The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The soldiers of the 21st Armored Division thus got two hours of precious rest. Under the cover of the 297th Infantry Division, which followed them and caught up, the entire division found a place, such as a half-destroyed building, and was surrounded by Soviet civilians. In the abandoned houses, some people even lay down in the tanks and fell asleep.

After a day and night of continuous advancement and intense fighting, my nerves were so tight that I was almost numb.

Therefore, this "blitzkrieg" is sometimes not as exciting as it seems on the surface. In order to rush to the enemy's defense line before they are ready, the soldiers spend most of their time in tension and exhaustion.

But every soldier knows in his heart that being nervous and exhausted is much better than facing the enemy's complete defenses.

The 21st Armored Division was somewhat used to this, because they often did this kind of thing when they were in the Afrika Korps.

Two hours passed almost in the blink of an eye. Qin Chuan felt that he had just undressed and slept in the corner when a sharp whistle sounded.

"As a company, go to the logistics officer to get ammunition!" The orderer shouted: "We will set off in twenty minutes!"

If you think there is still twenty minutes of rest, you are wrong. This time is just the right time to collect the ammunition from the quartermaster and distribute it. If you move a little slower, then sorry, you may be almost empty. The magazine goes onto the battlefield... No one would want this, because for a soldier it basically means that he cannot protect his life.

The ammunition supply of the 1st Infantry Regiment will be a little more complicated...the reason is that the 1st Infantry Regiment uses MP43.

Other troops that do not use MP43 only have two types of ammunition, one is rifle ammunition for rifles and machine guns, and the other is pistol ammunition for submachine guns and pistols.

The First Infantry Regiment has three types of ammunition: rifle ammunition, intermediate-power ammunition, and pistol ammunition.

This caused the 1st Infantry Regiment to take two minutes overtime in the process of receiving ammunition, but this did not have any impact, because the 1st Infantry Regiment itself was to walk behind the 1st Tank Regiment.

Starting from Vergach, the German army's march route no longer went north, but changed to the east.

As mentioned before, the Don River has a large bay near Verdach, and Verdach is the turning point, so the distance between the Don River and the Volga River is the shortest at this location, only 55 kilometers.

The German army's strategic plan was to cross from the Don River to the Volga River, so that like the Soviet army, they could build a line of defense north of Stalingrad with the Don and Volga rivers as protection.

This line of defense would divide Stalingrad and the Stalingrad Front in the north into two, completing the three-sided encirclement of Stalingrad.

At first, Qin Chuan thought it would be difficult to advance along this line, because the Soviet army would not sit back and watch it be divided into two and surrounded.

But when I set foot on this road, I discovered that this was not the case. The German army did not encounter Soviet defenses along the way. Only occasionally a few skirmishers saw the German army coming up from a distance and fired a few random shots before retreating.

Investigating the reason, Qin Chuan believed that this was related to the fact that the Soviet army did not understand the strategic direction of the German army... The Soviet army thought that the German army would attack all the way north and would continue to go north after reaching Vergach. He did not expect that the German army would suddenly turn around.

On the other hand, the Soviet army's rear forces were seriously insufficient.

The main forces of the two Soviet fronts were deployed along the Volga River, the Don River, and the channel between the two rivers (the main force of the Stalingrad Front was deployed along the upper reaches of the Don River, and the southeastern front army was deployed along the Volga River and the channel between the two rivers). The defense of Stalingrad).

If the normal combat method were to follow the German army and push the Soviet army back layer by layer, then the Soviet army's rear defense line would not be undefended. However, the German army did not take the usual route and seize an opportunity to break into the Soviet army. The rear of the defense line attacked the camp at an extremely fast speed. At this time, there was no doubt that it broke into its rear area, which was the north of Stalingrad where the Soviet army had originally judged that it was basically impossible to encounter an enemy attack.

This idea was originally correct, because according to common sense, if the German army could reach the north of Stalingrad, then the entire Stalingrad would fall into the hands of the German army.

As a result, the German army arrived at Cote Luban very smoothly, where they encountered only one battalion of Soviet troops and some temporarily formed fusion police, workers, and some unknown civilians.

Of course, such troops could not resist the German attack. It only took them half an hour to occupy Kotluban... It took almost this time to drive the tanks from the west to the east of Kotluban.

Kotluban is the middle support point of this defense line. It is 26 kilometers away from the Don River to the west and 29 kilometers from the Volga River to the east. It is very important to the German defense line, so the German 297th Infantry Division left a regiment to wait here. The troops of the 6th Army arrived for reinforcements...The troops of the 6th Army will move slower because they need to cross the Don River.

The 21st Armored Division continues to march eastward. The scene in this half is a little different, but this does not refer to the resistance of the Soviet army... There are indeed some Soviet troops in this half, but these Soviet tanks are behind the German tanks. It's almost worth mentioning under the dual attack with aircraft.

Along the way, the Germans saw more civilians building defense lines in the trenches. There were old people, women, and children, wearing all kinds of clothes, covered in mud and water. Not far away, there were tents and equipment for them to live and rest at night. A pot supported by several iron rods.

When the German army appeared in front of them, it could be seen from the shock on their faces that they were completely unprepared for what was happening before them. Several Soviet soldiers who may have been overseers were lying on the ground and had been controlled by the German army.

This makes the German soldiers somewhat unimaginable. The Germans are attacking in front of them, but these civilians are still building trenches that seem to be against them as if there is no one around.

But this is actually normal. Even the command of the Soviet army is in chaos. Coupled with the backward communication equipment, it is not a big deal if they fail to notify or omit to notify the civilians who are building fortifications on the front line to retreat in time.

"What should I do with these people?" Werner couldn't help but ask.

"It's very simple!" Eberhard replied: "Let them continue, but the direction must be slightly changed. Instead of facing the west, they face the north. Do you understand?"

Of course, there is nothing unclear about this. The owners of these trenches have changed. They were originally used to defend against German troops and are now used to defend against Soviet troops that may come from the north.

But these were not what the 21st Armored Division had to do. They handed over the prisoners to the 297th Infantry Division who arrived later, and then continued to advance eastward.

As I said in my plan before: “Until you see the Volga River!”