After discovering that the commanding heights outside the city were lost, the German army could not give up. They immediately dispatched troops to counterattack in an attempt to retake the high ground from the Soviet army.
Through the telescope, Andrei saw the German tanks approaching in the distance and the dense infantry following behind them. Knowing that a fierce battle would follow, Andrei quickly called to the sixth company commander Yegor: "Comrade Captain, the enemy's When the tanks come up, you immediately send a few anti-tank teams to quickly hide in the craters in front of the position and prepare to destroy the enemy tanks."
When the sixth company commander arranged for the rocket launcher team to enter the crater in front of the position in batches, Andre asked the radio operator to send a telegram to the regiment commander, reporting the situation here to him, and at the same time requesting the other party to send reinforcements as soon as possible for support.
After Yershakov learned that the second battalion had successfully captured the high ground, he immediately called the commander of the first battalion and said to him: "Comrade Major, now the second battalion has successfully occupied the high ground to the east of the city. Your battalion's mission is , just rush over immediately, take over the defense from the hands of the second battalion, and then nail it there like a nail, not allowed to retreat even one step."
After receiving the order, the first battalion commander immediately agreed resoundingly, and then led his troops towards the high ground east of the city.
If Sokov were here and heard the orders given by Yershakov, he would definitely curse him. The German forces in the city are limited. If they concentrate their forces to counterattack on the high ground to the east of the city, the forces in the city will be weakened. What the forward commander has to do at this moment is not to strengthen the defense of the high ground to the east of the city, but to take advantage of the opportunity to attack the city. The defenders inside. As long as the Red Army Village is captured, the German troops attacking the highlands will collapse without a fight.
When the first battalion arrived at the foot of the high ground, the German tanks were only 400 meters away from the trenches. Twelve tanks formed a wedge shape and pushed towards the trenches. Even across a hill, the commanders and fighters of the first battalion could clearly hear the roar of the tank engine and feel the slight vibration of the ground.
"Comrade Battalion Commander," the first company commander came to the battalion commander's side and asked curiously: "Can the enemy use tanks to fight on such steep heights?"
The battalion commander heard the roar of tanks from across the hill and immediately realized that something was wrong. It was obvious that the plateau was steep to the east and flat to the west, allowing the Germans to bring their tanks into battle. If I lead my troops up there right now, I might have to go head-to-head with the Germans.
Thinking of this, he quickly issued an order to his troops: "Stop advancing, build fortifications on the spot, and prepare for defense?"
Several company commanders who did not understand the order asked: "Battalion Commander, we have reached the foot of the highland, why do we stop?"
"Yes, didn't our superiors ask us to take over the defense of the second battalion? Why did we stop advancing?"
"..."
Faced with the doubts of his subordinates, the commander of the first battalion waited for everyone to become quiet again before speaking: "Now the enemy is launching an attack on the second battalion's position. If we take over the defense at this moment, it will inevitably cause unnecessary panic. In that case, It will be very fatal to our army. The enemy can take advantage of our change of defense to launch a fierce attack, and then the front line may collapse. I think we should wait until the second battalion repulses the enemy's attack."
Andre, who was at the top of the hillside, saw a battalion of troops approaching, and felt secretly happy. He thought that the regiment commander was so thoughtful that he actually sent a battalion to support him. Unexpectedly, when the first battalion reached the foot of the mountain, it actually stopped advancing and began to build fortifications on the spot. This kind of operation made Andre a little confused. He explained to his chief of staff and took the two soldiers down the mountain.
"First Battalion Commander," Andre found the First Battalion Commander and asked straight to the point: "Aren't you here to take over our defense? Why are you staying at the foot of the mountain to build fortifications?"
"Major Andre, I was just about to inform you, but I didn't expect you to come down first." The first battalion commander repeated what he had just said to his subordinates. He finally emphasized: "Don't worry, since the regiment The commander ordered us to take over your defense, and it won’t be too late for us to go up again after you have repelled this wave of German attacks.”
When Andre thought about it carefully, what the other party said seemed to make some sense. If the first battalion were really allowed to enter the position at this moment, I am afraid that there would be a short-term chaos on the position, which might lead to heavy casualties for the troops under the enemy's attack. So he just said briefly: "Comrade Major, after we repulse this wave of German attacks, we will hand over the defense to you."
