Steel Soviet Union

Chapter 178 Fighting in the Dark (Part 2)

"The siege forces of the 24th Army and the 43rd Army encountered a crazy counterattack by the German army. The deployment of troops and the enemy's firepower configuration are unclear. The battle situation has entered a white-hot stage. The situation is extremely urgent, comrade commander!"

He hurried to the combat command room and listened to the report of the chief of staff beside him. Zhukov, who looked solemn and had dark circles under his eyes, obviously had not had a good rest for many days. This determined Red Army god of war was completely overdrawing his physical capital to command the battle.

"Telegram to the headquarters of the 24th and 43rd Army Groups. No matter what, you must push back the German counterattack! Throw in all the reserves, and use the artillery group if necessary! I only want the result, not the process. Even if all the tank troops drive into the city, they must block the Germans' breakout route. Holding on until dawn is the final moment for us to usher in victory!"

Zhukov's resolute words showed his iron determination. The chief of staff, realizing that the leader's favorite general was really angry, immediately took the order and left without saying anything more.

This iron-like order issued by Zhukov himself undoubtedly completely strangled any idea of ​​the two Red Army group commanders to let the Germans go.

The Red Army siege troops deployed on the main fronts in the city were immediately awakened from their sleep, and began to continue to advance in depth in the direction of the daytime attack as if crazy.

The increasingly dense explosions of gunfire were like death warrants, pressing the extremely tense and fragile nerves of the German breakout troops. Knowing that their lives and deaths were at stake, the German breakout troops were completely desperate. The Red Army infantry human wave tactics, which had always been despised and spurned by the German army, were now being repeated on these German infantry divisions with a strong desire to survive.

"Charge, everyone charge! Crush the defense line of these Russians, this is an order! We can't lose this last chance again!"

Wave after wave of German infantry, led by grassroots officers at all levels, launched a crazy attack on the streets where the Soviet army was stationed.

Under the cover of darkness, the Soviet machine gunners who could not see the situation ahead clearly had to hold the DP28 light machine guns tightly in their hands and madly fired at the street intersections in their memories.

The machine gun barrage, which was fired randomly because the target could not be seen clearly, not only did not kill many German soldiers, but the muzzle flames that were particularly conspicuous in the thick night exposed the exact position of the Soviet machine gunners. The German submachine gunners who rushed to the front of the team did not say a word and immediately eliminated them with a barrage of firepower.

After the thick night forced the Soviet defense forces to close the firefighting distance, they soon became exhausted. The German army, which had been preparing for the breakout operation for a long time, formed a uniform automatic firepower echelon with submachine gunners and even machine gunners holding MG34s and concentrated them at the front of the breakout troops.

The Soviet infantry, who were seriously lacking in individual automatic weapons, had only a small number of squad light and heavy machine guns and old Mosin-Nagant rifles. They were completely unable to resist the fierce automatic firepower of the German army, which had an absolute advantage, and were suppressed. The truth of war that whoever has more automatic weapons in his hands is the boss in modern street fighting has already begun to emerge in Yelnya City at this moment.

The Soviet tanks, which were also blind in the dark, were not as good as the infantry in such a bad battle situation. The tanks, which had severely limited combat vision in the vehicle, were almost completely blind at night.

The Soviet tanks, which had no idea of ​​the identities of the enemy and us, were like headless flies in the streets and alleys, unable to distinguish between east, west, south and north. In the most exaggerated case, they even didn't know that a whole team of German infantry sneaked away from them in the dark.

The noisy and surging roar of the diesel engine hindered the hearing of the members in the car, but this became the best way for the German infantry to listen to the sound and identify the position in the dark night.

Due to the hasty response and the chaotic battlefield command system, the Soviet tanks lacked effective infantry support and cover. Not only did they fail to play the powerful blocking role they should have, but they were destroyed and paralyzed by the German infantry who took advantage of the retreat and used cluster grenades and Molotov cocktails and other close-range attack methods.

The command system of the two Soviet army groups, which had been completely in a mess, was on the verge of collapse. The battlefield telephones and radios kept receiving news and signals of the loss of blocks or seeking emergency reinforcements.

But when the staff of the headquarters who answered the phone asked which block was lost or needed reinforcements, the grassroots officers on the front line who were pitch dark were speechless and didn't know how to answer. They didn't even know how many German breakout troops had defeated them. This made it impossible for the Soviet headquarters at the next level to judge where the main breakout direction of the German army was.

On the other hand, Malashenko, who commanded his siege column to attack the German hinterland, was not in a much better situation.

Malashenko, who originally planned to launch a concentrated attack in the direction where the gunfire was most intense, soon found that his idea was a bit too simple.

The sound of gunfire, which was as lively as the New Year's Eve in China, was heard over the entire night of Yelnya. Malashenko, who had almost lost his vision and heard the sound of gunfire, had to choose a block with relatively dense gunfire to lead his troops to launch an assault, and soon encountered sporadic resistance from the German army and entered a state of war.

But when Malashenko, who quickly wiped out the small German unit, was wondering how the Germans had so few troops left, a tank-in-infantry unit rushed over from the other side of the block and almost scared Malashenko to death.

Knowing that the German troops in the city were purely infantry divisions and had no armored units, the two Soviet siege columns fortunately identified the enemy's tanks in time and avoided possible accidental firing.

But when the confused Malashenko met the commander of the friendly siege column, he found out that the enemy's siege column had the same idea as Malashenko and rushed over from another route to attack the main attack direction of Yelnya City!

The result of interrogating a German prisoner of war on the spot made Malashenko even more confused.

The German army that was chased and beaten by these two Soviet siege columns was actually just a combat engineer company of the 268th Infantry Division of the German Army! The German lightly armed engineers, who were dragging more than 50 tanks and thousands of Soviet infantrymen around the city, were less than 200 people!

Chapter 178/3254
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