The counterattack organized by Zhukov north of Stalingrad did not achieve the desired results, but instead consumed the Soviet army's precious reserves. After successfully preventing the Soviet counterattack, the German army used the 14th Tank Corps and the 51st Infantry Corps to launch a fierce attack on the Soviet defensive positions. The defensive positions of the 35th Guards Division became the first target of the German attack.
Artillery shells rained down on the position of the 100th Guards Regiment. Countless explosive points suddenly exploded. Shrapnel flying everywhere and debris flying intertwined with each other like a violent storm, sweeping and shrouded in black smoke. position. The commanders and fighters of the entire regiment covered their ears with their hands and huddled in the trenches to avoid the German shelling. From time to time, artillery shells fell directly into the trenches. The air waves from the explosion lifted the soldiers near the explosion point from the ground and threw them high into the air. They were torn into pieces by the flying shrapnel and scattered like flowers. Falling.
Even if some of the soldiers blown up by the shells were missing arms and legs and fell to the ground howling, no one would treat them until the shelling was over. After all, health workers are also made of flesh and blood. If they save people under such intensive artillery fire, it is entirely possible that the final outcome is that the people are not saved, but their own lives are involved. Whether these wounded people can persist in receiving medical treatment until the end of the shelling, the shrapnel can only leave it to fate.
A red flag planted on the battlefield was first shaken by the air wave of the explosion, and then the flagpole was cut off by shrapnel. The half-section of the flagpole connected to the flag that was riddled with holes was instantly blown away by the hurricane formed by the air waves.
A soldier squatting not far away saw the flag being blown away. He was about to get up and look for the flag, but was held down by a veteran next to him. At the same time, he leaned into his ear and shouted loudly: "You don't want to." Your life is in danger, please squat down honestly."
As soon as the shelling stopped and before the smoke cleared, the German infantry, under the cover of tanks, rushed toward the 100th Regiment's position menacingly.
Seeing that the German shelling had stopped, the Soviet commanders immediately stood up and shouted at the top of their lungs: "The Germans are coming up. Everyone immediately repairs the fortifications and gets ready to shoot..."
The German shelling caused a lot of casualties to the Soviet army, which had no solid defenses. At the same time, it also destroyed several civil bunkers. The heavy machine guns placed inside were blown into parts without even a chance to fire. Fortunately, the machine gunners hid in other places during the shelling, otherwise they would be blown to pieces like these machine guns.
The Soviet battalion command was three hundred meters away from the first trench. After counting the casualties of the troops, the battalion commander's heart was bleeding. In the shelling that had just ended, the number of casualties among the battalion commanders and soldiers was More than a third. However, when he learned that the German infantry was rushing towards his defensive position, he immediately issued a combat order to his three company commanders: "Tell the soldiers to move the enemy closer before fighting."
The company commanders naturally understood the reason why the battalion commander issued this order. As long as the distance between the enemy and ourselves was close, the German tanks parked in the distance to provide artillery support would stop firing in order to prevent accidental injuries to their own people. As long as the Germans do not have artillery support, it will not be so easy to break through their positions.
The advancing German infantry saw that there was no movement on the Soviet position, so they quickly passed over the tanks that had stopped to fire, and rushed forward at a trot. Three hundred meters... two hundred meters... one hundred and fifty meters... one hundred meters, the German infantry was getting closer and closer to the trench, but there was no movement at all, as if all the defenders were under the shelling that had just ended. Killed by a shell.
When they were still fifty meters away from the trench, the German soldiers at the front had a proud smile on their faces. They thought to themselves: As long as they ran for ten more seconds, they would be able to rush into the Russian trench. The honor of being the first to storm Stalingrad will belong to your own unit.
However, joy brings sorrow. Just when they thought they could rush into the trench with one more sprint, in the trench that had been silent for a long time, the machine gun suddenly opened fire without warning. The dense bullets caused the two dozen German soldiers at the front to spin and fall only twenty meters away from the trench.
