Red Moscow

  Chapter 731 Attack

  Although the workers’ new village defended by the 122nd Guards Regiment of Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko has become a ruin, it is still impossible for the enemy to pass through the ruins. Troops entering the Workers' New Village would always be hit by fire from all directions, or grenades thrown from the ruins.

   Regardless of the fact that the troops transferred to this combat area are the Romanian First Infantry Division, their fighting will is not as good as that of the Romanian Thirteenth Infantry Division. At least the officers and soldiers of the 13th Division dared to face-to-face bayonet battles with the defenders on Mamayev Hill. Although they lost the ability to continue fighting due to heavy casualties in the end, they were impressed by their tenacity on the battlefield. It was recognized by the officers and soldiers of both sides.

  But the officers and soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division, when they were hit by the firepower of the defenders, either lay down on the ground and fired randomly, or turned around and ran back. For a whole day, they advanced less than 200 meters to the workers' new village, but they paid the price of more than 400 casualties.

  Chuikov learned that Sokov planned to carry out a small-scale counterattack against the enemy in the Workers' New Village area, and he couldn't help looking forward to it. From daybreak, he kept raising his hand to look at his watch, and asked Krylov over and over again: "Chief of Staff, is there a call from Mamayev Post?"

   "No, Comrade Commander." However, Krylov's answer is always the same: "Mamayev Gang did not call us."

   "What the **** is going on here?" Chuikov said to himself: "It's already dawn, why haven't they launched a counterattack?"

"I don't know." Krylov shook his head and comforted Chuikov and said, "Comrade Commander, didn't you say that Colonel Sokov is very good at fighting and often gives people unexpected surprises. Taking action may have other plans."

   "Other plans?!" Chuikov looked at Krylov in some surprise and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, what do you think he has planned?"

   "I can't tell." Krylov shook his head again and said, "I always have a feeling that Colonel Sokov's counterattack will be completely beyond our expectations."

   Seeing that they couldn't guess the answer, the two of them stopped guessing. After all, the situation at the Barricade Factory and the Dzerzhinsky Factory was still precarious. Although the town of Gorodisheh, where the enemy had hoarded ammunition, had been destroyed by Sokov's men, the enemies who attacked the two factories still had some ammunition in stock. The offensive momentum may not be as good as the previous two days, but the offensive has not stopped.

Krylov asked Chuikov for instructions: "Comrade Commander, according to reports from the front, the Germans' offensive momentum today has been greatly weakened. Look, shall we use this opportunity to launch a counterattack against the enemy like Sokov? "

Chuikov thought for a long time, then shook his head, and rejected Krylov's proposal: "The troops we deployed in the direction of these two factories have been greatly weakened, and ammunition is also facing a shortage. If we let them , To counterattack the enemy is tantamount to letting them die.

   Chief of Staff, call the division commanders. After repelling the enemy's attack, immediately adjust the deployment, strengthen and improve the fortifications, and prepare for the next more brutal battle. "

   Seeing that Chuikov disagreed with his counterattack, Krylov didn't say anything. After all, he knew the situation of the troops very well, and knew that even if he reluctantly launched a counterattack, the chances of success were not high. Then he got up and walked towards the communications soldiers, preparing to convey Cuikov's order to the division commanders.

At around two o'clock in the afternoon, Sokov, who was staying at the headquarters of the Mamayev Gang, received a call from Papchenko, who reported to him on the phone: "Comrade commander, the enemy launched several attacks on the workers' new village. This attack was repelled by us. Not long ago, the observation post reported to me that the enemy had dispatched a batch of anti-tank guns and set them up a few hundred meters away from the workers' new village. They fired grenades by direct aiming Come and destroy our firepower in the ruins."

   Knowing that the German army used anti-tank guns to fire grenades to destroy the firepower points in the workers' new village, Sokov quickly asked, "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, what caliber of anti-tank guns did the enemy use?"

   "According to the report from the observation post, it should be a 75mm anti-tank gun." Papchenko replied on the phone: "There are a total of eight such anti-tank guns."

   "Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko," Sokov waited for Papchenko to finish speaking, and asked bluntly, "Is Lieutenant Agafon by your side?"

