Red Moscow

  Chapter 230 Attack (2)

  The commanders and fighters rushed to a place seven or eight meters away from the position and stopped, and threw the smoking grenade into the trench. After the smoke of the explosion rose, soldiers with submachine guns rushed to the trenches first, shot at the active German soldiers inside, knocked them down, and jumped into the trenches. The soldiers with rifles also jumped into the trenches, and as soon as they found the German soldiers crawling out of the void, they stabbed them to death with bayonets without hesitation.

  In the trenches of the Soviet army in the distance, there were sober German soldiers who put their guns on the edge of the trench, ready to shoot at the commanders and fighters who rushed over. But before they could pull the trigger, the tanks following the infantry fired, blasting them to pieces.

  In just ten minutes, the commanders and fighters of the 1137th regiment captured the second line of defense of the German army. Most of the German soldiers stationed here were killed by the combined attack of Soviet infantry and tanks before they could react.

   Successfully captured the outer positions of the German army. Taking advantage of the time when the infantry commanders and fighters regrouped in the trenches, the tanks that had completed the covering task were reactivated and turned around and headed north.

Zhukov, who was watching the battle from a distance, saw that the infantry had reassembled and rushed towards the city, while the tank brigade was heading north. He quickly put down his binoculars and asked Rokossovsky curiously: "Rokossov Comrade Ski, what the **** is going on? Why didn't the tank brigade follow the infantry into the city?"

"Comrade General, this is what Major Sokov meant." Rokossovsky quickly replied, "He said that the vision of the tanks in the city would be limited. They are the target of tankers, so they told me in advance that during the street fighting in the city, it is enough to have the tank battalion and artillery battalion of the division to provide support. You see," he pointed to the distance with his hand, "their tanks Aren't the artillery and artillery moving towards the city?"

  Zhukov looked in the direction of Rokossovsky's finger, and sure enough, he saw several tanks and an equal number of trucks towing artillery, heading towards the city along the uneven road. He put down the binoculars, looked at Rokossovsky and asked, "Comrade Rokossovsky, I would like to ask, where is the tank brigade going?"

"General Orlov's infantry army has moved to the north of the city after the attack failed." Rokossovsky heard Zhukov's question and quickly explained: "I ordered the tank brigade to rush over to join them If the attack of the 31st Guards Division fails, they will attack again from the north."

"It's very thoughtful." Zhukov waited for Rokossovsky to finish speaking, nodded his head and said: "Now that the 31st Guards Division has successfully rushed into the city, I believe that Major Sokov will be able to attack the city in the shortest possible time." Take this city within a short period of time. By the way, have you ever thought about what to do if the enemy is unable to hold on and wants to abandon the city?"

"Don't worry, Comrade General." Rokossovsky smiled and said to Zhukov: "There is General Orlov's infantry army in the north of the city, and the river is in the south. If the German army wants to escape, they can only choose the west. I have ordered The 324th Infantry Division is deployed in that direction, and as soon as the Germans leave the city, they will be surrounded by our troops."

Zhukov raised his binoculars again, looked at the wreckage of the destroyed Soviet tanks on the battlefield, and the corpses of soldiers that had not been taken away, and said in his mouth: "I hope Sokov's troops can drive the enemy out of the city as soon as possible. "

  Seeing his troops entering the city one after another, Sokov once thought of moving the headquarters into the city, but he quickly rejected this plan. Although his troops captured the outer positions of the German army so easily, such a result was achieved entirely because the enemy was caught off guard. Presumably the German army has recovered by this moment, and their counterattack is coming soon.

  As soon as I thought of this, I saw a German reconnaissance plane appearing above the city. It lowered its altitude and hovered over the positions that were still smoking to check the progress of the battle below. Seeing this scene, Potukin exclaimed: "Damn, the Germans are ready to start shelling!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, two shells landed in the middle of the two positions occupied by the Soviet army, but they were still far away from the marching commanders and fighters, and no one was injured. Potukin explained from the side: "Comrade Commander, this is the German artillery calibrator. It is correcting the shooting parameters for the artillery. The enemy's artillery shells will soon follow."

