Chapter 838

At seven in the morning, before dawn, sixty guns of the 65th army opened fire together. Continuous shelling for half an hour, shaking the ground, the highland was originally shrouded in darkness exploded into flames.

When the artillery division's artillery preparation was over, Batov went to the observation post's telephone, picked up the receiver and said in a loud voice, "Colonel holikov, the artillery is over. It's up to your division's performance next. Ask the 1311st infantry regiment to attack the German position immediately. For victory, for the honor of you Muscovites, march forward

If Batov didn't mention the honor of the muscovite, I didn't pay much attention to the troops to be launched. After listening to him, a piece of information about the division suddenly appeared in my mind. If I remember correctly, the 173rd infantry division should be the 77th infantry division of the famous guards. In the Encyclopedia of the Soviet army, the description of the division was adapted from the 21st division of the Moscow militia formed in July 1941. But I know very well in my heart that the division originally belonged to the Kiev special military region. In the early days of the war, the division was surrounded by German forces in Kiev, and the main force of other southwest front forces was destroyed. Later, it was rebuilt on the basis of the Moscow militia division 21. When I think of the series of meritorious deeds that the division made during the whole Patriotic War, I am full of expectations for their upcoming attack.

I went to rokosovsky, raised my telescope, and focused on the hidden position of our army in front of me. I saw countless shadows from the ground to get up, shouting forward.

I turned the lens of the telescope to the flaming highland, and saw that it was quiet and there was no movement. It seemed that the German soldiers in the position had been destroyed by our artillery fire.

When our troops were more than 200 meters away from the highland, the enemy on the highland began to shoot from a commanding height. Along with the sound of machine guns, there were rumbling guns. It seems that some German artillery troops survived the shelling just now, but from the scale of the explosion, they were all small caliber guns.

The German machine guns and artillery formed a dense fire net, which made a big and small gap in the attack line of the 173 division. In the face of the dense firepower of the enemy, our commanders and fighters are still rushing forward without hesitation. I saw through the telescope that the pistol wielding commander rushed in front of me. From time to time, some people were shot and fell to the ground, but many others took their place and continued to rush to the high ground.

On the high ground, the German army can only see countless flashes of muzzle flame. Facing the powerful attack of our army, the German army is doing its best to shoot, trying to block our attack road with firepower.

Perhaps it was because our army suffered too many casualties that the front-line commanders adjusted their tactics in time. Except for a small number of troops who continued to rush forward under the barrage of bullets, the rest of them lay down on the ground, relying on the terrain and the German troops on the high ground to launch counter fire.

As for the tactical adjustment of the front-line commander, I did not move my face to judge in my heart. I felt that his decision was very right. In the face of the enemy's intensive firepower, it would not be possible to just rely on the courage of the commanders and fighters to move forward. Even if our commanders and fighters are brave, can human flesh and blood block bullets and shrapnel flying around?

"Comrade Batov, what are you going to do after you break through the German defense?" I suddenly heard the voice of rokosovsky next to me. I turned my head and saw that he was talking to Batov sideways.

"After the breakthrough, the 1311 regiment will continue to attack forward, while the 1313 regiment and 1315 regiment, which will keep up in time, will detour to the two wings of the German army and strive to wipe out all the enemies on the highlands."

As far as rokosovsky and Batov are concerned, there are new changes ahead. More than 300 officers and soldiers approach the highland and jump into the deep ditch at the foot of the highland. After a while, I saw the soldiers begin to climb the cliff, for a time, the cliff is full of dense figures.

The German soldiers in the hillside position saw that our commanders and fighters were climbing the cliff. They jumped up from the trench and came to the cliff. They leaned forward and shot down with guns in their hands. And they soon became the targets of our army's commanders and fighters. Those who were shooting against the German army turned their guns one after another and fired at these German soldiers who had left the fortification. These soldiers who tried to prevent our army from climbing were often hit by a lot of bullets before they fired two shots and fell by the cliff.

