Red Moscow

The fighting in the village continued for about half an hour, and Sokov finally saw a red flare rising into the sky to the west of the village. This is the signal from the third company, indicating that they have reached the designated attack position.

Sokov put down the binoculars, turned around and walked to the table, grabbed the submachine gun on it, and said to Belkin who was still standing in front of the lookout: "Deputy Battalion Commander, I will go to the machine gun company for reinforcements, and I will leave it to you here." You." Before Belkin could say anything, he walked out of the observation post with a gun in his hand.

In the traffic trench at the entrance, the soldiers of the guard platoon squatted or sat, looking expressionlessly at the villages and towns filled with gunpowder. Seeing the battalion commander come out of the observation post at this moment, everyone stood up in unison. Seryozha hurried forward and asked Sokov, "Comrade battalion commander, are you ready to attack?"

"That's right." Sokov nodded at Seryosha, and then ordered loudly: "Oleg's third squad will follow me, and the comrades of the other guard platoons will stay here to serve as security guards."

"Misha," Seeing that Sokov didn't arrange a combat mission for himself, the lost Seryozha called the other party's nickname, and asked, "Why didn't you let us participate in the battle?"

"Lieutenant Seryozha," Sokov raised his hand and patted Seryozha's shoulder twice, and said to him, "Your task is to defend the safety of the battalion command post. If you want to fight, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Vasily and his cannon battery were on standby in a nearby forest. Seeing Sokov rushing over with a platoon of guards, he quickly shouted: "Everyone stand up!" Taking advantage of the opportunity for the soldiers to stand up one after another, he trotted to Sokov, raised his hand and saluted , said loudly, "Comrade Battalion Commander, all the commanders and fighters of the machine gun company are being ordered to rest, please instruct!"

"Are you all ready?" Sokov asked bluntly.

"The whole company is ready for all battles." Vasily replied loudly: "We can go into battle at any time!"

Sokov came to the front of the line and said to the soldiers: "Comrades, the soldiers of the second company and the third company are fighting desperately with the enemy in the villages and towns ahead. Now, it's our turn." " He half turned around, pointed the submachine gun in his hand in the direction of the village, and ordered loudly, "Scatter into formation and move forward!"

The soldiers of the machine gun company, every row of 20 people, followed Sokov and Vasily, and walked towards the village with big strides. The sporadic artillery shells fired by the German army from the villages and towns fell in the queues and exploded from time to time, blowing up the queues one by one. But the soldiers in front fell, and the soldiers behind immediately filled the gap.

No one stopped to take care of the fallen comrades, because everyone knew in their hearts that if the comrades had died, even if they stopped to take care of him, he would not be brought back to life; and the wounded who fell on the ground would naturally die later. There are health workers from the health team for treatment, and there is no need to worry about it yourself. My task is to rush into the villages and towns as soon as possible, and cooperate with the comrades in the second and third companies to eliminate the enemies entrenched inside.

The German troops in Popkovo villages and towns, especially the anti-tank fighters, felt as if they wanted to cry but could not cry when faced with several Soviet heavy tanks rumbling towards them. The anti-tank gun hit the tank body, except for leaving a few white marks, it couldn't penetrate the tank's armor at all. And as long as the opponent fires a shot, no matter whether it is an anti-tank gun or a fire point, it will be instantly blasted to pieces by the 152mm heavy shell.

Seeing that anti-tank guns had no effect on this heavy tank, the brave German soldiers rushed out of the ruins hiding with their explosive packs in their hands, trying to die with the tank. In the end, the infantry who was attacked by the trailing tank used The submachine gun was smashed into a sieve.

It is not easy to see that the troops rushing from the west of the town are a light infantry, with no heavy weapons at all except a few machine guns. The German infantry thought that with the firepower in the town, it would be easy to block the opponent's attack. Unexpectedly, the opponent didn't play cards according to the routine. Except for the machine guns suppressing and shooting at their own firepower points on the street, the rest of the infantry actually approached him quickly from the dilapidated buildings on both sides of the street.

Can't stop the opponent's tank, that's all. Even if the tanks broke through their own defenses, without the cooperation of the infantry, they would not escape the fate of being blown up sooner or later. Who knew that the infantry from the west of the town could easily break through several defenses to the west without the cooperation of heavy weapons. Just when the German commander was jumping in anger, his subordinates suddenly came to report again: "Mr. Major, another Russian infantry has rushed up. What should we do?"

what to do? Salad! The German major looked at the machine gun battery rushing into the village with binoculars, and decisively issued an order: "Withdraw, immediately withdraw from the town from the northeast."

As soon as his order was given, a German soldier rushed in and shouted at him: "Major, Mr. Major, it's not good, Russians were found in the cemetery in the northeast."

"What?" Hearing that the Soviet troops were spotted on the route of his retreat, the German major was frightened out of his wits. He grabbed the soldier's skirt and shouted viciously: "Immediately set up the machine gun on the bell tower of the church and suppress it!" The Russians in the northeast must not let them cut off our retreat.” This order of the German major saved his own life and allowed hundreds of German soldiers to escape from the encirclement.

Chernyshov, who was in the division headquarters, saw that the soldiers of the Istria battalion had rushed into the town, and he couldn't help saying to his chief of staff with emotion: "Comrade chief of staff, our soldiers have already rushed into the town." It seems that this Sokov is really good at fighting."

"That's right, Comrade Commander." The chief of staff echoed: "If they had been transferred earlier, maybe the attack we launched yesterday would not have failed."

Vanya's first company, after a long journey, finally came to the cemetery in the northeast. Just as they were about to launch an attack on the enemy in the village and town from here, two machine guns erected by the German army on the church bell tower opened fire. The seven or eight soldiers who rushed to the front fell under the enemy's ammunition, and those behind quickly fell down, raising their guns and firing back at the bell tower of the church.

At this moment, Vanya saw a wave of enemies fleeing from a trail a hundred meters away. In order to stop this group of enemies, he ordered two machine guns to suppress the firepower point on the church bell tower, and at the same time ordered the soldiers to block the retreat of the German army with firepower.

The German soldiers fleeing from the path were hit by the firepower of the company, some of them lay down on the spot and started shooting at the soldiers of the company; while the other part continued to escape along the path toward the outside of the town regardless of casualties.