Chapter 1312 Danger

   Guchakov was very satisfied with Narva's statement. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and handed it to the other party: "One!"

Narva took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, put it in his mouth, lit a match, first helped Guchakov to light it, and then lit the cigarette in his own mouth, and asked casually: "Comrade battalion commander, the main force?" When will the troops arrive?"

   "I guess it's almost here." After Guchakov finished speaking, he turned his head and told a communication soldier beside him: "You ask the operator to contact the regiment headquarters immediately and ask when they will arrive."

  After the communications soldiers left, Narva said to Guchakov: "I heard that what we are blocking is the Grossdeutschland Division. They are the elite of the German Wehrmacht."

"What are the elites afraid of?" Guchakov said disdainfully: "Our troops have been fighting against the elites of the German army since their establishment. The Imperial Division, the Skeleton Division, and the 19th Armored Division that were annihilated not long ago, they are Isn’t it the elite? It’s not the same as being wiped out by our army, especially the Imperial Division, which was wiped out twice by us. I really don’t know if that mustache in Berlin will have the cheek to form it for the third time.”

   "Mustache can form it if he wants to." Narva said confidently: "When he forms it, we will destroy it once. It depends on whether he forms new troops faster or we destroy them faster!"

The two were talking, when suddenly there was a strange screaming sound in the air, "Bombardment, quickly hide!" Guchakov couldn't help but change his face when he heard this voice, and he put the unfinished pipe in his hand to the ground. Throwing it on the ground, he shouted loudly: "Hidden, hide quickly..."

   Before he finished shouting, a shell landed and exploded a few meters away from the trench. The huge explosion covered his shouts, and the air wave caused him to hit the trench wall heavily. Guchakov snorted and fell limply in the trench.

  When Narva heard the sound of the shells flying over, he instinctively squatted down, thus avoiding the fate of being blown away by the explosion. When he saw Guchakov lying beside him, covering his stomach with his hands and humming non-stop, he hurriedly called a soldier over and dragged Guchakov into a nearby artillery hole.

   "Comrade Captain," Narva couldn't wait to ask as soon as he entered the blast hole, "Where are you injured?"

   "I'm not injured," Guchakov said while sitting with his back against the earth wall, shaking his head, "I was just shocked by the blast wave, and I'll be fine after a short rest."

Knowing that Guchakov was not injured, Narva's expression became more relaxed, and he even joked with the other party: "Comrade Captain, I heard that when the commander defended Moscow, it was only the town of Khimki." He was a garrison squad leader at the school. Once the town was bombed by enemy planes, and he was stunned by the falling aerial bombs. When he woke up, he seemed to be a different person again. In less than two years, From corporal to general.

  You were shocked by the shells today, maybe you can become a new person like Comrade Commander, and you may hope to become a general by then. "

  Narva's words aroused good-natured laughter in the blast hole.

Guchakov also had a dream of a general in his heart, but when he heard Narva say this, he said with a straight face: "Captain Narva, Comrade Commander is my most respected superior. I died twice, I hope you don't make fun of him in the future. Understand?"

  Narva did not expect that in order to ease the atmosphere, he made a random joke, which would cause such a big reaction from Guchakov. He could only reply with a blushing face, "Understood!"

   Fortunately, Guchakov did not pursue the matter any further, but ordered him to say: "After the enemy's shelling is over, you immediately organize personnel to repair the fortifications, treat the wounded, and dig out the soldiers buried in the soil."

  Narva saw that Guchakov was about to leave after explaining his work to him, so he quickly grabbed him and said nervously: "Comrade Captain, the enemy is shelling outside, you can't go out."

   "It is precisely because the shelling outside is still continuing that I have to leave." Guchakov said loudly: "I want to stay in my command post and keep in touch with my superiors."

Gutchakov rushed out of the artillery hole. Seeing the heavy shelling outside, he was afraid of being hit by flying shrapnel, so he didn't dare to get up and run. Instead, he crawled forward and crawled towards his command post. .

   When he climbed to the vicinity of the command post, he found that the command post had been destroyed by artillery fire. He couldn't help but tremble in his heart. Just when he thought that his connection with his superior had been cut off, he heard someone shouting loudly to him. Turning his head to look, there is a bomb defense hole not far away, and the communication soldiers he sent back are squatting in the hole.

