Red Moscow

  Chapter 369 Military Dogs Show Their Power

After Sokov gave the dog company an order to reinforce the North Slope, worried that the enemy would be unfavorable to the headquarters of the Front Army that was about to be transferred, he quickly picked up the phone on the table and prepared to call Khrushchev to send the Report the situation to him. Unexpectedly, when he asked the communication soldier to answer the phone, the other party told him: "Sorry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, the phone line of the Front Army Command is temporarily unavailable."

   "What's going on here?" Sokov asked impatiently, "Why can't I get through?"

   "The specific situation is not clear." The communications soldier was taken aback by Sokov's attitude, and quickly explained to him: "It should be that the telephone line over there has been cut off."

"The telephone line has been cut off? Who has the courage to cut off the communication line of the front army headquarters..." He had just said this, and suddenly realized that the headquarters might have begun to transfer, so he hurriedly asked the operator: " Comrade operator, call the Front Army Command to see if you can get in touch."

  But when the radio operator started calling, Sidolin walked up to Sokov and asked tentatively: "Comrade Brigadier, are you planning to report the situation here to the Front Army Command?"

"That's right, my Comrade Chief of Staff." Sokov nodded and replied: "The enemy has begun to attack the north slope. Once the oil storage tank on the top of the **** is hit by artillery fire and the fuel in the tank is detonated, it will With catastrophic consequences. Burning fuel will flow down the hillsides into the Volga, burning everything they come across on the way down the river..."

Although Sokov did not say it clearly, Sidolin still guessed that the other party wanted to warn Khrushchev and the others, so he reminded him: "Comrade Brigadier, maybe the headquarters of the Front Army has already begun to transfer. If you want to warn them, We can only send out communications soldiers."

"It makes sense." Sokov agreed with Sidolin's statement. He immediately called a communications soldier and told the other party: "You immediately go to the city department store to find the front army headquarters and tell them, Said that the enemy has launched an attack on the northern **** of Mamayev Kurgan. For their safety, please temporarily stop the transfer."

As soon as the communicator who went to the front army headquarters to report the news left, Sokov called another communicator and said to him: "Go to the pier to find Sergesha and ask him to withdraw the guard company immediately. Search the residential area on the south side of Mamayev Hill to see if there are any deserters from our army and spies sent by the Germans."

  ...

After receiving Sokov's order, Oshanin immediately called a platoon leader to him, and said with a bit of excitement: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, we have been stationed at Mamayev Post for a while, but every day Staying in the tunnel with nothing to do, the comrades of the infantry brigade must have an opinion on us. Now it is finally our turn to show our talents. Listen, there are more than 20 German tanks rushing towards the defensive position on the north slope, you Immediately lead a platoon to the north slope, assist the defenders there to destroy the enemy's tanks, let the infantry take a good look, we are not idle."

   "Don't worry, Comrade Captain." The platoon leader had been impatient for waiting in the tunnel for so long. Hearing the order from Oshaning, he immediately expressed his position to him: "We will never let the enemy's tanks approach the high ground."

"First platoon leader, before you set off, you must carefully check the explosive packs carried by the military dogs." Before the first platoon leader left, Ao Shaning specifically told him: "The tunnel is wet, and our explosives will inevitably be damp. In such a situation, the bombing of enemy tanks must not be affected by the fact that the explosives get wet. Otherwise, the sacrifice of the military dogs will be of no value."

   "Understood," the first platoon leader nodded vigorously, and replied, "Before departure, I will order the trainers to carefully check the explosive packs on the military dogs, and avoid using those wet explosive packs."

  More than 30 trainers in the platoon of military dogs, led by the platoon leader, came to the north **** along the tunnel connecting the north and south slopes. They were greeted by Captain Golia, the commander of the 192nd Battalion.

Seeing the soldiers of the military dog ​​company coming with their dogs, Golia hurriedly stepped forward to greet the platoon leader, and said to him, "Comrade Second Lieutenant, I hope you are here. The German tanks are now less than 100 meters away from the high ground." It's a kilometer away, I'll take you into the attack position."

