red moscow

Chapter 2907

When Politik and Haranchuk returned to the infantry brigade's defense zone, the German artillery bombardment had not stopped.

He rushed into the brigade headquarters, but saw no sign of Sokov, and hurriedly asked Karsokov: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, where is your brigade commander?"

"He's on the observation tower outside." After Karsokov told him where Sokov was going, he asked Politic curiously, "Comrade Colonel, what do you want to see him about?"

"I'll go out and find him." Politik turned and walked outside, saying, "Lieutenant Colonel Haranchuk will tell you the details."

Coming out of the tent, Politic looked around and found no trace of any lookout tower, so he called over a sentry and asked politely, "Comrade soldier, where is your brigade commander?"

"Look, there!" The sentry pointed to a place in the forest and said, "The brigade commander's observation tower is on a tree. You can climb up along the ladder."

After thanking the sentry, Politic ran over quickly. He soon found the tree where Sokov was and climbed up along the narrow ladder.

On the observation deck, Sokov, who was looking at the second battalion's position with a telescope, noticed someone climbing up the ladder, and quickly put down the telescope and looked down. When he saw that the person who climbed up was actually Colonel Politic, he couldn't help but show a look of astonishment on his face.

"Comrade Colonel, why are you here?"

"I'll come up and take a look!" Politic climbed up to the observation tower. "What's the situation ahead?"

Sokov held the railing firmly and handed the telescope to Politic: "Look for yourself."

Politic took the telescope and looked towards the position of the Second Battalion. He saw that it was under heavy artillery fire and the entire position was shrouded in smoke.

Seeing this, Politic couldn't help but say worriedly: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, the enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, I'm sure the officers and soldiers on the battlefield have suffered heavy casualties, right?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said, "When the shelling started, except for a few observation posts, the rest of the officers and soldiers moved to the second line of defense."

"What, the second line of defense?" asked Politic in confusion.

Sokov knew that this tactic was first invented by the German army. Not to mention commanders like Politic who had not fought for a long time, even commanders who fought against the German army every day did not know this tactic. Therefore, when he heard his question, he explained: "This is a tactic often used by the German army in defense. When our army carried out artillery preparation before the offensive, they transferred their main forces to the second line of defense. When the artillery bombardment ended and our army launched a ground attack, they withdrew their troops to the second line of defense and returned to the first-line position along the communication trench to meet our offensive troops."

"Where is your second line of defense?"

"At a location 300 to 500 meters behind the original position, the two lines of defense are connected by a communication trench, so that the officers and soldiers can minimize casualties whether they are retreating to the second line of defense or returning to the first line of defense."

Politic once again turned his gaze to the forest behind the second-line position and asked in an uncertain tone: "Are my troops in that forest now?"

"Yes." Sokov gave the other party an affirmative answer: "It is precisely because your troops are deployed behind the Second Battalion that I called the commander comrade, hoping to obtain his authorization to use this force when necessary."

Politic put down the binoculars in his hand, looked at Sokov sideways and asked: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, don't you have confidence in your men? Do you think they can't hold the position?"

Sokov hesitated for a moment, then replied: "On the battlefield, anything can happen, so it is absolutely necessary to be prepared in advance."

Politic picked up the telescope again and turned his gaze to the defense line of the Fourth Battalion.

Looking at the battlefield which was also filled with smoke, Politic asked casually: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, our position here is also under heavy bombardment from the enemy. It is very likely to be attacked next. Have you taken any precautions?"

"Of course, we have taken precautions." Sokov gave Politik an affirmative answer and continued, "Do you see the forest behind the position? Since the Germans started shelling the Fourth Battalion's position, thousands of officers and soldiers have been on standby."

"Wait a minute," Politic couldn't help interrupting Sokov when he heard this: "If I understand correctly, your infantry brigade has at least four battalions?"

"Yes, four infantry battalions and two artillery battalions."

"So how many troops does your army have?"

