Colpakchi throws his microphone on the table, darts to the window, raises his telescope and looks out.
I also went to the window and looked into the distance. I saw that our first line of defense was being heavily shelled by the German army. Looking at the position filled with smoke, I raised my hand and looked at my watch. The clock had already pointed to five o'clock. My heart said that the German commander was really immoral. He didn't attack early and didn't attack late. He chose to attack during the time when the commanders and fighters ate.
I just thought in my heart that the most active staff officer had already said out loud what he thought: "Comrade commander, the German went too far and chose to attack when our commanders and fighters had dinner. With such a shelling, the casualties of the commanders and fighters who gather to eat together in the position must not be small. "
With his binoculars in his hands, korpakchi looked at the blazing front in the distance and said solemnly, "this German commander is not simple! After he failed his exploratory attack in the morning, no matter how fierce he played in the rest of the area, he kept still and let us mistakenly think that this is not their main attack direction. In the evening, our commanders and fighters, who had been nervous for a day, thought that the enemy would not attack again, so they relaxed their vigilance. The other side seized the opportunity when our defense was lax, launched a sudden attack, and attempted to capture our troops' positions at one stroke. "
With that, kolpakchi went to the table and spoke to the commander of the 192nd division, taranzev, by telephone: "Comrade commander, the German army is shelling your position. Maybe the next step is to cover the infantry charge with tanks. I ask you, can your troops hold the position? "
Taranzev replied loudly, "please rest assured, comrade commander. The men I deployed in the first and second lines of defense are all highly effective sailors. They will certainly be able to block the German attack."
"Commander, come and see, the German ground forces are coming!" While colpakchi was on the phone, the operations officer suddenly exclaimed, "there are tanks, there are infantry."
I raised my telescope and looked at the dusty place in the distance. The German tanks were no longer as sparse as they were in the morning, but at least hundreds of them. They were divided into five columns and were rushing towards our army. Further away, there was a dense line of infantry, following the tanks and pushing towards us.
Instead of paying attention to the fussy operational staff, kolpakchi continued to tell tarantzev on the phone: "Comrade commander, tell the sailors to be calm. When the enemy approaches, don't rush to hit the tanks first. Let them drive into the minefield and let the anti tank mines collect them. If there is a tank coming through the net, order the anti tank guns of the second line of defense to open fire and aim directly. And don't be polite to the enemy's infantry. Let the heavy and heavy machine guns fire at them together. Beat them hard and let them have a good taste of our strength. Do you understand? "
I can't help but laugh to hear that kolpakchi teaches tarantzev as a teacher teaches pupils. Since others can become a lieutenant colonel, they must have rich experience in fighting. They know how to fight naturally. Do you need to teach them so carefully?
When the German tanks approached our first line of defense, the shelling stopped. As the troops had been ordered by tarantzev not to open fire for the time being, the anti tank mines and the anti tank guns of the second line of defense were used to clean up the German tank troops, so the position shrouded in gunsmoke seemed very quiet.
German tanks entered the minefield one after another, and then in the front of our army, suddenly puffed up a bunch of plumes of smoke, rising into the sky in different attitudes. This is the smoke of the German tanks after the explosion of anti tank mines. Immediately after that, the artillery of the anti tank artillery regiment of the second line of defense also opened fire one after another. The artillery shells landed in the tank line and exploded, not only causing one or several tanks to catch fire and burn.
Although there were minefields and anti tank artillery barrage, there were still many tanks flying over the trenches of the first line of defense and rushing towards the second line of defense.
At this time, dozens of sailors jumped out of the first line of defense, holding the burning bottles in their hands, and chased after the tank's buttocks. After running for some time, they threw out the burning bottles in their hands one after another. Because of the speed of the tank, only a few of the flasks hit the tank, and most of them fell to the open space. As soon as they finished throwing the flask, the sailors turned and ran into the trench.
Although German tanks were not covered by infantry, their combat effectiveness could not be underestimated. I saw that some people used flasks to blow up tanks, which had not yet crossed the first line of defense. They used tank guns and machine guns to shoot at the sailors who left the trench. As soon as many sailors turned around, they were hit by machine gun bullets, or knocked down by explosive shrapnel, and fell on the hot land of the motherland. At last, less than one of the platoon soldiers returned to the trench safely.
As the German infantry approached the front, the silent points of fire in the position opened fire fiercely at this moment. Dense bullets immediately knocked down groups of German soldiers.
If we only continue to fight like this, our army will have no problem keeping the first line of defense. But just then, the German plane arrived. German tanks, perhaps to prevent accidental bombing, retreated to the back of the first line of defense, only bombarding our positions with artillery fire.
As soon as the planes hovering in the sky find that their infantry are suppressed by our machine gun fire or artillery, they will dive down from high altitude and bombard our ground fire points and artillery positions in turn.
After more than an hour of fierce fighting, the German army captured our first line of defense at the cost of 20 tanks and more than 400 soldiers. Seeing this scene, kolpakchi hit the windowsill with a fierce blow and cursed the new commander of the 192nd Division: "Damn, this damned tarantsev, he has repeatedly assured me that the most elite and effective sailors are deployed in the front, and there is no problem in holding the position. But now? It took the Germans just over an hour to conquer the positions that our army had built with solid fortifications. " At this moment, the staff officer yelled again: "Comrade commander, you see, in the right front, there are our officers and men withdrawing from the position." I raised my telescope and looked in the direction of the staff officer's finger. In the northwest corner of the first line of defense, a group of soldiers ran out of the trench in disorder and ran to the second line of defense. As soon as they ran 50 or 60 meters, the machine guns of the German infantry who occupied the position opened fire wildly, and the mortar shells roared down in their line. Dense bullets and flying shrapnel made the retreating sailors fall down. The rest of the people also stopped, under the command of a commander, quickly lying down in place, or hiding behind the destroyed tank, began to organize resistance. More than twenty German soldiers ran out of the trench and rushed towards the sailors under the cover of machine guns and mortars. The combat effectiveness of these sailors seems not weak, and their shooting skills are also good. After a burst of shooting, all the soldiers who left the trench fell under their guns. At this time, a German tank came to the trench and fired at the most powerful position. I could clearly see that several soldiers were lifted high into the air by the blast, and then fell heavily. The commander saw that the enemy's tanks were powerful and did not dare to fight. He asked his soldiers to continue to retreat to the second line of defense. But more and more tanks fired at them. One after another, tank shells exploded among them, and the shrapnel cut them down mercilessly like a flying scythe of death. Seeing that it was impossible to retreat safely to the second line of defense, the commander ordered the soldiers to lie on the ground and shoot doggedly at the enemy in the trench. But because of the great disparity between the enemy and us, the sailors kept dying, leaving only the commander alone. He collected hand grenades from several sacrificial soldiers and tied them together with bandages. Then he stood up abruptly and rushed towards the enemy's position with bundles of hand grenades in his arms. It's a pity that he was hit by the enemy's dense bullets before he took a few steps. As he was rushing forward, he shook his body a few times and fell to the ground. Seeing the loss of the first line of defense and the heroic sacrifice of the sailors, kolpakchi was furious. After connecting tarantsev's phone, he ordered in an unquestionable tone: "Comrade commander, I order you to immediately organize the troops to fight back and take back the first line of defense for me, take it back!"