The commanders and soldiers rushed to a stop seven or eight meters away from the position and threw the smoking grenades into the trench. After the smoke from the explosion rose, the soldiers with submachine guns rushed to the trenches first, shot at the German soldiers moving inside, knocked them down and jumped straight into the trenches. Soldiers carrying rifles also jumped into the trenches. As soon as they found the German soldiers crawling out of the void, they stabbed them to death with bayonets without hesitation.
In the trench in the distance that had not been occupied by the Soviet army, there were German soldiers who had woken up and placed their guns on the edge of the trench, preparing to shoot at the commanders and soldiers who were rushing over. But before they could pull the trigger, the tank following the infantry opened fire, blasting them to pieces.
In just ten minutes, the commanders and fighters of the 1137th Regiment captured the German second line of defense. Most of the German soldiers stationed here were killed by the joint attack of Soviet infantry and tanks before they could react.
After successfully seizing the German outer positions, while the infantry commanders and fighters were regrouping in the trenches, the tanks that had completed their cover mission restarted and turned around and headed north.
Zhukov, who was watching the battle from a distance, saw the infantry regrouping and rushing towards the city, while the tank brigade was heading north. He quickly put down his binoculars and curiously asked Rokossovsky: "Rokossov Comrade Ski, what is going on? Why doesn’t the tank brigade follow the infantry into the city?”
"Comrade General, this is what Major Sokov meant." Rokossovsky replied quickly: "He said that the field of vision of the tanks in the city would be restricted. If they all crowded into the city, it would become a counterattack for the German army. The target of the tank crew, so he told me in advance that during street fighting in the city, it would be enough to have the division's tank battalion and artillery battalion to provide support. Look," he pointed to the distance with his hand, "their tanks Aren’t the artillery and artillery troops moving towards the city?”
Zhukov looked in the direction of Rokossovsky's finger, and sure enough he saw several tanks and an equal number of trucks towing artillery, heading toward the city along the rugged road. He put down the telescope, looked at Rokossovsky and asked: "Comrade Rokossovsky, I would like to ask where the tank brigade is going?"
"After General Orlov's infantry army failed to attack, it has moved to the north of the city." Rokossovsky heard Zhukov's question and quickly explained: "I ordered the tank brigade to rush over and join them. , if the attack of the 31st Guards Division fails, they will launch another attack from the north."
"That's very thoughtful." Zhukov waited for Rokossovsky to finish, then nodded and said, "Now that the 31st Guards Division has successfully rushed into the city, I believe that Major Sokov will be there in the shortest possible time." Within the time limit, seize this city. By the way, have you ever considered what you should do if the enemy cannot hold on anymore and wants to abandon the city and flee?"
"Don't worry, Comrade General." Rokossovsky smiled and said to Zhukov: "There is General Orlov's infantry army in the north of the city, and there is a river in the south. If the German army wants to escape, it can only choose the west. I have ordered The 324th Infantry Division is stationed in that direction, and as soon as the German troops leave the city, they will be surrounded by our troops."
Zhukov raised the telescope again, looked at the wreckage of the destroyed Soviet tanks on the battlefield, and the bodies of soldiers that had not yet been collected, and said: "I hope Sokov's troops can drive the enemy out of the city as soon as possible. "
Sokov watched his troops enter the city one after another. He once considered moving the headquarters into the city, but he quickly rejected this plan. Although his troops captured the German peripheral positions so easily, they were able to achieve such results entirely because they caught the enemy by surprise. Presumably the Germans had recovered by now and their counterattack was imminent.
Just when I thought of this, I saw a German reconnaissance plane appearing above the city. It lowered its altitude and hovered over the positions that were still smoking, to check the progress of the battle below. Seeing this scene, Potukin exclaimed: "Damn it, the Germans are getting ready to start shelling!"
