Chapter 844 Surprise Attack at Night

The repelling of the German attack was originally a happy thing, but it was another matter for Belkin and the troops under his command. After finally deploying the troops, the commanders and fighters were gearing up and preparing to fight the German army. Who knew that before the enemy approached the position, they were beaten by artillery fire from the rear and fled in embarrassment. They didn't even have a chance to fire a shot. No.

Seeing the enemy's retreat, the company commanders of all the companies called Belkin one after another to ask for a fight, saying that since the attacking enemy has been repulsed, should we take the opportunity to launch a counterattack and take back the lost area of ​​the factory from the enemy's hands? .

Although Belkin refused this unrealistic request, he felt that the German attack was frustrated, but it was indeed a good opportunity to counterattack, so he called Sokov: "Misha, the Germans The attack of the men was repulsed by our artillery. You see, shouldn't we also take some action?"

Sokov and Belkin had been working together for a long time, so they naturally understood that when the other party said to take action, it was definitely not about letting the soldiers line up and charge the enemy with their guns, but a night attack or something like that. Then he asked back: "Comrade political commissar, are you planning to use the night to counterattack the enemy?"

"Counterattack is not counted." Belkin replied: "I just plan to let the soldiers use the sewers to approach the area occupied by the enemy, and then throw a few grenades and the like, so that they don't want to sleep well at night."

"You have a good idea." Sokov replied with a smile: "Comrade Comrade, just follow your idea. After dark, let the soldiers use the sewer to approach the enemy-occupied area, and then throw a few grenades around, let them Get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom." Belkin laughed, then put down the phone and went to assign tasks to the company commanders.

Lyudnikov, who was sitting opposite Sokov, looked at Sokov with a bewildered expression, and asked puzzledly: "Colonel Sokov, what do you mean by asking the Germans to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?" ?”

"Oh, this is a joke between me and the political commissar." Sokov explained to the other party: "It is to send troops to carry out night raids on the enemy, so that they don't have to sleep well at night."

"So that's what happened." Lyudnikov nodded slightly after hearing what Sokov said, and then asked tentatively: "I want to ask, since you are going to launch a night attack on the enemy, can you Take the opportunity to recover some lost positions."

"I'm sorry, Comrade Colonel." Seeing Lyudnikov looking at him expectantly, Sokov replied apologetically, "Retaking lost positions from the enemy is really nothing to us. It’s a big problem. But after we seize it, we have to divide our troops to guard, do you think we have enough troops now to hold more positions?”

Regarding Sokov's question, Lyudnikov was silent for a long time, finally shook his head, and replied with difficulty: "Our military strength is only enough to hold on to the existing area. If it is weak, it may be broken by the Germans one by one."

Seeing that Lyudnikov could understand the current situation of the troops so clearly, Sokov was very surprised. He thought that the other party would be stubborn and insisted on regaining the lost positions, and even prepared a series of attacks in his mind. Rhetoric to convince Lyudnikov. Unexpectedly, the other party did not insist on regaining the position, so the words he had prepared were useless.

However, in order to appease the other party, he rearranged the vocabulary in his mind, and said to Lyudnikov: "Comrade Colonel, after the Germans have been attacking for a long time, their soldiers have also suffered a lot. Don't look at it now." They occupied most of the factory areas, but in order to hold these places, they had to spread out their forces, resulting in the fact that every place was guarded by troops, and every place was facing a shortage of troops. And we, all the troops, Concentrated in this narrow area, we can launch an attack on any German location at any time and achieve the desired results..."

"Colonel Sokov," Lyudnikov asked thoughtfully after listening to Sokov patiently, "if we have the ability to recover the lost positions but we don't, if our superiors find out, What will they do with us?"

"If we care too much about the gains and losses of a city and a place, and we use up all our troops, when the enemy launches an attack again, where should we mobilize enough troops to defend these places? At that time, countless sacrifices will be made. The positions captured by the commanders and fighters will be recaptured by the enemy." Sokov explained to Lyudnikov in a simple way the truth that "the people who save the land lose the land, and the land is preserved; the land is lost, and the land is lost": " But if we voluntarily abandon some positions and preserve our forces, we can use these preserved forces to attack the enemy after the counterattack begins, and we will be able to regain the lost positions.”

"Colonel Sokov, I have to say, what you said is very reasonable." Sokov's words obviously convinced Lyudnikov. The tactics you are familiar with are quite different, but obviously, the tactics you mentioned are more suitable for the situation at hand."

"Comrade Commander," the two were talking, an officer came in from the door, and he reported to Lyudnikov: "Two strange tanks came from the south and stopped outside."

"Strange tank?" Lyudnikov asked strangely after listening to his subordinate's report, "How strange?"

"Comrade commander, I have never seen such a tank before." The officer replied, "On the base of a tank, a cannon is installed..."

Before the officer finished speaking, Sokov jumped up from his seat. He grabbed the other's arm and asked curiously, "Where is the strange tank you mentioned? Take me there quickly." With a dazed face, he said to Lyudnikov, who was also puzzled, "It should be that the automatic artillery given to us by factory manager Peter has arrived."

After Lyudnikov figured out what was going on, he said to the officer, "Didn't you hear what Colonel Sokov said, why don't you take him to see those two strange tanks?"

…………

After dark, Captain Paul Koski, the company commander, led twenty soldiers into a sewer in the defended area. After entering the sewer, under the leadership of a guide, they groped towards the location of the No. 6 production workshop.

The soldiers who acted as guides were from Lyudnikov's division. His company had fought in the No. 6 production workshop and was familiar with the terrain there. Knowing that the friendly army will launch an attack on the enemy occupying the No. 6 factory building, he volunteered to act as the guide of this small army.

