The decisive battle against the Third Reich

The Soviet tanks spread out in formation and "rumblingly" approached the German second line of defense. The speed was not fast, but they steadily destroyed and cleared room after room, or directly pushed them down with tanks, and then continued to move forward.

Qinchuan led a battalion of German soldiers to guard the second line of defense.

Strictly speaking, this plan to lure the enemy deeper is still quite risky. The reason is that the German army is seriously insufficient in strength...The elite 1st Infantry Regiment is used to defend the eastern front, and the improvised skirmishers are used to defend the western front. These two This defense line roughly pieced together the bean-like defense zone on the east bank of the Lovati River.

Now, just the Soviet troops that were brought in had a regiment and a tank battalion.

There is only one regiment of German troops in this direction.

Qinchuan divided the group into three parts:

The 1st Battalion, led by Gerhard, maneuvered from the tunnels to the Lovaj River defense line, reoccupied it and held it.

This task looks dangerous but is actually not difficult to accomplish.

The reason was that the Soviets were unaware of the German army's tunnel fortifications, and at the same time, the Soviets would concentrate their main forces at the forward and advance deep into the German defense zone, thus catching the Soviets by surprise.

Things turned out just as Qinchuan thought. Gerhard easily occupied the Lovaj River defense line and cut the Soviet army in two.

The second battalion, led by Qin Chuan, laid a second line of defense two miles deep in the German defense zone.

There are buildings everywhere that have been damaged by Soviet artillery bombs. These buildings gave the Germans good cover... Broken walls, ruins, windows, etc. can be used as trenches for cover.

Of course, these trenches could not stop Soviet tanks.

Qin Chuan knew this, and so did the Soviet army.

Therefore, Colonel Yefimsi, commander of the 164th Soviet Regiment, was very confident in this attack, even after receiving intelligence that the rear defense line had been reoccupied by the Germans.

"Andreevich!" Colonel Yefimhi ordered to one of his battalion commanders: "Take your troops and walk in front of the tanks!"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" Andreevich responded and led his troops to duck over the tank and rush forward.

Although this is a commonly used method of play by the Soviet army, it is undoubtedly correct.

The reason is that the tank's external perception ability is very poor, especially when it is still dark at this time, especially when there are still building debris and ruins everywhere, especially when Colonel Yefimhi also knows that the Germans have an individual soldier that can easily penetrate the T34 frontal armor. Weapons Bazooka... Hitler had used the bazooka on the Eastern Front months earlier, so the Soviets were already familiar with its capabilities.

In this case, if you let the tank go ahead, you will basically let the tank die.

Therefore, Colonel Yefimsi believed that he should let the infantry go ahead to launch the surprise attack. After these infantry discovered the enemy's firepower points and hiding places, they would then use the firepower of the tanks to suppress them. At the same time, the tanks could also be kept within reach of the enemy's rocket launchers. out of range.

This approach was quite effective. With the cooperation of infantry, flares and tanks, the Soviet army successfully advanced several hundred meters further.

"Keep going, boys!" Colonel Yefimsi said: "If we go one mile further, we will be able to meet the comrades of the 82nd Regiment!"

If the fight continues like this, Qin Chuan and others will indeed have nothing to do against the Soviet regiment.

But at this moment, with a scream of "chirp", a T26 tank was blown into a ball of flames in the line of fire... The armor of the T26 light tank is only 15MM, and of course it cannot withstand the attack of a rocket launcher, especially This rocket launcher still hit its side armor.

"Find that guy right away!" Colonel Yefimsi roared at the infantrymen beside him: "Because of your negligence, our tanks and comrades are bearing the price!"

Colonel Yefimsi thought it was a few German bazooka shooters who had not been searched clearly by the infantry.

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!"

A group of infantrymen responded, grabbed their guns and ran towards the launch point of the rocket launcher... When the rocket launcher is launched, it will leave a long trajectory. This trajectory is especially obvious in the dark night, so the Soviet soldiers immediately identified the German army. s position.

But Colonel Yefimsi soon discovered that he was wrong, because immediately after, there was the roar of rocket launchers, and the Soviet tanks were destroyed one after another and turned into a pile of scrap metal. At the same time, the Soviet camp There was also gunfire, including rifles and machine guns, and a few grenades from time to time.

"What's going on?" Colonel Yefimsi asked.

"I don't know either, Comrade Colonel!" the guard replied: "The Germans are suddenly in our troops!"

"Flare, flare..." Colonel Yefimsi shouted.

The flares slowly rose, illuminating the Soviet troops who were already running around in chaos. Then Colonel Yefimsi saw clearly that there were indeed many German soldiers hiding behind the ruins and broken walls and shooting at the Soviet troops, and there were not many of them. few.

Obviously, this cannot be because the Soviet army did not search clearly, because it is impossible for so many German troops to deceive the search.

Then, when Colonel Yefimsi found a hole hidden in the corner, he realized what the problem was.

"Damn Germans, they are hiding underground!" Colonel Yefimsi cursed bitterly.

But now it's too late to understand.

These German troops were the German Third Battalion. They were hiding in the dark and shooting at the Soviet troops from all directions. Some of them crawled out of the tunnels to fight, some opened tunnel openings in the ruins, poked out rifles and fired, and some disguised themselves as Soviet civilians to confuse the Soviet army.

What's worse is that it is dark at this time, and the Soviet army cannot distinguish between ourselves and the enemy in the chaos. Indiscriminate shooting continues to cause "friendly casualties" and further increases the chaos.

Colonel Yefimsi wanted to control the troops, but no matter how much he shouted, it was to no avail... This was related to the low quality of the Soviet army. Once troops with poor quality became chaotic, it would be difficult to reorganize them.

Originally, Colonel Yefimsi should have ordered a retreat at this time.

But the next second he remembered that the way back had been blocked by the Germans, so the 164th Regiment had no way to survive.

With a "boom", a grenade exploded not far from Colonel Yefimsi and knocked him to the ground.

After a while, Colonel Yefimsi woke up and struggled to get up from the ground. With blood on his face, he watched another tank explode into a ball of fire, and watched rows of soldiers being shot by machine guns. Falling in a pool of blood, watching the Soviet soldiers raise their hands to surrender one after another...

Colonel Yefimsi sighed, thinking about the responsibility he might bear for the failure of this battle, so without hesitation, he raised the pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger.