Chapter 3239 Red Dawn (Part 2)

Just as Malashenko predicted.

Wittmann would not be defeated so easily, nor would he admit defeat so easily. It was even more prescient for the director to prepare for the casualty statistics of the leader's army in advance.

Wittmann's counterattack soon followed.

"Reporting to Comrade Commander, the observers reported that the East German 7th Tank Division used mobile artillery units to move around and march to the east side of the north bank of the river to launch artillery strikes. The leader's river crossing troops and pontoon bridge troops have been covered by artillery fire, and the personnel and The equipment loss is estimated to be over 60%.”

"Oh? Coming so fast? Quick, point out on the map the exact location of the artillery position."

Malashenko, who was interested after hearing this, immediately gave the order. The major general who came to report did not say much after receiving the order. He immediately stood next to the war zone map on the table in the director's department and raised his hand to point.

"Wonderful, Wittmann really has a lot of clever ideas, and he can come up with this method!"

He and Malashenko came to the edge of the map and stopped to watch. Jack could probably guess what the situation was like, but he still asked questions for confirmation.

"General, it sounds like this is a diversionary tactic. Please give me clear instructions if possible."

"Well, that's pretty much what it means. You understand it correctly."

Everyone came to see it, so there was no need to hide the specific tactics.

After all, some things can only be enough of a deterrent if the other party understands them. Hiding them so that no one can see them and causing misunderstandings will only be counterproductive.

After clearing his mind and understanding what was going on, Malashenko pointed at the map and explained in person.

"The East German reinforcements marched to the river step by step, preparing to prevent the leader's army from establishing a beachhead to cross the river. The advancing troops were led by the mechanized infantry unit of the leader's army who was the first to cross the river. They were bombarded intensively and killed, and the tactical objectives were defeated. These are just appearances. That’s what Wittmann wanted to show his enemies.”

"His real purpose is here, here, at another riverside 16 kilometers away from the leader's crossing point. By moving the artillery unit here, the mobility advantage of the self-propelled artillery unit was fully utilized, heading towards the river. The leader's army crossing the river downstream launched a fierce artillery bombardment, giving Iushkin a severe blow when the leader's army was at its most vulnerable and when it seemed to have won an initial victory and was most relaxed. "

"That's it, I understand."

Jack, who nodded silently, immediately signaled and blurted out the questions that followed.

"But why by the river? Why in a strange place like the upper reaches of the river? You can obviously choose other deep locations on the land to deploy artillery positions. Is there anything special about this?"

"Is it right for you to think so? Is it right for you to be questioning this?"

""

Being overwhelmed by Malashenko's sudden "answering questions with questions", Jack, who didn't know what to answer, had no time to speak. Malashenko, who was asking and answering himself, had already followed up.

"I bet Iushkin is most likely like you now. He is also thinking and having such questions."

"You think there is something wrong, weird, and impossible. It just so happens that the enemy thinks so too. This is the point of Wittmann's sophistication. Compared with him, Iushkin still lacks a bit of age and experience."

"There is no problem with Iushkin's command and mobilization. The infantry fighting vehicle detachment that crossed the river and crossed the radiation zone dispersed immediately and maneuvered at high speed to conduct reconnaissance in the enemy's deep areas. Normally, if there is a mobile artillery unit at this time, it will be He encountered it, but Iushkin neglected to send a reconnaissance force in a parallel direction upstream of the river."

"Normally, no one would fire their artillery units so far away and from such a weird position. Wittmann took advantage of this to succeed in the sneak attack. Of course, he also achieved his tactical purpose. The leading army would not be able to cross the river for a while. It will take time for the second wave of pontoon troops to catch up and the second wave of river crossing troops to gather. "

"And that's enough time for Wittmann to do a lot of things on the other side of the river, just wait and see."

After swallowing 4 tactical nuclear missiles alive, I didn’t think about how to seal the mouth quickly, but thought about how to make a backhand sneak attack. I even didn’t hesitate to use my own vanguard as bait. As long as I succeeded in the sneak attack, it would be a success in blocking the mouth.

Such a weird command style is something Jack has never seen before. The seemingly majestic leader's river crossing force has now received a notice from the director's department that it has been determined to be out. Tanks, personnel, transport vehicles, and the pontoon force that is unfolding the pontoon bridge, Everyone packed up their belongings and left, evacuating the training ground.

What happened next was just as Malashenko expected.

Wittmann, who temporarily resolved the enemy's breakthrough crisis, seized the opportunity and mobilized the main force to advance furiously. At the same time, he used peripheral armored reconnaissance troops to hunt and hunt. In a "scout vs. scout" approach, he quickly found and killed the leading troops. A wave of mechanized scouts from the leadership army crossed the river and arrived deep in the hinterland of the area controlled by the East German troops.

At this point in the battle, regardless of Iushkin's command of the leading army, he achieved certain results in destroying the enemy's manpower and technical equipment, causing Wittmann to suffer 30% of his troops' casualties at the beginning.