   "Yes, Comrade Commander, he is by my side." Papchenko asked tentatively, "Do you need to talk to him?"

   "Give him the microphone, I have something to say to him."

  Hearing Agafon's voice coming from the receiver, Sokov said into the microphone: "Comrade Lieutenant, you must have known about the eight 75mm anti-tank guns that the enemy has dispatched, right?"

"That's right, Comrade Colonel, I have been staying with Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko and heard the report from the observation post." Agafon misunderstood what Sokov meant when he asked him, and said smartly: "Don't worry, When I attack later, I will give priority to killing these anti-tank guns."

   "Wrong, Comrade Lieutenant, you made a mistake." Sokov heard that the other party misunderstood what he meant, and quickly explained: "I asked you to find a way to capture these anti-tank guns."

"Have these anti-tank guns been seized?" Agafon asked with some puzzlement: "Comrade Colonel, the enemy has not used tanks or assault guns when they are attacking the Workers' New Village. Not big."

"Comrade Lieutenant, why did you forget that the enemy's anti-tank guns are used to deal with the firepower points in the workers' new village, that is to say, what they use is not armor-piercing bullets but grenades." Seeing that Agafon was still not enlightened, Sokov just Can continue to explain to him: "If these anti-tank guns are really captured, then the troops standing in the workers' new village can use these anti-tank guns to deal with the enemy's infantry in the next few days."

At this point in Sokov's words, Agafon finally came to his senses and figured out the real purpose of Sokov in letting him capture the anti-tank guns, and quickly replied: "Understood, Comrade Colonel, we must find a way to capture these anti-tank guns gun."

  Seeing that Agafon finally realized his intentions, Sokov told him: "Comrade Lieutenant, give the phone to Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko, I still have something to tell him."

   "Comrade Commander!" Papchenko took the phone and said respectfully, "What instructions do you have?"

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you must be very clear about the order to attack. In the evening, take advantage of the favorable opportunity when the enemy begins to retreat, and decisively adopt the tactics of tank assault and infantry follow-up to defeat the Romanian First Infantry Division in front of you. Sokov warned on the phone: "Remember, our tanks are limited in number and can pose little threat to the enemy. Therefore, the infantry must closely follow the tanks to seize the enemy's supplies and capture prisoners." Understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Master!" Papchenko replied respectfully: "I will carry out your order seriously."

  ...

  In the evening, the commander of the Romanian First Infantry Division saw that it was getting late, so he ordered the troops to stop the attack. In order to prevent the troops entering the workers' new village from being attacked by the Soviet army at night, all the troops were asked to withdraw to the starting point of the attack, preparing to launch a new attack on the workers' new village after dawn tomorrow.

  Papchenko and Agafon stood on the remaining second floor of a building, raised their binoculars and looked at the retreating enemy in the distance. Seeing the enemy's infantry withdrawing from the workers' new village one after another, Papchenko was unmoved and did not issue any order to attack. Until he saw the Romanian artillery, dragging those anti-tank guns out of the artillery positions one after another, hanging them on the back of the truck, and preparing to follow the troops to the rear.

Seeing this situation, Papchenko put down his binoculars, turned his head and said to Agafon who was beside him: "Comrade lieutenant, your tank squad is ready to enter the field. As soon as you start the fire, my troops will drill down from the ground." Come out and follow your back to attack the enemy."

  Agafon raised his hand in salute, then turned around and was about to leave. Papchenko hurriedly told him from behind: "Lieutenant, pay attention to your feet. The floor here has been half pierced by enemy shells. If you fall, no one will help you command the tank unit to fight."

"Don't worry," Agafon said with a grin, "Our tank soldiers have good eyesight, and we will never step on the ground and fall downstairs." A motorcycle was parked behind the building, The motorcyclist sitting on it, as soon as Agafon got into the car, immediately started the motorcycle and headed towards the position where the tank was parked.

A few minutes later, Lieutenant Colonel Papchenko heard the roar of tank engines coming from the north. He knew that it was Agafon's tank unit attacking, so he quickly picked up the phone on the side and said into the microphone: "Two Battalion Commander, Second Battalion Commander, you attack with the battalion that came yesterday, follow our tanks, and attack the enemy."

