Chapter 476 Seeking Help

The battle was intense from the beginning.

The German soldiers fired their weapons at the first opportunity, spitting tongues of fire at the Soviet troops and knocking the attacking Soviet troops to the ground. However, the Soviet troops still surged forward in piles, firing their guns as they rushed forward.

Three tanks also drove down the river bank and "rumbled" towards the other side.

However, such a charge almost made the Soviet tank lose its combat effectiveness, because the front was full of Soviet infantry, and the tank's machine gun and tank cannon instantly lost their effect, making it nothing more than a moving shield. Pushing forward.

Then, it was even more embarrassing when the tanks drove into the river. Two of the three tanks were trapped in the river and could not move... There was ice under the snow in the river, and the tank tracks could easily slip on the ice. .

The exact reason is not entirely this, but there are many corpses of Soviet soldiers in the river. After these corpses were crushed by tanks, a large amount of blood leaked out, and the blood would quickly freeze in the low temperature, so The two T34s were stuck in place on the spot, unable to move.

Another vehicle crossed the river, and when it was about to cross the embankment and break through the German defense line, it was hit by an oncoming rocket... and stopped moving after a "boom" sound.

The T34 is a very excellent tank. It can easily penetrate the German Panzer III and Panzer IV tanks at a distance of 500 meters, but the German tanks have to be at a distance of 100 meters to threaten the T34. The sloped armor shocked the German armored forces when they saw this tank, because they had almost no equipment, including anti-tank guns, that could deal with this Soviet tank.

This is the so-called "T34 crisis."

Of course, Qinchuan's development of rocket launchers in advance and equipping them on the Eastern Front alleviated this crisis to a certain extent, but this kind of close-range anti-tank equipment was obviously not enough to reverse the entire battle situation.

Fortunately, the Soviets' careless character meant that although they had a tank with excellent performance, their negligence in some details and tactical errors caused the tank to fail to exert its due combat effectiveness.

For example, the Soviets at this time did not pay attention to tank command.

In this regard, it is simply outrageous: the early T34 was not equipped with a radio, and semaphores were needed to communicate between tanks and between tanks and infantry. Later, only command vehicles were equipped with radios, and the other tanks were only equipped with a receiving device.

Another sign of not paying attention to command is that they often use tank crew members to double as commanders... In the eyes of the Soviets, they thought that as long as each crew member could do their own thing, the commander would be dispensable.

Therefore, in the early T34, the gunner usually served as the commander, and there were also loaders and drivers.

This directly makes it difficult for the T34 tank to coordinate with other units. On the battlefield, it often happens that the T34 tank enters the enemy camp alone in a daze.

Just like now, if the Soviet infantry and tanks can effectively coordinate, the infantry relies on the protection and firepower of the tanks, and at the same time helps the tanks solve the problem of slipping on the ice... This is actually easy to solve, just pave the ground on the ice Just put a layer of soil or something on it.

On the other hand, if the three tanks can cooperate with each other and use mortars for cover, then they can tear through the German 1st Infantry Regiment's defense line with just one encounter.

However, due to the separate fighting among Soviet infantry, tanks, and artillery, the German army once again blocked the Soviet offensive.

Colonel Slain called for help from the command center amidst the sound of gunfire.

"We were attacked by a large enemy force, estimated to be one division strong!" Colonel Slain reported: "We don't have much ammunition left, please support us!"

At this time, the First Infantry Regiment has been placed under the command of Army Group Center, and its commander is Field Marshal Kruger (Note: The commander of Army Group Center was originally Marshal von Bock, but he was dismissed due to the failure of the Battle of Moscow).

Marshal Kruger was appointed commander at the critical moment. At this time, he was as restless as an ant on a hot pot. The reason was that the battlefield situation required him to immediately order the troops to retreat, but Hitler ordered not to retreat even a step.

Kruger realized that this would most likely lead to a catastrophe for Army Group Center and even for Army Group North to the north.

At this time, Chief of Staff Teleskov handed Kruger the phone and said: "Marshal, the phone number of Colonel Slain of the 1st Infantry Regiment!"

"First Infantry Regiment?" Kruger couldn't help but be confused after hearing this. He was not familiar with this number, and at the same time he didn't understand why the Chief of Staff gave this phone call to him... An infantry regiment, for the entire Army Group Center It's almost a drop in the bucket that doesn't matter.

"Marshal!" General Teleskov reminded: "It's the unit that was just transferred from North Africa for airborne cover!"

Krueger said "Oh."

If the infantry regiment has collapsed and is fleeing, you may be able to ignore it, but the troops fighting the enemy on the defensive line, especially the airborne troops that perform part of the cover mission and are temporarily under the command of the group army, should be investigated.

"Colonel, what's going on?" Kruger asked after taking the phone.

After listening to Colonel Slain's report, Kruger replied: "No, there cannot be a division of troops in your direction. The enemy's main force is sparing no effort to launch a frontal attack on our army group!"

"But the fact is that we saw so many enemies!" Slaine became a little anxious: "Marshal, do you want to say that everything I saw is fake?"

"Okay!" Kruger said, "I'll send a plane to scout!"

Kruger hung up the phone.

Colonel Slaine on the other end couldn't help but curse fiercely: "Fuck you!"

"What's wrong, Colonel?" asked Adjutant Lucas.

"They don't believe me at all!" said Colonel Slaine.

"That's normal!" Lucas replied, "They are all bumpkins from the Eastern Front!"

What they didn't know was that Kruger on the other side had almost the same evaluation of Colonel Slaine.

"You know!" Kruger said to Treskov: "The troops from North Africa are always nervous!"

"Yes!" Treskov agreed: "The African Corps has only a few divisions, so they take it for granted that they are the main force of the enemy when they encounter a little enemy!"

This is a common problem among senior German generals. They always look down on each other: different military branches, different battlefields, and different backgrounds...

For example, when Master Division Kruger was the commander of the 4th Army, he often quarreled with Guderian, the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, which inevitably affected their cooperation.