Battle of the Third Reich Chapter 152: Rainy night (continued)

"Watch out for the roof and fire at that window! 122 block the road on the right." The second platoon leader of the Armored Grenadier overwhelmed the white wooden wall and rushed into the streets of Barham.

Zeissler's plan did not go beyond the conventional, it is still the standard German infantry village and town attack routine. It's just that the firepower output of the squad platoon exceeds that of ordinary infantry units by a lot, and the mobility is beyond the reach of the latter.

The paratroopers dispatched an assault team in advance, relying on excellent individual skills to lurk to a place tens of meters away from the Polish artillery position. The heavy rain and the cold guns on the German position attracted the attention of the Poles. At this time, they thought that the German army on the opposite side had been hit hard and had no counterattack.

The scene of Clausen’s paratrooper company retreating was really embarrassing. In the gap between the German transport vehicle and armored vehicle wreckage, orange flames were still faintly visible, the flames in the engine and cockpit were still smoldering, and rain poured on the hot steel plates. Shanghua became a puff of white steam. The corpses of fallen German paratroopers were scattered around the vehicle, together with the wreckage, it looked like a complete defeat.

The morale of the Polish soldiers was booming at this time, and the officers told them that they would wait until the remnants of the village were eliminated, and then turn around to clean up the Germans outside the village. Victory had become a foregone conclusion, just waiting for them to come forward and pick them. The Poles never thought that the paratroopers outside had already received reinforcements, and they had launched a counterattack so soon.

When the lurking paratroopers arrived at the predetermined location, they sent back a signal with a signal flashlight, and the armored grenadier company started advancing according to the original plan. The heavy rain helped the Germans a lot at this time. The rain curtain increased the suddenness of the German attack. When the Polish artillery found that the situation was not right, the Germans had already rushed into the range of the machine gun.

The machine guns of the paratroopers and armored vehicles relied on dense barrage to temporarily suppress the Polish anti-tank guns. The lurking German paratroopers seized the opportunity and immediately launched a surprise attack. Several paratroopers decisively rushed to the roadbed and used grenades and submachine guns to drop them in one fell swoop. This is the artillery position that poses the greatest threat to ourselves. The successful paratroopers fired two red flare, and the armored grenadier company immediately took advantage of the situation and launched a full-scale attack.

How to say they are all half-track mechanized units, after entering full speed assault. It only took a minute for the half-track transport vehicle to speed through the field of five to six hundred meters, and broke into the defense line outside the village in the panic eyes of the Polish soldiers. Although the German Army's 251 half-tracked vehicle is generally anti-ballistic, these opponents have only bayonet-mounted rifles in their hungry hands. At most, it can only make a dent in the steel plate of the car body and scratch some gray paint.

The tracked vehicle crushed the sandbag shelter, and the German soldiers in the carriage leaned forward, holding submachine guns and rifles and shooting at all the targets they could find. The armored grenadier company broke through the seemingly strong defense line of the defenders in an instant, and the panicked Polish infantry retreated along the street to the north of the village.

"133 took the paratroopers and turned from the right. Blocked the road behind, 134 followed 133 to act together, pay attention to the corners and roofs, and wipe out all enemies in the way. Aim over there, do you see the window on the second floor? The platoon leader stood beside the machine gunner, holding an mp40 submachine gun in his hand. While giving orders to his subordinates loudly, he pointed the target for the machine gunner.

The streets of Barham are not narrow, and the houses are relatively sparsely spaced. It is not a town suitable for street fighting. The Poles set up an ambush precisely in this unsuitable place. The unsuspecting German paratroopers suffered heavy losses as a result. But now the situation has reversed. All the arrangements previously made by the Poles have been used on the paratroopers, and there is no time to make a second arrangement. Moreover, even if they have time, they don't have so many resources.

The arrangement of traps has used up their reserves. Solsky originally planned to do a desperate ambush, as soon as possible to give the enemy the greatest damage, and try to eat a leading German army at once. Let the British see how the Poles fought bravely and slap those British guys who humiliated them. If Zeissler’s panzergrenadier company did not arrive. Solski’s plan might really succeed. I didn’t expect the German reinforcements to come so quickly, and the Poles fell short before seeing the dawn of victory.

