Although Lao Maozi has always had the habit of procrastinating when doing things, the emergency meeting Belkin convened with political workers took less than an hour from the notification to the end of the meeting. It seems that this scene made Sokov secretly sigh, it seems that it is better to fight, it can actually improve their efficiency.
In the evening, the Germans once again shelled the positions of the third battalion. After receiving the news, Sokov said to Berkin: "Comrade Political Commissar, I will go to the third battalion position to take a look. You will be responsible for this place."
"Okay," Belkin knew that Sokov liked to run forward, so he did not dissuade him, but reminded him with concern: "You have to pay more attention to safety."
"I will." When Sokov left the command post, he suddenly stopped and said to Belkin: "Alitai's tank company has been deployed on the left wing of the third battalion. We will just wait for the enemy tanks to attack again. They can be ordered to attack from the enemy's flank and try to destroy the enemy's tank force in one fell swoop."
"Understood," Belkin nodded and said, "As soon as I receive your call from the Third Battalion, I will immediately order the tank company to attack from the enemy's flank."
When Sokov left the command post, a thought suddenly came to his mind: "Now that the army has become a brigade, it seems necessary to add a chief of staff."
Sokov led a platoon of guards in three jeeps and three trucks to the third battalion's location. Unexpectedly, just after entering the east area of the city, the speed of the vehicles in front slowed down. Sokov thought that the vehicle had to slow down because it had to pass through the barricades at the intersection, so he didn't take it seriously.
Unexpectedly, after a while, the car in front actually stopped. Seeing the car stopped, Sokov said to the guard platoon leader sitting in the passenger seat: "Comrade platoon leader, go out and take a look. What happened outside? Why did the convoy stop?"
The platoon leader got off the car and went to the front to check, and then returned and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, there are comrades from the Third Battalion in front who are organizing the transfer of residents and blocking the road. I think we need to wait for a while. "
"Organize the transfer of residents?" After listening to the platoon leader's report, Sokov also opened the door and got out of the car, stood next to the car and looked forward. When he saw a group of panic-stricken residents carrying all kinds of luggage, guided by soldiers, walking along the street towards the location of his convoy, Sokov couldn't help but frowned: "Comrade platoon leader , do you know what’s going on?”
"I don't know, Comrade Brigade Commander." Hearing Sokov's stern tone, the platoon leader said in a panic: "I'm going to find out." After saying that, he ran forward quickly.
Not long after, the platoon leader came over with a second lieutenant: "Comrade Brigadier, this is the guard platoon leader of the third battalion. He can give you a satisfactory answer to what you want to know."
"Comrade Second Lieutenant," Sokov asked with a straight face, looking at the guard platoon leader of the third battalion, "Where are you planning to move the residents?"
"That's right, Comrade Brigadier." The second lieutenant obviously knew Sokov's identity, so he answered truthfully: "According to the order of the battalion headquarters, all the residents living here will be moved to a safe place. Maybe it won't be long. , this place will become a battlefield.”
"Where do you plan to place them?" Sokov asked briefly after waiting for the second lieutenant to finish.
"Place them in a movie theater, a station or a hotel in the city center." After the second lieutenant answered this question, before Sokov could ask again, he said first, "This is a task assigned by political commissar Belkin." Listen. Saying that it was arranged by Belkin, Sokov said nothing more and just waved to the second lieutenant, indicating that he could leave.
When the residents were almost gone, the convoy continued to move forward. Sokov, who was sitting in the car, thought to himself: It seems that Belkin also felt that the Third Battalion might not be able to hold its position in the east of the city, so he took precautions and moved all the residents in this area to safe areas. But that's fine. If a street fight really breaks out, you don't have to worry about throwing a rat weapon.
The convoy left the city and drove forward for a few minutes before arriving at the position where the third battalion was stationed. This piece of defense fortification is five kilometers wide in front and two kilometers deep. It is currently being shelled by the German army. In order to prevent the convoy from breaking into the enemy's artillery fire area and risking his life in vain, Sokov ordered the convoy to stop. After some observation, Sokov ordered the soldiers to abandon their vehicles and walk to the battalion command post of the third battalion.
