As I have emphasized many times before, when the German army faced the Allied forces on the Western Front and the Russian army, they were two completely different forces.
In the just-concluded Battle of Remagen, Kesselring and the twelve divisions under his command were completely wiped out. The German army's will to resist was not strong. After the expeditionary force surrounded the German army, the German army only resisted for two days before surrendering.
His fighting will is even inferior to that of the Hungarian servant army.
At the same time, Army Group South, which had been surrounded by Russian troops in Vienna for more than a month, was still resisting. The two Russian front armies were firmly contained in Vienna, which created an extremely difficult situation for the Southern Allied forces to invade Hungary from the direction of Italy.
Great convenience.
Although the Allied forces on the southern front invaded Hungary later than the Russian army, the area they already controlled was much larger than Russia's, basically meeting the requirements of Rock and Winston.
Roque and Winston can allow the Russian army to control Hungary, but they will never allow Russia to control the entire territory of Hungary. Then Italy will face the impact of the Russian model, and Hungary must become a buffer zone between the two camps.
The same goes for Germany.
The reason why Patton agreed to Montgomery and Eisenhower's request was also to build Germany into the front line against Russia.
According to Big Beard's original plan, the Russian army's offensive will be launched on April 30, so that the participating troops will have nearly a month to prepare, which is sufficient time.
The actions of the Allied forces on the Western Front on the Danube River sounded the alarm for Big Beard. He realized that the Allied forces on the Western Front also had attempts to seize Berlin. This made Big Beard furious. On April 1, he ordered Zhukov to speed up preparations.
Advance the time to attack Berlin to April 15th.
Zhukov was in a dilemma. 15 days was too hasty for the troops participating in the battle. Troops that were too far away could not even reach their scheduled positions on the day the attack was launched.
On April 1, the main force of the 2nd Belorussian Front under Zhukov was located in the Danzig area, 400 kilometers away from the Oder River defense line.
Konev's troops were concentrated on the center and left flank of the 1st Ukrainian Front, located in Silesia, which was also a long way from the Ness River.
Among all the troops participating in the attack on Berlin, 29 armies are being mobilized, 15 of which are 385 kilometers away, and 3 are between 385 and 530 kilometers away. While mobilizing troops, they must also prepare various military supplies needed to attack Berlin.
The attacking force also needs to conduct tactical drills, which take a lot of time.
Big Beard had previously asked Zhukov to capture Berlin within 15 days.
In order to complete this task, Zhukov ordered all participating troops to draw out elite troops to form a commando team and conduct special drills in urban street fighting to reduce the losses of the troops.
The pontoon force responsible for providing logistics for the attacking force is also in intensive preparations. The engineering force of the 1st Belarusian Front has prepared 25 pontoons and 40 ferries for the attacking force; the 1st Ukrainian Front has raised 2,440 engineer canoes.
, and prepared an assault bridge with a total length of 750 meters and wooden bridge components more than 1,000 meters long.
In order to complete the preparation work, it should be said that the engineering troops made great efforts, but Zhukov was still dissatisfied.
The wooden boats and wooden bridges are fine for carrying light infantry, but the heavy tanks of the Russian army cannot pass.
Not to mention the heavy IS-2, even the T34 with a total combat weight of only 32 tons cannot pass.
Fortunately, there is the Southern African Expeditionary Force.
During the Yalta Conference, Roque promised Winston that Southern Africa would stop military assistance to Russia and reduce the threat from Russia.
Zhouqiao technology does not fall under the category of military assistance, and Russia can still import it. The Southern African Air Force sent Zhukov steel prefabricated parts for assembling the pontoon bridge, which finally solved the problem of heavy tanks being unable to pass through the pontoon bridge.
Only T34 was solved, IS-2 still failed.
There is no way, the carrying capacity of the floating bridges in southern Africa is also limited.
However, this satisfied Zhukov, and Zhukov personally sent a telegram to Patton to express his gratitude.
Despite Big Beard's repeated urging, it was already April 15th when all participating troops arrived at the scheduled location.
You definitely can't fight right away on the day you arrive, and Iron Man can't stand it either.
Zhukov personally sent a telegram to Big Beard to explain, hoping to postpone the attack to the 16th.
The bearded man agreed to Zhukov's request.
By this time, the Russian army had been shelling German positions for several days.
Because there were some problems with the deployment of logistical supplies, the intensity of the bombardment was actually not high and the effect was not good enough.
