Red Moscow

  Chapter 86 The Importance of High Ground

   The 972nd Regiment, which did not receive any fire support, fought tenaciously and the soldiers acted bravely, but how could flesh and blood block bullets? The intensive machine gun firepower of the German army first cut the offensive formation that was struggling in the snow into several sections, and then the ballistic trajectory extended forward like a plow until the end of the formation, and then swept to the front again, cutting the soldiers into pieces. Knock down in pieces.

  After half an hour of fighting, less than 30 of the 247 fighters who participated in the attack survived, and more than 200 brave fighters spilled their blood on this hot land.

  The company commanders who witnessed the whole process of the friendly attack and defeat with their own eyes did not rush into battle after receiving the attack order, but got together to study tactics.

After the official offensive began, he and the first company came to the machine gun company at the foot of the hillside, quickly chose a favorable terrain, established a machine gun position, and aimed their guns at the German position on the top of the mountain; eleven sharpshooters from the third company also came Choose the shooting position and prepare to kill the German machine gunner.

  The German army on the hillside had just repelled the Soviet attack, and before they had time to catch their breath, they found another army rushing up, and they couldn't help but feel a little surprised. In their impression, once the Soviet attack was repelled, they would have to wait at least three or four hours before launching a second attack. Unexpectedly, less than ten minutes after today's first wave of attack was repelled, a new attack started again. But the Germans were not worried at all. They believed very confidently that as long as they stayed in the position and fired and fired calmly as before, it would be enough to wipe out all the Soviet troops on the hillside.

  Seeing the Soviet army struggling to advance in the snow, when they were less than 150 meters away from the position, the German machine guns rang again. Just when they thought that the Soviet army was going to fall under the guns again, they found that this Soviet army seemed to be different from the troops that had just confronted. Instead of advancing under the rain of bullets, these enemies lay down on the spot, looking for hiding place and then returned fire.

   Just when the German machine gunner was astonished, the snowdrift in front of him was suddenly hit by bullets flying from a distance, splashing like a pot. It turned out that this was the machine gun company at the foot of the mountain, using machine gun fire to suppress the German machine guns. The German machine guns stopped firing, and the machine gunner was suppressed in the trench by the rain of bullets. He just raised his head and wanted to fight back, but was pressed into the trench again by the bullets that continued to sweep.

  Seeing that the enemy's firepower was suppressed, a company of soldiers hurriedly got up from the snow. The cat lowered its body and quickly rushed towards the enemy's position by using the terrain. The general-purpose machine guns of each squad used a drum with 50 rounds of ammunition, and the machine gunner could operate it alone. They flexibly chose the appropriate shooting position, and cooperated with the machine gun company at the foot of the mountain to suppress the German army.

  The German army, suppressed by the intensive firepower, saw that the Soviet army was only 20 meters away from the trench, and was afraid that the position would be breached, so they stood up and fired regardless. As soon as some soldiers stood up, their bodies were pierced by machine gun bullets, and they fell headlong into the trenches, but the survivors were still howling and shooting wildly at the Soviet army.

Who knows who took the lead in throwing the first grenade, which exploded in the snow. Although it did not cause much casualties to the Soviet army, it reminded the other German soldiers. As soon as the string is pulled, it is thrown out. Seeing the Germans throwing grenades from the position, the Soviet soldiers were not to be outdone, and quickly threw the grenades over.

   The grenades on the offensive and defensive sides were thrown around like raindrops, and then exploded on the ground, setting off clouds of fire and smoke. The shrapnel from the explosion unscrupulously killed and wounded soldiers on both sides.

   Sokov, who was in the observation post, saw that the battle had started in front of the German positions, and quickly called a soldier from the guard platoon to inform Second Lieutenant Andrei, and immediately lead the second company into the battle.

After the soldiers left, Sokov called Pavlov, the captain of the health team, and said to him: "Comrade assistant military doctor, the battle is about to end. You should immediately take the comrades of the health team to the hillside for treatment." wounded."

  The assistant military doctor agreed, turned and walked out of the observation post. Asiya, who followed in, was about to go out, but was stopped by Sokov. Sokov said to her: "Asiya, you stay here and are responsible for bandaging the evacuated wounded."

   "No," Assia showed displeasure when she heard Sokov's arrangement for her. She pouted and said, "I also want to go to the front to treat the wounded."

   "I ordered you to stay, so you stay." Sokov didn't want Assia to take risks, so he said with a strong attitude: "This is an order, understand?"

Hearing Sokov speak to herself in such a stern tone, Assia's eyes turned red and tears welled up in her eyes. She didn't persuade her to obey the order, nor did she say that she would disobey the order. She just snorted heavily and turned around. Walked out of the observation post.

  With the addition of the second company, the battle for the high ground soon ended. More than a hundred German soldiers, except for five or six wounded, were all wiped out.

When Sokov reported the results of the battle to Chernyshov in the city through the intercom, the other party said happily: "It's great, Captain Sokov, you are really great. I really didn't expect that you could do this. Take the highlands occupied by the Germans easily." After praising Sokov, he went on to say, "Comrade Commander is right here with me, and he wants to talk to you."

Rokossovsky's voice soon came from the earphones. After he first praised Sokov, he said to him earnestly: "Captain Sokov, the reason why our army can easily capture Sushi Nich, it is entirely because of the deception tactics we implemented before. We used false information to make the Germans have the illusion that the entire 16th Army's troops were advancing towards Suhinich. They were afraid of being wiped out, so they rushed Abandoned the city and fled."

Hearing what Rokossovsky said, Sokov finally understood why the German troops in Susinich fled without a fight, because they didn't know that it was only two infantry divisions with an incomplete organization that attacked the city. It was thought that the entire 16th Army had arrived outside the city, so General von Giles, the commander of the division, issued an order to retreat actively.

Just listen to Rokossovsky continue to say: "Lieutenant Sokov, the Germans are not fools. They will soon find out that the troops occupying Susinich are not the main force of the 16th Army. After they wake up, We will try our best to recapture this city which is extremely important to both the enemy and us. The high ground you have seized is the commanding height in the south of the city, and it is also the best position for the German army to build artillery positions. You must hold it firmly , must not be captured by the Germans. Understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." After listening to Rokossovsky's stakes, Sokov quickly stated: "Our battalion will resolutely defend the high ground, and we will never let down your trust in us."

  (end of this chapter)