"Don't worry, Comrade Chief of Staff." It is not the first time Sokov has been on the battlefield, and he is very familiar with the Germans: "If there are German artillery observers nearby, their shelling will start soon. But since the reconnaissance plane is making corrections, the German artillery will fire two more shots to further determine the location of the shelling."

   Not long after, two more shells flew from a distance. The bombing point this time was not far from the marching 1135th regiment. Sokov saw through the binoculars that many soldiers bent down instinctively to avoid the enemy's shelling. He put down the binoculars and said to Potukin: "Wait a little longer, the German army will carry out heavy shelling on the marching 1135th regiment, I hope Bindasov's troops can move quickly, otherwise they will suffer a lot of losses." .”

  The roar of the aircraft engine came from the sky. Hearing this sound, Sokov was taken aback for a moment, and then said in surprise: "Our air force is here!"

  Hearing what Sokov said, Potukin asked in surprise: "Comrade commander, can you distinguish the engine roar of our aircraft from that of the German aircraft?"

   "No." Sokov shook his head and said, "But I heard the sound of the engine came from behind us, and it definitely can't be a German plane."

  As soon as the large-scale German bombardment began, the Soviet fleet arrived over the city. First, the fighter planes stepped forward to drive away the German reconnaissance planes; then the bomber fleet flew into the depths of the German army to bombard the German artillery who were bombarding frantically.

   Soon, the German bombardment came to an abrupt end, and the commanders and fighters of the 1135th Regiment, who were suppressed by the enemy's artillery fire, got up from the ground one after another and trotted towards the city.

   "Comrade Commander," seeing the commanders and fighters of the 1137th and 1135th regiments entering the city successively, Potukin asked Sokov for instructions: "Do you need to move the headquarters to the city?"

Sokov waited for him to finish, waved his hand, and said, "Comrade Chief of Staff, there are two regiment commanders in the city, Pavel and Bindasov, why are you worried? Wait until they can't take the city." It will not be too late for us to rush to support them."

   "Can you come in!" The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, the head of the 1139th regiment, came from outside the door.

  Sokov turned to face the door, and said to the outside: "Come in, Lieutenant Colonel Ajik."

  After Ajik entered the door, Sokov guessed from the expression on the other party's face that he must have come to ask for a fight, so he asked knowingly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what do you want to do when you come to my place?"

   "It's like this, Comrade Commander." Ajik said anxiously: "You see that the 1137th and 1135th regiments have both entered the city. When will our regiment enter the city?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I have already told you that the task of your regiment is to be a reserve team." After waiting for the other party to finish speaking, Sokov emphasized to him: "If the attack in the city does not go well, I will immediately send you Into the battle. Until you get my order, you should stay quietly in your regiment command post."

Ajik came here to look for Sokov, mainly because he saw that the other two regiments had rushed into the city, and even the artillery battalion and tank battalion followed. He felt very anxious, so he took the initiative to ask Sokov for a fight . But unexpectedly, his request was actually rejected by Sokov.

  He hesitated for a moment, then said: "Comrade Commander, I saw the battle of the 1137th Regiment just now in my own command post. I think that if we give them more troops, the battle will go more smoothly."

"Lieutenant Colonel Ajik," seeing that Ajik was always pestering himself and wanted to lead his troops into battle immediately, he said seriously: "Zizdra is a medium-sized city, there is no need to invest too many troops, otherwise it will cause chaos of."

  Ajik heard Sokov say this, and said with disappointment on his face: "Comrade Commander, may I ask, how long do we have to wait before the troops can go into battle?"