Fortunately, with the help of the Air Force, the German losses were not small. The German artillery positions in front of the 1st Belorussian Front lost 70%, and many tanks were destroyed. However, follow-up investigations by the Air Force showed that these destroyed German troops
Most of the tanks were decoys arranged by the Germans. The real tanks were hidden in strong bunkers and suffered little damage.
Zhukov could no longer care about the threat from the German armored forces.
The bearded man has a very bad temper. Zhukov has already postponed an attack. If it is postponed again, Zhukov will be ready to go to Siberia to log wood.
On April 16, the Russian army's attack officially began.
In order to confuse the German army's attention, Zhukov used more than a hundred searchlights on the night of the 15th to create the illusion of building a pontoon bridge overnight to mobilize troops.
The attack force of the 1st Front Army completed the erection of the pontoon bridge in the dark. Considering the complex terrain on the other side of the Oder River, all the first batch to cross the Oder River were infantry.
In order to achieve the attack effect, Zhukov tactically concentrated his forces and focused on breakthroughs, striving to open a gap in the German defense line in the shortest possible time.
Under normal circumstances, the Russian army's infantry division will attack with two infantry regiments on the front line, followed by the third regiment, attacking the enemy's position in a wedge shape.
Zhukov composed the first echelon with 3 to 4 divisions, and one or more divisions were located in the second echelon. In this way, the front line of a group army was only 2.5 to 10 kilometers, and the entire front army was only 35 to 44 kilometers. Generally, the average per kilometer
There are 1.5 to 2.5 infantry divisions.
In the most densely defended areas of the German army, there was only one division every three kilometers on average.
Although their troops were at a disadvantage, the Germans' will to fight was not weak. Corporal Chakov, who crossed the Oder River with the first batch of attacking troops, found many crosses on both sides of the road after landing, and the hanged people had playing cards hanging on their chests.
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Chakov does not speak German and cannot understand what is written on the sign.
Fortunately, there were soldiers who could speak German and translated: "Deserts, cowards, the shame of Germany - ha, will these guys also run away?"
The Russian soldiers all around were happy, and there was nothing more satisfying than seeing an enemy lose their will to fight.
"I hope all the Germans will not escape. I still want to avenge my brothers!" Vasin from St. Petersburg held the Bobsha in his chest. His three brothers were all killed in the siege of St. Petersburg.
The Russian soldiers who were a little out of control calmed down immediately.
Everyone present has a blood feud with the Germans. In recent years in Russia, it is not an exaggeration to say that every household wears mourning.
If there is no funeral in a certain family, then all family members must be dead.
"Advance in formation, keep a distance, first company, set off -" the officer's whistle sounded continuously. Chakov's unit was a light infantry, and there were no tanks to accompany the battle.
The environment here is also not suitable for tank attacks.
Continuous bombings for many days have destroyed all the roads around here, and huge craters are formed one after another. It rained a few days ago, and there is still water at the bottom of the craters. There are no available bunkers around, and the buildings are either
It was demolished by the Germans themselves or blown up by the Russian army.
Chakov accidentally fell into a crater. Vasin stood on the edge of the crater and stretched out his hand to pull Chakov up. At this moment, the Germans suddenly opened fire.
"Lie down -" the officer's order was a little late. Chakov's company suffered heavy casualties, with only a dozen people left to continue fighting.
Mustache's tear-off machine!
It certainly lives up to its reputation.
Other famous machine guns, such as the general-purpose machine gun in Southern Africa, have a rate of fire of only about 600 rounds per minute. The machine gun shooter has to stop and use bursts of fire as much as possible to ensure continuity of firepower.
The rate of fire of the MG42 can reach 1,500 rounds per minute, and the gunfire sounds as dense as tearing cloth, hence the name.
The MG42 is a powerful weapon against light infantry. Russian soldiers are not afraid of Panzer V tanks or Stukas, only cloth tearers, which are frightening.
Wassin jumped into the crater as soon as the gunfire sounded, raised his gun and aimed in the direction of the gunfire.
The German machine gun positions were arranged very cleverly. From the positions of Vasin and Chakov, the German machine gun firepower could not be seen at all.
"Smoke can, who has a smoke can?" Vasin shouted. After all, the Russian army is not as rich as the Southern African Expeditionary Force, and not everyone has smoke bombs.
"Attack, attack -" Another officer's shout came from not far away.
