red moscow

Chapter 2779

Just as Katukov had expected, by dark the Germans had not advanced towards the area where the defense line was being built, and the officers and soldiers of the tank brigade had enough time to build and improve their defensive positions.

When the defensive position was completed, the second echelon of troops also arrived at the designated location.

Seeing that all the officers and soldiers of the brigade and their equipment were present, Katukov was naturally overjoyed and quickly redeployed the defense: the motorized infantry battalion and the companies of the 34th regiment's mixed battalion were deployed side by side; each battalion was reinforced by a tank platoon, and the tanks occupied the flank positions of the defense area; the motorized infantry battalion was equipped with four 4mm anti-tank guns. Between the positions of the first and second echelons, a new type of T-45 tank was set up in an ambush. The density of anti-tank firepower was 34 units per kilometer of front; the density of anti-tank firepower on the highway was the highest, reaching 12 units per kilometer of front.

At dawn, all the troops entered the designated defense zones and made corresponding combat preparations.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the chief of staff received a call from the observation post and then reported to Katukov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, I just received a report from the observation post: about a regiment of German infantry, led by hundreds of tanks, is heading towards the area where my brigade is deployed."

After listening to the chief of staff's report, Katukov looked down at the map and then ordered: "Chief of Staff, notify the commanders on the front line that no one is allowed to open fire without my order, so as not to expose the position of our defensive position."

The chief of staff seemed puzzled by Katukov's order: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the enemy has already advanced towards our defensive position. Even if we don't open fire, they will notice it. Rather than passively taking the beating, it is better to take the initiative to fire at the enemy."

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Katukov waited until the chief of staff finished speaking before explaining to him, "I just checked the defensive position of my brigade. It is well camouflaged. If you don't get close, you can't find it at all. According to the enemy's common tactics, they first use artillery bombardment, and then use tanks to cover the infantry charge. If we expose our position too early, we will be hit hard by the enemy's artillery fire."

"Yes, yes, you are right." After hearing what Katukov said, the chief of staff immediately understood what he meant and nodded, saying, "As long as our defensive positions are not exposed, the enemy's artillery preparation before the attack will have a very limited effect, thus reducing our casualties."

Katukov nodded slightly, then turned to look at Sokov and asked, "Captain Sokov, do you want to stay in the headquarters to read the battle report, or go to the front line to see the actual combat situation?"

"I think we should go to the front line." Sokov knew very well that the brigade headquarters was located more than ten kilometers away from the front line and could not see the battle situation clearly, so he simply said, "I will go to the mixed battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs first."

"Okay, Captain Sokov." Katukov naturally had no reason to disagree with Sokov's situation, but he still asked for his opinion: "Should the radio you brought stay here, or go with you to the mixed battalion?"

Sokov thought that the situation at the front was much more dangerous than here. If there was any problem with the radio, he would not be able to contact Potapov directly. It was based on this consideration that he replied: "Stay here, and you will be able to know the new instructions from the commander as soon as possible."

After leaving the brigade headquarters, Sokov drove to the defense zone of the Internal Affairs Ministry's mixed battalion.

Seeing Sokov coming, Captain Korovin, the commander of the mixed battalion, asked in surprise: "Captain Sokov, why did you come to me?"

"Comrade Captain," Sokov shook hands with Korovin and said with a smile, "I want to take part in the battle myself."

"But it's too dangerous here." Korovin just said this and immediately realized that he was wrong. He raised his hand and scratched the back of his head, and said embarrassedly: "I'm sorry, Comrade Captain, I forgot that you once captured a German armored column single-handedly. This kind of battle scene is nothing but child's play for you."

"Comrade Captain, according to my judgment, the enemy's first wave of attack will definitely not be from here." Sokov said to Korovin, "But staying at your position, you can clearly see the entire process of the enemy's attack."

Korovin was somewhat surprised and asked: "Captain Sokov, how do you know that the first wave of German attack will not be here?"

"Intuition, this is what my intuition tells me." Sokov did not wait for Korovin to speak and continued: "If you don't believe it, we can wait and see."

As the two were talking, the sound of rumbling cannons was heard not far away.

