After a day of fierce fighting, both the defense area of the 316th Infantry Division and the defense area of the Cavalry Corps stubbornly withstood the onslaught of the German army. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The German troops, having suffered huge losses, had to stop this futile offensive before dark.

After learning the news that the Germans had stopped their offensive, Rokossovsky finally breathed a sigh of relief, and it seemed that the troops newly replenished by his superiors had withstood the test of battle. Considering that the direction of the main attack of the Germans today was in the defense zone of the 316th Division, then, according to their characteristics, it was entirely possible to transfer to the cavalry corps tomorrow, so he called Dovatore.

Hearing Dovatore's voice, he immediately asked happily: "Comrade Dovatore, what are you doing?" ”

"Report to Comrade Commander," Dovatol replied respectfully, "the military council of the cavalry corps is in session. ”

"What are you discussing?" Rokossovsky asked curiously.

"We are discussing how to commend the commanders and fighters who have performed well in today's battle." Dovator replied: "For example, Major Boris of the 50th Cavalry Division, who today commanded his battalion, managed to repel four enemy attacks. We are discussing what kind of honor should be awarded to him. ”

"Comrade Dovatore, you must know that our battle has just begun, you can put this matter aside for a moment." Rokossovsky did not wait for Dovatol to finish speaking, then interrupted his later words and reminded: "The Germans today took the defense area of the 316th Infantry Division as the main direction of attack and suffered huge losses. They are absolutely not willing to suffer such a defeat, so they will definitely put more troops into battle, and the main direction of attack may be changed to you. ”

Rokossovsky's words were unexpected by Dovatore, and after glancing at the members of the Military Council sitting at the table in confusion, he continued into the microphone: "Understood, Comrade Commander, we will discuss how to repel a larger German attack. ”

After putting down the phone, Rokossovsky called the chief of artillery of the army group to the front. Rokossovsky looked at his partner and noticed that after just over a month, gray hair had appeared on his temples. "General Kazakov," he said clearly, "according to the analysis of the intelligence currently available, the direction of the main attack of the German army tomorrow will be in the defense zone of the cavalry corps." Judging by today's fighting, the Germans, in order to break through our lines, threw into battle powerful tank groups, their tanks in groups of 30-35, accompanied by dense infantry skirmishers, supported by artillery fire and aerial bombardment. How is it, Comrade Chief of Artillery, can our artillery provide artillery support to our comrades in the Cavalry Corps? ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander, I think so." Kazakov replied: "We are currently supplemented by a large number of anti-tank artillery regiments, cannon battalions and 'Katyusha' rocket artillery, and I think that against the German tank group charge, there is still a lot of certainty." ”

"Comrade Chief of Artillery," Hearing Kazakov say this, Malinin next to him asked worriedly: "What if our artillery is countered by German artillery or bombed by aircraft when it fires?" Our battle is only the beginning, and if we lose all our artillery in this way, the next battle will not be easy. ”

"Don't worry, my chief of staff." Kazakov said to Malinin with a smile: "After my discussions with artillery commanders at all levels, I feel that when fighting a defensive war, artillery cannot be used in one place, so it is easy for the German army to take a pot. Therefore, we decided to distribute the artillery positions in different places, and then, under a unified command, concentrate artillery fire on the enemy in a certain area. ”

"General Kazakov, you did a good job." Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction about Kazakov's deployment, and then said approvingly: "Even if our artillery positions are detected by the Germans, it is impossible for them to clear all our artillery positions in a short time, so that our artillery can inflict great casualties on the German attacking troops." ”

……

At dawn on the 17th, after the artillery bombardment, the Germans launched an attack on the defense area of the cavalry corps.

Rokossovsky, who was staying at the forward observation post, saw through the telescope that in front of the position of the 50th Cavalry Division, more than two dozen German tanks lined up in battle formation, rushing forward violently, and behind were hundreds of infantry in white camouflage uniforms, faintly visible on the snow.

