After a fierce battle, the Belco Battalion finally occupied the German positions. A few soldiers were left to support the troops behind, and Major Belco led the soldiers to pursue the fleeing enemies.
However, after chasing out less than a kilometer, they encountered the German army who came to reinforce, and the two sides immediately started a fierce battle. The machine gun in the German motorcycle sidewalk spit out flames, and soldiers holding weapons followed closely behind. They advanced while shooting, and occasionally threw grenades, and advanced quickly with the help of the explosion of smoke.
For a moment, gunfire, explosions, and painful screams sounded. Some people kept falling down, both Germans and Soviet soldiers. Captain Belk picked up a rifle with a bayonet from the ground, rushed forward bravely, and fought with the oncoming enemy.
The German army, which had always paid attention to firepower, was naturally not a match for the Soviet army in terms of stinging. They gradually withdrew from the battlefield and hid in the distance to shoot machine guns and bombarded the crowds with mortars, completely ignoring whether the machine guns or mortars would accidentally hurt their own people.
A mortar shell with a scream fell to Berko, who had just stabbed a German soldier. The soil caused by the explosion air waves was scattered on Berko's body like a goddess. His body shook twice and fell softly to the ground.
"Battery Commander," saw Belco fall, a soldier next to him rushed forward, shook his body vigorously, and shouted anxiously: "How are you, how are you?"
After Belk woke up, he stood up shakingly with the help of the soldiers. A wisp of blood flowed down his forehead and his cheeks, but he still shouted loudly to the soldiers around him: "Comrades, don't stop, rush for me, and continue to rush forward!" In order to set an example, he rushed towards the enemy not far away without even bandaging the wound on his head.
Seeing the battalion commander taking the lead in charge, his soldiers were naturally not willing to be outdone. They also followed him closely with weapons and rushed towards the enemy bravely.
When they rushed to a place more than ten meters away from the enemy, the soldiers took out grenades, pulled the strings, and threw them at the place where the enemy gathered, blowing them up to smoke at the place where the enemy was.
The battle ahead soon reached Popov's ears. He asked the Chief of Staff: "What's going on ahead? Have you broken through the German defense line?"
"Report to the commander," the chief of staff replied: "Captain Belko's battalion attacked the defense zone of the 61st motorcycle battalion of the German army, and had successfully broken through the enemy's first line of defense. However, as reinforcements from the second line arrived, their progress was blocked, and the troops suffered heavy casualties."
"Chief of Staff, immediately send reinforcements to them. Be sure to break through the three lines of defense of the German army before dawn." Popov was very afraid that the Chief of Staff would not pay attention to his opinion, so he specifically emphasized: "We do not have air supremacy on the battlefield. Once dawn comes, the enemy's planes will appear in the sky and bombard our offensive forces. If we want to break through the enemy's defense, we will inevitably pay a huge price."
"I understand, Comrade Commander." The Chief of Staff replied: "I will send them reinforcements immediately."
Popov sent reinforcements to the vanguard battalion, which was fighting fiercely in front of them, and General Balk, the commander of the 11th Armored Division of the German Army, who was deployed on the south side, was also gathering the 111th Armored Grenadier Regiment, intending to order them to rush to the defense zone of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion to reinforce and block the Soviet army's breakthrough troops.
This time, Barke and Chief of Staff Colonel Wink reached an agreement on their opinions. The Soviet army in the attack on the 61st Motorcycle Battalion was not a test operation, but was preparing to break through from that direction. While they gathered their troops, they called Manstein.
Originally, Manstein had already fallen asleep, but when he heard the adjutant say that Balk had an urgent report, he quickly sat up from the bed, took the phone call from the adjutant and asked, "General Balk, you call me so late, is there anything important?"
"Marson," Balk said respectfully after he finished speaking: "Have the Russians begun to break east?"
"What, the Russians broke eastward?" Manstein asked in surprise: "General Balk, who told you this news?"
"It is my subordinate, the battalion commander of the 61st Motorcycle Battalion stationed in the east." Balk reported respectfully: "The Russians launched an attack on his defense zone two hours ago. Now the first line of defense has been broken, and the troops that hold the second line of defense are carrying out tenacious resistance."
When Manstein heard this, he covered the microphone with his hand and ordered the adjutant standing next to him: "Go out and find out if the Russian armored troops are still in their original position?"
After the adjutant left, Manstein let go and continued to ask: "General Balk, since the Russians broke through your defense zone, have you taken any measures?"
"Yes, Lord Marshal." Balk replied: "I have ordered the 111th Armored Grenadiers to assemble and be ready to reinforce the areas under attack."
"Our troops are mainly concentrated in the north, south and west, but the defenses on the east are the weakest." Manstein said with some annoyance: "Even if we want to mobilize the troops, it will take at least one day. In order to prevent the Russians from escaping from our encirclement, it is far from enough to just transfer a grenade regiment. You should immediately send the 15th Armored Regiment in that direction."
"But, Mr. Marshal." Balk said with a wry smile about Manstein's proposal: "Our tanks are short of fuel, so they may fall asleep halfway through the way."
"Your fuel is insufficient, and the Russians are also insufficient." Manstein said on the phone: "But you still have to drive the tanks to the route they want to retreat, which is a victory. When their tanks appear in your sight, your tanks can destroy them all like a target. Do you understand?"
After listening to Manstein's explanation, Balk felt that it made sense. As long as he put his tank on the only way to break through the Soviet army, even if the tank is out of fuel, he can still be used as a fixed turret to eliminate passing Soviet tanks or infantry. After understanding this, he nodded quickly and said, "I understand, Mr. Marshal, I will immediately order the 15th Armored Regiment to assemble."
Chapter completed!