In order to find the whereabouts of the tank brigade as soon as possible, Sokov always used the radio to communicate in plain language when communicating with the search team. He did not realize at all that his approach was tantamount to exposing himself and his troops to the enemy in disguised form.
Based on the content of the intercepted call, the German monitoring department determined that a small Soviet force had arrived in the Orlovka area, looking for the Soviet tank brigade that had broken through its defense line yesterday, and immediately sent this information to the frontline combat troops. Notification. Major General Erich Magnus, commander of the German 389th Infantry Division, learned that a small Soviet force had appeared in his defense area. He immediately dispatched three infantry companies and, with the cooperation of tanks, launched an attack A comprehensive search was conducted.
Golia led a group of soldiers to dig trenches on the hillside, grumbling in his heart. He thought to himself: Not to mention that there are no traces of Germans in this area. Even if there are Germans nearby, they will definitely think that they are their own soldiers when they see them in German uniforms, and there will be no trace of them at all. What suspicion. Sokov ordered himself to lead people to build fortifications here, which was simply unnecessary.
Just as he was slandering Sokov, a soldier next to him suddenly shouted: "Comrade Battalion Commander, a tank is coming towards us."
"Where?" Hearing that a tank was coming towards him, Golia asked loudly while raising his telescope and looking around, but he didn't see the shadow of the tank at all, nor did he hear the roar of the tank engine. He raised his hand and slapped the soldier's helmet, and said angrily: "That's nonsense. Where are the German tanks?"
"That's right, comrade battalion commander." The soldier helped the helmet that was knocked crooked by Golia and said aggrievedly: "I really heard the roar of the tank engine, but the sound didn't sound like our army's T-34 The tank, it should be a German tank detachment, is coming towards us."
"Comrade Battalion Commander, look!" Just when Golia was about to slap the soldier, a sergeant not far away shouted loudly: "There are tanks appearing in the distance."
Golia looked in the direction of the sergeant's finger, and sure enough he saw a few black spots. These black spots were getting bigger and bigger, and the roar of the tank engine could be vaguely heard. Golia turned his head and glanced at the soldier, and said with some surprise: "You have good hearing. The German tanks are still out of our sight, but you actually heard the roar of the engine. Sorry, it was just now I wronged you, please forgive me."
After apologizing to the soldiers, Golya came to the operator, grabbed the earphone and microphone, and informed Sokov, who was still at the foot of the hillside: "Comrade Brigadier, please come to me immediately. Something unexpected happened.”
Sokov was taking a nap while sitting in the armored vehicle. When he heard Golya's report, he suddenly felt an ominous premonition in his heart. He got out of the armored vehicle and ran quickly up the hillside. After seeing Golia, he asked breathlessly: "Comrade Captain, what happened?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, look over there." Golya pointed to the direction in which the German tanks appeared and said to Sokov: "A German tank suddenly appeared over there."
"How many are there?" Sokov asked as he raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. Without waiting for Goliath to answer, he began to count in a low voice: "One, two, three...six, seven, there are actually seven tanks."
After Golya waited for Sokov to finish counting the German tanks, he asked worriedly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you think the enemy's tanks are coming towards us?"
"I don't know." Sokov didn't know how to answer Goliath's question at all. Although he was wearing a German uniform, he was afraid of nothing but the worst. If the enemy saw through it, he would be killed next. There was a fierce battle, so he ordered Goliath: "Let the soldiers be ready for battle. Once the enemy knows our identity, open fire and kill them."
According to Sokov's idea, the German tanks will definitely drive to the foot of the hillside, and then he can't help but send people up to disarm the tank soldiers. If possible, he can capture a few tanks and take them back. Therefore, when he saw the German tanks rumbling towards the hillside where he was, Sokov felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart.
But what happened next made him a little dumbfounded. The German tanks stopped three to four hundred meters away from the hillside. After they were lined up, a tank soldier leaned out of the turret of one of the tanks and gave Sokov and the others a red and green signal flag. Send signal.
When Sokov saw the dancing tank crew, he quickly asked to the left and right: "Do you know what flag the German tank crews are sending to us?"
