Red Moscow

The performance of the Romanian army, which Sokov had never been optimistic about, far exceeded his expectations on the battlefield. As soon as the shelling stopped, the Romanian infantry rushed to the foot of the North Hill, passed the tanks that stopped at the foot of the hill and fired, and rushed towards the top of the hill with shouts.

The soldiers who had just emerged from the tunnel saw the enemies at the foot of the mountain rushing up like a tide before they had time to repair the fortifications destroyed by the artillery fire. The commander of the second company quickly shouted loudly: "Battle alarm, the enemy is coming up, all enter their respective combat positions, and prepare to fight!"

Hearing the order from the second company commander, a soldier standing beside him asked stupidly, "But our fortifications haven't been repaired yet."

"When you finish repairing the fortifications, the enemy's bayonet has already pierced your chest." Seeing such a clueless soldier, the second company commander raised his foot and kicked him angrily, and shouted: "Hurry up and get ready to shoot."

Under the order of the second company commander, the soldiers quickly lay down in the fortifications on the spot, looking at the enemy at the foot of the mountain, like undulating khaki waves, heading towards their position, they couldn't help feeling panicked. Although they have repelled the enemy's attack many times before, this is the first time they have seen so many troops invested at one time.

In previous positional warfare, the enemy was placed within a distance of 80 meters before firing. But seeing the dark enemies coming up from the foot of the mountain, the second company commander felt that he had to shoot in advance to block the enemies and prevent them from rushing up the hill. Therefore, as soon as he saw that the enemy had entered a range of 150 meters, the commander of the second company standing next to an MG34 general-purpose machine gun waved his hand violently, and at the same time shouted loudly: "Fire!"

As soon as he shouted, the only three MG34 machine guns left on the ground began to fire. Three dark red fire whips slashed at the enemies who were heading towards the position. The dozens of enemies who rushed to the front trembled and fell down as if they were electrocuted, and screams rang out one after another. Some of the enemies who were shot fell into the nearby crater; some rolled down the hillside.

The machine guns of the defenders made three huge gaps in the enemy's attack formation, but it did not slow down the enemy's attack speed at all. The soldiers in front fell, and the soldiers behind stepped forward to fill the gap made by the machine gun. They stepped or jumped over the corpses of their companions, stooped and continued to rush towards the position on the hillside.

The enemy tanks at the foot of the mountain saw the machine gun position on the position, causing casualties to their own soldiers continuously, so they fired and continued to suppress. And the machine gunners following the infantry brigade also began to look for suitable places to set up machine guns, preparing to use firepower to cover their soldiers' charge.

…………

When the observation post on the top of the hill reported the news of the enemy's charge to the defensive position on the northern hill, the corner of his mouth twitched violently twice, and he murmured: "Damn, the enemy is Do you want to use crowd tactics to seize our position?"

If it was in normal times, Sokov wished that the enemy's offensive formation would be as dense as possible. Just one new type of rocket could wipe out dozens or hundreds of enemy troops. However, at this moment, the new rockets have been used up, and there is not much ammunition left in the troops. No matter how you look at it, today they cannot escape the fate of fighting the enemy with bayonets.

Sidolin took the microphone from Sokov's hand and asked the observation post reporting the situation: "Has the mortar team reached the top of the mountain?"

"Here we are, Comrade Chief of Staff." The observation post heard Sidolin's voice, and quickly replied, "They are setting up launch positions."

"Tell them not to be stingy with artillery shells." Sidolin ordered the observation post in a firm tone: "Be sure to use artillery fire to suppress the enemies on the hillside so that they cannot attack the 192nd Battalion's position unscrupulously."

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff." The observation post quickly replied, "I will pass on your order immediately."

However, the attacking Romanian army seemed to have guessed that the Soviet army would intercept its attacking troops with artillery fire on another high ground. As soon as the mortars on Nangang started firing, four tanks immediately turned their muzzles and aimed at Nangang for shelling. A mortar that was firing was hit by a high-explosive grenade fired by an enemy tank. It was blown to pieces on the spot, and several gunners were also blown to pieces.

