Red Moscow

  Chapter 362 Hand-to-hand combat

   Regardless of the limited number of artillerymen and shells of the Soviet army, only two artillery can be used to shoot at the German army. But it was these two 105mm howitzers that kept firing that caused a lot of losses to the Germans.

When they first came under shelling, neither Lieutenant Colonel Sykenius of the 2nd Armored Regiment nor the commander of the 79th Infantry Regiment realized that the shells that were hitting them came from the artillery positions of the 16th Artillery Regiment. It was the shells fired by the few remaining artillery pieces of the Soviet army's breakout force, so it did not attract enough attention.

The artillery observers hiding on the hills couldn't help cheering when they saw the shells continuously falling on the German troops and exploding, causing heavy losses to the soldiers near the bombing point. One of them turned his head and said to the radio operator squatting behind him: In the form of a call, report the shooting parameters to the artillery position."

The radio operator didn't complain at all about the observer's practice of possibly exposing the target and causing his own death. He immediately picked up the microphone and reported the data reported by the observer verbatim. To Yegor, so that the impact of the shells can be corrected in time.

   As soon as the gunfire rang out, Sokov couldn't sit still. Now that there were more than 700 commanders and fighters around him, there was no reason for them to sit still, so he decisively gave the order to attack.

Following Sokov's order, the troops immediately launched an offensive formation in the order of the seventh company, the eighth company, and the ninth company. The soldiers held guns and followed behind Sokov and Andrei. Stride towards the enemy's position.

  Crossing the hill where the artillery observers were hiding, the commanders and fighters began to speed up, changing from a stride to a trot, and quickly rushed to the location where the German army was assembled. From the beginning of the descent, fighters continued to pass Sokov and squeeze in front of him, forming a new formation of skirmishers.

  The German army discovered the Soviet army rushing towards them. Regardless of being bombarded by artillery fire, they immediately used machine guns and mortar shells to try to prevent the Soviet army's offensive line from approaching them.

   Bullets swished past his head, and shells exploded around him from time to time, which made Sokov feel hairy. In the current situation, not to mention turning around and running back, even if his pace was a little slower, the soldiers might become timid, so Sokov could only bite the bullet and rush forward.

  A mortar shell landed seven or eight meters away and exploded. The air wave from the explosion lifted a soldier near the blast point and fell heavily in front of Sokov. But Sokov didn't lower his head to check the soldier's injury, but walked over his body and continued to walk forward without stopping, leaving the soldier to the health worker in charge of rescue. As for whether he survived, It depends on his personal fortune.

   After walking a dozen steps forward, another shell exploded not far away. Sokov squatted down instinctively, only to hear a "dang", as if someone hit his head with a hammer. Knowing that it was shrapnel hitting the helmet, Sokov couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, thinking that if he hadn't squatted down in time, he might have been lying on the ground crying at this moment.

  German machine guns and mortars, although they caused certain casualties to the attacking troops. But their locations were reported to the rear artillery by the artillery observers staying on the hill. It didn't take long for these machine gun fire points and mortar teams to be shot into the sky one after another.

  The soldiers of the third battalion have rich combat experience. When they were fifty or sixty meters away from the enemy, they first fired a round of guns, knocking down the oncoming enemy, and then charged and dropped bombs, blowing up the enemy.

   Just as the German army fell into chaos, Sokov and his men rushed in front of the German army. Soldiers with submachine guns fired at the chaotic enemies, knocking them down in pieces. As soon as a magazine was fired, the soldiers with bayonets rushed up and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

  Sokov is not the type to fight with a bayonet. He can only see some blind German rushing towards him, so he raises his hand and shoots the opponent; At such a short distance, the enemy hit by an assault rifle has no chance of surviving. When Sokov finished firing a magazine, there were fifteen or sixteen dead German soldiers lying around him.

  When Sokov was about to change the magazine, a German soldier rushed up with a bayonet. In order to avoid the bayonet stabbed by the opponent, Sokov accidentally dropped the magazine on the ground while dodging. Facing the pressing German soldiers, he had no chance to pick up the magazine and could only block with the assault rifle in his hand. Assault rifles are already a long way shorter than ordinary rifles, and without bullets, they are no different from fire sticks.

   Just when Sokov was in danger, a short unarmed soldier swooped over from the side and threw the German soldier to the ground. The two hugged each other, rolling and wrestling on the ground. The tall and burly German soldiers quickly gained the upper hand, riding on the soldier, and tightly strangled the soldier's throat with both hands.

