Chapter 1388: Southbound (middle)

  Chapter 1388 Going South (Part 2)

  The tank unit coming along the road is the special tank battalion commanded by Major Bunch. This battalion is the only unit in the 4th Guards Tank Army equipped with 12 T-34/85 tanks. Out of love for them, the army commander, General Poluboyarov, made an exception to use them only in the most important battles.

   And this time, after receiving Sokov's order, after breaking through October Town, continue to go south along the road, and after converging with the troops that detoured to the back of October Town, attack the enemy who came for reinforcements. In order to ensure the victory of the battle, General Poluboyarov did not hesitate to order the battalion to perform this honorable task as the vanguard of the whole army.

   The tank driving at the front is Major Bunch's command tank. As soon as he drove out of the forest, Bunch passed through the lookout hole and found that there seemed to be an ambush on both sides of the road tens of meters ahead, and quickly shouted: "Stop, stop quickly!"

  Although the tank driver didn't know what happened, he stepped on the brakes in time and stopped the tank. Seeing that the tank had stopped, Bunch turned his head and told his subordinates: "It seems that there are troops ambushing on both sides of the road ahead, and everyone is ready to fight."

   After giving the order, Major Bunch got up and pushed open the hatch, leaning out to observe. Although he knew in his heart that if the ambushes on both sides of the road ahead were really German troops, if he went out, he would become a sniper's target. But there is no way, the field of vision in the tank is too narrow, and the scope of observation is limited. If you want to see the surrounding environment clearly, you can only venture out to have a look.

Leaving half of his body out of the hatch, Major Bunch raised his binoculars and looked towards the road ahead. Sure enough, he found that there seemed to be an army ambushing in the bushes on both sides of the road. He quickly lowered his head and shouted into the car: "Aim a little bit Direction, get ready to fire."

  The tank soldiers in the car heard Major Bunch's order, and hurriedly and slowly turned the turret, aiming the black muzzle at the unknown bushes.

   At this moment, two soldiers in Soviet uniforms suddenly emerged from the bushes, waving their hands and walking quickly towards the tank. Seeing someone appearing, Major Bunch's first reaction was to observe the weapons on the other party to determine who the other party was.

  Before departure, Major Bunch received an order from General Poluboyarov to let them pass through October Town and join forces with the friendly troops who arrived here first. Although the two people who appeared in the lens of the telescope are wearing Soviet uniforms, who can guarantee that they are not disguised by the Germans? The first thing he observed was the weapons on the opponent's body, because he knew that some Germans often forgot to change their weapons after disguising themselves as Soviet soldiers, and they still carried their original German equipment on their backs.

   After watching for a while, Major Bunch recognized that the two were carrying assault rifles that were only owned by the 27th Army. He quickly lowered his head and shouted into the tank: "Don't fire, the ones coming are our own."

   After saying this, Major Bunch climbed out of the turret, jumped off the vehicle body, and forced two Soviet commanders to run over.

  When the two sides were five or six meters apart, they both stopped in unison. An officer from the opposite side first asked: "Excuse me, are you from the 4th Guards Tank Army?"

   "Yes, I am Major Bunch, Commander of the Special Tank Battalion of the 4th Guards Tank Corps." After Bunch revealed his identity, he asked, "Which part are you?"

   "Hello, Comrade Major!" A captain on the opposite side said: "Captain Sergey, the guard company commander of our army, was ordered to detour here."

   After Major Bunch looked at Captain Sergesha, he asked with some surprise: "Comrade Captain, I would like to ask, what is the mission that requires you to work?"

Seryozha did not hide from the other party, but replied truthfully: "Comrade Major, our task is to detour to the enemy's rear and cut off their connection with the outside world. Stop the broken soldiers who escaped from October Town."

   "Just your company?" Major Bunch asked with some surprise: "Can you complete such a difficult task?"

"Who said we only have one company." Sergesha quickly explained: "The superior arranged a battalion to carry out this task. Because they were short of troops, they temporarily transferred my guard company from the Army Group Command to strengthen it. their power."

   "Where are the rest?"

