Red Moscow

Fortunately, Papchenko executed the order in time. The commanders and fighters of the 122nd regiment had just reinforced the fortifications in the trenches where the fire was still burning and the smoke was still rising, and the German counterattack began. Groups of soldiers wearing steel helmets followed several tanks and rushed along the street towards the place occupied by the Soviet army.

When the enemy approached the position of the first battalion, Major Vasily immediately issued a shooting order, and various weapons on the position fired at the same time, shooting at the counterattacking enemy. When the enemies who rushed to the front were shot and fell down one after another, the enemies behind hurriedly shrank behind the tanks, leaned out from time to time, and fired two shots at the Soviet position.

Seeing that the bullet hit the armor plate of the tank, unable to stop the enemy tank from moving forward, Andre quickly issued a new order. "The rocket launcher is approaching and shooting, and the enemy must not be allowed to approach our position."

Hearing Andre's order, several soldiers carrying bazookas climbed out of the trench, bent over, and ran forward against the base of the wall. They came to a place fifty or sixty meters away from the tanks, hid behind the stairs or rubble on the street, and aimed their rocket launchers at the German tanks to shoot.

Moments later, the advancing German tanks were shrouded in smoke from the explosion.

When the gunpowder smoke cleared, Andre saw that three tanks were shot and caught fire, and they were standing still and burning, while the remaining one continued to move forward, with dozens of soldiers behind it.

"Brothers, shoot with machine guns and kill those infantrymen!" Seeing a soldier carrying rockets, after reloading, he stood up and was about to shoot when he was spotted by enemy infantry, and immediately fell to the ground with several bullets. In a pool of blood, Andre shouted at the top of his voice.

"Comrade battalion commander," a signal soldier ran to Andre's side, leaned close to his ear, and shouted loudly, "Your call is from the regimental commander."

Andrei ran back to his command post, picked up the phone on the wooden table, and heard Papchenko's voice from inside: "Hello, Comrade Major, how is the situation there?"

"The enemy dispatched four tanks and a company of soldiers and charged into our camp." Andre replied: "We destroyed three tanks and killed nearly a hundred soldiers. The remaining one Tanks and dozens of soldiers are not far from our position, but we are confident to eliminate them."

"Well done, Major Andrei." Papchenko said gratifiedly on the phone: "You did a good job."

Just as Papchenko hung up on Andrei, Sokov's call came in: "Comrade Colonel, how is the situation there? I heard the sound of gunfire. Is it because the enemy launched an attack on you?" Counterattack?"

"Yes, Comrade Division Commander." Papchenko quickly replied: "The enemy is not reconciled to their defeat and is organizing troops to counterattack, but please rest assured that our commanders and fighters are fully capable of blocking them."

"I order you: Rely on the position and do everything possible to consume the vital strength of the German army. If necessary, just call me, and I will give you the necessary support."

After learning about the situation in Barvinkovo, Sokov asked Sidolin: "Where is the 124th regiment now?"

"After ambushing an approaching German army, they are coming towards us." Sidolin looked at his watch and reported to Sokov: "In about two hours, they will be able to Get here."

With the three regiments gathered together, he has enough strength to challenge the three elite divisions of the German army, but only if the ammunition supply can keep up. Sokov then asked: "Then the ammunition supplied by the superior?"

"Lieutenant Samoilov and his team have cleared a gun runway for transport planes to take off and land," Sidolin said with a smile, "The twelve transport planes sent by the superiors have been launched one after another and are forming in the air. After formation, they will fly to the temporary airport and land."

Considering that the Soviet transport planes were not armed, once they were intercepted by German planes halfway, they would have to sit and wait for death. Sokov then asked, "Are there any planes escorting them?"

"Yes, the Air Force dispatched two fighter brigades to escort the transport plane."

The situation looked good, and at this moment, Yershakov, the head of the 125th regiment deployed in the south, called Sokov: "Comrade commander, according to the report of the scouts, it is five kilometers away from our regiment's garrison." position, enemy tanks and large numbers of infantry were spotted."

"Can you find out the enemy's number?" Sokov didn't expect that enemies from other places would arrive shortly after the attack on Barvinkovo ​​started.

"Although our scouts did not capture any prisoners, they saw the enemy's epaulettes through binoculars, and they can be sure that they are the Banner Guard Division."

Knowing that the German Banner Guard Division had also arrived, Sokov felt worried. He knew that the army's attack on Barvinkovo ​​was really a hornet's nest, and the enemy's actions were so fast that they arrived in such a short period of time. . He took a deep breath, and asked in a normal tone as much as possible: "What kind of force is the enemy?"

Ershakov said emotionally: "The enemy has twelve tanks, more than thirty armored vehicles, and an equal number of trucks. The total strength is estimated to be more than a thousand."

"Don't panic," Sokov said to Yersakov after listening to Yershakov's report: "The enemy only has more than a thousand people, and your regiment has nearly 4,000 people. Four of them beat one of them. Still? Order your troops into combat position and prepare to give the Germans a good lesson. Remember, you are not fighting alone and we are here to support you."

"Comrade commander, what should we do?" Sidolin looked at the icon on the map that represented the situation of the enemy and us, frowned, and said worriedly: "I thought we only needed to deal with the German imperial division and skeletons." Division, I didn't expect that even the Banner Guard Division has come up now, it seems that we have fallen into the encirclement of the German army."

"Send a telegram to Commander Rokossovsky, reporting the location of the Banner Guard Division to him, and asking him to send a bomber fleet as soon as possible to bomb the advancing Banner Guard Division."

"However, the enemy is too close to the defense zone of the 125th regiment. If the bomber is to carry out the bombing, I'm afraid it will accidentally injure our own people."

"Chief of Staff, you don't understand what I mean." Sokov pointed to the map and said to Sidolin: "Since the enemy has appeared near the 125th Regiment, it proves that the large troops of the Banner Guard Division are rushing to this place one after another. If the air force dispatches bombers to bomb them, it will not only slow down their advancing speed, but also cause huge casualties to them.”