Red Moscow

In June in Russia, the sky dawns at four o'clock in the morning, and the night will not really fall until eleven o'clock in the evening. Therefore, Zhukov chose four o'clock in the morning for the attack time, because at this moment the Germans were still sleeping in the shelter, but the attacking troops could clearly see the target to attack.

As soon as the time for the attack came, Kazakov ordered the army artillery to fire at the enemy's position. In an instant, the enemy's position was shrouded in gunpowder smoke. Standing in the observation post, Zhukov raised his binoculars and looked towards the enemy's position. Although gunpowder smoke blocked his view, he could still feel that the German troops on the position were running around after being suddenly shelled.

Sokov and Chief of Staff Potukin stayed in the observation post and were also observing the German positions under shelling through binoculars. After looking at it for a while, Potukin put down his binoculars and asked Sokov: "Comrade commander, do you think the Germans have withdrawn to the second line of defense, and our artillery is bombarding the empty positions?"

"There is such a possibility." Since the attack was launched in a hurry, Sokov didn't know whether the Germans had already detected the impending attack of the Soviet army, so he said in an uncertain tone: "But our attack this time was launched quickly. All of a sudden, the Germans, probably without knowing it, were in their bunkers being bombed."

Sokov did not continue to entangle Potukin on this issue, but asked instead: "Comrade Chief of Staff, is the 1139th regiment ready to attack?"

"I just called the head of the regiment, Colonel Mamendorf." Hearing Sokov's question, Potukin quickly replied, "He said that the whole regiment is ready for battle at any time."

Lieutenant Colonel Ajik, the former head of the 1139th regiment, was dismissed because of a command error in the battle to liberate Zizdra. He was succeeded by Colonel Mamendorf, former commander of the 322nd Division. The colonel's poor performance on the battlefield provoked Zhukov into a rage and threatened to send him to Sukov's subordinates as a battalion commander. But how could Rokossovsky make a division commander a battalion commander? So he was asked to replace Ajik as the head of the 1139th regiment.

After Mamendorf learned that he was about to launch an attack in the direction of Bryansk, he was eager to make meritorious deeds and atone for his crimes. He immediately found Sokov and offered to let the 1139th regiment serve as the vanguard of the entire division and take the lead in attacking the enemy. Seeing that he was eager to fight, Sokov agreed after a little thought.

As soon as the shelling stopped and the gunpowder smoke covering the German positions had not cleared, Mamendorf jumped onto a tank, raised his assault rifle high, and shouted loudly: "Brothers, for the sake of the motherland, for Stalin! ~! Forward~!"

As soon as he yelled, the soldiers crawled out of the trenches where they were hiding, shouting "Ulla! ~" and rushed forward behind the tank.

Through the binoculars, Zhukov saw the 1139th Regiment charging. Seeing that the tank rushing forward was actually standing with a commander holding a long gun, he couldn't help frowning after seeing the opponent's rank clearly. , Turning to ask Rokossovsky: "Rokossovsky, I want to ask you, when will your army group start, and the colonel is also leading the charge?"

Rokossovsky quickly raised his binoculars and looked at it for a moment, then replied: "Comrade General, the one on the tank is Colonel Mamendorf, the commander of the 1139th regiment."

Zhukov said displeasedly: "As a regiment commander, his duty is to stay behind and direct the troops to fight, not to charge forward like an ordinary soldier."

"Comrade General," Rokossovsky hastily explained to Zhukov, "maybe he is doing meritorious service to atone for his crime."

"What meritorious atonement?" Zhukov looked at Rokossovsky and asked in bewilderment, "Did he make any mistakes?"

Rokossovsky felt a little speechless when he saw Zhukov looking like a nobleman who forgot about things. Fortunately, Malinin, who was standing aside, said in time: "Comrade General, have you forgotten that during the attack on Zhizdra last month, Colonel Mamendorf did not perform well, so you exempted him from the 322nd Infantry Division. He was appointed as a division commander and assigned to the 31st Guards Division as a battalion commander."