  Hearing Major Bunch's question, Seriosha quickly turned around and gestured towards the place where Guchakov was hiding, indicating that they could come out.

   Guchakov, who was hiding in the grass, saw Sergei Sha to signal himself, so he stood up from the bushes, and led his two company commanders towards Major Bunch's position.

  Major Bunch, who was talking to Sergei, saw a few Germans standing up from the bushes, and was frightened out of his wits, and quickly pulled out his pistol. Seeing this, Seryozha quickly grabbed his hand and reminded him: "Comrade Major, don't be nervous, we are all on our own."

   Hearing that it was his own people who came, Major Bunch hesitated for a moment before thinking of a possibility, that is, the friendly troops deliberately put on German uniforms for the convenience of performing tasks. I just heard Sergey continue to say: "In order to better perform the interspersed tasks behind enemy lines, all of us have changed into German uniforms. I just took off the German uniforms I was wearing just to prevent misunderstandings."

   Guchakov came to Major Bunch, introduced himself to the other party, and asked, "Comrade Major, how many tanks have you come over?"

"Our battalion only has twelve tanks, and all of them came with me." Seeing the disappointed expression on Guchakov's face, Major Bunch quickly added: "Don't worry, we are all equipped with T-34/85 tanks." The tank is much stronger than the original T-34/76 tank, even if it faces the German Panther tank, it will not fall behind."

Guchakov once saw the earliest T-34/85 tanks in the Battle of Stalingrad. How they dealt with German tanks, he naturally knew that the other party’s statement was not exaggerated. Tanks plus their own troops can completely block the German reinforcements.

   "Comrade Major," Bunch glanced at the soldiers standing up from the bushes in the distance, and said with some contempt: "Has your troops been doing nothing here all this time?"

Before Guchakov could say anything to what Bunch said, the irritated Seryozha said first: "Comrade Major, if we hadn't lost our way during the interlude, maybe some soldiers have already sneaked in by now." We have left October Town, and we are now assisting our allies to capture October Town.”

"Comrade Major," Guchakov said to Bunch politely after Sergesha had finished speaking, "According to the order of our superiors, when our battalion arrived here, except for a part of the troops to be used to block the reinforcements of the German army, the rest The other troops used the German uniforms on their bodies to sneak into October Town, assist the friendly troops who attacked from the front, and liberate the entire town."

   "Then why are you still here and not taking any action?"

"The reason is very simple," replied Guchakov. "Captain Seryozha has just told you that we got lost in the forest. It is true. Since the attack started so hastily, we have not There was no time to scout the road in the forest, and as a result, in motion, we lost our way and missed the best time."

   After figuring out why Guchakov and the others did not start to act according to the plan, Bunch changed the subject in time: "Then what should we do next?"

Guchakov took out a map from his satchel, unfolded it and spread it on the ground, and said to Bunch: "Comrade Major, the task of our battalion is to hold out until the main force attacking October Town arrives, and then send reinforcements to the north." The enemy launched a counterattack. After repelling the enemy, we should decisively take pursuit action and follow the enemy into the territory they occupied..." At this point, Guchakov tapped the position of the Kazakhya compass with his finger, "... Kazakia Compass Town, take this place as our forward base."

After listening to Major Bunch, he nodded slightly, and finished speaking: "Major Guchakov, I received the order to cooperate with you in repelling the German reinforcements, launch a counterattack, and then follow them in pursuit to capture the next one." A town occupied by the enemy. However, judging from your current situation, it seems that the enemy who reinforces October Town has not yet appeared."

"Yes, Major Bunch, you're right." Guchakov took out a pack of cigarettes and handed it to Bunch: "The enemy hasn't shown up yet, and I don't know if they haven't assembled their troops yet. , I was still scared out of my wits, and didn’t dare to come for reinforcements.”

   "We can't just wait here." Bunch took out a cigarette from the cigarette case, put it in his mouth, but didn't ignite it immediately: "Major Guchakov, do you have any good suggestions?"

   Before Guchakov could answer, there was a sudden roar in the distance. Bunch looked vigilantly in the direction of the sound, and asked sharply, "What is that sound?"