Sokov sighed softly and said with a wry smile, "The brigade had about 6,000 men at its peak. But after this period of fighting, the number of soldiers has dropped sharply to more than 3,000." He pointed in the direction of the Fourth Battalion and continued, "I lost 2,000 men just at this position of the Fourth Battalion."

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, if you don't mind, can you tell me why your army has so many troops?" Politic said with emotion: "If there are one or two thousand more people, your army can be regarded as an understaffed infantry division."

"Comrade Colonel, I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. Before the infantry brigade was formed, I only had a guard company given to me by Commander Rokossovsky." Sokov said, "The rest of the troops were taken in by officers and soldiers who escaped from the enemy's encirclement, and the team was gradually expanded."

"What about the ammunition and supplies?" Politic continued to ask, "How did you solve it?"

"In addition to the items seized from the Germans, we also found two hidden arsenals, from which we obtained a large amount of combat supplies, including weapons, ammunition, supplies, medicines, etc." Sokov said: "It is precisely because of the sufficient combat supplies that we can withstand the German army's attacks again and again."

The German artillery bombardment of the 2nd Battalion's position ceased.

Before the smoke cleared, the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion who had retreated to the second line returned to the front-line positions along the communication trenches.

Seeing this, Politic smiled and nodded, thinking that Sokov's tactic was really good. As soon as the shelling started, the troops were transferred to the safe second line of defense. No matter how fierce the German shelling was, it was just bombarding an empty position. But Sokov frowned, thinking to himself, why was the second battalion commander so reckless? Although the enemy's shelling stopped, he did not immediately launch a ground attack. What if this was the enemy's conspiracy? When the soldiers returned to the first line from the second line, there would be another round of shelling, and then the second battalion would suffer huge casualties.

Politic accidentally turned around and saw Sokov frowning. He couldn't help but ask curiously: "Lieutenant Colonel Sokov, you seem unhappy. What happened?"

Sokov pointed to the officers and soldiers who were returning to the front-line positions along the communication trenches and said in a heavy tone: "Comrade Colonel, look at these officers and soldiers who are returning to the front-line positions. Their actions are really reckless. The enemy has not launched a ground attack yet, but they are in a hurry to return to the front-line positions. If they just return to the position and the enemy launches another round of artillery fire, the troops who have just returned to the position will suffer huge casualties."

After hearing this, Politik was shocked. After a brief thought, he felt that what Sokov said made a lot of sense. After the enemy stopped the shelling, they did not immediately launch a ground attack. Perhaps they found that the Soviet troops on the position had retreated to the second-line position, so they deliberately created the illusion of stopping the shelling. After the Soviet troops returned to the first-line position, they would launch another round of fierce artillery coverage, which would then cause huge casualties to the defenders.

Sokov took the binoculars from Politic and looked in the direction of the Fourth Battalion. He saw that the shelling was still going on, but at the edge of the forest in the distance, German tanks and infantry could be seen gathering. He pointed in that direction and said, "Comrade Colonel, you see, the shelling of the Fourth Battalion's position has not stopped, but at the edge of the forest in the distance, tanks and infantry can be seen gathering. I believe the enemy will soon launch an attack on the Fourth Battalion's position."

A few minutes later, the enemy's artillery bombardment of the 4th Battalion's position ended.

As the shelling ended, the tanks and infantry that had assembled at the edge of the forest launched an attack on the position of the Fourth Battalion.

Politic took the telescope from Sokov again. Through the lens, he saw a dozen tanks leading the way, followed by groups of German infantry, who were trotting towards the position of the Fourth Battalion, seemingly preparing to break through the defense line from this position.

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Politic saw this situation and couldn't help but worry: "Do you really think that with the current strength of the Fourth Battalion, we can stop the German attack?"

“I believe they can do it.”

Facing Sokov's confidence, Politik shook his head. According to his experience, the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Battalion could not stop the German tanks at all. As long as the German tanks crossed the trenches, many soldiers might jump out of the trenches and flee.

When the German tanks were less than 300 meters away from the Fourth Battalion's position, shells whizzed down. Although no shells hit the moving tanks, the infantry following the tanks were blown to pieces.

