In fact, Briskey was quite frustrated and ordered all the commanders and fighters on the position to open fire. Because it was too dark and there were many bomb craters for cover, it was impossible to hit the enemy and wasting ammunition; however, the number of people shooting Without it, the enemy can quickly approach the position under the cover of night.
At this time, the German sneak attack troops were still forty or fifty meters away from the trenches. If the position was not fully fired, the enemy's grenades would soon be thrown into the trenches. Once a grenade falls in a trench and explodes, the enemy may rush into the trench before the smoke clears. Therefore, Briskey gritted his teeth and issued the order to open fire.
As the order was issued, all the guns on the position started shooting at the same time. At the same time, in order to prevent the German army from quickly approaching the position, many soldiers threw grenades. In the case of limited visibility, the power of grenades was far greater than that of bullets. As soon as the Germans jumped out of the crater and bent down and rushed towards the Soviet position, countless grenades fell at their feet and exploded. The shrapnel splashed by the violent explosion and the flying bullets intertwined with each other, forming a network of death firepower, blowing up and knocking down the charging German troops in pieces.
The German officers and soldiers who came for the sneak attack were all veterans with rich combat experience. When they saw that the Soviet army used machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and grenades to form an insurmountable fire net, they did not bite the bullet and continue to charge forward, but started to rush forward one after another. Retracted into the crater. They squatted in the crater, quickly checked their guns and ammunition, and used their eyes to observe the surrounding environment to determine their location. Based on the feeling of bullets flying overhead, the location and approximate number of Soviet troops can be judged. Officers with rich combat experience were even thinking about new combat plans in their minds, preparing to lead soldiers for another assault.
Sokov, who was hiding behind and observing, used the firelight generated by the explosion to vaguely see a lot of black shadows shaking in the distance, but he could not see clearly what kind of strength the enemy had. He was worried that once these enemies lurked in front of the position, as soon as the enemy's artillery bombardment started after dawn, they would take advantage of the defenders' favorable opportunity to avoid the bombardment and suddenly charge towards the position, and then they would be unable to defend themselves.
Just when Sokov was anxious, he accidentally saw the dozen sharpshooters sitting in the factory. His eyes lit up and he quickly shouted to the captain of the sharpshooter team he appointed: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, here we are. I’ll come here for a moment.”
Hearing Sokov's cry, the captain bent down and ran to Sokov with his gun in hand. He squatted down and asked softly: "Comrade Brigadier, what are your instructions?"
"Comrade Second Lieutenant, take your men to the roof immediately." Sokov thought of the sharpshooters hiding on the roof and on the driving tracks who had caused great casualties to the enemy during the daytime battle. Now the enemy is hiding in the bomb crater. Although the commanders and soldiers who stick to the position are shooting and dropping bombs desperately, the losses they can cause to the enemy are very limited. Therefore, the sharpshooters can only be used to eliminate those hiding in the bomb crater. Enemy: "First launch flares to see clearly where the enemies are hiding, and then use the guns in your hands to eliminate them all."
"Understood, Comrade Brigadier, let's go to the roof now." After the captain finished speaking, he stood up and ran back to where the sharpshooters were gathered. He shouted to them in a low voice: "Comrades, get on the roof, use With the guns in our hands, we can destroy the enemies hiding in the craters."
As the sharpshooters climbed onto the roof, the situation on the battlefield quickly developed in a direction favorable to the defenders. The enemies hiding in the craters were forty or fifty meters away from the Soviet trenches. From such a long distance, grenades could not be thrown, and the bullets would not turn, so naturally they could not hit anyone. But the situation of the sharpshooters who went up to the roof was different. Under the light of the flares, they could clearly see the enemies hiding in the trenches, and then shot them to death one by one as if they were shooting at fixed targets. In the crater.
There were only more than a hundred German troops in the sneak attack. During the charge, more than forty people were killed or bombed by the Soviet troops. The rest were hiding in bomb craters. Although they could dodge the bullets fired from the Soviet position and the grenades thrown at them, they could not dodge the bullets flying overhead. In less than ten minutes, these German officers and soldiers who were ready to launch another attack at any time turned into a corpse. A corpse.
