Although the German attack was repulsed, they also sensed that the Soviet army was running low on ammunition. Two hours later, the Germans, replenished with new tanks, launched a new offensive on the Soviet defensive positions.

Seeing that in the German offensive queue, five more tanks actually appeared, the corners of the Soviet battalion commander's mouth twitched violently a few times, and he muttered: "Hell, it's five tanks again, can we hold out until the tank brigade arrives?" ”

When the commander of the 413th Division called the commander of the tank brigade, he hit a nail, and the other party said angrily: "Comrade division commander, it's not that I don't want to support you, but our tanks have no fuel and no ammunition, how can we fight the Germans?" Can't we let our tank crews push their tanks to compete with the enemy's tanks? ”

Seeing that his request was rejected, the division commander put down his phone and thought about it for a long time, knowing that the small army holding on to the river, if it did not get reinforcements, would lose its position. After a fierce ideological struggle, he decided to call the commander of the army group, General Borkin, to report the matter.

Borkin received a call from the commander of the 413th Division, hesitated for a moment, and then asked rhetorically: "Comrade Colonel, if we remember correctly, the 196th Tank Brigade is stationed next to you. If you need tank support, you can call the tank brigade directly, why call me? ”

"Comrade commander," said the division commander in a heavy tone, "I called the tank brigade, but the brigade commander said that their tanks had no fuel and no ammunition and could not support us. ”

When Borkin heard the division commander say this, he immediately fell silent. He knew that what the tank brigade commander said was true, that his troops had not been replenished for a long time, and that the lack of ammunition and fuel had made it impossible for the tanks of the tank brigade to which the group army belonged to them to participate in the battle. After thinking for a while, he said to the division commander: "Comrade Colonel, tell your fighters that in any case it is necessary to block the enemy's attack, and once the bridge is occupied by the enemy, then the troops of our army group will be divided and surrounded by the enemy. As for the reinforcements, I'll send them as soon as possible. ”

Seeing Borkin put down the phone, his chief of staff said worriedly: "Comrade commander, we are seriously short of ammunition and may not be able to support the next battle, do you think you should call the commander of the front army and ask him to allocate a batch of ammunition and fuel to us as soon as possible?" ”

"Okay," Borkin reluctantly picked up the phone in front of him: "I'll give Comrade Commander a call and try my luck." ”

After receiving Borkin's call, Rokossovsky asked with some surprise: "What, General Borkin, the tank brigade has run out of ammunition and fuel?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Commander," Borkin immediately gave him an affirmative answer: "The tanks of the tank brigade could not take part in the ongoing battles because of the lack of ammunition and fuel. ”

"You wait a minute," Rokossovsky finished speaking, covered the microphone with his hand, and turned to the Minister of Logistics, Antiepko, who was standing aside: "General Andypinkko, didn't you say that you sent fuel and ammunition to the tank brigade of the 50th Army?" Why did General Borkin still tell me that their tanks could not take part in the battle because they had no ammunition and fuel? ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Antipienko had a surprised expression on his face: "No, comrade commander. According to the plan, two hours ago, a convoy of 50 trucks to refuel and ammunition the tank brigade should have arrived at the defense area of the 196th tank brigade. ”

Rokossovsky let go of the hand covering the microphone and said into the microphone: "General Borkin, I just asked Antipinkko, and he said that the convoy that replenished fuel and ammunition for your tank brigade, two hours ago, should have arrived at the designated position. ”

Hearing Rokossovsky say this, Borkin's face showed an embarrassed expression: "Comrade commander, I haven't received such a report yet. Allow me to verify with the troops immediately. ”

After Borkin finished the call with Rokossovsky, he dialed the tank brigade command, and he said loudly to the person who answered the phone: "I am the commander, General Borkin, immediately let your brigade commander speak to me." ”

When he heard the familiar voice of the brigade commander coming from the earpiece, Borkin immediately had a seizure: "Colonel, you explain to me why the 413th Infantry Division asked you to send tanks to support, and you would say that the tanks have no fuel and ammunition and cannot participate in the battle, what is going on?" ”

