Every soldier in the machine gun company heard the gunshots coming from the village, and they knew that this was the beginning of the German massacre of the villagers. As soon as they heard Sokov's order, the soldiers clenched their weapons and were ready to attack the village at any time. But the hesitant expression on Captain Vasily's face made their hearts sink suddenly. Wasn't he marching for two consecutive hours just to stop the German massacre?
Fortunately, Vasily's hesitation did not last long before he made the final decision. He straightened his back and said to Sokov: "Comrade Battalion Commander, I resolutely obey your order and immediately lead the troops to attack the village."
"You lead the three platoons back to the east of the village," Sokov pointed to the east of the village and said to Vasily: "Prevent the enemy from escaping to Popkovo when they cannot hold on."
"But, Comrade Battalion Commander." Vasily was confused by Sokov's order: "If I lead the third platoon to the east of the village, who will direct the frontal attack?"
"The frontal attack will be directed by me personally." Sokov said calmly: "You only need to lead three platoons to block the Germans' escape route to the east. You don't have to worry about the rest."
"What?" Sokov's words startled Vasily, and he hurriedly said: "Battalion Commander, you are the commander of the first battalion, how can you take risks casually? Otherwise, you can lead three platoons back to the east of the village. , I will lead people to attack from the front."
"Obey the order!" Before Vasily could finish speaking, Sokov interrupted him and urged him: "Captain Vasily, what are you still dawdling about? If the enemy is allowed to attack from the east side of the village later, Sneak away, I want you to be the only one to ask."
Seeing Sokov being so stubborn, Vasily knew that it was useless to say anything. He could only nodded and led three rows of soldiers to the east of the village.
After Vasily left, Sokov straightened his slightly skewed helmet, took off the submachine gun on his shoulder, turned on the safety, and waved his hand forward: "Start attacking!"
The guard squads of Sokov and Oleg were at the front of the attacking team, followed by soldiers from two machine gun companies. The troops dispersed into formation, holding their weapons in hand, and strode towards the village occupied by the enemy.
In addition to two platoons of German Wehrmacht troops, the village's defenders also had a squad of SS soldiers. The gunshots Sokov and the others heard were that they were shooting villagers. The villagers were divided into groups of ten by the SS, and were taken to the edge of the village one by one to be shot, and their bodies were dumped in trenches that had already been dug.
After they shot the second group of villagers, and were about to take the third group of villagers to be tortured, suddenly a Wehrmacht soldier on duty shouted loudly: "Russians, there are Russian troops, approaching the village."
Hearing that Russian troops were advancing towards the village, the SS assault squad leader quickly ordered the villagers to be escorted back to the church; Wehrmacht officers and soldiers ran out of the village and jumped into the trench outside the village to prepare for battle. As for the corpses of the villagers, they were placed outside the trenches and used as sandbags.
The troops led by Sokov came under heavy fire from the Germans when they were still two hundred meters away from the village. As soon as the gunshot rang out, Sokov nimbly fell onto the snow and crawled forward on his hands and feet. There were two unlucky soldiers in the guard squad who were hit by bullets and fell to the snow with a thud. The blood flowing from the wounds dyed the snow under them red.
Although the machine gun company has never had artillery since its establishment, the number of machine guns has increased with the number of captures. The company's three platoons have a total strength of 200 people. Each platoon has eight machine guns. Except for the main and deputy machine gunners and an ammunition hand, the rest of the soldiers are equipped with submachine guns. Their firepower far exceeds that of a German battalion. It requires It is not difficult at all to capture a village guarded by only two platoons.
The enemies in the village relied on trenches and firepower points to try to prevent Sokov's troops from approaching the village, but their resistance seemed so insignificant under the blows of more than a dozen G34 machine guns. There was a German machine gun in the civil firepower point. It became the target of public criticism even before a single bullet chain was fired. Four or five machine guns were aimed at it and fired. The bullets drilled in from the shooting holes beat the machine gunners who were firing wildly to pieces. .
After killing the German machine guns, those G34s turned their guns and suppressed fire on the German troops in the trenches. Although there were 70 or 80 German soldiers hiding in the trenches, the dozen or so machine guns of the machine gun battery still suppressed them so much that they could not lift their heads. The German second lieutenant who was hiding in the trench with the soldiers had a feeling that he was on the verge of tears: When did the Russian firepower become so strong, with a company having more than a dozen machine guns.
Under the cover of machine gun fire, Sokov led the remaining soldiers, sometimes crawling forward, sometimes jumping up from the ground, bending over and running a few steps forward, and then lying down to shoot. In this way, in a short time, they arrived at a place less than 20 meters away from the trench. Following Sokov's order, dozens of stringed grenades drew a beautiful arc in the air and landed on The explosions in the front and rear of the trenches spattered large clouds of fire and smoke, and the German soldiers who tried to continue shooting with their probes were blown to pieces.
Seeing that the situation was over, the German second lieutenant knew that continuing to fight would lead to death. He hurriedly squatted in the trench and shouted loudly: "Stop fighting, stop fighting, we surrender, we surrender!" After shouting, he tied a white handkerchief to a On the rifle, he stretched out the trench and waved desperately.
Amidst the gunfire and explosions, Sokov vaguely heard the second lieutenant's shout. Although he couldn't hear what the other party was shouting, the white flag stretched out from the trench immediately made him understand: the Germans surrendered. !
He quickly raised his right hand high and shouted loudly: "Stop shooting!" On the battlefield with dense gunfire, his voice could not reach very far, but the machine gunners shooting behind him saw his gesture. , and stopped shooting one after another.
After Sokov gave the order to stop shooting, he lay on the ground for a while. When he heard the sound of machine gun fire behind him stopped, he stood up and walked towards the trench with his gun in hand. When he came to the trench and saw the German soldiers squatting in the trench, he shouted with great majesty: "Henderhoch!"
The German soldiers in the trench breathed a sigh of relief when they heard Sokov's somewhat broken German. When they saw the second lieutenant standing up first with a rifle tied with a white handkerchief in both hands, they also threw away their hands. After holding the weapon inside, he stood up.
Sokov heard the intensive gunfire in the village and judged that it should be the third platoon of soldiers led by Vasily. They rushed into the village from the east and quickly ordered the platoon leader who came over: "Take people to the village immediately. Go support Captain Vasily and destroy those enemies who are still resisting."
