Chapter 897: offensive setback

  Chapter 897 Offense Frustrated

  The tanks full of infantry stayed on the first line of defense for more than ten minutes, and then continued to drive towards the second line of defense of the German army. Sokov kept observing the advancing tank with a telescope. As the tank got closer and closer to the enemy's position, he felt his heart beating very hard, and his body trembled involuntarily as if the cold was unbearable. with.

  Ivanov, who was standing aside, noticed Sokov's abnormality, quickly touched him with his arm, and asked with concern: "Comrade commander, why are you shivering? Are you a little too cold?"

   "No, Comrade Deputy Division Commander." Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile, "I was a little too nervous when I saw that our troops were about to rush into the enemy's position."

"Colonel Sokov." Golikov turned his head and smiled at Sokov, and said by himself, "Don't worry, judging from the current situation, our troops may occupy the enemy's position within a few minutes. "

   Seeing that the tank had driven halfway, there was no movement on the second line of defense that was being shelled in the distance. It seemed that all the German soldiers were suppressed by the artillery fire in the bunker or in the anti-gun hole. Seeing this situation, even Sidolin, who has always been prudent, took a long breath and echoed Golikov: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army is right, the Germans have been suppressed by our artillery fire, I believe Our fighters can easily take over the second line of defense."

  However, just when everyone thought that the counterattack force could easily capture the German second line of defense, something unexpected happened. When he was still more than two hundred meters away from the German position, Sukov suddenly saw several soldiers rolling off the moving tank and were quickly drawn into the tracks of the tank behind them.

   "Damn, what's going on?" Not only Sokov saw this situation, but even Golikov saw it, and he exclaimed in surprise: "Why did those soldiers roll off the tank?"

  Ivanov put down the binoculars when he heard what Golikov said, and said with some hesitation: "Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, it may be that the tank was too bumpy during its driving, which knocked those soldiers down."

"It's impossible!" Golikov said loudly, "Although there are bomb craters on the way forward of that tank, I can see that the driver carefully bypassed these places. It is impossible to knock the soldiers down. It must be Other reasons. Maybe it was hit by flying shrapnel, so it rolled off the tank."

"Comrade Deputy Commander of the Front Army, this is impossible." Ivanov immediately refuted Golikov's statement: "Our tanks are at least two hundred meters away from the shelling area, and the shrapnel flew No matter how far it is, it is impossible to fly two hundred meters away, there must be other reasons.”

  When Golikov and Ivanov were discussing why some soldiers fell off the tank, several soldiers fell off. Sokov, who had been observing the situation on the battlefield, found that beside the route of the tanks, a few steel helmets popped out of a traffic trench, and then disappeared soon.

Seeing the flashing steel helmets, Sokov immediately understood the reason why the soldiers fell from the tank. He quickly put down the binoculars, pointed at Golikov and Ivanov and said to them, "Hurry up!" Look, there seem to be Germans in the traffic trench next to the tank's marching route."

"What, the Germans in the traffic trench?" Golikov hurriedly raised his binoculars again, looked at the battlefield again, and said, "Is this impossible? The enemy is suppressed by our artillery fire in the trench, how could it be possible to hide in the traffic trench?" Are you going to open fire on our army?"

   As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a German soldier stand up from the traffic trench and throw a grenade at the advancing tank. Before the grenade exploded, the soldiers retreated back to the traffic trench. He threw a grenade, which exploded on the back of a tank, and shrapnel knocked two hapless fighters out of the tank.

   "That's right, Colonel Sokov is right." Seeing the truth of the matter with his own eyes, Golikov immediately retracted what he had just said: "There are really German soldiers hiding in the traffic trenches and sneak attacking our offensive troops."

  Although Golikov had already said so, Ivanov still found it difficult to accept. He asked in puzzlement: "Damn it, why are the Germans hiding in traffic trenches?"

"It's very simple." Sokov gritted his molars and said, "The Germans must have discovered that our army has successfully occupied the first line of defense by taking advantage of the shelling. In order to regain the lost position from our army, They braved our army's artillery fire, entered the communication trench, and tried to infiltrate into the positions we occupied."

"Chief of Staff," Sokov said loudly, turning to Sidolin who was standing by the telephone, "immediately call the regiment commanders and say that the enemy is trying to recapture the positions occupied by our troops through the communication trenches. Order them to send troops immediately to clear out the enemies who have entered the communication trenches."

   "Comrade Commander," Sidolin tentatively asked after hearing Sokov's order, "Do you need to tell the tank brigade to stop and clear the enemy before moving forward?"

"No." Sokov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "The two tank battalions that were just assigned to us, except for the command vehicle, I am afraid that other vehicles do not have radio stations. Even if there are orders, they will not be able to pass on. Let them"

Just when Sidolin picked up the phone and was about to give orders to the three infantry regiments, Sokov suddenly remembered that the first battalion of tanks commanded by Bely were all modified tanks, so there should be no problem in communication, and there were still a few A self-propelled artillery that can support friendly forces on the left flank with artillery fire. Then he added: "Chief of Staff, you call Colonel Bely and ask his battalion to support the troops on the left flank with artillery fire and cover them to occupy the enemy's position."

  The tanks carrying the infantry were about to approach the second line of defense of the German army, and the artillery on the left bank stopped shelling. Before the smoke cleared, the German officers and soldiers hiding in the bunkers and anti-battery holes dragged anti-tank guns and machine guns into the position and opened fire on the approaching counterattack troops.

  The German artillery had a high level of technical and tactical skills. They didn't panic at all when facing Soviet tanks tens of meters away. After setting up the anti-tank guns, they fired without hesitation. One after another, the moving tanks were destroyed tens of meters or even more than ten meters away from the German positions, and they stopped and burned blazingly.

  Some of the infantry on the vehicle jumped out of the vehicle in time, seeing that the situation was not good, and hid in a nearby bomb crater. The slow-response fighters turned into burning men after the tank was destroyed, and rolled down from the tank. They screamed and jumped up and down, falling down and standing up, scurrying around like headless chickens , until it was hit by the enemy's machine gun, it fell to the ground and did not move.

  (end of this chapter)