When the Soviet Air Force was bombarding the German artillery indiscriminately, von Drebel's heart was bleeding. You must know that these artillery were all the artillery he could mobilize at present. As a result, they were destroyed right under his nose. Soviet aerial bombs exploded into piles of scrap metal.
After finally seeing German fighter jets appear in the sky and knocking down two Russian planes that were bombing and strafing his own artillery, Von Drebel couldn't help but cheer. He even thought in his mind: After the battle is over, he must personally give the Iron Cross to these brave pilots.
But the good times did not last long. With the emergence of Soviet fighter planes, the situation reversed again. The German fighter jets, which had an advantage in numbers, were actually shot down by Soviet fighters. Five of them were shot down, and the other three were also damaged. The entire army was almost wiped out. What's even more egregious is that after the German fighter jets withdrew from the battlefield, the Soviet bombers bombed the tank troop assembly area. In addition, the artillery in Kursk city continued to bombard more than 20 tanks in the division. Tanks turn into flaming torches.
After finally waiting for the Soviet bomber formation to fly away from the battlefield, von Drebel hurriedly ordered the tanks to withdraw from the battlefield in order to prevent the entire tank force from being wiped out. Two anti-tank artillery batteries blocked the advancing Soviet tanks.
When the air force began bombarding German tank concentrations, Alitai led his tank company in a charge. Alitai's command tank took the lead and rushed to the front of the company. When he was still more than 300 meters away from the temporary German position, Alitai suddenly heard a loud bang, and then the entire tank body shook. According to his many years of combat experience, this was attacked by a German anti-tank gun. Fortunately, this 37 mm anti-tank gun was unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the T-34 tank at such a long distance.
Without waiting for Alitai's instructions, the driver had already stopped the tank, preparing for the gunner to destroy the German anti-tank gun. The tank crew slowly turned the turret, trying to find the location of the enemy's anti-tank gun. At this moment, another shell flew over and accurately hit the left side of the turret. Fortunately, this shell still failed to penetrate the armor of the tank.
The tank crew quickly turned the turret to the left again, searching for the anti-tank gun that had just fired. Before he could find it, several more anti-tank armor-piercing rounds flew from different directions. Some fell to the ground and exploded, sending up a cloud of soil; others hit the tank body and became ricocheting bombs because they could not penetrate the armor.
Although Alitai knew in his heart that the armor-piercing projectiles fired by the German anti-tank guns would hardly pose a threat to his own tanks. However, the shells kept clanking against the armor plate, which was also an annoying thing. He quickly ordered the gunner: "Find the target quickly and destroy it."
Not only Alitai's tank was attacked by German anti-tank guns, but other tanks also encountered the same problem. German anti-tank gunners hid in different positions and fired at the advancing Soviet tanks at the same time. Although this kind of anti-tank gun, known as a "stepping stone", cannot penetrate the armor of T-34 tanks, it can prevent them from traveling at the fastest speed, thereby buying precious time for the retreating German tanks.
Cooperating with the tank company's attack was the third company commanded by Guchakov. Seeing that the tanks covering the infantry charge were attacked by German anti-tank guns and had to stop, he couldn't help but feel anxious. Without the cooperation of the tanks, his infantry company, which was not equipped with heavy weapons, would be destroyed once it was counterattacked by the Germans. There is a danger of the whole army being destroyed.
After hiding in a safe place and observing for a while, he discovered that although German artillery shells continued to hit Soviet tanks, they never destroyed a tank. He stood up from his hiding place, raised his pistol above his head, and shouted: "Comrades, move forward!"
"Comrade Company Commander," a new soldier lying next to him said to him in a panic: "The German artillery is still firing. Let's wait until the tanks rush up."
"Don't worry, comrade soldier." Guchakov leaned over and grabbed the soldier's collar, lifted him up from the ground, and then said to him: "The enemy's artillery is attacking our tanks with armor-piercing shells. As long as they don't hit it themselves, , it won’t cause us any harm.” After saying that, he pushed hard on the new soldier’s back, “Don’t hesitate, charge forward!”
