Chapter 767: Yamaguchi

A mountain pass is also called a "pass" or "saddle".

It is generally believed that a mountain pass is the result of the erosion of rivers on both sides of the ridge cutting through the watershed. It will naturally become a passage through a mountain range, and because it is usually low in terrain, the cost of passing will be exponentially reduced.

The Mamisoiski Pass in the eastern section of the Caucasus Mountains is such a pass.

(Note: A modern road has been built at this pass, from Salda to Chilik)

Captain Fedor is a company commander of the 100th Regiment of the 1st Mountain Division. They are responsible for defending the left side of the mountain pass, and the other company, the second company, is stationed on the other side of the mountain pass.

Captain Fedor and his men have been resisting the Soviet army here for six days.

Captain Fedor's first and second companies adopted the tactic of alternating cover. Simply put, when the Soviet army launched a charge towards the first company's position, the first company would resist a little and then retreat to the second line of defense along the communication trench, and the Soviet army would follow the German army and chase forward.

Then naturally, the flank of the Soviet assault formation would be exposed to the guns of the second company on the opposite side of the mountain pass, and then the first and second companies would work together to beat the Soviets back.

Similarly, if the Soviets attacked the second company, the second company would retreat and give up the front line of defense so that the charging Soviets would be attacked by two German companies.

German soldiers called this tactic "tango" because the two companies were like two legs in the "tango", cooperating with each other to advance and retreat.

The battle was relatively easy because Fedor had time to argue with the second company commander Captain Hans on the walkie-talkie:

"If this is dancing 'tango', then the second company must be men!" Captain Hans said.

"No, of course not!" Fedor objected angrily amid the sound of artillery fire: "We have repelled the Soviets' attacks five more times than you have, we are the men!"

"That's right!" Hans said: "The Soviets like to beat women, so they beat you five more times!"

"Go to hell!" Fedor cursed loudly, and then the two laughed on the walkie-talkie.

At this time, the Soviet army launched another attack, and both sides attacked at the same time.

Since the Soviet army noticed the Germans' tricks three days ago, they began to adopt synchronous attacks, but this still did not change anything.

The reason is very simple. One company of the German army is more than enough to block the Soviet attack. The two sides agreed that who would hold on first and the other side would still retreat as before, and then they would form the previous pincer attack.

But...

This time the German army soon found that things were a little different, because a burst of machine gun bullets from the rear was "swooshing" over the Germans' heads.

"What's going on?" Fedor asked loudly.

Hans' panicked shout came from the walkie-talkie: "The Soviets are behind us, we are surrounded!"

"Hold on!" Fedor replied: "They said someone will come to rescue us at the critical moment!"

"Do you believe them?" Hans asked.

"Of course!" Fedor replied: "It was General Freko's order, he never lied to us!"

"I'm not as confident as you... Oh, God, at least one of their battalions is behind us!"

Hans's estimate was correct. The Soviet army did have a battalion behind the German army. They bypassed the mountain pass for more than ten kilometers, climbed over a peak with an altitude of 2,000 meters, and even climbed over several cliffs. It took them four days to get there.

For this, Melskov, who led the team, broke his arm, which is still hanging on his neck. More than 30 of his men either froze to death or fell to death during the journey.

But Melskov thought it was worth it, because they were waiting for this moment.

"Comrades!" Melskov waved his gun forward with his uninjured right hand: "The moment of victory has come, let's kill these fascists and let them know the price of invading us!"

The Soviet soldiers shouted and rushed towards the German positions with their bayoneted rifles under the cover of machine gun fire...

According to common sense, the German army should not be able to avoid being surrounded and annihilated, because they were already surrounded by enemies on all sides, and the enemy's encirclement was so small that they could not be transferred or avoided.

However, at this moment, Melskov felt a little strange airflow, and the sound of the motor could be faintly heard in the sound of gunfire.

Melskov looked back and saw nothing.

But the next moment, he opened his eyes wide and couldn't believe what he saw... A strange plane with propellers on both sides rose from the cliff and appeared in front of him. The dozens of gun barrels under the wings made people's scalps numb, so that Melskov didn't notice the three machine guns on the left, middle and right under the fuselage.

The machine guns were actually the ones that played a role, because the enemy and us were too close at this time, and the poor accuracy of the rocket launchers could easily cause accidental injuries.

Melskov hurriedly shouted to the soldiers: "Enemy behind us!"

But it was too late. The three machine guns of the armed helicopter "whoosh whoosh" spewed out flames, and the dense bullets made the snow fly up, and then extended to the Soviet army who were charging towards the German position... Rows of Soviet soldiers fell down screaming, and they didn't know where these bullets came from until they died.

Then the armed helicopter "whoosh whoosh" fired a row of rockets towards the Soviet army on the other side, and a group of flames soared into the air, cutting off the back half of the Soviet charging force... This was because they were worried about accidentally injuring their own people, so the rockets were fired from a distance.

Immediately afterwards, two more armed helicopters popped up and "suddenly" passed over the heads of the German troops. The machine guns below fired fiercely at the remaining Soviet troops.

The Soviet army hurriedly raised their guns to fight back, but the armor at the bottom of the armed helicopter was thick enough to withstand Soviet rifles and light machine guns... This is one of the reasons why helicopters are powerful weapons in highland combat. It is rare for enemies to have heavy equipment in their hands.

This made the Soviet resistance insignificant, and the armed helicopters could be said to be a massacre of the Soviet troops lined up in dense formation below.

To make matters worse, a dozen more helicopters appeared around, and then heavily armed German soldiers slid out of the helicopters.

"What I said is right!" Fedor said with a walkie-talkie: "They will show up. It's the 1st Infantry Regiment. We will pass through Baku with them. Do you remember it?"

"Of course!" Hans replied: "You know what? I hate them!"

"Why?" Fedor asked in confusion: "They just saved our lives!"

"Because..." Hans said: "They can obviously get rid of the enemy easily, but they want us to fight here for six days! Six days... six whole days!"