Chapter 161 Cutting and Erosion

Survival or destruction, this is a question worth thinking about.

The same is true for the two German infantry divisions whose defensive positions have been breached again.

Although the German commanders who started the battle for the position immediately after the Soviet army pierced through the defensive position again were very reluctant to admit it, the situation that was not affected by human subjective willpower continued to move in a direction that was unfavorable to the German army.

In this situation where both the manpower and technical equipment were at an absolute disadvantage, it was almost an impossible task to recapture the position that had been breached.

"There is no way. If we continue to fight like this, our two infantry divisions will be completely eaten up by Ivan in less than two hours. While the retreat has not been cut off and the position has not been penetrated, defending the city of Yelnya is our last hope!"

Although the decision to abandon the field defense position in the suburbs outside Yelnya was extremely difficult, it was far less fierce than the huge Soviet offensive pressure on the German army.

If you want to survive, you can only choose to retreat, otherwise you will face doomed destruction.

There was still a glimmer of hope for victory if they retreated to the city of Yelnya and fought street battles with the Soviet army. Continuing to fight this close-range battle for positions with the Soviet army, which had an absolute advantage in manpower, would undoubtedly lead to their own destruction.

I could understand it and comprehend it, but I couldn't find a second way to crack it no matter how hard I tried.

This was the essence of Zhukov's art of commanding large-scale operations. This was not a cunning conspiracy tactic or anti-cracking that was played with tricks and intelligence, but a real conspiracy tactic that was truly created with strength and could be put in broad daylight and fought hard without fear of being cracked.

The Soviet army, which continuously attacked the positions from the gap and launched wave after wave of infantry group charges against the German army, finally destroyed the enemy. The German army, which was already at an irreversible disadvantage, had to leave the rear guard troops and fight and retreat as they did in the first line of defense before. The first heavy tank breakthrough battalion led by Malashenko once again rushed to the front of the Soviet army and acted as a pioneer.

"All crews, charge at full speed to pursue the enemy! Don't be held back by the German foxholes and blocky resistance positions. Cut through the German rear guard. These two-legged bastards must stay here today!"

After abandoning the infantry, Malashenko, who only used his own tanks to launch a pursuit operation alone, did not rush for success and rush for success.

He knew clearly that once the army went deep into the hinterland of the retreating German infantry division, it would be surrounded by enemies on all sides.

The cautious Malashenko commanded his three tank companies to cut and destroy the rear guard of the German infantry division by cutting left and right and pursuing from the front at the same time.

To describe it specifically, it was like chasing a piece of fat meat that was constantly running forward, while always keeping a safe distance, using the razor in his hand to cut off piece after piece of meat from the fat meat to separate it from the main body and be taken over by the Soviet infantry who followed closely behind.

After that, the previous pursuit and division process will be repeated, just like slowly bleeding.

After seeing through the insidious and vicious tactics of "slow death" adopted by Malashenko, the two German infantry divisions retreating to the city of Yelnya had no other choice at this moment.

To destroy the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion with dozens of KV1 heavy tanks under its command is by no means an easy task for the German infantry division that has suffered heavy losses and is currently retreating. It is necessary to draw out the main force to surround this unbridled steel behemoth before it can succeed.

The two experienced German division commanders obviously could not make such a low-level mistake that would lead to being chased by the Soviet army and surrounded and annihilated. Otherwise, they would really fall into Malashenko's trick.

But on the other hand, ignoring the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion led by Malashenko in pursuit of retreat speed is also a not-so-good plan.

The universal truth that two legs cannot outrun two tracks is still the same even for heavy tanks. Moreover, the two German infantry divisions that had prepared for the next street battle still carried a lot of belongings and technical equipment. Various weak light anti-tank guns, even if they were limited in threat, were much stronger than nothing and had to be taken with them when they were evacuated. Their relatively slow retreat speed is naturally imaginable.

In this case, Malashenko, who kept biting off pieces of meat from the retreating German infantry divisions one after another, was disgusting the German army. They were like sticky candy and could not be thrown away. They kept hanging behind the buttocks and kept sticking to them to disgust people. This feeling of being able to take a beating but not being able to stop and fight back was so uncomfortable for the two retreating German infantry divisions.

After repeated wrangling and chasing and fleeing like a saw, the two German infantry divisions, which were in a mess all the way and left behind many rear guard troops cut off and surrounded by the Soviet army, finally fled into the city of Yelnya in a panic and were temporarily safe.

The Soviet infantry group, which had been chasing all the way, had its front line stretched to a great length and its organization was disrupted and dispersed and needed to be regrouped. After two rounds of position battles and continuous pursuits, the 1st Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion, whose 116 rounds of main gun ammunition were almost used up, also needed ammunition replenishment.

After the superposition of various objective factors, the Soviet army did not immediately launch an offensive operation to pursue the victory after driving the German army into the city of Yelnya. Work such as cleaning the battlefield and preparing troops, counting the wounded and lost troops, etc. was carried out.

Commanding his independent first heavy tank breakthrough battalion, he returned to the captured second German army defense position and slowly stopped. After opening the turret cover and breathing the residual warm air burning with gunpowder smoke and the smell of blood, Malashenko, who survived the battle again, breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm still alive, although it may be only temporary"

Malashenko jumped off the turret and jumped out of the car. His first reaction was that the land under his feet was so soft that it was like walking barefoot in the farmland in the countryside of his motherland when he was a child.

For a while, Malashenko, who didn't react to the reason and had some doubts, leaned down and reached out from the soft and sparse soil at his feet and grabbed a handful of it in his hand.

It doesn't matter if he doesn't grab it. After reaching out and grabbing a handful of loose soil, Malashenko squeezed it with a little force, and a sharp metallic pain immediately came from the palm of his hand.