Chapter 977

Although last night's illegal crossing failed, the fight to capture the North Bank of the bridge should be carried out as soon as the day comes.

At dawn, kirilov and I arrived at the command post of the third regiment at the south end of the bridge.

Walking into the command post, I happened to see akhromeyev assigning combat tasks to his men. When kirilov and I came in, he suspended the meeting and ran to us.

When he finished saluting me, I asked directly, "major, how are you getting ready?"

"It's all ready." After a brief reply, akhromeyev put forward a request to me: "Comrade commander, please tell the commanders a few words, so that they can have the confidence to win in the battle."

I understood that he wanted me to boost my morale, so he took two steps forward without hesitation. Facing those company and battalion commanders who stood upright, he first asked, "comrades, are you clear about the next combat tasks?"

"That's clear." A dozen commanders replied neatly.

I nodded and then said, "although we are fighting an offensive war, there are only two German companies on the other side, but we have one regiment. One regiment is fighting two companies of the enemy. Do you have the confidence to win them? "

After a moment's silence, the commanders answered neatly again, "I can win!"

"Very good!" I was very satisfied with the confidence they showed, and then said, "since everyone is so confident, I'm relieved. I have only one requirement for you, that is, when you attack, you should fight hard and fiercely, so that you can take back the position of Qiaobei from the enemy in the shortest time. Do you have confidence? "

"Yes!" All the commanders in the room roared in unison.

When the room was quiet again, I turned to akhromeyev and said, "major, I'm done. You can continue to command your troops. "

Akhromeyev, when I finished, waved to the commanders and said in a loud voice, "everyone go back to their respective troops and make preparations for all battles as soon as possible. As soon as eight o'clock arrives, attack the other side of the bridge immediately. "

As soon as all the battalion and company commanders left the command post, I solemnly asked akhromeyev, "major, how sure do you think it is to seize the bridge?"

To my question, akhromeyev didn't answer immediately. Instead, he pushed a hand-painted map in front of me and said, "Comrade commander, please look at this map. The enemy's defensive position is 100 meters north of the bridge. There is a circular trench in which there are several reinforced concrete blockhouses. Even if our commanders and fighters rush over the bridge in the dense fire of the enemy, as soon as they leave the bridge, the German firepower in the circular trench can fire at them from three directions at the same time. "

Kirilov listened to akhromeyev and looked up at me and said, "Rita, according to what the major just said, our soldiers will be killed by fire from three sides as soon as they leave the bridge. In this way, the situation is very unfavorable to us. Even if we pay a huge price, we may not be able to seize the bridge. "

Instead of expressing my concern about kirilov, I turned to akhromeyev and asked, "major, do you have any good idea?"

"Comrade commander," akhromeyev explained to me, pointing to the German Fortifications on the map, "although there are several reinforced concrete blockhouses in the trench, because they were originally built to prevent attacks from the north, the shooting holes of the blockhouses all face the north. That is to say, the German machine gun fire points are arranged in trenches rather than blockhouses. At present, there are only two war defense guns dismantled by the German army, which are installed in the blockhouse. "

"Comrade major," after listening to the information reported by akhromeyev, I said, "how much do you think we will pay to destroy the enemy on the north bank?"

My question made akhromeyev silent for a long time. As I was about to ask, he finally said, "Comrade commander, if you want me to tell you the truth, I can only regret to tell you that even if there is tank fire support, we have to pay at least one battalion's sacrifice to capture the German position on the other side."

Kirilov was startled by akhromeyev's reply, and he stammered: "God, do you want to sacrifice so many people? We should know that the equipment and combat effectiveness of the third regiment are among the best in our army. Comrade commander, do you think this attack can be cancelled? You must know that according to the plan, this is only a feint to attract the attention of the German army. "

Thinking of the confrontation between us and the German army in the Dnieper River, if there is no action, it will certainly arouse the suspicion of the German army. Therefore, I can only bite my teeth and say, "major, no matter how much we sacrifice, this battle will continue."

Before the fighting started, we were led by akhromeyev to a building not far from the bridge. On the third floor, we found a room with a panoramic view of the battlefield and used it as our temporary command post.

I stood by the window, raised my telescope and looked out. On the south side of the bridge, there was also a circular trench on our side. Our offensive troops were hiding in the trench, waiting for the order to attack.

I continued to observe the situation outside for a while, and felt that the time was almost up, so I put down my telescope and raised my hand to see the time. Seeing that the pointer was pointing to eight o'clock, he turned his head and told akhromeyev, who was standing behind him with a microphone in his hand, "major, it's time to attack."

After listening to my command, akhromeyev repeated my command loudly to the microphone: "attack!"

With his order, the voice of shouting "Wula" came from outside the building. I quickly moved the telescope to the direction of the sound, and saw hundreds of commanders and fighters jump out of the trenches where they were hiding, with weapons in hand and slogans in mouth, rushing towards the opposite bank quickly.

As soon as the forward of the army rushed to the bridge, the machine gun fire point opposite began to fire. After the soldiers in the front were shot and fell to the ground, the officers and men in the back immediately evacuated, rushed forward a few steps, then stopped, hid behind the steel arch on the bridge deck, and shot back at the German firepower point in the distance.

I counted. In the German trench in the distance, there were about seven or eight machine guns firing continuously. The counterattack of our soldiers did not play any role, only to see more and more officers and men fall under the enemy's muzzle.

Seeing this scene, I can't help but get angry. I said that when the infantry attack, will the tank units and mortar units provide artillery support for them? Now our officers and men have rushed through the middle of the bridge, but we haven't seen pelsjian's men appear.

