Red Moscow

The vanguard of the German army advancing towards the Soviet defense area was the 1st company of the motorized battalion, and the company commander was Lieutenant Schafer. In the battle in February, he once commanded a company of troops, defeated a mixed regiment equipped with tanks and artillery of the Southwest Front Army, and captured the regiment leader and hundreds of commanders and fighters.

If he hadn't been injured in the battle in March and was sent to the rear hospital for treatment, this time the Imperial Division was rebuilt, and with his qualifications, he could at least be a battalion commander. Major Weber, the battalion commander of the motorized battalion, let his company serve as the vanguard because he believed in their company's combat effectiveness.

Seeing that there was less than one kilometer away from the Soviet position, Shafer ordered the motorcycle team to stop, let the fellow engineers get off, and used mine detectors to check whether the Soviet army had laid mines on the road ahead. .

The terrain here is complex, with hills on both sides. Once the Soviet army laid mines on the road, the tanks behind could not go around. Therefore, the main task of the company is to clear the landmines that may exist on the road ahead.

Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin, who was staying in the observation post, watched the enemy in the distance through a telescope, and muttered: "It seems that Comrade Commander is correct. There is really no need to lay mines on this road. Even if buried mines, they will also be cleared by German sappers.”

He asked the battalion commander Captain Zuminte who was standing next to him: "Have those planks been buried?"

"Yes, Comrade Commander, it's all buried." Zu Mingte quickly replied: "We built three inches of soil on it, and the enemy's engineers couldn't find it at all. And even if ordinary trucks drive past it, And it won't crush the boards."

After listening to Zumint's answer, Goryachkin nodded and said, "Comrade Commander sometimes thinks so absurdly. In a place where enemy tanks pass, they are not going to lay mines, but they want to dig some traps. Will this stop the German tanks?"

Zummint is Sukov's old subordinate, but he followed him here from the Sixth Army, and he naturally believes in his judgment unconditionally. Hearing that his immediate superior, Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin, questioned Sokov at this moment, he felt very uncomfortable. Out of politeness, he said lightly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, since Comrade Commander arranged this way, Naturally, he has his reasons. As for whether it works, I don't think it will take long before it can be confirmed."

The engineers spent more than half an hour, but found no metal reaction on the road, and reported to Schafer: "Mr. Lieutenant, we have not found any landmines planted by the Russians."

But Shafer asked worriedly after hearing this: "Can you really confirm that the Russians did not plant mines in this area? Maybe there are no metal mines, but there are always a few wooden mines, right?"

"Mr. Lieutenant," the engineer replied, "Russian wooden landmines can only kill and injure people, and do not pose any threat to our tanks. As long as our tanks are crushed all the way, the Russian wooden mines can be detonated." landmines, and make a safe passage for our infantry."

After hearing what the engineers said, Shafer finally felt relieved, and he quickly ordered the operator: "Report to the battalion commander, Major Weber, that there are no landmines planted by the Russians on the road ahead, and the armored regiment can drive in."

After receiving the report from Lieutenant Schaffer, Major Weber immediately reported the situation ahead to the division headquarters. After Tansen learned that the vanguard of the motorized battalion had approached the Soviet position and found no enemy mines along the way, he did not immediately order the armored regiment to move in, but ordered the 2nd Artillery Regiment to aim at the Soviet position and fire.

The reason why he gave such an order was because he was still a regiment commander when the Imperial Division and the Southwest Front Army were fighting. At that time, he used fierce artillery fire to wipe out a battalion of the Soviet Army on the ground. After the shelling, the whole regiment launched an attack, because all the defenders on the position were killed. His troops successfully captured the Soviet position without casualties, causing the entire defense line of the Southwest Front to collapse. For this, he received an Iron Cross after the battle.

With the order issued, the artillery hanging on the back of the truck was removed, and the German artillery began to arrange their positions nervously, preparing to shell the Soviet positions.

Ten minutes later, the shelling against the Soviet army began.

Since the artillery position was only five or six kilometers away from the Soviet army's fortifications, and there were shooting parameters provided by the artillery observers in front, after two or three artillery test shots, the dense shells fell and exploded in the Soviet army's simple field fortifications. For a time, the flames were soaring into the sky and the smoke filled the sky, and the hill where the Soviet army's position was located turned into an erupting volcano.