On the way, he asked Bolkowski curiously: "Comrade Captain, there are at least a hundred Germans in Factory No. 6. With just a few of you, can you deal with them?"

After listening to the guide's question, Paul Koski replied with a smile: "Comrade fighters, if we were going to attack them, I'm afraid this person is not enough to give them teeth. But now we are just going to sneak attack them and deal with them." There will be no problem."

Bolkowski originally thought that he would be able to enter the No. 6 factory building smoothly along the sewer. Unexpectedly, as he was walking, he suddenly discovered that the sewer in front of him had collapsed, and the road was tightly blocked by falling gravel. They tried to bypass the blocked area, but they took a few detours and found that the sewers leading to the factory building were also blocked.

When he saw that the first sewer was blocked, Paul Koski thought it was shelling or bombing, which caused the sewer to collapse. But seeing that all the sewers were blocked, he knew in his heart that the German army was probably worried that the defenders would use the sewers for a sneak attack, so they blew up all the sewers leading to the defense area.

"Comrade Company Commander," seeing that the road was impassable, the soldiers who followed Bolkowski were a little anxious, so they asked Bolkowski in a low voice: "The road is blocked by the Germans, what should we do next? ?”

"Comrade soldier," Bolkowski turned his head and asked the guide: "How far is our location from the defensive position outside the factory building?"

The guide didn't speak. He climbed out from a gap next to him to observe for a while, and then climbed back to report to Bolkowski: "Comrade Captain, there is still about a hundred meters away from the enemy's position."

"A distance of more than one hundred meters." Hearing the distance the guide said, Paul Koski began to think about it. It was obviously unrealistic to drop bombs at the enemy's position from such a long distance. Although the grenades equipped today are custom-made by the division commander at the Red October Factory, they are lighter than the commonly used grenades, but it is obviously impossible to throw them a hundred meters away. In order to blow up the enemy, they must get closer. Thinking of this, he said to his subordinates: "Comrades, the sewer leading to the enemy's position has been blocked by the enemy. To complete the task, we can only return to the ground and drop bombs after approaching the enemy's position."

The difficulty of the task increased, and Paul Koski felt that it was necessary to report the situation immediately so that Belkin could grasp the real situation in the factory area. He hurriedly ordered the accompanying radio operator to send a report to the regiment headquarters, reporting to Belkin that the sewer near the German position was blocked.

The telegram soon appeared in Belgin's hands. After reading the telegram, he looked up at Captain Vanya, the chief of staff of the regiment, and asked, "Comrade chief of staff, apart from the fact that the sewers were blocked in a row, the other two How is the company doing?"

"Comrade Commander, I haven't received any telegrams from the other two companies yet." Vanya replied respectfully, "However, according to the report from the first company, the enemy may have been preventing us from using the sewer. Sneaking into their defense zone to sneak attack, this blows up the sewer near the defense zone to prevent us from using the sewer to enter their defense zone."

"Is there any solution?" Belkin asked.

If it was near Mamayev Post, Vanya would not hesitate to persuade Belkin to cancel the night attack plan in such a situation. But now they are in the barricade factory. Not only Sokov knows the plan of the night attack, but even the division commander of the friendly army, Lyudnikov, knows that if the troops cannot enter the enemy's defense area according to the original plan because the sewers are blocked, they will directly If you cancel the plan, I'm afraid you will be laughed at.

It was precisely because of this consideration that after thinking about it, Vanya replied: "Comrade Commander, I think we should call back the team performing the sneak attack mission. Since the sewer is blocked by the enemy, we should approach the enemy from the ground." According to the original plan, the position was withdrawn after throwing the grenade.”

"Well, let's do that." Belkin nodded and replied, "Immediately call back the team and ask them to carry out a sneak attack on the enemy according to the original plan. Before completing the mission, they must not withdraw without authorization."

Vanya promised, and was about to order the operator to send the message. But he quickly remembered one more thing, and tentatively asked Belkin: "Comrade commander, the enemy situation in the factory area has changed. Do you need to report to the division commander?"

"No. You don't need to tell the commander about such a trivial matter." Belkin waved his hand at him and said, "When the team we sent completes the task and reports the results, just mention it to him."

Bolkowski knew that no matter what accident happened, the sneak attack mission assigned to him by the regiment would be impossible to cancel, so he did not wait for the regiment headquarters to call back, and crawled out of the sewer with the members of the squad. After leaving the sewer, he called a sergeant and told the other party: "Comrade sergeant, you stay with three soldiers and serve as a security mission here. Once the Germans catch up when we retreat, you will be responsible for the cover." Let's retreat, understand?"

"Understood, Comrade Company Commander." The sergeant quickly replied, "We will definitely cover your retreat."

I saw the sergeant leading three soldiers into two nearby bomb craters, set up their submachine guns, and aimed at the German positions in the distance. Only then did Paulkowski nodded, and led the rest of the soldiers, crawling towards the enemy's position.

When he was about 20 meters away from the enemy's position, Bolkowski gestured to order the soldiers to stop. He listened to the trench not far away, and found that it was quiet and there was no movement at all. He quickly grabbed a soldier beside him, leaned close to his ear and whispered: "Go to the trench and see what's going on inside, why the enemy hasn't moved at all."

The soldier agreed softly, and quickly crawled towards the enemy's position with hands and feet. When he reached the edge of the trench, he cautiously poked his head in to have a look. Seeing that there were no enemies in the trench, he turned over and jumped in, and carefully searched along the trench with his gun in hand.

Paulkowski waited for about two or three minutes, and then saw the soldier running out of the trench again, instead of crawling towards him, but bent over and trotted all the way. The soldier ran to Bolkowski's side and squatted down, and reported in a low voice: "Comrade company commander, I checked carefully, and there is no enemy in the trench, and I don't know where they are hiding."