Red Moscow

The commander of the fortress picked up another phone and said into the microphone: "I am the commander of the fortress. The artillery immediately opened fire on the fort area and covered it with firepower."

He gave the order to fire so decisively, not because he didn't tolerate the life and death of his subordinates, on the contrary, his approach could just rescue his subordinates from the predicament. He knew very well that the bunkers in the fort area were all reinforced concrete with a thickness of more than one meter, and some were even two meters thick. Even if they were hit by shells, they were unlikely to be destroyed. But the Soviet infantry and tanks exposed on the open ground, under such intensive artillery fire, all that awaits them is the end of being wiped out.

However, the Soviet commanders did not know that the Germans were about to open fire on this area, and they continued to advance deeper into the fort area. At this moment, there was a scream in the air, and then countless shells landed in the fort area and exploded. Since the artillery of the German army is familiar with the coordinates of this area, they do not need the guidance of the artillery observers at all, nor do they need to test fire, but go straight to work.

The sudden explosions outside the tank scared Major Bunch enough. Just hearing the movement outside, he knew it was definitely a large-caliber artillery, and he broke out in a cold sweat. Although the shells that fell did not hit the tank that Major Bunch was riding on, they hit very close to each other, and the shrapnel knocked the armor plate to clang and rattle.

Not only was Major Bunch scared, but the commanders and fighters of the 1st Battalion of the 258th Regiment who assisted the tank attack were also terrified by the sudden shelling. As infantry, they naturally know the power of large-caliber artillery. Among other things, a few shells that landed nearby and exploded turned a radius of tens of meters from the blast point into a death zone. Almost a platoon of soldiers were directly reimbursed. Get closer The soldiers were even blown to nothing.

Belkin, who was in the rear command post, heard the sound of rumbling guns from outside, and rushed to the lookout hole. Looking at the gunpowder smoke rising everywhere in the fort area, he immediately realized that the tank brigade and his troops were being attacked. When he saw the enemy's heavy shelling, he ordered to hide on the spot, and at the same time called the division headquarters, preparing to report the situation here.

Fomenko, who received a call from Belkin, thought that the other party had some good news to tell him, and said with a smile: "Comrade deputy commander, are you going to tell me that your 258th regiment has occupied the entire fortress?" district."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Master, but I think I have bad news to tell you."

"Bad news, what bad news?" Fomenko asked puzzled, "Did the enemy's reinforcements arrive and launch a counterattack against you?"

"No, the enemy didn't launch a counterattack." Belkin gritted his molars and said sadly: "The artillerymen of Fortress Merefa are shelling the area of ​​the fortress, causing great casualties to my troops."

"What, the enemy shelled the area of ​​the fortress?" Manoshin, who was standing next to him, happened to hear Belkin's report to Fomenko. He asked in surprise, "Don't the enemy worry that the artillery fire will accidentally injure his own people?"

"Of course you don't have to worry." Fomenko shook his head and said to Manoshin: "Comrade Commissar, the enemies in the fort area are hiding in the fortifications of the reinforced concrete buildings. Such shelling poses no threat to them at all. On the contrary. , our tanks and infantry exposed to open ground would suffer heavy casualties from German artillery fire.”

"Then what should we do?" Ma Nuoxin asked in a panic: "We can't just watch the enemy use artillery fire to wipe out all our troops who have entered the fort area?"

"Comrade Commissar, in any case, there are many safe areas in the fort area. The enemy wants to destroy the 258th regiment. It is not so easy to go blank." Said: "Comrade deputy division commander, organize the troops to hide immediately, and it will not be too late to launch an attack after the enemy's shelling is over."

After putting down the phone, Fomenko walked back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, thinking about how to solve the current predicament. After walking back and forth in the headquarters for a dozen times, he stopped and said to the chief of staff: "Comrade chief of staff, immediately notify Colonel Rusuf to come to the division headquarters. I have important tasks to entrust to him."

While the chief of staff was on the phone, Fomenko ordered someone to connect to the headquarters of the group army, preparing to report the situation here to Sokov directly.