The phone lines on the roof and downstairs were still working. After confirming that almost all the enemies hiding in the craters had been killed, the captain of the sharpshooter team immediately called Sokov and reported emotionally: "The brigade Comrade Chang, almost all the enemies hiding in the craters were killed by us."
"Really?" Sokov did not expect that the sharpshooter had not been on the roof for long and actually eliminated all the German officers and soldiers who attacked him. However, he still asked cautiously: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, are they really eliminated?"
The captain hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade Brigade Commander, as long as the targets we have discovered have been eliminated. So far, we have not found any active targets that have survived."
"I understand, Comrade Second Lieutenant." After listening to the other party's report, Sokov said with satisfaction: "You have done a good job. When you return to Mamayev Heights, I will ask the political commissar to apply for medals for you."
After learning that the enemy had been eliminated, Sokov's heart was bleeding when he heard the gunshots outside. Seeing that there was not much ammunition in stock, Brisky was still like a prodigal, and he still had no money. Keep your subordinates fighting sparingly. After making the call, Sokov said angrily: "Okay, Comrade Captain, order your men to stop shooting and stop wasting bullets. The enemies have been eliminated by the sharpshooters on the roof."
When Briski heard what Sokov said, he didn't even have time to cover the microphone and shouted to the people in the command post: "Hurry up and order to stop shooting. The enemies have been wiped out by the sharpshooters on the roof." Following the order After the order was issued, the intensive gunfire became sparse at first, and soon stopped completely.
After Sokov waited for the gunshots outside to stop, he ordered Briski: "Comrade Captain, when daybreak comes, you immediately send out men to clean the battlefield and try to collect more usable weapons and ammunition. Just mess up like you just did. If you fire the gun, at least one base of ammunition will be used up, so you have to find a way to replenish it, do you understand?"
"Comrade Brigadier," Briski asked hesitantly, "I would like to ask, why do you have to wait until dawn to clean the battlefield instead of now?"
"No, we can't go out now." Sokov explained to Briski: "It's too dark outside. If you take the soldiers to clean the battlefield now, even if there are cold shots on the Germans who were not killed, you will find out If not, it will cause unnecessary casualties."
After listening to Sokov's explanation, Briski thought in his mind that what the brigade commander said seemed to make sense. He went out to clean the battlefield in the dark, not to mention that he might encounter enemies who were cold-blooded. Even if he didn't, some weapons and ammunition were not available. Easy to find. If this is the case, then wait a few more hours, wait until dawn, and then send people to clean the battlefield.
As soon as the fighting here ended, Guryev called. After hearing Sokov's voice, he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what happened to you? Why did I hear gunshots like that?" What about intensive?”
"Comrade General, it's nothing serious. There is just a sneak attack by a small group of enemies." Sokov quickly replied: "But they have been eliminated by us."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Guryev knew very well that his troops could hold their positions during the day entirely because of the small troops sent by Sokov to attack the German 24th Armored Division, preventing them from entering the battlefield on time. This reduces the pressure on one's own defense. Because of this, Guriyev said very politely: "If you need our help, please just ask and we will do our best to support you."
Although Sokov believed that he had no need for help from the Guards Division, in the face of Guryev's hospitality, he politely replied: "I will, Comrade General. Thank you!"
As the battle progressed, Sokov kept Bolshak's destroyer battalion south of the factory and did not let them participate in the battle. The reason why he did this was because the commanders and fighters of the annihilation battalion had no experience in night fighting. If they were to participate in the battle, not only would they not be able to achieve any results, but they would also cause a lot of unnecessary sacrifices.
At this moment, when he heard that the battle on the other side of the factory had ended, Bolshak, who could no longer sit still, ran over and asked Sokov about the fighting: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, there are gunshots outside. Stopped, has the enemy’s attack been repelled by us?”