Sokov held the barrel of the gun with both hands, and raised the assault rifle high above his head. Just as he was about to hit the German soldier's back fiercely, he suddenly remembered what Pavlov said, and immediately moved the attack position to the ground. , Adjust from the back to the cervical spine. After swiping the gun and smashing it down, there was only a crisp "click", and then the German soldier's body was still in place, and the hands pinching the soldier's neck lost their strength in an instant.

  The soldier who was crushed by the German soldier pushed away the dead body of the German soldier with his hands, half sat up, and said gratefully to Sokov: "Thank you, Comrade Brigadier Commander."

  Sokov didn't speak, but nodded to the soldier, then bent down to pick up the magazine on the ground, and replaced the magazine with his hands and feet. Then he raised his hand and fired a burst, killing another German soldier who rushed over.

Andrei rushed to Sukov's side, and after knocking down two German soldiers with two shots, he stood back to back with him and said loudly: "Comrade Brigadier, the number of Germans is much larger than ours. If we continue like this, we will suffer.”

  Sokov shot at the German soldiers rushing, and replied loudly: "Comrade Captain, hold on, hold on, as long as Colonel Borvinov's troops rush out, we can reverse the situation."

  Sokov's judgment was accurate. When he led the troops to engage in close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the German army, Bolvinov on the other side also saw it. He decisively issued an order to the battalion commanders to attack.

Regarding his order, the chief of staff hesitated and said: "Comrade Brigadier, the number of troops coming across seems to be only a few hundred, while the Germans are at least two thousand. I am worried that they may not be able to support us to go out." , the entire army will be wiped out. In my opinion, we should continue to hold our ground."

Borvinov glared at his chief of staff, and then said righteously: "Comrade chief of staff, those are the friendly troops who came to support us. No matter how many of them there are, they are using their own blood and lives. Take the pressure off us, we can't just sit and watch their entire army wiped out. Now I order: the whole brigade goes out immediately, and attack this group of enemies with friendly forces."

  After the order to attack was issued, Borvinov found a steel helmet and put it on, and walked out of the command post with a submachine gun in hand. After the chief of staff stood still for a while, he also followed with a pistol. Just a few minutes later, the remaining more than a thousand commanders of the 149th Brigade, led by the brigade commander, launched a charge to the location where the German troops were assembled.

  Due to the melee between the two sides, although the German army set up several machine guns not far away, they dared not open fire easily, because they did not know whether the bullets flew out and killed the Soviet army or their own people.

  While the German machine gunner was in a daze, he suddenly heard the sound of "Ula" coming from behind him. The shouts alarmed the soldiers who had not yet entered the battle, and also alarmed the German command in the tent. Siknius came out of the tent and saw the Soviet army rushing from the other side. Realizing that the situation was not good for him, he returned to the tent and said to the commander of the 79th Infantry Regiment: "Mr. Coming from another direction. I think we should retreat immediately, otherwise we may fall into their encirclement."

The hand-to-hand combat between the Soviets and the Germans originally made the infantry commander terrified. When he heard that the Soviet army was coming from another direction, he couldn't help saying in a panic: "Since this is the case, then I will leave a battalion to stop the Russians and cover the withdrawal of the large troops." This **** place."

  When the remnants of the 149th Brigade rushed over, the main force of the German army had already left behind the troops that were still engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the 3rd Battalion and retreated hastily. The abandoned troops, seeing that they had fallen into the encirclement of the Soviet army, knew that if they continued to fight, they would not be sure of winning, so they decisively chose to lay down their weapons and surrender.

  Borvinov came to Sokov and said excitedly: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has fled, and we have won."

Sokov waved his hand, panting and said: "Comrade Colonel, the battle is not over yet, you left a company to take care of the prisoners, and the rest of the soldiers followed me to pursue the fleeing enemy. They wanted to escape, but it was not so easy. "

   "Comrade Brigadier," Andrei heard Sokov's order, and quickly reminded him: "The soldiers are exhausted. If you continue to chase the enemy, I'm worried..."

"I know that after the battle just now, our soldiers suffered heavy casualties and were very tired." Sokov said to Andrey and Borvinov: "If we don't completely defeat this group of enemies, we will wait until they recover. Come, they will come to attack us again. At that time, if we want to destroy them again, it will not be as easy as it is now."

  Following Sokov's order, except for the company that stayed behind to guard the prisoners, the rest of the commanders and fighters, as long as they were able to walk, all carried their weapons and chased in the direction of the German army's escape.

  (end of this chapter)