Red Moscow

  Chapter 543 Tank Battalion, Assault (Middle)

  At dawn, Alitai arrived at the basement of the assembly workshop with more than 40 soldiers from the former tank company at noon. As soon as he saw Sokov, he first saluted and then explained: "I'm sorry, Comrade Brigadier Commander, we are late. The fighters of the tank company were scattered in the battalions, and it took a lot of money to gather them. time."

  Sokov knew that during his recuperation period, due to Vitkov's improper command, the troops suffered heavy casualties. Therefore, many special companies were dismantled and assigned to battalions. This was the case with the tank company of Lieutenant Aritai. He nodded at Alitai, then stretched out his hand, and said, "It's not too late, it's not too late. Our newly formed tank battalion may not go into battle until noon. During this time, you can take Comrades, get familiar with the equipment."

   "Tank battalion?!" Hearing what Sokov said, Alitai couldn't help being taken aback, and then asked: "Comrade brigade commander, didn't you mean to form a tank company? How did it become a tank battalion again?"

Sokov guessed that Vitkov might have conveyed this to him, and explained to him: "When the deputy brigade commander returned to Mamayev, we did not have enough manpower to drive these tanks, so we could only consider editing One company. The number of tank soldiers now far exceeds our imagination, so after the approval of the superior, it will be organized into a tank battalion."

   After figuring out what was going on, Ali Tai showed a gratified smile on his face. With more tanks, it will be much easier to fight the Germans in the future. He respectfully asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, I don't know where the battalion commander of the tank battalion is. I want to report to him first."

   "Colonel Bely." Sukov heard Ali Tai say that he wanted to see the battalion commander of the tank battalion, so he shouted at Bely who was sleeping on a bench in the corner: "The commander of the third tank company has arrived, and he wants to see you!"

  Bely heard Sokov's shout, sat up from the bench, stretched his muscles, got up and walked towards Alitai. He pointed at Ali Tai with his hand and asked Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, is this the commander of the third company you mentioned?"

   "Yes, Comrade Colonel." Sokov nodded and said, "He is Lieutenant Ali Tai, the commander of the third tank company."

   "Hello, Comrade Lieutenant." Bely took the initiative to extend his hand to the other party, and said with a smile: "I am Colonel Bely, the acting battalion commander of the tank battalion. You are welcome to join my team."

  Alitai learned that the colonel in front of him was actually the commander of the tank battalion. He was so surprised that his jaw almost fell to the ground. He looked at Sokov and asked in a panic: "Comrade brigade commander, why is the battalion commander a colonel?" What he meant was that you are only a lieutenant colonel, how can you command a colonel?

Seeing Alitai's doubts, Sokov smiled slightly, and then said: "Comrade lieutenant, there is nothing surprising, except for Colonel Bely, the tank battalion commander who is under my command, and the deputy brigade commander, Colonel Witkov, Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force is also under my command. This is all for the sake of victory, understand?"

   "Understood!" Ali Tai nodded, then adjusted his military appearance, stood up and saluted Bely: "Comrade Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Ali Tai, the commander of the third tank company, is reporting to you. I will obey your orders, please instruct!"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Bely said, holding each other's hand, "The tank soldiers of the first and second companies belong to my tank brigade, and they are already familiar with the newly received technical equipment. The company will attack the enemy first, and your company will stay in reserve."

Hearing that he was asked to serve as the reserve team, Alitai felt very uncomfortable, but after thinking about it, he and his subordinates hadn't driven a tank for several months. As soon as they received the tank, they immediately went into battle. They must not be as professional as others in terms of cooperation tank soldiers. It's not a bad thing to be a reserve team, at least you can have more time to get familiar with the equipment. So he nodded and replied: "Comrade Colonel, I firmly obey your orders."

  ...

  After dawn, the German troops stationed here in the factory area launched a new round of attacks in various areas. However, the section controlled by Sokov remained silent, as if it had been forgotten by the Germans.