As soon as he finished speaking, two artillery shells landed in the middle of the two positions occupied by the Soviet army, but they were still far away from the advancing ranks of commanders and soldiers, and no one was injured. Potukin explained from the side: "Comrade division commander, this is the German artillery school machine. It is correcting the firing parameters for the artillery. The enemy's artillery shells will soon follow."
"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." This is not his first time on the battlefield, and Sokov is very familiar with the Germans: "If there are German artillery observers nearby, their artillery bombardment will begin soon. But since the reconnaissance plane is making corrections, the German artillery will fire two more shots to further determine the location of the bombardment."
Not long after, two more shells flew from a distance. The explosion point this time was not far from the marching 1135th Regiment. Sokov saw through the telescope that many soldiers instinctively bent down to avoid the enemy's shelling. He put down his telescope and said to Potukin: "Wait a little longer, and the German army will launch a fierce bombardment on the marching 1135th Regiment. I hope Bindasov's troops can move faster, otherwise they will suffer considerable losses." .”
The roar of aircraft engines came from the sky. Hearing this sound, Sokov was stunned for a moment, and then said in surprise: "Our air force is here!"
Hearing what Sokov said, Potukin was a little surprised and asked: "Comrade division commander, can you distinguish the engine roar of our aircraft from that of the German aircraft?"
"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "But I heard that the sound of the engine came from behind us. It is definitely not a German aircraft."
As soon as the large-scale German artillery bombardment began, the Soviet fleet arrived over the city. First, the fighter planes came forward and drove away the German reconnaissance planes; then the bomber group flew deep into the German army to bomb the German artillery that was shelling frantically.
Soon, the German artillery bombardment came to an abrupt end. The commanders and soldiers of the 1135th Regiment, who were pinned to the ground by enemy artillery fire, got up from the ground and trotted towards the city.
"Comrade division commander," Potukin asked Sokov after seeing the commanders and fighters of the 1137th and 1135th regiments entering the city one after another: "Do I need to move the headquarters to the city?"
Sokov waited for him to finish speaking, waved his hand and said: "Comrade Chief of Staff, there are two regiment commanders Pavel and Bindasov commanding the city. What else do you have to worry about? Wait until they cannot capture the city. When the time comes, it won’t be too late for us to rush to support them.”
"Can you come in!" The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, leader of the 1139th Regiment, came from outside the door.
Sokov turned to face the door and said outside: "Come in, Lieutenant Colonel Ajik."
After Ajik entered the door, Sokov guessed from the expression on his face that he must be here to challenge him, so he asked knowingly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what's the matter with you coming to my place?"
"That's it, Comrade Division Commander." Ajik said anxiously: "Look, the 1137th and 1135th regiments have entered the city. When will our regiment enter the city?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have already told you that the task of your regiment is to prepare a reserve team." After Sokov waited for the other party to finish speaking, he emphasized to him: "If the attack in the city does not go smoothly, I will immediately send you to the reserve team." Entering the battle. Until you get my order, you should stay quietly at your regiment command post."
Ajik came here to look for Sokov, mainly because he saw that the other two regiments had rushed into the city, and even the artillery battalion and tank battalion followed suit. He felt very anxious, so he took the initiative to come to Sokov to ask for a fight. . But unexpectedly, his request was rejected by Sokov.
He hesitated for a moment and said: "Comrade Division Commander, I saw the battle of the 1137th Regiment just now in my command post. I think that if we increase their strength, the battle will go more smoothly."
"Lieutenant Colonel Ajik," seeing that Ajik was always pestering him and wanting to lead his troops to join the battle immediately, he said seriously: "Zizdra is a medium-sized city. There is no need to invest too many troops, otherwise it will cause chaos. of."
When Ajik heard what Sokov said, he said with some disappointment: "Comrade division commander, may I ask, how long do we have to wait before the troops can go into battle?"
"I can't tell you the specific time." Sokov looked at the smoke-filled positions in the distance and said to Ajik with a wry smile: "Only when the two regiments that entered the city have not made any achievements, I Your regiment will be put into position, do you understand?"
