The soldiers of this unit from Siberia had never seen a German face to face. When they saw the densely packed Germans in the distance, everyone had different reactions. Some jumped directly back into the ravine, with their guns ready to shoot; others stood in a daze, staring blankly at the Germans who were getting closer and closer; but more soldiers were seeing the Germans. Appeared, turned around and fled back to the town where smoke was still billowing.
Chuikov jumped into the ditch and asked Sokov loudly: "How many people can we use?"
"Less than twenty people." Sokov replied loudly: "Including the guard squad we brought."
"Hell, with our small force, we can't repel the Germans at all." Chuikov said, and climbed out of the ditch again. He rushed over and pushed the soldiers who were still standing in a daze, and ordered them loudly: "Everyone is here. Get into the ditch. If you stay here, you will only become a target for the Germans. Hurry up and get into the ditch."
With Chuikov's series of shouts, the dazed soldiers woke up and jumped into the ditch one after another. Together with their familiar comrades, they carefully set up their guns, ready to shoot as soon as the Germans came into range.
"Comrade General," Sokov looked at a soldier not far away. His whole body was shaking like chaff because of fear. He couldn't help but asked Chuikov with some worry: "Can we stop the Germans with such a small number of people? ?”
"Even if we can't stop it, we still have to fight." Chuikov heard Sokov's question and immediately replied righteously: "We don't have any fortifications nearby. Once the Germans rush into the town, they will be Our troops are defeated here."
Sokov knew very well in his heart that even though he was on the defensive, the Soviet army's combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the German army. In addition, they were at a numerical disadvantage. If the German army launched a strong attack, it could be solved in half an hour at most. fighting. Therefore, he could only place his last hope on the company commanders who returned to the town to gather troops.
Seeing Sokov constantly turning his head to look in the direction of the town, Chuikov asked with some dissatisfaction: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy is right in front of you, why are you always looking behind you? Do you want to be a deserter?"
"No, no," Sokov quickly waved his hands and said, "I just wanted to see if the company commanders who returned to the town had brought troops to reinforce us."
"When they return to the town, they have to spend time regrouping the troops. They won't be able to come for a while." Chuikov looked at the Germans who were getting closer and closer and said: "We can only rely on our own strength to stop them. The enemy. You must know that outside the town and the train station are grasslands. Even if the troops want to move, they will be overtaken by the enemy soon. Without the advantage of the terrain, the unorganized troops will only become lambs to be slaughtered. "
"Comrade General, don't worry." Sokov patted his assault rifle that never left his body and expressed his attitude to Chuikov: "As long as I am alive, I will never take a step back." Sokov said This is a confident statement. No matter what, I am a person with the aura of the protagonist. How could I die so easily?
"Very good, Comrade Chief of Staff." After hearing Sokov's statement, Chuikov nodded with satisfaction and said, "Since you have such courage, then we will fight side by side here to defeat the invading enemy."
When he heard the word Chuikov said was "rout" rather than "annihilation", Sokov knew in his heart that Chuikov had little confidence in whether he could block the enemy's attack. However, in order to prevent the morale of the army from being shaken, even as the commander of the group army, he could only stay in the ravine with the soldiers like an ordinary officer, preparing to fight to the death with the oncoming German troops.
Fortunately, the attacking German troops did not have any heavy weapons. Their two armored vehicles parked three to four hundred meters away from the ravine, and used their G34 general-purpose machine guns to wildly shoot at the Soviet hiding place. Hearing the bullets whizzing past his head, the new soldier, who had never participated in a battle, couldn't help but panic. He pulled the trigger before Chuikov gave the order to shoot. One person fired a gun, which immediately caused a chain reaction, and the gunshots in the ravine suddenly rang out.
"Damn it, why did you shoot so early?" The sudden burst of gunfire frightened Chuikov: "The Germans are still a few hundred meters away. If we shoot now, besides wasting bullets, we won't be able to eliminate many enemies at all. .”