The assault intensity of the armored grenadiers exceeded the imagination of the Poles. They did not expect to encounter such a rapid attack. The tall German armored vehicles don't care much about light weapons attacks. What's more, the Brigade of Podhall is equipped with French infantry weapons.

Bethier's 1916 rifle, a product after the First World War, has been slightly outdated in overall performance. However, because of the huge production volume, it was still the main weapon of the French Army at the time of the war. There was also sufficient inventory in the armory. When the Polish army in exile in France was reorganized, the French recommended this rifle to the Poles. These weapons were brought all the way from France to Norway by the Podhall Brigade, and then from Norway to the United Kingdom. Finally, because of the wonderful 75mm caliber of France, the British did not give these weapons to the Self-Defense Forces, and they also kept their inventory. Ammunition, when the entire brigade was abolished to a battalion, bullets became abundant and became the only thing that was indispensable in the Solski camp.

The Polish soldiers fired in vain at the gray-white armored vehicles under the searchlights, but the bullets were repeatedly flew by the machine gun shields and armored hulls. They found that they could not stop these armored vehicles from advancing, and the current battle situation began to despair. Poland The morale of the soldiers fell rapidly, and the soldiers retreated steadily under the attack of the Germans.

The officers have lost effective control of the troops. The Germans acted strictly in accordance with the combat regulations of the villages and towns. They blocked the road nodes with armored vehicles, and blocked the entire street with crossed machine gun fire. The searchlights on the vehicles illuminated the road. It was clear that crossing the road became a suicide at this time. The troops could no longer move freely between the streets. The soldiers and ammunition supply lines were also cut off. The Polish defense system was cut and fragmented, and the carefully set blocking points were surrounded and immediately The German grenadiers and paratroopers broke each.

The Germans were very cold-blooded at this time. They showed no mercy to the enemy. Polish soldiers shot to death were everywhere on both sides of the road. Many corpses were still holding white handkerchiefs for surrender. A squad of German paratroopers with bayonet-mounted rifles followed the main grenadier force along the main road of Barham, and at the same time converged the remains of the paratroopers who had died before. They searched for their comrades in the corpses. Looking for possible survivors, when encountering a Polish soldier who was still breathing, he added a bayonet.

The grenadiers stayed in the carriage of the armored car all the time, they rely on the cover of the car body. Fire grenades at the buildings hiding the Polish infantry, use the rifle to accurately shoot the exposed Polish officers and soldiers, and at the same time use the violent machine gun fire to suppress the enemy's fire at high points.

The style of German paratroopers is completely opposite, they are good at close assaults. Paratroopers like to kick open the gate, pick up the submachine gun and sweep two magazines, or throw in a few grenades, and then rush to the second floor with their weapons and do it again.

The Polish machine gunners hiding in the height of the building lost their way of retreat at this time. They were surrounded by the German army in a shooting bunker. The armored grenadier's heavy firepower platoon has their unique means to deal with such targets. They are equipped with a vehicle-mounted 37mm anti-tank gun.

This small-caliber anti-tank weapon, dubbed "door knocker" by the German infantry, has proven to be only suitable for dealing with lightly armored targets. Faced with the medium tanks in active service, it is already somewhat inadequate. The disadvantages of this weapon on the French battlefield are full. , The German infantry was almost used to the sound of her shells hitting the armor of the enemy tanks, so they gave her the nickname "door knocker".

At this time, this artillery has become the best weapon for attacking enemy machine gun shelters. The grenadier gunners happily blew up the fire spots on the roof with that precise small cannon. The Polish machine gunner, who had long been suppressed by the German machine gun, and his weapon rolled down the roof and hit the roof under the eaves. On the sidewalk.

The grenadier advanced very quickly, and the battle went so smoothly that even Zeissler was a little surprised. The grenadier company commander was very fortunate to have encountered the bad weather at this time. The paratroopers reported to him that a lot of simple cocktail bottles were piled up in a Polish bunker, but it was too rainy. The Polish soldiers were unable to ignite these weapons. When the paratroopers decisively killed these soldiers, they found that the ground was filled with wet matches.

