When he learned that the German army repelled by his regiment was actually an engineer battalion, Guzman, the commander of the 650th regiment, could not sit still. He said to Vasily: "Comrade Captain, I really didn't expect that the enemy who attacked us It's actually an engineering unit. It seems that the enemy's troops are so short that they have to send an engineering unit to attack."
Vasily guessed that Guzman must have some thoughts when he said this, so he said nothing and just looked at the other person silently, waiting for what the other person said next.
Sure enough, not long after, Guzman asked Vasily tentatively: "Comrade Captain, since the enemies on the opposite side are all engineers, do you think we can launch a counterattack to recover some lost positions from the enemy?" .”
Guzman's words made Vasily feel a little moved. If we can really take back some positions from the enemy, I'm afraid the division commander will also be impressed by him. But then he thought about it. His battalion was now distributed in three different areas. Even if he wanted to fight back, the number of troops he could use was very limited. Moreover, if you launch an attack on the enemy's position without asking for instructions, you may be criticized by the division commander and regimental commander.
Thinking of this, Vasily suddenly calmed down a lot. He was worried that Guzman would immediately mobilize his troops to prepare for a counterattack, and quickly persuaded him: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, our troops are limited, and they may be barely enough for defense; but they are far from enough for counterattacks." . Moreover, after we capture the position, we still need to divide our troops to defend it. In this way, our strength will become even weaker. Once the enemy counterattacks, I am afraid that the position captured through bloodshed and sacrifice will fall into the enemy's hands again."
If Vasily was Guzman's subordinate, he would definitely be scolded and even labeled as "cowardly and panicked" if he replied to Guzman in this way. Next, Guzman will find someone to take over Vasily's position and launch a counterattack against the enemy's position according to his plan.
But Vasily belongs to the 41st Guards Division and is here to help in the battle. Even if his military rank is only captain, Guzman, as a lieutenant colonel, can only give him three points. At this moment, hearing Vasily's statement that he was unwilling to participate in the counterattack against the enemy, Guzman could only sigh secretly in his heart and gave up the idea of counterattack. After all, he had too few troops in his hands. Without the cooperation of friendly forces, he would not be able to fight back. The counterattack carried out has no chance of success.
"What a pity!" Guzman looked at the silent German positions in the distance and said with regret: "What a great opportunity to counterattack, but I just missed it..."
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel!" Seeing that Guzman had not given up the idea of counterattack, Vasily said seriously: "Although the enemy's attack has been repelled by us, if we really want to counterattack, I am afraid we will pay a lot of casualties."
"Comrade Captain, there are no immortals in a war. As long as we can regain the position from the enemy, no matter how high the price is, I think it is worth it..." Guzman stopped abruptly just after finishing half of what he said. He realized that Vasily must have some deep meaning when he said this, so he turned to look at Vasily and asked in surprise: "What do you mean by heavy casualties?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, although the enemies attacking us are just engineers, I feel that they are different from the engineers I have seen before." Vasily analyzed to Guzman: "Look, the attack method they just used, This makes it difficult for our previous defensive tactics to be effective. If we had not used snipers and mortars to deal with them later, I estimate that they would have launched a full-scale attack on us after the assault guns destroyed our firepower points."
"But, Comrade Captain." Although Guzman witnessed the whole process of the battle, perhaps the battle was so easy that he firmly believed that the repulsed enemy was just a group of engineers with weak combat effectiveness. "If it is really How could a well-trained unit be rendered unable to fight back by our snipers and mortars? In my opinion, this is just an engineering unit with extremely poor combat effectiveness."
Vasily wanted to refute Guzman, but considering that the other party's military rank was much higher than his own, if he argued with him in front of his subordinates, it would affect his WeChat account, so he just smiled lightly and did not continue.
Seeing that Vasily was silent, Guzman was about to say something more when he suddenly heard the phone ringing not far away. He quickly walked over and picked up the phone: "I'm Guzman, where are you from?"
"What? There will be a meeting tomorrow night?" After listening for a moment, Guzman suddenly showed an expression of surprise on his face: "Is this true, Comrade Commander?...No, no, I don't doubt what you said, I just I want to confirm... Don't worry, comrade division commander, without your order, how dare I let the troops carry out a counterattack..."