"What's going on?" Politic asked in surprise, "Where did the gunfire come from?"

"These are soldiers from the First Artillery Battalion, intercepting the Germans who were attacking the Fourth Battalion's position." Sokov explained to Politic: "We used this kind of soldiers who coordinated infantry and artillery to repel many German attacks."

"It seems that your artillery is quite strong." Politic said with emotion: "After several months of fighting, my division has basically abandoned all its heavy weapons. Facing the German tanks, the soldiers have no other anti-tank means except to carry cluster grenades to blow them up. You know, for every German tank destroyed, we have to pay at least 40 casualties. If we want to blow up all these dozen tanks, at least a battalion will be injured or killed."

As soon as he said this, he saw a moving tank being hit by the artillery fire. The tank, wrapped in flames and thick smoke, moved forward for more than ten meters and then stopped in place. Several tank soldiers covered in flames came out and ran to the rear with their hands and feet dancing. The soldiers who were following the tank attack had no time to worry about these tank soldiers and left them to fend for themselves.

"Comrade Colonel, let's go down." Sokov reminded Politik: "I want to ask the two battalion commanders about the situation on the battlefield."

The two walked into the tent side by side. Karsokov immediately came up to him and reported to Sokov: "Comrade Brigade Commander, the commander of the Fourth Battalion, Major Vasya, reported that the enemy launched an attack on the Fourth Battalion's position. Although the First Artillery Battalion intercepted the fire in time, the enemy's tanks still rushed towards the Fourth Battalion's position with great momentum."

Sokov had just seen the content of Karsokov's report on the observation deck.

He asked bluntly: "What were the casualties of the Fourth Battalion in the bombardment that just ended?"

"A dozen wounded," Karsokov answered, "but no one was killed."

"Well, that's pretty good." Sokov nodded slightly. "No matter what the final result is, we have at least reduced the casualties of our troops when they were bombarded by the German army. As long as we can preserve our manpower, we will be able to defeat the enemy."

After a while, Sokov instructed Karsokov again: "Comrade Chief of Staff, call the Second Battalion and ask them what the situation is there and whether the enemy has launched a ground attack on their position?"

Karsokov shook his head and replied, "Comrade Brigade Commander, before you came back, I spoke to Captain Alexa on the phone. He told me that after the enemy ended its shelling of the Second Battalion's position, they did not find any signs of a ground attack."

Hearing this, Sokov frowned again and said to Karsokov, "Chief of Staff, call Captain Alexa now and ask him to hide the officers and soldiers to prevent the enemy from bombarding their positions again."

Karsokov asked in surprise: "Comrade Brigade Commander, how do you know that the enemy will launch another heavy artillery attack on the second battalion's position?"

"The reason is very simple." Sokov explained: "I just saw from the observation tower that after the enemy stopped shelling the second battalion's position, they did not immediately launch a ground attack. As for our officers and soldiers, after seeing the German shelling stop, they immediately returned to the front-line positions. Tell me, if the enemy bombards the second battalion's position again, how many casualties will our army suffer?"

Hearing what Sokov said, Karsokov immediately realized the seriousness of the problem. He quickly picked up the phone on the table and called the Second Battalion Command Post: "Hello, is this Captain Alexa? I'm Chief of Staff Karsokov. The brigade commander ordered the officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion to do a good job of concealment to prevent the enemy from bombarding the position again and causing unnecessary casualties."

"Okay, Comrade Chief of Staff." Alexa did not question whether the order was correct or not, but said respectfully: "I will convey the order immediately and ask the soldiers to take cover to prevent being killed by German artillery fire."

"Also," Karsokov reminded again before hanging up the phone, "Before the enemy launches an attack, immediately repair the fortifications. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Chief of Staff," Alexa replied, "I will hurry up and repair the fortifications."

As soon as I put down the phone, the Fourth Battalion called to report the situation on the battlefield.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Vasya said anxiously on the phone, "the enemy's infantry once rushed into our position, but fortunately the soldiers showed courage and drove the enemy out."

(End of this chapter)