  In order to facilitate the bombing of German tanks, there are more than a dozen individual bunkers at the foot of the high ground, which are specially used for military dog ​​trainers and military dogs to hide. Golia led a platoon of soldiers with dogs to an exit at the bottom of the slope, pointed to the front and said to a platoon leader: "Comrade Second Lieutenant, your attack location is there, do you want me to take you there?"

   "No need, Comrade Captain. We can go there by ourselves." The platoon leader saw that the individual bunkers were no more than 30 meters away from the exit, and said to Golia with a smile, "Thank you for guiding us."

  Golia reached out to shake hands with the other party, and said sincerely: "I wish you victory!" Then he turned and walked back to the depths of the tunnel.

  As soon as Golia walked away, a row of long squatted in front of the cave, raising their binoculars to look into the distance. I saw twenty tanks divided into two rows, coming towards the north **** aggressively. Behind the tanks, there was a cloud of smoke and exhaust black smoke, which made the infantry formation farther away faintly visible.

Seeing that the enemy's tanks and infantry were far apart, the platoon leader was relieved. He turned to the trainer in the tunnel and said, "Comrades, the Germans have more than 20 tanks, but this is nothing. On average, We don’t even have one for each of us. I’m ordering each squad to enter the individual bunkers outside one by one, and when the German tanks enter the range of 300 meters, immediately let the military dogs attack and blow them up. Do you understand? ?” After his subordinates suddenly agreed, he went on to say, “First class first.”

  German tanks rumbled across the ring railway and entered the minefield laid by the infantry brigade. But it is a pity that all the infantry mines are buried here. Although there are constant explosions, the damage to the German tanks is minimal. After passing through the minefield, the German tanks crushed the barbed wire under the tracks again, opening up a passage for the infantry behind.

   Seeing that the enemy tank was only more than 300 meters away from him, the first squad leader decisively issued an order to attack. As the order was issued, twelve military dogs jumped out of the individual bunker, and rushed towards the German tank in the distance with lightning speed.

  ...

After Sokov dispatched his communications troops to the Front Army Command and the Guard Company, he went to the fortification on the north **** halfway up the mountain, found an inconspicuous corner to lie down, and then raised his binoculars. He wanted to see it with his own eyes. How military dogs blew up German tanks.

  Seeing the military dogs jumping out of the individual bunker and rushing forward like lightning, Sokov thought to himself: If twelve military dogs are dispatched at a time, how can they kill seven or eight enemy tanks. But the next scene surprised him. The military dogs did not attack a tank one by one as he imagined, but two, three, or even four or five military dogs rushed towards a tank at the same time.

   After a while, he saw that the latest military dog ​​got into the bottom of a German No. 4 tank. After a brief pause, he first saw a burst of fire erupting from the bottom of the tank, quickly wrapping the tank body, and then he heard a rumbling explosion.

   Then, another four or five military dogs got under different tank bodies. After a series of explosions, those unlucky tanks also began to burn, but not every tank that was blown up immediately stopped and burned there, it was still a tank that was blazing, still turning around A circle, trying to drive back to their starting position, but they didn't drive very far, they couldn't drive anymore, stopped in place and started to burn.

  Twelve military dogs destroyed four tanks. Sokov thought dumbfoundingly: Only three well-trained military dogs can blow up a German tank. This kind of exchange ratio is really beyond his expectations.

   The tanks that were not attacked realized that their companions had been destroyed, so they quickly stopped and bombarded the hideout of the trainers with tank guns, trying to destroy them there. At the same time, the infantry who were far behind also quickened their pace and came to support the tanks ahead.

  Sokov saw a civil bunker not far away, and hurriedly bent over and walked over. This is an observation post. Seeing Sokov coming in, the soldiers inside quickly straightened up and saluted him, and reported: "Comrade Brigadier, we are observing the enemy's situation, please give instructions!"

