Red Moscow

Thinking that Uzakov still couldn't figure out what happened at the outpost, Sokov felt very angry. But he still suppressed the anger in his heart and asked, "Why don't you lay a telephone line for the outpost?"

"Comrade Commander," Uzakov replied flusteredly, "our brigade has a serious shortage of communications equipment..."

"Since there is a serious shortage of communication equipment, why didn't you report it to me immediately?" Sokov asked sternly, "Don't you know that outposts without communication equipment are likely to fall into a situation of fighting alone?"

"Don't say anything now, and immediately send troops to support the outpost. As long as the enemy's shelling stops, they will immediately attack the outpost. The enemy must not be allowed to occupy the outpost. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander," Uzakov replied, "I will immediately send troops for reinforcements."

After putting down the phone, Sokov called the director of the communications corps to him and asked, "Do you have any extra communication equipment?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." The director of the communications corps asked tentatively, "I wonder if you want a radio station, or a telephone and a telephone line?"

"All." Sokov said without hesitation: "Immediately send someone to send these items to the town of Yakovlevo. The 46th Infantry Brigade stationed there urgently needs these supplies."

Seeing Sokov's solemn expression when he said this, the director of the communications corps immediately realized that these communication equipment were related to the success or failure of the next battle, and quickly volunteered: "Comrade commander, I will take someone there personally."

"No, you don't have to go in person." Sokov knew very well in his heart that although Yakovlevo town urgently needed all kinds of communication equipment, he didn't need his communications director to deliver them in person, so he ordered the other party to say: "Let's Just send your deputy there, you have more important work to do."

After the director of the communications corps left, Sokov called Bessonov, the commander of the Second Artillery Division: "Hey, Comrade Colonel, are you awake?"

Bessonov understood that Sokov would not call himself at such a time if there was no important matter, so he quickly replied: "Comrade commander, I will wake up as soon as the cannon fires in the distance, and order The troops are ready for battle."

It's easy to talk to smart people. Before Sokov had time to explain his intentions, Bessonov guessed his intentions. Sokov nodded with a smile, and continued: "The enemy is shelling our outpost south of Yakovlev. How about it? Are you sure you can suppress the enemy's artillery fire?"

"Comrade Commander, if it was two days ago, I would not have dared to make such a guarantee to you." Bessonov said with a smile on the phone: "But yesterday you added so many artillery for us, if you still can't suppress The enemy's artillery is a bit unreasonable."

After completing the pursuit of the 48th and 57th Panzer Corps, Sokov's troops captured a large number of tanks and artillery. For these captured technical equipment, Sokov allocated them to the tank army and artillery division without hesitation, so that they would have enough strength to participate in the next stage of operations. No, the task of the artillery division is here.

Sokov smiled, and then asked: "Comrade Colonel, do you have enough ammunition?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander." Bessonov replied: "The German artillery 105, 120 and 150 calibers assigned to us today are each equipped with two base ammunition. Have a drink."

"Very good." Sokov did not ask where the other party got the German artillery shells. The artillery must have its own way to get the supplies it needs. He directly ordered the other party to say: "Comrade Colonel, I will give you half an hour to silence the enemy's artillery."

"It will take less than half an hour." Besonov said carelessly after receiving Sokov's order: "I only need a quarter of an hour to completely silence the German artillery positions."

Five minutes later, more than 200 cannons from the Second Artillery Division fired in unison, and the dark red barrage formed by the shelling flashes woven into a spectacular spectacle in the air. The artillery positions of the German army in the distance suddenly billowed with thick smoke, covering the sky and the sun. In the smoke, the German artillery ran around like headless flies, running towards where there were too many people. Instead, under the attack of the Soviet artillery, more officers and soldiers were killed or injured.

The German army originally wanted to carry out a night attack on the Soviet outpost, but the squad ambushed outside the town of Yakovlevo, before the entire army was wiped out, the radio operator sent the last telegram to the division headquarters, saying that their The operation failed to stop the messenger returning from the outpost.

