Steel Soviet Union

[Recite the URL silently three times. Do you remember it? If you don’t remember, I’ll ask again in the next chapter. It’s best to share it on Facebook for me]

call out--

boom--

Boom-boom-boom-

"Hey! Forward Observation Station, can you hear me? Report the situation! Hey, hey! Damn it, the phone line was blown out!"

"Positions No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, and No. 4 were all shelled! The enemy used all large-caliber heavy artillery, and the artillery fire was very fierce! Rocket artillery accounted for at least 40%, and there were already many defensive units The troops cannot be contacted!"

"Send someone. If the phone can't be connected, send someone to contact us! Hurry! Find out what happened as quickly as possible! Go!"

"yes!"

If Malashenko is holding a telescope and looking at the Western scene of the sea of ​​fire, then at the same time in the headquarters of the Grossdeutschland Division, there is a completely opposite scene. "Scallops that are almost cooked in the center" may be a more appropriate description.

"General, the Russians used hundreds of large-caliber heavy artillery to bombard us! The intensity of the artillery fire was much higher than the last time they launched an attack!"

"But we had just repelled their forward troops and used counter-assaults to drive them away for nearly 20 kilometers. How could they set up artillery positions so quickly and launch such a large-scale artillery attack? Even our troops were Just withdrawn, how did the Russians do it? This is simply unreasonable.

The scene in the headquarters was chaotic, comparable to a vegetable market. Staff officers, correspondents, front-line officers who came to report the situation, and guards were all busy exchanging the information they needed. The word order has nothing to do with the current situation. Only Lieutenant General Manteuffel, who stood straight in front of the war zone map, remained calm and calm.

"This is not the group of Soviet troops we just repelled. Listen to this sound. The whistling sound of rocket launchers has drowned out the sound of ordinary artillery. The Russians are bombarding them with an elite and large-scale mixed artillery unit. Us. This is at least an independent artillery unit of the Soviet Army at the corps level, and judging from the scale of the bombardment, I suspect it is not only the corps level, but it may be an artillery unit directly under the Soviet Army at the group army level. "

"The ones we just repelled were just a motorized infantry brigade and a tank brigade. The two troops were not even guards. Many prisoners have made it clear that they do not have such powerful artillery firepower. Ours The opponent has most likely been replaced.”

The wily Manteuffel did understand the principle of "seeing the essence through the phenomenon". He grasped the key point of the problem with just a simple analysis. The chief of staff who was responsible for reporting the situation nodded in agreement and spoke again. .

"Could it be the supporting firepower of the Russian army group that repelled the two brigades we defeated? The deployment of large-scale artillery firepower reinforcements takes time, and the Russians cannot be so fast."

The chief of staff thought it was the enemies of the two brigades that had been pushed back, so he summoned artillery fire from his own group army to retaliate.

If a specialized independent artillery division was called in to support after a defeat, it would indeed be impossible to do so quickly. The clumsy and slow deployment of cluster artillery units would be very time-consuming. It is common sense only for the artillery unit of the group army to move forward with the group, but the marching speed is slightly slower, and the artillery unit of the group army is in the rear position.

In this case, the seriousness of the situation is slightly better.

After all, the Russians had just suffered a huge defeat. A motorized infantry brigade and a tank brigade were beaten to the point where they abandoned their armor and fled. Even for the Russians who had the size of an army group, such a severe defeat for these two units was not enough. It's enough to affect combat effectiveness.

Even if the Russians launch a new round of offensive immediately after the bombardment, the Grossdeutschland Division and the cooperation of some small groups of friendly troops gathered around will definitely be able to withstand it.

Even if the defense is not complete, we can still find the right opportunity to launch a counter-attack to severely damage the Soviet army group that hastily advanced and made two consecutive rounds of fierce attacks, exhausting its offensive energy to buy more breathing time for ourselves.

The chief of staff's analysis does make sense. At least if you think about it according to common sense, there is nothing wrong with this analysis.

But Lieutenant General Manteuffel obviously had his own concerns, and this indescribable anxiety was like a dark cloud hanging over his heart, lingering. After staring at the war zone map hanging on the wall in front of him for a while, Lieutenant General Manteuffel, whose brows had been tense, finally turned around and gave an order.

"Let the armored forces be ready at any time! The Russians have set off a storm towards us. Passive defense alone may not be able to withstand it. We need a proper plan to deal with sudden changes at any time."

"Yes, let's do it now!"

Manteuffel's unexplainable ominous premonition was indeed right. The enemy that was roaring and sweeping in like a red storm was indeed not simple. Just as he had guessed, the opponent had changed.

But Manteuffel also made another mistake. Malashenko would not follow his so-called sound plan. Making plans in advance would not work for the notorious "Steel Butcher".

The violent bombardment like a tsunami came and went quickly. The Katyusha rocket launcher, which was originally a "swarm" bombardment, was unable to provide sustained firepower output. The bomb load of the ISU152 also could not support the bombardment for too long. After you finish the vehicle and prepare the ammunition, you have to stop and reload the ammunition.

But this was enough for Malashenko. Although the short but fierce firepower blew up the Germans in the entire position, their heads were stunned. Malashenko did not ask for the firepower to kill as many Germans as he wanted, but he wanted to blow up the Germans to such an extent that they would doubt their lives and be unable to make an immediate defensive response. To really harvest the lives of these bastards, they would have to rely on serious heavy-duty synthetic brigades. Go into battle.

"Kurbalov, it's your turn to perform! Charge with your troops! Improve the German position for me!"

Following Malashenko's order, hundreds of armored combat vehicles of the entire 1st Heavy Combined Brigade immediately jumped out like arrows and rushed towards the enemy positions that were already within visual distance. go.

At the forefront is a cluster of IS6 heavy tanks with strong armor and powerful guns. Behind them are the brand-new equipment that has just arrived: the official name is BMP-43, based on the T43 medium tank. A new infantry fighting vehicle modified from the same body and chassis.

The first batch of infantry combat vehicles obtained from Morozov were all equipped to the infantry regiments subordinate to the 1st Heavy Combined Brigade for centralized use to maximize combat effectiveness.

Whether this thing works or not depends entirely on whether the first shot is fired or not. Malashenko, who did not immediately lead his team to rush forward, was also worried about the situation on the battlefield and paying close attention to the situation on the battlefield. He almost All attention seems to be on these infantry fighting vehicles that have just entered the battlefield.

[At the beginning of the chapter, I asked you to read it silently three times. Do you remember? Share on Facebook and there may be surprises]