Vasily stood aside, listening quietly to the conversation between Guzman and Lyudnikov, constantly guessing in his mind: There will be a meeting tomorrow night. If the meeting is at the division headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Guzman will definitely not be like this. Excited, is it a meeting at the Army Headquarters? At this time, notifying a regiment-level commander to attend a meeting at the headquarters means that there is a major military operation. Could it be that our army is about to launch a full-scale counterattack against the enemy.
Just as Vasily was thinking wildly, Guzman had finished talking to Lyudnikov. After he put down the phone, he saw Vasily staring at him intently, so he said with a haha: "Comrade Captain, the division commander just reminded me on the phone that without his order, you must not attack the enemy without authorization. It seems that you That's right. If I insist on my opinion and order the troops to counterattack the enemy, I will definitely be criticized by the division commander..."
Vasily automatically filtered out the nonsense Guzman said. He was eager to know where the other party would be meeting tomorrow night, so he asked cautiously: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I seem to have heard Colonel Lyudnikov informing you to go there." Meeting. Can I ask where you will be meeting tomorrow night?"
"If someone else asked, I would definitely not tell him. But the two of us are comrades fighting side by side, so it doesn't matter if I tell you." Guzman leaned close to Vasily's ear and whispered: "The division commander asked me to Go with him to the Army Headquarters for a meeting."
Seeing that Guzman was indeed going to the army headquarters for a meeting, Vasily felt happy. He looked around and saw that the nearest communications soldier was also four or five meters away. As long as he spoke in a low voice, the other party could not hear him at all. He approached Guzman and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, please tell me, does this mean that our army's major counterattack is about to begin?"
"Although the meeting will only start tomorrow night, I don't know the content of the meeting yet." Guzman said thoughtfully: "But I think your speculation is very likely to become reality."
"I really envy you!" Seeing that Belgin did not call him, Vasily guessed that he was not qualified to participate in such a military meeting. Although he was happy, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. However, in order not to affect Guzman's mood, he still forced a smile and said: "I can go to the headquarters to participate in such an important meeting."
Guzman saw Vasily's thoughts and didn't know what to say for a moment. He could only raise his hand and pat the other person on the shoulder and said: "Comrade Captain, when I go to the meeting tomorrow, I will leave this place to you." Take responsibility.”
"Don't worry, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I will never let the enemy get close to our position." Vasily assured Guzman: "You can go to the meeting with confidence."
"The enemy is coming!" Just as the two were talking, they suddenly heard a series of shouts from outside: "The enemy is coming!"
The two people quickly looked outside, and sure enough they saw several assault guns in the distance, guiding more than a hundred German soldiers towards the position.
Guzman quickly picked up the phone and said into the receiver: "First battalion commander, battle alarm, the enemy is attacking us, order the troops to enter combat positions immediately!"
After putting down the phone, Guzman raised his binoculars and looked in the direction from which the enemy came. After watching for a while, he murmured in his mouth: "What the hell, why did the enemy change their tactics again and dare to attack us directly without artillery cover?"
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, this is normal." Vasily on the side said: "Our troops went deep into the enemy's rear and destroyed the enemy's supplies hoarded at Kotluban Station and the 654th Kilometer Station. The enemy's current ammunition and various military supplies We are facing a shortage of supplies, so naturally there are not so many artillery shells to bombard us. This is good, at least we can reduce some casualties when we are defending."
The German assault artillery stopped five or six hundred meters away from the position, and then bombarded the Soviet position with artillery fire to cover the advance of their infantry.
"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," seeing this situation, Vasily said to Guzman anxiously: "Please contact the artillery immediately and ask them to use artillery fire to destroy those assault guns. Otherwise, the fire points on our position will be attacked one after another by assault guns. Destroy one by one."
Guzman looked at the assault guns in the distance and found that they no longer fired aimlessly and blindly. The shells had accurately landed on the position and exploded. Although it is not yet clear what kind of casualties the enemy's shelling has caused to the commanders and fighters on the position, Guzman knew in his heart that if the assault gun kept firing, I am afraid that the commanders and fighters would be suppressed by the artillery fire before the enemy infantry rushed into the position. I'm afraid I won't be able to fight back effectively.