But from the perspective of the overall battle situation, Iushkin's real tactical goal has not moved at all so far, and has even regressed instead of being advanced.

The first attempt to cross the river ended with the loss of troops and a complete failure. It would still take time to mobilize the second wave of crossing troops and pontoon troops.

So far, the leader army still cannot cross the river. From the overall situation, it is no different from the beginning of the exercise. Not only did they waste time and work in vain, but they also suffered heavy casualties. The 20% casualties of the troops were eliminated and were judged to be out.

The time left for Iushkin is limited. If he cannot successfully cross the river before sunset and break through Wittmann's defense depth zone, it means that the leader army has lost in this exercise.

One tried desperately to cross the river, and the other tried desperately to prevent the crossing of the river.

Iushkin and Wittmann each commanded their troops to fight for the river.

Iushkin, who lost the scout scout on the other side of the river, was equivalent to losing his eyes. In this complex battlefield environment exercise set without air support, he could only rely on himself.

Iushkin had no choice but to send another wave of reconnaissance troops to cross the river. According to the last reported position when the previous wave of reconnaissance troops lost contact, he judged the approximate location and direction of Wittmann's main force at the moment, and ordered the scouts to confirm and try to avoid its edge.

Moreover, this time, the reconnaissance gaps in the upstream and downstream of the river were also filled in place to prevent another accident, which was repeated by Wittmann.

Wittmann, who expected that Iushkin would send a reconnaissance team to cross the river again, continued to let the main force stay outside the range of the enemy's artillery, and only sent a small number of reconnaissance troops to search and annihilate the scouts sent by Iushkin to cross the river.

The reconnaissance troops of both sides broke out in a series of small-scale fierce battles. If it were a real battlefield, it would definitely be a scene that would have been played out by dog ​​brains. There were constantly East German scouts and leader army scouts who were announced to withdraw by the director's department, almost 50-50.

Wittmann was driving away the scouts who annihilated Iushkin, and Iushkin was the same. He didn't want Wittmann to catch the new crossing point and suffer another wave of devastating artillery fire, so he must never let Wittmann's eyes get close to his vitals.

Time passed by every second, and the turning point happened on Iushkin's side.

A reconnaissance unit of the Leader Army defeated the East German reconnaissance unit that came to search and annihilate them through an ambush.

Before being found by the enemy again and exposed, they continued to advance and conduct mobile reconnaissance in an unexplored direction through continuous radio interaction and confirmation with other reconnaissance units of their own side, and successfully found the East German artillery unit that was in a mobile state to transfer positions.

As soon as the coordinates were obtained, the artillery positions immediately opened fire at the command of Iushkin.

The mobile artillery units in a marching state were already fragile, and they could not withstand such a blow.

Under the absolutely devastating long-range firepower strikes from the 203mm heavy self-propelled artillery of the Artillery Brigade of the Leader Army and the 152 self-propelled artillery of the other army and divisions.

The long-range self-propelled artillery in Wittmann's hands, who was in the process of mobile transfer, was almost completely destroyed. After the first-time confirmation and analysis of the director's department, he was immediately judged out, and the entire unit lost the ability to strike long-range artillery.

But before Iushkin had time to be happy, Wittmann's revenge came soon.

12 short-range tactical ballistic missiles whizzed in, flying directly over the artillery position of the leader's army from high altitude to a farther position.

The ominous sign in Iushkin's heart, who had a bad premonition, really came true. A call from the director's office directly determined that Iushkin's army's self-propelled artillery brigade had lost its combat effectiveness and was out of the game, and half of the division's self-propelled artillery unit was written off. The reason was so simple that it couldn't be simpler.

According to the real-time deduction results, 12 short-range tactical ballistic missiles loaded with 1-ton conventional warheads accurately bombed the artillery position of the leader's army.

It turned out that Wittmann, who was "repairing the plank road in the open but secretly crossing Chencang", really came up with a sneak attack duet. On the surface, he and Iushkin's scouts fought back and forth on the other side of the river, and the main force did not dare to enter the enemy's range and wandered around the periphery.

But in fact, another group of East German reconnaissance troops, which had made a huge detour and directly pulled out of the reconnaissance range of the leader's army reconnaissance troops, had already set out at the beginning of the exercise.

And they used the same BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle as the leader's army to successfully infiltrate the river and land on the beach, and continued to make a big detour to the deep hinterland of the leader's army. After searching for a long time, they finally caught the self-propelled artillery troops of the leader's army in a mobile state.

So from the moment the leader's artillery stopped maneuvering and entered the position waiting to open fire, the East German scouts who had been hanging behind the artillery had already reported the coordinates of the leader's latest artillery position.

Wittmann, who was worried that his artillery unit might have been targeted, played a safe hand and asked the artillery unit to continue to maneuver and transfer without staying, to ensure the survival of the artillery unit as much as possible.