"Even if it's the battalion commander, it's inappropriate for a colonel to lead the troops to charge like this." Zhukov muttered softly, "Besides, he's not the battalion commander, but the regiment commander."

After Zhukov stared at Mamendorf for a while with his binoculars up, he suddenly asked curiously, "What kind of weapon is he holding in his hand? Why have I never seen it before?"

"It is an automatic rifle provided by the Weapons and Equipment Department." Rokossovsky quickly replied, "At present, Major Sokov's troops are equipped with 50 rifles. Judging from the effect on the battlefield, the effectiveness of this weapon is The performance was pretty good.”

"What's the name of this weapon? An automatic gun?" Zhukov frowned. "It sounds like the name of a submachine gun. Is there a better name?"

"Yes," Rokossovsky replied with a nod, "Major Sokov said that this new type of firearm successfully combines the best tactical and technical performance inherent in rifles and submachine guns in accordance with the requirements of modern warfare." up, hence the name 'assault rifle'."

"The name is quite appropriate." After hearing this, Zhukov nodded and asked, "Why are only Sokov's troops equipped with such good firearms? What's going on?"

"That's right, Comrade General." Rokossovsky explained to Zhukov: "This weapon was invented by Sokov, so Comrade Ustinov decided that the first batch of guns produced would be Hand it over to Sokov's troops to test the weapon's performance on the battlefield."

Zhukov was surprised by Rokossovsky's words: "What, this rifle was actually invented by Misha? Are you kidding me?"

"No, Comrade General, I'm definitely not joking with you." Rokossovsky replied: "In addition to this assault rifle, he also invented a new type of rocket launcher, but it is still under intense development. There are no troops equipped."

"I have seen that our army had rocket launchers long before the war. What else is he studying?" Zhukov criticized with some dissatisfaction when he heard this: "It's simply not doing a proper job."

Just as Rokossovsky was about to continue to defend Sokov, Malinin on the side suddenly shouted in surprise: "Comrade commanders, look quickly, we have rushed up, our troops have rushed up."

Both Zhukov and Rokossovsky raised their binoculars and looked towards the German positions in the distance. They saw Soviet tanks parked in front of the German trenches. Mamendorf, standing on the vehicle body, with an assault rifle in his hand, fired a machine gun at the enemy in the trench, jumped off the tank, and jumped into the trench. The soldiers who followed saw that the commander had taken the lead and jumped into the trench, so they also jumped into the trench like dumplings.

"Being very brave," Zhukov was very satisfied with Mamendorf's performance. He turned to Rokossovsky and asked, "Who is the current commander of the 322nd Division?"

"Due to the lack of commanders, the Group Army Command has not yet appointed a new division commander." Ma Lining said carefully from the side: "The work in the division is all in the charge of the division chief of staff."

Zhukov nodded, and raised the binoculars again: "The punishment for him is almost done. If he is still alive when the battle is over, let him go back and continue to be his division commander."

While the 1139th Regiment seized the German positions, the commanders and fighters of the 323rd Division, which belonged to their right-wing infantry army, also successfully rushed into the enemy's first position, jumped into the trenches and started close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.

I saw that the troops of the 323rd Infantry Division and the 31st Guards Division captured the enemy's defensive positions in a very short period of time. Zhukov nodded and said with satisfaction: "Good job, our soldiers are all good! If this trend continues, I think our troops will be able to reach the outskirts of Bryansk by noon tomorrow at the latest."

After occupying the first line of defense of the German army, the troops continued to advance to the second line of defense. Just when everything seemed to be going smoothly, a sudden change occurred, and the artillery positions deployed by the German army in the distance opened fire violently, building a fire net in front of the second line of defense. Tanks, which had just waded through barbed wire and minefields for infantry, became the priority targets of artillery fire. Rokossovsky couldn't help itching his teeth when he saw the tanks being shot and burst into flames in front of the German positions.

After Zhukov saw this situation, he calmly ordered the staff he brought along: "Get in touch with the air force immediately and let them go into battle immediately. Bombers are responsible for attacking targets in the depths of the German army, while attack aircraft attack German infantry positions."

