Chapter 45: Long Swords Clash (Part 1)

"These Soviets are doomed, Alfred. Notify Diesel and the others immediately and ask them to prepare for a counterattack according to the predetermined plan. It's time to make these Soviets who took the initiative to attack us pay a price."

The counterattack plan against the Soviet army mentioned by Division Commander Dietrich at this moment was actually formulated by General Kleist, the commander of the First Panzer Group, of the Wehrmacht when the defensive positions of the First Panzer Group under the entire German Southern Army Group were just deployed.

The German army, which has always advocated that offense is the best defense, will naturally not passively take a beating and only defend and show weakness when facing the local counterattack of the Soviet army.

According to the decision and battle deployment made by General Kleist in the pre-war meeting, if the defensive forces deployed by the German army on the front line once withstood the first wave of Soviet charge, the entire German First Panzer Group, which has absolute air superiority on the battlefield, will take the opportunity to launch the most fierce and fierce armored cluster-scale counterattack.

At that time, the Soviet troops who had just suffered a failed attack in front of the German army's impregnable defense and had not yet had time to reorganize the next round of offensive forces would definitely be directly defeated by the well-prepared three-dimensional air-to-ground counterattack of the German First Panzer Group.

The absolute battlefield air supremacy that has always been firmly in the hands of the side has given General Kleist, the commander of the German First Panzer Group, who has been in battle for a long time, reason to make this seemingly extremely confident counterattack deployment.

The traditional old-style trench squatting and shooting battles during the First World War had long been completely smashed by the German army's air-to-ground integrated fierce blitzkrieg in countless previous battles against Europe. The modern war truth that "whoever controls the air supremacy has won half the victory" has already begun to show signs under the German army's new blitzkrieg offensive in the current Second World War.

Although Dietrich, who had long been known as Hitler's right-hand man and close confidant, looked down on the senior Junker officers of the Wehrmacht who had abandoned Emperor Wilhelm II during World War I, just like Hitler himself, and believed that it was the shameless betrayal of these aristocratic officers that led to Germany's "defeat before death" during World War I.

But for this General Kleist, who can almost be classified as a member of the Junker aristocratic officers' corps in terms of his background and military career.

Dietrich, who also climbed to his current position step by step from an ordinary soldier during World War I through his own efforts and opportunities, has a certain sense of recognition for his direct superior.

"All the evolution and progress of the war situation so far are almost exactly the same as what General Kleist expected earlier. If those guys around the Führer who only drink red wine and play with noble women all day can also have the ability to predict the war situation, it should be much easier to deal with these Ivans with vodka in their heads."

While lamenting softly, he also knew that he should not intervene in his position and was not qualified to preach the problems of the think tank around the Führer. Dietrich, who was very annoyed by the inaction and nonsense of some good-for-nothing guys, finally chose to turn the page and seal the words that should not be said under any circumstances in his heart again and never mention them again.

On the front line, after receiving the counterattack order from the rear division headquarters, the officers and soldiers of the SS Guards Flag Division immediately took action. The tank troops that had been deployed on both sides of the town of Brod and were waiting for an opportunity immediately started the roaring engine and rolled towards the Soviet troops that had suffered heavy casualties from the bombing of the German Air Force not far from their own positions.

In the open grassland vision, the German tank troops that were quickly killing towards them in the dust were soon discovered. The Soviet 20th Tank Division, which had suffered heavy losses in the continuous air strikes of the German Air Force for more than ten minutes, still did not lose the courage to fight against the enemy. After turning the muzzle, it changed the direction of the attack and rushed straight towards the rolling German counterparts.

Looking at the hellish battlefield filled with smoke, death and blood, the two steel torrents representing different beliefs and countries faced the oncoming opponent without any retreat. The final contest of the strength of the steel will finally collided with each other in the fierce spark friction at this moment.

"Okay, driver, stop! Combat position, gunners ready!"

"Load armor-piercing shells, aim at those Ivans' leading T34 tanks, 1,000 meters away, fire!"

Bang——

The German tank crew, equipped with three people in the turret and two people in the body, a total of five people, relied on its good crew communication and coordination and the excellent human-machine efficiency design of the German tank itself. Under the loud command of the commander who was responsible for leading the entire vehicle to command the battle, they immediately fired at the Soviet tank group that was less than a thousand meters away from their own side.

Before the vertical and horizontal bidirectional gun stabilizer installed on the tank main gun was actually used in actual combat, the tanks of the World War II era, which completely placed the main gun in the turret to form a purely rigid connection between the two, were basically a mobile anti-tank gun with a steel shell for protection.

It is simply impossible to expect the World War II tanks of this period to be able to perform accurate mobile shooting in high-speed off-road like modern main battle tanks.

In order to stop the Soviet tanks on the opposite side before they completely rushed into their own armored columns, the German armored forces under the SS Guard Flag Division had to stop their vehicles immediately after entering the effective range and fired at the Soviet tanks that were still rushing at full speed.

On the other hand, the Soviet tanks, which also did not have the future technology auxiliary equipment such as the main gun two-way stabilizer, were also unable to fire accurately during high-speed maneuvering and off-roading.

Compared with the Germans, the Soviet armored forces, which were lagging behind the Germans in precision mechanical technology, in order to ensure that their slightly less accurate sighting equipment could guide the main gun to accurately hit the opponent.

The brave Soviet tank soldiers did not stop and shoot at a distance of a thousand meters like the German armored forces, but continued to close the distance and rush towards the German tanks at full throttle as they had practiced in the previous exercises.