Guzman picked up the phone and reported to the division commander Lyudnikov: "Comrade division commander, the enemy has launched another attack on our regiment's position. This time they dispatched multiple assault guns. I request the artillery to fire immediately to destroy these damned vehicles." assault guns so that our warriors can calmly eliminate the attacking infantry."
"I understand, Lieutenant Colonel Guzman." Lyudnikov said into the microphone: "I will get in touch with the artillery right away and ask them to provide you with artillery cover."
After finishing the call with Guzman, Lyudnikov looked at Sokov and said with a smile: "Colonel Sokov, the enemy launched an attack on the position of the 650th Regiment, and there were several infantry vehicles accompanying the attack. Assault guns. Do you think we can order the artillery to destroy these assault guns with artillery fire?"
When Sokov heard the sound of gunfire outside, he went out to observe the situation. At this moment, when he heard Lyudnikov's request, he nodded and said: "Okay, comrade colonel, I will call Sakov immediately." Major Veitch called and told them to fire on the enemy."
"Major Savage, this is Sokov." After the call was connected, Sokov didn't say anything nonsense, but asked directly: "Have you seen the enemy attacking the 650th Regiment's position?"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel, we saw it." Savage waited for Sokov to finish speaking and quickly asked for instructions: "I am about to call you and ask for instructions whether to fire at the enemy."
Sokov considered that there were nearly ten days left in the major counterattack. If the artillery shells were used up prematurely, he would no longer have any long-range anti-tank weapons, so he asked tentatively: "How many artillery shells do you have left?"
"After these two days of fighting, each gun still has an average of fifteen rounds of shells." Savage reported to Sokov: "Among them, there are ten high-explosive shells and five armor-piercing shells."
Sokov didn’t know when the artillery shells would be replenished after they were fired, so he said cautiously: “Major, you may not get any ammunition replenishment for a long time, so you have to save your artillery shells and strive to Use the fewest shells to take out the enemy's assault guns."
Since assault guns do not have a turret, the entire body is much shorter than a tank. It is really impossible for non-skilled artillerymen to destroy these assault guns by direct shooting from a long distance. After receiving this order from Sokov, Savage thought about the running positions where his skilled artillerymen were distributed.
Briski saw Savage standing at the table in a daze after answering the phone, so he asked curiously: "Comrade Major, what happened? Why are you standing here in a daze?"
"Comrade Captain," Savage said to Briski with a wry smile: "Colonel Sokov just called me and said that we might not be able to get any supplies for a long time, and asked us to use the minimum number of artillery shells. Destroy the enemy's assault guns. I'm thinking about where my skilled gunners are now. It's necessary to gather them up specifically to deal with the enemy's assault guns."
"Comrade Major, I think your method is feasible." Briskey is still very self-aware. Although he has achieved considerable results in the past two days, he understands that his subordinates are only serving as a basis for the real artillery. That's it, without the artillery and relying on the infantry under his command, even if the artillery is fired, there is no telling where the artillery shells will fly. Therefore, he strongly agreed with Savage's plan: "Skilled artillery should be summoned immediately to destroy the enemy's assault guns."
Skilled artillerymen were distributed in different positions. Savage made a phone call and deployed a dozen of the most skilled artillerymen on position No. 1. When everyone arrived, he decisively gave the order: "Aim at the enemy's assault gun and fire!"
After the artillery was in position, it quickly aimed at the target and fired as soon as the shells were loaded. The two test-fired shells failed to hit the target. One hit the open space ten meters in front of the assault gun, while the other flew directly over the assault gun and landed in the ruins behind it and exploded. .
Skilled artillerymen are different from novices. When they see the first shell miss, they immediately adjust the shooting angle of the artillery. In the second round of firing, the shells fired by the five artillery pieces turned the two assault guns into burning torches. Seeing that the enemy's assault guns were destroyed, the artillerymen were greatly encouraged and aimed at the remaining assault guns and fired.
As all the assault guns turned into piles of burning torches, Savage decisively ordered the artillerymen to use high-explosive bombs to bombard the infantry who were bending over and charging towards the Soviet positions.
