Red Moscow

As for whether to blow up the tanks that had run out of ammunition and fuel after breaking through the German defense line, Sokov felt that it should be determined according to the specific situation. For example, when I led my troops to break through the German defense line, the enemy's large troops came up. At that time, I was thinking about how to escape. Carrying these tanks is a burden and must be blown up; but if I am breaking through the enemy's defense line Afterwards, Rokossovsky's troops rushed over from the opposite bank to join forces. Not only would they not be able to bomb, but they might also be tasked with covering the attack of friendly forces.

So to Yakov's reminder, Sokov said unhurriedly: "Yakov, I agree with you. Whether to blow up these tanks depends on the specific situation after breaking through the German defense line."

Yakov didn't expect Sokov to answer like this, with a surprised expression on his face: "Misha, I saw that you emphasized the necessity of blowing up tanks every time in several meetings. Those tanks will be willing to blow up."

"Yakov, the reason why I keep bringing this up at the meeting is that since the friendly forces are unable to break through from this direction, it may be because of the inability to use tanks." Sokov said with a wry smile: "I'm worried that we After breaking through the enemy lines, it was impossible to take these tanks across the river, and it was better to blow them all up than to let them fall into the hands of the Germans."

Yakov took out a cigarette case, handed a crumpled cigarette to Sokov, and asked, "Misha, before dawn, we will launch an attack on the enemy's defense line. How successful do you think we are?" sure?"

"I don't know." Sokov put a cigarette in his mouth, shook his head and said truthfully: "From the situation of Colonel Bely's reconnaissance, the enemy's defense direction is all towards the north. But when we are attacking, whether It’s hard to say that we will encounter their tenacious resistance. Once we are unable to break through their defenses, and the enemies from other directions surround us from behind, I am afraid that we will not be able to escape the end of the entire army.”

"Misha," Yakov lit a match, helped Sokov light a cigarette, and asked tentatively, "Let me ask you one last time, do you really need to report this to General Chuikov? If we report Breakout plan, maybe you can get some help from him!"

"Yakov, what kind of help do you think we can get if we report the breakout plan?" Sokov took a puff of cigarette and continued: "Don't forget, although the 37th and 39th Guards We were separated by only a few kilometers, but due to the tenacious defense of the enemy, they could not achieve their goal of joining forces with us."

Yakov heard from Sokov's reply that his childhood friend was going to put all his eggs in one basket. He thought about it for a while, and felt that Sokov's method of cutting first and playing later was undoubtedly correct. At least he didn't have to worry about leaking information, which would greatly increase the success rate of breaking out. He threw the cigarette he had smoked twice on the ground, crushed it out with his toes, and said clearly, "Misha, I support your decision. If someone wants to be held accountable in the future, I am willing to help you share the responsibility."

…………

Five minutes before the offensive began, Sokov came to the area where the 308th Rifle Division was lurking. After finding Gurdiyev, he asked straight to the point: "Comrade Colonel, are the troops ready for battle?"

"Yes, Comrade Brigadier." Gurdiyev replied respectfully: "All commanders and fighters are ready to attack, and we will launch an attack immediately when the time comes."

Sokov raised his binoculars and looked at the German positions in the distance. At this time, it was already daylight, and he could clearly see the fortifications one after another, but there was no one in these fortifications, and he didn't know that the Germans were sleeping. , or put the direction of alert on the north, and did not realize that a few kilometers to the south of them, there was an army of thousands of people ambushing.

After putting down the binoculars, Sokov sighed softly, looked at Gurdiyev and said, "Comrade Colonel, it's so quiet here, I can't bear to break the silence here."

"If we want to break through the enemy's defenses," Gurdiyev looked at his watch, and then said to Sokov, "we have to break the silence before dawn."

Seeing that the time for the attack was approaching, Sokov raised his binoculars again, glanced at the silent German positions, then turned to Gurdiyev and said, "Comrade Colonel, tell the soldiers that before the tanks go into battle, , when the attacking troops approach the enemy's position, try not to make too much noise, so as not to be noticed by the enemy."

Gurdiyev understood what Sokov meant, and knew that the later his troops were exposed, the closer they would be to the enemy's positions, thus greatly reducing the casualties of the troops. So after hearing Sokov's instructions, he nodded vigorously and replied, "Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, I will pass your order directly to the heads of the regiments."