"Comrade Major, that is the hovercraft that sent us here." Now that the hovercraft has appeared in the battle for the liberation of Belgorod, Guchakov did not hide it from Major Bunch: "They have completed their mission and are on the way." Ready to return."

"Oh oh oh, it turned out to be a hovercraft." Bunch looked at the forest where the voice came out, trying to see the shape of the hovercraft clearly, but due to the obstruction of the trees, he couldn't see anything clearly, so he could only say regretfully: " I've heard of such a thing, but sadly never seen it."

   "There will be a chance to see you, Major Bunch." Guchakov said: "Let's discuss now, if we complete the tasks assigned to us by our superiors."

   "Please tell me, Major Guchakov." Bunch nodded, and then said: "My tank battalion will definitely cooperate with your actions."

"Since the enemy hasn't appeared yet, we might as well advance south along the road." Guchakov pointed to the map and said to Bunch: "Choose a location closer to the compass town of Kazakia, set up an ambush, and wait for the enemy's attack." As soon as the reinforcements arrived, they were caught off guard. While the enemy was in chaos, we launched a counterattack and drove the enemy back to the compass town of Kazakhia."

"I agree with your style of play." Major Bunch replied with a smile: "We rushed forward behind the enemy, and the enemy who stood firm did not dare to shoot easily for fear of accidentally injuring their own people. You can easily rush into Kazakia Compass Town and destroy the defenders in the town."

  After the two battalion commanders formulated a detailed battle plan, they joined forces and moved south.

  Because the body of the T-34/85 tank is equipped with a telephone according to Sokov's original design, it can realize the communication inside and outside the tank. Therefore, after the two troops are on the road again, the troops in the tanks will report the situation along the way to the tank soldiers in the tanks through the telephone installed on the tanks.

  When the tank was five or six kilometers away from the town, the infantry standing on the first tank suddenly noticed dust on the road in the distance, and hurriedly reported to Major Bunch by phone.

After receiving the report, Major Bunch quickly ordered the tank to stop. He leaned out of the turret again and raised his binoculars to look into the distance. From the height of the dust and the speed of its movement, he still judged the size of the German reinforcements.

  He quickly turned his head to the soldiers standing behind the turret: "Comrade soldiers, quickly get your battalion commander, I have something important to discuss with him."

When the soldiers jumped out of the tank and ran towards the rear of the team, and were about to find Guchakov, Major Bunch informed his subordinates with a throat microphone: "Attention all! Attention all! I am the battalion commander, Major Bunch. , German reinforcements are found ahead, please prepare for battle.”

   Guchakov, who was walking in the middle of the team, guessed that something big might happen as soon as he saw the accompanying tanks stop. He said to a soldier standing on a tank beside him: "Comrade soldier, let the tank soldier contact Major Bunch and ask what happened ahead, why did you stop advancing?"

The soldier promised, picked up the phone hanging on the tank body, and was about to talk to the tank soldier when he saw a soldier running from the front. While running, the other side asked loudly: "Comrade battalion commander, comrade battalion commander Where?"

  Guchakov heard the shout, quickly took a few steps forward, and said loudly to the soldier: "Here, what happened?"

"Report to Comrade Battalion Commander." Although the lead vehicle was only more than 300 meters away from here, the soldiers were running so fast that they were out of breath: "Major Bunch asked me...let me report to you , he has important matters to discuss with you, please rush to him as soon as possible."

  Guchakov, led by the soldier, came to the position of the lead car, raised his head and asked Bunch, who was protruding from the turret: "Comrade Major, have you noticed the enemy's movements?"

"Yes, Major Guchakov." Bunch bowed his head and said to Guchakov: "There is a lot of dust rising in the distance. According to my experience, the enemy has at least two infantry battalions and one tank battalion. "

When Guchakov heard it, he was immediately happy: "That's really great. The more troops the enemy comes, the more chaotic they will be when they are attacked by us later. We can then take advantage of the opportunity to fish in troubled waters and catch up." Then they fled back to the town. Major, you now take your tank and hide on the side of the road, and wait for the enemy to show up before you catch them by surprise."

  (end of this chapter)