USSR 1941

The battle to attack Tver began soon.

As Shulka said, the first thing the Soviet army did was to blow up the houses distributed across the river.

This is not difficult for the Soviet army. Even if the Soviet army's infantry coordination is not good, the quality of artillery observers is not enough, but the house cannot walk without legs, and then it is the question of how many shells and bombs to use.

However, Rokossovsky thought the attack speed was slow and sent planes to bomb.

Regarding this, Katukov couldn't help asking in doubt: "Don't we have three days?"

"The situation has changed, Comrade Katukov!" said Rokossovsky. "The enemy is retreating to Tver in a planned way!"

"Didn't their head of state not let them retreat?" Katukov asked suspiciously.

This has long been no secret to the Soviet army. Before that, the German army could not bear the severe cold and surrendered to the Soviet army. In addition, there were prisoners captured by the Soviet army. Their confessions were that Hitler did not allow the German army to retreat.

"We also think so!" Rokossovsky replied: "That's why the Supreme Command thought that there were three days to attack Tver, but now it seems that this is not the case! In short, the sooner Tver is taken, the better! "

"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky!" answered Katukov.

In fact, this is the secret crossing of the German generals... As the saying goes, "There are policies at the top and countermeasures at the bottom." Although Hitler strictly ordered the troops not to take a step back, the generals fighting on the front knew that if they really didn't allow a step back, the German army would be finished. up.

As a result, the German generals on the front line, including Kubiler, the commander of the Fourth Army, were taking advantage of the Soviet attack to make a hidden retreat.

To put it simply, it is to exaggerate the attack of the Soviet army in a certain part in the battle report.

For example, in Tver, if we talk about the offensive pressure, there is actually only one tank brigade, but Kubil reported: "There is at least one mechanized army. Obviously, the enemy wants to break through Tver and cut off our army's retreat!"

"Do we still have reserves?" Hitler asked.

"Yes, there is still an armored regiment!" Kubil replied: "But the Russians are attacking in an all-round way, and putting our army in reserve too early will make our army very passive!"

"Then, let troops from other directions come to reinforce them!"

"Yes, Your Excellency the Head of State!" Kubil replied.

then,

What is called reinforcement is actually retreating, because the fact is that the troops on the front line have been transferred back.

This is actually a command style of the German generals, especially the generals of the Wehrmacht... quite a few of them actually don’t listen to Hitler’s words and are more willing to command battles according to their own ideas, so Hitler doesn’t trust the Wehrmacht too. Makes sense.

Many people in modern times believe that after the defeat in the Battle of Moscow, the German army did not collapse across the board because of Hitler's order "not to take a step back".

The truth is quite the opposite.

Hitler's "no step back" order was issued before the Soviet army began to counterattack.

What really allowed the Germans to keep the line of defense...

On the one hand, the German generals "followed the yang and violated the yin" and fought and left. Instead of retreating, they were actually retreating gradually.

On the other hand, the Soviet army suffered heavy losses in the Moscow Defense War and was weak.

If it is true that "one step is not allowed to retreat" as Hitler ordered, the result will inevitably be a collapse of the whole line.

Of course, Rokossovsky and others did not know this.

This kind of "reinforcement" of the German army made the Soviet army feel pressure, so the attack on Tver was accelerated.

One after another, the planes swooped down from the sky and bombed the German positions on the opposite side of the river bed.

However, it is disappointing that the aerial bombs were dropped one after another, but not many hit the target... Soviet pilots suffered heavy casualties in previous battles. Many pilots who participated in the war were urgently transferred from the aviation school. Recruits who have no actual combat experience or even dropped bombs.

It should be said that the situation at this time is not bad, because as the war went on, even these recruits who had flight training in the aviation school were almost lost, so they hurriedly trained for a few months before being sent to the air join the war.

But the Soviets are so incredible that even so, their air force can relax, and there are even many ace pilots among them.

However, at least until now, these ace pilots have not appeared.

In the end, Rokossovsky gritted his teeth and bombarded the houses on the other side of the river with rockets... At this time, although the Soviet army had turned to counterattack, supplies were still in short supply, which was one of the reasons why the German army did not collapse. one.

Then, following Katukov's order, the tanks of the 1st Guards Tank Brigade set off.

Thirty "Matildas" drove ahead, followed by Soviet soldiers.

Although the "Matilda" tank has been criticized for its various shortcomings, it still has a bit of power under the sound of "rumbling" motors and tracks when launching a group attack on the battlefield.

It didn't take long for the German artillery fire to implement immobile blocking fire...but only a few shells could hit the Soviet camp.

The reason was that the Soviet army had the initiative in the air at this time, to be precise, it was at this specific location near Moscow, and the Soviet Air Force had the upper hand in extremely cold conditions.

As a result, the Soviet army could use the air force to suppress German artillery fire.

Almost at the moment when the German army opened fire, dozens of fighter jets and bombers circling in the sky swooped down on the enemy's artillery position... Their firing meant that the position was exposed, and what awaited them next was a wave of indiscriminate bombing.

The tanks continued to advance, and the German troops emerged from the opposite bank defense line to set up various weapons.

Then, when the Soviet army opened up the river (the width of the river is about 300 meters), the German army opened fire with an order.

The dense gunfire and artillery sounded like popping beans.

Mortars, anti-tank guns, machine guns...the whole battlefield was covered with snow powder, and many ice cubes were blown away, turning into sharp shrapnel to hurt people everywhere.

Shulka was scratched across the face.

At that time, he didn't feel it at all, because the blood was quickly frozen, and it hurt after the battle.

However, the "Matilda" tank with thicker armor did not live up to its expectations. Bullets and shells hit its front armor with a "clanking" sound, but it still continued to move forward against the rain of bullets.

There were only two of them, and it was not known whether it was due to a breakdown or a broken track that stopped.

Shulka stuck his head out with his rifle raised and looked ahead.

The height difference of the river bank in front was about 1.5 meters. Under the action of ice and snow, it became an obstacle that tanks could not overcome.

If there is no rocket launcher, this battle really does not know how to fight, unless the engineers can pave the way for the tanks under the enemy's muzzle and grenades.

But that is not the case now.