Chapter 1261 Tank Battalion

  After Poluboyarov received Sokov's attack order, he did not send out an organized tank brigade. After all, after the battles of the previous few days, the organization of each brigade was in an incomplete state. After discussing with the chief of staff, he decided to send a special tank battalion to carry out Sokov's order.

When he learned that Poluboyarov planned to send a special tank battalion, the chief of staff of the army asked with some concern: "Comrade commander, although the special tank battalion is the only battalion in our army equipped with T-34/85 tanks, but They only have 12 tanks, and they are still not fully equipped, so is it okay to ask them to deal with the German armored regiment?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Poluboyarov said disapprovingly of the chief of staff's worries, "Although the special battalion is still under-staffed, since they are equipped with the most advanced tanks of our army, the battalion's combat effectiveness is No less than an armored brigade of a friendly army."

The chief of staff did not refute Poluboyarov's statement. He knew very well that other tank armies were not equipped with T-34/85 tanks, and even the number of T-34/76 tanks was seriously insufficient. , can only be replaced by a large number of old and outdated T-70 tanks. These 12 advanced T-34 tanks are fully capable of defeating a tank brigade of friendly forces.

Seeing that Poluboyarov had made up his mind, the chief of staff could not persuade him anymore, but tactfully put forward: "Comrade commander, which infantry unit do you plan to send to cooperate with them? You know, there are no infantry units." The covering tank is very easy to be killed by the enemy's anti-tank fighters."

   "It's easy to handle." Poluboyarov had already considered these details. Hearing the chief of staff's question, he said casually: "Just draw a battalion from the mechanized brigade to assist the tank in combat."

Considering that it was a joint operation of the two battalions, the chief of staff had to designate one of the battalion commanders to be in charge, lest the two battalions would fight independently and fail to cooperate with each other during the battle, and would be defeated by the German army one by one: "Comrade commander, Then who do you think should command this combat force?"

"In my opinion, let Major Bunch, the battalion commander of the tank battalion, take charge of the command." Poluboyarov said to the chief of staff: "Major Bunch has been an officer since 1927 and has rich command experience. , I think it is very appropriate for him to command this joint force."

The chief of staff remembered that the mechanized brigade was reorganized in January. The four battalion commanders who were promoted in the brigade were all company and platoon commanders. When it comes to commanding operations, they certainly cannot be compared with Major Bunch, so he nodded. Said: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately assign a task to Major Bunch."

  Twenty minutes later, twelve tanks from the Special Tank Battalion, more than 20 trucks from the Mechanized Battalion, and more than a dozen three-wheeled motorcycles drove westward.

While the tank was driving, the driver looked at Bunch sitting next to him, and asked curiously: "Comrade Major, the battle is taking place outside Prokhorovka. What are we going to do to the west? Isn't that farther away from the battlefield?" Is it getting farther?"

Bunch, who was passing through the lookout hole to observe the situation outside, heard the driver say this, and quickly sat up straight, turned his face sideways and said to him: "Comrade Sergeant, there are battlefields everywhere in the entire Kursk region. Whichever direction you drive, you may encounter the enemy at any time. Do you understand?"

  However, after hearing this, the driver murmured: "If it's just a transport team with little combat effectiveness, no matter how many are eliminated, what's the use?"

The driver originally thought that the sound of the tank engine was enough to cover his self-talk, but Bunch still heard what he said clearly, "Sergeant, even if we can only destroy some of the enemy's transport convoys, they are in Prokhorov. The enemy fighting fiercely with our army outside of Calgary will suffer final defeat due to lack of ammunition and fuel."

"It turns out that's the case." The driver suddenly looked stunned when he heard what Bunch said, "Comrade Major, in this way, even if we only deal with the enemy's transport convoy in the next battle, we will not be able to deal with it in this battle." After it was over, we also contributed to the victory. Am I understanding this correctly?"

