The decisive battle against the Third Reich

"Now, let's talk about the defense line!" Colonel Slaine calmed down and said: "The good news is that the command has agreed to airdrop supplies for us, just because the air power must fully help the Northern Army get out of trouble. , so the airdrop of supplies is temporarily limited!”

The officers couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this, which at least showed that the command had not given up on Holm.

It is actually understandable for the commander to do this. At this time, three Soviet armies are intersecting towards the rear of the German Army Group Northern. Once the insertion is successful, it means that the German Army Group Northern is likely to be completely annihilated. Of course, air power must first assist the retreat of the Northern Army Group. .

"Starting in the afternoon, they have been airdropping weapons, ammunition and 4 tons of flour for making bread for us every day!" Colonel Slain said: "We can assume that the supply problem has been solved, the point is... we don't seem to have anywhere to go. Keep out the cold, as you know, the Soviets will destroy all the buildings, and the attrition caused by the cold will predictably become more and more serious!”

"Yes!" Gerhard nodded and said: "They don't even need to do this, they just need to launch an attack every night when it is the coldest!"

"We don't even have a place to make bread!" Bazell said.

The officers couldn't help but fell silent. These issues were indeed difficult.

"Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "The fundamental reason for this problem is that the Soviet army has a large number of artillery but Holm does not. In other words, the Soviet army has an absolute advantage in artillery, so the enemy can light fires at night while the German army does not." no!"

Colonel Slaine nodded in agreement: "But what can we do? Captain, are we going to let them suppress them with airborne artillery? This is almost impossible!"

"No, Colonel!" Qin Chuan replied: "Maybe we can light a fire in a safe place, such as a cellar. Almost everyone here has a cellar!"

"No, Captain!" Colonel Slaine shook his head and said, "Someone has done this before. Although this can prevent the fire from leaking out, starting a fire in the cellar without ventilation can easily cause lack of oxygen. Some people even got a chimney out of the cellar, but You know what happened? The Soviets were shooting at the sparks coming out of the chimney... They were all buried in it, and although we dug it out, it didn't seem to work!"

"Uh-huh!" Qin Chuan said, "They opened fire on Mars!"

"Yes!" Colonel Slain said: "Maybe it's not just the sparks, they can also see the black smoke from the combustion!"

"Then...why don't we make the chimney longer!" Qin Chuan said, "I mean, let the black smoke and sparks come out from somewhere else."

Hearing this, the officers couldn't help but be startled, and then became excited:

"You're right, why don't we connect the chimney to other places? For example, the house that has become a ruin!"

"That way the enemy's shells will fall on these ruins!"

"We can even connect a few more chimneys, so if one chimney is blown up, the other chimney can still be used!"

…

"I have a question!" Lieutenant Colonel Gerhard asked Qin Chuan: "Captain, we know...the Soviets are blowing up our buildings one after another, which means that we will still be buried in the cellar after all. inner!"

"I don't think so, Lieutenant Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "The cellars built by the Soviets are very strong. Often the buildings on the ground are blown down but the cellars remain intact!"

"Having said that, the exit will be buried!"

"Why can't we dig an exit outside the house!" Qin Chuan said: "This way, even if the building is blown down, the cellar can still be used normally, and it will even be stronger because there are many bricks and tiles on the ground!"

After a pause, Qin Chuan added: "We can even dig through two adjacent cellars to connect them into one, or connect trenches to trenches to form a defense system!"

The officers were stunned when they heard this.

After a while, Colonel Slain said: "Captain, you seem to have moved the tunnel fortifications here!"

"Why not?" Qin Chuan said.

"Yes, why not?" Colonel Slain said with a smile: "We are a force with experience in building tunnels, why can't we think of this!"

"Perhaps..." Bazel said, "Maybe it's because there are many houses here. We built them on high ground before, so..."

"So, what are you waiting for?" Colonel Slain said: "Let's do it, for the warmth and sleep at night!"

The officers couldn't help but laugh.

Then the German army just did what they said and distributed the tasks in a divided and lump-sum manner. Each platoon was responsible for a cellar... The German army had a full platoon of 48 people, but it was usually not full of more than 30 people.

Even so, a cellar with more than thirty people seems crowded.

However, everyone should not be crowded in. Some people must guard the trenches and then rotate them. Therefore, a dozen or so people living in a cellar is neither more nor less.

The first thing to be remodeled was the chimney.

In order to ensure the bearing capacity of the cellar, the chimneys are not drilled from the top. Instead, a diagonal channel is dug from the side wall of the cellar to the ground, and then a bowl-sized drainage pipe is used to connect it to the ruins a hundred meters away... ...The distance must be at least one hundred meters, otherwise the Soviets will even affect themselves when a shell hits them after discovering the smoke.

The ventilation holes are connected to two additional pipes. This is relatively simple. You only need to expose the ground and get an air outlet at the pipe interface... The so-called air outlet refers to turning the pipe in the direction of the upwind. A bend, so that on the one hand, the power of the wind can be used to push air into the ventilation pipe to make it better ventilated, on the other hand, it can also prevent snow, mud and water raised by artillery shells from blocking it.

This is also thanks to a water pipe factory on the east coast. The warehouse has iron pipes of various sizes.

After the soldiers modified these, they couldn't wait to try it out, that is, they lit a small fire in the cellar.

They even made a simple stove out of a gasoline barrel. A large opening was opened on the top of the oil barrel to put a pot, and the lower part was connected to the chimney. A rectangular opening was opened at the lower part for the entrance of firewood, and a ventilation pipe was connected to the side. , can be used as both a stove and a cooker...just perfect.

Then a fire soon burst into flames in the oil drum, and the soldiers greedily stretched their frozen hands in front of the flames and listened attentively.

Soon, a row of artillery shells came over, but judging from the vibration, it was obvious that they were not in the cellar.

There was a burst of cheers in the cellar immediately, as if a battle had been won.