Red Moscow

  Chapter 1031 The Battle of Bilie Town (Part 1)

   To capture Bilie Town, there must be a guide who is familiar with the terrain. Therefore, when he set off, Sokov deliberately brought Lieutenant Vanyusha with him, hoping that he could point out to him the weakest defense in the town.

  Sokov set up his temporary headquarters one kilometer away from Bilie Town. In the observation post, even without a telescope, Sokov could clearly see the outline of the entire town.

By the time Bely, the other three infantry battalion commanders, and two tank battalion commanders who participated in the battle appeared, Sokov had already learned about the location of the fortifications in the town through Vanyusha, and said to everyone: "Comrades, the town of Bile The main function is to defend Luhansk, and its defensive positions are all aimed at the south and west. There are basically no decent defensive positions in the north and east. Therefore, in the upcoming offensive, we will start from the northeast The line of defense is attacking. Which of your battalions would like to go forward?"

   "Comrade Commander," Sokov said, Lieutenant Shamrih, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 125th Regiment, stepped forward and challenged Sokov: "Our 3rd Battalion is willing to take on the main attack mission!"

  The commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 124th Regiment, Captain Golia, did not dare to show weakness, and then said: "Comrade Commander, our battalion also requests the main attack, please approve."

"Comrade Captain," seeing Lieutenant Golia fighting for the main attack task, the Navy captain became anxious, "I think our battalion is more suitable for the main attack task. You know, we once met the enemy with bayonets on Mamayev Post and killed It was dark."

But Golia said disdainfully: "Comrade Captain of the Navy, I admit that the commanders and fighters of your battalion were extremely tenacious in the battle. But do you know that the battle loss ratio of your battalion was The lowest is actually only 1:1.45; while our battalion’s battle damage ratio to the enemy’s is generally 1:8, and even reached 1:10 at the highest.”

  When Goria and Shamrih had a dispute over who should take the main attack, another battalion commander from the 2nd Battalion of the 122nd Regiment stood by without saying a word. Sokov glanced at the opponent and felt that his troops were not suitable for the main attack, so he asked him to go north of the city to contain the enemy and disperse the defenders in the town.

"Misha," Bely asked curiously when Sukov ordered the second battalion to move north of the town, "Why did you let the second battalion go north of the town? I think they can be placed south. "

"No way in the south," Sokov waved his hand and said, "The troops of the 21st Army will attack from the south later. If we place a troop there too early, it will arouse the enemy's vigilance and let them Attacking forces pay a greater price."

"Okay, stop arguing." After Sokov explained to Bely, he stopped the two battalion commanders who were arguing: "The Goria battalion attacked from the northeast of the town; , attack from the east.”

   Seeing that Sokov had arranged the main attack task for himself, the two couldn't help but smile. Sokov continued: "Although you are all one battalion, in terms of numbers and equipment, you are more than a friendly regiment. In addition, there are two tank battalions commanded by Colonel Bely. I believe that there should be no problem in capturing the city." What a big question. Are you confident?"

   "Yes!" The two battalion commanders replied in unison: "We are confident that we will take down Bilie Town, which is occupied by the enemy."

"Comrade Colonel," just as several participating commanders were about to leave, Vanyusha suddenly said, "I vaguely heard gunshots and explosions in the direction of the town. It should be that our soldiers are still fighting. I I hope you will try not to injure them by mistake when preparing for the artillery fire before the attack."

  Belyi raised his eyebrows when he heard what Vanyusha said, and asked with some surprise: "Comrade Lieutenant, who told you that we will prepare for artillery fire before attacking?"

   "However," Vanyusha had never seen the 41st Guards Division in battle, so he naturally didn't know that the division rarely made such ineffective artillery preparations before attacking. Hearing Bely's question, he couldn't help answering blankly: "Comrade Colonel, don't our troops have to prepare for artillery fire before attacking the enemy?"

"Lieutenant Vanyusha," Sokov explained to him with a smile: "The purpose of the artillery preparation before the attack is to destroy as many enemy fortifications as possible, so that our army can break through faster after launching the attack. The German line of defense. As you said just now, the fortifications in the town are mainly aimed at the south and west, and there are no fortifications on the north and east. Since there are no fortifications, why should we waste our precious shells?"

   "It's getting late, everyone is going back to their respective units to prepare." Sokov raised his hand and looked at his watch: "The attack will start in eight minutes."

   When Bely left the observation post, Sokov took his hand and told him: "Comrade deputy division commander, you must pay attention to safety on the battlefield, and don't rush to the front of the entire team easily. Do you understand?"

"Don't worry, Misha, I won't risk my life." Knowing that Sokov said this out of concern for himself, Bely replied with a smile: "I will stay at the end and take command." , now you can rest assured."

"Comrade deputy division commander, once the battle started, all the tanks rushed towards the town occupied by the enemy. As for the self-propelled artillery, don't let them enter the town, and keep them hidden at a distance of five or six hundred meters from the town, so as to find the enemy's firepower point , just destroy it with artillery fire.”

Occupying the town is the 15th Infantry Division of General Buschenhagen of the German army. In order to cut off the retreat of the Soviet army, Lieutenant Colonel Willemer, the combat staff officer of the division, led several companies of the 88th Grenadier Regiment and entered in two columns. Billie Town. He never dreamed that the station's defenses were so lax that he occupied the entire station almost without hurting a single soldier.

  But in the next operation to occupy the whole town, it was discovered by the defenders and a firefight broke out. However, in the face of the superior German army in terms of numbers and equipment, the resistance of the defenders in the town seemed insignificant. In less than half an hour, most of the town fell into the hands of the German army. However, the remaining Soviet army occupied the teaching building of the school and continued to resist. Lieutenant Colonel Villemer organized three attacks, all of which were repelled by the defenders inside.

In order to eliminate the remnants of the Soviet army in the town as soon as possible, Lieutenant Colonel Willemer called Captain Becker, the battalion commander, and told him: "Captain, now the whole town has fallen into our hands except for this damned school." .You immediately increase the intensity of your attack, and you must eliminate the Russians in the school before the main force of the division arrives."

"Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." Becker waited for Villemer to finish speaking, and quickly put forward his request: "I hope you can assign those tanks to my troops, so that I can completely destroy them in the shortest possible time. The stubborn Russians."

"No, Captain Becker, I can't agree to your request." Unexpectedly, Villemer rejected Becker's request, and said to him: "After the Russians learned that the town was lost, they must send out a large force. Counterattack here, I have to keep these tanks for defense."

"However, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel, without the support of tanks, our infantry will not be able to destroy those strong teaching buildings." Becker reminded Villermer: "You must know that the failure of our battalion's successive attacks is completely It was because the enemy resisted with the strong teaching building, and our soldiers could not rush in. If there were tanks covering it, we could easily destroy the Russian firepower in the teaching building."

Fortunately, Lieutenant Colonel Villemer is not a stubborn person. After listening to Becker's analysis, he nodded after thinking for a while and said, "Okay, then I will send you two tanks. I'm disappointed."

   "Don't worry, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel." Becker couldn't help being overjoyed when he saw that Villemer was willing to provide him with a tank. He quickly stated: "If I can't take down the teaching building, I will kill myself before you deal with me."

  (end of this chapter)