Chapter 251: 1077th Infantry Regiment
Or it can also be said that Colonel Jonas realized that there is no point in going on like this. Tanks go up one by one and then one after another is destroyed... That is purely consuming Russian shells with life and blood.
Among them, Colonel Jonas even organized two counter-charges, because he believed that in this case, the only way to avoid this passiveness was to fight close to the enemy.
Colonel Jonas may be right. Entanglement between the enemy and the enemy can muddy the water, so that the German tanks can only advance within the 100-meter line before they have a chance to penetrate the Russian tanks.
The problem is that the Russian army seems to have thought of this a long time ago. They used tanks as a cover to form a line of defense. When the German army charged this steel line of defense, all they had to endure were layers of defense from mortars, machine guns, and submachine guns. There are even hand grenades.
And the German army was very difficult to even throw a grenade under the blow of this hail of bullets.
Shuerka kept pulling the trigger and fired rounds of bullets. Under the light of the flares, the German soldiers charging forward one after another were knocked to the ground.
At this time, Shulka seemed to have become a robot without feeling, reloading, shooting, reloading and shooting... Then I saw the German army receding like a tide, leaving only corpses in front of the battlefield.
"Retreat!" Colonel Jonas ordered angrily: "The 1st Infantry Battalion takes cover!"
Another meaning of "cover" in this context is "sacrifice".
Colonel Jonas can be said to be generous this time. Usually, the units in charge of cover are at most two companies, but now he has invested a battalion in one breath... Maybe this is because he knows that if there are too few troops, he will not be able to stop the one in front of him. Russian troops like wolves and tigers.
But what Colonel Jonas didn\'t expect was that even so, they couldn\'t stop them.
Several red flares rose into the sky, and the soldiers of the 316th Division who were on standby on the other side of the river rushed up with shouts.
This is the 1077th Infantry Regiment of the 316th Division.
This infantry regiment is quite special. Most of its members are military school students. These students originally received a one-year training in the military school, and then they will be assigned to the frontline troops as grassroots officers.
But they obviously couldn\'t wait for that moment. After the war broke out, they were urgently organized into a code named "Military School Mixed Student Regiment" and then sent to the battlefield.
It wasn\'t until the 316th was sent to Volokolamsk to reinforce the 16th Army that they had an official designation: the 1077th Infantry Regiment.
The morale of this regiment is high and energetic.
This is related to the overall training of the troops:
If a unit has a high level of training, although many of the training and tactics it receives are useless or even contrary to reality, the mental outlook and morale displayed by the entire unit are different...they know what they should do, The atmosphere created by the usual discussions is also more positive, and even when the superiors order to charge, they will become used to charging towards the enemy naturally.
On the contrary, if the training level is low or if everyone is a unit that trains for a few days and sends a gun to the battlefield, it will run around like headless flies, and will look left and right when charging, hesitating, Once it is found that someone is retreating, a large group of people will follow suit.
The 1077th Regiment obviously belonged to the former group. They bravely crossed the defense line of the 4th Tank Brigade and rushed towards the enemy like a tide, wave after wave.
On the other hand, the 1st Infantry Battalion left behind by the German army to serve as a cover mission, they were beaten to death, wounded, and terrified by the 4th Tank Brigade, but now they were rushed by the Russian army... The will to defend quickly collapsed, and they all raised their hands. Surrender with both hands.
The 1077th Regiment only left a small unit to receive the prisoners, and the main force did not stop for a moment to cross the enemy\'s line of defense and continue to pursue the German army.
There is a reason why the charge and pursuit of the Germans fell to the 1077th and not to the 333rd.
Although the 333rd Infantry Regiment is also an infantry regiment, it is an infantry regiment of a tank brigade. They have been trained to cooperate with tanks... The coordination mentioned here is not just just sticking their heads out behind the tanks to shoot a few shots. The important role is to provide tanks with useful information in a timely manner, guide tanks to targets, provide cover, and clear obstacles for tanks, etc.
These are obviously not what ordinary infantry can do, so it is obviously inappropriate to use the 333rd Infantry Regiment to charge and rush ahead to chase the enemy.
This is also one of the topics discussed in the previous regimental meeting: how the 316th Division cooperates with the Fourth Tank Brigade.
The 4th Tank Brigade waited in the rear for a few minutes until the 1077th Infantry Regiment signaled "safe" with a signal light before moving on.
The tank "rumbled" over the German positions, and saw the wreckage of the tank, the corpses of German soldiers and discarded equipment all over the ground. The tracks of the tank were covered with rags and minced meat in a short while, mixed with the choking exhaust There was a **** and sickening stench...that was the result of the tank running over the corpse.
Shulka saw several German prisoners who raised their hands and surrendered began to vomit.
Although German soldiers have rich combat experience, this kind of scene is not common, or...it is not common for them to see the corpses of their comrades being crushed into pieces by enemy tanks.
At this time, Shulka and the group were accustomed to this. At most, they leaned against the sides of the tank tracks to prevent the blood from splashing on themselves or the muddy meat from being caught in the shoe marks on the soles of their boots.
The hatch of the tank in front was opened, and Fedosiev poked his head out of the tank, roaring and dancing at Shulka behind him.
"What is he talking about?" Shulka asked the deputy company commander Pukarev.
The tank engine was very noisy, and Shulka couldn\'t hear Fedosiev\'s words clearly.
"He said we should fight all the way to Germany in this way, Comrade Commander!" Pukarev replied.
Shulka couldn\'t help laughing.
Soviet troops will indeed hit Germany, but not now.
But of course, Shulka wouldn\'t take Fedosiev\'s words seriously. He just said a joke with confidence because of the successive brilliant victories of the Fourth Tank Brigade.
In fact, many in the 4th Tank Brigade felt this way, including the 333rd Infantry Regiment, who seemed accustomed to winning on the battlefield.
But Shulka knew that the situation was still serious for the Soviet army.
Because: The number of T34s in the Fourth Tank Brigade is decreasing. Although the battle just now was a complete victory, three tanks were lost.
On the other hand, the German army has much more troops than the Soviet army, including the 5th Armored Division that was just defeated, and its strength and tanks are still more than twice that of the Soviet army.
(end of this chapter)