Red Moscow

  Chapter 358 Defense (Part 1)

  When the German 2nd Armored Regiment was attacked by two infantry brigades, the head of the regiment, Lieutenant Colonel Sixnius, realized that this was not a small group of harassing troops, but a large force attacking, so he immediately called the division headquarters to report. The staff officer on duty took the phone record and rushed to find the division commander Hu Bei, but was stopped by the adjutant sitting outside the door.

  The staff officer on duty raised the phone record in his hand and said anxiously: "The 2nd Armored Regiment is being attacked by the Russians. This is the phone record of the head of the regiment."

The adjutant thought that the attack of the Soviet army was nothing more than an attempt to break out of the encirclement, so after receiving the phone record in the hands of the staff officer on duty, he lazily said: "I will report to the division commander later. , you go back first." As soon as the staff officer left, the adjutant threw the phone record aside, lay down on the chair and continued to rest with his eyes closed.

  Hu Bei was lying on the camp bed in the house with all his clothes on, but the sound of guns and guns from outside woke him up. He sat up straight from the bed and shouted towards the door: "Come here!"

  The adjutant, who was closing his eyes at the door to rest his mind, heard Huber's shout, jumped up from his chair, pushed the door open and walked into the room. He straightened his body and asked, "Your Excellency, what orders do you have?"

   "Did something happen outside while I was sleeping?"

   "It's nothing serious." The adjutant said lightly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sykenius of the 2nd Armored Regiment once called and said that they were harassed by the Russians. They should be stragglers trying to break out."

  Hu Bei did not take the attack on the 2nd Armored Regiment lightly because of the adjutant’s tone of voice. He frowned and glanced at the adjutant, and then asked, “Where are the phone records?”

   "It's on the chair outside." After the adjutant finished speaking, he hurriedly went out to pick up the call record from the chair, then went back into the room and handed it to Huber: "Your Excellency, please read it."

After Hu Bei read the call records, he suddenly became angry from embarrassment. He got up and slapped the adjutant on the face, cursing: "Why don't you report such important information immediately. If the Russians are allowed to rush out of our encirclement, I will kill them myself." You." After speaking, he took off the military cap hanging on the wall, put it on his head, and strode out of the bedroom.

  After arriving at the headquarters, Hu Bei saw that there were only staff officers on duty and two communications soldiers inside, so he raised his voice and asked, "Is there any new call from the 2nd Armored Regiment?"

"Yes," the staff officer on duty quickly replied, "Just five minutes ago, Lieutenant Colonel Sixnius of the 2nd Armored Regiment called again, saying that they were resisting the Russian attack from the direction of Stalingrad. The Russians in the encirclement also launched a sudden attack from their rear. In order to ensure that the troops are not annihilated, he has given the order to retreat. To retreat to the north where the 79th Infantry and 16th Artillery Regiment are located?"

  Hearing this, Huber's eyes almost burst into flames: "Why didn't you report this important situation to me immediately?"

  The staff officer on duty glanced at the adjutant behind Hu Bei, and replied with some embarrassment: "I sent you a phone call record an hour ago, but you didn't show up for a long time. I thought..."

   "What do you think?" Before the staff officer on duty finished speaking, Hu Bei couldn't wait to interrupt him: "Do you know that you are dereliction of duty, and I can send you to a military court at any time."

  Hearing what Hu Bei said, the staff officer on duty broke out in a cold sweat, and quickly lowered his head without saying a word. Hu Bei was eager to understand the battle situation outside, so he picked up another call log and carefully browsed the contents on it. After reading it, he said to the staff officer on duty: "Let the chief of staff come here!" The staff officer on duty thought he would be scolded, but Hu Bei just asked him to find the chief of staff. , hurried out of the headquarters.

When the division chief of staff walked into the headquarters, he saw Hu Bei sitting at the table looking at the map with a frosty face. He immediately realized that the situation was not good, and hurried forward to say hello: "Your Excellency, are you looking for me? "

"Our 2nd Armored Regiment has been attacked by the Russians and has been repulsed. At present, Lieutenant Colonel Sykenius is leading his troops to retreat to the defense zone of the 79th Infantry Regiment and the 16th Artillery Regiment." Hu Bay said to his chief of staff: "Now you immediately call the 16th Motorized Battalion and order them to flank the Russians in this area."