Instead, the last trump card in his hand was revealed. A total of 12 mobile carrier launchers formed the short-range tactical ballistic missile regiment of the strike force. All 12 missiles were loaded into the strike coordinates at one time and fired, causing most of the long-range artillery forces of the leader army to be judged to have lost their combat effectiveness and withdraw from the battlefield.

In this way, the artillery units of both sides completed the "exchange", and both lost the long-range artillery fire support.

At this point in the exercise, Iushkin's main force, which was accelerating at the second crossing point, had completed most of the crossing, and the East German scouts sent by Wittmann finally found this key point on the battlefield after paying a huge loss.

Of course, Wittmann, who had eliminated the threat of the enemy's long-range artillery cluster, immediately mobilized the main force of the division to rush all the way. Regardless of the existence of the outer reconnaissance troops of the leader's army, he seized the last opportunity of the leader's army before it had completed the crossing of the river and launched an attack.

After receiving the feedback report from the scouts, Iushkin also understood that the final moment had come and there was little time left. Regardless of the fact that the main force had not yet completed the crossing of the river, he immediately led his troops to charge and launched a head-on decisive battle with the East German army.

The collision between the steel torrent and the steel torrent was fierce.

The equipment tended to be consistent, and the tactics were extremely similar.

The fighting will was also quite tenacious, and the two heavy mechanized troops who refused to give in to each other fought together.

Impact and counter-impact, detour and interception, various cluster tactics and countermeasures were staged in turn, and the fight was so dark.

At the last sunset, relying on the relative advantages in total force and technical equipment, and relying on the last wave of reinforcements that came across the river, Iushkin finally broke through the deep defense zone of the East German troops and breathed a sigh of relief. There were only 8 minutes and 23 seconds left before the end of the exercise.

The leader army completed the mission objectives within the scheduled time and successfully won the final victory of this exercise, but the price was also heavy.

According to the final judgment of the directorate, the total casualties of the combat troops of the leader army in this battle were as high as 70%, the long-range artillery was almost completely lost, the medium and short-range support artillery lost 70%, and the loss of combat armored vehicles such as tanks and infantry fighting vehicles was as high as 90%.

Although a considerable part of the equipment loss is recoverable and repairable, the permanent loss is actually far less.

But there is no doubt that the 9th Guards Tank Division under the leader army, after achieving the tactical goal, is now a force that has lost its combat effectiveness. It no longer has the ability to fight further on the real battlefield, and can only withdraw to rest. Don't think about restoring combat effectiveness and returning to the battlefield for two or three months.

Correspondingly, Wittmann's top elite East German Army - the 7th Tank Division was also wiped out.

As a defensive force, its casualties were extremely large in the face of the extremely powerful offensive energy and violent firepower of the Leader's Army.

When the Leader's Army broke through the defense in the end, it was already in a "three-total loss" state determined by the director's office, "all armored vehicles, all artillery units, and all reconnaissance units were lost."

From a fully mechanized heavy division, it was forcibly reduced to a downgraded infantry battalion.

At the last moment, the East German 7th Tank Division suffered too much loss and was unable to defend. The remaining troops could only follow the "battalion commander" Major General Wittmann, whose division headquarters was flattened by the Leader's Army, and watched the remnants of the Leader's Army, which had only a few dozen tanks and infantry fighting vehicles left, leave and reach the end.

So if Malashenko, the commander of the director's office, really wants to say and evaluate it himself, there is actually no winner in this exercise, no real winner.

The 9th Guards Tank Division under the leadership army, with the relative advantages of total manpower and technical equipment, won a barely victorious victory with a battle in which almost all the troops were annihilated and both sides died.

Although Wittmann's 7th Tank Division of East Germany was lost and its defense zone was penetrated, it basically completed its combat mission. There were only 8 minutes and 23 seconds left to defend to the end, and the old troops brought up by Malashenko were basically wiped out.

What the hell is "East German men, federal waste"? This is it.

Probably the most capable group of German troops in history, facing the world's top army field group, proved their strength with their own strength, and further proved that the "puppet army" and "slave army" rhetoric of the group in the west was a fucking joke.

Jack, who was deeply shocked by the "Germans' red, doubled combat power", watched the whole exercise and sat in his seat for a long time without saying a word. He never thought that the East German army could beat the most elite field group of the Russians like this.

Jack originally wanted to finish the exercise early and let Malashenko treat him to lunch, but now it seems that he can only have a midnight snack.

On the other hand, even if the Russians used live ammunition in some links and some exercise subjects in order to be as close to reality as possible, creating the sound of artillery fire and loud explosions to increase the battlefield atmosphere and make it as close to the battlefield environment as possible.

However, the extent to which morale, fighting will and other issues can be tested on the exercise field is actually very limited.

At its core, there is no doubt that Jack has to re-examine and understand the East German army from today, and almost all the inferences and assumptions made about this "servant army" in the past have to be overturned.

This will probably become the first urgent task that he has to solve after taking office as the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

I have mixed the two updates together and added some words. It is close to 5,000 words to ensure that everyone can finish it at one time.