Red Moscow

The tank battalion hidden in a small village, although it has no combat missions, is still a busy scene. After Bely conveyed the breakout deployment, he said to the tank soldiers: "Comrades, whether the main force can successfully break through depends on whether we can quickly break through the German defense and tear a hole in their defense line."

When the commander of the second company, Ivantsov, learned that the troops were about to break through, he was a little eager to try. As soon as Bely finished speaking, he couldn't wait to express his position: "Comrade Colonel, our company still has seven tanks. Let us break out when we break out." Let’s take on the main attack mission. I assure you, we will be able to break through the enemy’s defenses in the shortest possible time and open up a passage for our main force.”

As soon as Ivantsov finished speaking, Lieutenant Valenra stood up, faced Bely and said, "Comrade Colonel, if you can add some ammunition to us, I think our tanks can also be competent for the main attack mission."

When Ivantsov asked for orders, he considered that the number of tanks owned by his second company was more than that of the other two companies combined. If he offered to take the main offensive task, no one would compete with him. Unexpectedly, just when he thought that this mission was a sure thing, Cheng Yaojin came out halfway, and Lieutenant Valenra wanted to compete with him for the main mission.

Everyone has seen the performance of the ball tanks in the past two days. On the battlefield, one of them can hold at least five T-34 tanks. As Valenra said, as long as they add some ammunition to them and send two T-34s as cover, it is fully capable of breaking through the enemy's defense line in one fell swoop.

Just when Ivantsov was uneasy, thinking that the mission would be left behind, he heard Bely say: "Lieutenant Valenra, the ball tanks you are driving will not participate in the battle this time."

Hearing that Bely did not entrust the main attack task to the ball tank, Ivantsov couldn't help feeling ecstatic. But soon he frowned again. He knew very well in his heart that if it was really a spherical tank leading two T-34s to assault the enemy's position, the effect would be better than that of a company of seven T-34 tanks. Why? Colonel Bely didn't let the ball tanks take part in the battle?

When Ivantsov looked at Bely with puzzled eyes, he found that everyone looked at Bely with puzzled eyes just like himself. Bely coughed lightly, and said: "Comrades, it is the decision of Comrade Brigadier Commander not to let the ball tanks participate in the battle. Since our tanks are seriously short of ammunition and fuel, after breaking through the German defense line, it may take All the tanks were blown up on the spot. The ball tank is a new type of tank newly developed by our army. Even the wreckage cannot fall into the enemy's hands. Therefore, Comrade Brigadier Commander ordered us to find a way to hide this tank. "

"What, you want to blow up all the tanks?" Ivantsov jumped up from his seat when he heard this, and asked Bely excitedly: "Comrade Colonel, if we blow up all the tanks, will we still need to destroy them?" What are these tank men doing?"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel." Several other commanders also echoed Ivantsov's words: "Tanks are the partners of our tank soldiers, so they must not be bombed."

Beley raised his hand and pressed down, motioning for everyone to be quiet. After the room regained calm, he said: "Comrades, I am also a tank soldier, and my feelings for tanks are no worse than yours. But no, we don't have enough fuel and ammunition for our tanks. Let's break through again." After the enemy's defense line, you can only abandon it, if you don't blow it up, are you going to leave these tanks to the Germans to attack us?"

Several commanders originally had great opinions on blowing up the tank, but after hearing what Bely said, after thinking about it carefully, it was really the case. The ammunition and fuel carried by the remaining tanks are barely enough for one attack. Once the fuel is exhausted and the ammunition is exhausted, the tanks are useless. If they are not blown up, they will definitely be captured by the Germans. Then they can use these tanks to attack Stalingrad. This is absolutely not allowed.

After a while, Valerie stood up and asked, "Comrade Colonel, what should we do with the ball tank? Can't we blow it up too?"

Hearing this question from Valenra, Biely replied with some dumbfounding: "Lieutenant Valenra, didn't you hear what I just said? The ball tank is a new tank developed by our army. It would be too much to blow up." It's a pity. Now I give you a task, which is to find a place to hide the ball tank. Remember, after hiding, all traces must be erased, and the Germans must not find it. When we return to Austria Irlovka will continue to use ball tanks to strike the enemy."

"Don't worry, Comrade Colonel." Valerie replied quickly, "I will definitely hide the ball tank well, and I will never let the Germans find it."

"Alarm, air raid siren!" Just as Valenra finished speaking, there was a hoarse shout outside the house, and a burst of hurried footsteps came from far and near, and then an infantry soldier appeared at the door, panting and shouting: "Commander commanders, air raid alert, several enemy planes are coming towards us."

