The defensive battle outside Zavidovo, although, literally, was a Soviet division fighting off the attack of a German battalion. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info but what about the actual situation? The Mironov division suffered serious attrition in the protracted fighting, and of the remaining 1,200 people in the division, there were only more than 800 combat soldiers, and the rest were staff officers or logistics personnel. Almost all of the soldiers replenished by the higher authorities are recruits who have not undergone military training, and they are simply unable to form combat effectiveness in a short period of time.

The strength of the three regiments placed in the defensive position was almost the same as that of the attacking German army, but due to the low combat effectiveness, the German army rushed into the trench in a very short time and engaged in a brutal white-knuckle battle with the defenders.

When the commander of the guard company rushed to the position of the 319th Regiment with his troops, a white-knuckle battle was unfolding next to the regimental command post. Seeing that the regiment commanded all the dangers of being eliminated by the Germans, the commander of the guard company hurriedly rushed forward with his men and repelled the enemy who was fighting with Soviet fighters with bayonets and sapper shovels.

After the enemy was driven away by his own fighters, the regiment commander grabbed the arm of the guard company commander and asked nervously: "Captain, you rushed over with the guard company, isn't the division headquarters empty?" ”

When the guard company commander heard the regiment commander's question, he said with a sad face: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, do you think I don't want to stay at the division headquarters to protect the division commander?" It was the order of the division commander, and he said that if the enemy broke through your position, then the enemy would soon be able to rush to the division headquarters, and then relying on dozens of us, we would not be able to stop the enemy's attack at all, so let us reinforce you, and we must block the German attack. ”

The regiment commander pulled the captain to a relatively safe place, pointed to the tanks that were approaching the trenches in the distance, and said anxiously: "Captain, you see, the enemy's tanks are rushing towards us, and if we don't deal with them, our position will not be able to hold at all." ”

"What about your anti-tank fighters?" The captain glanced at the approaching tank, turned his head and asked loudly: "This kind of tank of the German army, the anti-tank gun can completely destroy them." ”

"No, no." The regiment commander raised his hand and shot down a German soldier who rushed with a gun, and then said: "When our regiment retreated, a lot of equipment was thrown away, including anti-tank guns and various light and heavy machine guns. ”

The commander of the guard company understood that what the regiment commander said was true, and when the defensive line was breached, the 107th Division was chased and beaten by the Germans all the way, and most of the artillery, light and heavy machine guns were abandoned or damaged and could not be used, and the morale of the troops also plummeted.

Just as the commander of the guard company was thinking about how to take out the enemy's tanks, the only cannon of the rear artillery regiment opened fire. Due to the limited number of shells, the priority targets of the artillery were German tanks that were rushing towards the defensive positions. The first shell hit too far and flew past the top of the tank in the middle of the field, exploding in the open space that landed behind, sending a cloud of dirt into the sky. Seeing that the first shot missed, the second shot followed one after another and smashed directly into the tank body. The tank that was shot was not destroyed, and continued to rush forward with fierce fire.

"It's... What's going on? "Seeing that the shell hit the German tank, but failed to destroy it, the regiment commander, who just wanted to cheer, was stunned, according to his experience, after the tank body was shot, it either stopped in place and burned, or the track was broken and stopped at a distance and could not move. It was the first time he had ever seen such a situation of continuing to rush forward with a blazing fire.

"Sergeant," the regimental commander turned to stop a sergeant with a weapon, bending over to pass behind him, and instructed him, "you go and blow up that burning tank, it's up to you whether we can stop the Germans." ”

The sergeant straightened up, glanced at the tank that was braving the flames and still rushing towards it without hesitation, nodded, put down the rifle in his hand, then pulled out the anti-tank grenade inserted in his waist, rolled out of the trench, and crawled forward.

The artillery regiment in the rear continued to fire artillery, but the target was obviously not just right, and the shells fired either landed in the open space or landed in the middle of the German columns, and exploded, causing no new damage to the German tanks.

