Red Moscow

The battle to attack the small village started an hour later. Not only the 483rd Tank Battalion participated in the attack, but also an infantry battalion from the 300th Infantry Division. After five minutes of rapid artillery fire, the infantry, led by tanks, launched an attack on the village.

When the troops launched an attack on the village, Colonel Timofevich, commander of the 219th Tank Brigade, said to Wiesbach, commander of the 300th Division who supervised the battle: "Comrade Colonel, only one infantry battalion is sent to participate in the attack. Isn't the force too small?" point? In case the attack does not go well, we need to continue to increase troops.”

Hearing what Timofeyitch said, Weisbach gave him a strange look, and asked puzzledly: "Colonel Timofeyitch, do you have so little confidence in our soldiers?"

"It's not that I don't have confidence, Colonel Weisbach." Timofeyitch replied with a wry smile, "When I commanded troops to attack this village not long ago, I didn't pay attention to the enemies in the village at all. As a result, the battle ended. , I don’t know how many enemies have been eliminated, anyway, my tanks have lost more than two-thirds, and I have almost lost the ability to continue fighting.”

Knowing what Timofeyitch was worried about, Weissbach arranged for him to say: "Don't worry, Colonel Timofeyitch. Your brigade's attack failed for many reasons. I think that if you had infantry with you at that time, come and Covering the actions of the tanks may have wiped out the enemies in the village long ago."

Hearing what Weisbach said, Timofeyitch suddenly didn't want to talk to him. He felt that the other party was mocking him. In order to resolve the embarrassing situation, he raised his binoculars and looked at the charging troops in the distance.

Seeing the tanks and infantry entering the minefield of the German army, Timofeyitch couldn't help but raise his throat. You must know that his tank brigade lost 11 tanks in the minefield, and the wreckage of these tanks is still there Burning in a minefield.

But what Timofeyitch was worried about did not happen. The mines in the minefield were all crushed and exploded in the previous round of attack, or were detonated in the shelling just now. Anyway, when the troops passed through the minefield, The expected explosion did not occur.

Seeing the troops passing through the minefield and approaching the village, Timofeyitch began to worry again. He was afraid that there would be anti-tank guns or tanks firing behind a certain wooden house, destroying the moving Soviet tanks; In the ravine beside the village, German machine guns fired suddenly, knocking down the soldiers who were charging forward in pieces.

"Colonel Timofewicz," Weissbach put down his binoculars, turned to Timofewicz and asked, "Have you really fought fiercely with the enemy in this village?"

"It doesn't matter, Colonel Weisbach." Facing Weisbach's question, Timofeyitch looked very angry. He pointed to the wreckage of the tank that was still burning or smoking in the distance, and said, "That is A tank from our brigade that was destroyed by the enemy."

Seeing the wreckage of the tank, Weissbach understood that Timofeyitch was not lying, but asked suspiciously: "Colonel Timofeyitch, I would like to ask how many enemies are there in the village, and why did they appear in such a short period of time?" In such a short period of time, you have paid such a large number of casualties?"

Hearing this question from Weisbach, Timofeyitch replied with embarrassment: "I'm sorry, Colonel Weisbach, but I don't think I can answer your question. Because whether it is outside the village or in the village, I didn’t even see any traces of the enemy, I only saw my tanks being shot one after another and bursting into flames.”

After hearing this, Weisbach boldly put forward his own hypothesis: "In this way, there may only be German tanks and anti-tank guns in the village, and there are no infantry at all."

"It's possible." Timofeyitch thought about it carefully. After his tank was destroyed by the Germans, the tank soldiers who escaped from the tank basically escaped to a safe place smoothly. In this way, the German army in the village did not have infantry at all. If I had infantry to cooperate in the offensive, the huge casualties I paid might really be avoided.

While speaking, tanks and infantry rushed into the village, but the enemies in the village still did not respond, which made Weisbach and others very puzzled: "What is going on, why the enemies in the village have not moved at all. "

"Comrade Commander," Atakuz, the deputy division commander who remained silent all the time, suddenly said with a sneer, "I think the enemy in the village may have withdrawn from the other side of the village when our army was shelling."

