Red Moscow

After destroying Hornadorf's tank, the anti-tank fighters deployed in the crater in front of the position used rocket launchers to destroy four or five tanks in succession.

According to Guchakov's idea, once the remaining tanks of the German army are killed by the anti-tank fighters deployed in front of the position, the infantry without the cover of the tanks will fall into chaos, and then he can order the troops to charge .

But the next scene that surprised him happened. The remaining tanks quickly reversed and retreated to a position more than 300 meters away from the position. After stopping, they bombarded the trenches with tank guns. The explosions one after another forced the soldiers to continue to lie down in the fortifications, not daring to straighten up easily.

The German infantry in the distance accelerated their charge. The machine gunner dragged the machine gun, and the gunner carried the mortar. After arriving at the ideal shooting position, he immediately looked for a suitable place to establish a shooting position, and used artillery and machine gun fire to match the tank fire, covering the rest of the infantry to occupy favorable terrain.

"Damn, what's going on?" Seeing this scene, Guchakov couldn't help frowning. Shouldn't the infantry, who had lost the cover of the tank after being destroyed by the anti-tank fighters, retreat when the tank covering the infantry's charge was destroyed? Unexpectedly, not only did the enemy show no signs of retreating, on the contrary, the offensive became more violent: "Have the Germans gone crazy?"

Sokov in the observation post in the distance also saw this strange scene. He felt that the enemies at this moment were like a group of wasps that had been stabbed in their nest. He turned his head to look at Koida and asked puzzledly: " Comrade Colonel, tell me what's going on, after the enemy's attack was frustrated, instead of retreating, they intensified their attack, have they gone crazy?"

Where did Koyda know the answer, shrugged his shoulders, turned his mouth away, and said, "Could it be that Manstein gave them a death order, so that they must seize our army's position within the specified time?"

After a while, the German offensive still did not weaken, but new armored units and infantry entered the battle. Realizing the seriousness of the problem, Sokov quickly picked up the phone and connected to Marankin's division headquarters: "General Marankin, this is Sokov."

Hearing that the person who called him was Sokov, Marankin asked a little excitedly: "General Sokov, is there any news about General Lukin?"

"Uh," Sokov didn't expect the other party to think of this matter first, and he replied with some embarrassment: "I haven't made any progress in my investigation about General Lukin. I will inform you soon. I called you today because of other things. "

"Anything else?" Marankin said, "Excuse me, General Sokov, what do you want to know?"

"How is the German offensive in your sector?"

Marankin hesitated for a moment, then said: "Only ten minutes ago, about a battalion of German infantry, under the cover of a dozen tanks, launched a strong attack on the position of the 233rd Regiment. Due to the fierce enemy's offensive, the defenders were a little I couldn't hold on any longer, and when I was planning to put the 235 regiment into battle, the enemy stopped attacking without warning and withdrew from the battlefield."

Sokov turned pale in shock: "What, the enemy suddenly withdrew from the battle when they had the upper hand?"

"Yes, General Sokov." Marankin replied truthfully: "If I don't send reinforcements to the position, they can only hold out for another half an hour or even less. At that time, I was thinking whether to The second line of defense should be used to continue to block the enemy's attack. But suddenly, the enemy who has the upper hand retreats without warning."

After putting down the phone, Sokov stared at the map on the table in a daze. He was also very confused at the moment. Why did the enemy attacking the Guards Division suddenly choose to retreat when they had the upper hand? Did something unexpected happen? thing?

"Comrade Commander," just when Sokov was puzzled, Kida, who was standing at the lookout to observe the situation on the battlefield, came to Sokov's side and said anxiously: "Now there are at least Forty tanks, they all stopped outside the range of our bazooka, and bombarded our defensive positions with artillery fire."

"What about the casualties?"

"Lieutenant Guchakov reported to me that in order to hold the position, he has also put the company as a reserve into battle." Koyda asked Sokov for instructions: "Now the enemy is attacking like crazy. , the casualties of our troops are also skyrocketing.”

When the defense was deployed, although the entire 52nd regiment was on the front line, only Guchakov's first battalion is now in battle. Seeing that the situation was dangerous at this moment, Sokov quickly ordered Koida: "Call the commander of the 562 regiment immediately and order him to put the other two battalions into battle."

Seeing that Koyda picked up the phone and was about to call the 562nd Regiment, Sokov added: "Order the 654th Regiment to prepare for combat and transfer them to the front line if necessary."

"What about the 568th regiment and the artillery regiment?" Keida asked.

"The 568th regiment continues to serve as a security mission on the right wing, and it must not be used lightly. As for the artillery regiment," Sokov began to think in his mind. The blocking battle of the 188th division was only the first day. Is it necessary to put the artillery into the battle? After some thought, he said to Koida: "The artillery regiment is ready for all battles. Once it finds that the position is in danger of losing its position, it will immediately bombard the attacking enemy."

Sokov stood in front of the lookout and looked into the distance with his binoculars. He saw that the attacking German officers and soldiers were fighting extremely tenaciously. Some even rushed to a place only a dozen meters away from the trenches, only one step away from rushing into the Soviet trenches. The Soviet commanders and fighters who stood firm were also extremely heroic. When they saw the enemy approaching their position, soldiers with grenades in their hands bravely rushed towards the enemy from time to time. After a loud "boom", they rushed up of the enemies all perish together.

In order to find out what happened, so that the German officers and soldiers rushed forward bravely under the hail of bullets, as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, Sokov called the chief of staff of the division again and told him: "The staff is the best!" Comrade Chang, please inform the commanders and fighters on the front line that they must capture a few prisoners and find out why the enemy's attack is so abnormal."

As the order was issued, the commanders and fighters who stood firm no longer killed all the enemies who rushed into the trenches, but tried every means to capture prisoners. In a short while, they captured five prisoners, except for one private, the rest were non-commissioned officers, and even one was a second lieutenant.

The prisoner was taken to Guchakov's command post by the soldiers. He glanced at the prisoner in front of him and felt that if he wanted to find out why the German army attacked uncharacteristically, he would definitely be able to ask the reason from the German second lieutenant. So he called Sergeant Koppetto and said to him: "Sergeant Koppetto, you take your squad and take these prisoners to the division headquarters. Remember, no matter what happens on the road, you Use your life to guarantee me that this German second lieutenant must reach the division headquarters alive."

"Comrade battalion commander, please don't worry." Kopetuo understood the importance of this task in his heart, and quickly straightened his body and replied, "I will definitely bring the living German second lieutenant to the commander."