The regimental commander said to the commander of the guard company: "Captain, we don't need two people to stay here. My situation here has stabilized, you can take your men to the position of the third battalion, where support is needed. ”

The commander of the guard company, with more than two dozen remaining fighters, came to the trenches of the third battalion and found that the situation here was even more serious. The trenches were full of German officers and soldiers, and the number of fighters who were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with them was clearly at a disadvantage. With a loud roar, he knocked down one of the closest Germans to him and rushed into the trench with his own fighters.

With the arrival of the soldiers of the guard company, the comrades-in-arms who were originally at a disadvantage saw the hope of victory, and everyone's morale was greatly boosted, waving the weapons in their hands and fighting with the German troops who rushed into the trenches.

When the captain saw a slain German machine gunner lying next to the trench, he rushed over, thrust the pistol into his waist, picked up the machine gun and pulled the trigger on the surrounding Germans. A few hapless German soldiers had the misfortune to break into his range and were instantly beaten into a hornet's nest.

The sergeant sent by the regiment commander to blow up the tank did not succeed in completing the task. He had barely left the trench when he was spotted by the German soldiers around him, and the sergeant, who had been shot several times, threw himself forward and lay motionless on the ground. But fortunately, the tank that was on fire drove to a distance of more than 20 meters from the captain, and finally stopped, and then the top cover of the turret was pushed open, and two tank crews covered in fire got out one after another. As soon as the two jumped out of the tank, they rolled twice on the ground to extinguish the flames, and then ran backwards.

The captain saw the German tankmen running back, turned his gun to aim at them, and pulled the trigger, only to find that the bullets had run out. He pulled out his pistol, aimed at the backs of the hungry two who were stumbling and fleeing, and pulled the trigger again, but because the distance was too far, the two were running around again, and after running out of bullets in the gun, they failed to hit the target.

Looking at the remaining two tanks, he continued to rumble towards this side, grabbed the two anti-tank grenades placed in front of him, and was about to climb out of the trench, approaching to blow up the two tanks. Suddenly, I saw a ball of fire rise from the body of one of the tanks, and the whole tank was wrapped in billowing smoke. Then a few more shells landed around the remaining tank and exploded, splashing up pillars of mud that soared into the sky.

This situation made the captain a little dumbfounded, as far as he knew, the so-called artillery regiment, now only one artillery was left, how could several shells fall around the German tank at the same time and explode? At this moment the rumble of tanks was heard behind him, and he could not help but think in horror: Could it be that the Germans went around behind us?

He turned his head to look in the direction of the roar of the motor, and saw a dozen tanks lined up in battle formation, rushing quickly in his direction; In the rear of the tanks, there were more than a hundred sabre-wielding cavalrymen. After seeing the tanks and cavalry clearly, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, raised his hand and wiped the sweat from his forehead, because all the tanks and cavalry of the Soviet army came.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the remaining German tanks quickly turned a big corner, trying to quickly get out of the battlefield, but they were bombarded into flaming torches by the T-34 that had just passed.

The enemy's tanks were all wiped out, Soviet reinforcements came up again, and the German infantry had no intention of fighting, and ran out of the trenches and turned back.

The commander of the guard company climbed out of the trench, stood in a relatively high position, raised the pistol that had already run out of bullets above his head, and shouted: "Brothers, for the sake of the Motherland, for Stalin, advance~!"

Seeing the commander of the guard company standing outside the trench, the morale of the only remaining soldiers in the trench was immediately high, and dozens of soldiers crawled out of the trench with their hands and feet, chasing the fleeing German soldiers with their weapons.

Half an hour later, the battle was over. The vanguard battalion of the German motorized 14th Division, except for dozens of officers and soldiers with fast legs and feet who escaped, all the rest were killed on the battlefield.

