Responsible for protecting the security of the army headquarters are the 140th and 142nd Guards Infantry Regiments and the 99th Guards Artillery Regiment. After Chuikov learned about the security forces deployed near the headquarters, he smiled and said to Belyavsky: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Glazunov is so interesting. He is equivalent to Colonel Shugaev's personal guard." The 47th Division is used to protect us."
But Belyavsky was obviously not as optimistic as he was: "Comrade Commander, although two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment sound like a lot in name, don't forget that this division independently fought against the Germans on the landing site two days ago. Attack, the casualties of the troops are not small."
When Chuikov heard this, it seemed that this was indeed the case. The 47th Guards Division independently resisted the attacks of the four German divisions. Although it crushed the enemy's attacks time and time again, the price paid was nearly half of the casualties. The troops currently serving as guards are nominally two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. In fact, the number of troops that can be used should not exceed one regiment.
But on second thought, my location should not be the focus of the enemy's attack in the coming days. Deploying the remnants of the 47th Guards Division here to guard them is actually a disguised form of allowing them to rest and recuperate.
Although Chuikov acted indifferently, Belyavsky did not dare to take it lightly. He specifically called the commander of the tank brigade on the left bank and asked the other party to send a tank battalion to strengthen the defense of the headquarters.
Regarding Belyavsky's arrangement, Chuikov just smiled and said nothing. In fact, he acquiesced in the other party's arrangement.
Early the next morning, the headquarters phone rang suddenly.
Belyavsky picked up the phone, and the voice of the commander of the 140th Guards Regiment came from the receiver: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation is bad, a large number of German tanks are rushing towards the location of our regiment. "
After hearing the regimental commander's report, Belyavsky was thinking in his mind: "We should hold the position, blow up the enemy's tanks, destroy the enemy's infantry, and prevent them from getting close to our defense line."
He took a deep breath and tried his best to tell the other party in a calm tone: "Comrade Colonel, don't rush to attack the German tanks. Let them drive into the minefield. They will definitely be blown up by the mines we planted. If they get through by chance, If you find a minefield, use anti-tank guns to entertain them and use direct fire to destroy them. As for the infantry following the tanks, use heavy machine guns to shoot at them. Do you understand?"
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the rumble of gunfire from the receiver. He couldn't help but asked in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, what happened to you there?"
"German tanks fired at us," the Guards commander replied, "the shells landed right next to my headquarters and exploded."
"This is a normal phenomenon." Belyavsky said calmly: "Before every attack, the Germans like to launch aimless shelling towards our positions. But you have to use the German tanks to Keep an eye on them and don't let them break through your defense line. You must know that behind you is the army headquarters."
After Belyavsky put down the phone, he reported the intelligence of the 140th Guards Regiment to Chuikov. After hearing this, Chuikov leaned over and looked at the map, then raised his head and said to Belyavsky: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you immediately call the 142nd Guards Regiment and tell them that the enemy's tanks and infantry are moving toward his right flank. He launched a charge in the friendly defense area of the enemy's territory and asked him to prepare artillery and light and heavy machine guns to support friendly forces with flanking firepower."
"Okay, Comrade Commander." Beleyavsky said: "I will contact the 142nd Guards Regiment immediately."
There were 19 German tanks rushing towards the defense line of the 140th Guards Regiment, followed by about a battalion of infantry. After the tanks arrived at the minefield, three unlucky tanks immediately ran over the anti-tank mines planted by the Soviet army. They exploded immediately, and the wheels with broken tracks were idling in place. But the remaining tanks passed the minefield smoothly and continued to rush towards the position of the 140th Guards Regiment.
An anti-tank gun was deployed in the trench of the forward position. When the gunner, Sergeant Zarov, waited for the German tank to approach a distance of 300 meters, he decisively waved his hand downwards and at the same time roared: "Fire!"
As the order was given, the gunner decisively pulled the gun rope. The shell hit a tank at the front, and a ball of fire suddenly burst into flames. Soon, the tank that had been shot was enveloped in flames and black smoke, and burned where it stopped.
Zharov couldn't help but be overjoyed to see the first result. He quickly called the loader to reload, and in a very short period of time, he fired again at the approaching German tank. This time, my luck was a little worse. The shell flew past a tank's shell, landed in the open space behind, and exploded. A column of black mud rose into the sky.
