Red Moscow

  Chapter 165 Offensive battle in a new direction (Part 2)

  The troops involved in the attack on the town of Marklaki, in addition to Sokov's Istria Battalion, also had a full regiment of the 97th Infantry Division, the 322nd Infantry Division and the 11th Guards Infantry Division.

  After half an hour of artillery preparation, before the smoke cleared, the troops of the 97th Infantry Division charged towards the town.

Sokov, who was staying at the starting position of the attack, stood in his observation post, raised his binoculars, and looked at the friendly soldiers wearing khaki short cotton uniforms and holding rifles, forming a dense formation in the white snow , As he strode towards the town that was still billowing with thick smoke, the muscles on Sokov's face couldn't help twitching violently. He was thinking in his heart: Why use such a dense formation? Doesn't the commander know that the Germans only need to use a few machine guns to knock down soldiers in pieces?

  When the attacking troops were more than 500 meters away from the town, the German army who stood firm on the town opened fire. Mortar shells landed in the densely packed formations of the Soviet army, raising columns of smoke and knocking one soldier after another to the ground. But as soon as there was a gap in the queue in front, the soldiers behind immediately stepped up to fill it up, and the whole team kept moving towards the town step by step.

Seeing the soldiers falling down one after another under the German artillery fire, Sokov couldn't help but gasp, thinking who is the commander of this unit, who actually let the soldiers charge in such a dense formation, isn't it? Let them die?

  When the soldiers were less than a hundred meters away from the town, a row of large and small flames suddenly flashed in the direction of the town. The advancing soldiers seemed to hit an invisible wall, and a large number fell down with a crackling sound. Faced with such intensive firepower from the German army, the most correct approach should be to lie down on the spot and shoot back, and wait for an opportunity to attack the town. But the commander who led the team didn't know what to do. Not only did the soldiers not lie down on the spot, but they even accelerated and continued to charge forward, as if they wanted to brave the enemy's bullets and rush into the town.

"Idiot, it's an idiot." Seeing such a pig teammate, Sokov was so angry that he punched the dirt wall with his fist, and cursed: "Based on this way of fighting, even if everyone is dead , and don’t even think about rushing into the town.”

"What's the matter, Comrade Battalion Commander." Belkin, who was following the offensive route with several company commanders, heard Sukov's scolding, and couldn't help but walked over and asked curiously: "What happened, let you Such a big fire?"

   "Comrade Deputy Battalion Commander," Sokov angrily shoved the binoculars into Belkin's hand, and said angrily, "Look, how do our friendly troops fight?"

  Belkin raised his binoculars, looked in the direction of the fighting town for a while, and then said: "The German army's firepower is fierce, but our soldiers are very tenacious. They are continuing to charge despite the enemy's hail of bullets."

"Stupid, it's downright stupid." Sokov, who was standing in front of the table, slapped the table vigorously, and shouted hysterically: "If any of my subordinates dare to attack, let the soldiers line up With such a dense formation, I rushed forward and let the Germans use it as a target, and I shot him without saying a word."

  The company commanders around the table, seeing Sokov's inexplicable outburst, all looked at each other in blank dismay, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, Vanya was smarter. He quickly came to the lookout, raised his binoculars and looked in the direction of the town, and saw clearly the **** battle that was going on. With Vanya taking the lead, the rest of the company commanders also used binoculars to watch the battle of the friendly troops in front of the lookout.

Sokov waited for all the company commanders to finish reading, and then said: "Commanders, in order to win, it is inevitable to make sacrifices. But if, like friendly troops, they wear conspicuous military uniforms and line up densely, It's a bit too stupid to rush over and let the Germans hit the target. What's even more exasperating is that when encountering the enemy's intensive firepower, when the commander didn't order the soldiers to lie down on the spot and fight with the enemy Instead of shooting at each other, they ordered them to speed up their charge in an attempt to rush into the town against the enemy's hail of bullets."

  Sokov paused for a moment when he said this, in order to observe the expressions on the faces of the company commanders. After seeing a disapproving expression on someone's face, he said seriously: "Everyone has seen how fierce the firepower of the German army is. For such a density of firepower, using human lives to fill it is the most stupid way. The soldiers of the friendly army are not fighting, but being slaughtered, and their sacrifice is meaningless."

   "Comrade battalion commander, what should we do if it's our battalion's turn to attack?" Andrei waited for Sokov to finish speaking, and immediately asked: "Can you give us a clear instruction?"

  If it was just in this time and space, Sokov might have asked everyone to adopt the "three-three system" assault tactic, but after practice, he found that in order to skillfully use this tactic, cooperation with each other is very important. After several large-scale replenishments in the battalion, before the soldiers got to know each other well, comrades around them died or were injured and left the army. Under such circumstances, the use of the "three-three system" assault tactics will not only have limited effects, but will also cause unnecessary confusion.

Regarding Andrei's question, Sokov was silent for a while, and then slowly said: "When attacking, we should adopt a loose formation. When encountering enemy fire interception, our machine guns and rear artillery fire should immediately attack the enemy. The firepower is suppressed so that our infantry can continue to advance..."

  After explaining the offensive tactics to the company commanders, Sokov waved at them and said, "Okay, let's all go back to our respective companies. Maybe it will be our turn to attack in a while."

After the company commanders left, Sokov felt as though all his strength had been emptied. He sat down with his hands on the edge of the table, stared at the map in front of him in a daze, and thought in his heart that if it was his turn to attack, he should choose the main direction of attack. What position?

   "Comrade Battalion Commander," Belkin, who was standing in front of the lookout, suddenly turned to Sokov and said, "Come and see, the friendly troops have already withdrawn."

  Hearing what Belkin said, Sokov quickly got up and came to the lookout, took the binoculars and looked into the distance. I saw the soldiers of the 97th Infantry Division retreating sparsely. Some soldiers supporting the wounded fell far behind. If the Germans hadn't stopped shooting, they might all be in danger of dying. In front of the town, there are piles of Soviet soldiers who died in their own postures.

  Sokov put down the binoculars, sighed, and said: "The friendly attack has failed, and it seems that it will be our turn soon."

  (end of this chapter)