USSR 1941

After twenty minutes of persistent resistance, the German army finally collapsed.

Or it can be said that Colonel Jonas realized that there is no point in going on like this. The tanks go up one by one and then the teams are destroyed... That is purely consuming Russian shells with life and blood.

Among them, Colonel Jonas even organized two counter-charges, because he believed that in this case, the only way to avoid this passiveness was to fight close to the enemy.

Colonel Jonas may be right. The entanglement of the enemy and the enemy can muddy the water, so that the German tanks can only advance to within the 100-meter line before they have a chance to penetrate the Russian tanks.

The problem is that the Russian army seems to have thought of this a long time ago. They used tanks as a cover to form a line of defense. When the German army charged this steel line of defense, all they had to endure were layers of defense from mortars, machine guns, and submachine guns. There are even hand grenades.

Under the attack of the hail of bullets, it was very difficult for the German army to even throw a grenade.

Shulka kept pulling the trigger to fire a round of bullets. Under the light of the flares, the German soldiers who were charging forward one after another were knocked to the ground.

At this time, Shulka seemed to have become a robot without feeling, reloading, shooting, reloading and shooting... Then I saw the German army receding like a tide, leaving only corpses in front of the battlefield.

"Retreat!" Colonel Jonas ordered angrily: "The first infantry battalion takes cover!"

Another meaning of "cover" in this context is "sacrifice".

Colonel Jonas can be said to have made a big deal this time. Usually, the units in charge of cover are at most two companies, but now he has invested in a battalion at one go... Perhaps this is also because he knows that if there are too few troops, he will not be able to stop the enemy in front of him. Support the Russian army like a wolf like a tiger.

But what Colonel Jonas didn't expect was that even so, they couldn't stop them.

Several red flares rose into the sky, and the soldiers of the 316th Division who were on standby on the other side of the river rushed forward with shouts.

This is the 1077th Infantry Regiment of the 316th Division.

This infantry regiment is quite special. Most of its members are military school students. These students originally received a one-year training in the military school, and then they will be assigned to the frontline troops as grassroots officers.

But they obviously couldn't wait for that moment. After the war broke out, they were urgently organized into a code named "Military School Mixed Student Regiment" and then sent to the battlefield.

It wasn't until the 316th was sent to Volokolamsk to reinforce the 16th Army that they had an official designation: the 1077th Infantry Regiment.

The morale of this regiment is high and energetic.

This has to do with the overall training of the troops:

If a unit has a high level of training, although many of the training and tactics it receives are useless or even contrary to reality, the mental outlook and morale displayed by the entire unit are different...they know what they should do , The atmosphere created by the usual discussions is also more positive, and even when the superior orders to charge, it will become a habit to charge towards the enemy naturally.

On the contrary, if the training level is low or if everyone is a unit that trains for a few days and sends a gun to the battlefield, it will run around like headless flies, and will look left and right when charging, hesitating, Once it is found that someone is retreating, a large group of people will follow suit.

The 1077th Regiment obviously belonged to the former. They bravely crossed the defense line of the 4th Tank Brigade and rushed towards the enemy like a tide, wave after wave.

On the other hand, the 1st Infantry Battalion left behind by the Germans to serve as a cover mission, they were beaten to death, wounded, and frightened by the 4th Tank Brigade, but now they were rushed by the Russians... The will to defend quickly collapsed, and they raised their hands one after another. Raise your hands in surrender.

The 1077th regiment left only a small unit to receive the prisoners, and the main force did not stop for a moment to cross the enemy's line of defense and continue to pursue the Germans.

There was a reason why the charge and pursuit of the Germans fell to the 1077th rather than the 333rd.

Although the 333rd Infantry Regiment is also an infantry regiment, it is an infantry regiment of a tank brigade. They have received training in coordination with tanks...the coordination mentioned here is not just just sticking their heads out behind the tank to shoot a few shots occasionally. The more important role is to provide useful information for tanks in a timely manner, guide targets for tanks, provide cover, and clear obstacles for tanks, etc.

These are obviously not what ordinary infantry can do, so it is obviously inappropriate to use the 333rd Infantry Regiment to charge and chase the enemy ahead.

This is also one of the topics discussed in the previous regiment-level meeting: how the 316th Division cooperates with the Fourth Tank Brigade.

The 4th Tank Brigade waited in the rear for a few minutes until the 1077th Infantry Regiment signaled "safe" with a signal light before moving on.

The tank "rumbled" over the German positions, and saw the wreckage of the tank, the corpses of German soldiers and discarded equipment all over the ground. The tracks of the tank were covered with rags and minced meat in a short while, mixed with the choking exhaust There was a bloody and sickening stench...that was the result of the tank running over the corpse.

Shulka saw several German prisoners throwing up their hands in surrender.

Although German soldiers have rich combat experience, this kind of scene is not common, or... They don't often see the corpses of their comrades being crushed into pieces by enemy tanks.

At this time, Shulka and the others were used to this. At most, they leaned against the sides of the tank's tracks to prevent the blood from splashing on themselves or the meat mud from being caught in the shoe marks on the soles of their boots.

The hatch of the tank in front was opened, and Fedosiev poked his head out of the tank, roaring and waving gestures at Shulka behind him.

"What is he talking about?" Shulka asked the deputy company commander Pukarev.

The tank engine was making a lot of noise, and Shulka couldn't catch Fedosiev's words.

"He said we should fight all the way to Germany in this way, Comrade Commander!" replied Pukarev.

Shulka couldn't help laughing.

The Soviet army will indeed hit Germany, but not now.

But of course, Shulka wouldn't take Fedosiev's words seriously. He just said a joke with confidence because of the successive brilliant victories of the Fourth Tank Brigade.

In fact, many in the 4th Tank Brigade, including the 333rd Infantry Regiment, seemed to be used to winning on the battlefield.

But Shulka knew that the situation was still serious for the Soviet army.

Because: the number of T34s in the fourth tank brigade is decreasing. Although the battle just now was a complete victory, three tanks were lost.

On the other hand, the German army has much more troops than the Soviet army, including the 5th Armored Division that was just defeated, and its strength and tanks are still more than twice that of the Soviet army.