Chapter 622

When he heard that the German army was attacking our position, kirilov became a little restless. As soon as I put down the phone, he stood up and said to me, "Comrade division chief, you and the chief of staff stay here. I'll go to the observation post to have a look."

"Wait a minute, comrade political commissar." As this was the first large-scale German attack after we entered the Highlands, I couldn't sit still in the headquarters. When I heard kirilov say so, I pushed the boat and said, "the headquarters will be handed over to chief of staff akhromeyev. I'll go to the observation post with you."

The observation post is located in the trench on the northwest side of the slope where the division headquarters is located. From here, you can see not only most of the positions of the regiment, but also the grassland on the north side of the highland.

As soon as we entered the observation post, the motor roar of German tanks came from far and near. We quickly raised our binoculars and looked into the distance. On the grassland in the distance, more than twenty tanks formed a parade formation and were coming to the position of a regiment. Behind is a convoy of countless trucks. You can't see the end at a glance. There are always one or two hundred of them. The carriage of the car was full of infantry wearing helmets, and some trucks were trailing cannons at the back of the truck, which stormed towards us.

"Damn it, damn it!" Kirilov said to himself: "it seems that the Germans really want to seize the mamayev post at one stroke, and they actually sent out a tank battalion, two artillery battalions and nearly a regiment of infantry."

Instead of answering kirilov, I moved the telescope to a position on the hillside. I saw three or five groups of officers and men in the trench, bending over and running back and forth. Those trenches and fortifications destroyed by intensive artillery fire are also being repaired at the moment. From time to time, shovels of soil can be seen coming out of the trenches.

The enemy is getting closer and closer. When they are about one kilometer away from our position, the tank in front slows down. The truck stops and forms a square array. The infantry on the truck are jumping down from the car one after another and forming a line next to the truck, ready to follow behind the tank and charge our position.

The cannons towed behind the truck were also unloaded by the artillery, and they were directly lined up in the open field in front of the truck, aiming the black muzzle at our army position.

Although I have experienced the battle for a long time, my heart beat faster when I saw this scene. Just like before the first shot on the battlefield, even the veteran soldiers were in a short-term tense state, not to mention that the enemy put on such a big formation today after heavy shelling.

I was worried that in the face of such a scene, Sheikh erikov, who was at the forefront, would also feel nervous. So I picked up the only phone in the observation center and gave him a call. When I heard his voice, I had regained my former calmness. I asked calmly, "commander shejerikov, are the troops in combat positions?"

"Yes, comrade division commander, the two newly transferred companies have entered the designated combat positions." Chejerikov replied dryly, but I recognized his nervousness in his slightly altered voice.

In order to stabilize his mood as soon as possible, I deliberately digged off the topic: "where is political commissar oberstein?"

"The commissar took his guard team to the hillside position."

Hearing that, I couldn't help feeling a little anxious. I yelled at him and said, "Comrade commander, what's the matter with you? Who allowed you to let the political commissar go to such a dangerous place?"

"Comrade division commander," said Xie jerikov, who was criticized by me wrongly, "originally, I wanted the political commissar to stay in the command post and let me go to the front to command the troops. I didn't expect the political commissar to say that he was not familiar with the commanders and fighters below. If we need to mobilize the troops later, I would be more suitable. He also said that he would go to the front positions to publicize and encourage the soldiers, so as to improve the morale of the troops. "

From what shejerikov said, I can tell that oberstein is a serious and stubborn man. It is obviously impossible for people to pull him down from the position at this time. The only thing I can do is to ask shejerikov to send someone to protect his safety. Thinking of this, I solemnly told xiejerikov: "Comrade commander, I order you to immediately send some Elven soldiers to the front to protect the safety of the political commissar. We should tell them to ensure the safety of political commissar oberstein even if they have sacrificed their lives. Do you understand? " When it comes to the last sentence, I specially emphasized the tone.

"I understand. I'll send someone to protect the Commissar."

"The enemy's infantry are easy to fight," I don't worry about the black infantry. They are a group of lambs to be slaughtered under the fire of our heavy and heavy machine guns. What makes me headache is the 20 or so tanks driving ahead. So I asked anxiously, "Comrade commander, your regiment is short of anti tank weapons. What are you going to do with the German tanks that open the way for infantry?"

"Please don't worry, division commander," shejerikov said to me confidently, "our regiment has a platoon of anti tank infantry deployed at the foot of the mountain in the highlands. Let them deal with the German tanks."

After listening to Xie jerikov's words, it suddenly occurred to me that there was indeed a regiment with a platoon under the highland, which was specially used to fight German tanks. It was a miracle that they survived the artillery attack just now.

When I put down the receiver, kirilov, who was watching the enemy, put down his telescope and gave me a friendly smile. I understand the reason why he smiles at me is that my attitude towards political workers has changed from initial exclusion and indifference to friendliness and enthusiasm.