When Chief of Staff Sameko's voice came through the receiver, Fomenko quickly and politely said: "Hello, Comrade Chief of Staff."

"General Fomenko, have you encountered any difficulties in your attack?"

"Yes, Colonel Belkin personally commanded the 258th Regiment. He was about to occupy the fort area, but he was suddenly bombarded by the artillery of the German fortress and suffered considerable losses..."

Sameko heard that something happened to the troops commanded by Belgin, and hurriedly covered the microphone and reported to Sokov who was chatting with Lunev: "Comrade commander, General Fomenko reports that the 258th regiment of the division is about to occupy The enemy's fortress area was attacked by artillery fire from the fortress, and now the troops have suffered heavy casualties."

He was afraid that Sokov would not pay attention to this kind of report, and he added: "The 258th Regiment is commanded by Colonel Belkin himself."

If Sameko hadn't said the latter sentence, Sokov hadn't connected the 258th regiment with Belkin. After all, the entire army had so many troops, and it was impossible for him to remember the names of each commander clearly. But when he learned that this matter was related to Belkin, he became nervous: "Is Colonel Belkin not injured?"

Military Commissar Lunev's focus is obviously different from that of Sokov. He tentatively asked Sameko: "Comrade Chief of Staff, I don't quite understand. If the Germans fired at the fort area rashly, they don't worry about accidentally injuring their own people." ?"

"It can't be accidentally injured." Sokov said: "The enemy is hiding in thick reinforced concrete buildings. No matter how fierce the artillery fire is, the damage caused to them is very effective. But our tanks and infantry in the open field, There are bound to be heavy casualties.”

"Then what should we do?" Sameko asked Sokov for instructions: "Now that the troops of the First Artillery Division have crossed the river, should they be ordered to bombard the enemy's fortress to prevent the enemy's artillery from continuing to bombard the fortress area."

"No." Sokov denied Sameko's proposal without hesitation: "We don't know the exact location of the German artillery, and even shelling may not have much effect, and it will easily reveal the exact location of our artillery. "

"Then what should we do?" Thinking that the commanders and fighters of the 84th Division were bleeding and dying every minute, Sameko became very emotional: "Can we just watch our subordinates, our comrades-in-arms, being crushed by the enemy's artillery fire?" Eliminate it?"

"Comrade Chief of Staff, let me stress it again." Sokov said in a stern tone: "I just said that the use of artillery is of little significance. When did you say you won't support them?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Sameko immediately realized that he had wronged Sokov. After apologizing to the other party, he continued: "Then how should we support them?"

"Artillery can't destroy the artillery of the German fortress, but what about the air force?" Sokov smiled again: "I think the main use of the air force to bomb the fortress can force the German artillery to stop shelling."

"This is a good idea." Sameko said excitedly: "I will call the headquarters of the front army and ask them to send planes to the fortress of Melifa to bomb the German artillery positions."

Konev learned that the German army was bombarding the fort area violently, causing heavy casualties to the troops who invaded that area. He hurriedly called Goryunov, commander of the 5th Army of the Air Force, and said straight to the point: "Comrade Lieutenant General of the Air Force , I am going to assign you a difficult task now."

"Speak up, Commander General!"

"It's like this. A unit of the 27th Army that entered the fortress area was attacked by artillery from the fortress of Meriefa." Konev said succinctly: "Your air force immediately dispatched to attack the artillery positions in the German fortress. The heavy bombing forced the enemy to stop bombarding our army."

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Goryunov replied clearly to Konev: "My bomber formation will take off in half an hour to bomb the German fortress of Melefa."

Just when Konev, Sokov and others tried their best to rescue the troops who were shelled in the fort area, the commanders and fighters of the 258th regiment had received Belkin's order to retreat into the already occupied bunkers Inside, there to avoid the German shelling. Major Bunch's tank was broken into parts, and the body was tightly attached to the north side of the bunker to avoid the artillery fire from the Melliefa Fortress in the south.