Looking at Andre's retreating figure, the battalion commander couldn't help but secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The temperature outside was still below zero, but the battalion commander's forehead was covered with sweat.
After the German tanks approached the position, the rocket launchers hidden in the craters were ordered to shoot at the tanks. Rockets trailing white smoke directly hit the moving German tanks. Some tanks were hit and quickly stopped motionless, but more tanks continued to move forward.
The infantrymen who were following the tanks discovered that there were actually many Soviet anti-tank fighters hiding in the craters in front of the trenches. They sped up to catch up, chose a suitable position to set up their machine guns, and fired at the Soviet anti-tank fighters. .
Don't forget that the rocket launcher is a powerful anti-tank weapon, but when launching it, the rocket launcher must stand up straight or half-crouch, exposing most of the body to the enemy's firepower. That's it. Several rocketeers just stood up from the bomb crater. Before they had time to shoot, they were sieved by the enemy's bullets. They fell directly into the bomb crater without saying a word.
The Sixth Company originally deployed seven anti-tank positions in front of the position. However, due to the development of machine gun firepower by the German infantry, these anti-tank positions were basically lost in less than ten minutes. Seeing that the German tanks were getting closer and closer to his position, Yegor became anxious. He quickly shouted to the left and right: "Go out and blow up all the German tanks."
Following his order, five or six soldiers soon climbed out of the trench on hands and feet, holding an anti-tank grenade in each hand, and crawled towards the German tanks in the distance. But their whereabouts were quickly noticed, and they were immediately bombarded by tank guns and machine gun fire. In a short time, all the few soldiers who went out were killed.
Just when Yegor was still planning to send people to blow up the tanks, Andre came back from the foot of the mountain. Seeing Yegor's blind command, he quickly stopped him and ordered: "Use new rockets to attack the infantry behind the tanks. As long as the enemy's infantry is killed, their tanks will not be of much use to us without the support of the infantry." Threatened."
The reflector tube of the new rocket was swung towards the position, and in less than a minute, more than twenty rockets flew towards the dense formation of German infantry. After a series of explosions, countless stumps and broken arms flew into the air. When the smoke cleared, there were no more standing people in the originally crowded attacking queue.
"Egor," seeing that many of the German infantry were wiped out by rockets, Andre gave Yegor a new combat order: "Let your people go out to blow up tanks. You must kill one of these German tanks." A lot of land was left.”
Tanks without infantry cover are like a bunch of lambs to be slaughtered in front of anti-tank fighters. Although the tank soldiers used vehicle-mounted machine guns to knock down many Soviet soldiers who rushed towards them, more soldiers rushed to the tanks and threw anti-tank grenades that could destroy the tanks.
Seeing that the tanks leading the attack in front were wiped out one by one by the Soviet army, the soldiers who followed became frightened. They did not have the courage to continue fighting, so they retreated one after another.
After repelling the German attack, destroying more than a dozen tanks, and killing more than 200 soldiers, the Second Battalion completed its mission and handed over its defense to the First Battalion at the foot of the mountain.
After the troops withdrew from the top of the mountain, Andre said to several company commanders: "Since the first battalion has just dug trenches here, let's rest here. Maybe sometime, our battalion will have to go up."
Regarding Andre's statement, Yegor expressed doubts: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the strength of the counterattack enemy does not look very good. I think that with the strength of one battalion, we can completely stop them. I am afraid that we will catch up with them before the large forces can do so." I’m afraid there won’t be any combat missions until then.”
What happened next proved that Andre had foresight.
After the German counterattack on the highlands failed, the garrison commander in the city prepared to shrink his troops and defend the Red Army village with all his strength to prevent the Soviet army from occupying it. However, at this moment, his adjutant reported to him: "Mr. Colonel, the troops of the Imperial Division have arrived. They heard that the high ground east of the city was occupied by the Russians and were preparing to launch a counterattack there."
When he learned that the Imperial Division was coming, the commander felt much more at ease. He said to the adjutant: "Tell the other party's commander what requirements they have. Just ask them and we will try our best to satisfy them."
