Red Moscow

  Chapter 267 New Infantry Brigade (5)

  The position held by Andrei's third battalion in the east of the city was a defense fortification built by the Soviet army before the war. Due to various reasons, it was not completed until the outbreak of the war. Coupled with the defeat of the Soviet army and the rapid advance of the German army, the fortifications did not play any role, and the city fell into the hands of the German army.

  After the German army occupied the city, they turned a blind eye to these fortifications around the city, and neither sent people to reinforce them nor sent troops to garrison them. If the German army deployed a squad of troops in the fortifications, it would not be easy for Sokov to lead his troops to attack Kursk.

  Although the German army shelled the positions of the third battalion for half an hour, only the criss-cross trenches were severely damaged. Those reinforced concrete fortifications up to one meter thick were destroyed by artillery fire. It is precisely because of the solid fortifications that Andre has the confidence to hold his position without artillery support.

  Andre stood in his observation post, watching the German tanks approaching the position with binoculars, and his mood became uneasy. Soldiers standing in the trenches and fortifications, in addition to the recruits from the POW camps, there are nearly a thousand recruits who just joined the army yesterday. In front of them, when the machine guns fired at them, I don't know if they will stay in the position and continue to fight, or will they turn around and run away?

  The German tanks stopped at a distance of 500 meters from the position. Since there were no barbed wire or minefields in front of the Soviet positions, there was no need for them to continue moving forward to open the way for the charging infantry. They lined up and used artillery fire to suppress the firepower points on the Soviet positions.

Although supported by tank fire, the German infantry waited for the machine gun company to establish a machine gun position step by step and began to shoot at the Soviet positions. rushed to the position.

Seeing the German army rushing towards their position, the recruits hiding in the fortifications were a little impatient. The enemy was still three or four hundred meters away from the position, so they started firing their guns crackling, and the bullets flew out like they didn’t need money. However, few of the German soldiers charging in the distance were shot and fell to the ground. They still rushed towards the position without stopping.

The exposed firepower point became the first target of the German tank guns. One after another, the shells flew over and hit the target accurately. Amidst the huge explosion, soldiers were lifted into the air by the blast wave from time to time, and then fell down hard. Many soldiers near the bombing point were cut down by the flying shrapnel.

  The newly appointed company commander saw that the enemy was still several hundred meters away from his position, and his soldiers suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire. He was worried that if this went on, all his men would die before the enemy rushed to the front of the position. He hurriedly asked Andre for help: "Comrade Battalion Commander, the company suffered heavy casualties under the enemy's artillery fire, please help, I ask for support."

  Andrei was also very anxious when he saw the company's positions being bombarded by tanks, but Sokov was unwilling to provide them with artillery support, so he had no choice. Although he complained to Sokov for a while in his heart, he quickly figured out that although there were artillery in the city, as long as he opened fire, he would be countered by the German artillery. Although there are quite a few cannons captured in the warehouse, there are only a few dozen soldiers who can use these cannons. Once they are all sacrificed, no matter how many cannons there are, it will be useless.

   Therefore, when the first company commander asked for help, he could only harden his heart and say: "Comrade lieutenant, use the reinforced concrete fortifications on the position to resolutely block the enemy's attack. When necessary, I will send troops to reinforce you."

Seeing that the battalion commander, Captain Andre, did not send reinforcements for him, the commander of the first company could only bite the bullet and order the troops to shrink, and evacuated all the surviving soldiers in the trenches to the fortifications, preparing to rely on the strong reinforced concrete fortifications to resist the German attack. . Not long after, he realized how correct the decision he had made was.

  When the German infantry was no more than 200 meters away from the position, the MG34 machine guns erected in the fortifications opened fire violently, knocking down the charging German troops in pieces. Seeing the firepower emerging from the Soviet positions, causing considerable casualties to the attacking troops, the tanks behind immediately aimed at these fortifications and fired fiercely. The 75mm short-barreled artillery equipped by the No. 4 tank has a strong lethality to the enemy's infantry and fortifications when using high-explosive shells, but they seem a little powerless when encountering these reinforced concrete fortifications in front of them. Unless the shells fly directly from the shooting holes, it is impossible to destroy these firepower points that continue to kill German officers and soldiers.

  The German tankers had a headache because they could not destroy the Soviet fortifications, and the Soviet army who stood on the ground also had a headache for the German tanks. Since they had no anti-tank guns, they could only stare blankly. In fact, there are many 37mm anti-tank guns of the German army in the warehouse, but Sokov considered that this kind of anti-tank gun, known as the "stepping stone", has an effective range of only 300 meters and cannot deal with it at all. German tanks, so they were not assigned to the troops below.

   Sokov, who was staying in the command post in the city, has been using the phone to learn about the situation on the battlefield from Andre and the observation post outside the city. After learning about the poor performance of the third battalion in the battle, Sokov frowned and said to Belkin: "Comrade Commissar, it seems that the situation is worse than we imagined, although the third battalion has more than 100 people from the original , Expanded to more than 1,500 people, but their combat effectiveness has not improved because of this, I am worried that it will be difficult for them to block the enemy's attack."

   "Then what should we do?" Belkin asked hastily.

Sokov stared at the map in front of him, frowned and said, "At present, there are only two ways. One is to let the tank troops attack in advance and hit the enemy severely from the side; the other is to start building fortifications in the city and prepare for street fighting with the enemy. .We will use every street and every building in the city to fight the enemy, while consuming their strength and waiting for reinforcements to arrive."

"I agree." Ever since he received the order to hold on to Kursk, Belkin has been considering that although he has recruited thousands of recruits, they have no combat effectiveness at all. Instead of fighting the enemy outside the city, it is better to retreat into the In the city, fight street battles with the Germans, making their planes and cannons useless, so that they can better hold on to the city. So when Sokov mentioned preparing for street fighting, he immediately agreed: "Comrade Brigadier, you stay here and continue to command, and I will mobilize the residents to build fortifications in the city."

  (end of this chapter)