"It's impossible." Atakuz's words caused a great reaction from Timofevich: "On the other side of the village, there are tank soldiers I sent to watch. If the Germans really withdraw from the village, they will Will definitely report to me as soon as possible.”

Atakuz sneered, and asked back: "Comrade Colonel, please explain why our troops have rushed into the village, but the enemy still remains silent?"

Timofeyitch's heart skipped a beat. It had been more than three hours since he wanted to withdraw his troops from the village. Perhaps the Germans had already retreated. Thinking of this, he turned his head and said to Weisbach: "Comrade Colonel, I have an ominous premonition that maybe the Germans in the village have withdrawn from the village after severely injuring my brigade. What we are attacking now is nothing but an empty A village of one person."

"An empty village?" Weissbach was full of doubts after repeating Timofeyitch's words.

Timofeyitch saw that Weisbach was dubious, and quickly added: "You know, it has been three hours since our brigade withdrew from the village. The Germans may be worried that we will retaliate, so they may have withdrawn a long time ago. out of the village."

"Comrade Deputy Commander," Weissbach was still skeptical of Timofeyitch's statement, but in order not to hurt the other's self-esteem, he turned his head to look at Atakuz and asked, "What do you think of this?" something?"

Atakuz glanced at Timofeyitch at the side, and then turned his gaze back to Weisbach: "Comrade Commander, it's hard to say. The enemy in the village hasn't moved at all since the battle. Why? It looks like they have already withdrawn. However, it seems inappropriate to easily judge that the enemy has withdrawn based on the fact that the enemy in the village does not fight back."

After saying these ambiguous words and neither side was offended, Atakuz finally added: "Fortunately, our troops have already rushed into the village. We will soon know the answer to what is going on."

As soon as he finished speaking, a green flare was raised in the village, indicating that the troops had occupied the entire village.

"Comrade Commander, look quickly, it's a signal flare fired from the village." Atakuz couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he saw the signal flare that went up into the air, and quickly said to Weissbach: "This means that our troops have already occupied the village. "

Weissbach also saw the signal flare in the air, but he didn't speak immediately, but listened to the movement outside, and found that he couldn't hear any gunshots or explosions, so he turned to Timofevich and said, "Tell me!" Colonel Mofevich, it seems that you are right, the enemy in the village all evacuated the village before our attack began. What our troops occupied was nothing more than a deserted village."

"Comrade commander, how do you know it's an uninhabited village?" Atakuz heard what Weisbach said, and asked a little unconvinced: "Maybe our commanders and fighters still encountered the enemy in the village."

"Comrade Deputy Division Commander," Weissbach said to Atakuz with a pleasant face, "if you listen carefully, there are no gunshots or explosions in the village, which proves that our commanders and fighters did not attack the village at all during the process of occupying the village." No fighting took place. What does this mean? It means that the enemy in the village has long since run away, and what we have captured is nothing more than an empty village."

After Weisbach finished speaking, he asked a staff officer standing not far away: "Is the station master of the maintenance station here?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, he has come." The staff officer replied: "He is now outside the observation post."

"Quickly invite him in."

After a while, the staff officer came in with a man in dark blue casual clothes and a peaked cap: "Comrade commander, this is the station master of the maintenance station."

Weissbach stretched out his hand to the gray-haired middle-aged man, and said friendlyly: "Hello, Comrade Station Chief, I am Colonel Weissbach, commander of the 300th Division. This is Timo, commander of the 219th Tank Brigade. Colonel Fevic, the tank you want to bring back to the maintenance station belongs to their brigade."

After shaking hands with the station chief, Timofeyitch asked politely, "Comrade station chief, more than forty of our tanks have been destroyed by the Germans. How long will it take you to drag the wreckage of these tanks to the repair shop?"

The maintenance station chief received an order to bring people here to pull the destroyed tanks, but he didn't expect that there were more than 40 tanks, so he was stunned. After a long time, he murmured: "Comrade commander, I didn't expect so many tanks to be destroyed by the enemy. Our maintenance station only has three armored tractors that can tow tanks. I think it will take two at the earliest." It would take days to drag all the wreckage to the pits."