"Comrade Commander, please don't get angry." The tank brigade commander said cautiously: "When the commander of the 413th Division called, we really didn't have ammunition and fuel. But now, there is a convoy of ammunition and fuel that has entered our defense zone. I have ordered the commander of the first battalion to immediately refuel and replenish all the tanks of the first battalion. When the supplies are complete, I will order them to go into battle immediately. ”

"All right, Comrade Brigadier Commander." When Borgin heard that the tank brigade was already preparing, most of the anger in his heart suddenly disappeared. He was deeply afraid that the tank brigade commander would not realize the seriousness of the problem, and specially emphasized: "It is necessary for me to remind you that once this bridge over the Sozh River is occupied or blown up by the Germans, the troops of our army group will be divided by the Germans on both sides of the river. Do you understand? ”

"Totally understood, Comrade Commander." After assuring Borkin, the brigade commander said: "I will personally lead tanks to reinforce the troops of the 413th Division." ”

After the tank brigade commander put down the phone, he said to his chief of staff: "Comrade Chief of Staff, during my absence, the tank brigade will be under your command."

"But, Comrade Brigadier Commander." Hearing that the brigade commander was going to go into battle in person, the chief of staff hurriedly persuaded: "You are the commander, and your command position should be in the command center, not like an ordinary tank soldier to charge into battle." ”

The brigade commander glanced at his chief of staff, put his hand on his shoulder, and said with a smile: "My comrade chief of staff, don't forget, I am also an excellent tank soldier. ”

By the time the tanks of the tank brigade had finished replenishing fuel and ammunition and rushed to the Sozh River, the battle had come to an end. The brigade commander looked out of the lookout and saw that the position was full of German soldiers, and he couldn't help but hesitate. The loader sitting next to him said loudly: "Comrade brigade commander, what should we do?" Without infantry support, we could not deal with the enemy's anti-tank crews. ”

The brigade commander gritted his teeth and said loudly into the microphone: "Brothers, we cannot watch the enemy occupy our positions without taking any action. Everyone obey my orders, spread out battle formations, and assault forward! "With the order of the brigade commander, twenty-one tanks divided into three columns and galloped towards the positions occupied by the Germans.

The German troops, who were clearing their positions, suddenly saw a group of Soviet tanks rushing towards them in the distance, and they immediately panicked. Some lay on the spot and shot at the rushing tanks; Others turned around and ran back. After some fighting, the three German tanks that survived immediately turned their guns and opened fire on the Soviet tanks that were moving at high speed.

After more than half an hour of fierce fighting, the enemy, who had stormed the Soviet position, dropped more than a hundred corpses and the wreckage of three tanks, and then retreated in disgrace. And the casualties of the Soviet tank brigade were not small, half of the tanks were destroyed.

The tank brigade commander, seeing that the enemy had fled, lifted the roof of the turret and climbed out of the tank. A battalion commander came out of a nearby tank, and he came to the brigade commander and said worriedly: "Comrade brigade commander, you should stay in the tank, there may be remnants of Germans on the position, if they shoot coldly, your life will be in danger." ”

The brigade commander waved his hand at the battalion commander and said, "Comrade battalion commander, don't worry, the Germans' bullets can't kill me." By the way, just now during the battle, I seemed to hear gunfire on the position, could it be that our people still survived? ”

The tank battalion commander looked at the position full of craters and blackened soil, then shook his head and said: "Comrade brigade commander, you may be mistaken, there is not a single living person here, they are all sacrificed. ”

The brigade commander shook his head and walked straight forward, he wanted to see with his own eyes whether there were any living comrades on the position. The battalion commander was afraid that he was in danger, so he bent down and picked up a submachine gun on the ground, followed him and walked forward, while shouting loudly: "Hey, are there any still alive?" ”

His shouts echoed across the empty battlefield, but no one answered. He shouted twice, but when he saw that there was no response, he turned to the brigade commander and said, "Comrade brigade commander, you can see it, there is no one here." ”

"There should be," said the brigade commander stubbornly, "I just heard the sound of Bobosha submachine gun firing with my own ears, and there must still be our commanders and fighters alive." ”