After the machine gun position on Beigang was destroyed by enemy tank fire, the enemy's infantry was only less than 80 meters away from the position. The soldiers immediately fired with submachine guns and rifles in their hands, trying to beat the tide of enemies. go down. Seeing that the situation was not good, the commander of the second company who was in charge of the position quickly called Golia and said in a hurry: "Comrade battalion commander, there are too many enemies, we can't stand it anymore, please help, ask for support!"

Golia received a call from his subordinates and said with some displeasure: "Second Company Commander, what did you do? You couldn't stand it just a few minutes after the battle started?"

"There are too many enemies, too many." The second company commander reported with a mournful face: "Our ammunition is almost exhausted, and the enemy is about to rush to our position. I ask for support, I ask for support!"

Regarding the second company commander's request, Golia did not dare to make decisions without authorization, so he could only cast his questioning gaze on the deputy brigade commander Witkov who was sitting on the side. Witkov did not expect that the commander of the second company standing outside would ask him for help in such a short period of time. Although he has not been in charge of the infantry brigade for a long time, he has some understanding of the abilities of the commanders above the brigade and platoon. This second company commander is the most capable company commander in the 102nd Battalion. Stopped, it can be seen how powerful the enemy is.

Thinking of this, Vitkov nodded at Goria, and said: "Captain Goria, I know that the troops don't have much ammunition, and it is very difficult to block the enemy like before. Immediately add the sailors who supplied you yesterday. The soldiers are sent out, and with them, even if we fight with bayonets, we will not suffer."

It was later proved that it was a correct decision for Witkov to decisively dispatch the soldiers of the newly supplemented Marine Battalion at this time. But when these soldiers came out of the tunnel and filed into the ragged and broken positions, the soldiers of the Romanian army were only ten or twenty meters away from the trenches.

At such a close distance, there is not much point in fighting positional warfare. So, the three leading sailor company commanders shouted at their subordinates: "Full speed ahead! Full speed ahead!"

When the army is attacking, they like to shout "Ulla". When the sailors are attacking, they like to shout "full speed ahead". Hearing the shouts of the company commanders, the sailors and soldiers immediately bravely rushed towards the opposite enemy with their bayonets upright.

Ten seconds later, two armies wearing different uniforms collided. Because the formation was too dense to start a fight, everyone huddled together, held up the bayonet in their hand, and kept stabbing at the enemies in different uniforms in front of them. Everyone's movements are very simple, just keep stabbing, retracting, stabbing again, retracting again...

In such mechanical and repetitive movements, people kept falling down, and the sound of roaring and screaming was endless. Some people died on the spot, and some were still alive, but as long as they fell down, they had no chance to get up again. Almost as soon as they fell down, countless feet stepped on them, and continued to die. Fight and fight.

Sokov, who was staying in the headquarters, was shocked when he learned of the tragic hand-to-hand battle in front of the Beigang position. He took the microphone and asked the observation post on the top of the mountain: "Comrade Corporal, has the enemy's attack been repulsed by us?"

"No." The observation post replied: "Although the enemy seems to have far more casualties than our army, they still have no sign of retreating, and there are troops coming here in the distance. It seems that they are preparing to reinforce them. Companion to fight on the hillside."

After putting down the phone, Sokov looked at Sidolin and asked, "Comrade Chief of Staff, can you call the artillery on the other side of the Volga River to destroy the Romanian army that is fighting with our army?"

"Comrade Brigadier, I'm afraid it won't work." Sidolin shook his head and replied: "The battle is now taking place on the west side of Beigang, and this angle is difficult for the artillery on the east bank of the Volga River to hit. The reverse slope. If we want to prevent the enemy from occupying Beigang, the only way now is to send the reserve team up for reinforcements."

Don't look at Sokov telling Shamrih to assemble the troops early and make them ready to support Beigang at any time, but if he really wants to send the troops out at this time, Sokov feels a little bit reluctant.