"Exactly, Comrade Sergeant." Bunch said with a smile: "But don't worry, we will not only have to deal with the German transport convoy in the next few days, but also have a real battle with the Germans." some."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true." Bunch nodded and said, "Our superiors gave us an order to turn around to the Germans' flanks, and hit them hard from the side while they were attacking the 188th Division's position. "

"Great, this is really great." The driver became excited when he learned that he was rushing to fight the German army: "Comrade Major, when I attack the enemy later, I will definitely rush to the front .”

  The detoured troops bypassed the defense zone of the Marine Brigade and entered the ambush position. Bunch found the battalion commander of the infantry battalion and said to him: "Comrade Captain, on the right flank in front of the friendly army's position, there is a low hill with trees and bushes on it. Fear of being discovered by the enemy. When the enemy attacks friendly positions, we will go out by surprise and cut their troops in two to smash their attack."

The battalion commander of the infantry is a young captain who has only served as battalion commander for more than half a year. He knows that his command ability and battlefield experience are not as good as Bunch's, so he has no objection to Bunch's proposal. Instead, he nodded and said, "Yes, Comrade Major. I firmly obey your orders."

  "After my tanks attack, you have to send at least one company of infantry to follow up on motorcycles for cover, and eliminate those anti-tank fighters who pose a great threat to us."

"No problem." The infantry battalion commander replied simply: "Although there are not many motorcycles in my hand, soldiers who cannot ride motorcycles can use tanks to charge. We will definitely do our best to ensure that the tanks not to be destroyed by enemy anti-tank fighters."

  The tank battalion and infantry battalion entered the ambush position one after another. After waiting for almost two hours, the German army finally launched a new attack again. This time they are bound to win, not only dispatched a full infantry battalion, but also more than 20 tanks to cooperate, including two T-34 nemesis - Leopard tanks.

   After seeing the enemy tanks passing by his ambush position one after another, Major Bunch issued an order to his subordinates and infantry battalion through the radio: "Attack!"

  As the order was issued, the tanks started one after another, and with a huge roar, they rushed out of the woods where they were hiding, and rushed towards the German tanks that were covering the infantry attack.

  The field of vision of tank soldiers in the tank is very narrow, otherwise there would not be so many tank soldiers. When the tank is driving, half of its body is leaned out of the turret to observe the surrounding environment. For the tanks that are now advancing towards the Soviet positions, the top covers of all turrets are closed, and none of the tank soldiers are observing the environment outside, so their field of vision can only see the front, so that the tanks rushing out from the flanks, they are not at all Unable to spot it the first time.

  The infantry following the tanks, when they saw the Soviet tanks rushing down from the flanking hills, shouted loudly, chose a suitable position to hide, and shot at the Soviet tanks with the weapons in their hands.

  The German infantry could not use effective means of communication to notify their tanks of the appearance of Soviet tanks on the flanks in the shortest possible time. Therefore, the Soviet tanks rushing out from the flanks, after entering a suitable shooting position, stopped one after another, and each chose a target to shoot.

Although the German infantry were shooting desperately, the bullets fired from the weapons in their hands could only make a sound like hail hitting the armor plate after hitting the armor plate, and splash countless sparks, but they could not pose a threat to the tank. what harm.

  The tank that Bunch was in aimed at a Leopard tank four hundred meters away, and opened fire decisively. The armor-piercing projectile only punched a small hole in the armor plate, but after the armor-piercing projectile penetrated the armor, it produced a splash effect, splashed everywhere in the tank body and killed the tank crew inside, and soon hit the ammunition in the car, causing a catastrophe. Sacrifice.

The Leopard tank exploded from inside, and flames spewed out continuously. A tank soldier covered in flames crawled out from the bottom of the burning steel coffin, stumbled and ran forward for a few steps, and then fell headlong to the ground. There was no more movement, and he let the flames burn on his body.

  Seeing that the battalion commander's tank was the first to record, the rest of the tanks were not to be outdone, and shot towards the target they selected. The German tanks that were directly hit stopped in place and burned quickly; while the tanks that were not hit also found the Soviet tanks rushing out from the flanks, they stopped advancing, and slowly turned their muzzles to prepare to fight back.

