The troops participating in the attack on the town of Maklaki included, in addition to Sokov's Istrian battalion, a full regiment of the 97th Infantry Division, the 322nd Infantry Division and the 11th Guards Rifle Division.
After half an hour of artillery preparations, before the smoke cleared, troops of the 97th Infantry Division launched a charge towards the town.
Sokov, who was staying at the starting position of the attack, stood in his observation post, raised his telescope, and looked at the friendly soldiers wearing khaki short cotton uniforms and holding rifles, forming a dense formation in the white snow. , as he strode towards the town where smoke was still billowing, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help but twitch violently. He was thinking: Why use such a dense formation? Doesn't the commander know that the Germans only need to fire with a few machine guns to knock down the soldiers in pieces?
When the attacking troops were still more than 500 meters away from the town, the German troops holding on to the town opened fire. Mortar shells fell in the dense formation of Soviet troops, raising clouds of smoke and knocking soldiers to the ground one after another. But as soon as there was a gap in the queue in front, the soldiers behind immediately stepped up to fill it, and the entire team moved towards the town without stopping.
Seeing the soldiers falling one after another under the attack of German artillery fire, Sokov couldn't help but take a breath and thought to himself, who is the commander of this unit? He actually let the soldiers charge in such a dense formation, isn't it? Let them die?
When the soldiers were less than a hundred meters away from the town, a row of large and small fires suddenly flashed in the direction of the town. The advancing soldiers seemed to have hit an invisible wall, and a large number fell down with a crackle. Facing such intensive firepower from the German army, the most correct approach should be to lie down on the spot and fire back, and wait for an opportunity to launch an attack in the direction of the town. But the commander who led the team didn't know what happened. Not only did the soldiers not lie down on the spot, but they also accelerated their speed and continued to rush forward, as if they wanted to rush into the town despite the enemy's bullets.
"Idiot, just an idiot." Seeing such pig teammates, Sokov was so angry that he punched the wall with his fist and cursed: "If we fight like this, everyone will be dead. , and don’t even think about rushing into the town.”
"What's the matter, comrade battalion commander." Belkin, who was walking along the offensive route with several company commanders, heard Sokov's scolding and couldn't help but come over and asked curiously: "What happened, let you Are you so angry?"
"Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander," Sokov angrily thrust the telescope into Belkin's hand and said angrily: "Look, how do our friendly forces fight?"
Belkin raised his binoculars and looked for a moment in the direction of the fighting town in the distance. Then he said: "The German army's firepower was very fierce, but our soldiers were very tenacious. They continued to charge despite the enemy's bullets."
"Stupid, absolutely stupid." Sokov, who was standing in front of the table, slapped the table with his hands and shouted hysterically: "If any of my subordinates dare to let the soldiers line up during the attack, With such a dense formation, I rushed forward and made the Germans a target, and I killed him without saying a word."
The company commanders gathered around the table looked at each other in confusion when they saw Sokov's inexplicable attack, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, Vanya was smarter and quickly came to the lookout, raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the town, clearly seeing the bloody battle going on. With Vanya taking the lead, the other company commanders also used their binoculars to watch the battle progress of friendly forces in front of the lookout.
After all the company commanders had finished reading, Sokov said: "Comrades, commanders, it is inevitable to make sacrifices in order to win. But if you are like the friendly forces, wearing conspicuous military uniforms and lining up in dense rows, It would be a bit too stupid to rush over to let the Germans use their formation as a target. What’s even more annoying is that when encountering intense enemy firepower, the commander didn’t order the soldiers to lie down on the spot and fight with the enemy. Instead of shooting at each other, they ordered them to speed up the charge in an attempt to rush into the town despite the enemy's bullets."
When Sokov said this, he paused intentionally for a moment in order to observe the expressions on the faces of the company commanders. After seeing a disapproving expression on someone's face, he said seriously: "Everyone has seen how fierce the firepower of the German army is. For such a density of firepower, using human lives to fill it is the stupidest thing to do. Friendly soldiers are not fighting, but are being slaughtered, and their sacrifices are meaningless."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, what should we do if it is our battalion's turn to attack?" Andrei waited for Sokov to finish speaking and immediately asked: "Can you give us a clear instruction?"
If he had just arrived in this time and space, Sokov might have asked everyone to adopt the "three-three" assault tactic, but after practice, he found that in order to use this tactic skillfully, cooperation between them was very important. After several large-scale replenishments in the camp, before the soldiers had time to get to know each other, their comrades died or were wounded and left the unit. In this case, the use of the "three-three system" assault tactic will not only have limited effect, but will also cause unnecessary confusion.
In response to Andre's question, Sokov was silent for a while and then said slowly: "When attacking, we should adopt a loose formation. When encountering enemy fire interception, our machine guns and rear artillery fire should immediately target The firepower is suppressed so that our infantry can continue to advance..."
After explaining the offensive tactics to the company commanders, Sokov waved to them and said: "Okay, let's all go back to our respective companies. It might be our turn to attack soon."
After the company commanders left, Sokov felt as if all his strength had been drained. He sat down holding on to the edge of the table, staring at the map in front of him in a daze, thinking about where to choose the main attack direction if it was his turn to attack. What position?
"Comrade Battalion Commander," Belkin, who was standing in front of the lookout, suddenly turned to Sokov and said, "Come and see, the friendly troops have withdrawn."
Hearing what Belkin said, Sokov quickly stood up and came to the lookout, took the telescope and looked into the distance. Only the soldiers of the 97th Infantry Division were seen retreating sparsely. Some soldiers supporting the wounded fell far behind. If the Germans had not stopped shooting, they would probably all be in danger of their lives. In front of the town, there were piles of Soviet soldiers who died in various postures.
Sokov put down the telescope, sighed, and said: "The friendly attack has failed. It seems that it will be our turn soon."