  Seeing that Guchakov noticed him, the messenger shouted a few more times. Although his voice was not low, Guchakov couldn't hear what he was saying amidst the rumbling gunfire, so he crawled towards him.

   "Comrade Captain," when Guchakov climbed into the anti-battery hole, the signal soldier approached his ear and shouted loudly: "The regiment headquarters has sent a telegram, and they will arrive with the main force of the division in an hour."

  Knowing that the main force will arrive in an hour, Guchakov was immediately relieved. Looking at the bombed command post not far away, he said solemnly, "Have all the people inside escaped?"

   "Yes, Comrade Captain." The signalman replied: "As soon as the shelling started, everyone in the command post withdrew. The radio operator withdrew into another anti-battery hole with his walkie-talkie on his back."

  Marankin on the second line of defense saw through the binoculars that the first line of defense was shrouded in dazzling fireballs and gunpowder smoke, and the soil kicked up by the explosion of large-caliber shells was at least ten meters high.

"Comrade commander," the chief of staff of the division asked Marankin worriedly after seeing this scene: "It seems that the enemy has spent all their money. Judging from the sound of the guns, they must have used no less than 100 heavy artillery pieces. How many people can survive such shelling?"

   After taking a deep breath, Ma Lanjin ordered the chief of staff of the division: "Chief of staff, call the commander of the friendly army on the first line of defense and ask them how the situation is there and whether they need our support?"

  The chief of staff of the division agreed, and turned to make a phone call. But when he picked up the phone, he found that there was no sound at all. He turned around and asked the busy communication company commander: "Comrade company commander, come and listen. What's going on with the phone? Why is there no sound at all?"

  The communication company commander came over and found the microphone, put it in his ear and listened, and then replied: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the telephone line may have been blown up by artillery fire. I will send someone to check the line immediately."

When the communication company commander arranged for someone to check the line, the division chief of staff came back and reported to Marankin: "Comrade commander, the telephone line leading to the first line of defense has been blown up by the enemy's artillery fire. The communication company commander sent people to Check the line, I'm afraid it will take a while before I can get in touch with the friendly commander in front."

  After the German shelling lasted for an hour, it finally stopped. In the distance, the tanks and infantry, which had been ready to go, launched an attack on the first line of defense stationed by the Guchakov Battalion.

  As soon as the enemy’s shelling was over, the surviving commanders and fighters came out of the anti-battery holes, and seized the time to rush to repair the fortifications, treat the wounded, and rescue buried comrades from the collapsed anti-battery holes.

   Guchakov also crawled out of the anti-bunker hole, found a position with a wide view, raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. At this time, a second lieutenant came over and reported to him: "Comrade Captain, the tanks behind our position have all been destroyed by enemy artillery fire."

  After listening to the second lieutenant's report, Guchakov turned his head and looked behind him. Of course, he saw that most of the dozens of tanks used as fixed turrets had been destroyed and were burning.

Seeing this scene, Guchakov's heart sank suddenly, thinking that without the assistance of tank troops, it would be basically impossible to block the enemy's armored troops. The bazookas and The new rockets have been exhausted in the previous attack.

   Right at this moment, the roar of an airplane engine came from the sky behind him. Guchakov turned his head and saw dozens of Soviet aircraft with five stars painted on their fuselages appearing in the sky, flying in the direction of the battlefield in a neat formation of four aircraft.

  The commanders and fighters in the trenches immediately cheered when they saw the Soviet planes appearing in the sky. So many planes appeared at the same time, enough for the attacking Germans to have a good drink. Hearing the soldiers cheering, Guchakov also stood up straight and looked up at the planes flying overhead. Although he knew the pilot couldn't see him, he couldn't help stretching out an arm and waving it desperately into the air. .

  After some fighters passed the Soviet defensive positions, they lowered their altitude and launched a fierce attack on the German tanks and infantry rushing towards the Soviet positions. The other part of the fighters kept the original altitude and continued to fly forward, probably to bomb the enemy's artillery positions.

  In order to successfully take over the Soviet positions, General Herlein spent a lot of money and strengthened one of the only two Tiger tank companies in his hands to Colonel Lorenz.

