Chapter 112 Adventure
At this critical moment, Yuri chose to take a risk. He decided to stay in the area of Nozyarsky town and organize a blocking battle that he had no confidence in, in order to delay the German offensive in the direction of Novosibirsk.
In order to prepare, Yuri issued several orders in succession: first, send a signalman to rush to Novosili urgently, and use all available communication means to report the news of the German attack to the front headquarters; second, inform the headquarters of the 28th Mechanized Army of the battle situation and ask Comrade Khaliuzin to mobilize the reserve troops of the mechanized army to launch an offensive against the German flank to curb its attempt to attack Novosili; third, send a special team headed by Comrade Tolonin to search in the direction of Laturinsk, gather up the scattered troops, and bring them back to Noziarski to strengthen the defense line. Finally, he will mobilize the brigade under his command for battle, and at the same time, arrange the defense line in the shortest time.
Military Commissar Tolonin was undoubtedly a responsible and energetic officer. After receiving the order, he did not raise any questions and immediately led two teams to the south. Yuri told him to gather as many scattered tanks or artillery as possible and come back in the shortest time possible.
As for the signalman who delivered the message, Yuri originally planned to send Arseni to Novosili, but was rejected. In the end, he could only send two guards on horseback to Novosili and the headquarters of the 28th Mechanized Army respectively.
As for the arrangement of the defense line, Yuri did not choose the town of Nozyaalsky. Although it was relatively simple to defend the city, the town of Nozyaalsky was far away from the road leading to Novosibirsk. If the German army's goal was to raid Novosibirsk, they would definitely bypass the town and march directly along the road.
After careful consideration, Yuri chose the Kosomovo Heights, less than 3 kilometers away from the town of Noziarski, as the defense line.
The Kosomovo Highlands are not actually highlands at all. It is just a series of small hills. Like most of the hills in the hilly areas in the southern suburbs of Moscow, its average altitude is only a few dozen meters. Moreover, the slopes of the hills are gentle, and none of them can be considered dangerous. Tanks can climb to the top of the hill effortlessly.
The main reason why Yuri chose that place was because the road leading to Novosili passed through this small hill. He could deploy his troops in front of this hill and defend it layer by layer.
Before ordering his troops to enter the Kosomovo Heights and set up defensive positions, Yuri conducted a brief pre-war mobilization of the entire brigade outside the town of Noziarski.
"The fascists suffered an unprecedented defeat at the gates of Moscow, but they are unwilling to accept defeat. Now, they are preparing to launch a second attack on us," Yuri said in a stump in front of thousands of eyes, "They launched a despicable sneak attack on the positions of the 5th Tank Army in the direction of Laturinsk, and luckily broke through the defense line there. Now, this group of fascists is rushing towards our position. They are ready to destroy us, seize Novosili, and then launch an offensive towards Tula and Moscow."
"I know that everyone present here has never participated in a war or experienced the flames of war. You may be very scared and afraid of death. You may scream at the sound of artillery explosions and be at a loss when facing the fascists. You may even have the idea of running away. These are all normal. As your temporary commander, I can understand your fear." Yuri continued. Although his voice was not very loud, everyone present could hear it. "But I want to remind you, remind each of you, if the fascist tanks rush in front of you, and you don't want to give up everything you have, including your home, your wife, your mother, and all the places we call our motherland, then you must understand: If you don't stand up at this moment and can't muster up the courage, no one can save her. You must also understand that if you don't stop those fascists, no one can stop them."
“So, when the fascists rush over, when their bullets pour down on you, when their shells explode around you, please forget your fear. You only need to remember one thing: to eliminate the fascists, either you die or I die. Either your family suffers, or he goes to hell. Therefore, eliminate at least one fascist, and it would be better to eliminate more. Eliminate every fascist that enters your sight, and victory will belong to us. You will become heroes, heroes that everyone in your motherland will remember!”
Yuri had no idea how effective the pre-war mobilization was, but the soldiers' thunderous cheers gave him some confidence. Later, this confidence was further enhanced with Tolonin's return.
In Yuri's opinion, Tolonin was the most competent and outstanding military commissar he had ever met. He used three hours to gather a large number of defeated soldiers in the area south of Noziarsky Town. This force had 21 tanks, 23 anti-tank rifles, and nearly 400 soldiers.
