The tanks loaded with infantry stayed at the first line of defense for more than ten minutes and then continued to drive towards the German second line of defense. Sokov kept using his binoculars to observe the advancing tank. As the tank got closer and closer to the enemy's position, he felt his heart beating hard and his body shivered involuntarily as if he couldn't bear the cold. With.
Ivanov, who was standing aside, noticed something unusual about Sokov and quickly touched him with his arm, asking with concern: "Comrade Commander, why are you shivering? Are you a little too cold?"
"No, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "I saw that our troops were about to rush into the enemy's position, so I was a little too nervous."
"Colonel Sokov." Golikov turned his head and smiled at Sokov, and said on his own: "Don't worry, judging from the current situation, our troops may be able to occupy the enemy's position within a few minutes. "
Seeing that the tank had already passed half the distance, there was no movement on the second line of defense that was being shelled in the distance. It seemed that all the German soldiers were suppressed by the artillery fire in shelters or anti-gun holes. Seeing this situation, even Sidorin, who had always been steady, let out a long sigh and echoed Golikov: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army is right, the Germans have been suppressed by our artillery fire and cannot move. I believe Our warriors were able to capture the second line of defense with ease."
However, just when everyone thought that the counterattack troops could easily capture the German second line of defense, something unexpected happened. When he was still more than 200 meters away from the German position, Sokov suddenly saw several soldiers rolling down from the moving tank and soon being caught in the tracks of the tank behind.
"What the hell, what's going on?" Not only Sokov saw this, but also Golikov. He exclaimed in surprise: "Why did those soldiers roll off the tank?"
When Ivanov heard what Golikov said, he put down his binoculars and said hesitantly: "Comrade, deputy commander of the front army, maybe the tank was too bumpy when driving and knocked those soldiers down."
"This is impossible!" Golikov said loudly: "Although there are craters on the path of the tank, I see that the driver is very careful to go around these places. It is impossible for the soldiers to be knocked down. It must be Some other reason. Maybe he was hit by flying shrapnel and rolled off the tank."
"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, this is impossible." Ivanov immediately refuted Golikov's statement: "Our tanks are at least two hundred meters away from the shelling area, and shrapnel will fly No matter how far it is, it can't fly two hundred meters away, so there must be other reasons."
While Golikov and Ivanov were discussing why some soldiers rolled off the tank, several more soldiers rolled off. Sokov, who had been observing the battlefield situation, discovered that several steel helmets emerged from a traffic trench next to the route of the tanks, and soon disappeared again.
Seeing the fleeting helmets, Sokov immediately understood the reason why the soldiers fell off the tank. He quickly put down his telescope, pointed forward and said to Golikov and Ivanov: "Hurry up! Look, there seem to be Germans in the traffic trench next to the tank route."
"What, the Germans in the traffic trenches?" Golikov quickly raised his telescope, looked at the battlefield again, and said, "Isn't this impossible? The enemies were suppressed in the trenches by our artillery fire, how could they hide in the traffic trenches? Are you going to open fire on our troops?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he saw with his own eyes a German soldier stood up from the traffic trench and threw a grenade at the advancing tank. Before the grenade exploded, the soldiers retreated back into the traffic trench. He threw a grenade, which landed on the back of a tank and exploded, knocking two unlucky soldiers off the tank with shrapnel.
"Yes, Colonel Sokov is right." After seeing the truth of the matter with his own eyes, Golikov immediately retracted what he just said: "There are really German soldiers hiding in the traffic trenches to sneak attack our offensive troops."
Although Golikov had said this, Ivanov still found it difficult to accept. He asked in confusion: "What the hell, why are the Germans hiding in the traffic trenches?"
"It's very simple." Sokov said through gritted teeth: "The Germans must have discovered that our army had successfully occupied the first line of defense while taking advantage of the shelling. In order to regain the lost positions from our army, They braved our army's artillery fire, entered the communication trench, and tried to infiltrate the position we occupied."
"Chief of Staff," Sokov turned and said loudly to Sidorin who was standing by the phone: "Immediately call several regiment commanders and say that the enemy is trying to retake the positions occupied by our troops through the communication trenches. Order them to immediately dispatch troops to clear out the enemies who enter the communication trenches."
"Comrade division commander," Sidorin asked tentatively after hearing Sokov's order: "Do I need to notify the tank brigade to stop and clear the enemy before moving forward?"
"No." Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Except for the command vehicles, the two tank battalions that were just assigned to us probably don't have radios on the other vehicles. Even if there are orders, they won't be able to convey them. Let's let it go. them"
Just when Sidorin picked up the phone and was about to give orders to the three infantry regiments, Sokov suddenly remembered that the first tank battalion commanded by Bely was a modified tank. There should be no problem with communication, and there were several more. A self-propelled artillery vehicle that can support friendly forces on the left wing with artillery fire. Then he added: "Chief of Staff, call Colonel Bely and ask his battalion to support the troops on the left with artillery fire to cover them in occupying the enemy's position."
When the tanks carrying infantry were about to approach the German second line of defense, the left bank artillery stopped shelling. The German officers and soldiers hiding in shelters and anti-gun holes did not wait for the smoke to clear before dragging anti-tank guns and machine guns into the position and firing fiercely at the approaching counterattack forces.
The German artillery had a high technical and tactical level. They did not panic at all when faced with Soviet tanks dozens of meters away. After setting up the anti-tank guns, they fired without hesitation. One after another, the moving tanks were destroyed dozens or even more than ten meters away from the German positions, and burned where they stopped.
Some of the infantrymen carried on the vehicle jumped out of the vehicle in time and hid in a nearby bomb crater when they saw that the situation was not good. The soldiers who reacted slowly turned into burning men after the tank was destroyed. They rolled down from the tank. They screamed and jumped, sometimes falling down, sometimes standing up, and scurrying around like headless flies. , until he was hit by the enemy's machine gun, then he fell to the ground and stopped moving.
