The 125th Regiment sent by Sokov was able to capture the Red Army Village by surprise entirely because the main force of the German army was attracted by the 1st and 2nd Battalions to the high ground in the east of the city. There were only less than two defenders left in the city. Hundreds of people. This small number of troops were scattered in the city and had no ability to resist the fierce offensive of the third battalion of sailors.
After learning that the 125th Regiment had occupied the Red Army Village, Sokov ordered Vitkov to report the matter to Rokossovsky, and then he prepared to take a guard platoon and rush to the Red Army Village in an armored vehicle. Choose a location to establish a defensive position before the German counterattack forces arrive.
Just when Sokov was about to leave, Vitkov reminded him: "Comrade division commander, our large forces are coming towards Donetsk. Which unit do you plan to let hold the city?"
After taking a look at the marching routes of each division, Sokov said to Vitkov: "I think the important task of defending Donetsk will be handed over to the 67th Guards Division of Major General Jean Merkulov, and then to them Equipped with a tank brigade, so that even if the Germans send out armored troops, we can fight them."
On the way to the Red Army Village, Sokov encountered Papuchenko's 122nd Guards Regiment.
As soon as he saw Sokov, Colonel Papuchenko said with an aggrieved face: "Comrade division commander, you are so partial. You let Colonel Starcha's 124th Regiment occupy Donetsk, and then let Yersa Colonel Kov's 125th Regiment captured the Red Army Village. However, our regiment did not receive a single mission. Now the commanders and fighters of the entire regiment are in mood."
"I think the person with emotions is you, Colonel Papuchenko." Sokov said to him after revealing the little thinking of the regiment commander in front of him: "Our division successively occupied Donetsk and the Red Army Village. , the Germans will never give up. If my analysis is correct, the German counterattack troops are already on the way. Therefore, the enemy does not have much time left for you. The first thing you do after entering the position is Just seize the time to repair the fortifications.”
"Comrade Division Commander," Colonel Papuchenko said in embarrassment to Sokov's order: "The soldiers have long been exhausted after marching long distances. I'm worried that they don't have enough physical strength to build fortifications. .”
"How to build the fortifications is your business." Sokov said with a serious expression: "If you have not completed the construction of the fortifications when the enemy appears, then there is a possibility of being defeated by the enemy. During the battle to defend Stalingrad, it was There were many elite troops of our army, so there were no fortifications on the battlefield, and they were easily defeated by the enemy."
After thinking about it carefully, Sokov said that it was very reasonable. The Mamayev Hill that he held on to at the beginning was because of the complete fortifications. As soon as one's own troops leave the fortifications, it will be difficult to move forward. This proves that the enemy's inability to capture Mamayev Hill is not because the enemy's combat effectiveness is not good, but because the fortifications on Mamayev Hill are too conducive to defense.
Wanting to understand this, he quickly replied: "Don't worry, comrade division commander, I will immediately pass your order to the commanders and soldiers, and as soon as the troops enter the defensive zone, they will seize the time to repair the fortifications."
Sokov entered the Red Army Village and came to the headquarters of the 125th Regiment to praise Yershakov and others.
Yershakov, who had just captured the city, was in a state of excitement. As soon as Sokov finished speaking, he immediately expressed his position and said: "Comrade division commander, you can rest assured that as long as our regiment sticks to the city, we will never let the enemy Take this city."
"I plan to hand over this city to the 75th Guards Division for defense." Sokov rushed here in a hurry because he wanted to deploy defenses as soon as possible and complete the construction of fortifications before the main force of the German army arrived. Therefore, he told Yershakov: "The task of your regiment is to build fortifications outside the city as soon as possible to keep the enemy far outside the city."
"Comrade division commander, I have one more thing to report to you." Hearing that Sokov planned to order his regiment to withdraw from the city, Yershakov was not upset. The Russian made a condition to Sokov: "We are here When we occupied the city, we discovered a batch of 14.5mm quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns. If we are allowed to defend outside the city, I hope that these batches of anti-aircraft machine guns can be equipped with our regiment."
"A quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun?" Sokov's eyes suddenly lit up when he heard the weapon Yershakov mentioned. Therefore, this kind of anti-aircraft machine gun can not only be used to shoot down enemy aircraft, but when it shoots levelly at infantry, it is simply like infantry. nightmare, and quickly asked: "How many are there?"