  Sokov stood on a section of the driving track that had not yet collapsed in the factory building. He raised his binoculars and looked into the distance. He could clearly see the German regiment headquarters and the simple defensive positions around it.

  Seeing that Sokov was observing the enemy's situation, Bely climbed up the ladder, came to his side, and asked curiously: "Comrade Brigadier, what did you see?"

Sokov handed the binoculars to Bely, pointed to the direction of the German army headquarters, and said to him: "Comrade Colonel, you see, there are only simple field fortifications in the German army headquarters, not to mention using tanks to assault, even if they use tanks to attack." A pure infantry charge can take it down."

After carefully inspecting the defense situation of the German Army Command, Bely put down the binoculars and said to Sokov: "Comrade Brigadier, you said that you can take down the enemy's regiment headquarters by attacking with infantry. I don't deny this. But have you ever thought that as long as the Germans put up a few machine guns in the trenches outside the regiment headquarters, they can stop your attack for a long time."

Speaking of which, Bely drew a big circle in the air with his hands, and continued: "Fighting is going on all around the Red October Tractor Factory. As long as the enemy finds that their regiment headquarters is under attack, they will definitely attack from all directions. They came to the rescue. In this way, the infantry you attack the German regiment headquarters may fall into the enemy's siege."

   Sokov originally just said that casually, but he didn't expect Bely to take it seriously. He laughed dryly twice, and then said: "Comrade Colonel, I was just joking. With enemies on all sides, attacking their headquarters must be done quickly, and to do this At one point, you can only rely on your tank force."

Bely raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then said to Sokov, "Comrade Brigadier, according to your original plan, we should launch an attack on the enemy at noon. But the enemy opposite us has no intention of attacking at all. How about we launch an attack in advance?"

  The reason why Sokov chose the time of attack at noon was because he was worried that the fuel and ammunition needed for the tank would not be ready in time. Seeing that Bely was so eager to go into battle at this moment, he tentatively asked, "Are the ammunition and fuel ready?"

"The ammunition and fuel for the first company and the second company were prepared for us by the comrades in the factory before dawn." Bely said: "The ammunition and fuel for the third company may not be ready until night. But they are The reserves, who are not involved in today's attack, therefore have ammunition and fuel of no importance."

Sokov calculated silently in his heart. There were 36 T-34 tanks in the two tank companies. To them, the defense of the German Army Command was like paper. Whether Alitai's third company participated in the battle is really irrelevant.

He looked up at the clear sky and said to Biely: "Comrade Colonel, the destruction of the German command will be a piece of cake for you. My only worry is that when you withdraw after completing your mission, you will be attacked." The bombing by the German planes, so before you dispatch, I will contact Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force and ask him to send planes here to support you."

   "Comrade Brigadier, can you really mobilize the air force?" Bely asked with some surprise: "When I heard you say that last night, I thought you were bragging?"

Sokov replied somewhat dumbfounded: "Comrade Colonel, you can make other jokes, but when it comes to deciding our life and death, you must not joke around. That's right, there is indeed a flying regiment under my command. Their regimental commander got in touch and asked him to send planes to support them. You must prepare now, your attack will begin at ten o'clock sharp."

"I have one more question." Before leaving, Bely asked Sokov, "Which army do you plan to send to cooperate with us? I have checked carefully. There are only more than a hundred regular troops guarding the factory. If you let them attack with us, your defense here will become empty."

"It doesn't matter." Sokov replied: "Our dozens of tanks are actively attacking the enemy. The enemy has to consider not how to attack, but how to defend. I will let Captain Briski lead his men Let's move together with you, as for the defense of the factory building, it will be temporarily handed over to the militia in the assembly workshop."

After Bely left, Sokov called Yakov who was staying in the basement: "Yakov, you immediately ask my radio operator to send a telegram to Colonel Khostnikov of the Air Force, informing him of the attack. The time has been advanced from noon to ten o'clock in the morning, so he must send at least one squadron of fighter jets to provide air support for the attacking tank troops."