Fortunately, the enemy's artillery fire was concentrated on the first line of defense of the third battalion, and not many shells landed near the battalion headquarters. Therefore, Sokov and his guard platoon were able to reach Andre's headquarters smoothly.
When Andrei saw Sokov appearing at his headquarters, he couldn't help being shocked: "Comrade Brigade Commander, why are you here?"
"Let me take a look at the situation here." Sokov asked directly: "How are you doing? Can you block the enemy's attack?"
"It should be able to block the enemy's attack," Andre said with a bitter look on his face: "But the casualties are a bit high. So far, the number of casualties in the entire battalion has exceeded 500."
"What, the number of casualties exceeds five hundred?" When he learned this number, Sokov was shocked. After only a few hours of fighting with the Germans, the number of casualties in the third battalion actually reached one-third. He used his binoculars to look at the place that had been hit the hardest and asked: "Which company is the unit currently holding on to the first line of convenience?"
"It's the second company, comrade brigade commander." Upon hearing Sokov's question, Andrei hurriedly replied: "The first company suffered heavy casualties in the previous battle, so I replaced the second company."
"Who is the second company commander?" Since it had just been expanded into a brigade, Sokov was not familiar with the commanders at all levels below. "Is he capable of holding the position?"
"It's Second Lieutenant Yegor. He is a soldier with rich combat experience. Starting from Khimki, he began to follow you in the north and south." Andrei said confidently: "I believe he will be able to hold his position. .”
Sokov knew very well that the special platoon that followed him from the town of Khimki suffered heavy casualties in a series of battles, but the remaining members are now serving as commanders at all levels in the army. Although I am not familiar with Yegor, I believe that he will not disappoint me in the next battle.
In the first line of defense that was bombarded, although the soldiers were hiding in solid reinforced concrete fortifications, under the intensive German artillery fire, some fortifications were still blown down, burying all the soldiers hiding inside alive.
Seeing the first line of defense shrouded in gunpowder smoke, Sokov gritted his teeth and said: "The damn Germans are actually bombarding our positions with heavy artillery. Sooner or later, I will let you taste the power of our artillery."
After the German artillery bombardment ended, the infantry regrouped and, under the cover of tanks, charged towards the third battalion's position. Sokov picked up the phone on the table and shouted into the receiver: "Comrade Political Commissar, immediately give orders to Alitai's tank company to attack from the German flank and destroy the enemy's tanks."
When Alitai's tank company was detouring from the north to the east of Kursk, two tanks broke down on the road due to malfunctions. Now there are only eighteen tanks left that can be put into battle. After receiving the attack order from Belkin, he immediately rushed towards the German troops who were attacking the third battalion's position.
The German tanks prepared to repeat their old tactics, parked five hundred meters away from the position, and used tank fire to suppress the third battalion, which did not have long-range anti-tank weapons. But this time they miscalculated. Just as they were adjusting their formation, the Soviet tank company had already rushed over from the side and attacked them from a distance of three to four hundred meters.
The tank crew stayed in the tank and had a very narrow field of vision. They did not notice the Soviet tanks rushing from the flank at all. After half of the tanks were destroyed by high-explosive armor-piercing projectiles fired by Soviet tanks, the remaining tanks were still slowly adjusting their formation, preparing to bombard the Soviet positions.
The German infantry following behind saw a Soviet tank unit suddenly rushing out from the flank, and they couldn't help but get confused. Some continued to rush forward, some turned around and ran back, and some soldiers charged directly towards the Soviet tanks. However, before they could get close to the tank, they were eliminated by the Soviet tank's on-board machine gun.
Sokov saw everything happening in the distance through the telescope, and quickly picked up the phone again, connected to the brigade headquarters, and said to Belkin who answered the phone: "Comrade political commissar, immediately give the order to the artillery company and let them shell." The enemy's artillery positions cover our upcoming assault."
