Red Moscow

  Chapter 149 Regimental tank squad

  Sokov hurried back to his command post and got in touch with Chernyshov by radio. Chernyshov did not ask about the progress of the battle here, so he said bluntly to Sokov: "Major Sokov, your battalion will hand over the position to the friendly troops who will be defending before tomorrow evening, and then rush to Sukov. Sinich."

"Hand over the position to the friendly army?" Sokov was taken aback when he heard Chernyshov say this, and then asked: "Comrade commander, may I ask which army will take over our defense? ?”

   "It's the 411th Infantry Division of the Tenth Army." Chernyshov replied: "The task of holding on to the unnamed highlands will be completed by them."

  Sokov originally thought that the troops to take over the defense of the unnamed high ground were drawn from Susinich. He was worried that the opponent would draw troops from him to supplement them due to insufficient troops. Now that he knew that the friendly army on the left wing would take over the defense, his heart suddenly became more at ease.

   More than an hour later, the unnamed highland where the third company stood was again shelled by the German army. Taking advantage of the shelling, the cunning German army dispatched a detachment of eight tanks to drive along the simple road, again attempting to detour to the rear of the high ground. Behind the tank detachment were four armored personnel carriers full of soldiers.

  The leading tank opened the top cover of the turret while driving, and a German tank soldier stuck out half of his body, observing the surrounding environment vigilantly.

  The artillery platoon leader Porochenko hid in the observation post on the west slope, staring at the tank squad with binoculars, silently calculating how far they were from the anti-tank mines planted by the engineers. Seeing the first tank getting closer to the mine, he held his breath, ready to hear the loud explosion.

   But it is regrettable that the tracks of the first German tank passed the anti-tank mine smoothly. Seeing this scene, he was so angry that he punched the dirt wall hard. He could only pin his hopes on the second tank, and he hoped that the tank that followed him could crush the laid mines. But he was soon disappointed again, and the second tank passed the mine site unscathed.

   "Damn, what's going on here?" Porochenko murmured in his heart: "Could it be that the anti-tank mines planted by the engineers have failed, so that tanks running over them will not cause explosions?"

   While he was thinking wildly, there was a dull explosion, and the third tank was engulfed in black smoke. When the smoke cleared, Porochenko saw that one side of the track of the tank had been blown off and the body was burning. As the tank hit the mine, not only the tank following stopped, but the two tanks in front also stopped. An armored vehicle from behind sped up and stopped next to the burning tank.

   Porochenko saw German soldiers jumping off the armored vehicles. According to the mine detectors they held in their hands, they could be judged to be engineers. Since the engineer platoon had only planted two anti-tank mines here, one of which had exploded and destroyed a German tank, whether the remaining mine was discovered by the enemy engineers was not his concern. He picked up the phone and said loudly to the gunner commanding the anti-tank gun: "Comrade Sergeant, have you seen the enemy tank?"

   "I see, Comrade Lieutenant." The gunner replied.

   "Aim at the two tanks in front and fire," Porochenko ordered the gunner, "after destroying them, immediately shift positions."

  After putting down the phone, the gunner immediately issued an order to the first gunner: "Aim at the second German tank and fire!"

  With a loud "boom", a dazzling flame burst out from the body of the second German tank, followed by a puff of black smoke. Seeing the first hit of the anti-tank gun, Porochenko in the observation station couldn't help applauding.

  The gunner ordered a gunner to aim at the first German tank and fired a second time. The armor-piercing projectile fired this time drilled into the tank and exploded, causing the ammunition to explode. The flames rushed straight from the open hatch to high altitude, just like an oil well on fire.

   After completing two rounds of firing, the gunner immediately ordered to transfer the firing position. The soldiers did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly moved the anti-tank guns to the new firing position.

  The German tanks behind saw that the two front tanks were destroyed by the anti-tank fire from the hillside. They immediately turned their guns and fired towards the false position on the hillside. Several false positions that were deliberately exposed became the targets of German tank guns. Amid a series of explosions, the cannons made of wood were blown to pieces.

   At this point, the anti-tank guns had been moved to a new location. This time, without waiting for Porochenko to give an order, the gunner commanded a gunner without a teacher: "Aim at the last tank on the road and shoot!"

  Although the German tanks were all parked on the road, due to the distance, the shells fired by the anti-tank guns fell into the air, and exploded on the side of the last tank, causing a column of mud to rise into the sky.

   Seeing that the shell missed the target, the gunner could not help but glared at the gunner fiercely. A gunner saw that the shell missed because of an error in his aiming, and his face turned red to the base of his neck. To redeem himself, he put his eye close to the scope and carefully aimed at the furthest tank.

  The fourth shell flew out and successfully hit the German tank again. Seeing the German tanks in the distance starting to burn, the gunner calmly issued an order to move to a new firing position.

   Not long after the anti-tank guns were transferred, the exposed firing positions were bombarded by German tanks. Seeing all this, the gunner thought with lingering fear: "Fortunately, the position was shifted in time, otherwise this anti-tank gun must have been reimbursed."

   Four shells reimbursed three German tanks, which greatly increased the confidence of the artillery soldiers. After they arrived at the new launch position, they immediately deployed their anti-tank guns and aimed at the tanks parked on the road to continue firing. They fired seven shells in one breath, destroying three tanks and three armored vehicles.

  Although the enemy only had one tank and one armored vehicle left, the third gunner who was in charge of loading the shells said to the gunner with a mournful face: "Comrade gunner, there is only the last shell left. Which target should we hit?"

   "Needless to say, of course it is the enemy's tank." The gunner shouted at a gunner: "Aim at the enemy's tank and fire!"

  The last shell hit the tank that was trying to escape. It dragged the fire for a while, then stopped on the road and started to burn. As for the armored vehicle sent in front carrying the engineers, seeing that the tanks and armored vehicles of the same company were all reimbursed, it dared not stay any longer, so it quickly loaded the engineers and prepared to flee.

Unexpectedly, it didn't drive far, and it unfortunately ran over another landmine that had not been cleared. With a loud "boom", the two front wheels of the half-track armored vehicle were raised high, and the entire body turned over in the air. A 180-degree somersault shakes out all the engineers and soldiers inside, and then hits the road heavily.

  (end of this chapter)