Chapter 178 Fighting in the Dark (Part 2)

"The junction of the 24th Group Army and the 43rd Group Army's siege forces encountered a crazy German counterattack. The deployment of troops and enemy firepower are unknown. The battle situation has entered a stage of deterioration. The situation is extremely urgent, Comrade Commander!"

He hurriedly walked towards the operational command room while listening to the report from the chief of staff beside him. Zhukov, who had a solemn expression and dark circles under his eyes, had obviously not had a good rest for many days. This determined Red Army God of War was now He was completely overdrafting his physical resources to hold on and command the battle.

"Telegraph to the headquarters of the 24th Army and the 43rd Army that the German counterattack must be pushed back no matter what! All reserves are put in, and the artillery group is allowed to be used if necessary! I only want the result, not the process. , Even if all the tank troops are driven into the city, they will block the Germans' breakout road. Holding on until dawn is the final moment of our victory! "

Hearing the steely determination from Zhukov's resolute words, the chief of staff realized that the leader's favorite general was really angry and immediately accepted the order without saying anything more.

This iron-like order issued by Zhukov himself undoubtedly completely killed any idea of ​​​​the two Red Army Army commanders wanting to let the Germans go.

The Red Army siege troops deployed on all the main fronts in the city were immediately awakened from their sleep and began to advance in depth in the direction of the day's attack as if they were crazy.

The increasingly dense explosions of guns and artillery were like life-threatening talismans, oppressing the extremely fragile nerves of the breakout German troops. The German breakout troops, who knew that their life and death depended on this, were completely spared. They had always been beaten by the German army. The Red Army's infantry mass sea tactics, which were despised and despised, are now being repeated by these German infantry divisions who have a strong desire for survival.

"Charge, everyone, charge! Overwhelm the defenses of these Russians, this is an order! We can't lose this last chance!"

Wave after wave of German infantry, led by grassroots officers at all levels, continued to launch frantic attacks on the streets where the Soviet troops were stationed.

Under the darkness, the Soviet machine gunners could not see the situation ahead at all, so they had no choice but to hold on to the DP28 light machine gun in their hands and fire wildly at the street intersection in their memory.

Not only did the barrage of machine guns fired randomly because they could not see the target clearly kill many German soldiers, the muzzle flashes that were particularly conspicuous in the thick night revealed the exact position of the Soviet machine gunners at a glance. Without saying a word, the German submachine gunners fired a volley of firepower that covered their faces and wiped them out instantly.

After being forced to close the fighting distance by the thick night, the Soviet defense forces were soon exhausted. The German army, which had been preparing for the breakout for a long time, formed an automatic fire echelon with submachine gunners and even machine gunners holding MG34s in their arms. It was used intensively at the front of the breakout troops.

The Soviet infantry, which seriously lacked individual automatic weapons, only relied on a small number of light and heavy machine guns and old Mosin-Nagant rifles. It was unable to withstand the fierce automatic firepower of the German army, which had an absolute advantage and was suppressed. In modern street fighting, The truth of the war, whoever has more automatic weapons in his hand is the father, has already begun to emerge in Yelniya City at this moment.

The Soviet tanks, which were also blind in the dark, were not as effective as infantry in such a bad battle situation. The tanks, which already had severely limited combat visibility inside the vehicle, were almost completely blind at night.

The Soviet tanks, completely confused about the identity of the enemy and ourselves, were like headless flies in the streets and alleys, unable to tell the difference between east, west, north and south. In the most exaggerated case, they were not even aware that a whole group of German infantry sneaked away from them in the dark. .

The noisy and surging roar of the diesel engine hindered the hearing of the members in the car, but in the dark night, it became the best way for the German infantry to hear and identify their position.

Due to the hasty response to the battle and the confusion of the field command system, the Soviet tanks lacked effective infantry cooperation and cover. Instead of playing a strong blocking role, they were used by the German infantry on the way to retreat and used a large number of cluster grenades, Molotov cocktails and other close-in attack methods. Destroy paralysis.

The command systems of the two Soviet army groups, which had been completely beaten into a pot of porridge, were on the verge of collapse. News and signals of neighborhoods being lost or emergency reinforcements being sought were constantly shouted from field phones and radios.

But when the command staff who answered the phone asked whether that section of the block was lost or needed reinforcements, the grassroots officers on the front line who couldn't see their fingers were speechless and didn't know how to answer, and even defeated their German troops. The number of breakout troops was unknown, which made it impossible for the higher-level Soviet command to determine where the German army's main breakout direction was.

On the other side, the situation of Malashenko, who directed his siege column all the way to launch an assault into the German hinterland, was not much better.

Malashenko, who originally planned to launch a concentrated attack in the direction with the densest gunfire, soon discovered that his thinking was a bit too simplistic.

The sound of gunfire, which was as lively as Chinese New Year's Eve, could be heard over the city of Yelnya shrouded in darkness throughout the night. Malashenko, who had almost lost all his sight and was filled with the sound of gunfire, had no choice but to choose a path to face the sound of gunfire. The denser neighborhoods led troops to launch an assault, and soon encountered sporadic resistance from the German army and entered a state of war.

But when Malashenko, who quickly eliminated this small German force, was wondering how the German army had so few troops left, an infantry-tank coordinated force that rushed over from the other side of the block was almost missing. It scared Malashenko into having a heart attack.

Knowing that the German army in the city was composed of pure infantry divisions and no armored troops, the two Soviet siege columns fortunately identified each other's tanks in time without causing possible accidental fire damage.

But when the confused Malashenko met the commander of the friendly siege column, he realized that the opponent's siege column actually had the same idea as Malashenko. The headquarters of the 43rd Army, which was in the main attack direction of Yelniya City, rushed all the way!

After interrogating a German prisoner of war on the spot, the result made Malashenko even more confused on the spot.

The German army that was being chased by these two Soviet siege columns and beaten wildly in the corner turned out to be just a combat engineer company of the German 268th Infantry Division! Dragging a total of more than 50 tanks and thousands of Soviet infantry around the city, it turned out to be only less than 200 German light engineers!