"There are twelve of them, and they need to be pulled by cars or horse-drawn carriages."
"Is there enough ammunition?"
Yershakov nodded vigorously and replied: "I think these anti-aircraft machine guns should be in the inventory of our army. Since the city fell, they have fallen into the hands of the enemy. I personally went to the warehouse to check, and every anti-aircraft machine gun The machine gun can be equipped with no less than 10,000 rounds of ammunition, including many armor-piercing incendiary bombs, which can be used not only to deal with enemy aircraft, but also to deal with enemy tanks and armored vehicles at close range."
"Comrade Colonel, in addition to the aircraft, tanks and armored vehicles you mentioned, this anti-aircraft machine gun can also be used to shoot infantry with level fire." When Sokov thought of the German offensive troops, during the shooting of the 14.5 mm quadruple anti-aircraft machine gun, After being beaten to pieces, the corners of his mouth could not help but rise slightly. "For the troops, this kind of anti-aircraft machine gun is simply a nightmare."
"Understood, comrade division commander." Seeing that Sokov agreed to hand over these anti-aircraft machine guns to his troops, Yershakov quickly replied: "There is still a small group of enemies, about one company's strength, that is shrinking. In the direction of the western suburbs, we are trying to use the terrain there to carry out a stubborn resistance. I plan to use that place as a defensive position for our regiment after destroying them."
"Comrade Colonel, take action immediately." Sokov learned that there were still enemies in the western suburbs and quickly told Yershakov: "I will give you two hours to capture the enemy's position."
"Two hours?" After hearing the time Sokov gave him, Yershakov showed a troubled expression on his face: "Comrade division commander, are two hours too little? You know, our It takes more than half an hour for the troops to move nearby, and it would be a bit too hasty to have an hour and a half left to attack."
"Comrade Colonel, don't you know that orders from superiors can only be executed and not used for discussion?" Sokov did not want to bargain with Yershakov, so he ordered him in a stern tone: "I will take you with me now. Let the troops set off."
Faced with Sokov's strong tone, Yershakov did not dare to refute. He could only agree and lead his troops to the western suburbs to eliminate the enemies entrenched there.
In the fortifications on the western outskirts of the city were the remnants of the leading troops of the Imperial Division. After realizing that the city was occupied by the Soviet army, they decisively chose to retreat and retreated to the fortifications on the western outskirts. They planned to rely on the fortifications to defend here and wait for the Imperial Division. The main force has arrived.
When the troops of the 125th Regiment appeared in the distance, they were immediately spotted by German sentries in the fortifications. After a while, the German battalion commander came to the trench, raised his binoculars and looked at the place where the Soviet troops were gathering in the distance. He saw that the opponent only had infantry and no tanks, and he suddenly felt more at ease.
The German battalion commander said to his men: "Don't worry, the Russians don't have tanks. If they want to break through our defensive positions, they will have to pay at least two thousand lives. Everyone stick to their posts."
Yershakov assigned the offensive task to Shamrih's third battalion. He called Shamrih in front of him, pointed to the German fortifications in the distance and said: "Comrade Major, have you seen the enemy's fortifications?" ? In addition to the criss-crossing trenches and communication trenches, there are also many civil fire points. It is very difficult to attack. Can your battalion take it down?"
"Don't worry, comrade commander." The third battalion is the main force in capturing the Red Army Village. The morale of the entire battalion commanders and soldiers is high. Naturally, they will not find it difficult to capture a position with only one or two hundred enemies holding firm: " Our battalion promises to complete the attack mission you assigned us."
Just as the third battalion was preparing to attack, Sokov came to the front. After he raised his telescope and looked at the opposite side for a while, he turned to Yershakov and said: "Comrade Colonel, order a unit to carry out a feint attack on the enemy's position. Once they are attacked by fire, they will immediately lie down on the spot. While watching, No one is allowed to stand up until the signal goes off."
"Comrade Commander," Yershakov asked puzzledly at Sokov's somewhat incomprehensible order, "Why?"
"Don't ask so many whys." Sokov didn't want to explain to him, and said to himself: "You only need to pass on my orders. This can reduce the casualties of the troops during the attack."