Seeing Sokov's hesitant look, Sidolin was about to urge him, but he heard the phone on the table ring. He quickly picked up the microphone and stuck it to his ear. After listening for a while, he handed the microphone to Sokov and said, "Comrade Brigadier, it's Colonel Witkov's call."

"Colonel Sokov, you must have seen how the enemy attacked Beigang?" Vitkov's anxious voice came from the receiver: "Captain Goria put the last soldier beside him into the battlefield, Now there are only me, him, and a signal soldier left in the command post. If you don’t send troops to reinforce as soon as possible, you can only come to collect our bodies.”

Witkov's words made Sokov make up his final decision. If the enemy really allowed the enemy to occupy the northern post and let Witkov, the deputy chief of staff of the group army, die in battle, even if he managed to hold the southern post, his superiors would probably blame him. . So he said decisively: "Comrade deputy brigade commander, don't worry, please persevere, I will send you a reserve team there immediately."

As soon as he put down the phone, Sokov yelled outside: "Come here!"

Seeing a guard company soldier appearing at the door, Sokov ordered him: "Call Captain Shamrih to us immediately!"

In less than two minutes, Shamrih appeared in front of Sokov. From Sokov's expression, he guessed that it should be his troops' turn to attack, so he tentatively asked, "Comrade Brigadier, do you want us to rush to Beigang immediately?"

"Yes, Comrade Captain, I have to put you into battle now." At this moment, Sukov didn't have any thoughts about preserving his strength. What he was thinking about was how to keep the Beigang position, even if he invested all his The backup force is also spared no expense. Considering that Shamrih did not understand the situation outside, he took the time to introduce: "The enemy dispatched two thousand troops to storm the North Hill. Due to the lack of ammunition in the defenders, everyone, including the sailors, is now on the hillside Go up and fight the enemy with bayonets. You must rush there as soon as possible to help them repel the enemy's attack."

Although the number of 2,000 people surprised Shamrih, his mood quickly returned to normal. He straightened his body and assured Sokov, "Don't worry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, as long as there is one soldier alive in our marine battalion, the enemy will never let the enemy occupy the Beigang position."

Sokov still believed in Shamrih's guarantee. He knew that becoming a sailor was much more difficult than being an army. Although the troops led by Shamrih are only about 400 people, it is not a big problem to block the 2,000 Romanian troops. Especially after listening to Shamrih's guarantee, his confidence became more abundant. He nodded, raised his hand and patted Shamrih on the shoulder twice, and said plausibly: "Comrade Captain, go back and tell your soldiers that the brave wins when you meet on a narrow road. Repel this Romanian army attacking our position."

Looking at the back of Shamrih leaving, Sidolin asked Sokov worriedly: "Comrade Brigadier, even if Shamrih brings the reserve team up, plus the original defenders of the North Hill, they will not be able to do so." One thousand people. The enemy is twice as big as theirs, and with the cooperation of tanks, it may not be easy to hold the position?"

"They are our last hope." Sokov sighed and said, "Although we can deploy more troops, we will support the northern hillock. But once the troops are exhausted, the defense force of the southern hillock will become weak. The enemy took the opportunity to attack here, and I am afraid that the Nangang position will not be able to hold."

After hearing Sokov's statement, Sidolin showed a bitter expression on his face, and he said with a wry smile: "Comrade Brigadier, if you were not injured and did not lead the troops to the Red October factory, I think Ma Ma The garrison of Yevgang should be able to deal with the enemy's attack of any size."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Sokov worried that what Sidolin said would reach Vitkov's ears and cause unnecessary misunderstandings, so he quickly stopped him and said to himself: " When we have time in the future, we will discuss this kind of assumption. The first task now is to send people to guard the three tunnels leading to Beigang, so as to prevent the enemy from using those three tunnels to directly break into the tunnels of Nangang after the fall of Beigang. .”

"Understood." Hearing what Sokov said, Sidolin also realized that the tunnel connecting the north and south hills has now become the most unsafe place, so he quickly agreed and said: "I will immediately let Vanya lead a battalion Soldiers to defend there, absolutely will not let the enemy break through easily."