"Stop shooting, stop shooting!" Sokov shouted at the soldiers on the left and right at the top of his voice. After they fired all the bullets in the barrels and the ditch regained calm, he continued: "From now on, No one is allowed to shoot without an order."
The soldiers hiding in the gully, except for a few veterans, are all new soldiers who have just joined the army. They had no combat experience and were extremely nervous when they saw the Germans. When they heard bullets flying overhead, they naturally couldn't help but shoot back to eliminate the fear in their hearts.
After they finished shooting for the first time, the fear in their hearts finally subsided. Hearing Sokov's cry, they reloaded their bullets, set up their guns, and aimed at the approaching enemy, preparing to fire after hearing the order.
Sokov stared at the German soldiers getting closer and closer, mentally calculating their distance from him to decide when to shoot. If you shoot too early, these new recruits with little combat experience will not know where to shoot the bullets; if you shoot too late, the enemy will rush in front of them in an instant and wipe out the numerically disadvantaged Soviet troops.
When the German army had only the last 100 meters left, Sokov decisively shouted: "Fire!" Before he could finish speaking, he had already taken the lead in pulling the trigger. Amidst the intense gunfire, a dozen German soldiers at the front were shot and fell to the ground. Seeing that the Soviet army's firepower was not weak, the soldiers at the back quickly fell down on the spot, raised their guns and began to fight back.
Sokov started well, knocking down two German soldiers directly. But after the Germans fell down, he could no longer achieve results and could only shoot at the enemy's hidden places. Sokov's shooting attracted the attention of the German soldiers, who fired suppressively at him with two submachine guns and a rifle. The bullets scattered the gravel in front of him and clanged against the helmet.
Since the two sides were seventy or eighty meters apart, grenades could not be thrown at such a long distance. Sokov and the other party could only keep shooting, consuming each other's ammunition, and betting on who would have bad luck and be hit by the bullet first.
Although Sokov can barely support himself here, the situation of the soldiers in other areas is much worse. The inexperienced new soldiers had to lean out of the ditch in order to hit the enemy who was lying on the ground and shooting. As a result, he became the target of the enemy. The shot soldiers fell into the ditch one after another, and the firepower on the Soviet side began to weaken.
Hearing that the gunfire from the left and right became sparse, Sokov became a little anxious. He shouted to Chuikov who was squatting aside: "Comrade General, the situation is not good, we may not be able to hold it. You withdraw first, I will stay." Take cover."
"Retreat, where to retreat?!" Regarding Sokov's proposal, Chuikov sneered and said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, I can tell you that as soon as you leave this ravine, you will lose your life immediately."
Perhaps in order to verify the correctness of Chuikov's statement, a soldier who was so frightened that he had a mental breakdown screamed and threw away the weapon in his hand, climbed out of the ravine, and fled towards the town. As a result, he was hit by a bullet fired from behind before he could run far. The running warrior staggered due to the bullet, and then fell to the ground.
Sokov only carried four magazines for his assault rifle. After only ten minutes, only the last magazine was left. At this moment, he felt a little regretful. If he was carrying a German-made submachine gun, he wouldn't have to worry about bullets at all. But this kind of assault rifle uses special short-barreled bullets. Once it is used up, there is no place to replenish it. When the Germans rush up, they will have to fight with their bayonets.
But at this critical moment, Sokov suddenly heard the cry of "Ula" coming from behind him. He turned around and found that it was the company commanders who had returned to the town to gather the troops. They led their men from The town rushed out.
Although the combat effectiveness of these troops was not very good, they rushed out of the town in a swarm and still frightened the German soldiers. The German soldiers got up from the ground one after another, retreated in panic, and fired at the rushing Soviet soldiers.
The battle ended quickly. A German armored vehicle was destroyed, more than twenty German soldiers were killed, and a dozen slower soldiers were taken prisoner.
