Red Moscow

  Chapter 2075

   Responsible for protecting the safety of the Army Group Command are the 140th and 142nd Guards Infantry Regiments and the 99th Guards Artillery Regiment. After learning about the guards deployed near the headquarters, Chuikov said to Bereevsky with a smile: "Comrade Chief of Staff, General Glazunov is really interesting. He is Colonel Shugayev's guard. The 47th Division was all used to protect us."

But Bereevsky is obviously not as optimistic as he is: "Comrade commander, although two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment sound a lot in name, don't forget that this division independently fought against the Germans on the landing field two days ago. The attack, the casualties of the troops are not small."

   When Cuikov heard it, it seemed that this was indeed the case. The 47th Guards Division independently resisted the attacks of the four German divisions. Although it smashed the enemy's attacks time and time again, the price paid was nearly half of the casualties. The troops currently serving as guards are nominally two infantry regiments and one artillery regiment. In fact, the number of troops that can be used should not exceed one regiment.

  But after thinking about it, my location should not be the focus of the enemy's attack in the next few days. Deploying the remnants of the 47th Guards Division here to take charge of security is actually letting them rest in disguise.

  Although Chuikov behaved indifferently, Belevsky did not dare to take it lightly. He specially called the commander of the tank brigade on the left bank and asked the other party to send a tank battalion to strengthen the defense of the headquarters.

   Regarding Belevsky's arrangement, Chuikov just smiled lightly and didn't say anything. In fact, he acquiesced to the other party's arrangement in his heart.

   Early the next morning, the headquarters phone rang suddenly.

Beleyavsky picked up the phone, and the voice of the head of the 140th Guards Regiment came through the receiver: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the situation is not good, a large number of German tanks are rushing towards our regiment's position. "

  Hearing the report of the head of the regiment, Beleyavsky was thinking in his heart: "We should hold the position, blow up the enemy's tanks, destroy the enemy's infantry, and prevent them from approaching our defense line."

He took a deep breath, and tried his best to tell the other party in a steady tone: "Comrade Colonel, don't rush to hit the German tanks, let them drive to the minefield, they will definitely be blown up by the mines we planted. If they pass by by chance If you get out of the minefields, treat them with anti-tank guns and destroy them with direct fire. As for the infantry behind the tanks, shoot them with heavy machine guns. Understand?"

  As soon as he finished speaking, he heard the sound of rumbling guns from the receiver. He couldn't help asking in surprise: "Comrade Colonel, what's wrong with you?"

   "The German tanks fired at us." The head of the Guards replied: "The shells fell right next to my command post and exploded."

"This is a normal phenomenon." Beleyavsky said calmly: "The Germans like to bombard our army positions aimlessly before every attack. But you have to put the German tanks Keep an eye on them, and don't let them break through your line of defense. You know, behind you is the army headquarters."

   After Beleyavsky put down the phone, he reported the intelligence of the 140th Guards Regiment to Chuikov. After hearing this, Chuikov leaned over to look at the map, then raised his head and said to Beleyavsky: "Comrade Chief of Staff, you immediately call the 142nd Guards Regiment and tell them that enemy tanks and infantry are attacking his right flank. Let him prepare artillery and light and heavy machine guns to support friendly forces with flanking fire."

   "Okay, Comrade Commander." Beleyavsky said: "I will immediately contact the 142nd Guards Regiment."

   There were 19 German tanks rushing towards the defense line of the 140th Guards Regiment, followed by about a battalion of infantry. Immediately after the tanks arrived at the minefield, three unlucky tanks ran over the anti-tank mines laid by the Soviet army, and there was an explosion immediately, and the wheels with broken tracks were idling on the spot. But the remaining tanks passed the minefield smoothly and continued to rush towards the position of the 140th Guards Regiment.

  In the trench of the forward position, there is an anti-tank gun deployed. When the gunner Sergeant Zarov waited for the German tanks to approach a distance of 300 meters, he decisively waved his hand down and roared at the same time: "Fire!"

   Following the order, the gunner decisively pulled the cannon rope. The shells fired from the chamber hit a tank that was rushing forward, causing a burst of flames. Soon, the tank that was shot was wrapped in flames and black smoke, and it stopped in place and burned blazingly.

