When Britain and France were completely defeated, and Southern Africa and the United States were busy robbing people, the Battle of Berlin entered the stage of street fighting.
On April 21, the Russian 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 47th Army broke through to the city of Berlin, and fierce street fighting broke out.
Both Germans and Russians are no strangers to street fighting. Brutal street fighting broke out in almost all urban battles on the Russian battlefield. The difference is that almost all German troops who participated in street fighting have been disbanded. The Russian army’s
He has relatively rich experience in street fighting.
Artillery General Helmut Weidling, who had just been appointed commander of the Berlin garrison on the 22nd, knew very well that the Russians would not let any German go, so he was determined to resist to the end.
Determination is wrong, Weidelin was also forced, and even his position as "Commander of Berlin City Defense" came quite dramatically.
On the 21st, on the day when the Russian army broke through the German peripheral defense positions, the 56th Armored Corps commanded by Weidling was defeated. When Weidling used the phone to contact the headquarters, he learned a piece of news that shocked him.
Just now, Mustache issued an order to arrest Weidelin for fleeing from battle.
This was actually a misunderstanding. The 56th Panzer Corps did not surrender, but was crossing the Spree River and retreating from the southern and eastern suburbs of Berlin.
At this time, Konev was concentrating artillery to bombard Berlin, including 203mm large-caliber howitzers that had just arrived at the front line. This made Mustache mistakenly believe that these artillery were from the 56th Armored Corps, so he issued an arrest order for Weidling.
Weidelin was so shocked that he didn't bother to assemble his troops and went directly to the Prime Minister's Office to explain to Mustache face to face. This behavior allowed Weidelin to regain Mustache's trust.
However, Weidling was not happy about this. When Army Chief of Staff Krebs announced to Weidling that he had been appointed commander of the Berlin City Defense, Weidling said sadly: Rather than letting me accept this appointment, it would be better to hang me.
Even if he is not happy, Weidelin still has his professional ethics.
After accepting the appointment of Mustache, Weidling actively organized the defense line and directed the German and Russian troops to conduct street battles.
In fact, everyone knew very well that this was destined to be the final battle between the two warring parties. The Russians wanted revenge, and the Germans wanted to fight for the Third Reich until the last moment, so the street fighting was extremely brutal.
Weidling had participated in the Polish Campaign and the French Campaign, as well as the Defense of Moscow and the Battle of Volgograd. He had extremely rich experience in urban warfare, which was another reason why he gained the trust of Mustache.
With reference to the experience of the Russian battlefield and the actual situation in Berlin, Weidling came up with a defense plan in the shortest possible time.
Weidling demanded that the German army fight for every inch of territory and make full use of Berlin's complex terrain to deal with the Russian army.
In addition to the German army, Weidling asked all Berliners to mobilize and participate in the battle to defend Berlin. Berliners had no choice at this time.
Now Berlin has been completely surrounded, surrounded by Russian troops, and Berlin's connections with the outside world have been completely cut off.
Although there are still stubborn German troops outside Berlin, the connection between Berlin and these troops has been severed.
Weidelin considered breaking out, but was rejected by Mustache. Mustache said to Weidelin passionately: The situation will get better. Our 9th Army is about to arrive in Berlin and, together with the 12th Army, will launch a counterattack against the Russian army. The Russians will
suffered its most disastrous defeat in Berlin.
What Mustache didn't know was that the Ninth Army, which he had high hopes for, had also been divided and surrounded by the Russian army, and would never reach Berlin.
What's more serious is that the Berlin garrison is seriously short of ammunition and supplies and cannot hold on for too long. Weidling estimates that the Berlin garrison's ammunition can last for a month at most.
This is different from the situation in the Battle of Moscow.
During the Battle of Moscow, the Russians' military production never stopped, and they received more and more assistance from the Allies. As a steady stream of reinforcements arrived on the battlefield, the Russians finally defeated the Germans at a heavy cost.
With the loss of most of its territory, the German military's military production has stopped, external aid has been completely cut off, and Weidling does not know what the future will hold.
Forced into a desperate situation, the Germans had no choice but to fight to the death with the attacking Russian army.
Zhukov was very experienced and ordered the tank army and the combined arms army to coordinate the attack. At the same time, he used large-caliber artillery to bombard Berlin indiscriminately. Russian Air Force bombers dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs and incendiary bombs and countless buildings on Berlin every day.
was destroyed and the whole city was burning.
The Germans have a tenacious will to fight. Berlin is Germany's last fortress. Last winter, the German army strengthened Berlin's city defense. The defense system is complete and the fortifications are extremely strong. With air and ground buildings and sewer systems, the German army has laid out
A complete three-dimensional defense system.
Zhukov is not an indecisive Frenchman. He kills decisively and does not play his cards according to routines, showing his true qualities as a famous general.
What Weidling hopes most is to engage in close combat with the Russians, fight for every inch of territory, and use favorable terrain to consume the Russians.
Zhukov did not engage in a war of attrition with Weidling. The Russian army usually concentrated its artillery and air force to conduct intensive bombing of a certain area, and then deployed ground troops to press forward step by step and attack steadily.
To deal with the German troops hiding in buildings or fortifications, the Russians did not fight against the Germans indoors, but used superior firepower or engineers to destroy the entire building.
To be specific, if the Germans were hiding in a building with a strong structure, the Russians would not enter the building at all. Instead, they would use explosives to completely destroy the entire building. They would ignore them at all, regardless of whether they were German troops or civilians inside the building.
The Germans' counterattack capabilities are not weak either.
Although the German army's equipment was in disarray during the Battle of Remagen, the weapons and equipment of the Berlin city defense troops were still quite good.