Tansen stood in a position with a wide view, looking at the positions full of fire and gunpowder smoke in the distance, with a triumphant expression on his face. He put down the binoculars and ordered the chief of staff: "Order the 2nd Armored Regiment, the Motorized Battalion, and the 3rd Grenadier Regiment to take advantage of the opportunity when the Russian position was hit by heavy artillery fire from our army, and quickly move towards the Russians along the road." The fortifications are advancing."

After a series of orders were issued, the German tanks, armored personnel carriers and trucks full of soldiers stopped on the road, restarted and moved along the road towards the position of the Soviet army.

According to the prior agreement, the soldiers in armored personnel carriers and trucks will get off at a distance of 800 meters from the Soviet fortifications. Here, there is no need to worry about being accidentally injured by our own artillery fire, and there is still enough space to deploy troops.

As soon as the German artillery began to test fire, the Soviet troops deployed on the first line of defense hurriedly moved along the traffic trench and secretly moved to the position on the reverse slope. As for the observation posts, they are arranged on the hills, and the shells falling here are much less than those on the mountainside. They can calmly observe the movements of the German troops in the distance.

Goryachkin, who was staying in the regiment's observation post, was shocked at first when he saw the devastating artillery fire from the German army, and then became calm. He thought to himself: Fortunately, Comrade Commander ordered us to build fortifications on the reverse slope, and ordered us to quickly transfer our troops to the fortifications on the reverse slope when we were bombarded, so as to reduce the damage caused by the enemy's artillery fire to our army. Now it seems that Comrade Commander's deployment is completely correct. After arriving at the reverse slope, many soldiers are still standing outside the trench and smoking, not taking the bombardment on the other side of the hill as one thing at all.

Zuminte standing next to him said quickly: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, you have seen it. If we didn't build the reverse slope fortifications, then our commanders and fighters would have to stay in the simple field fortifications and suffer the baptism of the enemy's artillery. I It is unbelievable how many people are still alive on the ground after such intensive shelling.”

Goryachkin agrees with Zumint's statement. When he was a battalion commander, he fought in many places. He saw his comrades in arms being wiped out by the enemy's fierce shelling. . But now that the anti-slope fortifications have been introduced, the damage caused by the enemy's shelling can be greatly reduced, which is simply too surprising to him.

The 2nd Armored Regiment is equipped with almost all Panther tanks. This tank has a good shape, strong firepower and good maneuverability. The Germans are going to use it to replace the No. 3 and No. 4 tanks, so they call it the No. 5 tank , until February 1944, it was officially renamed: Panther tank.

In this area close to the Soviet position, the distance between the two hills reached more than 60 meters, and four or five tanks could be deployed at the same time. Seeing that the terrain here is conducive to the deployment of tanks, the German tank commander immediately ordered the tanks to form a row of five, and when the artillery fire stopped, they would cover the infantry and rush to the Soviet position.

As soon as the artillery fire stopped, the German army launched an offensive before the smoke on the hillside cleared. But what they didn't expect was that the Soviet commanders and fighters hiding in the anti-slope position heard that the shelling outside was over, and they also returned to their positions along the traffic trenches, and got ready to fight.

The attacking troops were more than 400 meters away from the Soviet position, and suddenly there were two loud bangs, and then the German infantry behind the tank stared dumbfounded at the tank that opened the way in front of them, and it had already rolled over on the ground.

Seeing the overturned tank, the German commander began to think quickly: "What the hell is going on? Could it be that it was run over by a Russian anti-tank mine? No, if it was really run over by a landmine, There will definitely be an earth-shattering explosion, but now there are two strange noises, and then two tanks overturned on the ground, what is going on?"

The frightened German soldiers, after looking closely at the tank, found that the tank was stuck in a pit, which caused it to overturn. After they hurriedly rescued the tank soldiers from the tanks, they continued to study this trap of the Soviet army. After researching for a while, they found that the Soviet army dug a pit more than one meter deep, and then covered it with a thick layer of wood. The wooden board can bear the weight of people and ordinary vehicles, even if it is pressed, it will not fall into the trap. But the Leopard tank is different. Its own weight makes it enough to crush the wooden boards that the Soviet army put on the pit.

