Chapter 1769 Early Deployment

"Yes." Sokov has personally been to Height 239, and he is quite familiar with the terrain there. Kirillov's deployment can indeed solve the current problems, so he said straightforwardly: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, Now that I have appointed you as the commander of the 252nd Division, you have the final say on how to defend the troops, and I only hope that the high ground will not be lost in your hands."

  Hearing what Sokov said, Kirillov replied with a solemn expression: "Comrade Commander, please rest assured that I will do my best to hold the 239 Heights and will never let a single German pass."

  Sokov nodded slightly, then waved his hand at the other party, and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, time is running out, you take people to Height 239 as soon as possible. If you have any difficulties, just call me."

   After Kirillov left, Sokov said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I think something is wrong."

  Smirnov was taken aback for a moment, then asked back, "Comrade Commander, what's wrong?"

"Before I left the Front Army Command, General Konev told me that a general attack on the German army would be launched." Sukov frowned and said, "If the German army in the encirclement is attacked from all directions, they can concentrate now." Powerful artillery fire, are you shelling the 239 Heights?"

   "Comrade Commander, what do you mean...?" Smirnov didn't finish his sentence, and he guessed that Sokov must understand what he meant.

Sokov really knew what Smirnov wanted to express, so he nodded and said: "Yes, I think it may be General Konev's offensive order, which was not carried out by other troops, so that the German army can be confident and bold. Concentrate superior artillery fire and bombard 239 Heights."

  Smirnov thought of his suggestion to Sokov to use tank units last night, and at this time he repeated the old story: "Comrade Commander, it is daytime, and I think the tank units can be put into battle."

"I think it's okay." Sokov felt that it was completely possible to use tank troops to carry out assaults on the German army during the day, so he agreed with Smirnov's suggestion: "But we must send infantry to cooperate, and our tank troops cannot go deep alone. "

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Smirnov knew that a tank unit without infantry coordination would easily become a target for German anti-tank fighters on the battlefield, so he replied, "I will arrange enough infantry to accompany the tank unit." action."

  The German army's first attack on the 239 Heights failed. After readjusting the position of the artillery, they launched a fierce shelling on the Heights again. As for the defenders on the high ground, after the bombardment began, except for a few observation posts, the rest of them moved to both sides of the position according to the order of the new division commander Kirillov to avoid the German bombardment.

  The German troops involved in the attack repeated their old tricks, taking advantage of the shelling of the highlands, and quietly advanced towards the Soviet positions. Last time they stayed two hundred meters away, this time they boldly advanced to a position one hundred meters away from the position. Because the distance from the position was too close, there were those kind of shells that missed and fell into the moving German line and exploded, causing them some casualties.

As soon as the shelling stopped, the German officers and soldiers lying on the ground jumped up and rushed towards the Soviet position with their weapons in their hands. The momentum seized the position.

  The German soldiers rushed into the smoky position and found the Soviet shelter along the trenches. They first threw a grenade inside, and after the explosion was over, they rushed in and fired according to their feelings. After finishing a clip and adapting to the light in the shelter, I found that there was no one here.

  Just when they were wondering, they heard the sound of machine guns and submachine guns shooting from around them, as well as the sound of "Ula" mixed in. Soon, those Soviet commanders and fighters who had disappeared for a while rushed over from both sides of the position along the trench, and fought with them at close range.

  Being caught off guard, the German army was unable to gain a foothold, so they could only withdraw from the position in embarrassment, preparing to withdraw to their starting position. Unexpectedly, they had just retreated to the foot of the mountain, but they were unexpectedly attacked by Soviet tanks, causing countless casualties. After a fierce battle, less than one-third of the German officers and soldiers retreated to their starting point of attack.

After repelling the German attack, Kirillov couldn't wait to report the results to Sokov. This was the first time he commanded the troops alone after he was rescued from the German prisoner-of-war camp, so he was very excited: " Comrade Commander, I am honored to report to you that the German attack on Height 239 has been successfully repelled by us."

