Red Moscow

  Chapter 678 Capturing the Tiger Tank

  Hearing Sokov's question, Ataman hesitated for a moment, and then replied: "Comrade Colonel, our troops will have to wait until after dark at the earliest before they can rush here to take over the defense."

After Ataman finished speaking, seeing Sokov's face full of doubts, he quickly added: "Don't get me wrong, it's not because we intend to delay the time, but because the troops who are going to take over the defense, It is still fighting the Germans, and it is impossible to withdraw from the battle for a while."

Although Sokov stayed in Stalingrad for a long time, except for fighting at the Red October Factory for a while, the rest of the time was either leading the troops to fight fires or staying on Mamayev Post. So far, He couldn't even figure out the exact locations of the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Tractor Factory.

  He took a pen and paper, pushed it in front of Ataman, and said with a smile: "Comrade Captain, can you draw me the positions of the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Factory, as well as the defense zone of your division?"

For Sokov's request, Ataman was very cooperative. He took the pen and paper and quickly drew a sketch. While drawing, he introduced to Sokov: "The barricade factory is on the west side of Liumen Street. And the Dzerzhinsky factory is just to the north..."

  After Ataman's explanation, and Sokov's comparison of the sketch and the map, he finally ordered roughly the locations of the three positions, and the respective defense areas of the 95th and 138th Infantry Divisions. My location is quite close to the Dzerzhinsky factory. Unfortunately, the 37th Guards Division was caught in a hard fight and couldn't mobilize its strength at all. Seeing the defense here, Chuikov had to retreat to the next best thing. Lyudnikov's troops were sent.

After figuring out the general situation, Sokov said reasonably: "Understood, Comrade Captain, before your troops arrive here, we will definitely hold on to Liumian Street and never let it fall into the hands of the Germans." inside."

"Are you allowed to leave?" Seeing that his mission had been completed, Ataman bid farewell to Sokov: "I will go back and report to my superiors that I have established contact with you, and after dark, bring the troops to Here to take over the defense."

   "Allowed, Comrade Captain." Sokov nodded, and asked with concern: "I don't think you will be too safe on the way back. Do you need me to send some soldiers to **** you back?"

   "Thank you for your kindness." Ataman waved his hands and said, "I brought two soldiers with me. Even if we encounter sporadic enemies on the road, we are fully capable of dealing with them."

After Ataman left, Sokov immediately picked up the phone and told Agranov: "Comrade Captain, the friendly troops who will take over our defense will arrive after dark. Before that, you must do whatever it takes to Guard Liumian Street, understand?"

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Agranov looked out the window at the German soldiers who were beaten and fled by the artillery, and said confidently: "According to the current situation, don't say persist until dark, even persist until dark." Tomorrow is dawn, and we'll be fine."

"Comrade Captain," although Sokov has been staying in his headquarters, he can judge from the sound of guns outside that the two attacks that repelled the German army were the masterpieces of the artillery company. The effect was limited, so he reminded Agranov: "Don't look at us repelling the enemy's two attacks, but they are absolutely unwilling to fail. It won't be long before they will launch the third and fourth attacks. Can't be taken lightly."

   Sokov not only reminded Agranov in this way, but also reminded Seryozha. After all this was done, he was about to ask the operator to call Sidolin and ask if the person sent by Orel had reached Mamayev Kurgan. But the operator first handed him a telegram: "Comrade Commander, this is the telegram just sent by the Chief of Staff."

  Sokov thought that if Sidolin called me at this time, what would happen? Full of doubts, he took the telegram from the operator's hand, and after only a few glances, he frowned tightly. It turned out that Sidolin informed him that the German army was shelling the tank whose crew had all been killed, and seemed to want to destroy it to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Soviet army.

  Seeing the telegram, Sokov's mood immediately became heavy. Holding the telegram tightly in his hand, he walked back and forth in the room, thinking quickly about what measures to take to prevent the Germans from destroying the tank.