After receiving this telegram, the German commander was worried that the Soviet army was already prepared, so he temporarily changed his mind and changed from a sneak attack to a strong attack. In order to successfully capture the Soviet positions, the German division commander requested the assistance of the artillery in the rear to bombard the Soviets violently.

After the shelling began, the German division commander found a commanding height to observe the effect of the shelling. I saw that the whole position was filled with gunpowder smoke, and through the thick smoke, we could see clusters of flashing explosion fireballs from time to time. Trenches and fortifications were collapsing and burning, and fragments of corpses were scattered in the blast blast. .

Seeing this scene, the German division commander showed a proud expression on his face. He didn't believe that under such intensive artillery fire, someone could survive in the simple position in the distance. He triumphantly told his chief of staff: "Chief of staff, as soon as the shelling stops, immediately order the troops to attack. Be sure to completely occupy the position before the Russian reinforcements arrive."

"Don't worry, Master Commander." The chief of staff said confidently: "Our vanguard is no more than 800 meters away from the Russian position. As soon as the artillery fire stops, we can rush up immediately. Wait for our soldiers to rush in Those poor survivors who were in the Russian positions probably have not yet recovered from our shelling, and they will either be killed or become our captives."

But they were too happy too early. A few minutes before the end of the bombardment scheduled for half an hour, they were hit by the powerful artillery fire of the Soviet army. sea ​​of ​​flames. The surviving artillerymen fled everywhere, only wanting to save their own lives, so they couldn't care less about continuing to bombard the Soviet positions.

When the German division commander discovered that his artillery positions had turned into a sea of ​​flames under the attack of the Soviet artillery fire, he couldn't help being stunned. He didn't expect the Soviet army's reaction to be so fast. In an hour, the opponent was able to counterattack with such powerful artillery fire.

However, the attacking force had already reached the attack position, and the original attack plan could not be terminated just because the artillery position was bombarded by the Soviet army. Therefore, the German division commander decisively ordered the chief of staff: "Chief of staff, immediately call the commanders at the front and order them to launch an attack in advance."

After the order was given, the German division commander saw through the binoculars that his subordinates were trotting towards the Soviet position.

Eight hundred meters...

600 meters...,

500 meters...

Seeing that the troops were getting closer and closer to the Soviet position, the German commander's heart was raised in his throat. He was worried that if the Soviet army fired with machine guns at this moment, it would cause certain casualties to his troops.

But the soldiers who rushed to the front were already close to 400 meters, and they still didn't notice any movement on the Soviet position.

Seeing that there was no movement on the Soviet position except for the smoke and flames, the German chief of staff was also a little puzzled: "Your Excellency, why is there no movement on the Russian position? Could it be that they were all wiped out by our artillery fire?"

On the Soviet position, Paul climbed out of the bombed command post.

He didn't shout "combat siren" at the top of his voice, because after the shelling just now, most people's ears were deaf. No matter how loud he shouted, they might not be able to hear them, but would expose his target .

Paul bent his waist and walked through the trenches that had been bombed full of floating dirt. When he saw soldiers who could still move, he pulled them up, pointed at the approaching enemy in the distance, and signaled the soldiers to enter their respective combat positions.

In this way, after Paul walked back and forth in the trench twice, more than 60 commanders and fighters entered the combat position.

In order to prevent early firing and expose the problem of insufficient troops on the position, Paul told the commanders and fighters with gestures next to each other to wait for the enemy to enter a range of 100 meters before firing.

But after the round of shelling just now, many soldiers have become panicked. When they saw the German army entering within a range of 300 meters, they shot at the black shadows that appeared in the night. A few soldiers even yelled loudly from time to time when they were shooting, so as to give themselves courage and drive away the fear in their hearts.

Facing the approaching German infantry in the darkness in the distance, Paul also felt an obvious tremor. He turned around and asked the second platoon commander beside him, "Is there any news from the deputy company commander?"

The second platoon leader quickly replied: "Reporting to Comrade Company Commander, not only the Deputy Company Commander has no news, even the squad I sent to cover the Deputy Company Commander has not yet returned to construction."