Although he failed to hit the German tank, Zharov was not discouraged and ordered to load and fire again. This time the shot was much more accurate than last time, hitting the turret of the German tank directly, turning it into a burning torch on the battlefield again.
"Well done!" Seeing that the anti-tank guns under his command destroyed two German tanks one after another, Zharov waved his fist excitedly and then shouted: "Load and shoot!"
After completing the loading, the soldiers of the artillery crew fired quickly and successfully hit the third tank. Unfortunately, the location of the gun crew was also exposed. Several traveling German tanks stopped and pointed their muzzles at the location of the gun crew.
Facing the muzzle of the German tank, the members of the artillery crew did not choose to retreat. Instead, they continued to load artillery shells and fired at the approaching German tank. After they destroyed two more German tanks, a shell landed next to the anti-tank gun and exploded. When the smoke cleared, the aimer, loader and gunner all fell in a mess around the destroyed anti-tank gun.
Facing the advancing German tanks, in addition to Zarov's anti-tank gun crew, there were also many anti-tank men using anti-tank rifles. They used anti-tank guns to shoot at the German tanks in the trenches.
Seeing the soldiers around him becoming panicked as the German tanks approached, Zuyev, an anti-tank rifle holding an anti-tank rifle, shouted to his comrades around him: "Brothers, it's nothing special! Although the enemy tanks are powerful, , but we are better than it!”
There were eight German tanks approaching the position at this moment, followed by a large number of infantry. The guardsmen on the position were not in a hurry to fire, but wanted to wait for the enemy to get closer so that they could eliminate the enemy more accurately.
When the tank was less than a hundred meters away from the trench, the anti-tank guns, machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles on the position fired at the same time, unleashing fierce firepower on the enemy.
After carefully aiming at a moving tank, Zuyev decisively pulled the trigger. The armor-piercing round penetrated the cover of the lookout, killing the driver inside and causing the tank to stop moving forward. Seeing this, Zuyev took the opportunity to fire a second shot. This time it hit the fuel tank and caused the tank to burst into flames.
The tank crewman, covered in fire, emerged from the hatch and stumbled towards the back. But how could the infantrymen on the position let them escape easily, so two machine guns started shooting at them, killing them all soon.
While the infantry was killing the escaping tank crews, Zuyev used the same clever tactics to kill a second German tank. He didn't bother to check the results of the battle, and pointed his gun at the third German tank, but this tank was traveling very fast. As soon as he opened it, the tank rushed in front of him. Zuyev hurriedly The gun was taken from the parapet and laid down at the bottom of the trench.
As soon as the German tank rolled over the trench, he jumped up and fired a shot into the back of the tank, but missed the mailbox. He quickly loaded another armor-piercing bullet, aimed at the tank's fuel tank and fired. This time he was lucky. He burst the fuel tank with one shot, causing the German tank to start burning.
Seeing Zuyev kill three German tanks in a row, the surrounding infantrymen suddenly became more morale. They picked up their weapons and shot at the charging enemies. After a few minutes, the attacking enemy retreated. Next to the burning tanks, hundreds of corpses of officers and soldiers were left.
After the failure of the offensive in the defense zone of the 140th Guards Regiment, the German army withdrew to its starting position to rest.
Just two hours later, the German army bombarded the front lines of the 140th and 142nd Guards Regiments with fierce artillery fire, preparing to clear the minefields laid by the Guards Division and open up a path for the tanks to attack.
After the bombardment ended, German tanks and infantry launched another offensive. However, their main attack direction this time was no longer the defense area of the 140th Regiment, but turned to the position of the 142nd Regiment.
Belyavsky received a call from the commander of the 142nd Regiment: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy has launched an attack on our regiment's position."
"Don't panic, comrade commander." Beleyavsky said into the microphone: "Put the German tanks into the minefield, and then aim and shoot directly with the anti-tank gun. Don't panic, you are not fighting alone, we are I will find a way to support you.”
After putting down the phone, Belyavsky reported to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has launched another attack on the position of the 142nd Guards Regiment. Do you think, how can we help them?"
