Steel Soviet Union

The rising sun still rises slowly from the horizon, and the battle of the new day will continue. The two armored forces, each gearing up, have made final preparations.

The battle finally kicked off after the first roar from the German artillery positions at 5:30 in the morning.

call out--

Boom boom boom——

"Hey, this is the brigade headquarters! What did you say? The sound of the artillery is too loud, you can't hear clearly! Repeat it again!"

"Hello? Hello!"

"Damn it, the phone line is blown! Communications company, prepare to repair the line, quick!"

The dense German artillery barrage fell like raindrops, and heavy large-caliber grenades starting at 105 mm lifted large chunks of soil on the position into the air.

The deafening roar of artillery shook the earth. The Red Army soldiers holding weapons were either hiding in trenches or leaning in anti-gun holes and were shrouded in the fierce artillery fire.

In the semi-buried forward command post built with civil fortifications, Malashenko, who was already dressed in combat attire and with a tank cap on his head, held a telescope and faced the front-line positions shrouded in artillery fire to observe the situation at all times. Don't miss every detail.

Political Commissar Petrov, who had been shouting for a long time with a phone in his hand but still received no reply, walked up quickly and handed the telegram he had just copied by hand to Malashenko.

"Good news! The comrades of the rear aviation unit sent a call back. The fighter and attack aircraft units have taken off, ten minutes before we received the call! We are about to receive air support. Comrade Brigade Commander, the comrades of the aviation unit will try their best to stop it. Any attack by the enemy."

Upon hearing this, Malashenko immediately became interested and quietly turned around. After glancing at the telegram in the hand of Political Commissar Petrov, he had no intention of taking it. Instead, he faced Comrade Political Commissar amidst the roar of artillery. Ask seriously.

"I'm sure the German planes are on the way now. How many fighter planes are there to support our aviation unit? Are there enough fighter escorts? They must seize air supremacy in the theater to launch air strikes to block the enemy's ground offensive. Otherwise, It’s all just talk!”

Malashenko's words went straight to the core of the problem. Political Commissar Petrov, who was holding a telegram, did not delay much and replied to Malashenko almost without thinking.

"There is a fighter aviation division and an assault aviation division, but it is not clear whether they will send out all their strength to support us. They may have other tasks. But they said in the telegram that they will send a strong support force, even if it is If you can’t completely suppress the German air force, it’s at least feasible to repel the enemy’s first wave of offensive. That’s what I think!”

Commissar Petrov spoke loudly and the roar of artillery made Commissar Petrov have to use this method to communicate with Malashenko.

After hearing this, Malashenko did not say anything more. It is still unknown whether our own aviation force can defeat the Germans' air superiority fighters. Malashenko, who is accustomed to fighting against enemy air attacks, knows that he cannot place all his hopes on others. At critical moments, he still has to rely on himself to have hope of victory. This has always been the case.

"Contact Division Commander Mavonov and tell them to be prepared! As soon as the artillery fire stops, the crazy Germans will rush up soon. The attacking force will only be much larger than yesterday. I can guarantee it!"

"I tried to contact you just now, but the phone line was blown up. I have sent people to contact Division Commander Mavonov and others to check on the situation. The communications company has also sent people out to repair the line. There is no way to contact Ma Voron immediately. Commander Vonov leads them."

Based on the principle that it is best not to put eggs in a box, Malashenko, who is afraid that the combined command headquarters will be attacked by German air raids or artillery, suggests setting up two separate headquarters to maintain smooth communication at all times. Can.

In this way, even if one command post is taken over by the Germans, there will still be another one, so that the entire front will not be leaderless and collapse in an instant.

Malashenko's suggestion was recognized and approved by Division Commander Mavonov, but one of the biggest problems of the separate headquarters is now exposed: the phone lines were blown down and the communication is poor.

Political Commissar Petrov tried different methods to contact Division Commander Mavonov but received no reply. This situation was obviously not a good sign.

"Send more manpower to contact and check. If necessary, arrange a communications squad directly! We must find out the situation as soon as possible. Even if their headquarters is shot by the Germans, there will still be at least some traces! A division-level commander The boss won’t have anything left!”

Like a machine running at full speed, the headquarters of the 1st Stalin Guards Heavy Tank Brigade was extremely busy. More and more phone lines were blown up by the intensive German artillery fire, and the voices of people shouting and calling repeatedly could be heard. Almost everyone They were all as busy as ants on a hot pot, running around and running around eagerly.

Malashenko frowned after hearing and seeing such a scene.

The Germans who had absolute air supremacy were not only bombing themselves indiscriminately with planes, but even the German artillerymen who were using tiger skin to pull the flag and fight against human power were now shaking.

As the saying goes, there are no tigers in the mountains and monkeys rule the roost. Without the terrifying natural enemy of the Soviet field artillery cluster, the German artillery actually displayed a rare and ferocious posture.

The dense shelling that lasted for half an hour was rare for Malashenko, who had already experienced hundreds of battles. It is rare to see a German artilleryman who is as brave as a frustrated little daughter-in-law. It is just like Ah Wei who was bragging to Brother Jie after drinking two cans of horse urine. The artillery fire made him open. Posture and no scruples.

Although he is reluctant to admit it, Malashenko must also face reality.

The entire World War II had begun to take shape as the prototype of later modern wars. The Soviet Red Army, which controlled the world's strongest field artillery force, was still helpless in the face of the enemy's desperate efforts to suppress air supremacy.

The artillery positions that were initially exposed as counter-preparations for artillery fire against the German troops preparing to attack were blown to pieces in the first wave of German air strikes after the war began and were prioritized.

In the subsequent battles, the Luftwaffe still paid close attention to the Soviet artillery positions. As soon as those clumsy and slow-moving towed heavy howitzers opened fire and exposed their positions, the black German aircraft would definitely hit them before they could move. Pounced over, followed immediately by another round of crazy bombs licking the ground and bombing indiscriminately.

Now that the battle has started, it is not clear whether others can still get artillery support to Malashenko. Anyway, apart from the only SU152 self-propelled howitzers on hand, only the mortars carried by the infantry can be fired. It's called "artillery support."

Without the guarantee of air supremacy, it is useless to have even the most powerful artillery on hand. The most powerful artillery in the world, such as the Soviet artillery, can only pinch its nose and admit this tragic fact. There is no other way. Marla, holding a telescope in his hand, Shen Ke felt as if he had chewed Coptis chinensis in his mouth.