Chapter 208 Train
I have something to do today, there are only two updates.
The Chinese New Year is coming soon. During this period of time, there are festivals to be given and relatives to be received. It may be more eventful, so there will be three shifts for the time being. Continue to five changes after stabilization...
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The 4th Tank Brigade only rested in the barracks for two hours before heading to the front.
Both Shulka and Kalashnikov attended the pre-war meeting...Shulka was brought by Major Gavrilov, it has become a custom, as Major Gavrilov said: "This Guy always comes up with some good advice, always has something to work out, and it would be a loss for us not to have him in the meeting!"
As for Kalashnikov, he participated as a technical arm.
But Shulka was unable to say anything at this meeting, because the meeting was very simple... A German armored force with an unknown number penetrated to Kling and went south along the railway.
Although Kling is still more than 100 kilometers away from Moscow, this force has already broken through a newly established line of defense.
"The military situation is urgent!" Katukov said: "And along the railway, there are no roadblocks or mines... This makes the enemy penetrate very fast. If they are not blocked, the latter will be unimaginable!"
The railway can be said to be the artery of Moscow's defense, and it can also be said to be Moscow's weakness.
As mentioned before, roads can be closed with mines, roadblocks, etc., but because the railways need to continuously supply large quantities of personnel and supplies to the front line, the Soviet army has never dared to block them.
If there is any blockade, it is sabotage and mine blockade in the few kilometers facing the German army.
However, the German armored forces always have the idea of the railway... This is normal, because the road is muddy and the speed is very slow, of course the German army will focus on the railway.
Just like this time, the German armored forces once again bypassed the blockade and took to the railway.
It is conceivable that if they are not blocked, the enemy force will drive straight into the city of Moscow, or outflank and circle behind the last line of defense.
So there is no room for discussion at all, and there is no military strategy, which is a tank-to-tank battle.
"But how should we march?" Major Gavrilov asked: "We don't have cars, and the infantry can't keep up with the tanks!"
"Train!" Katukov replied: "The infantry is advancing by train!"
"Why don't the tanks take the train?" Major Gavrilov asked again.
"It's too dangerous to do this!" Katukov said: "We only have so many tanks. Once we are bombed by the enemy, we will be finished!"
Shulka had to admit that what Katukov said was right. These tanks were the only equipment of the Soviet army that could block the penetration of the German army, and the Soviet army could not lose them.
But the infantry is different. If you lose this batch of infantry, there will be another batch of infantry, and the infantry must also catch up with the tanks, so you can only do this.
"Set off!"
Following an order, the tanks of the 4th Tank Brigade "rumbled" along the street towards the railway, while the infantry rushed to the railway station to take the train again.
This time it was heading north, so Shulka thought it was Dhopna's 4th Armored Group... This armored group originally belonged to the Northern Army Group to attack Leningrad. Since the German army concentrated its main targets on Moscow, It was transferred to the south and attacked along the Smolensk-Moscow road.
Different from taking the train in the past, everyone was terrified this time. Because obviously, the Germans will be watching this railway line closely to see if reinforcements are coming north to contain their penetrating troops, especially now it is daytime.
As expected, the train was less than half an hour ahead when there was a faint sound of motors in the sky.
"Planes, German planes!"
The soldiers in the carriage immediately panicked.
If it was before, it was no big deal to encounter an aircraft, at most it was lying on the ground to hide, and it was rare for an aircraft to target soldiers... The Germans also hope that their bullets and aerial bombs can be used on more valuable targets rather than against them Soldiers shoot.
The problem is that now the soldiers are all crowded on the train, with hundreds of people in a car, and there is no space to disperse.
Anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns soon rang...Each train has two flatbed cars, and each flatbed car is equipped with two dual-mounted 25MM anti-aircraft guns and two Deshka 12.7MM anti-aircraft machine guns.
These anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns can deter enemy aircraft to a certain extent.
The problem is that the train can only go along the railway line. The German pilots don't need to guess at all. They only need to guess the train's forward route based on the railway trend and accurately dive and shoot.
With a piercing howl, a fighter jet swooped down from the side of the train.
Through the glass of the window, Shulka could even vaguely see the German pilots in the cockpit.
"Get down!" Shulka yelled.
Then there was only a sound of "clinking", and two rows of dense bullets poured out from under the wings and entered the compartment... The iron sheet of the compartment was torn apart easily like paper, and the glass on the windows shattered Scattered all over the ground, several soldiers who were hit were instantly carried up by the bullet's inertia and fell to the other side.
Soon there was another "boom", a bomb exploded beside the train, and the shock wave caused the train to shake.
This made Shulka feel like he was going off the rails, but the train finally got back on the rails and continued on.
German fighter jets and bombers continued to straf and bomb, but perhaps because of poor visibility, they failed to cause a devastating blow to the train. Instead, one plane was hit by anti-aircraft machine guns and emitted black smoke.
Finally, the German plane disappeared into the sky after circling for a while.
The train moved forward for another ten minutes before slowly stopping.
"Everyone get off!"
The soldiers couldn't wait to jump off the train. It felt really uncomfortable to be bombed by enemy planes in the carriage.
After getting off the bus, change to walking and continue marching north.
While passing the locomotive, Shulka saw the train driver wearing a peaked cap and overalls waving at the troops. It was an old man with a dark face, standing by the locomotive, and seemed to be holding a wine bottle in his hand...
"Goodbye, boys!" said the train driver, "I can only send you here! Go and teach those invaders a lesson!"
It was only later that Shulka found out that it was only a German reconnaissance plane that bombed the train just now, and a large number of bombers would arrive soon.
That's why the train stopped and the fighters walked...and they seemed to know that was going to happen from the start.
Shulka didn't know whether the heroic train driver finally drove the train back to Moscow safely. He only knew that when the troops were advancing along the railway, at least dozens of planes flew from the sky and went straight to the direction the train left. go…
(end of this chapter)