Red Moscow

  Chapter 689 Danger

  The German bombing had just ended, and the gunpowder smoke hanging over Mamayev Hill hadn’t dissipated yet. Under the cover of a dozen assault guns, the German ground troops launched an attack on the Nangang position.

   As soon as the enemy's attack started, Sokov got a report from the observation post. After he put down the phone, he asked Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, how many explosives do we have?"

  After every battle, Sidolin would personally count the number of explosive packages. Hearing Sokov’s question at this moment, he replied without hesitation: “There are more than fifty left.”

"What, it's just that little?" Sokov asked in surprise when he heard the number: "With such a small amount of explosives, we can only fire two or three rounds at most. Have you contacted the Red October factory and asked them to continue to provide us with Dynamite?"

"Comrade commander, before you came back yesterday, I had discussed this matter with director Peter." Sidolin replied with a wry smile: "Director Peter said that the storage capacity of explosives in the factory is not unlimited. Thirty tons of explosives have already been collected from the factory, and no more explosives can be provided to us."

After Sidolin finished speaking, he found that Sokov had been staring at the phone on the table, guessing that he might call Peter to talk about receiving the explosives, and quickly added: "Comrade commander, you A few hours ago, I called the factory manager Peter and asked them to imitate 20,000 German-style hand grenades for us. I am afraid that a lot of explosives will be needed. Even if you call him now, I am afraid he will not provide us with explosives. .”

   There are not enough explosive packs, otherwise the tactics of the previous two days will not be able to continue to deal with the enemy. Therefore, after a brief consideration, Sokov told Sidolin: "Chief of Staff, I think the ring position on the top of the mountain has been completely lost under the bombing of enemy planes. You call Lieutenant Colonel Starcha immediately and order He pushed his position to the ridge line of the positive slope, and resisted the enemy's attack condescendingly."

  After Lieutenant Colonel Starcha received the order, he immediately ordered the commanders and fighters who had just emerged from the tunnel to build a new defensive position using the bomb crater on the ridge line close to the positive slope. However, a complete trench has not yet been dug, and the attacking enemy has rushed to the foot of the mountain.

   After seeing clearly the uniforms worn by the enemy at the foot of the mountain, the Soviet company commander on the ground couldn’t help being surprised, because this was not the Romanian army who was blown up by the flying mines two days ago, but the long-lost German army. They blew their whistle desperately and gave the order to their soldiers to shoot.

  Amidst the sharp whistle, the Soviet soldiers who entered the position opened fire on the enemy who was rushing up the hillside. The condescending soldiers poured ammunition down, blocking the enemy's way forward. But the German soldiers on the hillside were all veterans with rich experience. The machine gunner quickly chose a suitable terrain, established a machine gun position, and used dense firepower to cover other soldiers' charge.

  Using the cover of machine guns, the German soldiers lowered their bodies and quickly rolled from one crater to another, using the terrain to gradually approach the position on the top of the mountain. The Soviet commanders and fighters on the hillside, in order to destroy the enemy on the hillside, had to stick out half of their bodies from the bunker and shoot. As a result, they became the targets of the German machine gunners.

  As the firepower on the top of the mountain was suppressed, the German soldiers quickly rushed to the Soviet position, and a hand-to-hand battle started inadvertently. Knowing that the German army had rushed into the position, Starcha decisively ordered the other two companies to be put into battle to support the troops who were fighting the enemy with bayonets.

  The level of the Soviet army in stabbing is much higher than that of the German soldiers. Although they are smaller than the German army, they make up for this gap by using their skilled stabbing techniques. Just as the two sides were fighting inextricably, the reinforcements sent by Starcha arrived. The German army, which had been struggling to fight, saw the arrival of the Soviet army's new force. How could they dare to fight, and retreated in a hurry. hillside.

   The assault guns parked at the foot of the mountain, as soon as their own soldiers retreated, they immediately bombarded the Soviet position on the top of the mountain with artillery fire. Although most of the shells fired by the assault gun missed the target due to the angle, but a few shells were ready to fall into the simple trenches of the Soviet army. It was thrown high into the air and fell heavily to the ground.

   Seeing the assault guns showing off at the foot of the mountain, the soldiers became a little impatient. The Soviet company commander hurriedly called Starcha and reported to him: "Comrade commander, the enemy has several assault guns parked at the foot of the mountain, and they are constantly bombarding our positions. We need to destroy them with flying mines." ?"

