Red Moscow

  Chapter 545 Factory Director's Request

  The joint battle between the Tank Battalion and the Fourth Battalion ended after only 20 minutes. The headquarters of the 102nd Infantry Regiment of the German 100th Jager Division was taken away. Under the protection of more than a dozen guards, the regiment commander and chief of staff quietly fled while the guards were fighting with Soviet tanks and infantry.

Seeing the end of the battle in the distance, Yakov couldn't help but raised his hand and looked at his watch, and said in amazement: "My God, Misha. It took only 20 minutes for this battle to take out the German army. The regiment, it’s amazing.”

Regarding Yakov's praise, Sokov smiled lightly, and then said: "The reason why we won so easily is because the strength of the German army is too weak. There are at most a hundred troops defending the headquarters of the German army. Except for a few anti-tank guns, there are no heavy weapons, and they have no way to deal with our tank assault."

   "What to do next?" Yakov asked: "Should they continue to attack?"

  Sokov shook his head and said: "Yakov, you were also present when I assigned the combat mission. You should know that I ordered them to return immediately once they destroy the German headquarters."

"Misha, I think you are too conservative." Yakov shook his head and said, "Since you can easily destroy the German regiment headquarters, you should take the opportunity to attack the German positions to achieve greater results. "

"No, Yakov, under the current circumstances, I want to control the scale of the battle." Sokov reminded Yakov: "Don't forget, our counterattack against the German army is about to begin. If the scope of my attack today exceeds If the German army is alerted, it will be very detrimental to our future counter-offensive.”

   "What you said seems to make sense." Yakov said with a look of regret, "It's a pity. It was so hard to see that the Germans were defeated like a mountain, and it ended in such a hasty way."

   Just as Yakov finished speaking, his eyes suddenly stared at a place in a daze. "What's the matter, Yakov?" Seeing Yakov's surprised expression, Sokov felt that the other party must have seen something. He raised his binoculars and asked casually, "What did you see?"

  Yakov stretched out his hand and pointed to the east, and said excitedly: "Misha, quickly look to the east, there are Germans!"

"There are Germans in the east?!" Hearing what Yakov said, Sokov quickly turned the binoculars in his hand to the east, and found a group of German soldiers, following several tanks, heading towards the German regiment headquarters. direction. Seeing this, he couldn't help shouting: "Damn, where did these Germans come from?"

He put down the binoculars, leaned over and shouted to the radio operator standing below: "Radio operator, immediately send a report to Colonel Bely and tell him that German infantry and tanks have appeared in the direction of four o'clock, let them get ready for battle immediately." .”

After Bely read the telegram sent by Sokov, he immediately shouted to Briski who was standing in front of the ruins: "Comrade Captain, there are Germans at four o'clock, get ready for battle immediately." , There was a violent explosion sound from the side, and the two soldiers near the explosion point were thrown far away by the blast wave.

  The sudden shelling made the infantry standing around the tank into a mess, and Briski hurriedly shouted at them: "Don't mess up, hide, hide quickly."

Bely looked to the east, and saw several German tanks in the distance, followed by a mass of infantry, and hurriedly shouted at the tank soldiers poking their heads out of the turret: "The Germans are at four o'clock. Rush up and crush them." Following the order, the tank soldiers retreated into the turret one after another, and closed the hatch. For a while, the sound of closing the hatch cover came one after another, non-stop.

   After the tank of the first company commander Sheleda turned around on the spot, he took the lead in rushing towards the German tank in the distance. Before returning to the tank, he had already seen clearly that the German tanks that appeared in the distance were all Panzer III tanks equipped with 50mm guns, and they were not opponents of the T-34 at all, so he immediately rushed up first. Seeing that the company commander had bravely rushed towards the enemy, the tank crews of the company were not to be outdone, and stepped up their horsepower to follow behind.

  Seeing more than a dozen T-34 tanks in battle formation, rushing towards him, the German tanks that had stopped advancing fired one after another, trying to prevent the Soviet tanks from approaching. But because the opponent moved too fast, the armor-piercing projectiles fired by the No. 3 tank all fell through the air.

