Chapter 119: Strangling Yelnia (I)

No matter how reluctant Malashenko was at this time, reality continued to advance quietly regardless of human subjective consciousness. The reinforcements of the Imperial Division of the SS finally stood in the same trench with the Great German Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht and began to fight side by side.

Compared with the German Wehrmacht, which was a traditional Prussian soldier, it was obvious how difficult it was for the Waffen SS, which was the private military group of the Nazi Party and Hitler, to deal with.

In the earlier Battle of Lutsk to Brod, the 9th Mechanized Army, which was fully pressed with two tank divisions and one motorized infantry division, was actually all broken down in front of the position of the 1st "Adolf Hitler" Guards Leibstandarte Division of the Waffen SS and could not move forward at all.

The main reason for this was that the Soviet army, as the attacker, lost air superiority and was bombed by the German Air Force, resulting in its failure.

However, as the number one Guards Leibstandarte Division in the Waffen SS, the amazing combat effectiveness shown in this battle was still beyond reproach.

Those SS soldiers who fought to the death in front of the positions and saw their comrades beside them being blown to pieces by the Soviet army's large-caliber artillery shells, but they were still indifferent even though they were covered in blood.

The fanatical personal worship and belief of the head of state Hitler was enough to crush the fear in their hearts and make these armed SS soldiers "numb". The amazing fighting power they burst out in this situation was so shocking that even Malashenko, a later time traveler, was shocked.

If you have to find an appropriate way to describe and compare it, the fighting will shown by those crazy SS soldiers of the Guards Flag Division was even comparable to the Japanese soldiers who shouted "Long live His Majesty the Emperor" and launched a long live charge against the US machine gun positions.

And when this crazy fighting will that is as indestructible as steel is armed with advanced weapons that are the crystallization of German technology, completely destroying these crazy SS soldiers from the physical level becomes your only way to win, there is no other way.

Not knowing which unit the SS reinforcements who had just entered the position to assist in the defense were, Malashenko, who thought victory was within his grasp, immediately became alert and began to act as if he was facing a formidable enemy.

"All crews should slow down and wait for the infantry to catch up. Do not charge without authorization! The vehicle's directional machine guns and the turret's coaxial machine guns should maintain fire suppression. We must make sure that these SS lunatics cannot raise their heads!"

The follow-up Soviet infantry group, which had just finished the first position defense battle, soon moved closer to the first heavy tank breakthrough battalion led by Malashenko under the command of grassroots officers and political commissars at all levels.

In 1941, the Soviet army may still be far from the German armored forces that had fought blitzkrieg for several years in terms of large-scale armored group operations, but thanks to the guidance of Pavlov, who had been sent by Stalin to confess his sins to Comrade Lenin in person, the Soviet Red Army, which played the infantry-tank coordination tactics, can be said to have used its own unique skills.

After the Soviet infantry-tank coordinated forces once again joined forces in front of the second defensive position of the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, they immediately began to advance steadily as they had trained in several previous Western Steppe exercises.

The two 62mm DT light machine guns installed on each KV1 heavy tank poured out firepower in an almost uninterrupted manner. The dense crimson tracer machine gun bullets whipped the German soldiers in the trenches like countless hot whips, making them unable to raise their heads.

The German army, who took advantage of the interval between the Soviet vehicle-mounted machine guns changing ammunition and leaned out of the trenches to fire, still did not get any benefits. The Soviet infantry following closely behind the KV1 heavy tanks made up for the gap in firepower very well. The Mosin-Nagant rifles that were constantly firing and the DP light machine guns that were directly held in their arms and fired from the waist were equally powerful.

The Soviet machine gunners who were a little braver even jumped and climbed directly onto the rear of the slowly moving KV1 heavy tank, and placed the bipod of the DP light machine gun in their hands directly on the tank turret. Under the cover of the tank, they began to pour firepower on the German army from a high position.

As the pillar of the firepower of the infantry squad, the German MG34 machine gun team would be "focused on" by the 76mm main gun of the KV1 heavy tank as soon as they showed their heads. The scattered shell fragments and the explosion flames could make the German machine gun team ascend to heaven without directly hitting them.

At the last moment when the second German defense position was about to repeat the loss of the first position, the German 88 gun, which had been afraid to move at all due to the threat of Soviet heavy artillery and the Il-2 attack aircraft above, finally began to show its ferocious fangs after removing the camouflage of grass and bushes.

The Soviet aircraft group, which had already returned after exhausting its ammunition and less than half a tank of fuel, could not return again at this time. The Soviet offensive force had already shortened the distance from the German second line of defense to less than a hundred meters, which was enough to make the Soviet artillery group in the rear afraid to launch artillery support that might accidentally hurt their own troops.

The German army, which had gradually become accustomed to the Soviet fighting style within less than a month after the war, had to praise its extremely fast adaptability. This precise grasp of the best time for combat is also one of the most powerful proofs of the German army's elite level.

"Target the Soviet heavy tank group, each artillery group is free to fire, open fire!"

The deafening sound of the gun rang out at the same time as the German 88 gun commander gave a loud order, and the 88mm full-caliber PzGr capped armor-piercing shell was immediately pushed out of the barrel with flames.

The 88mm capped armor-piercing shell with a muzzle velocity of 810 meters per second hit the target almost instantly at such a close distance. The front armor of the KV1 heavy tank, which was 75mm thick and tilted at a 31-degree angle, still could not withstand the direct bombardment of the 88 gun at such a close distance. The KV1 heavy tank, which exploded instantly after being shaken violently like champagne, immediately set off a storm of death around it.

The explosions caused by the three KV1 heavy tanks being penetrated by the turret and the front upper armor of the hull were deafening. Malashenko, who was facing one wave after another, did not care about the lives of his tank crew and friendly infantry. The top priority at the moment was to destroy the German 88 guns that had exposed their targets as soon as possible.

"Kirill, reload the high-explosive shells!"

"Seryosha, stop the car immediately! Keep the main gun stable!"

"Nikolai, use the heading machine gun to suppress the damn Nazi gun position and send some greetings to their reloading!"

"Iushkin, the target is next to the green bushes at two o'clock! Smash these fascists for me!"