Although this unit was a defeated army, for Yuri at this time, they were equivalent to a fresh force. What was more important was that among these 21 tanks, there were 6 KV heavy tanks.
However, Tolonin also brought bad news to Yuri, because among the defeated soldiers he gathered, there was a staff officer of the 5th Tank Army. According to this staff officer, Comrade Lizyukov, commander of the 9th Tank Army, was probably killed in action. He saw with his own eyes that the tank Comrade Lizyukov was riding in was destroyed by anti-tank guns when it attacked the German tanks.
The news that Lizyukov might have been killed was definitely bad news for Yuri, because it meant that the German troops attacking the 5th Tank Army would definitely not be a brigade or a division, but a rather large force. At the same time, the commander was killed and the command of the 5th Tank Army was also broken up, which meant that the army was likely out of control and even completely defeated. Therefore, the pressure he might encounter in Noziarsky would increase several times.
Yuri was still very decisive. After learning the general situation on the front line, he gave up the plan to concentrate the limited tanks to launch a counterattack against the German army in the battle, but deployed these tanks on the battlefield and used them as fixed anti-tank turrets. This is not only because these tanks are indeed the best anti-tank weapons, but also because the existence of these tanks can greatly boost the morale of the soldiers.
The German attacking force obviously did not intend to give Yuri too much preparation time. Less than half an hour after Tolonin returned with his troops, the German vanguard consisting of 12 tanks and followed by motorized infantry appeared in the field of view of the telescope.
The German troops were very smart. They did not launch a direct attack on the Soviet defense line on the Kosomovo Heights. Instead, they went around to the town of Noziarski on the right side of the heights. Then, they emerged from the east of the town and launched an offensive on the flank of the Soviet defense line.
However, the German army obviously underestimated the strength of the Soviet defense line. Their offensive was repelled within a dozen minutes. After losing two tanks and gaining nothing, they retreated back to the town and waited for the arrival of follow-up troops.
Less than 20 minutes after the battle ended, a formation of six German dive bombers appeared over the Kosomovo Heights.
…
The shrill alarm sounded throughout Novosili. Lieutenant Colonel Teritov, who was in charge of the daily affairs of the transit camp, rushed to the camp warehouse in his jeep and issued an order to the troops stationed there: he required this troop to load all the weapons and transport them to the barracks within 20 minutes.
Five minutes ago, Lieutenant Colonel Teritov, despite the obstruction and threats of the Military Commissar and in violation of camp discipline, issued a pre-war mobilization order to all Soviet soldiers stranded in the transit camp. Now, he was ready to continue to violate the ban, arm all the soldiers in the transit camp, and organize defense on the spot to resist the German attack that might come at any time.
At this time, Lieutenant Colonel Teritov did not know that his repeated violations of the ban would win him a valuable medal, while the military commissar who abided by the rules and regulations and strictly observed the ban would be removed from all his posts.
At the same time, in the Bryansk Front headquarters in Yelets, Deputy Commander Batov, who was in charge of the front's organization, and Front Military Commissioner Shabalin were looking at the war zone map on the table in front of them with dull expressions. Opposite them, Rokossovsky was on the phone, and the person he was talking to was Chibisov, who had just taken over the 38th Army.
The call lasted for several minutes. When Rokossovsky hung up the phone, his face was so serious that it seemed as if a layer of frost had frozen over it.
"How is it?" Batov and Shabalin asked impatiently almost at the same time.
"He needs six hours," Rokossovsky slammed the pen he was holding tightly in his hand onto the map.
"Six hours?" Batov and Shabalin looked at each other.
Less than 10 minutes ago, they had just received a call from Novosili, reporting that the German army had broken through the 5th Tank Army's defense line in the Laturinsk area, established a landing site on the north bank of the Korobka River, and was currently launching an offensive in the direction of Noziarsky.
The person who answered the phone was Shabalin. His first thought was "this is a prank". He thought he should punish this guy severely for making fun of military intelligence. However, during the subsequent questioning, he learned that the other party was actually Yuri Arkhipovich's guard, and the other party also told him that Yuri had established a defense line in the town of Noziarsky to resist the German attack.
