Chapter 146:

Chapter 146:

Chapter 146

While a bloody street battle between infantry and infantry was taking place in the city, the Soviet army launched a second offensive to bypass Minsk and strike the rear.

The basic doctrine of the Soviet army’s operation was the <Deep Battle>.

They launched a coordinated offensive across the entire front, and while the enemy’s reserves were in a dilemma, they mobilized powerful armored forces to break through the defense line and hit the enemy’s center of gravity.

The German medium tanks played the role of stopping the breakthrough led by the Soviet armored units.

The medium tank battalions using the Panzer V Panther eventually had difficulty performing their role as the Soviet introduced the new ‘Budenovka medium tank’, but the battalions equipped with the Tiger VI took over that role again.

The Tiger boasted a near-invincible performance in anti-tank warfare.

“Hahaha! T-34 or something... Fire as soon as it’s loaded!”

The 2nd company of the 601st medium tank battalion commanded by Lieutenant Bitman was blocking the Soviet army that was trying to advance to the rear by bypassing the Zaslavskoye reservoir north of Minsk.

They blocked the small bridge called Ulitsa Sovetskaya and deployed 13 Tigers, a force of one hundred. The Soviet army had no choice but to flounder.

“Damn it. Even with the Budenovka medium tank, I can’t guarantee it if I get hit from a thousand meters away...”

“Isn’t there a good way?”

The commander of the tank regiment who was assigned the mission of securing the bridge and the advance route scratched the back of his head. He was quite flustered when he saw the medium tanks of the armored reconnaissance unit that he had deployed as the vanguard explode one after another.L1tLagoon witnessed the first publication of this chapter on Ñøv€l--B1n.

“Do I have to use that... method?”

***

“Huh?

Even amid the roaring engine sound of the tank, the German tankers could tell.

The Soviet army continuously deployed tank units as if they didn’t care about their lives or a few tanks. The 2nd company, which had just repelled the fourth battalion-level tank unit’s offensive, had just received ammunition from the battalion’s supply unit.

A sharp sound came from somewhere. A sound that tankers couldn’t help but know, and shouldn’t ignore.

“Shit! It’s an air raid!”

Screeeeech! Whooooosh!

The Soviet army’s new Bulgom fighters had horns that mimicked the Stuka and advertised their march around the neighborhood.

Although it was not very advantageous in terms of military aspects, it had a great effect on scaring the soldiers and giving trauma to the survivors.

Even the aces who had survived dozens of bloody battles began to zigzag their tanks as soon as they heard the word air raid.

“Damn it! Damn it! What are those bastards in the air force doing!”

Maybe the fighters, including the Bf109, were fighting to death in the sky over Minsk, but the tankers who had their heads blown off by the air force were not in a situation to understand and generously let go of their situation.

“Here, eat this! Hahaha!”

This time, it was the Soviet air force’s turn to hunt the German tanks.

No matter how heavily armed they were with ‘medium tanks’, the upper armor and engine room were not protected by thick armor.

The frontal armor could withstand the ordinary tank gun, but the bomb that fell from above hit the weak point of the tank directly.

Tatatatatatatak! Tatatatatatat! The sound of explosions like roasting beans swept over the tankers and passed by.

“Wow! Is that also included in the kill record?”

“Honestly, did the squadron leader shoot it down? The cluster bomb did it all.”

The attack squadron made a light joke and looked at the tank unit below.

The ‘anti-tank aerial bomb’, or PTAB for short, was a small bomb weighing about 2kg, but it was packed with explosives and could tear apart the upper armor of a decent tank.

“Let’s go one more round!”

“That is...”

The idiots who tied up and killed civilians were no match for the Soviet soldiers who had trained in the hellish Leningrad.

With inferior weapons, training, and even mental armament, the SS division that thought they could reproduce the Soviet army’s defeat of Manstein’s army in Leningrad collapsed in an instant.

“Uh... uuuu...”

“Save... save me!”

The German soldiers who slaughtered in the rain of bullets were powerless. They crumbled one by one in front of the fear of the battlefield that was qualitatively different from what they had experienced.

“Ahh, aaaaaah! Aaah...”

One soldier who grabbed his helmet and screamed, throwing away his gun and running away, was sprayed with red blood from his forehead and fell flat.

The soldier who suffered from PTSD, or ‘shell shock’ as the German army knew it at the time, tried to run away in a fit, but the officer did not leave him alone.

He pulled out his pistol, which had killed more allies than enemies, and tens of times more civilians, and shouted with his eyes bulging.

“Retreat is summary execution! Fight for the Führer and the German people!”

“...Long live the Führer!”

Here and there, suicidal assaults were carried out ‘to raise morale’ or ‘to crush the inferior Slavs’ offensive’.

The lack of quality of the soldiers was as evident as the lack of quality of the officers.

The SS officers had the qualities of the ideal Aryans that the Führer had so contradicted. Strong physique, blond hair, and swollen liver.

But they lacked the competent brains of the ‘ideal Aryans’, so they forced their subordinates to the only tactic they knew for the sake of the state, the party, and the Führer.

“Charge! Chaaaarge!”

“Grind the Fascist pigs! Fire the machine gun!”

Tatatatatatatata! Tatatatatatata! Two machine guns poured crossfire from behind the collapsed wall.

The German squad caught in the machine gun fire was crushed in an instant. The squad leader who was trying to throw a grenade while listening to the Soviet soldiers’ gibberish fell in a spray of blood.

The rookie who was left behind in the rear followed his senior soldiers who were torn apart, and was also caught in the machine gun fire and fell.

Behind them, the officer threatened them with his pistol, and in front of them, the Soviet machine guns poured lead bullets like raindrops.

The soldiers made various choices.

Some silently charged into the bullets and died. Some went crazy and were killed. And some other soldiers tried to find the ‘best’ option.

“Don’t worry! The weapons made by the inferior Slavs can’t be superior to the weapons of our German people! The shooting will stop soon because of jamming, so take advantage of the gap and charge! Charge!”

“...You bastard!”

The captain who ordered the charge was shot in the back.

The one who pointed his finger at the Soviet direction and shouted charge! charge! spat blood from his mouth and fell forward.

The sergeant who shot him gritted his teeth and fired a few more bullets.

“What are you doing! Killing a superior is... Argh!”

“Son of a bitch! Do you think we’ll just die like this?”

The lieutenant who was startled and pulled out his pistol didn’t get to do anything before a bullet hit the back of his head.

Killing a superior was more frequent than expected.

The rough soldiers killed the incompetent officers who ordered hopeless charges and deserted, or shamelessly changed their appearance to the Soviet army.

The ones who killed the captain full of patriotism and the lieutenant who treated the soldiers with harsh violence stuck their corpses in the corner and smoked a cigarette to calm their still throbbing chests.

As they heard the sound of the Soviet army buzzing from the alley, they took a long drag of what might be their last cigarette and threw the burnt match on the ground.

“Spit, it’s better to die than Siberia. Surrender! Surrender!”