The west of the city of Zhizdra was the focus of the German offensive. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Before the battle began, the Germans sacrificed the "three-plate axe" they commonly used when attacking: artillery bombardment, aircraft bombing, and then the infantry followed the tanks to charge the Soviet positions.

However, as soon as their bomber group appeared in the sky over Zhizdra, it was intercepted by Soviet fighters, and after a fierce battle, five German bombers were shot down and two were damaged, and the rest desperately threw all the bombs they carried to the ground, and turned around and flew towards their own airfield.

Although the German bombers were not used for any purpose, their artillery was not vegetarian, and several artillery regiments in the back opened fire together, and the Soviet positions in the west of the city were quickly filled with a lingering smoke of gunpowder.

Fortunately, most of the Soviet commanders and fighters were not rookies who had just entered the battlefield, except for a few observers who stayed in the trenches to observe the enemy's situation, and the rest of the commanders and fighters hid in the anti-artillery holes that had been dug long ago to avoid the enemy's intensive artillery bombardment.

As soon as the German artillery bombardment ended, the ears of the commanders and fighters sitting in the anti-artillery holes were still ringing, when a sharp whistle suddenly came from outside, which was an observation post warning to everyone, indicating that German troops were approaching the position.

The commanders and fighters rushed out of the anti-artillery holes, preparing to run along the long trenches back to their respective combat positions. As soon as they went out, they found that the trenches in many sections had been blown up, and the thick soil blocked everyone's way. Seeing that the soldiers were crowded at the entrance of the cave and unable to move, a commander immediately stood up and ordered some of the soldiers to shovel out the floating soil piled up in the trench with sapper shovels, and at the same time ordered the remaining fighters to pass over the trench and enter their firing positions as quickly as possible.

The German infantry, following behind a dozen tanks, bent over with the butts of their rifles against their bellies, trotted towards the Soviet positions. The tanks that drove the road in front of them, after driving some distance, stopped and fired at the Soviet positions, and then continued to move forward.

The commander of the anti-tank company in the trenches saw the enemy tanks coming up and hurriedly ordered the fighters armed with anti-tank rifles to prepare for the design. To penetrate the frontal armor of the German tanks No. 3 and No. 4, the effective firing range was within 300 meters. But seeing the German tanks rushing towards them violently, some recruits panicked for a while, and before the German tanks entered the firing range, they pulled the trigger prematurely, and they didn't know if they hit or not, anyway, the speed of the enemy tanks did not slow down at all.

Seeing that his recruits were a little panicked, the company commander hurriedly walked to their side, patted them lightly on the back, and comforted: "Reload, don't panic, wait until the enemy tank is still three hundred meters away from the position before firing." ”

Hearing the encouragement of the company commander, the mood of the recruits calmed down a lot, and although their hands were still trembling slightly when they were loading, they did not shoot in advance.

The company commander's eyes were fixed on the approaching German tanks, silently calculating how far they were from the position. When the first tank came into effective range, the company commander half-turned around and shouted at the soldiers lying on the edge of the trench: "Target, the tank at the front, prepare - shoot!" ”

With the order of the company commander, seven or eight anti-tank rifles were aimed at the tank at the same time, and although most of the outstretched bullets missed due to the fast movement of the tank, two armor-piercing incendiary bombs still hit the target. Bursts of flame erupted from the tank's body, and it continued to drive forward, but it didn't go far before it stopped in the open space in front of the position and burst into flames.

"Well done, brethren!" When the company commander saw that a German tank was destroyed, he immediately shouted at the top of his voice: "Yes, that's how it is fought, don't look at the size of the German tank, as long as it hits an armor-piercing incendiary bomb, it will burn like this." Next, everyone continued to shoot freely, and the enemy tanks must not be allowed to rush over. ”

If Rokossovsky was here, he would definitely stop the company commander's order, the anti-tank company originally had a lot of recruits, and everyone's combat experience was not enough, if the method of platoon firing was adopted, a lot of tanks might be eliminated; But if you fight separately and choose a target to fight, then the effect will be much worse.

