Chapter 131 Overdrawing Willpower

The Soviet and German armies fought blood and lives in the narrow street fighting in Yelnya, but after a whole day of brutal fighting, the final victory was still not decided.

The Soviet army, which continued to attack Yelnya with a desperate posture, suffered heavy casualties. The burning tank wreckage and the bodies of the dead Red Army soldiers almost blocked every street in the city.

In order to resist the Soviet army's surging offensive like a tsunami, the Great German Infantry Regiment stationed in the city for a last-ditch battle also suffered heavy losses.

All types and calibers of anti-tank guns used to deal with Soviet tank units were almost completely lost. Once the 88 guns, which were regarded as a thorn in the eyes and flesh by the Soviet army, opened fire and exposed the target, they would immediately attract the Soviet army's desperate charge and counterattack until they were completely destroyed.

Although the German army hiding in the complex terrain and building bunkers in the city achieved its original strategic intention of avoiding the Soviet artillery bombardment, the Soviet field artillery, which was limited by the complex terrain and buildings in the city and blocked the trajectory of the artillery bombardment, could no longer launch effective artillery bombardment.

However, the Soviet siege troops continued to launch a series of group charges regardless of casualties, which far exceeded the current extreme endurance of the Great German Infantry Regiment.

The brutal and deteriorating battles that had hardly been rested for many consecutive days had already exhausted the Great German Infantry Regiment. The shortage of logistical supplies, especially high-quality food, meant that these German soldiers who had been holding guns all day long could only get some basic bread slices, biscuits and drinking water to barely fill their stomachs. This was undoubtedly a further blow to the Great German Infantry Regiment, which was already seriously overdrawn and resisted several times its own troops.

At the same time, the 10th Armored Division of the Wehrmacht and the Imperial Division of the SS, which were still in the suburbs of Yelnya and resisted the Soviet offensive forces in other directions, were also in a bad situation.

In the afternoon of July 24, the position of the 41st Combat Engineer Battalion of the SS Imperial Division was finally breached by the continuous group charge of the Soviet Army, and the entire defense line of the Imperial Division was in danger of collapse at any time.

Earlier, the Imperial Division commander Hausser, who had already dispatched the last reserve troops to support the Great German Infantry Regiment, had no other choice.

This skilled and courageous Waffen SS Lieutenant General directly led his guard troops and rushed to the front-line position that was breached by the Soviet Army to command in person. After seeing the division commander go to the front line, the soldiers of the Imperial Division, like being injected with chicken blood, began to howl more bravely and launched a fierce counterattack against the Soviet Army that had entered the position.

In the evening of that day, Hausser, who led his guard troops to the front-line positions to rush to the front to provide support and command, finally filled the gap in the positions himself. Amid the rumbling of Soviet artillery and the continuous group charge, the SS Imperial Division still stubbornly defended the positions and stood firm with its own strength.

The Soviet and German armies, which suffered heavy casualties on each other, were quietly using the cover of night to rush to transport troops and supplies and lick their old and new wounds. The rumbling artillery bombardment that roared again at the rising sun indicated that the battle of a new day had begun.

The fierce and brutal Yelnya offensive and defensive battle continued to advance until July 27 amid the rumbling of artillery.

Malashenko, who had led his troops to launch siege operations again and again in the past few days with continuous losses and continuous replenishment, was repeatedly repelled by the German army's stubborn resistance and fighting to the death.

Malashenko, whose crews and equipment had been replenished four times in less than a week, could hardly call out the names of his subordinates accurately.

The once familiar faces said goodbye to each other in the early morning, and then left forever. The cold bodies were left in the burning city of Yelnya forever. The faces that had been ravaged by the war and were slightly numb continued to replace the names of the victims and replaced them under the organization of the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion, continuing to drive tanks to attack the German army.

In the afternoon of the 27th, the Soviet siege troops that entered the city from the southern suburbs of Yelnya were only a stone's throw away from the Yelnya Airport.

In order to ensure that this important air corridor and air transport material supply line were not lost, the Great German Infantry Regiment, which was scattered by the Soviet siege troops and stationed in the main streets of the city, had to dispatch a rapid response force to rush to the airport for emergency support, which made the Great German Infantry Regiment, which was already riddled with holes, even worse.

Guderian, who was commanding in the Smolensk City War Zone far behind Yelnya City, began to realize that the war situation seemed to be developing in a direction out of control after receiving the telegrams for help that kept coming from the front line.

Guderian, who was unwilling to give up Yelnya City, a salient that was already in his hands, had an almost rigid obsession with the rank of general. In order to turn this obsession deeply buried in his heart into reality, the stubborn Guderian once again began to deploy troops and put more troops into the crazy meat grinder of Yelnya City.

Time passed until July 29th amid the roar of war day after day and the telegrams for help from the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment that kept floating like snowflakes to the rear.

That night, the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, which had suffered nearly half of its casualties while waiting for reinforcements, finally received the reinforcements it had prayed for - the 268th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht.

This Wehrmacht infantry division, which had just finished dealing with all the scattered wars at hand, immediately headed for Yelnya to provide support as soon as it received Guderian's order.

The 268th Infantry Division, which suffered little loss in the first phase of the Battle of Smolensk and was basically fully equipped, was split into several battle groups as soon as it arrived at the Yelnya city theater, supporting the Great German Infantry Regiment, the SS Imperial Division, and the 10th Armored Division in three directions of the theater defense line.

Although the number of supporting forces used in the defense area responsible for the Great German Infantry Regiment after being divided into three seems a drop in the bucket, it is undoubtedly a vital help for the Great German Infantry Regiment, which has been reduced to only 50 to 80 people in each company.

The German army, which has received support from a newly fully equipped infantry division, has regained its vitality due to the injection of fresh blood.

The Soviet army, which continued to dispatch more reinforcements and supplies of materials and ammunition from the rear, obviously did not want to give up Yelnya, the last node leading to Moscow. The smoke of the battlefield floating among the ruins of Yelnya will continue to burn.