Chapter 711: The Battle Standard
As a shell was launched from the muzzle, the cannon’s barrel recoiled sharply. The gun carriage sank deep into the snow, and the vibration made the loose snow around the cannon jump. As the breechblock opened, a steaming shell casing clattered onto the ground, rolling among a pile of already cooled casings before coming to a stop.
Several Soviet Red Army soldiers with leather caps on their heads clumsily cleared the chamber and then reloaded another shell. Their movements were not skilled, but fortunately, there were many of them, so even after a period of fumbling, they quickly fired the second shell.
The warhead of the second shell was propelled out of the chamber by the exploding gases, then began to accelerate and spin along the rifling in the barrel. The stabilized shell flew out of the muzzle at high speed, trailing a beautiful straight line of blue smoke behind it.
It flew for a distance of over ten kilometers and then whistled down onto the German positions. Gravity caused it to gradually approach the ground, finally crashing into a reinforced machine gun strongpoint. It accurately hit its target and then produced a very violent explosion.
Flames and shrapnel were spread by the shockwave of the explosion, then tore through the roof and spread into the surrounding trenches. The blast wave sent the mangled bodies of the five or six German soldiers inside flying into the air. A precise artillery strike was thus completed.
In a concealed shelter not far from the front line, a young Soviet general moved his eyes away from the eyepiece of the battery commander’s scope. He squinted at the black pillar of smoke rising from the explosion in the distance, clearly very satisfied to have witnessed the destruction of a German bunker with his own eyes.
He turned around, extended a finger, and pointed it at the chest of a general behind him. Then, this general slowly spoke, his voice filled with authority, “I gave you two hours, but you failed to complete your mission. My army has no need for idiots who cannot complete their tasks. So, you can hand over your epaulets and your weapon and leave this place.”
“General Rokossovsky, please give me another chance! I will personally go to the front! I will personally go to the front to command the battle! Please don’t send me to the court-martial! I beg you!” The general, his face pale with fear at Rokossovsky’s words, quickly pleaded.
“I am giving you a final dignity. You will not have to wait to be executed by a court-martial.” Rokossovsky seemed to have no intention of forgiving this subordinate, because he had put too much effort into organizing this attack. He had been ordered to be the spearhead to take Kiev, so he had to complete the mission and stand on the walls of Kiev within the specified time. “I will execute you here myself, so you can be sent back to Moscow as a hero who died at the front, to be worshipped by the people.”
As soon as his words fell, two soldiers in charge of enforcement stepped forward and seized the general who had failed to complete his attack mission. He wanted to say something more, but in the end, he stopped struggling and was dragged out, dejected.
Rokossovsky turned his head, no longer looking at his once-close comrade, and ordered another division commander, “I will give you one hour to take the designated position. If you fail to complete the mission, you will share his fate!”
“Comrade General! If I cannot complete the mission, then please save that bullet!” This division commander had a full beard and was one of the most capable generals under Rokossovsky’s command. His style was fierce, and he was one of the most valiant generals in the entire Guards Army. “I will personally lead the charge! Either I will return to personally report the news of victory to you, or someone will return in my place to report to you the process of my death in battle.”
He gave Rokossovsky a military salute, then turned and walked out. As he reached the door, he gave a slight wave of his hand, and an aide followed behind him, handing him a steel helmet.
With only one hour, he no longer had the chance to probe the attack or to have his men test the waters first. So this bearded general put on his helmet and prepared to personally lead a larger-scale attack.
On the German positions, two Soviet soldiers, with bayonets fixed, charged towards the German soldiers opposite them. The German soldiers, out of ammunition, took up their shovels and grappled with their opponents. Further in the distance, a German soldier fired fiercely with his assault rifle, and three or four Soviet Red Army soldiers were hit by the bullets, falling not far in front of him.
A Soviet Stalin tank was destroyed by a Panzerfaust and was burning on the position. The flames on its frontal armor plate seemed to be praying for the lost lives inside the tank, flickering and swaying. It seemed to be a fierce tank annihilation battle. Every dozen meters or so, there was a destroyed Soviet tank, and not far in front of the wrecks of these tanks, there were also many destroyed German anti-tank gun positions.