Beley recognized the soldier who reported the news as the guard battalion soldier who followed him to the small village. He felt that the other party would not lie about the military information, so he got up and asked his subordinates: "Are the tanks hidden?"

"It's hidden." Everyone replied in unison.

Belei knew that the remaining dozen or so tanks were all hidden in the woods outside the village, but just to be on the safe side, he asked this question specially. After getting the expected answer, he waved his hands at the crowd and said, "This place is about to be bombed by enemy planes, everyone hurry up and find a place to hide."

When Bely walked out of the village, he saw four enemy planes in the sky. According to his experience, he recognized them at a glance as the JU87 dive bomber. When this Stuka bomber dived, its unique sounding device would emit The ear-piercing howling sound formed a psychological intimidation to the soldiers on the ground, so as to achieve the effect of strengthening the attack.

When the tank battalion was stationed in the small village, Biely knew in his heart that sooner or later their hiding place would be discovered by the enemy, and they might be shelled or bombed at that time, so he ordered his men to dig a large number of hiding places inside and outside the village. The bunker can now be used.

After the four enemy planes came over the village, they began to lower their altitude, taking turns to dive, drop bombs and straf the village. Bombs fell on the village one after another and exploded. The houses hit by the bombs were reduced to ruins in the loud noise, and then burned blazingly, and the rising smoke enveloped the entire village.

The bombing of the village by enemy planes lasted for a quarter of an hour. Seeing that the entire village was shrouded in gunpowder smoke, the enemy turned around and flew back. Belei, who was staying in the bunker outside the village, saw the enemy plane going away, and quickly stood up straight, and said to the signal soldier next to him: "Go and tell the company commanders, let them count the casualties immediately, see What kind of damage the enemy has inflicted on us."

Valenra, who was squatting in the same bunker as Bely, glanced at the burning wooden house in the village and asked tentatively, "Comrade Colonel, do we need to organize soldiers to fight the fire?"

Bely shook his head and said, "Lieutenant Valenra, there is no need to put out the fire. The fire is so big, let alone a small number of us, even if the professional fire brigade comes, we can't control the fire. Our tanks are still hidden in the village. Besides, even if the whole village burns down, it will have no effect on us."

When the small village was bombed, Sokov became nervous when he saw the smoke rising there. You must know that whether the troops can successfully break through depends entirely on Colonel Bely's tank battalion. The small village where the tank battalion is hiding is currently being bombed by enemy planes. Sokov would be surprised if he was not in a hurry.

Sokov quickly ordered the radio operator: "Radio operator, call Colonel Bely immediately and ask him how the situation is."

When the radio operator started to call, Sokov was silently praying in his heart: "The tanks hidden in the village must not cause any accidents. If there is no cooperation from the tanks, if our army breaks through to the north, it will hit the stone with a pebble. It will be in the In front of the solid German defense line, they were beaten head to toe."

Seeing that Sokov was nervous, Yakov quickly comforted him and said, "Don't worry, Misha, Colonel Bely is also an old commander with rich experience. He knows how to avoid the air attack of enemy planes. If I don't If he guessed wrong, none of his tanks should have stopped in the village, and even if the enemy planes razed the village to the ground, he would have no loss."

"I hope so," Sokov looked at the village with black smoke rising in the distance, and said absent-mindedly: "If something happens to the tank battalion, our breakout plan will have to be readjusted, otherwise we will have to rely on a few Hundreds of infantrymen, trying to break through the German defenses is simply a daydream."

The enemy plane that bombed the village flew away, but the radio operator hadn’t contacted Bely yet, and Sokov was a little impatient: “Damn it, why hasn’t Colonel Bely returned the call yet? Is there really something wrong with the tank battalion? ?”

Having said that, he turned around and shouted at Guchakov who was standing not far away: "Guchakov, you rush to the small village immediately to check the damage there."

Guchakov promised, turned around and was about to run down the hill, but Yakov stopped him. Yakov said to Sokov: "Misha, don't worry. Maybe Colonel Bely's antenna was damaged when they were bombed, so they couldn't talk to you. Wait a minute, maybe Colonel Bely will Will take the initiative to contact you."

"Comrade Brigadier," the two were talking, when the radio operator suddenly called out in surprise, "I have contacted Colonel Bely, and he wants to talk to you."

Sokov knelt down beside the radio operator, put on the headset, and said loudly into the microphone: "Colonel Bely, report your losses immediately."