Seeing the Soviet troops suddenly opening fire, the German troops behind quickly sought cover and fired back. The machine gunners also quickly established a machine gun position in the crater and fired wildly at the Soviet soldiers on the position. Many soldiers who were shooting fell on their backs in the trenches after being hit by bullets.
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Compared with the situation here with the 100th Regiment, the battle fought by the 101st Regiment on their right was even more brutal. The German army attacking from this direction adopted tank assault tactics. The tanks left the infantry far behind and rushed towards the Soviet position alone, trying to use this breakthrough method to disintegrate the morale of the defenders.
The anti-tank company of the regiment was deployed one hundred meters in front of the regiment's defensive position. When enemy tanks appeared in the distance, company commander Gerasimov quickly counted the number of tanks: "Brothers, the Germans There are 25 tanks, and we only have 18 anti-tank rifles, which means that it takes seven soldiers to destroy more than two."
"Comrade Company Commander." As soon as Gerasimov finished speaking, a second lieutenant lying not far away asked: "Our anti-tank guns have to be within a range of two hundred meters to penetrate their frontal armor. How about you?" Let’s see if we can move the enemy tank closer before attacking?”
"Okay." Gerasimov immediately agreed to the second lieutenant's suggestion: "Anyway, there are no infantry behind the German tanks, so we can put them as close as possible. Even if they rush in front of us, we don't have to worry, because there are still Anti-tank grenades can deal with them."
After saying these words, Gerasimov shouted to the soldiers: "Everyone, be ready, the German tanks are coming." As the order was issued, all anti-tank rifles were aimed at the distant vehicles. German tanks coming.
When the German tanks got closer and the roar of their engines got louder, Gerasimov raised his binoculars. He saw the hatch of the first tank open, a tank crew member wearing a black tank soldier's uniform, wearing a pair of headphones on his head, holding a microphone in his hand, staring ahead, as if he was preparing for others. of tanks indicating the direction.
Seeing this situation, Gerasimov put down his telescope, called a sharpshooter, and ordered: "Comrade soldier, have you seen the tank soldier leaning out half of his body?" When the other party nodded to indicate that he had seen it, he continued Then he said, "According to my judgment, he is giving directions to other tanks. You shoot him immediately."
"Comrade Company Commander," the sharpshooter said with some embarrassment to Gerasimov's order: "The enemy's tank is still four hundred meters away. I can't hit the target at such a long distance."
"Then get closer and then fight." Gerasimov waved his fist and said, "As long as we kill him, it will not be so easy for the enemy in the tank to discover our position."
The sharpshooter agreed, immediately ran to pick a suitable place to lie down, set up the Mosin-Nagant rifle with a scope, and aimed at the German tank soldier with half of his body in the distance.
However, the first person to shoot was not the sharpshooter who wanted to kill the German tank soldiers, but another little nervous soldier. After the little soldier used the cross-shaped sight in the scope to lock the tank where the tank soldier was, he couldn't wait to pull the trigger regardless of the fact that the tank was still more than 300 meters away.
The bullet fired by the anti-tank rifle did not hit the front armor of the tank, but hit the high-speed rotating track on one side, thus becoming a ricochet. The loud sound of bullets hitting the tracks startled the tank operator who was observing the situation ahead. He looked around, quickly retracted into the tank, and closed the hatch cover.
Seeing the German tank crew retreating, the sharpshooter who was about to shoot was so angry that he punched himself in front of his face with his fist, turned around and cursed: "Damn it, who fired randomly and scared the German tank crew into hiding?" Woke up."
The little soldier who discovered that he had gotten into trouble did not dare to say anything. He just silently reloaded a bullet, re-aimed at the tank, and prepared to shoot again to make up for the mistake he had just made.
After the German tanks discovered that there was a Soviet blocking position ahead, they immediately changed their tactics and charged forward in groups of two, alternately covering the advance. One tank stopped and fired, while the other continued to rush forward to seize favorable terrain. After the tank that is charging forward reaches a favorable position, it stops and shoots, covering the tank that has just fired and moves forward.
