Red Moscow

  Chapter 273 Partial Counterattack

When the Soviet air force bombarded the German artillery indiscriminately, von Drebel's heart was bleeding. You must know that these artillery were all the artillery he could mobilize so far. The aerial bombs exploded into piles of scrap iron.

   Finally seeing German fighter jets appearing in the sky, after knocking down two of the Russian planes that bombed and strafed their own artillery, Von Drebel couldn't help applauding. He even thought in his heart: After the battle, he must wear the Iron Cross to these brave pilots with his own hands.

   But the good times didn't last long. With the emergence of Soviet fighter jets, the situation was reversed again. The German fighter jets, which had an advantage in numbers, were actually shot down by five Soviet fighter planes, and the other three were also damaged, almost destroying the entire army. What's more, after the German fighter jets withdrew from the battlefield, the Soviet bombers bombed the assembly area of ​​the tank troops. In addition, the artillery in the city of Kursk was also constantly shelling, causing more than 20 tanks in the division to Tanks turned into burning torches.

   After finally waiting for the Soviet bomber formation to fly away from the battlefield, von Drebel hurriedly ordered the tanks to withdraw from the battlefield in order to prevent the entire tank army from being wiped out. Two anti-tank artillery companies blocked the Soviet tanks rushing up.

  When the air force began to bomb the staging area of ​​German tanks, Alitai led his tank company to launch a charge. Alitai's command tank took the lead and rushed to the forefront of the company. When there were more than 300 meters away from the temporary German position, Alitai suddenly heard a loud noise, and then the entire tank body shook. According to his many years of combat experience, he was attacked by German anti-tank guns. Fortunately, this 37mm anti-tank gun cannot penetrate the frontal armor of the T-34 tank at such a long distance.

   Without waiting for Alitai's order, the driver had already stopped the tank, ready to let the gunners destroy the German anti-tank guns. The tanker slowly turned the turret, trying to find the position of the enemy's anti-tank guns. At this moment, another shell flew over and accurately hit the left side of the turret. Fortunately, this shell still failed to penetrate the armor of the tank.

  The tanker quickly turned the turret to the left again, searching for the anti-tank gun that had just fired. Before he could find it, several anti-tank armor-piercing shells flew from different directions. Some fell to the ground and exploded, setting off a cloud of mud that soared into the sky; while some hit the tank body and became ricochets because they could not penetrate the armor.

  Although Alitai knew in his heart that the armor-piercing projectiles produced by the German anti-tank guns were hardly a threat to his own tanks. However, it was annoying that the shells were always clanging against the armor plate. He quickly ordered the gunner: "Find the target quickly, and then destroy it."

   Not only Alitai's tank was attacked by the German anti-tank guns, but the rest of the tanks also encountered the same problem. German anti-tank gunners hid in different positions and fired at the charging Soviet tanks at the same time. Although this kind of anti-tank gun, known as the "stepping stone", cannot penetrate the armor of the T-34 tank, it can make them be cautious and dare not drive at the fastest speed, thereby buying precious time for the retreating German tanks.

   Cooperating with the attack of the tank company was the third company commanded by Guchakov. Seeing that the tanks covering the infantry's charge were attacked by the German anti-tank guns and had to stop, he couldn't help but feel anxious. Without the cooperation of the tanks, his infantry company, which was not equipped with heavy weapons, would be hit by a German counterattack. There is a danger of total annihilation.

  After he hid in a safe place and observed for a while, he found that although German shells kept hitting Soviet tanks, they never destroyed a single tank. He rose from his hiding place, raised his pistol above his head, and shouted, "Forward, comrades!"

   "Comrade Company Commander," a new soldier lying on the side said to him in a panic, "The German artillery is still firing. Let's wait for the tanks to charge up."