   "Please continue." Sokov said, walked over to pick up the phone hanging on the wall, and let the communications soldier connect to the dog company. As soon as he heard Oshanin's voice, he said loudly: "Comrade Captain, why are you still staying in the tunnel? Don't you want to see how your most loyal comrade-in-arms destroys the enemy's tanks?"

  Ao Shaning is a disciplined person. Although he is eager to see the battle of the military dogs with his own eyes, he dare not leave the tunnel for half a step before receiving an order. Hearing Sokov asking him to go to the trench at this moment, he immediately agreed loudly, dropped the microphone and ran out.

   When Ao Shaning found Sokov at the observation post, it happened that the second batch of military dogs was attacking. Seeing these military dogs who had been with him day and night rushed under the enemy tank one after another, and when they died with the tank in the sound of explosions, his eye circles could not help but red, and his nose felt sore.

At this moment, he heard Sokov's voice: "Comrade Captain, the first wave of military dogs destroyed four German tanks; the second wave had slightly better results, destroying five tanks. 24 military dogs only blew up nine tanks, isn't this kind of exchange ratio too much for us?"

Those soldiers who stayed at the observation post, when they heard what Sokov said, they couldn't help but whispered in their hearts: If infantry were sent to blow up nine tanks, at least one platoon of soldiers would have to be sacrificed. Now only 24 military dogs have been lost. , is it worth the fuss?

  Oshanin looked at Sokov blankly, and asked puzzledly: "Comrade Brigadier, I don't understand what you mean."

"You must have seen the group of military dogs attacking just now." Sokov said sadly, "Isn't it a bit too wasteful for several military dogs to bomb a tank at the same time? If each military dog ​​chooses its own Set a goal, can they achieve more results."

"Comrade Brigadier, the situation you mentioned is also possible." After observing the battlefield for a while, Oshanin said to Sokov: "No matter how well-trained a military dog ​​is, it cannot be compared with a human. , they don’t know how to choose a target, which is why several military dogs attack a tank.”

  From the tone of Oshanin's speech, Sokov heard that the other party seemed to have some countermeasures, so he asked curiously: "Is there a solution to this problem?"

"Yes." Sokov was just thinking about luck, and then asked, but Oshanin gave him an affirmative answer: "It's a platoon leader who made a mistake in command, he shouldn't let the military dogs take the lead." Instead of attacking in units, one or two dogs should be used to increase the number of German tanks destroyed."

   As for Oshanin's statement, Sokov thinks it makes sense. If a single dog attack, it will go straight to the target and blow it up; It is cost-effective to exchange four or five military dogs for a tank. Here on Mamayev Gang, military dogs are a kind of consumables. Since they will not be replenished when they are used up, they must be used rationally.

   Before Sokov could speak, Oshanin went on to say: "It's a pity that there is no telephone here to directly contact the platoon leader, otherwise I will order him to use a single dog or a double dog attack method to deal with the German tanks."

  After hearing Oshanin's words, Sokov knew very well that even if he sent someone to inform the platoon leader to use a single or double dog attack to blow up the German tanks, it would be too late. Just as he was thinking this, he saw the third group of military dogs jump out of the individual bunker and rush towards the enemy tank. After a series of booms, three more tanks began to burn.

  German tankers probably never dreamed that the Soviet army would adopt the tactic of bombing tanks with dogs in order to prevent unnecessary losses. The German commander decisively ordered the tanks to retreat immediately. The tankers who received the retreat order were amnesty, and the driver quickly restarted the tank and retreated in reverse.

  The first attack of the German army was blocked by the anti-tank dog company. After losing twelve tanks, they withdrew to their starting position in dejection.

Seeing the enemy's retreat, Sokov breathed out a sigh of relief, and he said to Oshanin: "Comrade Captain, although the Germans have retreated, they will make a comeback soon. You should immediately transfer the second platoon to the north." Go Poe. Remember, let them attack with one dog or two dogs, and try to destroy more German tanks."

  (end of this chapter)