"Comrade Brigade Commander, I am the signal soldier in the battalion." The soldier who had warned Golia stood up straight and reported to Sokov: "The enemy is using the flag language to ask which part we belong to!"
"Answer them," Sokov ordered when he saw the red and green signal flags on the signal soldier's belt on his back: "Say we are from the 295th Infantry Division."
The signal soldier agreed, climbed out of the trench, stood on a mound, waved the signal flag in his hand, and conveyed what Sokov said to the German tank soldiers on the opposite side.
The opponent's tank crew then used a signal flag to ask: "What are the troops of the 295th Infantry Division doing in the defense zone of our 389th Infantry Division?"
"We were ordered to come for reinforcements." The signal soldier answered the other party according to Sokov's order.
Unexpectedly, after the signal soldier's signal was sent, the German tank soldiers were silent and did not send any more signals. Just when Sokov and others were wondering, they saw the tank soldier retracting into the tank. As the tank's turret slowly rotated, its muzzles were pointed in the direction of the hillside.
"Hidden, hurry up and hide." Although Sokov didn't know why the German tank soldiers retracted into the tank, when he saw the black muzzle pointed at the hillside where he was, he also noticed that something was wrong and shouted loudly. : "Battle alert, the Germans are about to fire."
As soon as Sokov shouted, the German tanks opened fire. The shell landed on the hillside and exploded, kicking up large clouds of soil. Several soldiers who had not had time to hide were blown away by the blast.
Golya, squatting in the trench, asked Sokov loudly: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what is going on? Why are the German tanks firing at us?"
"You ask me, who should I ask?" Sokov was also confused about the inexplicable firing of German tanks. He felt that he didn't seem to have any flaws. How could the Germans see through it all at once? He cautiously stuck his head out, glanced at the tank firing in the distance, then crouched down in the trench again, facing Goliath: "Cunning Germans, they parked their tanks three or four hundred meters away to bully us. Without long-range anti-tank firepower, it cannot pose any threat to their tanks."
"Comrade Brigadier, what should we do now?" Golia asked loudly while the shells exploded.
"Move, we must leave this damn place before the enemy's infantry arrives." Sokov thought that the 67th tank brigade he was going to respond to had been completely destroyed, and even the brigade commander, Colonel Hidjaev, had been killed. , There is no point in keeping our troops here. The current priority is to transfer, "Immediately organize our troops to leave here in batches."
Golya faithfully carried out the order issued by Sokov, organized his troops into squads, and organized them to break out in batches to the south. But he soon discovered that the retreat route of the troops was blocked by German tank fire. The first infantry squad to retreat was bombarded by German tank guns as soon as it left the hillside. Among the ten soldiers in the squad, the fastest one The soldiers who were far away only ran about 200 meters before they fell under German artillery fire.
"Hell, this is hell." Seeing the German artillery fire blocking the retreat of the troops, Sokov couldn't help but became a little angry: "Golia, send your people immediately to blow up all the German tanks."
"It's difficult, Comrade Brigadier." Regarding the order to blow up the German tanks, Golia said awkwardly: "The enemy's tanks are three to four hundred meters away from our position. As soon as our soldiers leave the fortifications, they will be destroyed." They will become the target of enemy tank guns and machine guns. In this case, sending them to blow up tanks is no different from sending them to die."
Hearing what Goliya said, Sokov went crazy and wanted to retreat, but the retreat was blocked by German tank fire. Send someone to blow up the tank, because the enemy tank was parked a little far away. If they stay here and do nothing, as soon as the German infantry arrives, they can launch an attack on the hillside position under the cover of tanks, and they will still be unable to escape the fate of the entire army being destroyed.
The question that Sokov thought of was also thought of by Golia. He looked at the tanks lined up in a line in the distance and kept firing, and murmured: "It's a pity that we only have one armored vehicle left here. If there is even one tank, we can compete with the enemy."