Even so, the more than 30 tanks of the tank brigade were still turned into piles of burning scrap iron under the enemy's shelling. The tank soldiers in these destroyed tanks either died on the spot when the tank was shot, or escaped from the tank by chance and fell under the enemy's artillery fire. The tank soldiers who could escape into the bunkers for refuge were less than one-third of the actual number one.

Major Bunch returned to his command post, and after learning about the approximate number of casualties of the troops from Chukliko, the circles of his eyes couldn't help but turn red. He didn't expect that, seeing that victory was in sight, the fierce German shelling made the cooked duck fly away.

"Comrade Brigadier," Chukliko asked after seeing Major Bunch's dejected expression, "What should we do next?"

"What else can we do?" Major Bunch said with a wry smile, "We can only continue to hide and wait until the enemy's shelling is over before deciding whether to attack or retreat."

"I think the order given by our superiors is to continue to attack." Chukliko said to Major Bunch: "After all, only we can cooperate with the attack of the 84th Infantry Division."

"I'm worried that the remaining tanks are simply not enough to deal with fierce battles."

"Since we have suffered such a large loss, I think the superiors will definitely consider our actual situation and give priority to resupplying us."

After listening to Chukliko's words, Major Bunch stared at him for a long time, finally nodded and said: "Comrade Deputy Brigadier, what you said is very reasonable. Anyway, we are now subordinate to the No. The 27th Army, and the superior level of supply to the 27th Army has always been very high."

The sound of cannons from outside suddenly became sparse. Major Bunch listened to the movement outside, and said with some puzzlement: "It's strange, why the enemy's shelling has become sparse, are they planning to stop the shelling?"

"There is such a possibility." Chukliko said to Major Bunch: "The enemy may think that if they continue to shell, they will not cause us much damage, so they are ready to stop the shelling."

"Comrade deputy brigade commander, tell me." Bunch felt that Chukliko's analysis made sense, so he asked, "Is there any conspiracy in this?"

"Conspiracy, what conspiracy?"

"The reason is very simple. Seeing that their bombardment could not achieve greater results, the Germans pretended to stop the bombardment." Bunch boldly expressed his thoughts: "Will they prepare to wait for us to complete the assembly and start over again?" When attacking, another round of sudden artillery fire coverage?"

Bunch's words scared Chukliko into a cold sweat: "Probably not?!" He thought to himself that if the Germans really planned this way, it would be really terrifying.

The shelling outside soon ceased. Hearing that the outside became quiet again, the two began to discuss whether they should go out to gather the troops and start a new round of offensive with infantry.

To be honest, both of them wished to immediately gather the scattered tanks and launch a final attack on the remaining bunkers, but at this moment, neither of them dared to issue such an assembly order. If the Germans really have any conspiracy, it will bring disaster to the tank brigade.

Fortunately, the sudden ringing of the phone freed the two of them from being indecisive. Chukliko picked up the phone and it turned out that it was Colonel Belkin calling: "Hello, is this Lieutenant Colonel Chukliko? I am Belkin."

"Hello, Colonel Belkin." Chukliko asked tentatively after greeting the other party, "Are you calling us to regroup the tanks and cover the infantry for a new attack?"

"Comrade Colonel," Chukliko glanced at Bunch and said with some hesitation, "We are considering whether we should order the remaining tanks to assemble."

"It's such a time, what are you still thinking about?"

"We were concerned that this was a trap set by the Germans to lure us on purpose."

"What kind of trap, what are you trying to lure you into?" Belkin said in a daze, "Lieutenant Colonel Chukliko, what are you talking about? I'm confused."

"That's right, Comrade Colonel." Chukliko glanced at Bunch again before continuing, "We feel that the enemy's sudden cessation of shelling may be a conspiracy. They set up a trap for us to jump into, as long as our remaining When the tanks are assembled and cover the infantry attack again, they will launch a new round of shelling."

After figuring out what was going on, Belkin said a little bit dumbfoundingly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you don't know that the reason why the Germans stopped shelling the fort area was because their artillery positions were violently bombed by our air force. The enemy All the artillery positions have been destroyed, how can we bombard here?"