Chapter 1599 Shelling started early

  When Fomenko called the headquarters, it was Chief of Staff Sameko who answered the phone.

   "What?" After listening to Fomenko's report, Sameko said in surprise: "General Fomenko, you mean that your sneak attack on Height 103.9 has been detected by the German army?"

"It's very possible, Comrade Chief of Staff." Fomenko has not been able to confirm at this moment whether the enemy who slipped through the trap on the occupied high ground has fled back to report, but he still has the attitude of preferring to believe it or not. He replied affirmatively: "If the Germans find that the high ground has fallen, they will definitely send troops to counterattack. Now our troops on the high ground only have 30 people. I am afraid it will be difficult to resist the crazy German counterattack."

   "You can send people to reinforce it." Sameko said, "This will also enhance the defense of the highland."

"No way, Comrade Chief of Staff. If I could send someone there for reinforcements, I would have sent someone there." Fomenko explained to Sameko: "There are minefields and barbed wire barriers between our defense zone and the high ground. If it is not cleared, our commanders and fighters will not be able to pass through."

   "Could it be that you can pass through these areas smoothly after the battle starts?"

"That's right." Fomenko said in an affirmative tone: "According to the original plan, after the artillery preparations begin, some artillery will bombard this area to clear the minefields and obstacles that block our army's attack. If Our commanders and fighters will not be able to pass through here before the shelling begins."

"Wait a minute, General Fomenko." Sameko heard that the German army may have noticed that the 84th Division occupied the high ground, and that the troops on the high ground had become a lone army. Should they support them and bombard the enemy's positions in advance? It's not something I can decide on my own: "I'll ask Comrade Commander for instructions and hear his opinion."

Sameko did not hang up the phone, but reported to Sokov who was sitting next to him and looking at the map: "Comrade Commander, General Fomenko called and said that the reconnaissance team that captured the high ground may have been captured by the Germans." Perceived. In order to ensure the victory of the offensive battle, he asked the artillery to start artillery preparations in advance."

   Knowing that the action to seize the high ground may have been detected by the Germans, Sokov felt that the timing of the attack should be adjusted appropriately, otherwise it would be difficult to achieve the expected suddenness of the attack. After thinking for a while, he raised his head and said to Sameko, "Comrade Chief of Staff, agree to Fomenko's request to shell the enemy's defense zone in advance."

   Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch. There were still 38 minutes before the shelling began. He continued, "The shelling was half an hour earlier."

"Yes." Sameko agreed loudly, and then said into the microphone: "General Fomenko, Comrade Commander has an order to prepare for artillery fire in the enemy's defense zone half an hour in advance. In other words, after eight minutes , The artillery of the First Artillery Division and the Second Artillery Division will bombard the enemy's defensive positions at the same time."

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." Fomenko was overjoyed when he heard that Sokov agreed to advance the shelling. In this way, even if the Germans knew that the high ground had been occupied by their own troops, they would have less than eight minutes to react. , neither could regain the high ground, nor had time to adjust the deployment of troops: "I will get in touch with the artillery comrades immediately."

Not only Sokov but also Fomenko felt that another seven or eight minutes of shelling would not have much impact on the overall battle situation, but they never dreamed that the German commander immediately dispatched a company after hearing the news that the high ground had fallen. The officers and soldiers launched a counterattack against the high ground, trying to eliminate the Soviet commanders and fighters who captured the high ground.

  Second Lieutenant Iva, who was standing on the high ground, just told all the soldiers that the shelling may be advanced, so that everyone should be prepared to avoid the shells. As soon as he explained the task, the veteran shouted at him: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, the Germans are coming up."

  Second Lieutenant Iva, who heard the shout, hurried over along the trench and asked loudly, "Where is the enemy?"

   "At the foot of the mountain."

  Looking in the direction of the veteran's finger, Second Lieutenant Iva saw groups of German soldiers bent over and climbing up the hillside in scattered formations. Although the German soldiers were still three or four hundred meters away, he still issued an order loudly: "Everyone is there, listen to my password and prepare to fight!"

  Seeing that the soldiers entered their shooting positions one after another, and aimed their guns at the enemies down the hillside, Iva shouted again: "No one is allowed to shoot without my order."

  According to Ivar's plan, after the German soldiers entered the range of 150 meters, they ordered the veterans to shoot with machine guns. Seeing that the enemy was suppressed on the hillside, they could not rush to the high ground in a short time.

