Chapter 799: Within Reach

A squad of German soldiers cautiously approached a quiet little village. As they climbed over a fence, two soldiers set up their MG42 machine gun on the low wall of a courtyard next to the fence. They stepped on some scattered jars and broken bricks by the low wall, vigilantly watching for any small movement ahead.

The soldiers on the other side, bent at the waist, very carefully hugged the edge of the road, inching closer to the buildings in the village. They carried their weapons, keeping their bodies as low as possible, alternating as they crossed the open ground at top speed.

Further in the distance, a German captain was leaning against his car, observing the quiet village with his binoculars. Beside him, several battalion artillerymen were assembling a 60mm mortar with all the speed they could muster.

“Have the 2nd Company flank around to the left of the village. Clear out any possible Soviet soldiers from that side,” the battalion commander ordered the radio operator beside him after lowering his binoculars. “Urge the 1st Company, which is attacking from the front, to get closer as soon as possible. If there are Soviets in the village, they will suffer heavy losses if their advance is too slow.”

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! Just as the German army was encircling and approaching this small village, a dazzling tongue of fire suddenly spewed from the window of a building in the village. Bullets swept like rain into the attacking German troops. In an instant, two soldiers were knocked to the ground, and the rest scrambled down the roadbed to avoid the flying bullets.

There were indeed Soviet soldiers ambushed in the village, and it seemed they were quite elite. These soldiers had calmly let the German army get close enough before they had begun their frantic return fire. Bullets flew everywhere. In just a few dozen seconds, seven or eight soldiers had been hit and had fallen to the ground, either screaming in agony or unable to even make a sound.

“Medic! We’ve got a man hit! Man hit!” In a ditch on the side of the road, a German soldier was screaming frantically. Bullets flew over their heads, making a clanging sound as they hit the cold, hard earth. A soldier had been hit in the neck by a bullet, and the blood had already stained his dirty white camouflage uniform red. Fortunately, it had not hit an artery, so he was still worth saving.

“Machine gun! Cover! Fire, you bastards!” a German veteran shouted, sticking his G43 semi-automatic rifle out of the trench and blindly emptying his magazine in the direction from which the bullets had come. He then ducked back, cursing loudly while reloading his weapon.

The village, which had been quiet and peaceful just a moment ago, had now been completely transformed into a bloody hell. The German machine gun that had been set up at the edge of the village now also opened fire fiercely. The tracer rounds were conspicuous enough even in the daytime, forming a straight line as they rushed towards the window of the Soviet machine gun.

The bullets struck that window, immediately kicking up a cloud of white dust from the brick and stone structure. The bullets shattered the stones, leaving clearly visible holes in them. The glass was shattered into pieces, clattering as it fell to the ground. Then the entire window frame was shot to pieces, turning into wood chips and scattered wooden strips, falling along with the glass.

“My God! 1st Company is pinned down! There’s a machine gun to our front. The 1st Company’s attacking force is pinned down!” an officer from the battalion headquarters, who was craning his neck to observe the battlefield situation from a distance, shouted to the battalion commander beside him with a frown.

This German infantry battalion commander was also frowning at this moment. He certainly understood that this was not a good situation. If the 1st Company in front was pinned down by fierce firepower, then the 2nd Company, which was taking a detour to attack, would have to face the situation in the village alone at this time. Their encounter would probably not be much better than the 1st Company’s.

Sure enough, a request for reinforcements came over the radio from the 2nd Company. They were pinned down around a few houses and could only hold on and fight in a small corner. But to expand their gains was, for the time being, unrealistic.

The battalion commander looked again at the frontline battlefield he could see. On the ground there, a wounded German soldier who had just been struggling was lying in the middle of the road, no longer moving. And not far from this corpse, next to another German corpse, the Germans were desperately setting up a second machine gun.

Some of the German veterans had already begun to lie on the side of the roadbed, firing frantically with their MP-44 assault rifles and G43s, trying to suppress the second Soviet heavy machine gun that had just appeared. This machine gun was deployed in a more concealed position. It had only suddenly opened fire after the machine gun hidden in the window had been suppressed by the Germans.

This machine gun caused a great deal of trouble for the German army. Due to its angle, many of the Germans hiding behind the roadbed were exposed to its fire. A dozen or so soldiers were hit, and the attacking 1st Company was almost routed because the enemy’s crossfire was so well-placed.