If it was two days ago, Starcia would definitely agree to the company commander's request without hesitation, but at this moment, he can only say helplessly: "Comrade company commander, we are running out of explosives. After destroying a few of the enemy's assault guns, the explosives will be exhausted, so in the next battle, when the enemy's attack becomes more ferocious, what weapons will we use to deal with them?"

"Understood, Comrade Commander." Hearing Starcha's words, the company commander knew that the other party did not plan to use the Flying Thunder Cannon to deal with the German assault guns, so he could only bite the bullet and say, "I will find a way to kill them." Enemy assault guns."

  After finishing the call with his subordinates, Starcia felt that he should report the matter to Sokov to see if he had any solution. Thinking of this, he immediately dialed Sokov's headquarters.

"I'm Sokov!" When Sokov's voice came out of the receiver, Starcha immediately said into the microphone: "Comrade Commander, the assault guns at the foot of the mountain are bombarding the position on the top of the mountain. cannon to kill the enemy's assault guns."

"No! Lieutenant Colonel Stalcha, we can't waste precious explosives in such a meaningless place." Sokov said to Stalcha on the phone: "You have used the flying mine cannon, you should I know that it is not accurate. It takes at least seven or eight explosive packs to kill an enemy assault gun. We currently have no way to get explosives to make new explosive packs, so the remaining explosive packs need to be saved Use it."

Seeing that Sokov did not allow the use of the Thunder Cannon, Starcha sighed secretly in his heart, and asked tentatively: "Comrade Commander, since the Thunder Cannon cannot be used, can I send someone to blow up the enemy's assault gun?" ?”

"Send someone to bomb it?" Sokov couldn't help sneering when he heard this, and then said: "Lieutenant Colonel Starcha, as soon as the soldiers leave the position, they will be killed by the enemy's guns on the unobstructed hillside." The machine gun was sieved. Not only will it not be able to blow up the enemy's assault guns, but it will have an adverse effect on the morale of the troops."

   "Then what should we do?" Starcha asked cautiously.

   "The enemy's assault guns are prepared to deal with the fortifications," Sokov said thoughtfully: "As long as the soldiers are hidden in the trenches, the assault guns will not pose a great threat to us."

  After receiving Sokov's instructions, Starcha immediately ordered the soldiers near the ridge line to hide in simple trenches. At the same time, he sent people to dig a new trench more than 20 meters behind, preparing to withdraw his troops here to temporarily avoid the front when the enemy rushed up the hillside again.

  After the German assault artillery bombarded for a while, seeing that there was no return fire from the top of the mountain, they stopped firing and let the infantry hiding behind the assault artillery launch a new attack. With the lessons learned from the failure just now, the German army was much more cautious in their attack this time. They first established a dozen machine gun firepower points, and after they started shooting towards the top of the mountain with intensive firepower, the infantry began to attack cautiously.

  Due to being suppressed by the firepower of the German machine guns, the firepower on the top of the mountain was very weak, and it was impossible to prevent the German army from approaching the top of the mountain. German soldiers skillfully approached the hilltop position by using bomb craters and corpses. When they were still more than 20 meters away from the top of the mountain, they all stopped, took out a grenade, pulled the string and threw it upwards. Before the grenade landed, they jumped out of the crater and rushed towards the top of the mountain.

  Dozens of grenades fell in the trenches and exploded, causing the Soviet soldiers hiding inside to be miserable. As soon as the explosion stopped, the German army had already rushed to the edge of the trench, and with their submachine guns, they fired at the chaotic Soviet soldiers in the trench, causing them to fall down in pieces like autumn rice.

  The warriors who had recovered their gods were not to be outdone, and raised their guns to fight back. The German soldiers who were hit by bullets either fell backwards on their backs and rolled down the hillside; or they fell headlong into the trenches.

  The commanders and fighters who were digging trenches at the back saw that the German army had rushed into the trenches near the ridge line again, so they put down their engineering shovels one after another, and bravely rushed up with bayonets. They intend to use their skilled stabbing techniques to drive the enemy down the hillside.