"Comrade Captain," just as Korovin was about to ask where the artillery noise came from, the deputy battalion commander reported to him, "It is the position of the motorized infantry battalion on our left wing that is being bombarded by the enemy."

Upon learning that the friendly positions were under fire from the Germans, Korovin immediately ran out of the command post with a telescope and went outside to find a suitable place to observe. Since Sokov was at the front to check the progress of the battle, he naturally would not stay in the command post and followed Korovin out.

The two men came to an observation position with a wide view, raised their binoculars and looked toward the friendly positions.

Because the officers and soldiers of the motorized infantry battalion laid a large number of camouflage nets when building fortifications, the German artillery did not know the specific location of their positions. Although the artillery fire was fierce, few shells hit the trenches or fortifications.

Seeing this, Sokov could not help but nod secretly. It seemed that Katukov was not only good at attacking, but also had many tricks for defense. The officers and soldiers followed his instructions and camouflaged the positions very well, making it impossible for the enemy artillery to confirm the specific location and could only cover the area with artillery fire. This artillery method with a very low hit rate, in addition to wasting artillery shells, could not cause any substantial damage to the Soviet positions.

After the shelling ended, the smoke slowly dissipated, and German tanks, armored vehicles and infantry skirmish lines appeared in the distance.

"The Germans are attacking." Korovin put down the binoculars in his hand, turned his head and said to Sokov: "Captain Sokov, do you think the comrades in the infantry battalion can stop the enemy's attack?"

"Comrade Captain, you worry too much." Seeing that Korovin had little confidence in stopping the enemy's attack, Sokov comforted him, "I once experienced a battle. The German army had an infantry battalion covered by tanks, and the troops defending the position were an engineering battalion with only simple light weapons and some Molotov cocktails, but no anti-tank guns. But in the face of the German attack, although they paid a heavy price, they still destroyed half of the German tanks, killed hundreds of German soldiers, and successfully repelled the enemy's attack."

Sokov said this, looked at Korovin and asked with a half-smile: "Now the motorized infantry battalion has not only anti-tank guns but also several tanks on its position. Do you think they can stop the enemy's attack?"

After Sokov's comparison, Korovin felt that he was a little too worried. A poorly equipped engineering battalion could stop the German attack and destroy German tanks. So a motorized infantry battalion equipped with tanks and anti-tank guns would not have much trouble stopping the attack of the German army in front of them.

Under the cover of tanks, the German infantry quickly approached the position of the motorized infantry battalion. 300 meters away, there was no movement in the suspected area that had been bombarded.

200 meters, still silence.

The German commander who led the attack couldn't help but wonder: "Is there no Russian defensive position in this area?"

150 meters, still no movement.

When the German army was only 80 meters away from the position, the Soviet tanks and anti-tank guns hidden in the position opened fire.

In the first round of shooting, two tanks and three armored vehicles were hit and caught fire. Soldiers covered in flames jumped out of the vehicles and ran in different directions screaming.

The experienced soldiers took off their burning uniforms while running; while the inexperienced soldiers ran around waving their arms, and even bumped into the normal marching infantry, causing flames to appear on their bodies as well.

At this time, various weapons on the battlefield opened fire. Amid the sound of submachine guns, rifles, pistols and machine guns, the German infantrymen exposed within the range were shot and fell to the ground. The remaining soldiers, seeing the situation was not good, either lay down and fired back or hid behind the moving tanks.

The tanks and anti-tank guns on the Soviet positions continued to fire, scaring the tanks into turning S to avoid the oncoming shells. However, the infantry hiding behind the tanks were exposed to the Soviet firepower and many of them fell down.

In just 80 meters, the German army only advanced 50 meters and could no longer move forward.

The reason for this situation is very simple. The officers and soldiers of the motorized infantry battalion first used intensive firepower to separate the German tanks and infantry, making it impossible for them to support each other. Then they used tank guns and anti-tank guns to attack the advancing German tanks, and used infantry firepower to harvest the lives of those German officers and soldiers who lost the cover of the tanks.