Knowing that the deputy company commander had no news, Paul couldn't help but secretly sighed. He knew that the reinforcements would definitely be hopeless, and he could only use his existing troops to withstand the enemy's attack.

"Communication soldier!" Anyway, the target has been exposed, and the next thing to consider is how to eliminate the enemy. Paul looked around and shouted loudly: "Come to me!"

Paul's words quickly spread throughout the trenches through the soldiers on the left and right. Hearing the call, the communications soldier bent over and ran all the way to Paul, panting and asked: "Comrade company commander, what instructions do you have?"

"Immediately fire flares into the air to indicate targets for our fighters."

The signal soldier agreed loudly, took out the flare gun, filled it with flares, and fired two shots into the air. With the sound of gunfire, two pale white flares rose into the air, clearly illuminating the rushing German officers and soldiers.

Seeing that the enemy's whereabouts had been exposed to the light of the flares, the commanders and fighters who were still a little nervous calmed down a lot. They no longer shot blindly, but locked on to a target, and then pulled the trigger without hesitation, firing one after another. One of the enemies fell to the ground.

"Comrade company commander," the second platoon leader lost his composure when he saw the densely packed enemies in the distance, and he shouted at Paul: "there are too many enemies, and our strength alone is fundamental Can't stop them."

"Second platoon leader," Paul was very angry when he heard that the second platoon leader said something that could shake the morale of the army at such a critical moment. Not a single enemy should be allowed to pass through our positions."

Just as the second platoon leader shot at the rushing enemy with a sad face, there was the whistling sound of shells in the air. Soon, the shell landed 200 meters in front of the position and exploded, creating a wall of fire that engulfed countless German soldiers.

The artillery interception carried out by the Second Artillery Division built a wall of fire in front of the Ninth Company's position. Any German officers and soldiers who tried to pass through this wall of fire would be blown to pieces.

The Soviet commanders and fighters on the ground couldn't help cheering when they saw that the attacking enemy was blocked by artillery fire two hundred meters away.

When Paul saw the artillery interception by the friendly army, he was overjoyed at first, but soon a trace of melancholy appeared on his face. Artillery interception can only stop the German army for a while, after all, the ammunition of artillery is not unlimited. Once the artillery has no shells and can no longer intercept the enemy's artillery fire, our company still has to face the fierce German attack.

"Communication soldier!" Paul shouted again, but his voice was covered by the explosion not far away, not to mention the communication soldier in the distance, even the second platoon leader around him did not hear his shout Voice.

Paul had no choice but quickly took out a pen and paper from his pocket, and quickly wrote a few lines on it with the help of the flames from the explosion. position ran.

Paul came to the communication soldier, raised his hand and patted the opponent's shoulder. When he turned around, he handed him the note in his hand, and told the communication soldier through gestures, ordering him to rush back to Yaco immediately. Frevo town, hand the note to the battalion commander.

Through Paul's gestures, the communications soldier understood what he meant, quickly took the note in his hand, bent down and ran into the village along the trench, and ran towards the town.

Not long after the communicators left, the artillery fire against the Germans stopped.

Seeing that the artillery fire of the Soviet army had stopped, the German division commander quickly sent a new battalion to replace the army that had suffered heavy losses from the artillery fire, and continued to charge towards the Soviet army's position.

At this moment, there were less than 50 people left in the Soviet position. Looking at the attacking team of no less than 800 people in the distance, Paul's heart seemed to have fallen into an ice cellar. He knew very well in his heart that even if his troops could rely on fortifications to fight, it would still be an impossible task to block an enemy ten times larger than his own.

It happened that the house was leaking in the rain all night. At this time, a soldier nearby shouted: "I have run out of bullets. Does any of you have extra ammunition?"

The soldier's cry immediately aroused a series of echoes: "I'm also out of bullets."

"I only have five rounds left."

"I still have a grenade!"

Paul did not expect that his troops would be exhausted so soon, so he quickly picked up an infantryman with a bayonet on it, stood up straight and shouted at the soldiers on the left and right: "Comrades, put on the bayonet! The bullets are gone, and the enemy must not be allowed to pass through our defense line."