov's troops?"

"My subordinates saw with their own eyes the new rockets used by the Russians, as well as the special anti-tank rocket launchers." Max Simon said emotionally: "As far as I know, only Sokov has these two new types of equipment. Only the commanding troops are equipped."

"I understand, General Simon." Hearing this, Hausser immediately realized that there might be a problem with the intelligence, and quickly said to Max Simon: "I will immediately call Marshal Manstein to find out what is wrong. Who should be responsible for this offensive failure."

  (end of this chapter)