The speaker is unintentional but the listener is intentional. Golya's words inspired Sokov. Yes, don't we still have an armored vehicle? Although armored vehicles cannot compare with tanks in terms of firepower and armor, their speed is indeed unmatched by tanks. The top speed of this half-track armored vehicle can reach 60 kilometers per hour. It may be possible to use its speed to deal with German tanks.
Thinking of this, Sokov said to Golya: "Comrade Captain, take your people to hold the position, and I will take people to blow up the German tanks."
Knowing that Sokov was going to take risks, Golya grabbed him and said nervously: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how can you take risks so easily? This kind of thing should be left to the soldiers below to complete."
"Comrade Captain," Sokov said to Goliya in order to reassure him: "Despite the fierce firepower and thick armor of the German tanks, we can use the speed of the armored vehicles to quickly rush to their vicinity, and then The soldiers in the carriage throw anti-tank grenades at the tanks, thus destroying the enemy tanks."
Golya knew Sokov's character. Once he decided something, no one could convince him. Therefore, he did not stop him anymore, but asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigade Commander, do you need me to send a few more people to assist you?" Going to blow up tanks?”
"No need." Sokov thought about the fact that in addition to the driver, operator and Ernst, there were five soldiers in his car. They should be enough to blow up the seven German tanks in the distance. Therefore, he rejected Golia's kindness, "We have enough manpower."
Sokov came to the armored car at the foot of the mountain, looked up at Ernst and the radio operator sitting in the car, pointed at the two of them with his hand, and ordered: "You two get out of the car immediately!"
Ernst and the operator didn't know what happened, so they quickly got out of the carriage and stood upright in front of Sokov, waiting for his next order. Sokov looked at Ernst and the operator and said softly: "We are going to carry out a dangerous mission. Just stay here and wait for us to come back."
After speaking, Sokov turned around and got into the armored vehicle. He said to the five soldiers in the vehicle: "Comrades, I believe you already know that on the north side of the hillside, seven tanks are constantly shelling the hillside behind us. I plan to I will take you to blow up the enemy's tanks and cover the troops' smooth breakout."
After a soldier waited for Sokov to finish speaking, he immediately asked: "Comrade Brigadier, I would like to ask, how should we blow up German tanks?"
"After the armored vehicle we were riding in quickly approached the German tank," Sokov bent down and picked up an anti-tank grenade placed on the floor of the carriage, and continued: "Throw this at the enemy tank and blow it up. Got it. Yet?"
Although everyone knew that this was a near-death mission, they still responded in unison: "Understood!"
Seeing that the soldiers all understood his intention, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, then bent down and ordered the driver sitting in the cab: "Later, you increase the speed to the highest level. We have to rush as close as possible to the enemy tank. position so that the anti-tank grenades thrown by our soldiers can blow up the enemy tanks."
After the armored vehicle rushed out from behind the hillside, it was immediately spotted by a German tank. One tank immediately turned its muzzle and fired at the high-speed armored vehicle. However, the shells could not hit the high-speed armored vehicle at all.
After the armored vehicle started, Sokov and others squatted in the compartment to prevent themselves from being injured by flying shrapnel. A shell landed five or six meters away from the armored vehicle. The blast of air caused the vehicle to sway, and the flying shrapnel made the armor plate jingle. Sokov secretly rejoiced that he was riding in an armored vehicle. If it were an ordinary vehicle, even if the air wave did not overturn the vehicle, the flying shrapnel would turn the people in the vehicle into hedgehogs.
But when approaching a tank, Sokov saw a soldier stand up suddenly and throw an anti-tank grenade. Perhaps because the vehicle body was too bumpy, the grenade he threw did not hit the tank, but passed over the tank body and landed in an open space. Before the soldier could throw a second shot, the armored vehicle had already passed by the tank and rushed towards another tank.
Seeing the soldier crouching down with a frustrated look on his face, Sokov quickly reached out and patted him on the shoulder, comforting him and saying, "Comrade soldier, don't worry, aim next time."
When the armored vehicle approached the second tank, the soldier stood up again, waved his hand suddenly, and threw the anti-tank grenade in his hand. There was an explosion, and the German tank burst into flames. Within a moment, the entire tank was enveloped in flames.