I also gave kirilov a polite smile, then went to the observation port, raised my telescope and looked at the battlefield. By this time, the German infantry had assembled, and they were in a scattered formation, following the tanks and slowly pushing towards our position. In front of the open circuit of the tank motor made a noise, just like an earthquake, shaking the ground under my feet is also slightly shaking.

When the German tanks approached the foot of our mountain, two of the anti tank men who were hiding in the individual bunker climbed out of the bunker and quickly climbed towards the tanks with their hands and feet. The fastest climber on the left side, when he was about ten meters away from the oncoming tank, leaned up half of his body, supported the ground with his left elbow, raised his right hand from the waist and waved forward, an anti tank grenade flew towards the tank.

Almost at the same time that the soldiers lay on the ground again, the sound of the front baffle of the tank raised a fire, and then the whole body of the tank was covered with smoke. The tank, which had been shot, drove forward a few more steps with inertia, and then stopped.

The soldier on the right was not as lucky as his comrades. The grenade he threw flew past the turret of the tank and landed in the open space behind it. The air wave lifted the smashed soil high into the air and scattered it like a lady. When the soldier failed to hit the target, he might be a little worried. He didn't care to hide. He stood up straight and was ready to throw the remaining grenades. But without waiting for him to raise his hand, he was hit by the machine gun bullets on the tank turret or those infantry bullets charging behind him. His upper body suddenly tilted back. After a few seconds, he fell down. And he didn't blow up, and the tank ran over him.

The soldier on the left saw that his comrades were mercilessly crushed under the track of the tank. He might be dazzled by the anger. He stood up from the ground and rushed to the tank with a grenade. After a few steps, the German bullets hit him. His body convulsed violently and limped weakly. The grenade in his hand also fell to one side.

Seeing the sacrifice of these two anti tank men, I didn't say anything but sighed gently. Then I looked through my telescope at the individual bunkers where the anti tank men were hidden, anxiously looking forward to their attack again.

At this moment, kirilov patted me on the shoulder and exclaimed excitedly, "Comrade division, please look into the valley. It's our artillery. If they come out, the German tanks will not rush to our position."

Hearing kirilov's cry, I looked curiously at the position of the gully with my telescope to see what could make kirilov so excited. This look, my mood also immediately relaxed a lot.

It turned out that the officers and men of the anti tank company, who were hiding in the valley, were pushing their guns back to the hillside. On the left side of the regiment's position, there was a slightly gentle hillside. It seemed that they wanted to build an anti tank artillery position there. I counted the cannons silently. There were only 12 cannons. It seems that Morozov sent an anti tank artillery company in order to support the troops of shejerikov. I just don't know whether this artillery company is the second company of lieutenant kasulin or the third company of lieutenant mailehov.

In just a few minutes when I watched the anti tank artillery company move to the front, the battle at the foot of the mountain made new progress. Two more tanks were destroyed by our soldiers, but there were more than 20 corpses lying around the burning wreckage of the tanks. We didn't know whether it was our soldiers who died or the German tank soldiers who escaped from the tanks.

After the German army lost four more tanks, the remaining 20 or so tanks lined up under the high ground, raised their black muzzles and bombarded our hillside positions. The fast German soldiers, carrying all kinds of weapons, rushed out of the gap between the tanks and rushed up the hillside.

Seeing this scene, the artillery commander was in a hurry. Before pushing all the cannons onto the gentle slope, he ordered the cannons in position to directly aim at the German attack line and fire.

The shells roared and landed in the German line. Suddenly, a few black clouds of smoke rose in the middle of the tank. A dozen hapless infantry were cut to the ground by flying shrapnel. At the same time, the light and heavy machine guns on the hillside positions also opened fire. I don't know who's in charge, but our firepower is focused on strafing the infantry who are bending up the hillside. In our intensive firepower, patches of German soldiers fell on the hillside.

The German army saw that our firepower was fierce, and they didn't go any further. The infantry came down the hill, through the gap between the tanks, and ran straight to where the truck stopped. And the tanks were puffing black smoke, slowly retreating as they fired.

"Great, great!" Kirilov, who was beside me, cried excitedly. He also patted me on the shoulder and said aloud, "Comrade oshanina, look, we have beaten back the German attack."

Although the first German attack was defeated by us, I am not happy at all. The fighting capacity of the Germans is not so poor, otherwise they would not defeat and encircle the three army groups under the command of Zhukov in just two days. When they were attacking, they only suffered a little setback and then retreated in a panic. There must be some conspiracy.

Seeing kirilov's exultation, I coldly reminded him: "Comrade political commissar, if the Germans retreat so easily, I think there must be something to hide."

Unexpectedly, he said with disapproval: "Comrade oshanina, you are so thoughtful. The Germans first destroyed seven tanks by our anti tank men, and then were killed by our anti tank artillery company and the heavy and heavy machine gun fire on the position. They are not fools. They will not rush forward regardless of casualties. They must go back to adjust the formation for the time being and attack later... "

Before his words were finished, there was a "whine" sound from the air, which made my hair stand upright. Although I didn't pick up the telescope, I also guessed that it must be the two German artillery battalions shelling our position.