Chuikov thought for a while, and then told Belyavsky: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't we still have artillery deployed on the right bank of the Vistula River? Let's order those artillery to block and fire at the attacking enemy. Don't let them." They are close to our military positions."
But after hearing this, Belyavsky shook his head and said: "Comrade Commander, due to the cover of the woods, our artillery deployed on the right bank cannot carry out blocking fire at the attacking enemy."
"Has the tank battalion of the tank brigade arrived?" Chuikov remembered that during the battle to defend Stalingrad, his situation was extremely critical. He just found a few tanks and asked the infantry to follow these tanks to attack the attacking enemy. counterattack and thus defend their position.
"I have already called and asked." Belyavsky replied: "The tanks are still on the way, and it will take half an hour at the earliest to arrive."
"Before the tanks arrive, let the 140th Regiment support the 142nd Regiment, and the enemy must not be allowed to break through our defense line." Chuikov was worried that Belyavsky would not realize the seriousness of the problem, and specifically emphasized: "You must know "Our headquarters is only five hundred meters away from the front. Once the position is breached, the headquarters will be directly exposed to the enemy and will be forced to relocate."
When Belyavsky called the commander of the 140th Regiment, the commander also said anxiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the line of defense now attacked by the Germans is not only the 142nd Regiment, but also ours. We are also under attack from the enemy, with tanks and infantry rushing towards our positions."
Perhaps hearing the dissatisfaction in Belyavsky's tone, the regiment leader quickly added: "Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will try my best to support the 142nd Regiment on the left."
Belyavsky once again contacted the headquarters of the 142nd Regiment and asked straight to the point: "Comrade Commander, how is the situation there? Where are the German tanks?"
"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," the head of the 142nd Regiment reported loudly: "They are passing through the minefield. After the shelling just now, there are very few unexploded mines in the minefield. Our minefield cannot stop them at all. Very soon. It’s possible that they’ll rush up right away.”
As soon as the regiment leader said this, a soldier ran in from outside and reported to him: "Comrade regiment leader, I was sent by the Second Company to report the situation."
The second company is the most forward-deployed unit in the regiment. When the regiment leader heard what the soldier said, he couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart, and then asked: "How is the situation there?"
"Comrade commander," the soldier replied breathlessly, "the Germans have rushed into the trenches, and the company commander is leading the soldiers to fight with the enemy with bayonets. He sent me here specifically to ask for help."
"Hold, you must hold!" the regiment leader said to the soldiers: "Go back and tell your company commander that you must hold on resolutely. I will send troops to reinforce you immediately. Do you understand?"
The soldiers left with the reinforcements assigned to them by the regiment leader. When they rushed back to their positions, the battle between the two sides entered a stalemate. When it comes to bayonet fighting, the German army, which is keen on outputting firepower, is naturally no match for the Soviet commanders and fighters, but their numbers are superior. Therefore, no matter how skilled the Soviet commanders and fighters are in bayonet fighting, they will not be able to gain the upper hand in a short period of time. Fortunately, the reinforcements arrived in time, and after a melee, they successfully drove out all the German troops who entered the trenches.
Although the German infantry was repelled, the German tanks were getting closer and closer to the trenches. Second company commander Bulba quickly ordered the anti-tank crews in the trenches to use anti-tank rifles to destroy the rushing German tanks.
However, the German army had too many tanks, and the anti-tank crews were simply too busy. Seeing this, Bulba quickly picked up a bundle of cluster grenades, rushed towards the German tank, pulled the fuse, threw it directly, and then threw himself into a nearby bomb crater.
After a loud bang, the German tank was disabled and burned in place. The tank crew in the tank was either stunned by the explosion or killed, and could not escape from the tank at all.
As soon as Bulba finished blowing up the tank, he found another heavy tank rushing towards him. Seeing that the situation was not good, Bulba quickly jumped into the crater next to him, picked up a bundle of cluster grenades from the bodies of his comrades inside, and rushed towards the German tank again.
But he was unlucky this time. When he was still more than twenty steps away from the tank, he was hit by the tank's on-board machine gun and fell on his back into the crater. But Bulba did not sacrifice, but gritted his teeth and crawled towards the German tank step by step. When a German tank passed over him, he did not hesitate to fire a cluster grenade and die with the tank.