   "How is the result of the battle, how many enemies have been eliminated?" Sokov asked repeatedly: "How about the casualties of the troops?"

   "In the just-concluded battle, we killed at least more than 300 soldiers." Kirillov said: "As for the casualties of the troops, they were not large. Only nearly a hundred soldiers died, and the number of wounded was less than 200."

When Sokov heard that the battle loss ratio of the two sides was basically one to one. Although it was a defensive battle, he was still very satisfied with such a result, and then asked: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov , do you have any difficulties?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander." Kirillov asked tentatively, "Can you add a batch of ammunition to us?"

   "What, replenish ammunition for you?" Sokov asked in surprise after hearing this: "Your ammunition is not enough?"

"There is still a part of the stock, but it will be exhausted soon." Probably because he was worried that Sokov would not understand, Kirillov also explained specifically: "Comrade commander, you also know that the number of new recruits in my division The ratio is very high, and in battle, for the sake of courage, they keep their fingers on the trigger and do not let go, and they often shoot out all the bullets in the magazine in less than a minute."

   Sokov is very clear about what Kirillov said. For example, with the same basic number of bullets, veterans can basically last a day of fighting, but if they are replaced by recruits, they may not be able to use them for an hour, and they will all be used up.

  Sokov said into the microphone: "Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, I will arrange someone to send you ammunition as soon as possible."

  After putting down the phone, Sokov said to Smirnov: "Comrade Chief of Staff, please inform the Army Logistics Department to deliver ammunition to the defenders of Height 239 immediately. Make sure they have sufficient ammunition."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander, I will arrange this immediately."

After notifying the logistics to send ammunition to the 239 Heights, Smirnov said to Sokov: "Comrade Commander, I am still not at ease. In any case, it is difficult to stop the German attack with the combat power of the 252nd Division." .Look, are we going to mobilize troops to reinforce them?"

"It's not necessary." Sokov waved his hand after listening, and said, "I believe Lieutenant Colonel Kirillov, since he said he can hold it, he can definitely hold it." He pushed the map in front of Smirnov , "The place where I met with Stemmelman last night is at this location. The next thing we have to consider is which force to send to eliminate the German command. If possible, it is best to capture Shi Temerman alive Temerman."

   Hearing what Sokov said, Smirnov couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise. You must know that it is still unknown whether he can hold the 239 Heights at this moment, and Sokov is actually thinking about Stimmerman.

  If other commanders think so, Smirnov will feel that the other party is whimsical, but since Sokov said it, it may still be possible to realize it. But before expressing his opinion, he first raised his own doubts: "Is it too early to propose to eliminate the German command system at this time? You must know that the enemy is still attacking our 239 Heights at this moment."

"The enemy's attack won't last long." Sokov said confidently: "Don't look at them crazy at the moment, but as long as the main force of the front army launches an attack from multiple places at the same time, they will have to mobilize their forces to resist. The pressure can be greatly relieved. When the final general offensive begins, although we are not the closest unit to the German command, I hope this honor belongs to us."

   As an old soldier, Smirnov naturally knew that destroying the enemy headquarters would be a great achievement. Since it is now at your fingertips, why should you give it up to others? Thinking of this, he looked at Sokov and asked, "Comrade Commander, do you have any plans?"

Sokov stared at the map and said thoughtfully: "When to send troops is the key. If you send troops early, it is easy to scare the enemy, but if you scare away Stemmerman, it will be very difficult to catch him. But if the dispatch time is too late, it is easy to be robbed of the credit by the friendly forces."

   "Yes, when to send troops is indeed a very important issue."

   Sokov took the initiative to bring this matter up to Smirnov in order to hear good advice from the chief of staff. But the facts disappointed him. The old general was accustomed to the position-to-position, offense-to-offense style of play. It was difficult for him to escape this fixed circle of combat thinking, and he was unable to provide himself with useful advice at all.

