Chapter 310: fast break

Chapter 310 Rapid Breakthrough

The German army launched an attack an hour later.

As usual, they fired artillery shells towards the direction of the Soviet army for a while, and then dozens of tanks rushed towards the Soviet defense line, row after row, menacingly.

Shuerka made a rough count, and there were about fifty tanks, followed by a large number of infantry.

To Shulka's surprise, he saw five T34s in these tanks. They drove ahead, but they were painted with the black "cross" of the German armored forces.

Obviously, these are tanks captured by the German army, and due to the excellent performance of the T34, even if the German army is not familiar with them and has no communication equipment, it is difficult to cooperate with other tanks, and even these tanks may be misunderstood by the air force as enemy tanks , but the 10th Army still used them.

It can also be seen from this that the German army hopes to break through the Soviet defense line before dark and make a difference.

Shuerka was right. The Germans attacking frontally were the 7th Armored Division, the 14th Motorized Infantry Division, and the 35th Infantry Division.

The first two belonged to the 3rd Armored Group belonging to Huot. They originally attacked the defense line of the Soviet 30th Army in the north.

However, because Tver suffered heavy losses from the counterattack of the 4th Tank Brigade...the main reason is that the supplies stored in Tver were destroyed and several bridges were blown up, which made it very difficult for the German army to supply in the north and was unable to support the attack of the armored forces. .

So, von Bock transferred Holt's 3rd Armored Group to the center to attack Volokolamsk.

At this time, it was the 7th Armored Division that was responsible for the offensive mission.

This armored division once participated in the French campaign and completed the encirclement of the Allied forces of Dunkirk and the encirclement of the French 9th and 10th armies. Under the command of Rommel, it almost crossed France to the southwestern part of France. Its own casualties were only 2624 people, and 42 tanks were lost.

Therefore, this armored division is also known as the "Devil Division".

At this time, the commander of this force is Major General Hans von Funke.

Taking over the armored division from Rommel, Major General von Funke felt a little stressed.

The reason is that Major General von Funke, as a Prussian nobleman, has high hopes from everyone including Lundstedt. They hope that the 7th Armored Division commanded by von Funke can surpass his predecessor, and also It was Rommel, the headmaster's son.

This has always troubled Major General von Funke, because compared with Rommel's brilliant record, his record in Russia is not outstanding.

Although it was a victory, and it was an impressive victory: the 7th Armored Division wiped out the 5th Russian Tank Division, but the 7th Armored Division also lost about half of its strength.

"It's not fair!" Major General von Funk said to his adjutant in private: "When Rommel attacked France, the French fought him with their backs, but I had to face the enemy's T34!"

This is why the 7th Armored Division has several T34s, which they seized from the 5th Russian Tank Division and immediately used it to replenish the troops.

But now, Major General Funk thinks his chance has come.

Through several previous tentative attacks, Major General Funk knew that the Russians were extremely short of anti-tank guns, and they even used Molotov cocktails to attack German tanks.

But despite this, Major General Funk still has a headache for this kind of incendiary bottle... German tanks use gasoline engines, and they are easily ignited by the incendiary bottle.

So Major General Funk ordered the infantry: "You must keep up with the tanks. When the tanks cross the trenches, you must wipe out the enemies in the trenches and bomb craters, especially those holding Molotov cocktails in their hands!"

Then, Major General Funk ordered his troops to attack.

As Guderian said, they must break through the enemy's defenses during the day to maximize the results of the battle, and then build fortifications before night to prevent the enemy from sneaking in.

However...Major General Funk didn't think so.

He held up the binoculars and observed the Soviet army in depth for a while. From here, all the way east is suitable for armored troops to attack. Why not push all the way to Moscow?

Worried about the Russian counterattack?

The 4th Tank Brigade?

No!

Major General Funk said to himself: "Only a fool would stop, there is nothing terrible about the T34! We even have a T34 in our hands! If the 4th Tank Brigade tries to stop it, then it's time to prove the strength of the 7th Armored Division!" "

To be more precise, Major General Funk thought this was the time for him to prove that he was better than Rommel: when the other armored divisions were beaten by the fourth tank brigade of the Russian army and suffered heavy losses, if the 7th Armored Division could defeat The 4th Tank Brigade…

Unbeknownst to Major General Funk, the 4th Tank Brigade was hidden in front of him, even under the aperture of his telescope.

The tanks "rumbled" forward towards the Russian trenches, and the Soviet army began to conduct motionless blocking fire.

"Motion blocking shooting" is a military term. In fact, it is to use howitzers to create a wall of fire at the front of the position to prevent the enemy from attacking.

This is a common defense method used by the Russians. The reason is that the Russian army lacks communication equipment and it is difficult to carry out effective infantry coordination. In addition, the quality of the Russian artillery is not good enough.

And "moving and blocking shooting" does not have high requirements for the two, that is, the coordination ability and the quality of the artillery... The infantry only needs to tell the artillery to fire, and the artillery only needs to stuff the shells into the barrel and fire them. Adjusted.

Major General Funk had already prepared for this. He immediately ordered the artillery to suppress it, and at the same time, the air force also launched precise strikes on the enemy's artillery positions.

Of course, there is also the coordination of reconnaissance aircraft and artillery to guide the artillery fire into the exact position.

These are what the German army is good at.

After a while, the artillery fire of the Soviet army weakened... This is inevitable. The Soviet army's implementation of "moving blocking shooting" exposed the location of the artillery positions.

Then, the German tanks again accelerated towards the enemy position, this time at full speed, because they knew that the enemy was no longer capable of intercepting fire.

In the eyes of Major General Funke, this is a contest between the flesh and steel of the infantry.

The Russian army only had a limited number of anti-tank guns that could pose a threat to the German army, but these anti-tank guns also could not pose a threat to the T34... So the T34 driving in front blasted those anti-tank gun positions into the air one by one.

Major General Funk couldn't help sighing in his heart, if the empire was equipped with such tanks, how good it would be to have such tanks in the army, so that they would be like a steel piercing into the enemy's heart...Moscow.

But now there seems to be no difference.

Fun Ke put down the binoculars and ordered to the adjutant: "Order, break through quickly!"

"Yes, General!" The adjutant turned around and passed the order: "Breakthrough quickly!"

(end of this chapter)