The battle lasted less than half an hour, and the wreckage of 11 tanks and 26 armored vehicles was burning fiercely, and the ground was littered with the bodies of German officers and soldiers who died in various shapes. Seeing that the attack was unlikely to work, the German commander had no choice but to order a retreat.

As the German army retreated, the battle report was quickly reported to the brigade headquarters.

After reading the infantry battalion's battle report, the chief of staff excitedly reported to Katukov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, our infantry battalion has successfully repelled the enemy's attack, destroyed their 11 tanks, 26 armored vehicles, and eliminated more than German infantrymen."

After listening to the battle report, Katukov smiled and nodded, then instructed the chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, tell the commander of the infantry battalion not to be proud, but to repair the damaged fortifications as soon as possible and prepare for a new round of German attacks."

While the infantry battalion was repairing its fortifications, Korovin and his colleagues returned to the battalion command post.

When the deputy battalion commander saw Korovin coming back, he hurriedly asked, "Comrade Battalion Commander, has the enemy been repelled?"

"Yes, the enemy attacking the friendly position has been repelled." Korovin said to the deputy battalion commander: "Let the soldiers prepare for battle. If the enemy finds that the infantry battalion cannot make a breakthrough, they may turn the breakthrough point to our position."

While Korovin was briefing his deputy battalion commander on the task, Sokov was trying hard to recall the information about the Mtsensk tank battle. There seemed to be no mention of the results of the mixed battalion of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this battle. Perhaps it was because they were not defending the main area that no decent fighting took place.

Two hours later, the German army launched another attack on the Soviet positions, trying to break through the infantry battalion's defensive positions in one fell swoop.

But what the enemy never dreamed of was that when their tank troops rushed towards the infantry battalion position, Katukov's dozen tanks ambushed in the forest on the flank of the battlefield unexpectedly launched an assault from the flank. As we all know, if tank soldiers stay in the tank, they can only observe the movements outside through the periscope, and their vision is very limited. Because of this, they did not notice the tank troops rushing out from the side at all, and immediately paid a heavy price.

Seeing the friendly forces attacking from the flank, the tanks deployed in the infantry battalion also launched a counterattack against the enemy, using tank guns to destroy the German tanks or armored vehicles, and using vehicle-mounted machine guns to shoot at the infantry that appeared within range. For a time, the enemy was beaten to a pulp.

After the German attack was repelled once again, Katukov carefully reviewed the latest battle report and decisively issued an order: "Comrade Chief of Staff, notify the motorized infantry battalion to withdraw from the existing defensive position after dark and move to the preset position of the First Military Village."

Hearing Katukov's order, the chief of staff was stunned: "Comrade Brigade Commander, what's going on? Our army has clearly won the battle, why should we abandon the existing position and retreat to the pre-set position of the First Military Village?"

"The reason is very simple, Comrade Chief of Staff." Katukov said, "The infantry battalion caused huge losses to the German army in today's battle. The enemy will definitely not give up. If our guess is correct, they will definitely concentrate their superior artillery and air power to bombard the infantry battalion's position. You and I both know that the position where the infantry battalion is located are all temporary field fortifications. They are simply unable to compete with the German artillery and air force. Staying there will only increase casualties."

"Okay, Comrade Brigade Commander." Although the chief of staff was reluctant to give up the existing position, since it was an order from Katukov, he could only execute it unconditionally: "I will call the infantry battalion immediately and ask them to prepare to withdraw from the position after dark."

Sokov stayed at the position of the Internal Affairs Ministry's mixed battalion until dark, but he did not see the enemy launch a new attack on the infantry battalion's position. He felt that today's battle should come to an end, so he returned to the brigade headquarters to first understand the results of today's battle and then report to Potapov.

Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the headquarters, I heard the chief of staff on the phone: "...What's going on? Didn't I tell you to withdraw from the position immediately after dark? Why are you still not moving? Are you trying to disobey orders?"

When Sokov heard about the retreat, his heart skipped a beat. He wondered if the tank brigade had been forced to abandon its position after a section of the area it was responsible for was broken through by the German army?

With such doubts, he stood behind the chief of staff, anxiously waiting for the other party to finish the call so that he could ask what was going on.

(End of this chapter)