Seeing this, Rokossovsky turned his head and ordered Kazakov, who was standing aside: "Comrade Chief of Artillery, did you see it?" The enemy's tanks were rushing to General Priev's defense zone, and immediately ordered the artillery group to open fire and implement a fire interception on the German tanks. ”

"Understood." After Kazakov agreed, he picked up the microphone and ordered the artillery commanders who were waiting for the telephone: "Commander, order, aim at the Germans who are rushing towards the positions of the 50th Cavalry Division and open fire!" ”

With Kazakov's order, less than a minute later, Rokossovsky saw large-caliber shells and rockets streak across the sky and explode in the German attacking ranks, and the fireballs that had just exploded at the invincible German tanks were flipped to the ground like toys.

The area covered by a large number of shells was like a volcano erupting suddenly, with a loud bang. The fragments of the tank and the severed limbs of the soldiers, which were smashed far away, and even smashed into the ranks of the charging behind, made the battle-hardened German soldiers obediently close their mouths.

Immediately after that, the sky once again resounded with the screams of shells, and those who rushed to the forefront were bombarded by the artillery fire, and those who reacted quickly fell down with their tactical instincts, and those who reacted slowly were directly swept away by the air wave of the explosion. The cannonballs that smashed into the ranks exploded violently, and each loud bang carried away many soldiers, like a nest of ants blown away by a storm.

In the deafening explosion, gunpowder smoke and fire rose into the air, and the flesh and blood that had been torn apart and blown up collapsed into the sky like mustard, and then cut into pieces by shrapnel and gravel interwoven into a net, and the rain of blood was still in the air, and it had already been vaporized by the high temperature produced by the explosion, and the dirt was mixed with fragments of rotten flesh and limbs like branches that had been thrown into the sky, and they were crumbled again before they fell.

Dense shells were falling endlessly, the explosion points that had long been indistinguishable, the earth was shaking violently, explosions everywhere, fires everywhere, shrapnel flying everywhere, and minced flesh rained down. The thick smoke choked people out of breath, and their throats were irritated and scorching. In the loud explosion, the ears of the German soldiers were shocked with blood, the bodies curled up on the ground bounced slightly, and even the internal organs were damaged and displaced, and the blood spurted out of their mouths and noses, and was quickly dried in the scorching air......

The artillery was roaring, the mortars on the cavalry division's position were also being fired, and the heavy machine guns were swinging the dark red whips, sweeping away the figures in the smoke and firelight. The rain of bullets and the bursting shrapnel were intertwined in front of the position into an impermeable net of fire. Although the artillery fire was intensive, such a strong shelling was still a little worse for these German officers and soldiers who conquered almost all of Europe. After the initial panic, the fierce German soldiers continued to advance under intensive artillery fire and bullet rain, using everything they could use, including craters, tank wreckage, dead bodies, and other things they could use as cover, and they could distinguish the sound of shells crossing the air in the continuous explosions, judge the distance of the explosion point, and look at the explosion of the shells, and shoot quickly in the gaps, or roll and crawl from one crater to another.

Rokossovsky saw that the Germans were still stubbornly rushing to the positions of the cavalry division under intensive artillery bombardment, and hurriedly put down his binoculars and told Kazakov: "Comrade Chief of Artillery, our artillery bombardment has caused a lot of casualties to the enemy, and I think they are absolutely unwilling to suffer such a big loss." It won't be long before they will have their artillery counter, or send out the air force to bombard, and you immediately order our artillery, immediately stop the artillery, and move back to a new preset position. ”

"Understood," Kazakov knew that Rokossovsky understood that Rokossovsky was very reasonable, and hurriedly rushed over to grab the phone, called his artillery commanders one by one, and ordered them to immediately transfer with their troops.

