Chapter 413

The commendation meeting was very brief. Colonel ruhle from the headquarters of the front army gave us a medal. Military commissar gurov gave us a brief speech, and the representatives of the troops who came to the ceremony dismissed and went back to their respective troops.

When group commander korpakchi passed me, he stopped and said to me, "major oshanina, no, it's commander. You come with me. We'll go to the forward observation post, where I will direct today's counterattack. " Before I could answer, he turned to the man standing by and said, "and you, comrade captain, come with me, too."

After we agreed in a loud voice, shamikov and I quickly followed the commander of the group army and walked towards the distant motorcade.

Kolpakchi and gurov walked to a jeep, stopped, chatted briefly, and shook hands to say goodbye. Korpakchi opened the rear door of the jeep and sat in. Gurov stood beside the jeep and did not move. It seemed that he was in charge of the group army headquarters.

I looked around to see where trakov was. However, after searching in the crowd for a long time, I didn't see the familiar figure. It is estimated that he left here last night. Just when I was disappointed, Captain shamikov called to me: "Comrade commander, let's get in the car."

I said yes and walked to the car colpakchi was in. After two steps, shamikov stopped me and asked strangely, "Comrade commander, where are you going?"

I don't know why he suddenly grabbed me, so I pointed to colpakchi's car and said, "Comrade captain, didn't you let me in? I'm just getting ready to get on. "

Unexpectedly, shemikov pointed to a jeep nearby and said, "yes, I just told you to get on the bus. The car is here. Why do you go ahead? It's the commander's car. "

Listening to what he said, I immediately felt a heat on my face. The main reason is that I have been sitting in the same car with the leader for so long that now I have formed the habit of going to the leader's car as soon as I hear about getting on the bus.

Our convoy consists of six jeeps and two trucks. Except for the commander himself, the rest are staff officers at all levels. On the truck are the security forces of the headquarters.

The forward command is set up on a hill with high mountains and dense forests. In order to ensure that the commander in command of the battle can know the situation of the battlefield in time, the command built by the engineering forces is not only hidden, but also has a wide field of vision. Standing in the headquarters, you can have a panoramic view of the great plains under the hills.

The staff officers are well-trained. Less than 10 minutes after their arrival, the communication with the troops has been kept unblocked, which not only enables korpakchi to see all kinds of intelligence in time, but also enables the energy source to continuously give orders to the troops.

At ten o'clock, three artillery regiments assigned to the 33rd infantry division of the guards began to fire at the German positions. The German positions on the bare plains were soon shrouded in smoke and fire.

Colpakchi held up his telescope and looked at the German position that was being ravaged by our artillery. After a while, he moved his telescope away from his eyes, raised his hand and looked at his watch. He turned his head and told shamikov standing behind him: "Comrade captain, call the commander of the 13th tank army. It's his tank army's turn to attack." With a loud promise, shamikov turned to call the friendly army.

Kolpakchi raised his telescope again and enjoyed the performance of our artillery. He kept whispering: "great, brother artillery, great! Move the artillery to the right. There's another German firepower. Destroy it! That's great. I really killed that fire spot! "

While colpakchi was talking to himself, I was also standing beside him, holding a telescope to observe the enemy situation. Contrary to his exultation, my heart sank as I watched. After attacking the first line of defense of the German army, our artillery did not extend their firepower, but slowly gnawed at each trench, trench by trench. It seems that they can clear away the German troops from the position little by little, but in fact, they let the German see clearly that the rear of the position is safe, and it is the most appropriate place to avoid shelling. When the trench in front was shelled, except for a few observation posts, the rest of them ran to the rear positions and returned when the shelling was over.

All of a sudden, I heard kolpakchi exclaim excitedly: "great, our tank troops are out, the German artillery positions will not be able to stop our torrent of steel." After shouting, he issued an order to the 33rd division of the guards through shamikov: "Comrade captain, call the commander of the 33rd division of the guards, Colonel farnasiyev, and order him to send the 83rd regiment immediately to follow the tank troops to seize the German position."