After the destruction of the seventh tank of the German army, the remaining tanks finally rushed to the front of the trenches. Without stopping to wait for the infantry that was far behind, they increased their horsepower and crossed the Soviet battlefield and rushed towards the city of Zhizdra.

The top commander in the trenches, a major, saw that the enemy tanks were gradually crossing the trenches, and hurriedly ordered the fighters to climb out of the trenches and throw anti-tank grenades or incendiary bottles behind the tanks to destroy these tanks that were rushing towards the city.

Several fighters in the first platoon who climbed out of the trench had just stood up straight, and before they could throw out the anti-tank grenade in their hands, they were hit by bullets from the rear, shook their bodies a few times, and fell headlong on the hot soil with the smell of gunsmoke.

The major saw clearly that the fire that knocked down several fighters came from a machine-gun fire point temporarily erected by the Germans in front of the position, and hurriedly ordered several heavy machine guns on the position to strafe at that place, according to his idea, to use the advantage of firepower to kill the enemy's machine-gun fire point. But as soon as one of the heavy machine-gun emplacements began to fire, it was lifted into the sky by a tank parked in the distance with its tracks blown off.

This side was firing at the enemy's machine-gun fire point, and several brave soldiers on the side of the trench climbed out of the trench, holding an anti-tank grenade in each hand, and ran wildly behind the German tank, seeing that the distance was almost there, and then threw the grenade out vigorously.

After a series of explosions, two more German tanks caught fire and burst into flames. The German tank crew, whose faces were blackened by the smoke of gunpowder, crawled out of the tank in embarrassment, and when he saw the Soviet soldiers who were still standing nearby, he immediately brandished his pistol and rushed up.

Although these fighters who came out to blow up the tanks did not have weapons in their hands, they still bravely met the German tank crews when they saw them rushing over. After the tank crew ran out of pistol bullets, he threw the gun in his hand and rushed up to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the surviving Soviet soldiers. The soldiers in the trenches saw that their comrades were engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the German tank crews, and immediately more than a dozen fighters climbed out of the trenches with guns in their hands and joined the battle group.

The German infantry also approached the trenches at this time, using the crater as a cover, crawling and rolling towards the Soviet position. In particular, the machine gunners, hiding next to the destroyed tanks, opened fire on the Soviet positions with one machine gun, and pressed the soldiers in the trenches with dense fire.

At the observation post in the second line of defense, the commander of the division and Zakharov were watching the battle. Seeing their fighters fall one after another, both the division commander and Zakharov's heart was dripping blood.

The division commander could not help but feel a little anxious when he saw that the German infantry, under the cover of powerful firepower, had rushed into the trenches in individual sections and were engaged in a white-knuckle battle with the fighters inside, and he said loudly to Zakharov: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the situation of the first line of defense is too dangerous, should we immediately send troops to reinforce it?" ”

"Comrade Colonel," Zakharov glared at him and said coldly, "the battle has just begun, and you can't wait to throw the reserves into it." If the battle goes on for a few more days, will you have any troops left at your disposal? Taking advantage of the Colonel's speechlessness, he raised his hand to the German tanks that were rushing towards him and said, "Send someone to blow up these tanks first, and we must not let them rush through our second line of defense, otherwise they will be able to drive directly into the streets of Zhizdra." ”

The colonel agreed, picked up the phone on the table, and gave an order to his subordinates to immediately organize their manpower and blow up all the tanks that rushed through the first line of defense.

The fierce battle lasted for nearly an hour, and the Germans, having lost all their tanks and more than 200 soldiers, were still unable to capture the first line of defense of the Soviet army, and had no choice but to retreat.

Seeing that the enemy was beginning to retreat, Zakharov could not help but breathe a sigh of relief and ordered the division commander: "Comrade Colonel, immediately call the commander of the first line of defense and ask them to hurry up and repair the fortifications." At the same time, the results of the battle and casualties are reported. ”

The results of the battle were quickly counted, fifteen German tanks were destroyed, more than 220 German soldiers were killed and wounded, and the Soviet army itself suffered 350 casualties.