  The Romanian artilleryman, who was hanging the anti-tank gun on the back of the truck, heard the louder and louder roar of the tank. Several people were still discussing in private: "The sound is coming from the north. Is the German tank coming?"

   "It's possible," another artilleryman said: "In the direction of the barricade factory, there are many areas where it is difficult to use tanks for combat. I think the Germans will eventually transfer tanks here..."

   Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a tank bypassing the ruins of the workers' new village and appearing in his field of vision. "Hell, it's not a German tank, it's a Russian tank. Alert, battle alert! Get ready for battle now."

  The artilleryman with him looked in the direction of the sound of the tank engine in doubt, and saw a Russian tank appearing in his field of vision. Seeing five or six tanks forming a battle formation and rushing towards their own position, the artillerymen of the Romanian army were frightened out of their wits. Where did they still have the courage to fight, they threw the anti-tank guns, spread their feet and rushed towards their own guns. Flee in the direction of the position.

  When they were fleeing, they shouted loudly as they fled: "Russians, Russian tanks are coming up!"

  The retreating artillery and infantry, when they heard their shouts, thought they were joking, and when they saw the Soviet tanks rushing towards them aggressively, they immediately panicked. The infantry climbed onto the truck one after another. In any case, the four wheels could run faster than their own two legs.

The artilleryman sitting on the truck, seeing groups of infantry desperately climbing onto the vehicle, would not allow them to get on the vehicle, and hurriedly punched and kicked the climbing soldiers, trying to kick them all out of the vehicle. This allows the vehicle to speed up.

When Lieutenant Agafon led the tank unit to attack, he was still worried that he would be attacked by the anti-tank guns of the Romanian army. At this moment, the enemy was in a mess, and everyone was busy running for their lives, and no one cared to stop and block their own tanks. The detachment was overjoyed immediately, and quickly issued a combat order to the other tanks through the vehicle-mounted radio: "All tanks pay attention, choose your own target to shoot, and be careful not to damage the enemy's anti-tank guns!"

  As the order was issued, the advancing tank paused briefly, fired a shot at the enemy in the distance, and then moved forward; stopped and fired again, and continued to move forward. Since the enemy has no tanks, Agafon and the others use grenades instead of armor-piercing projectiles. The shells landed beside the truck and exploded. The flying shrapnel hit the enemies who were climbing the truck, and they fell from the truck like ripe apples. Seeing that the truck was not safe, the infantry who tried to climb into the truck changed their minds. They jumped out of the truck one after another and ran forward.

The tank driven by Agafon knocked over a truck, and after the soldiers on the vehicle were crushed under the tracks, they shouted loudly into the microphone: "Brothers, use machine guns, shoot with machine guns, destroy these enemy."

  Hearing Agafon's order, the tanks that had rushed into the middle of the enemy stopped their shelling one after another. Instead, they used their vehicle-mounted machine guns to shoot at the enemy infantry, knocking them down piece by piece.

The Romanian soldiers who were fleeing saw the Soviet tanks slaughtering themselves, and the Soviet infantry also rushed out of the ruins. Knowing that if they continued to resist, there would only be a dead end, they quickly threw away the weapons in their hands and squatted in the bomb crater Ri raised his hands high.

   Seeing that the enemy had surrendered, Agafon continued to issue orders to the tank soldiers: "Brothers, continue to charge forward. We must cut off the enemy's retreat, so that none of them can escape."

   "Understood!" Hearing Agafon's order, the tank crews immediately stepped up their accelerator pedals, crushed the fleeing Romanian army, and smashed alleys of flesh and blood, trying to completely cut off the enemy's retreat.

  Seeing the Soviet tanks turning back in front of him, and the Soviet infantry from the Workers' New Village behind him rushing towards him. The Romanian officers and soldiers who were fleeing felt that the situation was over. Whether they were fleeing or fighting, they could not escape death. The best way was to abandon their weapons and surrender immediately, hoping to save their own lives. For a while, the Romanian officers and soldiers on the entire battlefield stopped fleeing, threw away their weapons and stood there with their hands raised, waiting for the Soviet infantry to take over them.

  (end of this chapter)