Sokov's order was quickly conveyed to the third battalion responsible for the attack. Although everyone did not understand the meaning of Sokov's order, they still carried it out unconditionally.
After the attack started, Captain Aglanov, the company commander of the Eighth Company of the Third Battalion, which was responsible for the feint attack, walked at the front of the troops with his pistol raised. As he walked, he shouted to the soldiers at the top of his lungs: "Brothers, once When the Germans start shooting, you immediately lie down on the spot and fire back at the enemy. No one is allowed to stand up until the signal flare is seen."
The enemy's position was silent until the Eighth Company was still one hundred and fifty meters away from their trenches, when the German machine guns opened fire. Some sailors were shot and fell down, and the remaining commanders and fighters quickly followed the order and lay down on the spot, raising their guns to fight back at the exposed German firepower points.
"Comrade Division Commander," seeing the enemy's position on the other side opening fire, Yershakov quickly reported to Sokov: "The enemy has opened fire. What should we do next?"
"Comrade Colonel," Sokov said to Yershakov with a smile: "Let your twelve anti-aircraft machine guns shoot at the enemy's positions at the same time to eliminate those exposed fire points."
Only at this moment did Yershakov understand the meaning of Sokov's order. He nodded quickly and issued a firing order to the temporarily formed anti-aircraft machine gun company.
Following an order, twelve quadruple 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine guns began shooting at the German positions. The firepower point was exposed on the position, and he was fatally hit in an instant, and he was immediately rendered speechless. Even the enemies hiding in the civil firepower points did not escape the bad luck. They were still beaten to death by the steel bullets that rained down like a torrential rain.
After just a few minutes, all the exposed fire points on the German position became mute.
"Comrade Colonel, all the enemy's firepower points have been almost eliminated." Seeing that the enemy's firepower points were all mute, Sokov nodded with satisfaction, turned to Yershakov and said: "Order the anti-aircraft machine gun company to stop firing and send out flares. Let the troops begin the attack."
"Understood, Comrade Commander." Seeing that the German firepower was giving him a headache, Yershakov was inadvertently wiped out by dense anti-aircraft machine gun bullets. He quickly agreed excitedly and began to follow Sokov's order. Issue instructions to your troops.
As a red signal flare representing an attack rose into the air, the soldiers who were lying on the ground jumped up and rushed towards the enemy's position. Since the enemy suffered huge losses in the baptism of anti-aircraft machine gun bullets just now, their resistance seemed so feeble in the face of the swarming Soviet commanders and fighters.
Seeing Soviet commanders and fighters rushing into the opposite position one after another, Yershakov raised his hand and looked at his watch and found that only one hour had passed since receiving Sokov's order. Only then did he understand that the time Sokov had set for himself was not too short. On the contrary, there was still a lot of room left.
Yershakov looked at Sokov and said with admiration: "Comrade division commander, you are really amazing. You were able to capture the enemy's well-defended positions in such a short period of time. I really admire you." ”
"Okay, stop flattering." Although Yershakov's words made Sokov feel very comfortable, he understood better that the German reinforcements were coming. If the defense line could not be built as soon as possible, the next step would be to The next battle was not going to be easy. He urged Yershakov: "Now that the position has been taken, hurry up and take your men to build fortifications there. Remember, the German army must Complete basic defense work until reinforcements arrive."
After Yershakov left with the personnel of the regiment headquarters, Sokov turned to the telegraph operator behind him and said: "Send a telegram to Colonel Vitkov and ask if there are any latest instructions from the superiors?"
Soon, the radio operator handed a telegram to Sokov and said to him: "Comrade division commander, Colonel Vitkov, chief of staff of the group, has forwarded an order from the front army to let us station in the Red Army village - Donets Build a new line of defense in the Croatian area to resist possible German attacks."
After reading the telegram, Sokov looked ahead and thought for a while. He felt that it was a fantasy to block the German counterattack with only two regiments approaching the 41st Guards Division. The other divisions must arrive as soon as possible. . Thinking of this, he ordered the telegraph operator again: "Send a telegram to the 71st and 75th Guards Divisions, ordering them to speed up their march and reach the Red Army Village in the shortest possible time."
