When the BMPs came to a halt a couple of minutes after the start signal, the squad commanders sounded a small klaxon as a signal to dismount. The two rear doors of the BMPs were thrown open and the squad piled out. Half the squad peeled to the left, the other half to the right. They formed a skirmish line in front of the vehicle. Demchenko was the last to leave the BMP, and he kept an eye out for any gear left behind. To keep in touch with Lieutenant Bobrov and the BMP, he had an R-126 radio. It was cumbersome, so he assigned Makhmet Latipov, one of the riflemen, to carry it for him. He signaled to Latipov to follow him. Demchenko formed up the squad in the usual skirmish line, with Latipov and him in the center. To their right was Nikolai Grachev, with the squad's PKM machine gun. To their left was Fyodor Ignatov, the squad grenadier, with his RPG-16 rocket launcher. At the extreme left was Baginak Zakharian with his SVD sniper rifle. Sergeant Fastov's squad was on their left, and Sergeant Yermakov's on their right. Although Stashu Demchenko was not the senior sergeant of the dismounted group, he took charge, since he led Lieutenant Bobrov's squad. Demchenko shouted, 'To battle. Move forward," and the three dismounted squads of 3d Platoon began advancing.
At first, it seemed like a parade ground. No fire came from Objective Oreshnik. Every soldier in the squad hoped that the Germans had fled! The objective was slightly uphill from their positions, and there was precious little cover between the squad and the buildings. There was no sign of movement from the German positions. It took about six minutes for the squad to cover the first 500 meters. The walk seemed interminable, with every soldier anxiously awaiting the sound of the first volley.
Makhmet Latipov halted for a second and listened intently to the radio. Demchenko walked over to him. "Comrade Sergeant, Lieutenant Bobrov wants to speak to you." Demchenko took the headset.
"Listen, Stashu," said Bobrov. "The company commander has changed his plans. He thinks the nyemtsi have abandoned the objective.[15]
He wants the 2d Platoon to mount back up and push forward to the objective. You keep moving forward on foot. Over."
Stashu replied, "Understood, over."
The BMPs to the right began moving forward and the squads got back aboard. In seconds they began racing toward the farm buildings. Demchenko looked to both sides, and said in a loud voice, "We're continuing on foot. Everybody keep an eye on the buildings."
Fyodor Ignatov chimed in, "Lucky slobs, they get to ride all the way."
Ignatov had hardly finished griping when from a small gully on the east side of the farm, there was a little flash of light. From their vantage point, they could barely see the slight flickers of rocket exhaust as a Milan antitank missile began bearing down on the BMPs from 2d Platoon.
The BMPs obviously did not see this. Their advance had brought them into range of the enemy missiles.
Demchenko raced over to Latipov and grabbed the headset to the R-126 radio. "Lieutenant Bobrov, to the right of the buildings. Enemy PTURS."[16]
There was no time for Bobrov to react. The first Milan struck the BMP on the right side. It exploded and the BMP came to a halt. The missile hit the front compartment, ripping into the diesel engine and splashing burning fuel all over the front of the vehicle. The rear doors swung open and the squad began to hurriedly dismount. As they were doing so, the ammunition in the BMP began cooking off. The fire quickly spread to the stored Konkurs missiles. The heat ignited their propellant, giving off a hellish whoosh as the fuel flashed and burned for a brief moment. A second Milan missile was launched from the opposite side of the form seconds after the first. It struck the BMP to the left, on the bow. The engine of the BMP absorbed most of the blast, and the crew was able to get out. This BMP did not suffer the horrible fire that had engulfed the other vehicle. The gunner or commander stayed with the vehicle, valiantly trying to seek out the missile team that had hit their vehicle.
The ground to the left of the farm buildings danced as the autocannons knocked big clumps of earth into the air. However, the BMP gunner had misjudged the location, and a second missile flew out. By now, Private Zarins, the gunner in Lieutenant Bobrov's BMP, had spotted the Milan team and began hammering away at it. Zarins fired high-explosive rounds, which hit the ground near the Milan team with fiery smacks. His aim was good. The missile lost guidance and plowed into the ground some distance from the BMPs. The 1st Platoon had brought the other Milan team under fire. The crew from the damaged BMP finally abandoned their vehicle as the fire worsened, and it too blew up when its ammunition cooked off. What remained of the 2d Platoon was a single BMP-2. Its commander had found a small gully, and the BMP rested there while awaiting further orders.
The two squads from the destroyed BMPs were pretty shaken up. They lay on the ground some distance from the burning vehicles. As Demchenko and the 3d Platoon moved abreast of them, Stashu and the other squad leaders motioned to them to advance. One of the squads moved forward. But the squad from the first BMP had lost both its commander and assistant squad leader. They stayed where they were, ignoring the signals from the neighboring platoons, content to hug the earth.
After losing two BMPs to the defenders, the company commander decided to engage in a little preventative fire support. The two remaining platoons of BMPs opened fire on the farm buildings. For the advancing squads, it should have been comforting to see the enemy positions hit by fire. But some of the squads were startled by the sound of the autocannon and machine gun rounds whizzing so close over their heads. Two of the squads instinctively hit the ground. The advancing line of riflemen became more ragged as squads dropped down.
It took Demchenko's squad nearly fifteen minutes from the time of dismounting to reach a point about 300 meters from the farm. So far the enemy had held back firing on the squads, for fear of attracting the unwanted attention of the BMPs. In the tradition of Russian infantry since the days of Marshal Suvorov and Napoleon, Demchenko shouted "Urra!"
His squad joined in the battle cry and began charging the enemy positions at a slow run. Neighboring squads followed suit. The Germans began opening fire on the charging Soviet soldiers.
So far, the range was too great for accuracy on either side. The BMPs responded to any sign of German small arms fire. The most effective fire support came from the sole surviving BMP of 2d Platoon. Not only was it closer than the other seven BMPs, but there was a big gap in the infantry in front of it due to the losses the 2d Platoon had suffered. It was easier to fire at the Germans without hitting any of the advancing Soviet riflemen.
As the squads advanced, they fired their AKS-74 assault rifles from the hip, as they had seen in Soviet training films. Unfortunately, it takes only a few seconds of firing to empty a thirty-round magazine and many of the charging soldiers ran out of ammunition before they were close to the German positions. Excited from the run, they didn't stop to reload but charged forward anyway. The Germans returned fire, but it wasn't very heavy. The 1st Platoon on the fer right of the charge took several well-aimed bursts. Demchenko and his platoon were spared the worst of it.
One of the Milan teams popped up again; it had survived the attempts of the BMPs to gun it down. The surviving BMP from the 2d Platoon tried to bring it under fire, but the gunner, concentrating on hitting the Milan team before it fired, failed to notice Sergeant Yermakov's squad. The hammering of the BMP's woodpecker autocannon began. Demchenko watched in horror as the tracer sprayed into the midst of Yermakov's squad, hitting several soldiers in the upper chest. The effect of a 30mm slug on a human is gruesome. The survivors in Yermakov's squad threw themselves to the ground and refused to move forward.
16
PTURS is the Russian acronym for an antitank missile. It is usually pronounced "pee-turs."