The position held by Andre's Third Battalion in the east of the city was a defense fortification built by the Soviet army before the war. Due to various reasons, it was not completed until the outbreak of the war. Coupled with the defeat of the Soviet army and the rapid advance of the German army, the fortifications did not play any role and the city fell into the hands of the German army.
After the German army occupied the city, they ignored the fortifications around the city. They neither sent people to reinforce nor station troops. If the German army deployed a squad of troops in the fortifications, it would not be easy for Sokov to lead his troops to sneak attack Kursk.
Although the Germans once shelled the third battalion's position for half an hour, only the criss-crossing trenches were severely damaged. Only a handful of the one-meter-thick reinforced concrete fortifications were destroyed by artillery fire. Precisely because of the strong fortifications, Andre had the confidence to hold his position even without artillery support.
Andre stood in his observation post, using his binoculars to look at the German tanks approaching the position, and his mood became uneasy. In addition to the soldiers who were recruited from the prisoner of war camps, the soldiers who stood firm in the trenches and fortifications also had nearly a thousand recruits who had just joined the army yesterday. Although they had served as militiamen or received military training, they were overwhelmed when the enemy tanks charged. When they got in front of them and machine guns fired at them, I wonder if they would stay in their position and continue fighting, or would they turn around and run away?
The German tanks stopped five hundred meters away from the position. Since there was no barbed wire or minefields in front of the Soviet position, there was no need for them to continue moving forward to clear the way for the charging infantry. They lined up in a line and used artillery fire to suppress the firepower points on the Soviet positions.
Although supported by tank artillery fire, the German infantry waited for the machine gun companies to set up machine gun positions step by step and began to fire at the Soviet positions before they crossed over the tanks that were lined up in a row and were shelling the Soviet positions and fired at the Soviets. rushed to the position.
Seeing the German troops rushing toward their position, the recruits hiding in the fortifications couldn't hold their breath. The enemy was still three to four hundred meters away from the position, so they started firing guns, and the bullets flew out as if they were free. , but few of the German soldiers charging in the distance were shot and fell to the ground. They continued to rush towards the position without stopping.
The exposed firepower point became the first target of the German tank gun. Shells flew over one after another and accurately hit the target. Amidst the huge explosions, soldiers were lifted into the air from time to time by the air waves of the explosion, and then again. Fall down hard. Many of the soldiers near the explosion point were cut down by flying shrapnel.
The newly appointed first company commander saw that the enemy was still several hundred meters away from his position, and his soldiers suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire. He was worried that if this continued, all his men would be dead before the enemy could rush to the position. He quickly asked Andre for help: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the first company suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire. Please support me. I request support."
Andrei was particularly anxious when he saw the company's position being bombarded by tanks, but Sokov was unwilling to provide them with artillery support, so he had no choice. Although he complained about Sokov for a while in his heart, he soon figured out that although there were artillery in the city, as long as he opened fire, he would inevitably be counterattacked by the German artillery. Although there were a lot of artillery captured in the warehouse, there were only a few dozen soldiers who could use these artillery. Once they were all sacrificed, no matter how many artillery they had, it would be in vain.
Therefore, in response to the first company commander's request for help, he could only harden his heart and say: "Comrade Lieutenant, use the reinforced concrete fortifications on the position to resolutely block the enemy's attack. When necessary, I will send troops to reinforce you."
When the first company commander saw that the battalion commander, Captain Andre, would not send reinforcements to him, he could only bite the bullet and order the troops to shrink, and evacuated the surviving soldiers in the trenches to the fortifications, preparing to rely on strong reinforced concrete fortifications to resist the German attack. . Not long after, he realized how correct the decision he had made was.
When the German infantry was less than 200 meters away from the position, the G34 machine guns set up in the fortifications opened fire violently, knocking down the charging German troops in pieces. Seeing the firepower emerging from the Soviet positions, causing considerable casualties to the attacking troops, the tanks behind immediately aimed at these fortifications and opened fire violently. Although the 75mm short-barreled artillery equipped by the No. 4 tank is very lethal to enemy infantry and fortifications when using high-explosive shells, they are a bit powerless when encountering the reinforced concrete fortifications in front of them. Unless the artillery shells flew directly in from the firing holes, it would be impossible to destroy these firepower points that were constantly killing German officers and soldiers.
The German tank crews were troubled by their inability to destroy the Soviet fortifications, and the Soviet troops who stood firm on the ground were also troubled by the German tanks. Since they had no anti-tank guns, they could only stare at them blankly. In fact, there are many German 37mm anti-tank guns in the warehouse, but Sokov considered that this kind of anti-tank gun, known as a "stepping stone", has an effective range of only three hundred meters and is simply unable to deal with guns parked four to five hundred meters away. German tanks, so they were not assigned to the following troops at all.
Sokov, who was staying at the command post in the city, had been learning about the situation on the battlefield from Andrei and the observation post outside the city through phone calls. After learning that the Third Battalion performed poorly in the battle, Sokov frowned and said to Belkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, it seems that the situation is worse than we imagined. Although the Third Battalion has grown from more than a hundred people to the original number, , expanded to more than 1,500 people, but their combat effectiveness has not been improved. I worry that it will be difficult for them to block the enemy's attack."
"Then what should we do?" Belkin asked quickly.
Sokov stared at the map in front of him, frowning and said: "There are only two ways at present. One is to send the tank troops to attack in advance and hit the enemy hard from the side; the other is to start building fortifications in the city and prepare for street fighting with the enemy. . We must use every street and every building in the city to fight against the enemy, consuming their strength while waiting for reinforcements to arrive."
"I agree." Since receiving the order to hold on to Kursk, Belgin has been considering that although he has added thousands of new soldiers, they have no combat effectiveness at all. Instead of fighting the enemy outside the city, it is better to retreat in In the city, fight street battles with the Germans to render their aircraft and artillery useless, so that they can better defend the city. Therefore, when Sokov mentioned preparing for street fighting, he immediately agreed: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you stay here and continue to command, while I mobilize the residents to build fortifications in the city."