"Comrade brigade commander, you see, there are really living people." The battalion commander was about to say a few more words, when he suddenly saw several soldiers in ragged clothes and faces blackened by gunsmoke sitting in a huge crater, and hurriedly shouted at the brigade commander: "There is more than one person alive." He stepped forward and shouted at the soldiers who were staring at him, "I shouted for a long time, why didn't you answer?" ”

An elderly veteran pointed to his ear and waved his hand to indicate that his ear was so shaken that he could no longer hear. The brigade commander walked over, approached the other party and asked loudly, "What part are you from?" ”

"We belong to the artillery company of the 413th Infantry Division," the elderly veteran, after hearing the brigade commander's question clearly, looked at the only four remaining comrades around him, and replied loudly: "Our whole company is here!" ”

The brigade commander stepped forward and shook the veteran's hand, shook it vigorously twice, and said, "You have worked hard. ”

…………

The stubborn fighting of the 50th, 3rd and 63rd armies on the right flank effectively pinned down the German forces. At the same time, it also gave the Germans the illusion that the area where the fighting was most intense was the main direction of attack of the Russians, so they mobilized a large number of troops here.

In the early morning of October 15, units of the 65th Army launched an offensive in the Loyev direction. Thousands of artillery pieces shelled the heights on the right bank of the Dnieper for an hour, and the positions of the German troops were shrouded in smoke and fire.

As soon as the shelling stopped, Batov immediately ordered his troops to launch a forced crossing operation. As the order was issued, the commanders and fighters hidden in the trenches jumped out of the trenches, and in groups of more than a dozen people, they rushed to the river with kayaks and wooden boats. When they reached the river, they put their crossing equipment into the river, climbed up, and rowed desperately towards the opposite bank.

The German troops who were sticking to the high ground on the opposite bank saw that the Dnieper River was suddenly full of all kinds of river-crossing equipment, and hurriedly came out of their hiding places and began to shoot wildly with machine guns and mortars, trying to wipe out all the Soviet troops crossing the river in the river.

Standing in his headquarters, Batov saw columns of water rising from the river, and from time to time ships were hit by German artillery fire, and after a ball of fire, the commanders and ships on it were blown to pieces; Although some ships escaped the German shelling, the commanders and fighters on them were unfortunately swept by the enemy's machine guns and plunged headlong into the water. It didn't take long for the river to be filled with the bodies of Soviet commanders and fighters who were flowing downstream.

Seeing this situation, Batov hurriedly picked up the phone next to him and ordered the artillery commander into the microphone: "Comrade artillery commander, do you see the enemy's fire on the other side?" I now order you to immediately deploy artillery on the riverside and destroy the enemy's points of fire by means of direct fire. ”

As soon as the phone was put down, Rokossovsky's call came in. He got straight to the point and asked: "Hey, General Batov, how is the situation with you there, have the troops crossed the Dnieper?" ”

"Report Comrade Commander," Batov replied: "My troops are crossing the river, repeating, my troops are crossing." The enemy on the opposite bank is putting up a stubborn resistance, and our river-crossing troops have suffered certain losses......"

Hearing what Batov said, Rokossovsky asked with some concern: "General Batov, do you think our forced crossing operation can be successful?" ”

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Seeing that small boats were approaching the opposite shore one after another, and the commanders and fighters on the boats were wading ashore and setting up several heavy machine-gun positions, Batov confidently replied: "We have already landed some of our commanders and fighters on the opposite bank, and as long as they can gain a foothold, then our large forces will be able to successfully cross the Dnieper." ”

After Batov's troops landed on the opposite bank, but due to the suppression of enemy fire, his troops could not continue to advance and could only remain at the small landing site and wait for the support of rear fire.

Fortunately, the artillery moved relatively quickly, and in less than half an hour, an artillery regiment set up an artillery position and destroyed the German firing points on the opposite bank one by one by using the method of direct fire.

As the German firing points became thin, the commanders and fighters who had been suppressed by the fire on the shore were finally able to get back on their feet and continue to charge forward.