After Baharov issued the attack order, the 170th Tank Brigade, which first attacked, fought fiercely with the Skeleton Division's armored regiment for a day. Although it defeated more than a dozen German tanks, the losses he paid were several times that of the enemy. Such a huge loss ratio made the tank soldiers of the brigade feel angry.
After receiving the attack order, the remaining more than 30 tanks were deployed in combat formations in battalions, and headlights turned on toward the area where the German army was stationed. According to the brigade commander's idea, it would be a fierce battle to launch an assault on the armored regiment of the Skeleton Division tonight. Maybe by dawn, there would be only one empty number left in his own unit.
Unexpectedly, after the battle started, the German resistance seemed very weak. The tanks parked behind the trenches fired a few shots at the Soviet tanks that rushed up, and there was no sound. Even the infantry hiding in the trenches fell to the ground for a while, and then fell silent.
Faced with the abnormal actions of the German positions, the tank brigade commander felt that there might be any conspiracy and quickly ordered the troops to stop attacking and stand by on standby. After the tanks stopped moving forward, the brigade commander reported the situation here to Baharov and finally asked for instructions: "Comrade Commander, I think the Germans might have any conspiracy, so I ordered the troops to stop attacking and temporarily stop at standby. What should we do next?"
Knowing that the German resistance was very weak, Baharov also felt something was wrong. After a brief thought, he ordered the brigade commander: "Your brigade stopped the attack temporarily and immediately sent people to the enemy's position to reconnaise, to figure out what the enemy is doing?"
Although Baharov ordered the tank brigade to conduct reconnaissance on the enemy, he was still worried. At this time, he remembered the reconnaissance squad that first entered the October Farm before the counterattack, and hurriedly ordered his chief of staff: "Chief of Staff, before we attacked the October Farm, what is the name of the scout commander who led the squad deep into the enemy's defense zone?"
The Chief of Staff did not remember the name of an ordinary officer below. He couldn't help but blush and said to Baharov: "Comrade Commander, I can't remember his name clearly. I'll check it out for you right away."
The Chief of Staff made several calls and finally figured out the name of the commander. He quickly reported to Baharov: "Comrade Commander, I have found it. The commander who first led the reconnaissance team into October Farm and relied on the position to defend the commander, named Bisklev, was a lieutenant."
"Call him to the army command immediately." Baharov felt that to understand the enemy's true intentions, he had to do a scout like Lieutenant Krev: "I have a task to him."
Bisklev, who received the order, soon appeared in front of Baharov. He straightened his back and raised his chin slightly, waiting for Baharov to give him an order.
Baharov circled around Bisklev, looked him carefully and said, "Comrade Lieutenant, I heard that before our army counterattacked the October Farm, you led a small army into the farm. Not only did you occupy the temporary positions built by the German army, but also used captured artillery to bombard the German command in just a few artillery, causing the enemy to fall into chaos after losing unified command, and made considerable contributions to our army's successful capture of the farm."
Hearing Baharov's affirmation of himself, Bisklev's face showed a smile. However, when he thought of those comrades who died, the expression on his face became serious again: "Comrade Commander, the credit is not me alone, but our entire team. In order to defend the position, most of the soldiers in the team have died."
"We will remember them," Baharov continued: "After the Battle of Kursk, I will order people to build a monument on the farm, and carve the names of the commanders and fighters who died in order to liberate the October Farm."
When Bisklev learned that Baharov was going to erect a monument for the sacrificed commanders and soldiers, he was very moved: "Comrade Commander, I am on behalf of those sacrificed comrades, thank you!"
"Comrade Lieutenant, I'll call you here today. There is an important task to you." Baharov got back to the topic after laying the groundwork: "Friends are attacking the enemy opposite us from the south. We need to cooperate with them to annihilate this enemy. But now a little has happened. The 170th Tank Brigade, which was the main assault, did not find any decent resistance during the attack. I am worried that the enemy might have any conspiracy."
Although Baharov had not finished speaking, Bisklev guessed what he meant: "Do you want me to lead the team deep into the enemy's defense zone for reconnaissance?"
"Yes, that's how I thought about it." Baharov reminded Bisklev: "Comrade Lieutenant, time is tight, you must seize the time to conduct reconnaissance. It is best to figure out the defense of the frontal enemy before dawn."