   When they missed a hit, the German tankers did not turn around and run away. They knew very well that in a tank battle, they could only charge forward and not retreat, otherwise they would expose their weakly armored backs to the enemy's tank guns. Therefore, in the face of the Soviet tanks rushing over, all they can do is to line up and shoot continuously, praying for a miracle to destroy the Soviet tanks.

Briski saw two tank companies. After forming a battle formation, he rushed towards the enemy in the distance one after the other. He was worried that the tanks would not be covered by infantry and might be attacked by German anti-tank fighters. He shouted to his subordinates: "Brothers, keep up with the tanks, and don't let the enemy's anti-tank fighters destroy our tanks."

   Sereda stopped when he was 400 meters away from the German tank, slowly turned the turret, aimed at one of the No. 3 tanks and opened fire. The 47mm front armor was easily pierced. After a loud "boom", the turret of the No. 3 tank flew into the sky. When it fell, it was smashed into meat paste by several German soldiers standing behind the tank.

   Seeing a hit, Sereda cheered and ordered the driver: "Drive up, let's get closer and hit again!"

  The remaining Panzer III tanks aimed at the rushing T-34 and shot desperately, but they were still unable to penetrate the armor of the Soviet tanks. If you want to, as long as the shells fired by the Soviet tanks hit them, they can be easily destroyed. In less than five minutes, four more Panzer III tanks were destroyed. The commander of the remaining Panzer III tank was frightened and shouted repeatedly: "Stop shooting. Back up, back up quickly!"

   When the No. 3 tank reversed, it immediately knocked down a lot of German soldiers standing behind, and then the tank soldiers reversed regardless of the deserters, rushing out of the crowd. Seeing that the German tanks had fled, the Soviet tanks rushed to a distance of 100 meters from the German army, and fired with vehicle-mounted machine guns, knocking down the bewildered German soldiers in pieces.

   Sokov in the factory saw that the battle was one-sided. While he was happy, he was quite puzzled: Where did these Germans come from?

   Before he could come up with an answer, the telephone at his feet rang. He bent down and picked up the receiver, and pressed it to his ear and asked, "I'm Sokov. Where are you?"

   "Hello, Lieutenant Colonel Sokov." Peter's voice came from the phone: "I am Peter, the factory director."

"Hello, Comrade Factory Director." Sukov heard that it was Peter who called him, and felt very strange in his heart. In the past, Peter would directly contact Zinchenko for any matter, and then conveyed it through Zinchenko. What happened today? Will you suddenly call yourself? He asked questioningly, "Do you have anything to do?"

"It's like this, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Peter said dryly: "Half an hour ago, about a company of German soldiers, under the cover of several tanks, rushed into the factory area and came to the factory building. nearby…"

When Sokov learned that German troops appeared near the factory headquarters building, he couldn't help but be surprised. He intended to send people to rescue, but he only had more than two hundred militiamen with weak combat effectiveness, and Bely and Briski's troops were on the way. Fighting against the German army, he couldn't spare any troops in a short time, so he could only say to Peter tactfully: "Sorry, Comrade Factory Manager, I really can't spare any troops to reinforce you right now."

   "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you made a mistake." Peter said with a smile on the phone: "I didn't call you to ask you to send troops to rescue."

  Hearing what Peter said, Sokov felt very uncomfortable. He thought to himself: Since you don’t want me to support you, what are you doing with this call? Are you just kidding me? Unhappy in his heart, his tone of speech was naturally not too polite: "Comrade factory director, I am directing operations, if you have anything to do, please speak quickly." What he meant was: talk as much as you want Just let it go, it's okay, don't compare yourself here, I still have to command the battle, I don't have time to waste time with you.

"Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, the situation is like this. When the enemy was attacking, something happened, and their infantry suddenly withdrew from the factory area. In order to find out what was going on, I asked Balshak to send someone to reconnaissance Guess what happened?" Peter continued: "We captured a prisoner, and after interrogation, we found out that their regiment headquarters was attacked, and those troops rushed back to support them."