When I saw that the German army was trapped in the trench by our firepower and did not dare to move, and our officers and men climbed higher and higher along the cliff, I was relieved. I said that in a few minutes at most, our troops would be able to rush to the high ground. Just as I was about to put down my telescope, I suddenly saw black things flying out of the trench. There were still sparks on those black things.

"No, it's dynamite." Two months ago, I had seen our officers and men blow up the German army with explosives at night, so I immediately recognized what was flying out of the trench and falling into the deep ditch at the foot of the high ground.

Dozens of explosive packages fell into the deep ditch and exploded among our commanders and fighters, splashing out large amounts of fire and smoke, shrapnel flying around, sand and stone flying in the air, and human limbs flying into the sky can be clearly seen through the telescope.

With the help of the fire lighting on the highland, I found that all the commanders and fighters who had climbed the cliff had disappeared. I was heartbroken at the thought that all the commanders and fighters had suffered an accident in the earth shaking explosion just now. I put down my telescope and turned to look at rokosovsky. He seemed to be aware of my eyes. After moving his eyes away from the lens of the gun mirror, he stood up and said to Batov beside him: "general Batov, there is no victory without blood in the world. The attack of 1311 regiment can't stop. Immediately transfer the artillery regiment of the 173 division up, use artillery fire to suppress the enemy on the high ground, and cover the infantry for another attack. "

Batov nodded, went to the telephone, picked up the receiver and said in a deep voice, "I'm general Batov. Connect me with 979 artillery regiment of 173 division immediately." After the phone call, I heard him telling the other party: "Comrade commander, the German army still has artillery on the high ground, which is a great threat to our offensive forces. I order you to transfer the Second Artillery Company of kurishenko to destroy the enemy's artillery and machine gun fire points on the high ground."

After waiting for Batov, rokosovsky asked him curiously, "Comrade Batov, who is this kurishenko? You seem to know him very well

Batov glanced at me, who was standing beside me and the soul of gossip was burning. He hesitated for a moment, but he truthfully reported to trikov: "Comrade commander of the front army, this lieutenant kurishenko was assigned to serve in the 979th artillery regiment of the 173rd infantry division of the Kiev special army flag a few days before the outbreak of the war, and his rank is lieutenant.

After the outbreak of the war, the division took part in the fighting within the organizational structure of the eighth infantry unit of the 26th group army of the southwest front army. The division took part in the fighting in the front line at the beginning, and fell into the encirclement of the German army in Kiev. Kurishenko was lucky enough to escape from the encirclement and was assigned to the rebuilt army of his original number

After listening to Batov, I knew in my heart that my memory just now was correct. Maybe he was afraid to say that the whole army of the 173 division had been annihilated, so he only looked at me with such complicated eyes before reporting to rokosovsky.

"... after kurishenko arrived in the new army, he still served as the commander of the second company of the 979 artillery regiment. The reconstituted army quickly entered the Moscow defense war at 173:00. First, within the formation of the 33rd group army of the reserve front army, it entered the German battle in the southwest of Kirov City, Kaluga, on October 2. At the end of October, the division was incorporated into the Western Front Army under the command of general Zhukov. On November 21, the division was incorporated into the 50th group army and carried out arduous defensive operations in beliov, vinyov and kasila regions. When they retreated to Moscow, there were only 109 people left in the division, and kurishenko was one of the lucky ones.

After replenishing the offensive, the division transferred to the 49th group army and launched a great counter offensive under Moscow. By January this year, the division had returned to the organizational structure of the 50 group army. Kurishenko was seriously injured in the battle on February 14, and the 173 division was reorganized because of the huge losses.