"It was not repulsed, but annihilated by us." Seeing the appearance of Bolshak, Sokov felt that they could help when cleaning the battlefield to reduce the work intensity of the fourth battalion commanders and fighters, so he used He asked in a tentative tone: "Major Bolshak, I plan to have the troops clean the battlefield after dawn and collect weapons and ammunition that can still be used to supplement us. I wonder if you can send some people to assist our army to disturb the battlefield."
Bolshak replied carelessly: "No problem, you can ask for as many people as you want. Even if you want everyone, I can agree to your request."
"Don't worry, Major Bolshak, I won't take all of your people." Sokov stretched out a finger and said to Bolshak: "Give me a hundred people, that's enough."
"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will arrange it as soon as possible." After Bolshak said this, he suddenly remembered something and asked with some confusion: "But now that the battle is over, you can send someone right now." When people go to clean the battlefield, why do they have to wait until dawn? You know, once it gets dawn, the enemy can clearly see everything here through the telescope."
"Not now, it's too dark outside." Sokov shook his head and said: "If I order the soldiers to clean the battlefield now, they may not be able to see where the German weapons and ammunition are, and they may even be attacked by those who have not yet The dead German soldiers attacked. For the safety of the commanders and soldiers, I decided to wait until dawn before letting them clean the battlefield."
"You are very thoughtful." After Bolshak figured out why Sokov did not send people to clean the battlefield now, he nodded in approval and said: "This can prevent our soldiers from needless sacrifices. "
After Bolshak left, Sokov sat down on a pile of rubble and began to think in his mind: When he heard the first mine explosion, he thought it was a German scout sneaking in; until the second explosion sounded, Only then did he realize that the enemy had sent a small force for a sneak attack. Fortunately, mines were laid in the factory area. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn't have discovered it until he got in front of them. The two sides might be engaged in repeated tug-of-war in the trench outside the factory at this moment.
Sokov felt that if he wanted to defend this place, he could not defend for the sake of defense, but must find ways to disrupt the deployment of the German army to reduce the pressure on his own side. Thinking of this, he picked up the phone and called Cousteau who was hiding in the basement. He said straight to the point: "Comrade workshop director, could you find me some comrades who are familiar with the surrounding terrain?"
"What do you want a comrade who is familiar with the terrain to do?" As soon as Cousteau asked this question, he immediately guessed an idea and quickly asked tentatively: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the German army launched a sneak attack on us tonight. Do you want to An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, why don't we also send people to sneak attack them?"
Seeing that Cousteau had guessed his intention, Sokov laughed twice, and then said jokingly: "Comrade workshop director, you know too many military secrets, which is not good. Be careful that comrades from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will ask You go to be investigated."
"Stop it, stop it." Although Cousteau knew that Sokov was joking, he still stopped him: "It's better not to make such a joke, otherwise people from the Ministry of Internal Affairs will know about it, and you and I will be in trouble."
"Okay, comrade workshop director, I'm not joking." Sokov suppressed the smile on his face and said seriously: "Since the enemy can sneak attack on us, we can also sneak attack on them. I'm looking for you to ask for a few people who are familiar with the terrain. Comrades, they just plan to sneak attack on the enemy at the right time."
"There are several old comrades in the workshop who participated in the battle to defend Tsaritsyn. They have worked in the factory for decades and are very familiar with the surrounding terrain." Cousteau said seriously. : "I will contact them immediately and ask them to act as guides for you to carry out the sneak attack mission."
After settling the issue of guides, Sokov began to consider which team should carry out the sneak attack mission: the members of the annihilation battalion were almost all workers in the assembly workshop. They should be very familiar with the surrounding terrain, but their combat effectiveness But it's not satisfactory. It's okay to fight a defensive battle during the day, but if you fight at night, your combat effectiveness may be greatly reduced. Therefore, the best troops to participate in the sneak attack are Briski's fourth battalion. Sokov picked up the phone and said into the receiver: "Comrade Captain, put your work aside and come to me immediately. I have something to discuss with you."