However, he racked his brains and thought for a long time, but there was no proper solution. He shook his head, stopped, and said helplessly to the operator: "Electric operator, call back to the chief of staff and ask him to closely monitor the enemy's movements. Report any new changes to me immediately."

Seeing the telegraph operator ticking the newspaper, Sokov secretly regretted it. He felt that when he came out, he should bring a few more communication soldiers and lay a telephone line from Liumian Street to Mamayev Gang. Once here, I can remotely command the battle in the direction of Mamayev Gang on Liumian Street.

   While he was anxious, Sokov suddenly thought of the phone in the room, and he could get in touch with Chuikov. He was unable to suppress the enemy's long-range artillery fire, but Chuikov could. Thinking of this, he quickly picked up the phone and connected to the group army headquarters. As soon as a voice came out of the microphone, he immediately said: "I am Colonel Sukov, please help me find Commander Chuikov, I have an important Report to him."

  The staff officer who answered the phone heard that Sokov, the commander of the 41st Guards Division, was looking for the commander. He didn't dare to neglect, and quickly notified Cuikov. Chuikov picked up the microphone and asked, "Colonel Sokov, what do you want from me?"

"Comrade Commander, the situation is like this." Sukov worried that Chuikov would also be as disapproving of the Tiger tank as Krylov, so he said bluntly: "Our troops on Mamayev Post captured the A new type of Tiger tank of the German army, since there are no personnel who know how to drive a tank, it can only be parked at the foot of the mountain in Beigang..."

   Before Sokov could finish speaking, Chuikov interrupted and said, "General Orel has already reported this matter to me, and he has also dispatched manpower to receive this tank. Why, is there any problem?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Sidolin just reported to me that the enemy is shelling this tank and seems to want to destroy it, so as not to be captured by our army." Sokov asked Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, this is a new type of tank. The tank, if our military workers get it, it will be very helpful to improve our army's weapons and equipment. I hope you can find a way to stop the German bombardment."

   "Stop it, how can I stop the enemy's shelling?" Chuikov said dissatisfiedly: "The enemy's artillery doesn't listen to my command. If I don't let them continue shelling, can they stop?"

  "The artillery on the east bank can suppress the enemy so that they can't continue to bombard the Tiger tank, so that the people sent by General Orel can have the opportunity to drive the tank to a safe place and hide it."

   "But the artillery on the east bank doesn't know where the enemy's artillery is located." Chuikov said hesitantly, "How do they suppress the enemy's artillery fire?"

   "There are also several artillery observers on Mamayev Post. I think they can provide shooting parameters to the artillery on the east bank and guide the artillery to suppress the enemy's artillery positions."

  If it wasn’t for Sokov’s reminder, Chuikov would have forgotten that there were special artillery observers on Mamayev Post to indicate the firing direction for the artillery on the east bank. Chuikov nodded and said, "Okay, I will immediately contact the artillery commander of the group army and let him handle the matter."

  He had just negotiated with Cuikov how to deal with the German artillery, and the operator gave Sokov another telegram: "This is the telegram just sent by the Chief of Staff."

In the new telegram, Sidolin reported to Sokov that the personnel sent by General Orel to receive the tanks had arrived. Due to the heavy enemy fire, two tank soldiers tried to rush into the Tiger tanks one after another, but they all failed. Fell under fire.

Seeing such content, Sokov was taken aback. He didn't know how many tank soldiers Orel had sent there, but if the tank soldiers were forced to rush to the Tiger tank under the fierce enemy fire, it would have nothing to do with death. What a difference. Besides, the enemy's artillery fire was so fierce, even if one or two tank soldiers got into the tank by chance, how far they could drive the Tiger tank was also unknown.

  In order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, he asked the radio operator to send a report to Sidolin again: Before the enemy's artillery position is suppressed by our army's artillery fire, it is strictly forbidden to send tank soldiers to rush to the tank under the enemy's artillery fire.

Sidolin may have been guarding the telegraph machine, and his telegram had just been sent out less than two minutes later, when his call back arrived: "The order has been received, the tank soldiers have stopped their risky actions, and are waiting for our artillery to suppress the enemy's attack." Artillery position."