But the German army had now stabilized its position. They had set up a temporary machine gun nest by the corpses and had brought out their second machine gun. The MG42 was indeed the solid foundation of German firepower. As soon as it opened fire, it fought the enemy’s heavy machine gun to a standstill, suppressing its fierce firepower.

“We can’t just wait here to die. In pairs, charge onto the road, get to the courtyard wall over there, and organize a new forward position there to cover the other soldiers as they continue to advance! Staying here is just waiting to be picked off by the enemy! Be quick! You, follow me!” a German veteran shouted, poking his head out and roughly observing the terrain. He then encouraged his comrades to continue the attack.

He pulled up a new recruit, and the two of them risked leaping onto the road, holding their helmets and running at a full sprint towards the pre-selected position. At their feet, the white smoke from the bullet impacts was only a few centimeters from their shoes. The Soviets had also discovered the Germans’ attempt and were firing frantically at the two of them.

The German veteran ran firmly towards the position he had chosen, while the German soldier who was struggling to keep up screamed loudly, frightened by the bullets whistling past him. In the end, he gave up following and suddenly turned to run back to where he had started. Unfortunately, his luck was not very good. The bullets that had been following their footsteps finally hit him in the calf. This German new recruit immediately fell to the ground.

Before he could even cry out, due to his hesitation, several bullets fired from all directions pierced his body at the same time. This German soldier collapsed to the ground, his body contorting, his corpse twitching from the impact of the bullets.

In another direction, the German veteran, a few steps from the low wall, made a sliding tackle and ducked behind the low wall he had chosen. The Soviet bullets followed his slide and struck the low wall, sending the already frozen snow on top flying everywhere in a shower of fragments.

Lying on the ground, panting, the cold air made his breath visible as white mist. He cautiously glanced at the new recruit lying on the road. It only took him a fraction of a second to look away. A soldier who could not survive on the battlefield was not worth grieving for.

The veteran raised his MP-44 assault rifle, poked it out from behind the low wall, and fired a dozen or so rounds in the direction of the enemy. He then moved to another spot, quickly poked his head out, aimed at a Soviet soldier holding a rifle, and fired fiercely.

His attack turned that Soviet soldier into a sieve. A Soviet soldier who had wanted to come out of a doorway to throw a grenade was also cut down. His cover gave the German army a moment to breathe. Several German soldiers, using his suppression, quickly crossed the road and jumped in behind this low wall.

This time, a flaw finally appeared in the Soviet’s crossfire. The Germans were no longer lambs huddled together waiting to be slaughtered, but a group of targets attacking from several different directions at once. This forced the Soviet fire to begin to disperse, and their firepower density, which relied heavily on their machine guns, a weak point, also began to be exposed.

Several German infantrymen began to fire fiercely from the direction of the low wall. They shot down some of the Soviets who had rushed out of the buildings onto the village roads and, from the side, helped to suppress the firing Soviet machine gun nests with their attack.

BOOM! A mortar shell finally landed in the village. The German battalion’s artillerymen had finally managed to assemble their weapons and had begun their first barrage. However, this barrage was clearly not very accurate. Most of the shells landed in open spaces and inside the village.

Although this mortar barrage had not had much of a substantive effect, it had put pressure on the Red Army. Some of the enemy soldiers were forced to move, which immediately relieved the firepower pressure on the German army. After all, the Soviet Mosin-Nagant rifle was a bolt-action rifle and required a large number of men to maintain a dense fire.

With the pressure relieved, the German army began to return fire frantically. Their firepower advantage was immediately apparent. Some German soldiers, under the cover of their comrades, gradually approached the village and captured some of the outer buildings. In this way, the Soviet defense line was completely disrupted, and a chaotic melee began in the entire village.

The 2nd Company, which had been flanking from the side, also began to expand its defensive perimeter as the pressure eased. The area controlled by the Soviets in the village was rapidly shrinking. The German army’s second round of mortar shells was much more accurate. Several shells blew up the house where the Soviet heavy machine gun nest was located, and the Soviets instantly lost their relied-upon heavy fire support.

With one command, the Germans began their final attack. The Soviets were squeezed out of the village and fled into the distance. But the open ground between the village and the distant woods was nearly a thousand meters long. These Soviets had not even run halfway before the bullets flying from behind them had pierced their bodies.

The battle for a village came to an end. A German infantry battalion had suffered 41 casualties to capture this place—they were now within reach of Orsha.

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