"The enemy's regiment headquarters was attacked, so it has nothing to do with us..." Sokov was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized that the enemy who attacked the factory headquarters retreated because Bely and Brisky attacked the 102nd step of the German army. For the sake of the regiment headquarters. Thinking of this, he tentatively asked: "Comrade factory director, does the retreat of a certain non-enemy have something to do with the battle we are fighting here?"

"That's for sure, Comrade Lieutenant Colonel." Peter said with a smile: "The enemy's regiment headquarters has been attacked by you, and they have no intention of attacking us, so they can only retreat in despair to rescue their regiment headquarters... "

   Sokov raised his binoculars and looked towards the area where the battle was taking place. He saw that the German infantry had been defeated by the Soviet tanks and were fleeing in all directions, while Briski's troops were also chasing the enemy everywhere. He was about to speak when he suddenly heard Peter asking himself: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, can you spare some time to come to my place?"

"Comrade factory director," Sokov felt particularly uncomfortable when he thought of the other party taking the bottom line and transferring the destroyer battalion away, leaving his troops empty. open."

"Lieutenant Colonel Sokov," Peter was also a smart man. He recognized Sokov's voice-over and said hastily and sincerely: "The bombing of the German army caused the collapse of many walls in the factory area, so that the enemy could come from anywhere." A section rushed into the factory area. The armed forces in our factory are limited. If we want to block the enemy's attack, it is necessary to improve the existing fortifications. I heard that you are very good at how to defend. I wonder if you would like to come over Give us some pointers?"

Regarding Peter's request, Sokov wanted to reject it straight away, but considering that his lips were dead and his teeth were cold, if the factory building was lost, what would be the point of the assembly workshop he was holding on to, so after hesitating for a moment, he replied: "Okay, Comrade Factory Director, I will go to your place after my troops return."

   Seeing Sokov put down the phone, Yakov asked curiously: "Misha, who called, I think you seem very upset?"

   "It's a call from the factory manager Peter." Sokov replied, "He hopes that I can take the time to go to the factory headquarters building and instruct the militiamen who stand there how to build fortifications."

"I think you should go there." As soon as Sokov finished speaking, Yakov continued: "I heard from the deputy factory director Zinchenko last night that the German bombing caused the wall to collapse in many places. Once this happens, the enemy can rush into the factory area from anywhere. Therefore, it is not enough for us to just do a good job of defense here in the assembly workshop, we also need to help strengthen defenses in other areas to prevent the enemy from breaking into the factory."

Sokov is not a person who disregards the overall situation. He is dissatisfied with Peter in his heart, but he will never ignore the defense of the Red October Tractor Factory. He said to Yakov: "After the troops of Colonel Bely and Captain Briski return , I immediately rushed to the factory headquarters building. If Germany really captures there, then the defense we have carried out with the 39th Guards Division will be meaningless."

After Colonel Bely's tank unit and Briski's infantry defeated the German troops, although the soldiers still wanted to pursue the fleeing enemy, Briski stopped them. It's already broken by us, it's time for us to go back to the assembly shop."

  Although many soldiers looked at the fleeing enemy unwillingly, but the military order was like a mountain, they could only climb onto the tank with regret and retreat to the assembly workshop with the tank.

   Unexpectedly, good things will last forever, before the T-34 tanks crossed the collapsed wall of the factory area, two German dive bombers appeared in the sky. Seeing this, Briski, who was sitting behind the tank, was so frightened that he quickly grabbed the phone on the back of the tank and shouted loudly into the microphone: "Comrade Colonel, enemy planes, there are enemy planes in the sky. Hurry up and let your tank air defense !"

  Biely heard that there was an enemy plane in the sky, and he couldn't help being shocked. Since he was about to enter the factory through the gap in the fence, all the tanks were gathered together. If they were bombed by the German army, they might lose a lot of tanks. He hurriedly reminded his two subordinates through the radio: "Sereda, Ivantsov, there are enemy planes in the sky, repeat, there are enemy planes in the sky, you should prepare for air defense immediately."

  (end of this chapter)