   After another five or six minutes, there was rumbling gunfire on the east bank. This was the artillery artillery of the group army suppressing the enemy's artillery positions based on the data provided by the observers on Mamayev Post. The German artillery fire that was bombarding the Tiger tank suddenly stopped. Seeing that the time was right, the tank soldiers hidden on the hill rushed towards the foot of the mountain in groups of two before the alarm was lifted.

  Because there was no enemy artillery interception, they successfully entered the interior of the Tiger tank. After simple groping, they mastered the driving of the Tiger tank. However, they were blocked by the bullet crater in front of them not long after they drove out. In desperation, one of the tank soldiers got out of the tank and ran to the hill. The infantry called for help.

Yershakov's 125th Guards Regiment stood guard on the northern hill. He learned that the tanks were blocked by bomb craters. Without saying a word, he sent a company to let the commanders and fighters carry tools, but adjusted the bomb craters so that the tanks could can pass smoothly. While the troops were leaving, he also called to report the matter to Sidolin.

  After listening, Sidolin asked back: "Lieutenant Colonel Ershakov, how long will it take to fill those craters?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Ershakov said with some embarrassment after having seen the craters at the foot of the mountain with his own eyes, "there are about twenty or so craters between the place where the Tiger tank was parked and the passable road. .It will take at least five or six hours to fill up so many craters."

"What, it will take five or six hours?" Sidolin was unhappy when he heard that it would take such a long time, and he said to Yershakov in a stern tone: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, one hour is the most I can do." You are only given one hour, and all the craters must be filled. Understand?"

Knowing that this was an impossible task, Yershakov had no choice but to bite the bullet and reply: "Yes, Comrade Chief of Staff, fill up all the craters within an hour, for tanks to pass."

  However, the Germans were not reconciled to their Tiger tank falling into the hands of the Soviet army. Since the shelling failed, they dispatched bombers to try to blow up the Tiger tank that was about to be transferred.

   Seeing the four bombers appearing in the sky, Ershakov guessed the enemy's purpose, and quickly ordered the soldiers to set fires around the tank, trying to make the enemy planes think that the Tiger tank had been shot and caught fire during the shelling.

  At the beginning, due to the too much smoke on the ground, the enemy planes could not see the target clearly. They really thought that the Tiger tank they were ordered to attack had already been shot and caught fire. However, the German observation post on the ground found that the tank was still intact, so they reported this information layer by layer.

  The enemy plane received a notification from the headquarters and learned that the target he was going to attack was still intact. The fire and smoke he saw were just tricks by the Russians. As a result, the four enemy planes lowered the high ground one after another and swooped down towards the position of the Tiger tank.

  Although it was difficult for German pilots to accurately hit the target due to the occlusion of the smoke, the bombs they dropped still caused great casualties to the commanders and fighters who were filling the crater. Seeing this, Ershakov quickly ordered several machine guns on the top of the mountain to fire into the air. He did not expect to shoot down the enemy plane, but only hoped to drive the enemy plane away so that the commanders and fighters would not suffer greater losses.

The enemy plane that was swooping down to drop bombs suddenly saw several machine guns shooting at him on the hillside. Although the chance of his plane being hit by the machine guns was not high, the four planes still raised their altitude one by one, hovered in the air, and prepared to attack. Find the right moment to dive down again and destroy that new Tiger tank before it falls into Russian hands.

  Sidorin learned that the enemy plane was circling over Beigang, and quickly ordered people to move the two 12.7mm twin-link anti-aircraft machine guns hidden in the tunnel to the top of the hillside and shoot at the enemy plane from the side. The enemy planes circling at high altitude have been carefully avoiding the machine gun fire on the top of Beigang Mountain. Unexpectedly, there will be anti-aircraft fire from Nangang. One of the planes was hit by a bullet, and a puff of black smoke came out from under the wing. The pilot Too frightened to hover over Mamayev Hill again, he hastily dropped the bombs carried on the plane, turned half a circle, and flew away towards the west.

  (end of this chapter)