  According to his thinking, after heavy artillery bombardment of the Russians' crude defensive positions, it is estimated that there will not be many living people left. Even if there is, when the Panther tank battalion strengthened by the Tiger tank company rushes to the trenches, even if it does not use tank guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns, even if it is crushed with tracks, it will be able to kill all the remaining Russians.

  Unexpectedly, the tanks were still marching, and a large number of Soviet fighter planes appeared in the sky. Some of the attack planes lowered their altitude after crossing the Soviet defense line, and attacked the tanks on the ground.

The front armor of the Tiger tank is indeed very thick. The front armor of the car body is 102mm thick, and the armor of the gun mantlet in front of the turret is as thick as 135~150mm. However, the armor on the top of it is very weak. Assault aircraft are lambs to be slaughtered. In addition to the attack aircraft of the Soviet army, it is also equipped with newly developed aerial bombs specially designed to deal with German tanks.

  So after the Soviet attack planes completed two attacks, five of the nine tanks of the Tiger tank company were directly hit by aerial bombs and were destroyed on the spot. The two tracks of the other tank were blown off, so it could only stop motionless.

  The attack planes of the Soviet army dropped bombs and strafed the German targets on the ground. In just a few minutes, they destroyed more than a dozen German tanks and killed more than a hundred German soldiers. Just as the pilots raised the altitude again and were about to attack again, the scream of shells piercing the air suddenly sounded on the battlefield again. However, this time the shells did not fall on the Soviet positions, but all hit the area where German tanks and infantry gathered.

  It turns out that the main force of the 188th Division arrived nearby shortly after the shelling began. Colonel Koida, the commander of the division, saw the fierce German artillery fire. If he let the troops enter the position at this time, it would be tantamount to letting them die. So what he can do is to send a report to Sokov, and report to him in detail what happened here.

  Sokov learned that a part of the 188th Division was in danger under the enemy's artillery fire, so he naturally would not sit idly by. He quickly contacted Konev and asked him to dispatch the air force to carry out air strikes on the German troops in the blocking area.

When he found out that Sokov was going to call Konev, Sameko asked curiously: "Comrade Commander, our army group is now under the Voronezh Front. You bypass General Vatutin in this way and ask General Konev for help. Does it fit?"

"There is nothing inappropriate, Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov waved his hand at Sameko and said, "Although the German army has retreated south from the Prokhorovka area, the main force of the front army is still in that direction. It is no exception. If I ask General Vatutin for air support, it is a question of whether he agrees. Even if he agrees, it is still unknown when the air force will arrive at the battlefield. Whether the position will still be in our army's hands by then , it’s hard to say.”

As Sokov's chief of staff, Sameko naturally knew the importance of this blocking mission, so he stopped trying to persuade Sokov, but took the initiative to say: "Comrade Commander, if this is the case, then you should contact Kogne General Husband. If the superior wants to be held accountable in the future, I will bear it with you."

"Comrade Chief of Staff, you are worrying too much." Lunev on the side heard Sameko say this, and said with a smile: "Have you forgotten what the commander often said, the victor should not be blamed. As long as we can complete the tasks assigned to our army by our superiors, what does it matter who we ask for air cover?"

Konev was also very interesting. After receiving the call for help from Sokov, he immediately ordered the Air Force to dispatch an aviation division to the blocking point to reinforce Sokov's troops and attack the German targets on the ground. Indiscriminate bombing.

  In this battle, the most depressing thing was Colonel Lorenz, the German commander who commanded the battle. He thought that the Russian positions that had been bombarded by heavy artillery could not block his powerful offensive at all. Unexpectedly, the tanks and infantry on the offensive mission were bombarded indiscriminately by the Russian Air Force before they approached the Russian positions.

   Not to mention the heavy casualties of the attacking troops during the bombing, the artillery positions that had just completed the shelling in the rear and had not had time to transfer also became the targets of Russian bombers. For a while, the artillery position was blown into a sea of ​​flames, and countless artillery pieces were blown into piles of scrap metal. If the artillery shells were not basically exhausted and caused martyrdom, it is estimated that few artillerymen in the position would have survived.

  (end of this chapter)