“These damn Red Army soldiers, don’t they ever rest? Don’t they ever retreat to reorganize their troops?” a German soldier cursed in annoyance after emptying his magazine, looking at the sea of Soviet soldiers still charging up from the other side. Beside him, two machine gunners were struggling to change the barrel of their MG 42. Due to continuous firing, this barrel had become too hot to be used any longer.
Since their invasion of Ukraine in the summer, the German army had never encountered such a terrifying counter-attack from the Red Army. In the summer, they had easily achieved victory, annihilating a large number of Soviet effective forces. Now these prisoners were still contributing to Germany’s four modernizations in the prisoner-of-war camps.
However, now, these new replacement German soldiers, and those veterans who had experienced the French campaign and the German-Soviet war in Poland, were all experiencing the true strength of the Red Army for the first time. These well-trained Soviet Red Army soldiers, properly used by a suitable commander, were even more frenzied on the battlefield because of their fanatical faith, just like the SS.
Frenzy! Unbelievable frenzy. Political commissars led hundreds and thousands of Soviet soldiers, shouting Comrade Stalin’s name as they charged towards their objective. Mines, enemy bullets, fire… nothing could stop their steps, until they charged into the objective and occupied it, or all of them died on the path of the charge.
For the first time, the well-trained German soldiers knew the terror of the slogan “Urrah!” When tens of thousands of enemies on the other side shouted this word together, the magnificent momentum really made the German soldiers on the opposing side feel extremely uncomfortable. They were not used to this kind of war that disregarded costs. They were not used to this kind of life-or-death struggle.
Although List had split the only armored corps he had into several independent “battlefield fire brigades” to plug the holes that appeared in the defense line and to put out the dangerous situations that arose on the positions, because the Soviet army’s attack was simply too fierce, he still lost many of the defensive positions he had expected to hold in one day.
According to the reports, on the first day, some of the Soviet armored units had already cut into his tic-tac-toe defense line, while his own armored units, being too dispersed, had been unable to annihilate the Soviet tanks that had entered the pocket. What was even more frustrating was the weather forecast. The probability of the air force being able to take off and engage the enemy in the next three days was very low, so low that List didn’t even dare to pray.
It seemed that God was now on the side of the Soviets. List’s defense line was already riddled with holes to the point of despair. Although Guderian’s attack on the other side was faster than the Soviets’ breakthrough of the German lines here, and he had captured tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners, it was clear that if Kiev fell, then everything would become a mirage. The main German forces would be encircled between Kharkov and Donetsk.
Just as List was anxiously waiting for some good news from his defense line, a German soldier raised his hands high towards the Red Army. His eyes were filled with terror. Along with him, several other young German men also laid down their weapons. They had just arrived on the Eastern Front as replacement soldiers and had not expected to experience such a terrifying nightmare.
Not far away, a Soviet Red Army soldier climbed onto the top of a concrete bunker and, while shouting “Urrah!”, waved the red flag in his hand. More Soviet soldiers charged towards the German trenches. They jumped into the trenches and grappled with the German soldiers, and were then submerged in the sea of more Soviet soldiers who rushed in behind them.
Crack! A German soldier aimed at the Soviet flag bearer who was holding the red flag high and accurately blew his head apart. But the red flag did not fall, because more Soviet soldiers climbed onto the bunker and held up the swaying flag. Amidst their cheers, more German soldiers raised their hands, accepting the fact that they had been defeated.
Inside a concealed bunker, a German division commander defending this place heard the ever-closer sound of gunfire and the continuous wails of the German soldiers. He looked at the burned divisional battle standard on the ground, and some classified documents, then shook his head and picked up the small, exquisite pistol that was on the table.
Rat-tat! Rat-tat! The sound of the guards’ guns outside had already begun. This proved that the Soviets had already charged to a very close position. A bullet had already pierced the door, leaving a hole that let in light.
The German division commander gave a bitter smile, then put the muzzle of the pistol into his mouth. After a moment’s hesitation, he finally pulled the trigger. The bullet, along with a spray of blood, splattered onto the defense map hanging on the wall, staining the area marked as this German division’s defense sector red.
Published: 2025-09-21T03:16:51.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2026-03-05T18:59:46.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c711-battle-139372653
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