Early the next morning, the regimental commanders were summoned to the division headquarters for a meeting. I did not overstep the line to exercise the duties of division commander, and Baksov was still in charge of giving orders.

On the basis of the aggregated reconnaissance information, Baksov assigned tasks to the commanders of the regiments. I don't know if it was because he wanted to curry favor with me, or for some other reason, the Shederikov regiment, as the main force of the division, actually did not get the task of the main attack, but stayed in the rear as a reserve to watch the excitement.

When Shedelikov heard Baksov's arrangement, he couldn't help but turn his head and glance at me meaningfully, as if begging me to give him good things and let them take up the main attack mission.

Instead of paying all his attention to the map on the table, Baksov was deploying his mission, and from time to time he looked around to understand the first reaction of the commanders. The eye contact between me and Sederikov unsurprisingly fell into his eyes. When he saw that I opened my mouth to speak, he hurriedly coughed and said first: "Comrade commander, you may wonder why the combat effectiveness of the Shedelikov regiment is the strongest, but I did not let the regiment participate in the main attack, but only served as a reserve, right?" ”

Baksov's arrangement made me very curious, and when I heard him ask at this moment, I nodded, indicating that I wanted to know the answer. He continued: "After seizing the positions on the outskirts of Djergach, the next step will be an offensive on the city. The ability of the Sedjerikov regiment in street fighting was the strongest in the whole division. If they had suffered heavy casualties in the battle to clear the perimeter, then the troops who were not familiar with street fighting would have been caught in a long and brutal tug-of-war with the Germans. ”

Baksov's explanation is impeccable, not to mention me, even Sederikov, who has an opinion about him, has nothing to say at the moment.

See that the task has been assigned. Baksov looked at me and asked respectfully: "Comrade commander, I wonder if you have any other instructions?" ”

Since the 67th Guards Division was not my descendant, the tactics they used in the battle were still the old offensive mode of the Soviet army. Every time they attacked on open ground, they were in a dense formation. The suicidal charge of blindly rushing forward with a gun in hand usually allowed the Germans, who were hidden in fortifications or bunkers, to calmly fire and strafe them. In the end, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and they were unable to achieve any results.

They were soon going to attack the German positions again, and in order to avoid unnecessary sacrifices, I solemnly said to them: "Comrade commander, I know that you have some erroneous views about maintaining the density of fire. When attacking, you have to use a dense formation. Now I tell you that this mode of attack is completely wrong, and it will not be able to achieve any brilliant results at all, except for the heavy casualties of our troops. ”

"But, Comrade Commander." As soon as I finished speaking, one of the regimental commanders said aggrievedly: "If we attack, our army will not be able to gain superiority in firepower......"

Seeing that the attack was about to start, I didn't want to argue with him anymore. Hurriedly raised his hand to interrupt his later words, and said unceremoniously: "Comrade Regiment Commander." Your worries are easy to solve. For example, the infantry, under the cover of tanks, attacks the enemy's positions and can receive the necessary artillery support; In addition, when the German machine gunners fired outward, due to the terrain, they had to show some of their bodies anyway. Then we can kill them one by one with a sniper, and it's better than having our soldiers rush forward in a hail of bullets! ……”

Due to the urgency of time, I only mentioned some simple precautions, and I did not have time to tell them about the tactical principles such as "one point and two sides tactics", "four fast and one slow tactics", "three fierce tactics", "four groups and one team tactics", "three three system tactics", and "three situations and three ways of playing". However, Rao is like this, and these commanders have benefited a lot.

Baksov raised his hand and looked at his watch. Then he waved his hand at the commanders of each regiment and said loudly: "It's not too early, let's all go back to their respective units to prepare for battle!" ”

After everyone had left, Baksov respectfully asked me: "Comrade commander, I wonder if you and the deputy commander will stay in the headquarters or go to the forward observation post?" ”

"To the observation post, of course." Before I could say yes, Chistyakov preemptively said, "How can you stay here and see the progress of the battle with your own eyes." Do you say yes, Comrade Commander? ”

"That's right." Since Chistyakov thinks the same as mine, I naturally have to echo his opinion: "We will go to the Forward Observatory and have a look." ”

"All right, Comrade Commander." Seeing that we were on the same page, Baksov had no choice but to say, "Please come with me, and I'll take you to the forward observation post." ”

Since our artillery units were not yet in place, there was no artillery preparation before the attack, but the tanks opened the way in front and the infantry followed behind. However, the commanders of each regiment seemed to have remembered my instructions and adjusted the previous offensive mode, allowing the troops to hide behind the tanks in squads and platoons, and trot towards the enemy's positions.

When our tanks were only three or four hundred meters from the Germans, the machine guns on the positions opened heavy fire. Since the infantry were hiding in the dead end behind the tank, the bullets from the German machine guns hit the armor plates, splashing strings of sparks, and it was difficult to cause any damage to the infantry behind the tank.

Seeing that the machine-gun fire was ineffective, the Germans bombarded it with mortars. As the mortar shells exploded around the tank, the flying shrapnel caused casualties among the commanders and fighters who followed the tank. Seeing one commander after another falling, Chistyakov was a little anxious, he patted Baksov on the shoulder and asked loudly: "Comrade division commander, can you suppress the enemy's mortars with artillery fire?" ”

Baksov said with a sad face: "Comrade Deputy Commander, the artillery regiment is not yet in place, and it is difficult to suppress the enemy's fire with just a few mortars in the division. ”

"So what to do?" Chistyakov became a little impatient: "Do you watch our fighters fall under enemy fire?" ”

"Comrade Deputy Commander, don't be in a hurry." Observing the situation on the battlefield, I said to him lightly: "Our tanks are not vegetarians, they will take out the enemy's mortar positions." ”

As soon as I finished speaking, a tank stopped in front of the anti-tank trench, slowly turned the turret, aimed its muzzle at the position of the German mortar, and fired a decisive shot. The shell landed precisely near the German mortar and exploded, and after a flash of fire, the mortar team that had been firing was silent. (To be continued.) )