A few minutes later, the commanders and fighters of the 308th Infantry Division stood up from their hiding places, put the butt of their guns on their stomachs, bowed their waists, and walked towards the enemy's position with big strides. Although there were thousands of people moving, the noise they made was not loud. As long as the German sentry did not pay special attention to the south, it would be impossible to initiate the appearance of Soviet troops behind them.

But when the soldiers walked halfway, the roar of tank engines suddenly came from behind. Sokov turned his head and saw the tanks of the Tank Battalion approaching in a wedge-shaped formation, getting bigger and bigger in his sight.

The appearance of the tank alarmed the sentinels on duty, but he found that the defense where the sound appeared had a large group of Soviet infantry approaching the position in skirmish formation, and he was frightened out of his wits. Fortunately, he did not forget his duty, and quickly fired his gun into the sky, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Russians, the Russians are coming up!"

The shouts of sentries and the rumbling of tank engines woke up many German soldiers from their sleep. They rushed out of the sleeping shelters and entered the firing position, but they soon found that the north of the position was completely silent, and there was no sign of the Russians at all. On the contrary, all these voices came from behind him.

The German army hurriedly turned the MG34 machine gun mounted in the sandbag fortification, and started shooting wildly at the Soviet infantry hundreds of meters away. More than a dozen mortar teams also mounted their guns, and after a short calculation, they couldn't wait to start firing.

Seeing the attacking troops, Sokov was suppressed by German machine gun fire and had to lie down on the spot to hide. German mortar shells fell in line and exploded, tearing apart some unlucky fighters.

Seeing the continuous casualties of the troops, Sokov couldn't help the blood rushing to his head. He wished he could rush up with his assault rifle and kill all the enemy's machine gunners and mortar gunners. Then he understood his responsibilities better in his heart. As a commander who took care of the overall situation, what he should do was to direct the troops to attack, instead of rushing forward like ordinary soldiers.

He pointed to the point of fire of the machine gun in the distance, and said to Gurdiyev: "Comrade Colonel, get in touch with the commander in front immediately, let the snipers kill the enemy's machine guns and mortars, and then use our machine guns to suppress the enemy. The firepower of the covering troops launched a charge."

"Understood, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Gurdiyev readily agreed, "I will immediately contact the commander in front and convey your order to them."

Just as Gurdiyev was in contact with the front commander, the tanks of the tank battalion had already driven near Sokov. Since it was still far away from the enemy's position, Sokov didn't have to worry about being injured by stray bullets. He jumped out of his hiding place and raised his assault rifle high above his head, regardless of whether the people in the tank could hear him or not. Shouting, he waved his assault rifle and shouted at the top of his lungs: "Forward! Brothers of the tank soldiers, use artillery fire to destroy the enemy's firepower and cover the infantry's attack. Forward! Forward!!"

More than a dozen tanks rumbled past Sokov, formed a battle formation as they marched, and charged aggressively towards the German position. For a distance of two or three kilometers, infantry may have to walk for more than ten minutes, but for galloping tanks, it only takes four or five minutes.

The tank stopped at a distance of 800 meters from the German position. Bely issued an order to all the tank soldiers through the vehicle radio: "Everyone pay attention, everyone pay attention, each vehicle group chooses the target to fire on its own! Repeat, each vehicle group Choose your target and fire!"

After the two rounds of shooting, the exposed firepower points and mortar positions on the German positions were all destroyed by artillery fire. Bely opened the hatch, leaned out half of the body from the turret, checked the results for a while, and decisively issued the second order: "Attention everyone, keep going, keep going! Watch out for the German anti-tank fighters!"

When more than a dozen tanks of the tank battalion continued to gallop forward, the infantrymen who were suppressed by the German fire also got up from the ground one after another, and rushed forward after the tanks. Once a German soldier is found rushing out of the position, no matter whether the opponent is about to bomb the tank or come out to surrender, they will be shot into a sieve.

If the German army had a large number of long-range anti-tank weapons, maybe they could still block the Soviet army's attack, but they only had some anti-tank grenades in their hands. Those anti-tank fighters climbed out of the trenches, and before they could throw their grenades, they were beaten into a sieve by the Soviet infantry following the tanks. Moreover, there is a firepower director on each tank. Once a German firepower point appears there, he will notify the tanker by phone, and the tank will stop and use artillery fire to destroy the firepower point that poses a threat to the infantry.

Ten minutes later, the battle was over. When Sokov specified the breakout plan, he had repeatedly emphasized to commanders at all levels that no prisoners would be taken in, so as not to affect the breakout of the troops. Therefore, when the first echelon occupied the German position, none of the hundreds of defenders survived.