Chapter 213: attack
So the blocked attack last night is in some ways what the soldiers hoped for, because only then can they get a rare rest time.
War is sometimes so ironic that it seems to have nothing to do with ordinary soldiers.
Money, benefits, power, etc., even if they win the battle, they can't get it, but they have to participate in it at the cost of their lives, and they can't help themselves.
Just like now, after a long and tense battle, they were called up after only three hours of rest.
"It will be dawn soon, we must be ready to attack before dawn!"
Then, the tanks started to "rumble", one after another neatly lined up to form an offensive line in front, and the soldiers were assigned in groups behind the tanks.
The commanders of each squad loudly made the final mobilization and warning to their soldiers amidst the noise of tank engines:
"Pay attention to conceal yourself, and at the same time protect the tank... Protecting the tank is protecting yourself, because they are your shields and your spears!"
"Observe, if you spot an anti-tank gun, use tracer rounds to point out the tank's location, or if it's close, use your mortars to suppress it!"
…
One of these considerations is common to all squads: "Watch out for the dogs, those dogs have explosives on their backs, they'll go under the tank chassis!"
Of course they don’t know. This time, the more important thing to pay attention to this time is not the enemy’s dogs that drill into the tank’s chassis, but the enemy’s tanks, tanks!
The sky is gradually getting brighter, and the sun is still invisible as usual because it has been blocked by rain and clouds.
The rain stopped for a while, and a few small snowflakes drifted down...or it can be said that the rain didn't stop at all, they just changed into snow falling in the cold air.
These snowflakes failed to form anything on the ground. As soon as they hit the ground, they turned into water and disappeared into the soil.
Soon, the snowflakes disappeared and turned into rain again.
This also gave Major General Schroeder an excuse to urge the German army to advance faster.
"Did you see it?" Major General Schroeder looked at the sky with dots of snowflakes, and then said to the adjutant: "If we don't speed up, we will be frozen in the ice and snow! Tell them, when the snowstorm comes Take Moscow before, and then we can spend the winter in front of the warm fires of the Moscow Kremlin!"
Major General Schroeder's words did help, especially the use of "warm stoves"... this is what the German soldiers who were starving and freezing in the rain desperately needed.
So they responded with practical actions.
"Let's go!" With an order, the German army marched into the morning light under the cover of tanks.
There was no artillery preparation and no aircraft bombing.
In addition to the difficulty in supplying the German army, what is more important is that the smoke and water vapor produced by the explosion will stay on the ground for a long time and cannot dissipate. This will definitely bring difficulties for the German army to find the target... The so-called target is the mine dog of the Soviet army.
But even this is about the same, because the exhaust of the tank and the muddy water raised by the track are enough to block the sight of the German infantry.
So after only advancing for a while, the Germans decided to change their formation...the tanks were spaced wider, and the infantry moved between the tanks in sync with the tanks.
This formation quickly received results:
More than a dozen mine dogs rushed out from the trenches. Before they ran far, they were beaten **** by the German machine guns and riflemen and fell on the road.
Although a few mine dogs were lucky enough to break through the long-range firepower net, they were quickly knocked down by the German submachine gunners... The theoretical rate of fire of the German MP40 submachine gun is 500 rounds per minute, and there is no need to aim at the mine dogs at close range , In the direction of the Dahou, there is a shuttle in the direction of the mine dog's advance, and few can escape from this firepower.
Its disadvantage is that it lacks penetration, but it does not have this problem against Mine Hounds.
Then, the tank will slow down and wait for the infantry to step forward to deal with the explosive devices on the back of these mine dogs... Tanks dare not take the risk of running over or stepping over these high explosives. It would be too wrong to trigger them at this time up.
So the German army's offensive went very smoothly. Major Millier, who was blown up by these mine dogs last night, stood on an advancing "Panz. 3" tank and shouted excitedly: "Come on, you Russians! Yours! The trick is not working, go back to Moscow!"
It seemed to be fulfilling Major Millier's words. The Soviet soldiers resisted for a while and then began to retreat.
A series of commands immediately sounded from the walkie-talkies of the German tank soldiers:
"They retreated, don't rush to chase the enemy!"
"Keep the line and speed, keep an eye out for the mine dogs! There are still mines!"
…
This choice is of course correct, because Soviet soldiers were never the focus for the German army.
If you want to attack the Soviet army's vital forces, the German army has hundreds of thousands of people on the front line to encircle and wipe out the Soviet army, but it still hasn't been able to deal a blow to the Soviet army.
So the German army has basically given up on this, and even because the prisoner-of-war camps are overcrowded, the German army believes that the least valuable spoils are Soviet soldiers.
There is a saying in the German army: "If a Russian is captured, what I care more about is not the prisoner itself, but what equipment he holds in his hand... The equipment is more valuable than the prisoner!"
Equipment can be used by guerrillas, or can also be used by enemy weapons when ammunition is low, but prisoners... They are nothing more than a number or waste that consumes food and guards for the German army.
Therefore, the German army certainly would not risk its tanks in order to annihilate these Russian soldiers.
So the tank was still driving forward without any delay, at most it just used a machine gun to shoot a few rounds in the direction of the Soviet army's escape.
After the Soviet army fired a few smoke bombs, the German army became even more nervous.
"Stop! All stop... Watch out for minedogs!"
"Stop all tanks and turn off engines!"
"We know from the Russians that tanks with mine dogs that can only run their engines are a threat!"
…
"Bang bang!" Then the dense gunshots rang out.
Groups of dogs came out of the smoke, which made the German army overwhelmed.
Then soon a German soldier reported: "We found some dogs, but they didn't have explosives on them! To be exact, the explosives on them were fake, just a cloth bag!"
"Very good!" Major General Schroeder said: "They didn't even have time to plug the explosives!"
(end of this chapter)