   In this way, the Soviets and Germany started repeated tug-of-war around the ridgeline position close to the positive slope. As soon as the German army rushed into the position, they were driven out with bayonets by the Soviet soldiers who rushed up like a tide. Before the Soviet army could gain a firm foothold, the enemy rushed up again under the cover of breakthrough and machine gun fire.

   During the one-hour battle, nearly 500 people from both sides fell in this small area, and the trenches were filled with the corpses of officers and soldiers from both sides.

   After finally waiting for the German army to retreat again, Starcha found that a battalion he had deployed on the top of the mountain had suffered one-third of the casualties. He quickly withdrew the battalion back to the tunnel and redeployed another battalion to take over their defense.

  After the troops receiving the defense arrived, Starcia specially called the battalion commander to him and said to him: "Comrade Major, it is not the Romanian army that is attacking the highlands today, but the Germans. You must not take it lightly."

"Don't worry, Comrade Commander." Hearing Starcha's words, the battalion commander quickly stated: "Since no other troops have lost the high ground, as long as there is one person in our battalion alive, we will definitely not let the Germans take the lead." Enter the position here."

  According to the battalion commander's thinking, since the attacking Romanian army was beaten here a few days ago, even if the attacking enemy is replaced by the Germans today, they can still be beaten and fled in embarrassment.

  However, half an hour later, his thoughts changed fundamentally. The enemy, who had just been driven away by friendly forces, dispatched planes again to bombard the hills indiscriminately. In order to prevent the troops from suffering huge losses during the bombing, the battalion commander decisively ordered to withdraw to the tunnel.

   As soon as the battalion commander returned to the tunnel, someone grabbed his arm. When he was about to shake off the opponent's arm, he heard the familiar voice of the regiment leader: "Major, you remove everyone, is there an observation post on the top of the mountain?"

Hearing the voice of the head of the regiment, the battalion commander quickly replied respectfully: "Reporting, Comrade Head, I have left a squad on the top of the mountain to monitor the enemy's movements. If they find the enemy attacking, they will send someone to report to us." of."

  According to the usual practice, after the enemy's shelling or bombing is over, the observation post left on the position will use the whistle to notify the people hiding in the tunnel. Unexpectedly, the enemy's bombers had been flying away for a while, and the whistle from the top of the mountain was not heard. Seeing this, Starcha couldn't help frowning. He asked the battalion commander: "Major, why is there no movement on the top of the mountain? Is there something wrong?"

   "No way." The battalion commander said in an uncertain tone: "I left a squad on the top of the mountain. No matter what, someone will send us a signal."

   "I think something's wrong." Starcha said with a straight face, "Send someone out immediately to see what's going on outside."

   In desperation, the battalion commander had no choice but to send two soldiers to the top of the mountain to see why the observation posts hadn't sent a signal until now. Not long after the two soldiers left, one of them ran back to report to the battalion commander: "Comrade battalion commander, all the observation posts we left on the top of the mountain are dead."

   "What, they are all dead?" When the battalion commander heard the soldier's report, his first reaction was that the other party lied: "There are ten people in a squad, how could they all die?"

"It's true, Comrade Battalion Commander." Seeing that the battalion commander didn't believe what he said, the soldiers became a little anxious: "The fortifications on the top of the mountain were all destroyed by enemy bombs. None of the observation posts we left on the top of the mountain survived." come down."

   After confirming the news that the observation post had been sacrificed, the battalion commander panicked. He looked at Starcha and asked, "Comrade commander, what should we do next?"

"What else can I do, order the troops to enter the position immediately." Seeing that his subordinates looked helpless, Starr raised his hand and slapped his helmet heavily: "If you don't want to be shot by the enemy Killed by bombing or machine guns, the soldiers must hurry up and repair the fortifications as soon as they leave later. Do you understand?"

   "Understood, Comrade Commander." After the battalion commander agreed in a panic, he rushed to the soldiers squatting in the tunnel and shouted: "Comrades, the enemy's bombing has stopped. Everyone should enter the position immediately."

  Hearing the battalion commander's order, the soldiers who were squatting or sitting in the tunnel immediately stood up, carried their weapons along the exit of the tunnel, and entered the position on the top of the mountain.

  The battalion commander walked out of the tunnel and saw that the fortifications on the top of the mountain had long since disappeared. He shouted at the top of his voice: "Attention the company commanders, the enemy is about to attack us, hurry up and repair the fortifications immediately."

  (end of this chapter)