"Come with me, comrades!" Guchakov was afraid that the soldiers would still have scruples. After shouting, he took the lead and rushed forward.
Seeing that the company commander had taken the lead in the charge, the soldiers who were still lying on the ground stood up straight, put their rifle butts against their abdomens, shouted loudly, and rushed forward after Guchakov.
Andre, who was watching the battle in his observation post, first saw that the tank company was blocked by German anti-tank guns and had to stop. But after a while, he saw the infantry charging behind the tank getting up from the ground, jumping over the stationary tank, and rushing towards the enemy's position.
When he saw this scene, Andrei couldn't help but want to curse, thinking that Lieutenant Guchakov was really unreliable. He actually led the infantry to charge the German artillery. The enemy only needs to fire a few shots at you, and they will be defeated. It can blow you up to pieces. But the next scene surprised him. He found that the charging troops were not bombarded by the enemy as he imagined. Instead, they successfully rushed to the artillery position, and then used grenades, submachine guns, rifles, and enemy The artillery launched a close battle.
After being blocked by anti-tank guns, the tank company stopped and fired at the enemy's anti-tank gun positions. However, because the German anti-tank guns were well concealed, the shelling of Soviet tanks achieved limited results. At this moment, seeing the infantry taking the initiative to rush forward and easily destroying the enemy's anti-tank gun position, they mobilized again to cover the infantry as they rushed forward.
In addition to two anti-tank companies, the German rear troops also had an infantry company that was not full of personnel. Seeing that the Soviet tanks were blocked by their own anti-tank guns, they took the time to dig individual bunkers and tried to build a temporary defense line here to cover the retreat of the main force.
Before they could build their defenses, Soviet tanks rumbled over again. The German company commander hurriedly ordered the machine gunner to shoot at the approaching tank. The dense bullets jingled against the armor plates, but the Soviet tanks still approached the German individual bunkers without any impact.
The German company commander saw that in a minute or two, the tracks of the Soviet tanks would crush the unfinished individual bunkers, so he gritted his teeth and ordered the soldiers around him to rush up with cluster grenades to blow up the tanks. According to his idea, although the Soviet T-34 tank is behind the armor plate, the field of vision inside the tank is very limited. As long as his soldiers rush up from the blind spot of the tanker's field of vision, they can successfully blow up the tank.
Two German soldiers each held a bundle of cluster grenades, got up from the ground, and rushed towards the Soviet tank. After trying to get closer, they threw the grenades into the middle of the tracks, so that they could blast through the tank's weak abdomen, thereby achieving the purpose of destroying the tank.
Unexpectedly, when they were still seven or eight meters away from the tank, several Soviet soldiers suddenly leaned out from behind the tank and shot at the German soldiers with rifles and submachine guns in their hands. After beating the two soldiers holding grenades in circles twice, they fell to the ground, and the grenades they were holding also fell far away.
Seeing that his soldiers could not get close to the Soviet tanks, the German company commander knew that there was no point in continuing to fight, so he issued a retreat order: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" He was eager to escape, forgetting that once his troops broke away When these simple bunkers are exposed in an unobstructed open area, they will become targets for Soviet commanders and fighters.
Standing in the bell tower, Sokov saw that the enemy was retreating, but the only pursuing troops were Alitai's tank company and a small infantry. He picked up the phone and asked Andre: "Captain Andre, the enemy We have already been defeated, why don’t you pursue us? Are you waiting to lay eggs with so many troops on the battlefield?”
Hearing Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone, Andrei said aggrievedly: "Comrade Brigadier, there are only about 700 people left in our battalion. If we attack on all fronts and encounter a counterattack by the German army, I'm worried. We won’t be able to hold our position.”