   Seeing the first record, Zarov couldn't help but be overjoyed. He hurriedly called the loader to reload, and within a very short time, fired again at the German tanks that rushed up. This time, the luck was a little bit worse. The shells flew past the shells of a tank, landed in the open space behind and exploded, and a column of black mud rose into the sky.

  Although there were no tanks that could hit the German army, Zarov was not discouraged, and ordered to load and fire again. This time it was much more accurate than last time, hitting the turret of the German tank directly, turning it into a burning torch on the battlefield again.

   "Good job!" Seeing that the anti-tank gun he commanded destroyed two German tanks one after another, Zarov waved his fist excitedly, and then shouted: "Load and shoot!"

  After loading, the soldiers of the artillery crew fired quickly and successfully hit the third tank. Unfortunately, the location of the artillery group was also exposed. Several German tanks that were driving stopped and aimed their muzzles at the location of the artillery group.

   Facing the muzzle of the German tanks, the members of the artillery crew did not choose to retreat, but continued to load shells and fired at the German tanks rushing up. After they destroyed two German tanks again, a shell landed next to the anti-tank gun and exploded. When the gunpowder smoke cleared, the aimer, loader and gunner all fell in disorder around the blown up anti-tank gun.

   Facing the rushing German tanks, in addition to Zarov’s anti-tank guns, there were also many anti-tank fighters using anti-tank rifles. They used anti-tank guns in the trenches to shoot at the German tanks.

Seeing that the soldiers around him became panicked as the German tanks approached, Zuyev, an anti-tank fighter with an anti-tank rifle, shouted to his comrades around him: "Brothers, it's nothing special! Although the enemy tanks are powerful, , but we are better than it!"

  At this moment, there are 8 German tanks approaching the position, followed by a large number of infantry. The guards on the ground did not rush to fire, but wanted to wait for the enemy to get closer, so that they could destroy the enemy more accurately.

  When the tank was less than 100 meters away from the trench, the anti-tank guns, machine guns, submachine guns, and rifles on the position fired at the same time, and the fierce firepower poured out on the enemy.

   After carefully aiming at a moving tank, Zuyev decisively pulled the trigger. The armor-piercing projectile penetrated the cover of the lookout, killing the driver inside, causing the tank to stop advancing. Seeing this, Zuyev seized the time and fired a second shot. This time, he hit the fuel tank and set the tank on fire.

  The tanker, covered in fire, got out of the hatch and stumbled towards the back. But the infantry on the ground couldn't let them escape easily, so two machine guns started shooting at them, killing them all very quickly.

   While the infantry was destroying the escaped tankers, Zuyev used the same ingenious tactics to destroy the second German tank. He didn't bother to check the results of the battle, so he pointed his gun at the third German tank, but the speed of the tank was very fast. As soon as he opened it, the tank rushed in front of him. The gun was removed from the parapet and lay on the bottom of the trench.

  As soon as the German tank rolled over the trench, he jumped up and fired a shot at the back of the tank, but missed the mailbox. He quickly loaded another armor-piercing bullet, aimed at the fuel tank of the tank and fired. This time he was lucky, and he blew up the fuel tank with one shot, causing the German tank to start burning.

  Seeing that Zuyev killed three German tanks in a row, the morale of the surrounding infantry suddenly rose, and they raised their weapons and shot at the charging enemy. After a few minutes, the attacking enemy retreated. Beside the burning tanks, hundreds of corpses of officers and soldiers were left behind.

  After the failure of the 140th Guards Regiment's defense zone attack, the German army withdrew to the starting position to rest.

   Just two hours later, the German army bombarded the front of the 140th and 142nd Guards Regiments with heavy artillery fire, preparing to clear the minefields laid by the Guards Division and opening up a path for the tanks to attack.

  After the shelling ended, the German tanks and infantry launched an offensive again. However, their main attack direction this time is no longer the defense zone of the 140th regiment, but turned to the position of the 142nd regiment.

  Believsky received a call from the head of the 142nd regiment: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the enemy has launched an attack on our regiment's position."

"Don't panic, Comrade Commander." Beleyavsky said into the microphone: "Put the German tanks into the minefield, and then shoot directly with anti-tank guns. Don't panic, you are not fighting alone, we I will try my best to support you.”

  After putting down the phone, Belevsky reported to Chuikov: "Comrade Commander, the enemy has launched an attack on the position of the 142nd Guards Regiment. Look, how can we help them?"