As soon as Sokov put down the phone, he immediately said to Andre: "Third Battalion Commander, our artillery is about to bombard the enemy's artillery position. Now is the best time for you to counterattack. Order the troops to attack immediately."
If he hadn't seen Alitai's tank company, which was destroying enemy tanks one after another like target practice on the battlefield, Andrei might have hesitated to execute Sokov's order. long time. But at this moment, seeing that the German tanks were being destroyed continuously, the infantry was in chaos, and the artillery positions that might pose a threat to themselves were about to be suppressed by their own artillery fire, Andre quickly walked to the phone and took the He picked up the microphone and gave orders to his subordinates: "Second Company and Third Company, follow my order and immediately attack across the board. Follow our tanks to eliminate the enemies who are in chaos."
Although the tank company continued to destroy German tanks, without the cooperation of the infantry, Lieutenant Alitai felt that this was a death-defying move with just a dozen tanks of the tank company trying to launch a counterattack against the enemy. It wasn't until he saw the Soviet infantry jumping out of the trenches and charging towards the chaotic German army that he ordered his communications troops to use signal flags to notify other tanks and cover the infantry to continue attacking the enemy.
Sokov frowned when he saw that the connection between the Alita tank companies was actually accomplished through signal flags. In such a small-scale battle, it is barely reasonable to use signal flags to communicate. If there is a melee between hundreds of tanks in the future, it is obviously unrealistic to use signal flags to communicate. Not only will the smoke on the battlefield block the sight of the tank crews, but also When the battle is fierce, who cares about watching the signals sent by the command tanks. It seems that after this battle is over, we need to consider installing communication equipment on each tank.
Nearly a thousand soldiers attacked from the position, followed by more than a dozen tanks, chasing the hurriedly fleeing German troops. Weber saw the Soviet tanks rushing out from the flanks, destroying his own tanks, and covering the infantry to charge towards his position. He quickly gave orders to the artillery to use artillery fire to intercept the Soviet offensive troops.
But what he didn't expect was that as soon as the artillery fired two shots, they were suppressed by heavy artillery in Kursk city, and they were soon silenced. Seeing that their own artillery fire was suppressed by the Soviet army, the German army seemed increasingly confused. Seeing this situation, the German Chief of Staff quickly proposed to Weber: "Mr. Colonel, the Russian tanks are coming up. I think it is better to bring up the 14th Company and let them deal with the Russian tanks. As long as the Russian tanks are killed, , this attack launched by the Russians will end in failure."
Weber never dreamed that the Soviet army would counterattack him, and he was caught off guard. After hearing the chief of staff's proposal, he immediately gave an order to the 14th Company to use anti-tank guns to destroy the Soviet tanks.
After receiving the order, the officers and soldiers of the 14th Company immediately unloaded the anti-tank gun from the back of the truck, turned the muzzle, and fired at the rushing Soviet tanks. Because the bombardment was carried out in a hurry, the shells that occurred in the first round were missed. When the anti-tank gunners saw that the first round was empty, they immediately reloaded and fired the second round.
In this shooting, although most of the shells missed, two shells still hit the target. However, they did not penetrate the T-34's front armor, but bounced away, leaving only a few white marks on the armor.
Seeing that the anti-tank gun could not penetrate the armor of the Soviet tanks, the muscles on Weber's face couldn't help but twitch violently. Just when he was about to order the anti-tank gun battery to continue firing, the chief of staff approached him and said anxiously: "Mr. Colonel, I think we should retreat immediately. If we stay any longer, we will become prisoners of the Russians." "
Seeing the hurriedly fleeing subordinates and the anti-tank artillery battery that was unable to penetrate the Soviet tank armor and kept firing in vain, Weber hesitated for a moment, and then gave the order in a panic: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" After speaking, , ordering his driver to turn around and flee first.
The anti-tank artillerymen who were firing saw their infantry running back in a panic. They were already panicking. Now that they saw Weber actually abandoning his troops and running away, they had no intention of continuing to fight and threw away the anti-tank guns. , also followed the armored vehicle that Weber was riding in, and fled eastward in a hurry.
