The decisive battle against the Third Reich

Half an hour later, more intense bombing followed.

From the sound, you can tell that the Soviet long-range artillery arrived. Under the guidance of the ski soldiers, they fired swarms of shells into the town of Holm.

The shells caused devastating damage, and were later joined by several Soviet fighters and bombers in the bombardment and strafing. Although most of the German troops were hiding in buildings or hidden in trenches, they could not see their targets at all, but they still bombarded them indiscriminately.

Every house and even every ruined wall was attacked repeatedly. Sometimes the unique whistle of Katyusha rockets could be heard in the shells. The explosions of various shells and bombs shook the entire town of Holm. All shaking.

Major General Hartmann had the deepest experience with this scene.

He was hiding in the church to the east...Major General Hartmann was a smart man. He certainly knew that compared to his own police force and those stragglers, the east side where the First Infantry Regiment was stationed was the safest. The church should be the safest on the east side. After all, it was a matter of faith. He believed that the Soviets would not easily shell it. This was one of the reasons why they concentrated the wounded in the church.

But I didn't expect that the Soviets followed suit.

A cannonball hit the wall of the church and exploded violently. The whole church shook. At the same time, large amounts of dust fell from the top, and the chandelier swayed overhead and made a "ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-dang-ding-dang-ding-dang-dang" ” made a sound, as if it was about to fall.

The wounded lost control in an instant... This is understandable. The wounded were deeply tortured by their injuries and were extremely psychologically fragile. At this time, they would be unable to bear the threat again.

However, there is another extreme manifestation, which is lying still and not moving despite the chaos of the outside world, as if the world has nothing to do with him.

But more wounded people made a loud noise and caused extreme confusion. There were groans, shouts, and all kinds of weird noises everywhere, mixed from time to time with complaints about explosions and angry curses.

Another artillery shell fell from the sky, and the wall near the door began to collapse. Dozens of wounded were trapped in the ruins on the spot. The dust brought up by the collapse enveloped everything. The wounded were choked when they coughed, making bursts of similar sounds. A sound like vomiting.

Those who couldn't move tried to crawl over the more seriously wounded, panicking, fear written on everyone's face, desperate to escape, as if this would make them safer. There are horrific images everywhere. Some people staggered, crawled or walked, and some tried their best to squeeze to a place they thought was safer.

However, in this hell-like massacre, there is no safe place. Shells shrieked and fell like raindrops all around, like the god of death raising his sickle again and again...

Finally, the bombing was over. Major General Hartmann crawled out from under the table in embarrassment. What he saw was a mess.

"Quick!" Major General Hartmann shouted to several panicked soldiers: "dig them all out!"

While the soldiers were busy, Major General Hartmann yelled again: "You idiots, what can we do with our little strength? Go call those damn Soviets!"

"Yes, General!"

So soon a group of Soviet people were requisitioned by Major General Hartmann... This is how the suffering of the Soviet people began. Once those who were requisitioned by the German army and served the German army, they would be treated as such when the Soviets came over. traitor.

However, the Soviets did not attack.

If there was an attack, it was two exploratory attacks. After being repulsed by the Germans, a line of defense was built a kilometer away... The purpose of their attack was to find the location of the German defense line.

"What are they doing?" Kuhn asked. "Why aren't they attacking?"

"What?" Gerhard asked in surprise: "Weren't they attacking just now?"

"That can only be regarded as a test, Lieutenant Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "You will soon know what a real attack is!"

Qinchuan knew what the Soviets were doing, just as he said to Colonel Slaine before... The purpose of the Soviets' insertion was not the First Infantry Regiment, and certainly not Gerhard and other stragglers, nor was it the same. It would be Holm.

The purpose of the Soviets was to cut off the retreat of German Army Group North.

Considering this purpose, they cannot stop because of the town of Holm, so the smart way is to leave a few troops to surround Holm, and then the large force continues to move forward.

As for Holm, it was not a threat at all to the Soviet army...it was just a small town, and it was only a matter of time before it could be captured.

Qinchuan's guess was correct. The Soviet 3rd Assault Army had a total of 4 divisions and 7 independent snow infantry battalions, with a total of 51,500 people.

The commander, General Maxim Alexievich Pukayev, ordered the 33rd Infantry Division to surround Holm, and other troops crossed Holm and continued to advance toward the west in the direction of Velikiy Luki.

General Pukayev ordered Major General Vardani, commander of the 33rd Infantry Division: "I will give you one week to capture Holm!"

"Yes, General!" Major General Valdani replied confidently.

According to Major General Vardani, there were only 5,000 German troops trapped in Holm... The Soviets could easily grasp the situation of the German troops in Holm because there were insiders planted by the Soviet army.

This was a preparation made by the Soviet army during the Moscow Defense War. Because Holm is a traffic artery and there was a German airport before it, it has always been a logistics base and transshipment base for the German army.

In order to understand the German supply situation, the Soviet army of course had to deploy an inside line at Holm.

With a division of more than 10,000 men attacking the defeated German army of 5,000 men, and having an absolute advantage in supplies and equipment, Major General Valdani believed that this was not a difficult task.

Therefore, Major General Valdani placed three regiments in three directions of Holm: the 164th Regiment to the north, the 73rd Regiment to the west, and the 82nd Regiment to the south.

Only the east side was left empty, because he knew that the east side was the side with the strongest defense of the German army. Doing so would not only avoid the enemy's sharpness, but also give the enemy some illusions of a breakout, thereby destroying their morale and will. .

Finally, Major General Valdani mobilized the 170th Tank Battalion.

This tank battalion has twenty-five tanks, thirteen of which are T34.

Major General Valdani believed that...with these tanks, he would be able to break into the town and wipe out all the enemies inside in just one night.