Chuikov thought for a while, and then told Bereevsky: "Comrade Chief of Staff, don't we still have artillery deployed on the right bank of the Vistula River, and order those artillery to block and shoot at the attacking enemy. They are approaching our positions."

  But after hearing this, Beleyavsky shook his head and said: "Comrade Commander, due to the cover of the woods, the artillery we deployed on the right bank is simply unable to intercept and shoot the attacking enemy."

"Has the tank battalion of the tank brigade arrived yet?" Cuikov remembered that during the Stalingrad defense battle, his situation was precarious. He just found a few tanks and asked the infantry to follow the tanks to counterattack the attacking enemy. Hold your ground.

   "I have already called to ask." Beleyavsky replied: "The tank is still on the way, and it will arrive in half an hour at the earliest."

"Let the 140th Regiment support the 142nd Regiment before the tanks arrive. We must not allow the enemy to break through our defense line." Chuikov worried that Beleyevsky would not realize the seriousness of the problem, and he emphasized specifically: "You must know Well, our headquarters is no more than 500 meters away from the front, once the position is breached, the headquarters will be directly exposed to the enemy, and we will be forced to transfer at that time."

When Beleyavsky called the head of the 140th Regiment, the head of the 140th Regiment also said anxiously: "Comrade Chief of Staff, the line of defense that is being attacked by the Germans is not only the 142nd Regiment, but also ours. We are also under enemy attack, tanks and infantry are rushing towards our positions."

  Maybe hearing the dissatisfaction in Beleyavsky's tone, the regiment leader quickly added: "Well, Comrade Chief of Staff, I will try my best to support the 142nd Regiment on the left."

  Believsky once again connected to the regiment headquarters of the 142nd regiment, and asked straight to the point: "Comrade commander, how is the situation there? Where are the German tanks?"

"Report to Comrade Chief of Staff," the head of the 142nd regiment reported loudly: "They are passing through the minefield. After the shelling just now, there are very few mines that have not exploded in the minefield. Our minefield cannot stop them at all. It might come right up."

  Just as the head of the regiment said this, a soldier ran in from the outside and reported to him: "Comrade head, I am sent by the Second Company to report the situation."

  The second company is the most forward-deployed unit in the regiment. Hearing what the soldiers said, the head of the regiment couldn't help but feel a little bit in his heart, and then asked: "How is the situation there?"

   "Reporting, Comrade Commander," the soldier replied breathlessly, "The Germans have rushed into the trenches, and the company commander is leading the soldiers to fight the enemy with bayonets. He specially sent me here for help."

   "Hold it, you must hold it!" The regiment leader said to the soldiers: "Go back and tell your company commander that you must hold on firmly. I will send troops to reinforce you immediately. Understand?"

  The soldiers left with the reinforcements assigned to them by the regiment commander. When they rushed back to the position, the battle between the two sides just entered a stalemate. When it comes to fighting bayonets, the German army, which is keen on the output of firepower, is naturally not the opponent of the Soviet commanders and fighters, but their numbers are superior, so even if the Soviet commanders and fighters have high stabbing skills, they will not be able to gain the upper hand in a short time. Fortunately, the reinforcements arrived in time, and after some melee, they successfully drove out all the German troops who had entered the trenches.

  Although the German infantry was repelled, the German tanks were getting closer and closer to the trenches. The second company commander Burba quickly ordered the anti-tank fighters in the trench to use anti-tank rifles to destroy the German tanks rushing up.

  However, the German army has too many tanks, and the anti-tank fighters are simply too busy. Seeing this, Bulba quickly picked up a bundle of cluster grenades, rushed towards the German tank, ignited the fuse, threw it directly, and then rushed into a nearby bomb crater.

   After a loud bang, the German tank was reimbursed, and it stopped and burned on the spot. And the tanker in the tank didn't know whether he was stunned by the explosion or killed, and he couldn't escape from the tank at all.

  Bulba just finished blowing up the tank, and found another heavy tank rushing towards him. Seeing that the situation was not good, Bulba quickly jumped into the nearby bomb crater, picked up a bundle of cluster grenades from the body of his comrades inside, and rushed towards the German tank again.

   But he was unlucky this time. When he was twenty steps away from the tank, he was hit by the tank's machine gun and fell face up into the crater. But Bulba did not sacrifice, but gritted his teeth and crawled towards the German tank step by step. When a German tank drove past him, he fired a cluster grenade without hesitation and died with the tank.

  (end of this chapter)