   "Don't worry, Misha." Yakov assured Sokov, "I will definitely take care of your affairs."

  As soon as the time for the attack came, the thirty-six tanks of the tank battalion were divided into six rows, with six tanks in each row, and rushed towards the enemy's regiment headquarters. The tank bypassed the factory building, and carefully circled around in the open space full of bomb craters so as not to fall into the craters. As soon as they left the factory area, they began to accelerate and rushed towards the German headquarters.

  Yakov was eager to know how the battle was going, so he left the basement, came to the observation point where Sokov was, and asked curiously, "Misha, how is the situation?"

   "The tank has just left the factory area and is attacking the enemy's regiment headquarters." Sokov said here, pointing forward with his hand, and said excitedly: "The enemy has discovered our tank and is making defensive preparations."

  Yakov raised his binoculars and looked in the direction Sokov pointed. He saw the German soldiers in the German headquarters jumping into the trench one after another, putting their guns on the edge of the trench, preparing to block the Soviet attack. In the back of the trench, there were even soldiers rolling out several anti-tank guns.

Seeing the appearance of tank guns, Yakov was startled at first, but soon calmed down. He also used to be an artilleryman, so he naturally recognized the anti-tank guns introduced by the Germans, known as "stepping stones" 37 Millimeter anti-tank gun, knowing that this kind of artillery could not penetrate the frontal armor of the Soviet T-34 tank, he smiled and said to Sokov: "Misha, have you seen that the Germans actually pushed their stepping bricks?" Coming out and trying to stop our tank attack is a pipe dream."

  Sokov also saw the German anti-tank gun. He was a little worried at first, but he was relieved when he heard Yakov say that it was an anti-tank gun known as a "stepping stone". He knew that at the speed of the T-34 tank, the Germans would not be able to fire two shots before they would be crushed to pieces by the tracks. What he is worried about now is that the infantry led by Briski is too slow, and the distance between them and the tanks has been widened.

   "Misha," Yakov obviously noticed what Sokov was worried about. He turned his head and asked Sokov, "Why don't you let the infantry charge in tanks?"

Sokov smiled wryly and said: "I originally wanted all the infantry to be on tanks, but Colonel Bely said that if during the offensive, our infantry would suffer heavy losses if they were shelled and machine-gunned by the Germans. Therefore, Only the tanks will rush to the front, and the infantry will be far behind. It seems that we can only wait for the tanks to break through the enemy's line of defense, and then the infantry will go up to clean up the mess."

  When the Soviet tanks were still 800 meters away from the German trenches, the German anti-tank guns opened fire. The shells fired by the five anti-tank guns all hit the open space, sending up clouds of mud that soared into the sky. The quality of the German artillery was very good. Only ten seconds later, a second round of shells was fired. This time, one shell finally hit the front of a tank ready to hit.

Seeing that a tank was hit, the German artillery immediately cheered, but they soon discovered that they were too happy. The tank that was shot was still rushing forward without hesitation. Other than the white dent, the base was unharmed.

  Although they knew that their anti-tank guns could not cause any damage to the Soviet tanks, the artillerymen kept loading, firing, loading, and firing, trying to prevent the Soviet tanks from approaching their trenches.

   When there were still 800 meters away from the trench, the Soviet tanks stopped one by one, and they bombarded the German positions with tank guns. The German army originally had only one simple trench, which could not withstand the shelling of tanks, and was soon pitted. The corpses of soldiers hiding in the trench were continuously lifted into the sky by the blast waves, and then scattered down in pieces.

  The infantry was beaten badly, and the artillery was not much better. The anti-tank gun that was directly hit by the tank gun was directly blown into a parts state; even if it did not hit directly, the shell fell next to the anti-tank gun and exploded, and the flying shrapnel would also cut down the German artillery.

  But the tenacious German artillery did not drop their artillery and escape because of this, but continued to stick to their posts, constantly shooting at the Soviet tanks, trying to destroy one or two by chance.

  (end of this chapter)