Vasin and Chakov were very smart and did not respond.
Without the cover of a tank, charging towards the MG42 is tantamount to suicide.
Although Vasin and Chakov are not afraid of death, they hope that their death will be worthwhile.
For those who did not believe in evil, reinforcements soon came to attack. The leading officer was extremely brave and led the charge with a pistol in his hand. He was shot after just a few steps.
The army that lost the command of its officers immediately fell into chaos. Some people tried to continue the attack, some people lay down on the spot to find bunkers, and others were busy rescuing their comrades, but the German machine gunners would not give him time to calmly rescue them.
"Chakov, give me your rifle -" Vasin finally found the position of the German machine gunner, but it was already beyond the firing range of Bobsha.
Bobosa uses pistol bullets. Although the barrel is longer than that of a pistol, it has a bonus to the shooting range. The effective shooting distance is only about 200 meters.
The Mosin-Nagant has a firing range of one thousand meters, with high accuracy and stable performance. Although Bobsha has equipped a large number of troops, the Mosin-Nagant is still active. The sniper rifles currently used by the Russian army are modified using the Mosin-Nagant.
locust
Chakov had only been in the army for a short time, and his shooting skills were not as good as Vasin's. Upon hearing Vasin's words, he immediately handed his rifle to Vasin.
With a cold expression, Wassin took precise aim and pulled the trigger.
It must have been a hit, because the gunfire from the MG42 disappeared immediately.
However, it disappeared for a very short time, so the secondary shooter should have taken the lead in time.
Wassin continued to fire. Not only did the MG42s on the opposite side not stop, but they also got bigger and bigger.
That's right, Berlin is the home base of the German army. There may be problems with the training of the German troops here, but there is absolutely no problem with their attitude and equipment. The number of MG42s is more than one.
Three attacks in a row had no effect. The light infantry were suppressed to the point where they could not lift their heads. The wounded could not receive effective treatment, and their morale dropped quickly.
"Pray to God, I hope our tank troops can move faster." Vasin returned the Mosin Nagant to Chakov and picked up his Bobsha again.
Although the Bobosa cannot shoot against the MG42, it is not bad at dealing with light infantry at close range.
"What should we do?" Chakov was confused. His training did not include this part.
Most of today's Russian soldiers have not received complete army training. Many of them did not even know how to use a gun before joining the army. They did not know how to pull the ring first when throwing a grenade.
Not to mention Griphook, many recruits wouldn't even know where Griphook is if no one tells them.
"Stand on standby and wait for the support of the tank troops." Wassin never thought of retreating, which was almost like an escape.
It was not easy to set up a pontoon bridge that tanks could pass through. It took a battalion of engineers six hours of hard work to send the first T34 across the Oder River.
Seeing the figure of T34, Chakov cheered excitedly.
Wasin was not excited, and his expression was even a little solemn.
"What's wrong with you? Are you injured?" Chakov asked quickly. He already regarded Vasin as his teacher.
Without a good teacher on the battlefield, one will soon die.
"Do you have anything to eat?" Wasin's eyes were filled with hunger.
If this were the Southern African Expeditionary Force, even if they fought for three days and three nights, there would be no problem. At least they would have food. They would carry chocolate, beef, etc. with them.
The key is that physical fitness is different.
In the words of southern Africa, Russian officers and soldiers are out of money. The years-long war has completely destroyed the Russian agricultural system. Even if the battlefield has now advanced to Germany, Russian farmland will not be harvested until at least next year.
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"Can potatoes be okay?" Chakov took out a piece of potato from his backpack, which still contained Chakov's body temperature.
"Thank you -" Wasin was not polite and just stuffed the potato into his mouth.
Now that we have tanks, it would be a tragedy if we cannot keep up with our physical strength and fall behind when we attack later.
The T34 is really powerful. Although the total combat weight is only 32 tons, its defensive power is greatly enhanced due to the use of sloped armor. The MG42 cannot penetrate it and can provide maximum protection for the accompanying infantry following the tank.
Chakov was also ready.
When a T34 passed by the bomb crater where Chakov and Vasin were, Chakov and Vasin jumped out of the crater almost at the same time and followed closely behind the T34.
The German army is not a small Japanese without anti-tank capabilities. An 88mm anti-tank shell flew over immediately and directly destroyed the T34 followed by Chakov and Vasin.
Chakov was unprepared and crashed into the T34's armor.