"Boom boom!" There was no interval between the explosions. The shells landed one by one on the high ground and exploded continuously, lifting all the objects that could be lifted into the air. The newly silent highland was overturned again by German artillery fire, and large and small pieces of soil fell down from the air like a rainstorm, hitting heavily on a regiment of positions.

The shells rained down, and the raging fire burst into the sky. The earth under my feet was shaking like an earthquake with magnitude 8. Large groups of pungent smoke along the hillside was blown by the river wind and poured into our observation center, which made kirilov and I cough violently. I covered my ears with both hands and opened my mouth to resist the impact of sound waves on the eardrum, so as not to be shocked and hurt again.

"Boom! Boom! Boom Not only the high ground was heavily bombarded by German artillery, but also the left-wing anti tank artillery company position was bombarded by German tank artillery. The whole artillery position was full of fire and explosion.

The shelling ended ten minutes later, and before the smoke of gunpowder that enveloped the Highlands had cleared away, the German troops in the distance, under the cover of tanks, launched a new round of attack.

When I raised my telescope again and looked at our artillery position, I almost cried. The original line of twelve cannons, now only three remain intact, the rest of the cannons were blasted into scrap metal, and most of the Gunners of these cannons are lying on the side of large and small craters.

Seeing that our artillery company was beaten so badly, I thought that when the German army attacked again, they would not be able to provide artillery cover for a regiment of defenders. Unexpectedly, as soon as the German tanks got close to the highland, the artillery company with heavy losses fired decisively. Two German tanks caught off guard were hit directly, which caused the tank shells in the tanks to explode and made some German soldiers cry and howl.

After the German tanks stopped at the foot of the hillside again, some of them fired at the hillside positions to cover the infantry charge. The others turned their guns and fired at the positions of the artillery company, intending to destroy the guns that were a serious threat to them.

At this time, in addition to two guns, our artillery position was still firing, while the other gun was moving into the gully under the guidance of several soldiers.

Seeing this scene, kirilov exclaimed in surprise, "what are these Gunners doing? The Germans are clearly in front. Why do they run back? Do they want to be shameful deserters?" After shouting these words, he yelled at the door, called in a guard who was standing outside, and told him in a loud voice: "Comrade soldier, go to the artillery camp immediately to find captain Morozov, and ask him to stop this shameful act of deserting without permission."

The soldier agreed. He just wanted to leave, but I stopped him. I told him lightly, "Comrade soldier, there's nothing for you here. You'd better go back outside." Confused by the two different orders of kirilov and I, the soldier stood still in a daze.

Seeing that he didn't move, I gave him another command: "didn't you hear my command? It's none of your business here. Go out on duty. " The soldier who got my affirmative order saluted us and turned to go out.

As soon as the soldiers left, I said to the emotional kirilov, "Comrade political commissar, please don't get excited. The Gunners of that cannon are not going to be deserters, but are going to move to new positions to continue to attack the enemy."

"Is it true, comrade oshanina?" Kirilov asked uncertainly, looking at the German infantry climbing up the hill and the cannon moving into the ditch.

"Comrade political commissar, I promise you that in ten minutes at most, you will see this cannon firing revenge shells at the German tanks and infantry in its new position."

Due to the fierce German artillery fire, most of the hillside positions were destroyed, and almost all the heavy weapon commanders and fighters of our army were lost. Facing the surging German infantry, we had to withdraw from the East and West wings of the highland along the trench.

"Comrade oshanina, we should immediately organize a counterattack to drive the Germans out of our position. A counterattack should be organized immediately, and the Germans should not be allowed to occupy our positions. " Kirilov, now more and more agitated, called at me incoherently.

And I know the good points of the defensive works built by the shejerikov regiment, so when I saw that the German army had occupied our hillside position, I didn't feel the slightest nervous. I said to kirilov as if nothing had happened: "Comrade political commissar, please don't worry, trust our commanders and fighters, they will soon take the position back from the German hands."

Kirilov looked at me suspiciously and said, "Comrade oshanina, you have issued a military order to commander trakov. If you lose the highland, you will be sent to the military court for trial." I didn't argue with him, but said faintly, "political commissar kirilov, take it easy. You will soon see how our commanders and fighters eliminated these Germans." As the German infantry occupied the hillside position, the tanks providing artillery cover at the foot of the mountain also stopped shooting at the Highlands, but turned the muzzle to continue to bombard our artillery position. Under the heavy bombardment of more than a dozen tank guns, two guns on the hillside were smashed by the company and artillery after destroying three tanks. But their sacrifice was not worthless. The artillery that had just withdrawn from the position had entered a depression and a new artillery position had been set up there. Looking at the remaining cannon, I was relieved and said in silence: next, it's the survivors' turn to teach these annoying German tanks a lesson.