Before Yegor could look outside to see the situation, the soldier continued to shout: "Comrade company commander, there are about forty enemy tanks, two kilometers away from us."
Yegor hurriedly put his head out to take a look. Even without using a telescope, he could still clearly see that behind the tank, there were armored vehicles and dense lines of German infantry skirmishers.
He estimated the arrival time of the German tanks in his mind, and quickly shouted to the soldiers in the crater on the left and right: "Everyone, please stay hidden and be careful not to be discovered by the enemy. After the leading tank drives past us, everyone will take the lead." Knock out the tanks following.”
Because the enemy is still far away, no matter how loud you shout, you don't have to worry about being heard by the enemy. Therefore, when Yegor issued an order, the soldiers in several nearby bomb craters could hear it clearly.
After they waited for Yegor to finish speaking, they replied loudly in unison: "Understood!"
The German tanks moved much faster than the infantry, and within five minutes, they approached the area where the second company was ambushing.
Yegor, who was lying in the crater, listened to the roar of the tank engine and the rotation of the tracks above his head, and felt the ground beneath him shaking slightly. His heart could not help but rise to his throat, fearing that any soldier would sink. Unable to hold back his anger, he opened fire on the German tanks in advance, exposing everyone's ambush position.
After noticing that four or five tanks were driving past his bomb crater, Yegor patted the anti-tank man lying aside with his hand and ordered him loudly: "Get ready to shoot!"
After hearing Yegor's order, the anti-tank man immediately got up from the ground, put the loaded rocket launcher on his shoulders, took a kneeling position, aimed at a rumbling Panzer IV, and decisively pulled the trigger.
Armor-piercing bullets roared towards the oncoming tanks, and the anti-tank blocking battle officially began.
The German tank approaching dozens of meters away was the best target and was quickly hit by an armor-piercing projectile. A small hole was punched through the front armor, and soon a thick smoke came out from inside. Based on his rich anti-tank experience, Yegor knew that this German tank had been scrapped.
When the soldiers in the nearby bomb crater saw a good start in the crater where Yegor was, they did not dare to show weakness. They stood up and opened fire on the approaching German tanks.
The soldiers lived up to Yegor's expectations. The six armor-piercing rounds they fired successfully destroyed three German tanks and broke the tracks of another tank.
After completing the first round of shooting, the soldiers did not waste any time. After they reloaded, they opened fire at the German tanks that continued to approach.
This round of shooting has greater results than the last time. After all, the enemy tanks are constantly approaching. If the counterattack fails to hit such a behemoth at a distance of tens of meters, the anti-tank fighters in the army can return. Went home to hold the baby.
Five more tanks were destroyed. Some vehicles were covered with flames. After driving forward for a certain distance, they stopped where they were burning. Some vehicles were hit and stopped motionless, but their cockpits were open. Through the window, thick smoke kept billowing out.
The tanks that were moving behind saw the tanks in front of them being hit one after another and bursting into flames, and they immediately realized that there was an ambush by Soviet anti-tank fighters nearby. They all slowed down, found a suitable place to stop, and fired at the place where Yegor and the others were hiding.
The artillery shells roared towards the bomb crater where Yegor and the others were hiding. They landed around the crater and exploded, causing mud to scatter. The mud fell overwhelmingly on the soldiers, but the anti-tank fighters who stayed in the crater had no time to go. Regardless of the German artillery fire, he continued to attack the enemy tanks with bazookas with all his strength.
As more and more tanks were destroyed, the German army realized that the force in front of them seemed a little different from the opponent they fought a few hours ago, because the opponent had a lot more long-range anti-tank weapons. In order to avoid greater losses, the tanks that stopped to fire fired randomly for a while, then put the tanks in reverse gear and tried to exit the battlefield.
The dozen or so tanks that had just passed where Yegor and the others were hiding and rushed towards the Soviet position knew through the on-board radio that the tanks following them had been ambushed by Soviet anti-tank crews. After paying the price, I had to choose to retreat.
The follow-up troops have already retreated. To go deep alone is to die. The dozen or so tanks on the march have also given up their plans to continue the attack. Some tanks directly put on reverse gear and retreated backwards, while others turned around in a circle on the battlefield and headed in the direction they came from.
When Yegor saw the enemy tanks returning, he shouted loudly to the left and right: "Everyone listen to my order, deal with the oncoming tanks first, and deal with the tanks in reverse gear last."
When the anti-tank crews heard Yegor's shout, they locked their targets one after another, and once they came into range, they decisively pulled the triggers and fired.
Five oncoming tanks were all wiped out in the first round of shooting by the anti-tank crews. The infantrymen responsible for covering the safety of the anti-tank soldiers used their assault rifles to eliminate the tank soldiers who escaped from the tanks.
"Comrades, next we should clean up those tanks that are in reverse gear." Yegor waved his fist and shouted excitedly: "Let none of them get back..."
Unexpectedly, before he finished shouting, a cannonball fell and exploded near him. He felt as if his head had been hit hard by something. Then he felt a little dizzy and slowly squatted down.
"Comrade Company Commander," a soldier beside him saw Yegor suddenly squatting down and quickly stepped forward to check. He happened to see a wisp of blood flowing down from Yegor's helmet and down his forehead. He was suddenly shocked. Shocked: "Are you injured?"
"It's okay." In order to prevent panic, Yegor waved his hand to the other party and said calmly: "A little skin injury, it doesn't matter."
The soldier took off Yegor's helmet without any explanation, took out a first-aid kit from his backpack, and bandaged Yegor: "No, comrade commander, the wound must be bandaged immediately, otherwise it will become infected."
"Comrade Company Commander," at this moment, a soldier in another pit shouted loudly to Yegor: "The enemy's infantry has appeared, less than 500 meters away from us."
