Late June 1941-South-west of the village of Yeziornitsa the Russians
made a cavalry charge straight into the machine-gun fire of the
motor-cycle battalion and the machine-gun battalion of 5th Regiment,
battalion and regiment strength.
Near Zelva they penetrated into the forward positions of the
reconnaissance detachments.
The German 15th and 71st Infantry Regiments, from Kassel and Erfurt,
were ceaselessly in action. The battalions of 15th Infantry Regiment,
in particular, had a difficult time. The 5th Company was in position
just over a mile outside the little town of Zelva, which was crammed
full with Russians. Again and again they swept up against the German
regiments. The picture was one that made the German troops' hair stand
on end. The Russians were charging on a broad front, in an
almost endless-seeming solid line, their arms linked. Behind them a
second, a third, and a fourth line abreast "They must be mad," said
the men of 29th Division. Mesmerized they stared at the
earth-brown-uniformed wall of human bodies, of men pressed close
together, approaching at a steady trot. Their long fixed bayonets were
"Urra! Urra!"
"This is murder," groaned Captain Schmidt, the commander of 1st
Battalion.
But then what else is war? If this gigantic storm was to be smashed
and not just forced to the ground they would have to wait for the
right moment. "Wait for my order to fire!" he commanded. The wall was
The German troops behind their machine-guns could hear their hearts
thumping. It was almost too much to bear. At last came the order:
"Fire at will!" They squeezed the triggers. They knew that if they did
not get the attackers the attackers would get them. The machine-guns
were rattling. "Fire!" Carbines barked. Sub-machine-guns spluttered.
The first wave collapsed. The second collapsed on top of them. The
third ebbed back. Brown mounds covered the vast field. In the evening
weapon that might have been useful in a civil war but was hardly
behind it gun-platforms and armoured infantry wagons. Puffing heavily
and firing from all guns, the monster approached from the direction of
the little town of Zelva. Simultaneously, two squadrons of cavalry
were charging on the left of the rail track, and on the right of
it several T-26 tanks were rolling towards the headquarters of 2nd
Battalion.
A 3-7-cm. anti-tank gun of the 14th Company, hurriedly brought up, set
the armoured train on fire after the sappers had blown up the track
and thus halted it. The cavalry charge collapsed in the machine-gun
fire of 8th Company. It was the most terrible thing the men had
pain as their torn bodies twisted in agony. They rolled on top of one
another, and, sitting up on their lacerated hindquarters, flailed the
air with their forelegs like beasts demented.
"Fire!" Put them out of their misery. Make an end of it. Things were
easier for the men behind the anti-tank guns. Tanks do not scream.
Besides, the Russian T-26 was not a match for the German 5-cm.
anti-tank guns.
Not one of them broke through the line.
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