Kirilov was obviously aware of the problem. He said indignantly, "what's the matter with major perskin? Where is he? Can't you see that the infantry have launched an attack?"

The impact speed of the infantry was very fast. Within two or three minutes of our conversation, many soldiers had rushed over the bridge and entered the death zone blocked by German fire.

When we saw our commanders and fighters break into their range, there were only a few machine guns firing in the trench, and suddenly there were countless muzzle flames. Under the intensive fire of the enemy, the soldiers who entered the open field fell to the ground one after another, except for a few quick responders who fell to the ground to fight back.

The first attack of our army ended in failure in less than five minutes. No more than one-third of the 200 soldiers who charged successfully returned to the South Bank of the bridge. The rest were either sacrificed on the spot, or fell to the ground after being injured, unable to return to our offensive starting position on their own.

Just as I wanted akhromeyev to call to urge pelsjian, there was a roar of tank motors downstairs. I looked down and saw two tanks heading towards the bridge.

When the tank stopped at the end of the bridge, the turret slowly adjusted its angle and fired at the opposite German position. Two shells landed near a fire point of machine gun, and exploded. When the smoke dispersed, there was no movement at that fire point, and it seemed to be destroyed by the fire.

After the first round of firing, our tanks continued to fire, hitting the exposed German firepower points in turn. As one firepower point after another was destroyed by the artillery fire, the commanders who stayed in our trenches seemed to see the arrival of a good opportunity to attack. They jumped out of the trenches one after another, waving their pistols and greeting the soldiers to charge with them.

The tank soldiers charged again when they found our infantry, and one of them stopped shooting immediately. After a puff of black smoke from the back of the car, the body of the car was shocked, and then the infantry were led to rush to the opposite bank.

"Can this tank run smoothly to the enemy's position?" When I saw the tank rushing to the enemy's position without hesitation, I suddenly had this idea in my heart.

But the tank rushed to the other side, and as soon as it left the bridge, the German artillery opened fire. Scattered shells fell on the tank around the explosion, so that the tank in order to avoid the enemy's fire, had to walk the S-shaped. But it didn't last long. When it was more than 30 meters away from the German trench, unfortunately, it was hit by the shell, and the body immediately burst into flames. After driving a few meters forward, it stopped completely.

Seeing that our tanks were destroyed, the following officers and men did not dare to fight and left their dead and wounded comrades behind. They ran and fired guns at the back and fled back from the bridge deck in confusion.

Seeing that two successive attacks were easily repulsed by the German army, my face was dissatisfied with the frost. Before I could speak, akhromeyev, who was good at observing, yelled at the microphone: "Hello, Hello, is that captain dubrovsky? I'm major akhromeyev. I order you to immediately organize the troops to launch another attack. Remember, tell all the commanders and fighters to attack faster. The faster you rush, the less bullets will hit you. "

Soon after his order was given, I saw another wave of soldiers rush out of the trench and rush to the bridge. German machine gun fire blocked the bridge deck, the bullet hit the cement slag on the bridge deck, rebounded 2 or 30 cm high. The five or six people who rushed to the front of the bridge fell down in an instant, struggling, rolling and struggling on the bridge. Although the comrades in front fell down, the officers and men behind still rushed forward one after another.

Because a tank of our army is providing firepower support for infantry, the German mortar does not dare to open fire at will. Otherwise, as soon as it exposes the target, the tank shells will fly past like eyes and smash them to pieces. However, due to the existence of the enemy's anti war artillery, the only remaining tank of our army did not dare to attack casually. It could only stop at the bridge and act as a fixed fort to provide limited artillery support for the infantry.

"Major, call major perskin." Seeing the one-man tank at bridgehead, I could not help turning to akhromeyev and shouting: "ask him, where are the other tanks? And the mortar unit he promised, where is it? " Hearing that I began to lose my temper, akhromeyev did not dare to neglect me and called to the microphone. After a while, he put down the phone and reported to me, "Comrade commander, major pelsken reported that there was something wrong with the other two tanks, which had just been repaired and were coming towards the bridge with the newly formed mortar unit."“ When they come, the day lily will be cold. " After I muttered in a low voice, I turned to kirilov and said, "Comrade political commissar, you stay here. I'll go ahead and have a look." As soon as my words came out, kirilov and akhromeyev were startled. Kirilov quickly dissuaded me and said, "Rita, it's too dangerous ahead. You see, the enemy's machine gun bullets can hit the trench on our side. You'd better not take risks." Akhromeyev also quickly cooperated with kirilov in persuading me: "yes, comrade commander, if you are not at ease, you and the political commissar will stay here, and I will go to the front to direct."“ No, I have to go to the front. " When I saw that two successive attacks failed and the third one was frustrated again, I couldn't stay in this temporary command post for a minute because I obstinately said, "Comrade political commissar, stay here. Major ahlomeyev, you come with me With that, he took off the assault rifle on his shoulder, put it in his hand and walked out. Seeing my determination, akhromeyev, who was familiar with my character, had no choice but to look at kirilov, picked up a submachine gun and walked out of the command post behind me. As soon as we left the building, we made a quick trench. In order to prevent being hurt by the enemy's stray bullets, I bent down and ran forward along the trench. Akhromeyev and Yushchenko followed me closely with their weapons. As soon as I found captain dubrovsky, a battalion commander in the trench, the roar of tank motors came from behind. I turned around and saw that there were two other tanks of our army coming towards us along the street.