Yegor's heart sank suddenly, thinking that his small army could torture the German tank troops, but if it encountered the German infantry, it might not be enough to fill the teeth of others. He quickly raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the German attack. Sure enough, he saw hundreds of infantrymen rushing toward his position with weapons in hand.
The tanks that were driving in reverse also stopped at a distance of more than 150 meters from the ambush position, turned their turrets, and aimed at Yegor's position.
"Comrade company commander," a soldier said in a panic, "our people cannot stop the enemy's infantry. I think we should retreat, right?"
"Retreat, where to retreat?" Yegor said with a wry smile: "As soon as we leave our current hiding place, the enemy can bombard us with tanks, artillery and machine gun fire. Do you think we can survive under the enemy's intensive firepower? Run back to the position five hundred meters away?"
After hearing what Yegor said, the soldier thought about it secretly and realized that his group was within the fire coverage of the German army. It was impossible to safely retreat to the position. Thinking of this, he seemed even more panicked: "Comrade Company Commander, do you think we are all going to die here?"
"Comrades," after Yegor finished speaking to the soldiers, several other soldiers in the crater turned their attention to him, feeling that it was necessary to stabilize the morale of the army to avoid unnecessary panic: "Although our situation looks very serious. It’s not good, but I believe that Captain Guchakov will never give up on us, and he will definitely find a way to save us.”
Although everyone couldn't believe Yegor's words, it was a glimmer of hope after all. They all hoped in their hearts that the company commander was right and that the battalion commander would soon find a way to save them.
When the German infantry was less than 200 meters away from Yegor and his hiding place, the German tanks in the distance opened fire. They used the artillery fire to suppress the Soviet troops in the crater, making them unable to prevent effective resistance.
Although the German tank guns could not directly hit the crater where Yegor and the others were hiding, the shrapnel flying in all directions prevented the soldiers from leaning out of the crater at will. And the shells that exploded around them kicked up countless amounts of soil into the crater, threatening to bury everyone alive.
Without Soviet firepower to stop them, the German infantry advanced very quickly. In just a few minutes, they reached a position less than a hundred meters away from Younger. With the two sides at such a close distance, the German tanks in the distance stopped shooting for fear of accidentally injuring their own people.
Seeing that the enemy's artillery fire had stopped, the infantrymen in the crater shook off the dirt from their bodies, leaned out and fired at the approaching German infantry with assault rifles, knocking them to the ground one after another.
Although the power of assault rifles is not small, because the number is too small, it is difficult for twenty or so guns to form an overwhelming firepower against the German army. Therefore, even if the Soviet soldiers kept shooting, the German infantry was still approaching their hiding place little by little.
At this critical moment, a strange sound suddenly came from the air. Soon, Yegor saw many familiar rockets drawing arcs in the air, and then landed in the German ranks and issued a Earth-shattering explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Yegor saw that the dense formation of German infantry was gone. There were only huge craters, as well as broken limbs and weapon parts still smoking inside.
"Comrade Company Commander," the anti-tank soldier saw that the enemy's infantry had been attacked by rockets and suffered heavy losses. He couldn't help shouting excitedly at Yegor: "You are right, Comrade Battalion Commander, you have really not forgotten us." , and ordered people to launch new rockets to provide us with fire cover."
As a company commander, Yegor must know much more than ordinary soldiers. As the troops have been fighting, the number of new rockets distributed by superiors is no more than thirty. Guchakov must have exhausted all his stocks during the bombardment against the Germans just now.
However, Guchakov's actions still touched Yegor's heart. It was Sokov's old subordinates who could make such a decision. If they changed to another unit, they might make the choice to sacrifice them in order to retain these precious rockets and watch them be wiped out by the Germans.
The German infantry who were bombarded by Soviet rockets did not dare to continue attacking Yegor and the others, but chose to retreat. They knew that the small Russian troops that ambushed their own tank troops had no other heavy weapons except anti-tank weapons. As long as they retreated to a few hundred meters away, they would be helpless against them.
Seeing that the enemy's artillery fire had stopped, the infantrymen in the crater shook off the dirt from their bodies, leaned out and fired at the approaching German infantry with assault rifles, knocking them to the ground one after another.
Although the power of assault rifles is not small, because the number is too small, it is difficult for twenty or so guns to form an overwhelming firepower against the German army. Therefore, even if the Soviet soldiers kept shooting, the German infantry was still approaching their hiding place little by little.
At this critical moment, a strange sound suddenly came from the air. Soon, Yegor saw many familiar rockets drawing arcs in the air, and then landed in the German ranks and issued a Earth-shattering explosion.
When the smoke cleared, Yegor saw that the dense formation of German infantry was gone. There were only huge craters, as well as broken limbs and weapon parts still smoking inside.
"Comrade Company Commander," the anti-tank soldier saw that the enemy's infantry had been attacked by rockets and suffered heavy losses. He couldn't help shouting excitedly at Yegor: "You are right, Comrade Battalion Commander, you have really not forgotten us." , and ordered people to launch new rockets to provide us with fire cover."
As a company commander, Yegor must know much more than ordinary soldiers. As the troops have been fighting, the number of new rockets distributed by superiors now does not exceed thirty. Guchakov must have exhausted all his stocks during the bombardment against the Germans just now.
However, Guchakov's actions still touched Yegor's heart. It was Sokov's old subordinates who could make such a decision. If they changed to another unit, they might make the choice to sacrifice them in order to retain these precious rockets and watch them be wiped out by the Germans.
The German infantry who were blinded by Soviet rockets did not dare to continue attacking Yegor and the others, but chose to retreat one after another. They knew that the small Russian troops that ambushed their own tank troops had no other heavy weapons except anti-tank weapons. As long as they retreated to a few hundred meters away, they would be helpless against them.