Less than half an hour after the troops escorting the wounded left, a German unit appeared on the south side of the highland. They were about one company in strength, and with them appeared five trucks towing artillery pieces.
Sokov stood in the observation post on the top of the hillside, watching the artillery pulled by the car. The German artillery had turned its head and pointed the muzzle at the high ground where he was. Realizing that a fierce battle was coming, he put down his telescope and said to Saviev who was standing aside: "Comrade Lieutenant, the Germans will soon fire on the high ground. In addition to leaving a few observation posts to monitor the enemy, The rest of the warriors took cover.”
Fortunately, when seizing this position, the original German telephone lines were not greatly damaged. After repairs by the soldiers of the communication squad, Saviev was able to communicate with each platoon without leaving home. Saveyev picked up the phone and spoke into the receiver: "The battalion commander ordered: Except for the observation posts left to monitor the enemy, the remaining soldiers should hide to avoid enemy bombardment."
After Saviev put down the phone, he looked up at the log roof above his head and asked with some concern: "Comrade Battalion Commander, let's just stay in the observation post. There won't be any danger, right?"
"No, Comrade Lieutenant." Regarding Saviev's concerns, Sokov said disapprovingly: "The roof of the observation post is reinforced, and the German artillery shells can't do anything to us." The reason why he is so confident, It was because a layer of water had been poured on the snow on the roof, which was already freezing to a solid state. He didn't believe that the German artillery shells could blast through such a thick layer of ice.
Although Sokov spoke so confidently, Saveyev still said worriedly: "Comrade Battalion Commander, according to my observation, the German army uses 150mm howitzers. The ice on the roof of the observation post can withstand the German heavy artillery. Bombardment?”
Just when Sokov was about to comfort Saviev a few more words, he suddenly heard a scream in the air. A thought just came to his mind: "The Germans have opened fire!" There was a loud noise dozens of meters ahead, and a huge fireball rose up there, emitting a dazzling light, and then a blazing wave of air came from The lookout point rushed in, causing him to take two steps back involuntarily.
"Comrade Battalion Commander, this is the enemy's test firing, and they will start shelling soon." Although the explosion point was dozens of meters away, Saviev still felt the ground under his feet shaking a few times, and he hurriedly Then he persuaded Sokov: "I don't think the observation post can withstand the German shelling. We should go to the anti-gun cave."
"Wait a moment, Comrade Lieutenant." Sokov calmed down and said with luck: "The German artillery shells hit our unreinforced areas. I think the artillery shells will not be able to penetrate those areas where water has been poured. .”
But what happened next was a slap in the face to Sokov. The German artillery shells landed on the high ground one after another, blasting the civil engineering works protected by the ice to pieces, and streams of soil mixed with snow powder shot up into the sky like fountains. With each explosion, Sokov's heart contracted and his body began to tremble involuntarily.
Seeing the impact point of the artillery shells getting closer and closer to the observation post, Saviev became a little anxious. He grabbed Sokov's arm and pulled him hard towards the outside of the observation post. The scene that happened before him made Sokov understand that the practice of watering the snow to strengthen the fortifications was a joke. In ancient times, water was poured on the city wall to prevent enemy cannons from destroying the city wall, but can those shells made of big iron balls be compared with the 150mm howitzer shells? Therefore, when he found that Saviev was pulling him outside, he did not resist, but obediently followed the other party out of the observation post, and entered the artillery hole not far away along the traffic trench.
The German shelling lasted only half an hour and then stopped. Hearing that there was no movement outside, Saviev got out of the artillery hole, stood in the traffic trench and looked down the mountain. He saw half of the German infantry holding guns and cautiously approaching the high ground. He quickly retracted the shell-proof hole and shouted to Sokov who was sitting inside: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the enemy has begun to attack!"
"Immediately order the soldiers to enter the trenches." There was not much space with the anti-cannon holes. After standing up, Sokov could only half-bend and said to Saviev: "We must knock down the enemy."
After a while, whistles sounded one after another throughout the position. This was a signal to the soldiers hiding in the anti-gun holes or concealed areas that they should enter the position.
Sokov and Saveyev walked along the communication trench, preparing to return to the observation post. When he got closer, he found that half of the observation post had been destroyed by artillery fire, and a crooked log was burning. Seeing this situation, Sokov couldn't help but take a deep breath, thinking to himself that if Saveyev hadn't forcibly pulled him away, he would have died by now. He turned to look at Saveyev standing aside, bit his lip, and said softly: "Comrade Lieutenant, thank you, you just saved my life."
"Look at what you said, Comrade Battalion Commander." Unexpectedly, Saveyev said with a smile: "Saving your life is not the same as saving my own life. If the two of us had not left the observation post, we would have He was killed by a German artillery shell." He looked around, and then said, "Comrade Battalion Commander, the observation post can't be used anymore, let's move to another place."
The two climbed into a huge crater and used it as a new observation post to observe the situation on the battlefield. The terrain on the south slope is steeper than the terrain where the Soviet army attacked, but the distance is nearly half. After the German infantry reached the foot of the mountain, they continued to walk quickly while shooting towards the top of the mountain.
When the German army entered the range of 100 meters, the machine guns on the position were the first to start shooting. The intensive gunfire sounded like exploding beans. The German army who was trying to climb up was caught off guard. The soldiers at the front fell one after another. In the snow. An officer who was walking at the front was hit by more than a dozen bullets. After spinning twice, he fell on his back in the snow. Although the soldiers in front were knocked down, the soldiers behind did not stop. They continued to climb up while shooting upwards.
Seeing that the Germans continued to rush forward, the gunfire on the position became more intensive. Not only machine guns were firing, but submachine guns, rifles, and even a few pistols also joined in the shooting, causing the German soldiers who were charging upward to fall to the snow one after another.
Faced with such powerful firepower on the battlefield, the attacking German troops could no longer support themselves. They rolled and crawled back, fled back to the original starting point of the attack, and joined the infantry and artillery that remained there.