"You can only attack across the board to confuse the enemy. In this way, they will lose the power to counterattack." Sokov said into the microphone: "I order you to immediately attack across the board. If you delay the opportunity, I will Remove you from your post."
Belkin waited for Sokov to put down the phone and said to him: "Comrade Brigade Commander, you did the right thing. Due to the bombing of our air force and the bombardment of artillery, the enemy has completely fallen into chaos. This is a good time to counterattack." ." Andrei did not dare to disobey Sokov's order. He immediately ordered a full-scale counterattack and launched a pursuit of the fleeing enemy.
"The strength of the third battalion is still too weak." Belkin looked at the commanders and soldiers who jumped out of their positions and charged forward, and asked tentatively: "No enemy movement has been found in the direction defended by the first and second battalions. , do you think we can draw troops from them to participate in the counterattack?"
"No," Sokov shook his head and said, "Even if the weather is calm in other directions, we can't just use the troops of the 1st and 2nd Battalions. Who knows whether the Germans will be hiding nearby, just waiting for our troops to arrive. When they are mobilized and their troops are empty, they will launch an attack by surprise. If that happens, our defense line will collapse in an instant, and it will become an impossible task to defend Kursk."
Although Belkin believed that what Sokov said was reasonable, he still said reluctantly: "Comrade Brigadier, even if the troops of the first and second battalions are not used, the reserve team deployed in the city center will always be Can we be transferred here to support the Third Battalion? I'm worried that with just a few hundred people in the Third Battalion, the damage we can cause to the enemy is very limited."
"Comrade Political Commissar, with our current strength, it is impossible to destroy the enemy. We can only drive them away from a distance." Sokov explained to Belkin: "As long as the German troops attacking the city The enemy will not send new troops unless they are destroyed by us. The 297th Infantry Division has been defeated twice in a row, and their officers and soldiers have developed a sense of fear towards us. Even if they launch a new attack soon, they will be After the first two failures, we have become more cautious. In this way, we will be more certain to defend the city."
While the two were talking, a communications soldier ran up from downstairs panting and handed a telegram to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, this is a telegram from the Front Army Headquarters."
After reading the telegram, Sokov said to Belkin: "It's a telegram from General Malinin, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army. He asked us how the situation is here?" After speaking, he turned to the communications soldier and said, "Call back to the headquarters. , saying that with the cooperation of our comrade pilots, we have successfully crushed the German attack. The third battalion commanded by Captain Andre is launching a counterattack against the fleeing enemy."
After receiving Sokov's telegram, Malinin couldn't help but smile. He quickly came to Rokossovsky, placed the telegram he had just received in front of him, and said: "Comrade Commander , you see, this is a telegram sent by Sokov. With the cooperation of the air force, they have successfully crushed the German attack and launched a local counterattack."
"Well done." After reading the contents of the telegram, Rokossovsky nodded and said: "Their strength is limited. As long as they can drive the enemy away from the city, it will be a great victory. Chief of Staff , you call Air Force Commander Krasovsky again and ask him to continue sending planes to the direction of Kursk to strengthen the city’s defense through practical air cover.”
Malinin waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, nodded, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, I will call General Krasovsky right away, but how should Misha reply to him?"
"No need to reply," Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Judging from Misha's various performances, he is an excellent commander. He will know what to do next, and we don't need him." I’m gesticulating here so as not to affect his command, do you understand?”
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Ma Lining agreed, turned and left.
As for Belgin, who was on the bell tower, he seemed a little absent-minded and looked downstairs from time to time after Sokov ordered the communications troops to send a report to the front army headquarters. Seeing his actions, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade Political Commissar, what are you looking at?"
Since he and Sokov were partners, Belkin did not conceal his intentions, but answered truthfully: "I am waiting for a call back from the Front Army Command."
"Don't wait, Comrade Political Commissar, there will be no call back." Sokov replied: "Based on my understanding, Comrade Commander, in order not to affect my command and operations, he will not give us any orders easily. .”