After Hu Bei finished speaking, the chief of staff of the division read the two phone records on the table, and asked with some concern: "Your Excellency, division commander, according to the report of the head of the armored regiment, there are quite a few Russians attacking. We Can we deal with them with only one motorized battalion?"

"First order the 16th Artillery Regiment to fire at the place where the Russians are gathered." Huber gritted his teeth and said, "Let the artillery fire throw them into confusion, so that they cannot organize an effective evacuation. When the day dawns, we can cooperate with the Air Force , exterminate the Russians in this area."

  ...

  Just as Hu Bei was dispatching troops to prepare to deal with the Soviet army that was about to rush out from the gap in the encirclement, Sokov was also very anxious in his headquarters. After learning that the two infantry brigades had captured many German tanks, he quickly ordered the other party: "Immediately use the German tanks to establish defensive lines on both sides of the passage to cover the troops in the encirclement."

  As soon as the phone was put down, Chuikov called in: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, it's almost dawn, how is the situation there?"

"Comrade Commander," hearing Chuikov's voice, Sokov hurriedly reported: "The troops attacking from the right have successfully rescued the troops trapped in the 54th fortification area; the troops attacking from the left , when storming the German 2nd Armored Regiment, with the cooperation of the teaching battalion of the 35th Guards Division in the encirclement, a gap has been successfully opened. Now I am ordering them to establish defensive lines on both sides of the gap to cover the encirclement Troops come out."

   After Sokov finished speaking, Chuikov frowned and said, "Where is the 54th fortification area? I don't seem to have heard about your defense arrangements."

"Comrade Commander, I have ordered the abandonment of the 54th fortification area." Sokov was afraid that his decision would anger Chuikov, so he said cautiously: "The fortification area is deep behind enemy lines, and there is not enough ammunition and Materials, even if we stay with our troops, we will be wiped out by the enemy because we run out of ammunition and food.”

Regarding Sokov's statement, Cuikov was silent for a long time, and finally said: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you are the frontline commander. Since you feel that there is no need to hold on to the fortification area, then give up and give up. You Immediately send the withdrawn troops to the headquarters of the group army, there are still not enough garrison troops here."

  Sokov knew very well that the troops defending the factory area today are almost all militias from various factories, and their combat effectiveness is limited. The troops withdrawn from the fortified areas can be enriched into various militia units to improve their combat effectiveness. He quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Commander, I will send someone to send them to you immediately."

   Just as the commanders and fighters of the 124th and 149th Brigade were building a new line of defense, there was a scream that pierced the air. It was not the first time for the people present to be on the battlefield, so they didn't understand what the voice meant, so they hurriedly lay down on the spot to avoid the coming shelling.

  The shells of the 16th Artillery Regiment of the German Army fell on the camp of the 2nd Armored Regiment that had just been lost and exploded, causing bright flames and thick smoke to rise. The fighters of the two infantry brigades were still relatively calm. They hid in the selected hiding place to avoid the enemy's shelling. Therefore, although the German shelling was fierce, they did not cause much damage to them.

On the contrary, those commanders and fighters who were running out of the encirclement may have been trapped behind enemy lines for too long. When they saw a gap in the encirclement, they rushed out regardless, regardless of the howling of the shells flying in the air. As a result, many unnecessary casualties were caused.

   After finally waiting for the German shelling to stop, it was already dawn. A soldier of the 124th Brigade standing on the south side spotted the German troops moving in the distance, and quickly shouted: "Battle siren! The Germans are coming up!"

  The 124th Brigade almost completed the construction of the fortifications before being bombarded. And some soldiers who had been tank soldiers got into the captured tanks, preparing to use artillery fire and machine guns to destroy the enemies who rushed up.

