USSR 1941

After dawn, the German army couldn't wait to launch an attack on Mamayev Gang.

In fact, the German army had already begun artillery preparations before the sky was dark.

Lieutenant Colonel Edmund was in such a hurry because he thought that the daytime belonged to the Germans, and they should make full use of every minute and every second of the daytime.

"Last time we almost occupied the entire Mamayev Hill!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmund said, "It was almost the last line of defense. This time, as long as we seize the time, we can completely occupy it. As for keeping our weaknesses exposed to the enemy!"

The weakness that Lieutenant Colonel Edmund mentioned was the two wings of Mamayev Gang.

Since the surprise attack by the Soviet army last night, Lieutenant Colonel Edmund has realized the problem of the two flanks of defense.

But sometimes it's one thing to know about a problem, and quite another to be able to fix it.

For example, the problems on the two wings of Mamayev Kurgan cannot be solved.

To be precise, if the enemy is still occupying part of the Mamayev Hill on the reverse slope, the weaknesses of the German flanks will always be weaknesses.

The reason is very simple, just as the frontal slope of the Soviet army is always exposed to the artillery fire and direct fire of the German army. Since the "Red October" new village and the urban area on both sides of Mamayev Hill are under the control of the Soviet army, its two wings Even the positive slope will be under the guns of the Soviet army at night.

This is a bit like "Feng Shui turns around". The advantages and disadvantages of the Soviet and German armies on Mamayev Post turned in turn with the change of day and night.

The pros and cons of this time can be said to be half and half. To be precise, the German army is more dominant... The time has entered April, and the daytime has been extended to 13 hours.

(Note: The longest daytime near Moscow is July, which lasts 17 hours and 26 minutes, that is, only six and a half hours are nights)

But these times are still very difficult for the German army to take the entire Mamayev Gang.

What makes Lieutenant Colonel Edmund helpless is that once they fail to seize control of the entire Mamayev Hill, the fiasco of last night will happen again, that is, Mamayev Hill will repeat the past again and again What happened... During the day, the German army had the upper hand to attack the reverse slope, and at night it was the Soviet army who had the upper hand and was taken back by them.

So Lieutenant Colonel Edmund decided to race against time.

He was ready for all attacks at dawn,

The artillery prepared ammunition of three bases, a tank battalion and an assault artillery battalion came up from the rear as reinforcements, and five infantry companies were added, and even the air force was ready to take off.

Then when the fight started, there was a burst of artillery fire on the positive slope, and then the infantry stormed under the cover of tanks and assault guns.

This time, the German attack on the positive slope was unexpectedly easy.

Most of the obstacles in front of them were barbed wire and landmines, in addition to a few snipers on the top of the hill.

"This is a good sign!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmund said, "We have more time to attack the reverse slope. The Russians are doomed!"

This was followed by a fierce battle for the hilltop position, and everything seemed to be repeating yesterday's steps... Sometimes the battle is so boring, repeatedly fighting for the same position, even though this position may only be a few hundred square meters, every inch of the land is Deeply plowed by shells, every step has a dead body or hot blood.

But in the end, the German army gnawed down the hilltop position abruptly under the cover of air power and smoke bombs.

German officers and soldiers, including Edmund, thought that the next battle would be easy.

Of course, the German army would not think that the Soviet army would keep the wreckage of the tanks to facilitate their charge, but they could still use tanks and assault guns to build new bunkers.

But the reality is not what they thought.

The Soviet army kept the wreckage of the tanks, but the wreckage of the tanks had become part of the Soviet defense line in front of them.

At that moment, the German frontline commander was even terrified. Instead of ordering a charge, he called Lieutenant Colonel Edmond to report.

"Lieutenant Colonel, they have reinforced the line of defense!"

"Is there any problem?" Lieutenant Colonel Edmund was puzzled for a while. Isn't it a matter of course to strengthen the defense line? Would the enemy do nothing and wait for him to attack? !

"No, no, Lieutenant Colonel!" Major Erich replied. "They reinforced the line with wrecked tanks, and they're standing in front of us! I mean a steel line..."

Hearing this, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond couldn't help being stunned.

A steel line of defense, a line of defense built from tank wreckage, and it was still their tank wreckage.

Lieutenant Colonel Edmond knew what this meant, because the Germans had used tank wrecks as shelters not long ago.

For example, tanks or assault guns, tank wreckage as a cover is more advantageous in some respects.

The German army lacked anti-tank equipment.

They don't have the rocket launchers of the Soviet army... This is a weapon for individual anti-tank and anti-armor, especially on complex terrain.

Therefore, the Germans had only a few options for dealing with these tank wrecks:

Anti-tank grenades, air force, anti-tank guns.

But neither option is suitable.

Anti-tank grenades require close quarters, which will definitely pay heavy casualties.

The air force, on the other hand, is blinded by the enemy's constant burning of waste tires, otherwise the reconnaissance planes would have sent an alarm.

Anti-tank guns, which meant that the Germans were going to push it up Mamayev Hill.

Not to mention that this is difficult to do, even if it is done, it is easy to become the target of the enemy's attack by placing the anti-tank on the top of the mountain.

on the other hand.

Tanks or assault guns often burn or even explode when hit by shells, fuel, etc. Therefore, anti-tank guns are more effective against tanks and assault guns.

But the wreckage of the tank... it's actually a pile of scrap metal, and the infantry hiding in it are not tank soldiers.

So even if the anti-tank gun pierces the wreckage of the tank, it is nothing more than killing a few infantry and adding a perforation or observation hole for the opponent.

From this point of view, the survivability of fortifications built with tank wreckage is even much stronger than that of tanks, unless assault guns can be used to bombard their perforations at close range, or they can be blown up with explosives.

But the Germans seemed to have no choice but to attack.

So Edmund didn't hesitate anymore, and he ordered Major Erich: "Attack, Major! It's just a tank wreck. You have much more than them, and they can still move!"

Major Erich looked in the direction of the front slope, where several assault guns were waiting for an attack order.

They are indeed tank wrecks, moving tank wrecks.

However, Major Erich did not think that in this case, these moving tank wrecks would be of much use.