Chapter 573 Occupation

Igor's method really worked. With the efforts of the Soviet soldiers, they built rafts as quickly as possible and then drifted to the sea.

Although it was slow and would take a long time to drift on the sea, at least they didn't have to wait to die or be captured in Sevastopol.

But others were not so lucky...

The news of the withdrawal of the Soviet senior commander spread like a plague in Sevastopol, which severely hit the morale of the Soviet army. As a result, the battle soon tilted towards the German army. The artillery positions were captured one after another by the German army, and then the German army swarmed in from the gaps in the defense line.

The First Infantry Regiment entered Sevastopol before all the troops.

Of course, they entered only when the Third Battalion arrived and replenished their ammunition.

Originally, everyone thought that there would be a fierce street battle when entering Sevastopol, but unexpectedly, this was not the case... The soldiers of the First Infantry Regiment just fired a few shots into the building, and then groups of Soviet soldiers came out of the building with their hands raised to surrender.

Occasionally, a few sporadic gunshots could be heard from the city, which seemed a bit strange, because the First Infantry Regiment was the first to arrive, so there should be no fighting in the city.

Later, Qin Chuan learned that the Soviet soldiers were preparing to surrender... In this situation, few people would be willing to continue fighting this battle, but the Soviet soldiers understood that the political commissars, instructors and other political workers would not let them surrender, even though the political commissars and instructors were also abandoned by senior officers.

This is not to say that these political workers are advanced in thought and firm in their positions, but because they clearly know that even if they surrender to the Germans, they will not survive. Everyone knows that the Germans will shoot them after capturing the political workers.

Therefore, even for their own interests, they would hope to tie the Soviet soldiers to themselves and fight until the last moment.

But the Soviet soldiers were unwilling to wait for death with them, so they clashed before the Germans arrived... The Soviet soldiers launched a riot and killed these political workers or captured them, and some political workers committed suicide in despair.

So, you can see corpses holding pistols with bullet holes in their heads in the corners. Some people choose to commit suicide with grenades, but this is obviously a stupid method, because Soviet wooden-handled grenades have uncertainty, and sometimes the shrapnel that explodes just avoids the vital parts and only injures but does not kill. The painful wailing makes people feel a little bit unbearable, until several German soldiers come forward to help him solve this pain.

More than half an hour later, several German troops arrived in Sevastopol one after another and ended the battle.

When Qin Chuan and Colonel Slaine returned to the headquarters to report to Manstein, Manstein excitedly said to the two: "Do you know? At least ten artillery positions are intact, and some only need a little repair before they can be used. In addition, there is an ammunition depot with thousands of large-caliber shells, and more importantly, the power station, which is intact... Do you know what this means? These artillery positions belong to us!"

Qin Chuan certainly knew what this meant.

You have to know that it is a huge cannon with a range of 44 kilometers. With them, on the one hand, they can directly bombard the Kerch Peninsula on the other side, and on the other hand, they can block the Soviet warships on the sea... Even if the Soviet army sends the battleships of the Black Sea Fleet, it will be of no use.

(Note: The Black Sea Fleet has a battleship "Paris Commune" with four triple-mounted 305MM main guns, but the hit rate of sea firing is very low, and it cannot compete with dozens of 305MM main guns on the shore)

"In addition!" Manstein lowered his voice and said to the two people: "I reported what you did to Marshal von Bock. Do you know how he answered?"

Manstein imitated von Bock's slightly hoarse voice and expression and said: "Oh, really? They actually did it?"

Manstein raised his head at the two people and said: "I think you must want to see his expression at this time!"

"Of course!" Qin Chuan and Slaine answered, and then the three of them laughed at the same time.

At this time, von Bock was indeed a little embarrassed, because the performance of the First Infantry Regiment was so eye-catching and proved that his previous view was wrong.

However, von Bock was a professional soldier after all. He quickly asked Manstein to make a detailed report on the entire battle process, especially the role of the new rifle in the battle... He wanted to know whether this victory was due to the First Infantry Regiment or the new rifle.

The report was soon delivered to von Bock, who nodded repeatedly while flipping through the report.

Sometimes, he couldn't tell whether the First Infantry Regiment or the rifle was more important, or both were important.

After reading it, von Bock was stunned for a while, and then called Colonel Conrad and said, "I heard that you have a new rifle?"

"Yes, Marshal!" Conrad replied: "MP43!"

"Very good!" von Bock said, "How many do you have?"

"There are still about 7,000!" Conrad replied.

The First Infantry Regiment was equipped with more than 2,000 rifles, and some were reserved for the First Infantry Regiment.

"I want them all!" said von Bock. "In addition, I hope you can produce them in large quantities!"

"Can you be more specific, Marshal!" Conrad asked, "How many exactly?"

"If possible!" said von Bock. "I mean, if there are no problems after trying it for a while, I might replace all my rifles with it!"

Conrad couldn't help but opened his mouth wide when he heard this and was speechless for a long time. This almost means that KP43 will be mass-produced.

In fact, this is not surprising at all, especially after von Bock saw in the report that the 1st Infantry Regiment was able to defeat the two regiments of the Soviet 138th Brigade in half an hour... This is despite the military strength of the 1st Infantry Regiment. Quality and preparedness are factors, but obviously MP43 is also one of the reasons.

However, it is very difficult to achieve large-scale equipment replacement in a short period of time. This involves small production and large troop scale, as well as post-equipment training issues, so for the time being, the submachine gun can only be replaced with MP43.

Of course von Bock would not tell these things to Manstein. If he did so, he would actually admit defeat in disguise.

Therefore, when he later called Manstein, he said in a stern tone: "General, the battle of Sevastopol was fought beautifully, but... our target is the entire Kerry Peninsula. The Soviets still have four armies on the Kerch Peninsula. You cannot take it lightly and must annihilate them in a short time. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" Manstein replied.