Before Kazakov's phone could be called, another phone rang in the observation post. One of the staff officers on standby stepped forward to pick up the phone, and after listening for a while, he came over and reported to Rokossovsky: "Comrade commander, just received a call from the Chief of Staff that the enemy was on the junction with the 5th Army in the Boricevo area, and the Germans threw about 100 tanks to attack the 316th Regiment of the 1073rd Division. ”

Hearing that the defense area of the 316th Division was attacked by the Germans again, Rokossovsky couldn't help frowning, he took the microphone from the staff officer's hand and asked Malinin, who was on the phone: "Chief of staff, what is the current situation over there?" ”

"The German infantry, under the cover of tanks, has rushed into the positions of the third battalion of the 1073rd regiment, and the commanders and fighters are fighting with the enemy with bayonets." After saying this, Malinin was deeply afraid that Rokossovsky would be worried, and hurriedly added: "The regiment commander has personally led a battalion up, and I believe that it will not be long before the enemy can be driven out of the position." ”

After listening to this, Rokossovsky was silent for a moment, and then said: "If there is any situation, report to me at any time." ”

Kazakov, who had finished the call, came over and asked Rokossovsky in a low voice: "Comrade commander, is something wrong?" ”

"Yes, you guessed it, something went wrong." Rokossovsky pointed to the map and said to Kazakov: "The enemy has gathered 100 tanks and is attacking the junction of our and the Fifth Army, and they want to drive a wedge from the junction of the two armies, as in Yaltsevo, and then their large forces can detour to our rear and encircle the troops at the front again." ”

After waiting for Rokossovsky to finish, Kazakov turned his head to look outside from the lookout and found that his own artillery bombardment had stopped, and the Germans who had been frantically rushing to the positions of the cavalry division were retreating. Seeing this, he pointed out with his hand and said, "Comrade commander, you see that the Germans are retreating. ”

Hearing what Kazakov said, Rokossovsky hurriedly turned his head to look outside, and found that the German officers and soldiers who were attacking fiercely, after the shelling stopped, did not continue to attack the positions of the cavalry division, but turned around and ran back. Seeing this, he couldn't help but snort softly and said: "The cunning Germans, when they were bombarded, knew that if they retreated, they would inevitably pay greater casualties under the artillery fire of our army, so they took the risk of rushing forward, trying to mix with our troops and make our artillery throw a mouse. Now that our artillery fire has stopped, they can't wait to escape. ”

Seeing that the enemy was indeed retreating, Kazakov asked Rokossovsky for instructions: "Comrade commander, since the enemy has retreated, can we turn our artillery fire to Borachevo and destroy the German tank units there?" ”

"No, not for now." Rokossovsky thought that Panfilov had not called for help, and that they must be fully capable of dealing with the situation, so he said disapprovingly: "The 316th Infantry Division already has an artillery regiment, and I believe that they will be able to provide artillery support to the defenders at the front." I see that you are still focusing on this, and although the German offensive was temporarily repulsed by us, I believe that it will not be long before they launch a new offensive. ”

"Need to call General Panfilov?" Although Kazakov saw that Rokossovsky spoke with great ease, he still asked uneasily: "To deal with the steel torrent of the German army, in addition to anti-tank guns, it is necessary to use large-caliber cannons and Katyusha rocket artillery against them." ”

"I understand, I understand." Rokossovsky said repeatedly: "However, the enemy's main offensive direction today is still here in the cavalry division, and if we transfer artillery fire to support the 316th division, then the defense here will become weak." As soon as the line of defense was breached, the army group command was exposed to the enemy. ”

"I see, Comrade Commander." After hearing this, Kazakov finally understood Rokossovsky's intentions, he nodded and said: "I will let the artillery continue to stay here and fight the enemy who is trying to break through the defense line of the cavalry division." ”

As a result of Rokossovsky's decisive order to keep the artillery in the existing area, the next few attacks launched by the Germans ended in a crushing defeat under the heavy fire of the Soviet army. The counter-shelling and aircraft bombardment carried out by the German artillery did not gain much because the Soviet artillery moved their positions in time after completing the shelling.

By dark, the cavalry divisions stubbornly held their defensive positions and inflicted a terrible price on the Germans. However, just when Rokossovsky was full of joy, he received a call from Panfilov that the enemy, who had attacked Borechevo, had captured two settlements in the region. (To be continued.) )