  However, the facts ruthlessly shattered the attempts of the German tank soldiers. Those T-34 tanks that looked a little different once again rushed to fire in front of them, directly destroying more tanks. However, some tanks that survived by chance could not lock the position of the Soviet tanks at all because of the distance and the smoke produced by the burning tanks blocking their sight, and none of the shells fired could hit the target.

   Seeing their own tanks being destroyed one after another by the Soviet army, the German infantry panicked. They knew that without anti-tank guns, they would not be able to destroy Soviet tanks hundreds of meters away just by relying on the weapons in their hands. So the German commander reported what happened here to his superiors through the radio; at the same time, he gathered anti-tank fighters and prepared to blow up the Soviet tanks at close range when the Soviet tanks approached.

  But Major Bunch, who commanded the tank battalion to move forward, had already considered this possibility. As the tank battalion continued to move forward, the soldiers sitting on the tanks jumped down one after another, trotting behind the tanks, ready to kill those anti-tank fighters who approached at any time.

  When the tanks and infantry rushed to the middle of the battlefield, except for the wrecked and burning tank wreckage, and the corpses of the German soldiers scattered about, the remaining infantry was fleeing towards their starting position.

When Bunch saw the enemy fleeing, he showed a smug smile on his face. He said to his subordinates through the radio: "Brothers, the Germans have been repulsed by us. But we can't let them leave easily, and immediately replace them with high-ranking soldiers." Bomb, give them a good farewell and leave them with a memory that will last a lifetime."

   When the tank soldiers heard what Bunch said, they immediately applauded, and then replaced the armor-piercing projectiles with high-explosive projectiles, and bombarded the retreating German army.

  When the German army began to retreat, the armored regiment commander came to the edge of the battlefield. He wanted to find out what happened. The attack covered by more than 20 tanks was actually repelled by the Russians in such a short period of time.

   But he didn't realize that he had made a mistake, a fatal mistake enough to cost him his life. He didn't go to any observation post, but stood beside a barrel cart, raising his binoculars to observe the situation on the battlefield. You must know that the barrel cart is a vehicle used by German officers, and it suddenly appeared on the battlefield, and it is easy to become the main target of the enemy.

So, without any warning, three or four tank shells roared in suddenly, and they landed on the sides of the barrel car and exploded. debris.

  However, Bunch and the others didn't know how many shells they had fired, so they killed the German armored regiment leader, and after bombarding the fleeing German army for a while, they turned around and returned to the position held by the Marine Brigade.

  Colonel Chuvashov clearly saw everything that happened on the battlefield through a telescope in his headquarters. At this moment, I saw the tank battalion and some infantry from the mechanized brigade who had completed the task, coming towards their position, and hurriedly led the members of the headquarters to meet them.

   Major Bunch saw Chuvashov leading a group of commanders to meet him on the position, and quickly ordered the driver to stop. After he left the tank, he took a motorcycle to the friendly position.

When there were still five or six meters away from Chuvashov and others, Bunch ordered the motorcycle rider to stop the car, then jumped out of the sidecar, trotted to Chuvashov, straightened his body and reported: "Comrade Colonel, I am Major Bunch, Commander of the Special Battalion of the Tank Army, please forgive me for not being able to salute you."

   "Hello, Major Bunch." Chuvashov was not on the battlefield for the first time, so he naturally knew that he should not salute casually on the battlefield, so as not to expose the target and become the target of German snipers. He stepped forward to hold Bunch's hand, and said enthusiastically: "You have done a great job. I never dreamed that you would destroy more than 20 enemy tanks in such a short period of time. They even killed or wounded one or two hundred German soldiers."

"Comrade Colonel," Bunch grinned, and said to Chuvashov: "Don't look at our successful sneak attack on the enemy, but the enemy is not stupid. The next time they attack, they will definitely conduct reconnaissance on the flanks. In order to avoid similar incidents from happening again, we can only withdraw first."

   Chuvashov waved his big hand and said carelessly: "Comrade Major, you have completed your task. Now retreat behind us and rest in peace, and let us do the rest."

  (end of this chapter)