The overturned tank would definitely not be able to participate in the battle, and the German commander immediately transferred the tanks forward from behind, and they covered the infantry to attack the Soviet fortifications. This time they were attacked by rocket launchers from the side of the road at a distance of more than 200 meters from the company's position. A tank driving on the sidelines immediately became a victim, and the body of the tank was quickly engulfed in flames.

Zhelia, who was staying in the fortification, saw two tanks running over the trap, which caused the rollover, and reported the matter to Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, there are two German tanks. The tanks fell into our trap, and the enemy brought in new tanks from behind, but they were destroyed by our anti-tank team."

"Are the infantry on the ground ready to fight?" Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin asked.

"Yes, we have made all preparations for battle." Zhelya said to Goryachkin while observing the movement outside: "When the enemy's infantry approaches, our soldiers will give them an unforgettable battle." lesson."

The German tanks were destroyed one after another by the anti-tank team hiding beside the road. The German commander was suddenly angry. He quickly mobilized his men and came towards the position of the anti-tank team, trying to destroy the anti-tank team so that his tanks could be destroyed. Continue to attack the Soviet positions.

If it was an ordinary army, the German commander's strategy might have succeeded, but now they are facing the Soviet army equipped with assault rifles and has an advantage in firepower. As soon as their infantry overtook the tanks and rushed up the hill, they came under heavy fire from the Soviets. The firepower of the Soviet army was fierce and accurate. In just a few minutes, almost fifty German soldiers fell in a pool of blood. The remaining German soldiers were so frightened that they retreated in a hurry without even caring about restraining the corpses of their comrades-in-arms.

After the battle, Zhelya reported to Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin: "Comrade Lieutenant Colonel, we have successfully repelled the enemy's attack. I believe we can get a few hours of rest."

"The enemy is very cunning, Comrade Captain." Lieutenant Colonel Goryachkin said earnestly: "The closer we are to victory, the more vigilant we must be, because sometimes a wounded beast bites a person more painfully. By the way, how about your company's casualties?"

"Reporting to Comrade Lieutenant Colonel," Gelia quickly replied, "In the battle just now, we sacrificed seven soldiers and more than twenty soldiers were injured. However, we destroyed nine German tanks. The Germans were on the battlefield, In addition to the wreckage of the destroyed tanks, there were more than 200 German corpses."

"Not bad, not bad," although the Geria Company wiped out one of the vanguard of the German army in the battle two days ago, compared with today's battle, that battle can only be regarded as a child's play. The last time the German tank company had a chance to fight back None of them were there, and they were destroyed one by one by the anti-tank fighters ambushing on the side of the road. It was precisely because of this that Goryachkin was in a particularly happy mood. He was going to report the matter to the division headquarters immediately, so that the division commander, Colonel Khokhlov, would also be happy with him. "Good job. When the battle is over, I must give credit to the soldiers of the anti-tank team."

Tansen never dreamed that before he attacked, he ordered the artillery to shell the Soviet positions for half an hour. It stands to reason that under such intensive artillery fire, not even a mouse could survive in the hillside position. But when his own troops launched an attack, countless Russians shot at his subordinates from the bombed fortifications. This made Tansen puzzled. Could it be that the Russians could not be killed by bombing? ?

If this is the case, then there is no need to fight the next battle. The opponent is a monster that can't even be killed by artillery. If you let your troops continue to attack, doesn't it mean that they will die? Thinking of this, Tansen said to his chief of staff: "Order the withdrawn troops to rest on the spot, and at the same time tell the artillery to rest for an hour before shelling the Russian positions. I don't believe their flesh and blood." , can hold back our steel and fire."

"The commander of the artillery just called and said that they are running out of shells."

"Immediately arrange logistics for them." Tansen said angrily: "I must use artillery fire to destroy those cowardly Russians hiding in the fortifications. Let them understand that as long as they dare to fight against me, no matter what they hide We can wipe them out completely."