I moved the camera to the East and saw more than 100 tanks of our army in battle formation, rushing towards the German position. Because the dust is too big to see whether there are infantry following. However, judging from the situation on the battlefield, I think that if there is no accident, these tanks alone will be able to defeat the German troops in the position, and then all the Germans will be annihilated when the close guard infantry follow them.

Our speeding tanks soon approached the German position, and our artillery stopped firing. At this time, the fire points on the German positions revived. Not only mortars, machine guns, rifles and submachine guns were firing, but also anti tank guns were firing at our tanks.

Several tanks rushed to the front and were soon hit by bullets, caught fire and forced to stop. The tank soldiers in black uniform got out of the burning tank and ran in the direction of coming. With the exception of a few lucky ones, most of the tank soldiers ran not far away and were hit by evil German bullets and fell on the battlefield. If the tank continues to move forward, it should soon be able to reach the German position. But at this time, a surprising scene happened, our tanks stopped attacking. Some tanks drive backward directly, others turn around in the same place and drive in the same direction. Kolpakchi was stunned and asked someone to bring a telephone. He grasped the microphone and asked the commander of the tank army, "Comrade General, what's wrong with your tank army? Why stop attacking? " The other side replied loudly, "Comrade commander, we can't get through the front position without the support of infantry."“ Stop the retreat, Comrade General. Order your troops to stop, stop immediately, stop where they are, use tank guns to suppress German fire, and my infantry will be here in a minute Kolpakchi roared angrily“ General kolpakchi, "the commander of the other side didn't pay any attention to the commander of the group army. He said to himself," I repeat, without the support of infantry, my troops can't pass through the front position. We will stop attacking until your infantry get together. "“ Asshole! You big jerk! You're going to ruin this counterattack. I want to reflect what you have done to the commander of the front army and take you to the military court. " After roaring, colpakchi swung the microphone down and quickly walked to the observation port to check the situation of the battlefield. The tanks on the battlefield stopped retreating and stopped about one kilometer away from the German army's position, firing at each other's anti tank guns. As soon as a tank of our army was hit by smoke, the anti tank gun that fired the shell was hit by one or several tank shells at the same time and was blown apart. More than ten minutes later, the infantry of the 83rd regiment of the guards finally arrived, and the tank troops launched a new round of attack. However, they did not open the way for the infantry in the front, but followed the infantry, slowly moving forward, from time to time using artillery to provide artillery support for the attacking troops. The German mortars in the trenches, facing the dense attack formation of our army, began to show their magic power. Every mortar shell landed in our army's formation and exploded, several or even more than a dozen commanders fell down. Although I participated in the more bloody and cruel battle of sinavino a few days ago, I almost always stayed in the headquarters. I just learned about the progress of the battle through the war reports. No matter how heavy the casualties of the troops were, they were just boring numbers to me. Now I see one fresh life after another disappearing in front of me. Seeing all this, my heart is like a knife, but there is nothing I can do. This is war. I peeked at colpakchi next to him. He was livid and gritted his teeth. I knew that if conditions allowed, he would shoot the general of the tank army himself. It was his indecision and retreat that made our infantry pay such heavy casualties. As I was thinking about it, kolpakchi put down his telescope and gave an order to shamikov: "Comrade captain, call Colonel harchenko of the 192nd infantry division, and order his troops to attack immediately from the existing position, flank the right wing of the German army, and ensure the attack of the 33rd guard division is smooth. In addition, let Colonel fanasiev put the 84th and 85th regiments into combat. " Although the 83rd regiment of the attacking guards suffered heavy casualties, the officers and men had already rushed into the first trench and started a close battle with the German troops. Our tanks moved slowly to the side of the trench, cleared the exposed fire points with artillery fire, and covered the positions occupied by infantry. Seeing that the infantry were seizing the position, kolpacki was relieved. He put down his telescope, lit a cigarette, turned and asked shamikov, "Comrade captain, have all the orders been sent out?" "Yes, comrade commander. Capt. halchenko and Capt. fanasiev have said that their troops have long been ready for your order to attack. No, just after the phone call, their troops began to attack. "