Chuikov came out of the ditch, glanced at the soldiers who were cleaning the battlefield, and said to Sokov: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, go back to the town to clean up, and we will continue to advance to the west."
"What, Comrade General." Hearing what Chuikov said, Sokov couldn't help but turned pale. "If we go further west, we might rush into the middle of the Germans. I think we should lead the troops here and return to Acre." Seize the river defense line."
"No, we can't go back yet." Chuikov said firmly: "We haven't found the 208th Division commander and division headquarters yet. If we leave them behind, they may become prisoners of the Germans, so we still need to Continue heading west to find their whereabouts."
While the two were talking, Klimov walked out of the town dejectedly. He came to Chuikov, lowered his head and said: "Comrade Commander, the radio operator died in the bombing just now, and our radio station was also smashed by the collapsed ceiling."
Chuikov's face immediately turned livid: "So, we have lost our last communication equipment and can't contact the outside world?"
"I think so, Comrade Commander." Klimov nodded and said, "In my opinion, we should immediately return to the defense line of the Aksay River with this heavily damaged unit."
When Sokov heard that Klimov had made the same suggestion to Chuikov, he looked at Chuikov curiously, wanting to know what decision he would make.
Unexpectedly, Chuikov still shook his head and said resolutely: "Even if we lose communication equipment and lose contact with the outside world, our mission has not been completed yet. We need to continue to the west to find the commander of the 208th Division who has lost contact. and his division. Only after finding them can we return to the Aksay River defense line."
As soon as Chuikov finished speaking, Klimov immediately replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will immediately arrange for people to prepare the army group to continue advancing westward."
Several company commanders came over and asked Chuikov for help: "Comrade General, please let us go west with you to find our missing division commander!"
"I'm sorry, comrades company commanders." However, Chuikov rejected their request and said to them with a straight face: "I think you should stay here to treat the wounded and assemble the troops. Wait until I take your division commander and When the division headquarters returns, we will return to the northern defense line together."
"Comrade Commander," Klimov saw two jeeps approaching and reported to Chuikov: "The truck the guard squad was riding in was blown up in the air raid just now. I found this truck in the town Jeep, let the soldiers from the security squad ride in this vehicle."
"Let the soldiers from the security squad ride in this car," Chuikov asked, "Will it be too crowded?"
"No, Comrade Commander." Klimov said: "After the battle just now, there are four soldiers left in the guard squad, and they can all be squeezed into this car."
Chuikov opened the door of his jeep and said to Klimov: "Comrade Adjutant, order the soldiers to get in the car. We must set off immediately. On the battlefield, every minute is precious. We must defeat the 208th Division before the Germans Find them before the division headquarters encircles them and bring them safely to our newly constructed defense line."
Before getting in the car, Sokov was still wondering in his mind: Should he find a German-made submachine gun, so that even if he encounters enemies on the road, he would still have a weapon to defend himself.
Chuikov saw Sokov standing next to the car with a nagging look, and quickly shouted: "Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, we are about to set off, are you still standing there in a daze?"
"Comrade General," when Chuikov called him, Sokov quickly got into the jeep and said apologetically: "I am considering whether I should bring a submachine gun for self-defense, so that even if I encounter the enemy on the road, I don't have to worry. ”
Chuikov pointed at the assault rifle in Sokov's hand and asked puzzledly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, don't you have a weapon? There is no need to find another submachine gun, right?"
"Comrade General, you don't know something." Although Sokov knew that thousands of this assault rifle had been produced, he could not guarantee that Chuikov had used this assault rifle, so he explained to him: "This assault rifle A new type of bullet is used, and once it is used up, there is no place to replenish it.”
Hearing what Sokov said, Chuikov also realized that once the bullets in Sokov's hand were exhausted, it was almost like a fire stick, so he ordered Klimov, who was sitting in the passenger seat: "Comrade Adjutant, you Let’s find a Popov submachine gun and equip it with more bullets. Even if we encounter enemies on the road, we will be able to protect ourselves.”
