The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The battle was intense from the beginning.

The German soldiers immediately fired their weapons at the Soviets, spewing flames and knocking the attacking Soviets to the ground, but the Soviets still rushed forward in piles, firing as they rushed forward.

Three tanks also drove down the river bank and "rumbled" towards the other side.

However, such a charge almost made the Soviet tanks lose their combat effectiveness, because there were Soviet infantry everywhere in front, and the tanks' machine guns and tank guns instantly lost their function, which made it at most a mobile shield advancing forward.

Then, when the tanks drove into the river, it was even more embarrassing. Two of the three tanks were trapped in the river and could not move... There was ice under the snow in the river, and the tank tracks could easily slip on the ice.

The exact reason was not entirely this, but there were many bodies of Soviet soldiers in the river. After being crushed by tanks, these bodies oozed a lot of blood, and these blood would soon freeze in the low temperature, so two T34s were trapped on the spot and could not move.

Another tank barely crossed the river, and when it was about to cross the embankment to break through the German defense line, it was hit by a rocket from the front... After a "boom", it stopped moving.

The T34 is a very good tank. It can easily penetrate the German "No. 3" and "No. 4" tanks at a distance of 500 meters, but the German tanks can only threaten the T34's inclined armor at a distance of 100 meters. This shocked the German armored forces when they saw this tank, because they had almost no equipment to deal with this Soviet tank, including anti-tank guns.

This is the so-called "T34 crisis".

Of course, Qin Chuan's early development of the rocket launcher and its equipment on the Eastern Front alleviated this crisis to a certain extent, but this close-range anti-tank equipment was obviously not enough to reverse the entire battle situation.

Fortunately, the Soviets' careless character made them have excellent tanks, but their negligence in some details and tactical errors caused the tanks to fail to exert their due combat effectiveness.

For example, the Soviets at that time did not attach importance to the command of tanks.

In this regard, it was simply outrageous: the early T34 was not equipped with radio, and flags were needed to communicate between tanks and between tanks and infantry. Later, only the command vehicle was equipped with radio, and the rest of the tanks were only equipped with a receiving device.

Another manifestation of not attaching importance to command is that they often use tank crew members as commanders... In the eyes of the Soviets, as long as each crew member can do their own job well, the commander is dispensable.

Therefore, the early T34 was generally served by the gunner as commander, and there were also loaders and drivers.

This directly led to the T34 tank being difficult to coordinate with other units, and often appeared on the battlefield. The situation of rushing into the enemy camp alone.

For example, if the Soviet infantry and tanks can effectively coordinate, the infantry can rely on the protection and firepower of the tanks to advance, and at the same time help the tanks solve the problem of slipping on the ice... This is actually very easy to solve, just spread a layer of soil on the ice.

On the other hand, if the three tanks can coordinate with each other and use mortars for cover, then I am afraid that the defense line of the German First Infantry Regiment can be torn apart in one encounter.

However, because the Soviet infantry, tanks and artillery fought separately, the German army once again blocked the Soviet offensive.

Colonel Slaine urgently asked for help from the command center amid the sound of gunfire.

"We were attacked by a large enemy force, and the estimated strength is one division!" Colonel Slaine reported: "We don't have much ammunition left, request support!"

At this time, the First Infantry Regiment was under the command of the Central Army Group, and the commander was Field Marshal Kruger (Note: The commander of the Central Army Group was originally Marshal von Bock, but he was dismissed because of the failure of the Battle of Moscow).

Marshal Kruger was appointed commander in a critical moment. He was restless like an ant on a hot pot because the battlefield situation required him to order the troops to retreat immediately, but Hitler ordered not to retreat at all.

Kruger realized that this would most likely lead to a disaster for the Central Army Group and even the Northern Army Group in the north.

At this time, Chief of Staff Treskov handed Kruger a phone and said, "Marshal, Colonel Slaine of the First Infantry Regiment is calling!"

"First Infantry Regiment?" Kruger was puzzled when he heard this. He was not familiar with this number, and he didn't understand why the chief of staff gave him this phone call... An infantry regiment was almost insignificant to the entire Central Army Group.

"Marshal!" General Treskov reminded, "It's the unit that was just transferred from North Africa for airborne cover!"

Kruger said "Oh".

If it is a collapsed and fleeing infantry regiment, it may be ignored, but the troops fighting the enemy on the defense line, especially the airborne troops that are performing a part of the cover mission and temporarily under the command of the army group, should be asked.

"Colonel, what's the situation?" Kruger asked after taking the microphone.

After listening to Colonel Slaine's report, Kruger replied: "No, there is no way there is a division of troops in your direction. The main force of the enemy is attacking our army group head-on with all their might!"

"But the fact is that we see so many enemies!" Slaine was a little anxious: "Marshal, are you trying to say that everything I saw is fake?"

"Okay!" Kruger said, "I'll send a plane to do some reconnaissance!"

Krueger said and hung up the phone.

Colonel Slaine on the other end couldn't help but cursed fiercely: "Go to hell!"

"What's the matter, Colonel?" Adjutant Lucas asked.

"They didn't believe me at all!" Colonel Slain said.

"It's normal!" Lucas replied: "They are all bumpkins from the Eastern Front!"

What they didn't know was that Kruger on the other side had almost the same evaluation of Colonel Slaine.

"You know!" Kruger said to Teleskov: "The troops coming from North Africa are always nervous!"

"Yes!" Teleskov agreed: "The African Corps only has a few divisions, so when they encounter a little enemy, they assume that it is the enemy's main force!"

This is a common problem among senior German generals. They always look down on each other: those from different branches of the military, those on different battlefields, and those with different origins...

For example, when Kruger was the commander of the 4th Army, he often had heated arguments with Guderian, the commander of the 2nd Armored Army, which would inevitably affect their cooperation.