Chapter 126: Strangling Yelnia (VIII)

The brutal battle of positions, which was like a meat grinder, almost completely exhausted the combat strength of both the Soviet Union and Germany in a short time.

Although the Soviet army, which played the role of the attacker, had an absolute numerical advantage in terms of manpower, the Soviet army, which was far inferior to the German army in terms of individual combat experience and weapon quality, ultimately failed to create a miracle.

The desperate resistance of the Wehrmacht's Great German Infantry Regiment and the SS Imperial Division finally brought the expected results. The brutal battle situation in which the grassroots officers suffered too many casualties and many Soviet infantry at the company and battalion level were even written off as a whole made it almost difficult for the Soviet army to organize further effective offensives.

Although it was only a stone's throw away from breaking through the German field defense positions in the suburbs outside Yelnya, the unwilling Soviet army finally ended the battle on July 24th by tactically retreating under desperation.

When the battle that lasted for a whole day amid the roar of artillery fire returned to calm, the Soviet and German sides, who had been fighting for a whole day in the fierce battle, were licking their wounds and recuperating in their respective positions.

After a whole day of fighting today, the Great German Infantry Regiment, which used a reinforced regiment to fight against the Independent First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion led by Malashenko and the concentrated fire attack of five Soviet infantry divisions, suffered the most serious losses.

A total of 14 combat infantry battalions under its regimental-level organization suffered heavy damage, including the wounded, the dead, and the missing. The loss of troops was nearly 40%, and the 88 guns used to effectively fight against the Soviet armored forces were more than half lost, and the various small-caliber anti-tank guns deployed in the hands of the front-line defense forces were almost all scrapped.

In addition, the SS Imperial Division support troops that came to support the Great German Infantry Regiment from the other direction of the Yelnya theater also suffered heavy losses.

A second-level SS assault captain who was responsible for leading the rescue was killed by the Soviet army in the close combat. More than half of the company, platoon and squad combat soldiers temporarily drawn from the regiment and battalion units under the Imperial Division were lost, and the death rate of the grassroots SS officers who were responsible for the front-line combat command was as high as 70%.

But even so, the German army, which paid a heavy price for casualties, still barely achieved today's scheduled combat objectives.

The Soviet army, which mobilized many powerful armed forces including the new secret weapon BM-13 Katyusha rocket launcher, the Moscow Aviation Fighter Corps and the Independent First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion led by Malashenko, was finally successfully blocked by the German army who vowed to resist to the death and failed to enter the city before the field defense position outside the city of Yelnya.

Therefore, judging from the final result of today's battle, the German army, which suffered heavy casualties, undoubtedly won a difficult tactical victory. The Soviet army, which failed to achieve the established combat objectives, undoubtedly suffered the consequences of tactical failure. The heavier casualties than the German army and the failure made the Soviet army, which was defending the country, even worse.

After this battle, the independent first heavy tank breakthrough battalion led by Malashenko lost a total of 23 KV1 heavy tanks and 6 T34 medium tanks.

Except for a very small number of crews who abandoned their vehicles and escaped, most of the crews died in today's battle.

The assault team of the SS Imperial Division, which knew that tank soldiers were more valuable and highly technical, almost exclusively targeted Soviet tank crews that abandoned their vehicles and escaped. The Soviet tank crews, who were far from proficient in infantry combat skills and could only be considered qualified for self-defense at best, were killed inexplicably under the guns of the SS who were waiting for them.

It was precisely because the SS Reich Division Combat Assault Team organized and planned to attack Soviet tank crews that abandoned their vehicles and escaped, that Malashenko was surprised and extremely angry to find that the ratio of lost vehicles and killed crews of his First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion was almost one to one when he was counting the losses after the end of the war today!

You know, in most of the previous battles, Soviet tanks used relatively safe diesel as the fuel power of tanks, which was not easy to catch fire and explode. A considerable number of Soviet tanks did not actually catch fire and explode on the spot after being penetrated.

Half or all of the Soviet tank crews that survived had a high probability of abandoning their vehicles and escaping, and the Soviet infantry who always accompanied their tanks in the coordinated attack were often ordered to try their best to protect these highly technical friendly crews from being killed by the Germans.

This ensures that the new tanks that the Soviet army continuously transports to the front line from the rear production line can be driven by people, so as to avoid the embarrassing situation of "tanks waiting for people" after the tanks arrive at the front line due to the lack of corresponding crews to drive and fight.

In previous battles, the Wehrmacht, which focuses on direct confrontation, has never used such targeted tactics to specifically defeat the Soviet army's abandoned tank crews, and the survival rate of Soviet tank abandoned crews has always remained at a relatively satisfactory and acceptable level.

Combined with the powerful blood-making output capacity of the Soviet heavy industry, the so-called Soviet tanks seem to be "endless" or even "more and more" The secret lies in this.

But in today's battle, the SS Imperial Division, which does everything possible and does not follow the rules of war at all, has formed dozens of assault teams to specifically target Soviet tanks.

After throwing the mixed rubber incendiary bottles, the SS Imperial Division assault team, which had planned in advance, simply hid in a trench bunker not far away and waited quietly. When the Soviet tank crews, who were fascinated by the toxic black smoke and almost lost their ability to resist, abandoned their vehicles, the Imperial Division assault team, who were secretly observing, decisively rushed out from the dark and killed them on the spot.

After witnessing this scene in today's battle, Malashenko was furious when he recalled such a situation.

Although there is no unwritten rule in the ground combat of the army like the Air Force that "it is forbidden to shoot the parachuting pilots of the other fighter plane", the SS's extremely shameless and ruthless tricks that specifically choose the lower three roads to attack undoubtedly gave Malashenko an unexpected wake-up call.

There are more than a dozen reserve KV1 heavy tanks parked in the field camp of the First Independent Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion. These are all new vehicles that have just been unloaded from the railway transportation hub in the rear and transported to the front line for backup today.

Malashenko, who had long anticipated that the German army would be difficult to deal with, naturally made plans early and was prepared for heavy losses. After all, with these new vehicles, the loss of tanks was not a big problem for the Soviet army, which had always emphasized the steel torrent tactics.