Hearing that it would take two days to drag so many tank wrecks to the maintenance station, the muscles on Timofeyitch's face couldn't help twitching violently a few times. After taking a deep breath, he asked tentatively: "Comrade station chief, then I want to ask you, among so many destroyed tanks, how many can be repaired?"

"It's hard to say, Comrade Commander." The maintenance station chief replied: "We have to see the damage of the tank before we can know whether the tank can be repaired."

"Where are those tanks?" Timofeyitch pointed to the 11 tanks in the minefield and asked impatiently, "How many of them can be repaired."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander." The maintenance station chief looked at the tanks that were still burning, shook his head and said, "These tanks are no longer worth repairing. At best, we can only take some usable parts from them and assemble them." On other tanks that can be repaired."

Timofevic closed his eyes in pain. The 11 tanks in the minefield were no longer worth repairing. How many of the more than 30 tank wrecks left in the village could be repaired?

While Timofeyitch was talking with the maintenance station chief, the infantry battalion commander who occupied the village called Weissbach and reported to him: "Comrade commander, our battalion has occupied the entire village. Afterwards, no trace of the enemy was found. It appears that they withdrew from the village before our shelling began."

"Sure enough, the Germans really withdrew from the village before the battle started." Weissbach muttered in his heart, and then asked, "Comrade battalion commander, have you searched the village carefully?"

"I have searched carefully." The battalion commander replied: "I found many traces of German tank tracks crushed, as well as many shell casings of anti-tank guns."

After confirming that there were no Germans in the village, Weissbach ordered the communications soldier to help him connect to the headquarters, and he planned to report the situation here to Sokov.

Sokov learned that Weissbach was calling, and quickly took the communication director's microphone, and asked in his ear, "Is this Colonel Weissbach? I'm Sokov. How's the situation there?" ?”

"Report to Comrade Commander, we have captured the village."

"It's great that the village has been captured." Sokov asked, "How about the results you have achieved?"

"I'm sorry, Comrade Commander, I'm afraid I'll disappoint you," Weissbach reported, "After five minutes of rapid-fire artillery, an infantry battalion of our division, under the cover of the 483rd tank battalion, launched an attack on the village. During the entire offensive, our troops did not encounter any resistance, and when they rushed into the village, they found that the village was already empty, and the enemy had already withdrawn from the village before our offensive began."

"What, the enemy withdrew from the village before our attack started?" Sokov asked with a frown, "Did our troops occupying the village search the village carefully?"

"I have searched." Wiesbach, who had already guessed that Sokov would ask this question, quickly replied: "The battalion commander who occupied the village reported to me that apart from the track marks of German tanks and a pile of shell casings, Nothing was found, it seems that the enemy has withdrawn from the village long ago, and the village we attacked was an uninhabited village."

"Oh, so that's the case." After hearing this, Sokov replied with some disappointment: "Got it." After a pause, he continued to ask, "I don't know how many of those tanks that were destroyed in the battle can be destroyed." repair?"

"I'm not sure. How many tanks can be repaired can only be known after the comrades from the repair station go to the village to check." Weissbach replied: "Seeing that the village is occupied by our army, the head of the repair station has brought his subordinates into the village. After leaving the village, we are going to start pulling all the tanks that can be repaired back to the maintenance station."

Sokov knew that some maintenance equipment was too bulky and must be placed in the maintenance station, which meant that the destroyed tanks had to be dragged into the maintenance station before they could be repaired, so he asked: "How long will it take for the comrades in the maintenance station to repair it?" Tow these wrecked tanks back to the pits?"

"About two days." After Weisbach finished speaking, he was worried that Sokov would speak too fast, so he quickly added: "This is what the maintenance station manager said, and it is already the fastest speed."

Then, Weissbach asked again: "Comrade Commander, what should we do with this village? Should we leave the troops to hold on, or give up?"

"Before the comrades at the maintenance station pull away all the wreckage of the tank, you must send people to guard the village so that the Germans will not affect the normal work of the comrades at the maintenance station."