Sokov couldn't help but miss Belkin and Sameko, who had worked with him before. Usually, when he encountered any difficulties, both of them could provide him with more or less advice, so that he could find a way to solve the problem. The method is much better than the Smirnov in front of him.

  Just as Sokov was complaining about Smirnov's incompetence, the phone rang.

It was Zakharov who called. When he heard that the person who answered the phone was Sokov, he said straight to the point: "Comrade Sokov, the situation has changed. Since many troops failed to meet the deadline, Arrived at the designated location, resulting in the attack not being carried out as originally planned."

  Sokov couldn’t help but gasp when he heard this. He said to himself that it’s no wonder that the Germans attacked Height 239 so fiercely. The feeling is that many friendly forces did not hint to launch an attack. As a result, the Germans were able to calmly mobilize superior forces to attack Height 239.

  After a short pause, he asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army, I would like to ask, when will the friendly army's attack on the Germans begin?"

Zakharov said with shame: "Unfortunately, Comrade Sokov, I can't tell you the exact time. After all, the time required for each army to prepare is different. Therefore, before the main force of the front army launches the final general attack on the German army , you must resolutely defend Height 239 to ensure that the Germans cannot escape from you. Understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff of the Front Army." After finding out the reason why the Germans stormed the high ground, Sokov assured Zakharov: "No matter how fierce the German attack is, we can find a way to stop them, and we will never Let them break through the line of defense and rush out to meet the German troops who came to meet them."

Considering that the artillery of the front army can only intercept the attacking German army, and it is difficult to carry out precise strikes, Sokov intends to use the power of the air force to destroy the enemy's artillery unit, so he tentatively asked: "Comrade chief of staff of the front army, what do I think?" May I ask, when can the air force be dispatched?"

"I'm afraid it won't work." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he was immediately vetoed by Zakharov: "The recent weather is too bad, and our air force cannot take off, otherwise we would have launched the final attack on the Germans long ago. gone."

"That's really a pity." Sokov said regretfully: "The German artillery poses too much threat to the 239 Heights. We originally wanted to suppress it with artillery fire, but according to our artillery commander's report, the enemy's artillery positions After each shelling, they would quickly move their positions, making it difficult to capture them. If the air force is dispatched, no matter how fast the enemy's artillery moves, it may be difficult to escape the end of destruction."

"Comrade Sokov," Zakharov said with a wry smile, "Although our army has already occupied the air supremacy on the battlefield, in front of God, our air force is useless at all, so we can only stay at the airport honestly." , wait for the weather to improve before taking off. Therefore, you can only find a way to kill the German artillery positions."

Besides, after the German army's second attack on Heights 239 failed, General Giler suggested to Stammerman: "Your Excellency, we should launch a third attack immediately without giving the Russians a chance to breathe. Break through their defenses."

"General Giller, if it was yesterday, I would have tried everything possible to seize the 239 Heights from the Russians. But now, I am not very interested in this Heights. If I can take it down, everyone is happy; even if I take it It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter."

  Stemmerman's attitude made Jill wonder: "Your Excellency, why do you say that?"

   "Because the new commander of the Russian 53rd Army is Sokov who gives us a headache." Stemmelman said bluntly: "Where he is, we will definitely not be able to please."

   "What, the commander of the 53rd Army is Sokov?" Giller couldn't help being secretly surprised when he heard this: "Your Excellency, is your news reliable?"

   "Totally reliable." Strommermann replied: "Last night he came to me as a representative of the Russians to negotiate with me and persuade us to lay down our arms and surrender, but I did not agree to him."

   Knowing that the troops standing in front of him were actually commanded by Sokov, Jill's heart suddenly fell into an ice cellar, and he said in a panic, "Your Excellency, what should we do next?"

"Next, send troops to launch a feint attack on Height 239 to attract the attention of the Russians." Stemmerman said: "The main force quietly turned to the northwest, broke through the Russian defense line there, and tried to find a way to deal with the troops who were relieved." Join us."

  (end of this chapter)