The second platoon leader arrived at the predetermined position first. He led ten grenadiers to disperse the blocking Polish soldiers. A group of paratroopers rushed out of the hiding building. The machine gunner lay on the sidewalk and opened fire violently at the building on the other side of the street, covering the rest of the paratroopers to join the rescue force. At this time, these paratroopers had been besieged for a full forty minutes, and there were only 27 people left in the platoon. They repelled five large-scale attacks by the Poles, and the enemy broke their teeth. At least half of the Poles in the platoon fell on this street and caused the same number of wounded to the opponent.

But at this time they are almost out of ammunition and food. The two machine guns had the last drum, and the remaining soldiers only had five bullets each. If the grenadiers hadn't arrived in time, they would have been ready to bayonet the Polish.

At this time, both offense and defense are in different positions. The German army regained the initiative to fight. Zeissler ordered four armored vehicles in the third platoon to detour to the village north road. A 222 armored vehicle that survived the paratroopers moved along with the third platoon. The heavy fire platoon blocked the open area to the east outside the village, and the second platoon of paratroopers and armored grenadiers Gradually advancing from the southwest to the village together, he is ready to completely wipe out this hateful enemy in this village.

The Polish troops had lost all anti-tank weapons and machine guns at this time, and they were unable to stop the advancement of German armored vehicles. Soon they were driven to the southeast corner of the village by German troops. Retreated to the church of St. John.

Major Solski has lost his usual calmness. Although he thought he was ready to die in battle, he even imagined that he could use Solski’s heroic sacrifice to arouse the blood of the Polish compatriots to resist. At the same time, they used their sacrifices to accuse the British of deceit and oppression of the Polish army. He imagined that he would be included in the glorious history of Polish national resistance, just like those ancestors. But when Solsky really faced death, he found that he was no more brave than an ordinary soldier.

Looking at the desperate eyes of his subordinates, and the screams of the wounded struggling to survive, Solsky suddenly fell into a panic. He suddenly feared that his decision was wrong, he I don't know whether this sacrifice is really as useful as originally thought, whether his sacrifice is really as glorious as those ancestors.

But soon he stopped struggling with his own ideas. An 80mm mortar urged him to make a choice. At this time, the Germans did not directly bombard the church, they just used artillery to give a warning. .

This exquisite classical building has a long history. Zeissler didn’t want it to be destroyed in his own hands. Not to mention it would have a bad influence. The grenadier company had violated military discipline and they were killed on the way. Many Polish soldiers who tried to surrender would be a lot of lawsuits afterwards, and he didn't want to cause more trouble to himself.

"Frank, persuade your opponents to surrender and let them lay down their weapons. We guarantee their safety in life. I only give them three minutes to think about. When the time passes, we will immediately launch a full-scale attack. Then we will no longer Accept their surrender." Zeissler sat in the captain's seat and lit a cigarette under the lights of the radio.

"We have cleared a house, and the wounded of the grenadier have been properly treated." Von Klausen climbed into Zeissler's command car, and Nikkor gave him his position behind the commander's seat .

"Thank you, I have asked the chief sergeant to persuade those Poles to surrender. Tonight is enough. We need to stop and rest."

"Tonight? It's only two hours before dawn. The regiment has dispatched troops from the second battalion to support. We were beaten badly this time. We don't know how to write this combat report. "Clauson removed the submachine gun from his neck and hung it on the side of the machine gun rack.

"Write whatever you want~IndoMTL.com~ This is the case, you have made no mistakes. By the way, the code name of this Polish force is Red Dragon, they have a good name."

"Company commander, Sergeant Frank has come out, and the Poles have surrendered." Captain Nickel shouted from the side.

Zeissler quickly opened the armor cover of the observation window in front of him and looked out. The door of the church was all opened. Polish soldiers came out in a line holding their rifles. Several Polish officers walked in front of the line. He held the unarmed belt in his hand.

"Where is your commander?" Zeissler was standing in the rain with his chest straight, the young German lieutenant raised his chin and asked the Polish officer in front of him.

"Major Sorski committed suicide just now. This is his gun. He asked me to hand it to you." A Polish ensign stepped forward and held a pistol under the gaze of the surrounding German soldiers. Pass it to Zeissler's hand.

"?" Zeissler looked at the weapon in his hand with the light of the car lights. This is obviously a customized product, with a white coat of arms inlaid on the handle, and a red dragon breathing fire in the middle of the badge. . (To be continued.)

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