"Don't worry, comrade soldier." Guchakov leaned over and grabbed the soldier by the collar, lifted him from the ground, and then said to him: "The enemy's artillery is attacking our tanks with armor-piercing bullets. , won’t cause any harm to us.” After speaking, he pushed **** the new soldier’s back, “Don’t dawdle, rush up!”

   "Follow me, comrades!" Guchakov was afraid that the soldiers would still have scruples, so after shouting, he took the lead and rushed forward.

   Seeing that the company commander had already taken the lead in the charge, the soldiers stood up straight, put the butts of their guns on their stomachs, shouted loudly, and rushed forward behind Guchakov.

  Andre, who was watching the battle in his observation post, first saw that the tank company was blocked by German anti-tank guns and had to stop. But after a while, he saw the infantry charging behind the tank, got up from the ground, jumped over the stationary tank, and rushed towards the enemy's position.

When he saw this scene, Andre couldn't help but want to curse, he said that Lieutenant Guchakov is really unreliable, he actually led the infantry to charge the German artillery, as long as the enemy fired a few shots at you, they would Can blow you to death. But the next scene surprised him. He found that the charging troops were not bombarded by the enemy as he imagined, but rushed to the artillery position smoothly, and then used grenades, submachine guns, rifles, and the enemy The artillery launched a close combat.

   After being blocked by anti-tank guns, the tank company stopped in place and fired at the enemy's anti-tank gun positions. However, due to the well-concealed German anti-tank guns, the shelling of Soviet tanks achieved limited results. At this moment, seeing that the infantry rushed up actively and easily wiped out the enemy's anti-tank gun positions, they reactivated to cover the infantry's rush forward.

  The rear of the German army, in addition to two anti-tank companies, also has an understaffed infantry company. Seeing that the Soviet tanks were stopped by their own anti-tank guns, they seized the time to dig individual bunkers, trying to build a temporary line of defense here to cover the retreat of the main force.

   Before they could build the fortifications, the Soviet tanks came rumbling again. The German company commander hurriedly ordered the machine gunners to shoot at the tanks rushing towards them. The dense bullets jingled on the armor plate, but the Soviet tanks still approached the German individual bunker unaffected.

  The German company commander saw that in a minute or two, the tracks of the Soviet tanks would crush the unfinished individual bunkers, so he gritted his teeth and ordered the soldiers beside him to charge up with cluster grenades to blow up the tanks. According to his thinking, although the T-34 tank of the Soviet army is behind the armor plate, the field of vision inside the tank is very limited. As long as his soldiers rush up from the blind spot of the tanker's field of vision, they can successfully blow up the tank.

Two German soldiers each held a bundle of cluster grenades, got up from the ground, and rushed towards the Soviet tank with their waist down. After they tried to get close, they threw the grenade into the middle of the track, so that they could blow through the weak tank. belly, so as to achieve the purpose of destroying the tank.

   Unexpectedly, when they were still seven or eight meters away from the tank, suddenly several Soviet soldiers leaned out from behind the tank, and they fired at the German soldiers with rifles and submachine guns in their hands. After beating the two soldiers holding the grenades in two circles, they fell to the ground, and the grenades they were holding also fell far away.

Seeing that his soldiers could not get close to the Soviet tanks at all, the German company commander knew that it was meaningless to fight any longer, so he gave the order to retreat: "Retreat, retreat immediately!" Without these simple bunkers, when exposed to unobstructed open land, it will become the target of Soviet commanders and fighters.

Standing in the bell tower, Sokov saw that the enemy was retreating, but only Alitai's tank company and a small infantry were the only troops following him, so he picked up the phone and asked Andrei: "Captain Andrei, the enemy You have already retreated, why don't you pursue it? Are you putting so many troops on the ground, are you waiting to give birth?"

Hearing Sokov speak to himself in such a stern tone, Andrei said a little aggrieved: "Comrade Brigadier, there are only about 700 people left in our battalion. If we attack across the board, if we are attacked by the German army, I am worried." won’t be able to hold their ground.”