  Unexpectedly, while Iva and others were waiting for the Germans to enter the optimal range of 150 meters, the Germans had already set up several mortars under the hillside and shelled the high ground. The shells roared and landed on the high ground, and pillars of mud shot up into the sky. An unlucky soldier happened to be hit by a shell and was blown to pieces.

   "Sharpshooter!" Seeing the fierce enemy artillery fire, Iva had to order the soldiers to take cover to avoid the artillery fire, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Come to me."

  Following Iva's shout, the sharpshooter in the squad came to Iva: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, what instructions do you have?"

   "Did you see the German mortars down the hillside?"

   "Yes, I see."

   "Get rid of the German gunner!" Because of the continuous explosion of shells falling nearby, Ivar had to approach the sharpshooter and said loudly, "He is too much of a threat to us."

  The sharpshooter agreed, and then found an ideal shot, aiming at the mortarman 300 meters away. After a brief aim, he pulled the trigger. Although he was a sharpshooter in the squad, his marksmanship was not as good as that of a professional sniper. He fired three shots in a row, and only one shot hit the target.

  A German artillery soldier who was holding a shell and was about to reload suddenly froze his body, and then fell straight to the ground. An ammunitionist next to him saw his companion was shot and fell to the ground, so he ran over and bent down to pick up the shell. Just as he was about to reload it, another bullet flew in and shot into the front of his helmet, leaving a line of blood on it. Foam flew out from the back of his head.

  Seeing that two of their companions were shot and fell down, the rest of the artillerymen instinctively thought that there were Soviet snipers nearby, so they did not dare to continue shelling.

  Without the suppression of the German artillery fire, the soldiers hiding in the trenches re-entered the combat position, aimed their guns at the approaching German army, and waited for the firing order issued by Iva.

   And Ivar was busy counting the number of people at the moment. During the short one or two minutes of German shelling, there were actually two casualties and three wounded. Seeing so many casualties, Iva was really heartbroken. The scouts he brought out were all elites in the army, but they fell under the enemy's artillery fire without firing a single shot.

  After the attacking infantry entered a range of 150 meters, Iva ordered the veteran's machine gun to fire first. The sound of gunfire was an order. Immediately afterwards, the sound of gunfire on the ground became one, including the sound of rifle fire and the sound of submachine gun fire. Many German soldiers who were charging fell down in response, and the remaining soldiers quickly lay down on the spot and fired back at the top of the mountain.

  Some combat-experienced soldiers, after hiding in a safe position and shooting, would often take advantage of the gaps between Soviet firing on the high ground and adopt diving or rolling postures to quickly approach the position on the hillside. Because they were too close to the position, soldiers in the trench had to lean out and shoot if they wanted to hit them. As a result, they were quickly smashed into a sieve by the enemy's random guns.

   "Grenade!" Seeing that the situation is not good, Iva quickly shouted: "Use the grenade to blow the enemy down."

   But his voice was covered by gunshots and explosions, and the people around couldn't hear what he was shouting at all. Seeing that others couldn't hear what he was shouting, Iva quickly grabbed a grenade, pulled the string, and threw it directly at the enemies hiding in the blind spot. After a loud bang, a well-hidden German soldier was pulled up from the ground by the blast wave, staggered two steps forward, and lay on the ground motionless.

  After seeing Iva's actions, the surrounding soldiers followed suit and threw grenades at the enemies hiding in blind spots. After a series of explosions, many enemies were killed and injured, and the rest of them scrambled and retreated.

   Regardless of the fact that the German attack did not work, the German captain who commanded down the hillside, based on the firepower on the hillside, figured out that the number of Iva squads was not large. After his subordinates retreated, he picked up a loudspeaker and shouted loudly: "Russian soldiers, you have no retreat, put down your weapons and surrender, and I will give you the treatment you deserve as a prisoner."

  Although the Russian pronunciation of the German captain was not well prepared, the commanders and fighters on the hillside could understand what it meant. Not to mention the imminent attack of the main force, even if the lone army went deep and fell into the siege of the Germans, it was impossible for the commanders and fighters to put down their weapons and surrender to the Germans.

   "Sharpshooter!" Iva didn't want to hear what the other party was shouting, so he quickly ordered the sharpshooter, "Kill the German broadcast."

  The sharpshooter agreed, raised his gun and fired into the distance. Don't see him as the team's sharpshooter, but his marksmanship cannot be compared with snipers at all, not to mention that the target is still more than 300 meters away. It is very difficult to directly hit the target. Not long ago, he used all It took five rounds of bullets to kill the two German gunners.