After contacting the commander of the Imperial Division, the adjutant reported to his superior: "Mr. Colonel, what has just arrived are the 5th and 6th Infantry Companies of the Imperial Division and a tank company. They hope you can use artillery fire to bombard the high ground. Cover their attack on the high ground."
"Okay." Naturally, the German commander would not refuse the request made by the Imperial Division. He quickly ordered his adjutant: "Immediately order all artillery fire to target the Russian positions on the high ground."
Ten minutes later, the German commander's order was implemented. More than seventy artillery pieces of different calibers fired towards the top of the mountain. Although the Second Battalion stationed at the top of the mountain had reinforced its fortifications after taking over the defense. But these simple field fortifications were not exposed to artillery fire.
Since there was no shelter, the soldiers could only huddle in the trenches to avoid the German shelling. From time to time, some people were blown away by the explosive air waves of the artillery shells, or knocked down by flying shrapnel. The health workers became the busiest people in the entire position, and shouts for them kept coming and going.
While the health workers were treating the wounded, stretcher bearers braved artillery fire to carry the bodies of the fallen soldiers out of the trenches and placed them on the reverse slope of the hillside. When the first battalion commander saw more and more bloody corpses of soldiers in front of him, his whole body began to tremble unconsciously.
Several commanders of the second battalion at the foot of the mountain also saw this tragic scene. After the muscles on Yegor's face twitched violently for a few times, he said to Andre: "Comrade Battalion Commander, from the attack to the defensive battle just now, our battalion has not suffered more than 400 casualties, right? But look at the hillside. There are at least more than two hundred corpses on display, and many of them have not had time to be carried out."
"There are no solid fortifications on the top of the mountain." Andre said to his men: "Under the enemy's intensive artillery fire, still forming such a dense formation is tantamount to letting the soldiers die. I am very worried. If the German artillery shells continue like this, by the time the bombardment ends, I am afraid that more than half of the battalion will be damaged."
"Then I will prepare the soldiers for battle and be ready to take over the defense of the first battalion at any time."
Andre nodded and said to the company commanders: "I would like to remind everyone that once our battalion goes to the top of the mountain to defend again, only one company can enter the position at a time. In this way, even if we are severely bombarded by the Germans, we It can also reduce casualties.”
After the bombardment, the two infantry companies of the Imperial Division, under the guidance of the tank company, rushed towards the position where smoke was still billowing. They did not adopt a dense formation like the previous group of Wehrmacht soldiers who attacked. Instead, they were spread out in groups of three or five, following the tanks and trotting forward.
While the health workers were treating the wounded, stretcher bearers braved artillery fire to carry the bodies of the fallen soldiers out of the trenches and placed them on the reverse slope of the hillside. When the first battalion commander saw more and more bloody corpses of soldiers in front of him, his whole body began to tremble unconsciously.
Several commanders of the second battalion at the foot of the mountain also saw this tragic scene. After the muscles on Yegor's face twitched violently for a few times, he said to Andre: "Comrade Battalion Commander, from the attack to the defensive battle just now, our battalion has not suffered more than 400 casualties, right? But look at the hillside. There are at least more than two hundred corpses on display, and many of them have not had time to be carried out."
"There are no solid fortifications on the top of the mountain." Andre said to his men: "Under the enemy's intensive artillery fire, still forming such a dense formation is tantamount to letting the soldiers die. I am very worried. If the German artillery shells continue like this, by the time the bombardment ends, I am afraid that more than half of the battalion will be damaged."
"Then I will prepare the soldiers for battle and be ready to take over the defense of the first battalion at any time."
Andre nodded and said to the company commanders: "I would like to remind everyone that once our battalion goes to the top of the mountain to defend again, only one company can enter the position at a time. In this way, even if we are severely bombarded by the Germans, we It can also reduce casualties.”
After the bombardment, the two infantry companies of the Imperial Division, under the guidance of the tank company, rushed towards the position where smoke was still billowing. They did not adopt a dense formation like the previous group of Wehrmacht soldiers who attacked. Instead, they were spread out in groups of three or five, following the tanks and trotting forward.
