Chapter 649 Armored Train

Karachi is an important port city on the Don River. The reason is that it is located just west of Stalingrad. A straight road and railway run from Stalingrad directly to Karachi. The materials transported from Stalingrad to the west of the Don River by the Soviet Union can be gathered here and then transported across the Don River or directly to the Sea of ​​Azov by water and then transported to various places through the Black Sea and even imported and exported to foreign countries.

In fact, before the opening of the Don Canal, a considerable part of the materials along the Volga River were transported to the west in this way... The lack of the canal means that the Volga River flowing to the Caspian Sea is also isolated from the outside world, so the materials must be gathered in Stalingrad, then transported to Karachi by land, and then transported to various directions by river and Black Sea routes.

Therefore, Karachi can almost be said to be the gateway to the west and southwest of the Soviet Union. This is also the reason why Lieutenant General Lopatin nervously transferred the 169th Tank Brigade to Karachi when the Germans launched an attack.

But now, Karachi was not facing a threat from the Don River, but the 21st Armored Division that was advancing rapidly from the south to the north.

At 1 p.m., after eight hours of continuous breakthroughs and rapid marches, the 21st Armored Division arrived at the outskirts of Karachi.

At this time, Karachi was already filled with thick smoke and blazing flames. German fighter planes kept whistling in the sky and launched dive bombing and strafing at Karachi. Occasionally, a few Soviet fighter planes came from the periphery to reinforce, but they were soon hit by German fighter planes with superior performance and much better combat quality and fell to the ground one by one.

That was General Paulus's 6th Army, the main force attacking Stalingrad. They were attacking Karachi, or more precisely, a "feint attack", so that the main force of Karachi could be dragged here and unable to effectively organize the German offensive from the flank.

Suddenly, several German fighter planes swooped down from the sky and fired a string of bullets and dropped two bombs on the 21st Armored Division. A team of engineers who were repairing the road to make the tanks move forward were instantly blown into a bloody mess and screamed and wailed.

"Fuck you!" The German soldiers couldn't help but shout in the air: "You hit the wrong people!"

"Hey! Open your eyes, we are our own people!"

"Didn't anyone notify these reckless pilots?"

...

But the shouts of the German soldiers did not make these pilots realize their mistakes. They turned around and turned back again, then dived and bombed again. This time, a 35t tank that was driving in front for reconnaissance mission was hit and smoke rose. The surviving tank crew hurriedly climbed out of the tank cabin and roared hysterically at the sky.

If these casualties were caused by the enemy, the German soldiers would not even frown. Dozens of engineers and a 35T light tank were just a drop in the ocean for the German army with more than one million troops.

But these casualties came from their own people, which made it difficult for the German soldiers to accept.

However, it seems that the pilots cannot be blamed. The battlefield was filled with smoke and visibility was very poor. The German army was attacking Karachi. The pilots saw a team of armored troops repairing the road while driving along the highway to Karachi from a distance. Naturally, they thought it was the Soviet reinforcements.

Especially the 21st Armored Division still belonged to the 4th Armored Army, and the German army attacking Karachi was the 6th Army... So friendly casualties were inevitable.

Fortunately, the German army's communication equipment was relatively smooth, and General Stryker immediately contacted General Paulus.

"Tell those idiots!" General Stryk said on the phone, almost in a cursing tone: "They are bombing their own people!"

General Paulus immediately contacted the Air Force, and the bombing stopped. Otherwise, it is conceivable that it would continue and become larger and larger.

Soon, a telegram from the Air Force was delivered to General Stryk: "Apologies, General. Our pilots thought you wouldn't arrive so soon! Very sorry!"

This reason makes sense, because Karachi is 70 kilometers away from the German breakthrough of the Soviet defense line, which should have taken a day, but the 21st Armored Division only took eight hours.

But General Stryk didn't appreciate this. He responded bluntly: "Is this the reason for your mistaken bombing? Didn't expect it? Maybe I have to apologize to you for this marching speed, right?!"

But scolding is scolding, "friendly casualties" on the battlefield are inevitable, especially in the era of imperfect enemy identification system, so General Stryk can't do anything about them... You can't order anti-aircraft firepower to shoot down your own fighter planes in revenge.

However, this accidental bombing incident did have some benefits.

Because in this way, the Soviet army in Karachi also thought that the armored force coming from the highway to reinforce was "their own people", so they did not use artillery fire to intercept it until they saw the black "cross" on the German tanks and exclaimed "we were fooled".

But it was too late to wake up at this time. The German tanks rushed into Karachi, rudely knocked down houses, and fired bullets and shells. Soon, the unprepared Soviet army was beaten and fled everywhere with corpses.

However, problems occurred when they attacked the railway station.

To be precise, they attacked the passenger railway station... Karachi has two railway stations, passenger and freight. The passenger railway station is located in the eastern suburbs, and the freight railway station runs straight through Karachi to the port in the west.

When the German soldiers followed the tanks along the streets and railways, they were hit by a hail of bullets. The two tanks in front were blown into two fireballs in a muffled sound.

"What's going on?" Colonel Slaine asked from behind.

Qin Chuan was also confused by the firepower. He looked out and saw an armored train in front of him. The Soviet army was relying on the armored train to build a line of defense.

"Armored train!" Qin Chuan shouted.

Colonel Slaine ran up to take a look, and then ordered the communicator: "Call the plane, it's time for them to atone for their sins!"

Two Stuka bombers soon flew over the train station, but the Soviet army was not stupid. They started and hid themselves before the bombers arrived... Later, Qin Chuan learned that the Soviet army had built several underground fortifications nearby to hide and protect armored trains.

In other words, this armored train would be driven out to fire a few shots when needed, and would hide in underground fortifications for air defense when bombers came. For a while, the German army was unable to do anything about it.