This tactic used by the German army immediately blinded the soldiers of the anti-tank company. Because bullets fired from anti-tank rifles may not be able to penetrate the frontal armor of German tanks, but the shells fired by enemy tanks are enough to blow both their men and their guns into the sky.
When the German tanks rushed seventy or eighty meters away from the anti-tank position, eight anti-tank guns had been destroyed, and the Germans only lost one tank. Seeing the German tanks approaching in an instant, Gerasimov quickly shouted: "Use anti-tank grenades to blow up the enemy tanks."
Upon hearing Gerasimov's order, a soldier immediately climbed out of the fortification with two anti-tank grenades and climbed towards the speeding tanks. Seeing that the tank was about to rush in front of him, the soldier leaned half of his body and threw the anti-tank grenade in his hand. He heard a loud "boom" and the tank began to burn and moved forward again. After a certain distance, it stopped completely and stopped moving.
Because the Soviet anti-tank grenades were too heavy, even strong soldiers could only throw them twenty meters at best. Just after the soldier threw the anti-tank grenade, he was hit in the forehead by the rebounding shrapnel and died on the spot next to the destroyed tank.
Seeing that the soldier who bombed the tank died, Gerasimov quickly shouted: "Comrades, continue on, we must blow up all the German tanks, and we must not let them rush to the infantry positions behind."
At Gerasimov's call, seven or eight more soldiers holding anti-tank grenades climbed out of the trench and climbed over on their hands and feet to face the approaching tanks. After a series of explosions, all the soldiers on the anti-tank mission died. However, they succeeded in blowing up two more tanks. The tank soldiers who were covered in fire escaped from the car. They did not escape far before they were trapped on the ground. The soldiers were shot down randomly.
Finding that their tanks were being blown up one by one by the Soviets, the Germans realized that it was impossible to continue to break forward without destroying this anti-tank force. So the German tank soldiers asked the infantry behind to speed up and catch up, while using tank guns and machine guns to deal with the Soviet anti-tank fighters hiding in the trenches.
After half an hour of fierce fighting, the German infantry caught up, and Captain Gerasimov was the only one left on the anti-tank position. Even so, he calmly fired at the German tanks with his anti-tank gun and destroyed four tanks in a row. When he ran out of bullets, he put down his anti-tank gun and searched for bullets on the fallen soldiers nearby.
As soon as he found the bullet, before he could load it, a German tank rushed over menacingly. Seeing that the situation was not good, Gerasimov quickly squatted in the trench with his head in his hands. The German tank first smashed the anti-tank gun used by Gerasimov into pieces, and then circled on Gerasimov's head, trying to crush him to death while hiding in the trench. As the tank tracks rotated rapidly, Gerasimov felt that the trench walls began to collapse in pieces, and the warm soil soon buried him.
After an unknown amount of time, the tanks spinning overhead finally left. Gerasimov felt as if an elephant was sitting on him. He used all his strength to arch upward little by little. After several efforts, he finally got out of the mud. Just as he was taking a big breath of fresh air, he discovered that groups of German infantry were following the tanks and rushing towards the infantry positions in the rear.
Seeing a tank parked ten meters in front of him and firing, Gerasimov wanted to destroy it with an anti-tank gun, but after searching for a long time, he only found half a deformed barrel. He squatted down and groped in the empty soil. He remembered that he had seen several anti-tank grenades on the ground in the trench before avoiding the crushing of German tanks. Under the current circumstances, this weapon could only be used against enemy tanks. .
The hard work paid off. After groping for a while, Gerasimov finally touched the anti-tank grenade covered in the mud. After digging out the grenade, he stood up straight and raised the grenade high above his head, preparing to throw it at the tank not far away. However, while he was doing all this, he forgot that there were German infantry everywhere around him. As soon as he stood up, he was spotted by nearby German soldiers, and immediately seven or eight guns were pointed at him.
Before he could throw the grenade, the surrounding German soldiers opened fire. The bullets hit his body and splashed countless blood foam. Gerasimov's body shook violently as if he was electrocuted. First, the anti-tank grenade fell from his hand, and then his body fell softly into the collapsed trench.