  Rushing at the front of the queue were several motorcycles with sidecars, and MG34 general-purpose machine guns were mounted on the sidecars. When the motorcycle was driving, the machine gunner sitting in the sidecar kept shooting, wantonly strafing the Soviet commanders and fighters who were exposed to their firepower and were running towards the outside of the encirclement.

  However, their shooting didn't last long, there was the roar of shells in the air, and then a shell landed next to a motorcycle and exploded. The air wave of the explosion overturned a motorcycle, throwing the motorcycle rider and machine gunner on it far away.

  A motorcyclist was startled when he saw his companion’s motorcycle overturned by gunfire, and wondered why the Russians still had guns? If we rushed up like this, wouldn't we die? Just as he slowed down the car and was about to stop, he suddenly felt someone slapping him heavily on the waist a few times. This was the machine gunner signaling him to speed up. The motorcyclist had no choice but to hit the accelerator and continue to rush forward.

  When the German 2nd Armored Regiment retreated, the reason why these tanks were discarded was mainly because there was no fuel and they could not move. However, many of the tanks still had shells and machine gun bullets left, which happened to be used by Soviet commanders and fighters to deal with the attacking Germans. Just after the first shell was fired, it successfully overturned a German motorcycle, which greatly boosted the morale of the Soviet army. Those tanks lined up opened fire on the 16th Motorized Infantry Battalion rushing from a distance. Beat the enemy's attacking formation to pieces.

The Germans never dreamed that the Soviet army would use the captured tanks to deal with them. Although they were a motorized infantry battalion, except for a few armored vehicles, they had no anti-tank weapons at all. Facing the solid defense ahead, they charged forward. Halfway through, he turned around and backed away.

  Huber learned of the attack of the 16th Motorized Infantry Battalion and after being repelled, he ordered his chief of staff: "Order the 16th Artillery Regiment to continue firing and destroy all the tanks on the Russian position."

"Mr. Commander, this is not easy." The chief of staff said with some embarrassment: "I just learned that due to the delay in the arrival of our logistical supplies, the 16th Artillery Regiment had already been fired during the shelling that just ended. Use up the shells."

  Although there is no artillery, how can Huber allow the Soviet army to break through his defense line so easily and return to Stalingrad? So he ordered again: "Since the 16th Artillery Regiment has no shells, then order the 79th Infantry Regiment to launch a charge, and the positions occupied by the Russians must be taken down."

  In order to close the passage opened by the Soviet army, the German army launched charges again and again to the positions held by the two infantry brigades, and even used the air force. But the attacks they launched were all repelled by the commanders and fighters of the two infantry brigades without exception.

Seeing that the German offensive was getting more and more fierce, Borvinov became a little impatient. He called Gorokhov and asked: "Colonel Gorokhov, the German attack is getting more and more fierce. We are a little bit helpless." Hold on, when can we withdraw?"

   "Can't withdraw!" Gorokhov replied decisively: "The task of our two brigades is to help the main force of the 62nd Army break through, so we must do everything possible to prevent the Germans from closing this gap. Do you understand?"

"But," Borvinov said anxiously, "the troops in the encirclement are too busy. Look, seven or eight hours have passed, but only four or five thousand troops rushed out. If they If we continue to dawdle like this, even if our people are all dead, they won’t be able to fully rush out.”

   Gorokhov was in his mind at the moment, and suddenly thought of Sokov. Then he said into the microphone: "Don't worry, Colonel Borvinov, I think the commander will find a way to support us."

  What happened ahead, Sokov also learned about it through various channels. When he found that the troops in the encirclement were moving too slowly, and only a few thousand escaped after half a day, he felt extremely anxious. He understands that as time goes by, the German attack will become even crazier, and the infantry brigade, which has lost a lot of troops, will not be able to stop it at all.

  Thinking of this, he said to Andre: "Third Battalion Commander, take your troops and follow me to the place where the infantry brigade is fighting. They seem to be in trouble, and we are going to help them."

  Based on Andre's understanding of Sokov, as long as this army arrives at the breakthrough, the current grim situation can be reversed. So when he heard Sokov's order, he ran to assemble the troops without saying anything.

  (end of this chapter)