Although it is less than ten hours before dawn, it is difficult to figure out the deployment of the front German army, seeing that Baharov trusts himself so much, Bisklev still straightened his back and replied loudly: "Please rest assured, comrade Commander, I will definitely figure out the deployment of the enemy before dawn tomorrow."
The reconnaissance team that Bisklev originally commanded basically suffered losses in the battle two days ago. However, due to the particularity of the reconnaissance team, the relevant departments added some personnel to him, and now the total number of people in the entire team has reached 25. He returned to the team and briefly told the reconnaissance mission, and then led the team to set off.
They passed through the tanks parked about five or six hundred meters away from the German position, and with the help of the night's cover, they touched the enemy's position. At the beginning, Bisklev thought that no matter how careful he was, his actions might have been discovered by the German hidden post. Unexpectedly, they touched the trenches near the trenches, but they still heard no gunshots.
A corporal lying beside Bisklev asked in a low voice: "Comrade Lieutenant, what's going on? We all went to the enemy's trenches, why didn't the enemy move at all? Did they all hide in the trenches and sleep?"
Bisklev listened to the sound of gunfire from the south, then shook his head and said, "This is impossible. As far as I know, not long ago, the 170th Tank Brigade launched an attack on the enemy's positions, but because the enemy's resistance was too weak, the tank brigade commander felt that the enemy might have had any conspiracy, so he ordered the troops to stop the attack. The task given to us by the commander was to come here to reconnaise the enemy's troops deployment and figure out what conspiracy they had."
After Bisklev finished speaking, he paused for a moment and offered to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, why don't I take the two of you into the enemy's trenches and see how it's going on inside?"
"Yes." Bisklev readily agreed to the corporal's proposal and reminded the other party: "You must be careful. If you find something wrong, send someone back to report it to us immediately."
After the corporal led the two soldiers into the trench, they saw many black shadows lying on the edge of the trench, pointing their weapons forward, and preparing to shoot at any time. The corporal and others quickly lay down at the bottom of the trench and did not dare to move, fearing that the enemy would find it. But after waiting for a while, they found that the black shadows had not moved for a long time. The corporal felt something was wrong, so they let the two soldiers stay and touched them carefully.
He came behind a black shadow, put his hand on the other person's shoulder, and tried to fish in troubled waters. But as soon as he put it on the other person's shoulder, the black shadow fell to the side. The corporal was startled. He stared at the black shadow lying at the bottom of the trench and did not dare to move, afraid of disturbing the nearby enemies.
After a while, he reached out to touch the black shadow that was falling to the bottom of the trench. The tentacles were cold, as if they were dead. The corporal quickly approached and saw that it was indeed a corporal, with half of his face blown away. After seeing clearly that it was a German corporal, the corporal felt a cold air rising from the back of his back and rushed directly to the back of his head.
After sitting in the trench for a while, in order to figure out what was going on, he could only pluck up the courage to stand up and rush over to check the other black shadows. Soon, he found that these black shadows lying on the edge of the trench were all corpses that had been dead for a long time. There were a few figures moving in the distance, probably the only living people on the position, they placed these corpses on the edge of the trench.
The corporal returned to Bisklev and reported to him: "Comrade Lieutenant, I have carefully checked that except for a few German soldiers in the trench, the rest of the remaining bodies were corpses. The enemy was very cunning. They placed the bodies on the edge of the trench and placed weapons. From a distance, it seemed as if there was a unit waiting for the battle."
"The cunning German guy actually came up with such a trick." Bisklev cursed indignantly and asked back: "Did you see their tanks?"
"No." The corporal shook his head and replied, "I found that the enemy used corpses to set up a maze array. I felt it was necessary to come back and report to you immediately, so I did not continue to reconnaissance."
"It is not enough to know the situation in the enemy's trenches." Bisklev said to the corporal: "We must figure out the entire enemy's defense. Okay, don't lie down. Let's continue to move forward and figure out where the enemy's tanks are."
However, as the team continued to advance, Bisklev did not forget to instruct the radio operator: "Immediately send a telegram to the military command center and report the situation we have detected to the army commander."
Chapter completed!