  The German captain who shouted was hiding behind a big rock with a loudspeaker. The sharpshooter aimed at his position and pulled the trigger continuously, but the bullets failed to hit the target, and all hit the stone, splashing countless stone chips, hitting the German captain's face, causing him to shrink back behind the stone in pain .

   Seeing that he failed to hit the target, Iva was so angry that he punched the mound in front of him hard, and then ordered the sharpshooter: "Keep shooting, and we must kill the German commander."

The German captain who was almost hit by a bullet learned to be smart. He hid behind a rock and continued to shout up the hillside with a loudspeaker: "Listen, Russians, your retreat has been cut off by our minefields and barbed wire. You are several times more. I advise you to put down your weapons and surrender immediately, otherwise you will be responsible for all the consequences."

  Second Lieutenant Iva couldn't help the blood rushing to his head when he heard the German captain's shout. He rushed to the veteran's side, grabbed the MG42 from the opponent's hand, aimed at the position of the horn, and frantically pulled the trigger. This kind of machine gun is a great killer against infantry, but it has little effect on the rocks where the German captain is hiding. Iva shot the remaining half of the ammunition chain in one go, but did not hurt the German captain at all.

  The veteran next to him saw that the ammunition belt was finished, and quickly helped him change a new ammunition belt so that Iva could continue to shoot. But Iva had calmed down at this moment, knowing that it would be useless to continue shooting at the German commander, unless his bullets could penetrate the thick rocks, otherwise everything would be useless.

  Iva knew that the ammunition on the high ground was limited. If he ran out of ammunition in a panic, when the Germans rushed up, he would have to bayonet them. After the veteran changed the ammunition chain, he did not continue to shoot at the German captain hiding behind the rock, but locked the shooting target on the enemies exposed in the field of vision.

  This time, before a chain of ammunition was fired, there was a screaming sound of shells piercing the air. A moment later, these shells flew over the high ground and landed on the German defensive positions in the distance. There was an earth-shattering explosion, dazzling fireballs, and black smoke columns rising into the sky.

Seeing that the German position in the distance was blown into a sea of ​​flames, Iva immediately understood that the artillery had started artillery preparations in advance, and hurriedly shouted to the left and right: "Hide, everyone, hurry up, pay attention to the artillery, be careful not to be caught The shrapnel hit."

  Following Iva's shout, the soldiers who were shooting at the enemy at the foot of the mountain stopped shooting one after another, and squatted in the trench with their guns in their hands to avoid the shells that might accidentally fall on the high ground.

The German captain commanding the attack at the foot of the mountain saw that his rear had been blown up into a sea of ​​flames by Soviet artillery fire, and he couldn't help panicking. He looked at the shells falling on the high ground, and the smoke from the explosion was worried that his troops would be killed. After being wiped out by Soviet artillery fire, an order to retreat was hastily issued.

  Although shells fell on the high ground, the German captain didn’t have to worry at all. They were located on the reverse **** of the high ground. Given the position of the Soviet artillery, no matter how many shells were fired, it would be difficult to hit them. But the captain of the German army, who was in a mess, didn't want to get this. He just wanted to take his troops and get out of the right and wrong as soon as possible.

Second Lieutenant Iva, who was hiding in the trench, was not at all worried that the Germans would take advantage of the shelling opportunity to rush up, because the shells that occasionally fell on the high ground and the shrapnel produced by the explosion were enough to smash the German soldiers who rushed to the high ground into pieces. down.

  When everyone is avoiding the shelling, the artillery observers have to venture out their heads to observe the effect of the shelling, and from time to time provide various shooting data to the artillery through the walkie-talkie to correct the deviation in the shooting.

Although the German commander in the Svetlovodsk district had received the news that the highland had fallen, he didn't take it seriously at all. He arranged for a company to retake the highland, and he got into the warm bed again and continued to sleep. , had no idea that the Soviet army was about to bombard them violently.

   It was precisely because the German commanders did not take it seriously and did not adjust the deployment in time, so that as soon as the Soviet shelling started, those officers and soldiers who were still sleeping in the bunker became victims of the shelling. Those who escaped from the shelter by chance also ran around like headless flies, running wherever there were too many people, until they fell under the artillery fire of the Soviet army in large numbers.

  (end of this chapter)