"I can't tell you the specific time." Sokov looked at the smoky positions in the distance, and said to Ajik with a wry smile: "Only when the two regiments entered the city did not make any achievements for a long time, can I tell you?" Will put your regiment into position, understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." Ajik knew that no matter what he said, Sokov would not change his mind, so he quickly straightened his body and stabilized: "Are you allowed to return to the army? I need to go back and introduce the current situation to the commanders and fighters at all levels."

   "Go!" Sokov waved to Ajik, then raised the binoculars again, and looked towards the city in the distance.

Before the offensive started, Sokov once talked with Pavel alone, saying that as soon as the troops entered the city, he would hand over the divisional tank battalion and artillery battalion to him, and explained in detail how the tanks should be deployed in the city. way to proceed. Pavel led his troops into the city and occupied several buildings. After choosing one of them as the headquarters, he ordered the troops to temporarily stop advancing and wait patiently for the arrival of the tank battalion and artillery battalion.

   Soon, several tanks driving from outside the city stopped outside his command post. A captain wearing a tank uniform jumped out of the tank and asked the guarding soldiers, "Where is your regiment commander?"

  The soldier pointed to a two-story house next to him and said, "The regiment command post is right there!"

   After thanking the soldiers, the tank captain walked quickly into the building, and under the guidance of the officers and soldiers, he came to Pavel's temporary command post. In a room on the second floor, he saw Pavel standing in front of a window and looking into the distance with his binoculars. He quickly raised his hand and saluted, and reported according to the regulations: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, Commander of the Tank Battalion Captain Messara is reporting to you, our battalion has been ordered to accept your command, please instruct!"

  Pavel put down the binoculars, waved to Messala who was standing at the door, and signaled him to come to him: "Comrade Captain, come here!"

  Captain Messara walked up to Pavel, kept his head held high, and quietly waited for the order from the other party. Unexpectedly, after waiting for a while, I heard Pavel say: "Comrade Captain, come and take a look. Since Zizdra is a medium-sized city with a small population, the buildings in the city are quite sparsely distributed. So I It is intended that your tank battalion, together with infantry, advance along the streets towards the city center and capture the German headquarters in the city."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, I think you should understand that the field of view of a tank is not wide. If it is fighting in a city, the field of vision will be even more restricted." From Pavel's tone, Mesala heard that the other party intended to let her Going to open the way, he quickly explained: "Without infantry cover, when our tanks advance along the street, they are easily killed by German anti-tank fighters."

   "I know, of course I know." Pavel said with a smile: "In order to give full play to the role of tanks in urban street battles, Comrade Division Commander is going to let your tanks and my infantry cooperate with each other."

   "Coordinated operations?!" After repeating Pavel's words, Mesara asked tentatively, "I want to ask, how do the two sides cooperate?"

"As I said just now, Zizdra is a medium-sized city, and the number of buildings is definitely not comparable to that of big cities like Moscow and Leningrad." Pavel said with a smile: "After increasing the German defense After the difficulty, it also reduced our offensive pressure."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Seeing that Pavel had been talking for a long time without getting to the point, Messala asked impatiently, "You haven't said yet, how should our tanks and infantry cooperate?"

"The streets in the city are more than 30 meters wide, and you can move forward with two vehicles in parallel." Pavel tried hard to recall what Sokov said to him, and repeated it to Messala: "Two tanks are During the march, the tank on the right has its muzzle pointing to the left; the tank on the left has its muzzle pointing to the right. In the middle of the two tanks, there will be a squad of infantry who will move with you and destroy the buildings hiding on both sides of the road. German anti-tank fighters inside."

   "The infantry that moves with us, are they moving behind the tank?"

"No, they will be in the middle of the two tanks, moving forward with you." Pavel once again gave a negative answer to Messala's question: "As you said just now, the tank's field of vision is very narrow, especially If you are in a city, your field of vision will be affected even more, so the infantry who are moving with you will march in the middle of the two tanks. In this way, the tanks on both sides can block stray bullets from nearby for them; and the tanks, Because of the retaliation of the infantry, there is no need to worry about being attacked by German anti-tank fighters."

  (end of this chapter)