Zakharov was still satisfied with such a proportion of casualties. You must know that in the early days of the war, even if the Soviet army was on the defensive, it would cost at least a thousand people to destroy more than 200 German soldiers. Now the casualty ratio is so close, which proves that the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army has been greatly improved after a long period of fighting.

After receiving a call from Zakharov in the command headquarters, Rokossovsky held the microphone and thought for a while, and then instructed him: "Comrade Deputy Commander, I have an idea, you should immediately transfer two companies to the first line of defense." ”

"What, send troops to take over the defense now?" When Zakharov heard this order, he was obviously stunned, and then asked in confusion: "Comrade commander, the battle has just begun, and if the reserves are transferred too early, I am afraid that if we fight for another two days, there will be no troops available on the position." ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, listen to my explanation." Seeing that Zakharov did not understand his intentions, Rokossovsky explained to him: "As far as I know, there are three companies in the first line of defense, and you send two companies up and withdraw two of them, and the remaining one company will be mixed with the new troops, so that the troops who have just gone up will be able to grasp the situation of the position as soon as possible." ”

"I see, I see." Zakharov had long been accustomed to Rokossovsky's whimsy, so he said unequivocally: "I'll let the reserves go and change the defense." ”

Not long after the change of reserves ended, the German artillery bombardment began again. Anyway, the first line of defense was blocked by gunsmoke and nothing could be seen, so Zakharov had enough time to explain to the division commander what Rokossovsky's reasons for doing this were.

When the shelling was over and the enemy's offensive resumed, the troops who had newly entered the position, thanks to the guidance of the remaining troops, quickly grasped the characteristics of the position, and once again attacked the invading enemy.

When this wave of enemy attack was repulsed, without waiting for Rokossovsky's orders, Zakharov drew a gourd in the same way and again transferred the forces of two companies to the front to change the defense.

In this way, due to the continuous replenishment of fresh blood in the first line of defense, the nine attacks launched by the Germans in a row all ended in failure without exception.

Rokossovsky, who was staying at the headquarters of the army group, after reading the battle report sent by Zakharov, casually put it aside, frowned and asked Malinin: "Chief of staff, what is the situation in the Suchinich direction?" ”

"Comrade Commander, it's not good." Holding a telegram he had just received, Malinin said to Rokossovsky with a serious expression: "The enemy's armored forces attacked Sukhinich from three directions at the same time, and we only have one tank brigade and one infantry division, and it is very difficult to block the enemy's frantic attack." ”

"Where is the 12th Tank Army at the moment?" After listening to Malinin's report, Rokossovsky then asked: "When will they arrive at Suchinich?" According to his idea, if two more tank brigades and one more motorized rifle brigade arrived, it would be easy to crush the German offensive on Suchinich.

"It will be tomorrow afternoon at the earliest," after Ma Linin said this, seeing Rokossovsky's pale face, he hurriedly explained: "Because the roads are muddy and difficult to navigate, the advance speed of the tank troops is very slow, and they can arrive tomorrow afternoon, and they have already done their best." ”

"Comrade Commander, I have a suggestion." Lobachev, who had been listening to the audience all the time, suddenly spoke: "We are in the direction of Lyutinovo, isn't there still General Orlov's infantry corps?" Can we let them make a feint in the direction of Lyutinovo in order to attract the attention of the Germans. ”

Hearing Lobachev say this, Rokossovsky raised his hand and slapped himself on the forehead fiercely, and said angrily: "Confused, simply confused." ”

When Lobachev heard Rokossovsky say this, his face suddenly changed greatly, and he said in his heart that he had said something wrong, why did the commander turn his face when he said it?

Rokossovsky quickly noticed Lobachev's strange appearance, and quickly explained to him with a smile: "Comrade Military Commissar, don't be careful, I'm talking about myself. It's just too confusing to forget that there is still one of our troops here in Lyutinovo. Chief of Staff, what is the current situation in that direction? The rest of his words were for Malinin.

"The enemy forces there are still very weak." Ma Lining hurriedly replied: "The reason why they launched an attack on the infantry army yesterday is that I guess it was only a restraining nature. Today we are fighting with the Germans in several directions, but the Lyutinovo region is silent. ”