"You can only make the enemy more confused by attacking across the board. In this way, they will lose the power to counterattack." Sokov said into the microphone: "I order you to attack across the board immediately. If you miss the opportunity, we will You will be dismissed."

Belkin waited for Sokov to put down the phone and said to him: "Comrade Brigadier, you are right. Due to the bombing of our air force and artillery, the enemy has completely fallen into chaos. Now is a good time to counterattack." As for the order given by Sokov, Andrei did not dare to disobey, he immediately ordered a counterattack across the board, and launched a pursuit to the fleeing enemy.

"The strength of the third battalion is still too weak." Belkin looked at the commanders and fighters who jumped out of the position and charged forward, and asked tentatively: "The direction that the first battalion and the second battalion are defending has not found any movement of the enemy for the time being. , do you think we can draw troops from them to participate in the counterattack?"

"No," Sokov shook his head and said, "Even if the other directions are calm, we can't just use the first and second battalions. When they are transferred away, when the troops are empty, they will attack unexpectedly. If that happens, our defense line will collapse in an instant, and it will become an impossible task to hold Kursk."

Although Belgin thought that what Sokov said was reasonable, he still said unwillingly: "Comrade Brigadier, even if you don't use the first and second battalions, the reserve team deployed in the city center will always Can they be transferred to support the Third Battalion? I'm worried that with just a few hundred people from the Third Battalion, the damage that can be caused to the enemy is very limited."

"Comrade Commissar, with our current strength, it is impossible to destroy the enemy. We can only drive them away from a distance." Sokov explained to Belkin: "As long as the German army attacking the city The enemy will not send new troops until we eliminate them. The 297th Infantry Division has been defeated twice in a row, and their officers and soldiers have already developed a sense of fear towards us. In the face of the previous two failures, we have become more cautious, so that we will be more confident in defending the city."

   While the two were talking, a communications soldier ran up from downstairs panting and handed a telegram to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier Commander, this is a telegram from the Front Army Command."

After reading the telegram, Sokov said to Belkin: "It's a telegram from General Malinin, Chief of Staff of the Front Army. He asked us how the situation here is?" , Said that with the cooperation of the pilot comrades, we have successfully crushed the German attack. The third battalion commanded by Captain Andrei is launching a counterattack against the fleeing enemy."

After Malinin received Sokov's telegram, he couldn't help showing a smile on his face. He quickly came to Rokossovsky, put the telegram just received in front of him, and said: "Comrade Commander , You see, this is a telegram from Sokov. With the cooperation of the Air Force, they have successfully crushed the German attack and launched a partial counter-offensive."

"Good job." After reading the contents of the telegram, Rokossovsky nodded and said, "Their troops are limited. As long as they can drive the enemy away from the city, it is a great victory. Chief of Staff , you call Air Force Commander Krasovsky again and ask him to continue sending planes to Kursk to strengthen the city’s defenses through feasible air cover.”

  Malinin nodded after Rokossovsky finished speaking, and then asked: "Comrade Commander, I will call General Krasovsky right away, but how should Misha reply to him?"

"No need to reply." Rokossovsky shook his head and said, "Judging from Misha's various performances, he is an excellent commander. He will know what to do next, and there is no need for us Here to point fingers, so as not to affect his command, understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." After Ma Lining agreed, he turned and left.

  Belkin on the clock tower, since Sokov ordered the messenger to send a report to the front army headquarters, seemed a little absent-minded, looking downstairs from time to time. Seeing his actions, Sokov asked curiously: "Comrade political commissar, what are you looking at?"

  Since he and Sokov were partners, Belkin did not conceal his intentions, but replied truthfully: "I am waiting for a call back from the Front Army Command."

"Don't wait, Comrade Political Commissar, there won't be a call back." Sokov replied: "As far as my comrade commander knows, in order not to affect my command and operations, he will not easily give us any orders. .”

  (end of this chapter)