In August, the division was incorporated into our group army. I saw the name of kurishenko for the first time in the honours application submitted by the then division commander, Colonel hohrov. I had a few conversations with him when I was honoring him. I thought he was a good young man. He not only had rich experience in combat, but also was very smart. He was a sign of an excellent commander, so I was very impressed with him. From September to now, kurishenko's artillery company has destroyed more than 300 enemy officers and soldiers, three artillery companies, two arsenals, eight heavy machine gun positions and a large number of enemy materials. "

Rokosovsky waited for Batov to finish, nodded, and then said: "in the next battle, we will wait and see if this lieutenant kurishenko is really as capable as you said."

After listening to Batov's introduction, I became very interested in the new lieutenant kurishenko. What the independent division lacks most now is the commander of artillery and tank troops. If he is really a capable person, I want to dig him into the independent division. The artillery battalion of the division will be expanded into artillery regiment sooner or later. If he comes, I can at least give him the post of artillery battalion commander.

The day began to light up, and the view outside also broadened a lot. I saw an artillery company made up of nine guns building a simple artillery position more than 500 meters away from the highland under the fire of the enemy. When all the guns were in place, there was a volley on the high ground.

Several plumes of smoke rose from the German position. Before the smoke dispersed, another batch of shells landed in the front and back of the trench, and the hillside position was filled with smoke. Several fire points that were desperately shooting suddenly died. The infantry of the 1311 regiment, who relied on the terrain and launched counter fire against the German army, saw that our artillery fire was suppressing the German army, climbed up from the ground one after another and rushed forward with weapons.

When our officers and men climbed up the cliff again, the German army tried to do the same thing again, using explosives to destroy our attack again. But only a few explosive packs were thrown, and the trench was covered by dense artillery fire. Seeing the fire and the earth shaking explosion in the trench, I guess one or two shells hit the German explosive pack, which caused a devastating explosion.

Many of the officers and men who were climbing the cliff were shocked by such a violent explosion and fell off the cliff, but the officers and men behind still climbed up without hesitation. When several soldiers climbed to a flat place, took off the guns on their back and rushed to the enemy's trench, in order to avoid accidental injury, the artillery company's fire began to extend to the top of the mountain. When the troops of 1311 regiment occupied the hillside position and charged to the mountaintop position, the other two regiments stayed in their own position without any movement. When I was about to ask about this, I saw dozens of soldiers with backpacks on their backs. After climbing up the high ground, they stopped moving forward and squatted beside the cliff, nervously busy“ Comrade commander of the front army, "Batov's voice sounded in my ear. He was explaining to rokosovsky what these people were doing." these people are engineers. They will blow up the steep cliff with explosives to open up a passage for the troops behind. " As soon as his words were finished, there was a rumbling explosion in front of him, and big rocks rolled down the hillside. When the smoke dispersed, I saw that with the fall of the rock, several relatively gentle passages appeared on the original cliff. Then a red signal bomb rose in the sky, which seemed to tell the soldiers behind that the passage had been opened. With the rise of the signal bomb, the commanders and fighters who had been hidden in the position got up and rushed forward with their weapons in their hands. Soon they rushed to the foot of the mountain, slowed down and went up the high ground along the road opened up by the engineers. I can see from the telescope that the whole position is burning, weapons and ammunition are burning, the corpses on the surface of the position are burning, even the soil and craters are burning. And our officers and men bravely rushed to the top of the mountain in the smoke. After the officers and men of 1313 and 1315 regiments reached the highland, they quickly detoured to both sides and wrapped dumplings for all the German troops who held fast to the highland. The battle ended half an hour later, and we wiped out all the German battalions and three companies except more than 100 prisoners. The battle to capture the Highlands successfully opened a breakthrough in the German defensive front. When I counted the results, I specially checked the results of lieutenant kurishenko's artillery company. The war report read: "Lieutenant kurishenko's artillery company destroyed one gun, three heavy machine guns, one observation post, two trenches and a reinforced field command post." Seeing such amazing results, I am more determined to dig the corner of Batov's wall. I intend to find an opportunity to ask him to transfer this capable lieutenant to me.