"Understood, Comrade Division Commander." Ajik knew that no matter what he said, he would not make Sokov change his mind. He quickly straightened his body and stabilized: "Are you allowed to return to the army? I need to go back and brief the commanders and fighters at all levels on the current situation."
"Go!" Sokov waved to Ajik, then raised the telescope again and looked at the city in the distance.
Before the attack began, Sokov had a separate conversation with Pavel, saying that as soon as the troops entered the city, the division's tank battalion and artillery battalion would be put under his command, and he described in detail how tanks should be used in the city. way to proceed. Pavel led his troops into the city and occupied several buildings. After choosing one of them as a headquarters, he ordered the troops to temporarily stop advancing and wait patiently for the arrival of the tank battalion and artillery battalion.
Soon, several tanks coming from outside the city stopped outside his command post. A captain wearing a tank soldier's uniform jumped out of the tank and asked the soldiers on guard: "Where is your regimental commander?"
The soldier pointed to a two-story house nearby and said, "The regiment command post is right there!"
After the tank captain thanked the soldiers, he quickly walked into the building and, under the guidance of the officers and soldiers, arrived at Pavel's temporary command post. In a room on the second floor, he saw Pavel standing in front of a window, holding a telescope and looking into the distance. He quickly raised his hand in salute and reported in accordance with the order: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Commander of the Tank Battalion. Captain Messala reports to you that our battalion has been ordered to accept your command, please give instructions!"
Pavel put down the telescope and waved to Messala who was standing at the door, motioning for him to come to him: "Comrade Captain, come here!"
Captain Messala walked in front of Pavel, keeping his head high and his chest high, quietly waiting for the order given by the other party. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, I heard Pavel say: "Comrade Captain, come and take a look. Since Zizdra is a medium-sized city with a small population, the buildings in the city are quite sparsely distributed. So I Plan to have your tank battalion and infantry advance along the streets toward the city center to capture the German headquarters in the city."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I think you should understand that the field of vision of a tank is not wide to begin with. If it fights in the city, the field of vision will be even more restricted." Meshara could tell from Pavel's tone that the other party planned to let him He went to open a road and quickly explained: "Without the cover of the infantry, our tanks would be easily killed by German anti-tank fighters as they advanced along the streets."
"Yes, of course I know." Pavel said with a smile: "In order to give full play to the role of tanks in urban street fighting, Comrade Division Commander is ready to let your tanks and my infantry fight together."
"Coordinated operations?!" Meshala repeated Pavel's words and asked tentatively: "I would like to ask, how can the two sides coordinate?"
"I have just said that Zizdra is a medium-sized city, and the number of buildings is definitely not comparable to that of big cities like Moscow and Leningrad." Pavel said with a smile: "After increasing the German defense After the difficulty, it also reduced our offensive pressure.”
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," seeing that Pavel had been talking for a long time and had not yet reached the point, Meshala asked impatiently: "You haven't said yet, how should our tanks and infantry cooperate?"
"The streets in the city are more than thirty meters wide. You can advance with two vehicles in parallel." Pavel tried hard to recall what Sokov said to him, and repeated it to Meshala: "Two tanks are in the While marching, the tank on the right has its muzzle pointed to the left; the tank on the left has its muzzle pointed to the right. In the middle of the two tanks, there will be a squad of infantry who will follow you to eliminate the buildings hiding on both sides of the road. German anti-tank crew inside."
"The infantrymen who are accompanying us, are they following the tanks?"
"No, they will be in the middle of the two tanks and will move forward with you." In response to Meshala's question, Pavel once again gave a negative answer: "You just said that the field of vision of the tank is very narrow, especially In the city, the vision will be even more affected, so the infantry accompanying you will march in the middle of the two tanks. In this way, the tanks on both sides can block stray bullets from nearby for them; as for the tanks, Since there is infantry retaliation, there is no need to worry about being attacked by German anti-tank fighters.”