As the Soviet fighter planes entered the battle, the German artillery fire became sparse. The Soviet soldiers who were suppressed by the artillery fire got up from the ground, jumped over the burning tanks, and bravely rushed to the German positions.

The German officers and soldiers who stood firm in the position were not willing to allow the commanders and fighters to easily rush into the position. They used machine guns, submachine guns, rifles and even pistols to form a firepower network to block the way forward for the Soviet army. The Soviet soldiers fell in front of the enemy's position in pieces, but the rest still rushed forward bravely.

"Damn, what's going on here?" Seeing his troops and the Germans launching a head-to-head battle, Sokov couldn't help frowning. The army is very unfavorable, but in the current situation, he can only watch helplessly and can't do anything.

The Soviet bombers were bombing the German artillery positions, which prevented them from concentrating on bombarding the attacking soldiers; regardless of the assault aircraft that swooped down from high altitude and strafed the German positions with their airborne machine guns, they also weakened the German firepower to a certain extent. .

Seeing that the 1139th regiment suffered heavy casualties, but was still unable to break through the German positions, Potukin felt a little anxious. He turned to Sokov for instructions and said, "Comrade Commander, send the 1135th and 1137th regiments up. Maybe once they go up, they will be able to break through the German defense."

"No, Comrade Chief of Staff, we can't send the other two regiments up now." After carefully observing the enemy's resistance, Sokov said to Potukin: "The enemy's firepower is very cute, and they fight very tenaciously. Didn't you see that when they were strafed by planes, many soldiers still dared to straighten up and shoot at the soldiers rushing towards the trenches? Not to mention two regiments, even if two divisions were sent forward, it would be difficult to break through the enemy's defenses .”

The same problem was also placed in front of Orlov. The military political commissar Ratshev who watched the battle with him asked: "Comrade commander, the enemy's firepower is too strong, and our troops can't charge up. Would you like to send another division to reinforce?"

Perhaps because of the lessons learned from the failure of the attack on Zhizdra, Orlov did not easily put the remaining two divisions into battle. Instead, he ordered the chief of staff to get through the phone of the Army Group Command. He was going to ask Rokossovsky for instructions before deciding whether the other two divisions should be put into battle.

After receiving Orlov's call, Rokossovsky was also a little embarrassed. Despite the support of the air force, the firepower on the German positions was still very heavy, making it difficult for the attacking forces to continue advancing. If you rush to invest more troops at this time, it will be difficult to fight the next battle.

Seeing Rokossovsky's hesitation, Zhukov asked, "Comrade Rokossovsky, what are you worried about?"

"Comrade General," Rokossovsky replied, "if we put in more troops now, then when our army reaches Bryansk, there will not be many troops capable of fighting."

"Our current task is to break through the German defenses and quickly rush to Bryansk." Zhukov looked at Rokossovsky and said, "Sometimes the necessary sacrifice is completely worth it."

Seeing that Zhukov advocated putting more troops into battle, Rokossovsky did not refute, but said into the microphone: "General Orlov, immediately put the 97th Infantry Division into battle, and try to fight in the shortest possible time. , breaking through the second German line of defense."

"Also, the regiment of the 31st Guards Division fought very hard in the front." Zhukov waited for Rokossovsky to put down the phone, and said without looking back: "Call Sokov, Ask him why he didn't send the reserve team up, are you going to watch the regiment be wiped out?"

The reason why Sokov didn't put the other two regiments into battle was that he didn't want to spend his troops in this meaningless battle of attrition, but after receiving Rokossovsky's stern order to attack, He could only bite the bullet and gave Pavel an order to immediately lead the 1137th Regiment to reinforce the heavy casualties of the 1139th Regiment.

When the troops led by Pavel set off, he said to Potukin with a wry smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, although orders from superiors can only be carried out unconditionally, no matter whether they are right or wrong, I can tell you in advance that what we launched today Attack, will end in failure."