And Colonel Mironov, who was in the division headquarters, also met with the commander of this sudden reinforcement -- Major General Zakharov. He recognized the general as the deputy commander of the 16th Army, and after raising his hand in salute, he said gratefully: "Thank you, Comrade General, if it were not for the timely arrival of your troops, I think my troops and I might have been more than lucky." ”

"Comrade Colonel." Zakharov shook hands with Mironov and asked with concern: "How many people are left in your division?" ”

Hearing Zakharov's question, the chief of staff of the division next to him hurriedly stepped forward, straightened up and replied: "Comrade General, after the battle, there are still 900 people left in our division, including 200 wounded. ”

After Zakharov nodded, he announced to Mironov: "Colonel, I officially announce to you that from now on, your 107th Infantry Division will be placed under the command of our 16th Army. ”

"Put our division under the command of the 16th Army?" When Mironov heard Zakharov say this, he couldn't help but pause, but he quickly replied calmly: "Understood, Comrade Deputy Commander." What is the next task of our division? ”

Zakharov waved at a staff officer behind him, who quickly took out a boxy map from his briefcase and unfolded it in front of them. Pointing to the map, Zakharov said to Mironov: "Comrade Colonel, since the defense line of the 30th Army has lost contact with the troops below and it is no longer possible to organize a decent defense in the area, we will now temporarily retreat to Kling and the city of Mount Sol, where we will contain the troops and build a new line of defense to block the next German attack. ”

Mironov stared at Klin's position and asked tentatively: "Comrade Deputy Commander, do we have more troops in Kling and Sun Hill City?" ”

In response to Mironov's question, Zakharov shook his head and said helplessly: "There are only two militia battalions in Klin, and a small number of civilian police, and there are no regular troops. The situation is similar in Cumbre del Sol. ”

After hearing this, Mironov couldn't help but gasp, and he said in surprise: "My God, even if you add our two troops, the total strength is only one or two thousand, and there are no heavy weapons, how can we block the attack of several elite tank divisions of the German army?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Mironov." Zakharov agreed with Mironov's statement, nodding his head and saying: "So we must contain as many of the defeated troops of the 30th Army as possible, and establish a defensive line at Kling and Mount Sol to block the German offensive." At this point, he clicked on the map with his hand and let out a long sigh, "Don't forget, behind Kling is Moscow." As long as there is one person left, we will never allow the iron hooves of the Nazis to step into Moscow. ”

"That's right," Mironov continued, "Russia is big, but we have no way back, because behind it is Moscow!" ”

"Alright, it's not too early." Zakharov raised his hand and looked at his watch, and then instructed Mironov: "Colonel, you first lead your men to retreat to Klin, and hurry up to build fortifications." We'll stay behind to cover, and when we've repelled a new German attack, we'll rush to Kling to join you. ”

When Mironov's troops were marching along the road towards Klin, a staff officer approached Zakharov's side and asked in a low voice: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I don't understand, why don't you let them stay in cover, and we go to Klin first to build a cashback?" ”

Zakharov glared at the talkative staff officer, and then said: "Don't you notice that the combat effectiveness of the 107th Infantry Division is very different from that of the reconquest of Yelnya?" Although they were able to block the most elite Reich divisions of the German army at that time, because the experienced combat backbone was exhausted in a long battle, and it was difficult for the newly replenished recruits to form combat effectiveness in a short period of time, they could not even defeat the vanguard of the German motorized division in general combat. If they were left behind to continue the fight, they might be wiped out. ”

After listening to Zakharov's explanation, the staff officer nodded vigorously, and then asked: "Comrade Deputy Commander, to hold Klin and Sun Hill City, we need at least tens of thousands of troops, but we only have one or two thousand troops in our hands, and our combat effectiveness is not strong, how can we block the enemy's attack?" ”

After listening to the staff officer's words, the corners of Zakharov's mouth twitched a few times, and then he ordered: "You lead a team to search the nearby forest to see if you can find the scattered troops." Whether it is a small detachment, a combat group, or an individual who has fallen behind, as long as it is the commander and fighter of our army, they will all be contained, understand? ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander," the staff officer was about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something, and stopped and asked for instructions: "I know that when I was in Shepetovka, the commander once issued an order that all officers who left the unit, with the rank of major and above, should be punished as deserters and be shot on the spot. If we encounter an officer who has left the team, will we do the same first? ”