Chapter 388 Cliff
At exactly eleven o'clock, the frontal offensive of the First Tank Battalion began.
However, this attack was different from the previous one. Its purpose was not to take Rzhev down, but to attract the attention of the German army or cover up the voice of the first infantry.
Then, amidst gunshots and explosions, the 1st Battalion began climbing the cliff.
It was still Sergeant Yevdokim who took the lead because he could find his way in the darkness and snow cover.
Ivanovic, who followed closely behind, dug a hole in the snow with a sapper shovel... This made it easier for those who followed him to follow.
The weather is very cold, around eleven at night is the lowest temperature of the day, and it may drop to minus 50 degrees, especially when there is a mountain wind blowing on the cliff, Shulka feels that his eyelids that are only exposed outside To be frozen.
But what worries Shulka even more is not this, but wearing a thick cotton coat and fully armed with rifles, grenades, etc. In this case, walking along the cracks of the cliff is almost the same as walking a tightrope.
Ivanovic’s idea is indeed good. With a few more nails, the boots are much more stable when walking on the snow. As for the pain...the feet are so cold that they don’t feel much, so they don’t feel it at all.
Things went smoothly than expected, except that two soldiers fell down the mountain during the process.
Fortunately, they didn't seem to be in any serious trouble, mainly because there was snow everywhere to act as a buffer, and maybe they hadn't climbed too high, so Shulka saw them falling down the mountain and stood still in the snow. Get up and join the climbing team again.
If there is any surprise, it is that when we are about to reach the top of the cliff, we hear a burst of shouting in German.
Germans on top of the cliff? !
Scared by this discovery, Yevdokim immediately stopped the team and knelt down and remained motionless.
Ivanovic let people pass the information to Shulka one by one: "The enemy has been found!"
This information shocked Shulka. In this case, as long as the Germans throw a few grenades here, it may cause heavy casualties to the first battalion and lead to the failure of the entire combat plan.
But after thinking about it, Shulka responded: "That may be the enemy's artillery observers, go ahead and kill them!"
"Yes!" The soldiers passed on the orders one by one.
It is reasonable for Shulka to make such a judgment.
If the Germans detected the movement of the 1st Battalion, then they should not have made a sound to be detected by Yevdokim et al.
This was the basis on which Shulka ordered the troops to move on.
Secondly, the German army will keep making sounds, probably using radio to guide the artillery to shoot...the top of the cliff is a good artillery observation point.
If this is the case, then there will not be many German troops on the top of the cliff, and artillery observers can often only need a few people.
Turns out Shulka was right.
This matter was led by the veterans who walked ahead... They sneaked up to the top of the cliff under the guidance of Yevdokim.
It was not easy to find people in the dark and snow, but the German artillery observers kept shouting, and they even shouted very loudly in order to let the other party hear their words clearly in the sound of artillery fire.
What they don't know is that veterans and others have sneaked up behind them, and then suddenly pressed their heads into the snow and stabbed their lungs from the back... The lungs have bigger targets, just need to If the general spine is flat, it can be lifted obliquely from the side ribs and pierced into the lungs.
The lungs are the respiratory organs through which the blood is quickly sucked back and fills the mouth and nose making it silent.
If there is any sound, it is the sound of swallowing when drowning in one's own blood.
At this time, the veterans are already veterans. Unlike in the Brest Fortress before, several people need to help to assassinate a few sentries and stab them several times to ensure that the other party does not make a sound.
Then the veteran used a flashlight to send a safety signal to the bottom, and the Soviet soldiers climbed up from the cliff one by one.
The people who climbed up first did not attack immediately, they spread out and found a place to lie down...they are all white, and it is difficult for them to blend in with the surrounding snow as soon as they lie down, and it is hard to see anything unless they look carefully.
On the other hand, the German artillerymen were confused because they lost contact with the artillery observers.
As Shulka guessed, the German army was guided by a team of artillery observers for every group of five guns, which made it easy for them to implement various forms of fire suppression.
Captain Shalotte, who commanded the howitzer team, yelled into the walkie-talkie for a while but got no answer, so he shouted to the two signalmen beside him: "Soldier, there seems to be something wrong with our artillery observer, maybe Their radio is broken, take your radio and rush to their location immediately!"
"Yes!" Bauer responded, and took his subordinates back to the radio and ran towards the cliff.
Because the signal soldiers often need to repair the lines in the snow, they are equipped with bamboo slippers that can facilitate walking in the snow.
This kind of slippers is made very large, like a stretched duck's foot, it is put on the outside of the boots and then tied.
Although it is also inconvenient to move like this, but because the force-bearing area is increased, it will not be unable to run at all with one deep foot and one shallow foot as usual, and you will trip if you are not careful.
Signal soldiers, on the other hand, are usually physically demanding.
This is a principle that all troops follow...The most common thing for signal soldiers to do is to pull telephone lines on the battlefield or connect telephone lines that have been cut or bombed by the enemy.
Therefore, the signal soldier does not require good marksmanship or cleverness, but requires the ability to run, and run far and fast, otherwise the fighter will be missed.
Sometimes it is even required that the communications soldier can climb up the utility pole with only his feet and one hand and complete the wiring with one hand.
This is why it goes without saying. Even if the communications soldiers are injured or even have a hand blown off, they can still complete their wiring tasks.
Bauer and his men are experts in this area, so they carried a radio and stepped on snow slippers like rabbits to their destination.
They arrived at their destination ten minutes later, but before they found the artillery observers, they found several figures on the cliff.
"What is that?" The subordinate asked in panic.
Bauer was stunned for a moment, and then ordered: "Pick up your weapon, Fred, the enemy is climbing up from the cliff! I will cover you, you should go back and report..."
But before the words fell, Ball realized that he was too careless.
White "snowmen" stood up around them, and they actually walked into the enemy group without noticing.
(end of this chapter)