What limits the German army is production capacity, never technical level. If Germany has massive resources like Southern Africa or the United States, then there is a question mark as to whether Russia can withstand it even with the support of Southern Africa and the United States.
Germany still has more than 2 million troops fighting.
Judging from Germany's current production level, it is indeed beyond its means to provide complete logistical support for these two million troops. The hundreds of thousands of German troops in Berlin are no problem.
At least it will be fine for a short period of time.
Using a variety of anti-tank guns and explosives, the German army destroyed more than 300 Russian tanks on the first day of street fighting. On some major roads, the destroyed tanks once completely blocked the road and made it impassable. This also gave rise to subsequent
The troops' attack created huge difficulties.
"The road ahead is completely blocked, we can only go around it -" Vitaly from the 3rd Guards Tank Army looked at the street in front of him and was helpless.
It is said to be a street, but in fact the original appearance can no longer be clearly seen, and it is more suitable to describe it as a ruin.
The Russian army's attack is simple and crude. Regardless of whether it is a military stronghold or a civilian building, it first bombards with tanks, then uses flamethrowers, and finally engineers go up to plant explosives, even if there is no one in the building.
This is also Zhukov's purpose.
Zhukov wants to demonstrate the combat effectiveness and determination of the Russian army to the greatest extent through a brutal battle, which is very important for the next game.
As a result, the neighborhood in front of Vitaly was reduced to ruins. A Russian T34 tank was destroyed on the ruins next to it. As Vitaly spoke, the ruins could no longer bear the weight of the T34 and collapsed.
"Without the cover of tanks, it is difficult for us to continue the attack -" Alexander, who has served for one and a half years, suffers from a disease called "cannot fight without tank cover" just like the American soldiers.
The Russians' use of tanks has made great progress from the initial infantry supporting the main tank, to the later infantry-tank collaboration, and now to the current group combat.
Russia now has more than 20,000 tanks. Soldiers have long been accustomed to fighting with the cooperation of tanks, and it is impossible to return to the Moscow Defense War.
"Find a way to get these tanks away and open a channel for the follow-up troops." Alexey, who is in charge of the ideological work of the army, waved the Nagant revolver in his hand and cheered for the soldiers: "Gentlemen, this is our last battle.
Station, the dawn of victory is right in front of us, Moscow is waiting for the news of our victory!"
Vitaly and Alexander looked at each other and shut up at the same time.
Russians are not afraid of death, they are afraid of meaningless death.
It's not like Vitaly and the others didn't try. Just now, the company commander, Lieutenant Potovich, led the troops to organize a charge.
As a result, Alexey became the company's supreme commander.
"Get some explosives and blow up these tanks -" Alexei was not good at commanding operations, let alone taking the lead.
"At least get the bodies of the tank crews out of the tanks before using explosives to blow up those tanks." Vitali didn't want to see the bodies of the tank crews. Even if their families couldn't wait for the return of their loved ones, at least they could
When you see the coffin of your loved one, you don’t just get a military uniform.
The key thing is that the military uniform is not necessarily a relic of a relative. It was probably produced just last week.
Since the remains of those officers and soldiers who disappeared on the battlefield could not be found, they were most likely to be given a military uniform and a memorial tomb set up to commemorate them.
What is even more tragic is that because the body cannot be found, it is impossible to determine whether the soldier is dead, and the family members cannot receive full pensions. This is what Vitaly cannot accept the most.
"They died serving their country loyally and deservedly died!" Alexei's words attracted a lot of glares, and the chicken soup was completely useless at this time.
Not to mention chicken soup, chicken blood is not easy to use at this time.
"Then wait until after dark——" Alexander felt the same as Vitali.
"Soldier, please pay attention to your position. Don't you want to capture Mustache alive as soon as possible and end this war?" Alexei is good at hating him. There is a reason why some people are not popular.
"Of course I do, but I want to live until the end of the war and taste the joy of victory." Alexander retorted directly. Russians are so direct.
"Give me those damn explosives!" Alexei is not just a man of words. The position with the highest casualty rate in the Russian army is Zhengwei.
Don't judge today's Russians by the standards of the 21st century. Today's Russians are very firm in their thinking. Even if Alexei, Alexander, and Vitaly have differences, their goals are the same.
Neither Alexander nor Vitaly spoke, and they watched Alexey holding the explosive package and walking towards the destroyed tank.
Alexey had just taken a few steps when he was shot by a German sniper.
The sniper was definitely targeting the explosive package Alexei was holding. After the violent explosion, Alexei's body was completely gone.
"Damn it!" Vitali closed his eyes in pain.
Alexander's expression did not change at all. He had experienced this scene countless times.
"Hey, what are you doing?" A new support force came up, led by a young lieutenant.
"There are German firepower points on the opposite side, and there are German snipers in places that cannot be seen. Our company commander and Zhengwei have both died——" Alexander stood up and saluted.
"Where are there no German snipers and firepower?" The lieutenant pushed the helmet on his head, and there were more than ten people behind him all with injuries.
In southern Africa, as long as you are injured, you can withdraw from the battle and receive treatment. Not only will your superiors not punish you, but you will also receive military medals.
The Russians really rely on their passion and can continue to fight as long as their blood is not shed dry.
The lieutenant was experienced and not as reckless as Alexei. At least he knew how to throw smoke bombs before rushing out of the bunker.
Smoke bombs don't have much technical content, the key is how they are used.
The Russian army previously only equipped tanks with smoke grenades to cover tank attacks.
Later, the importance of smoke grenades gradually increased, and infantry also began to equip them. Especially when attacking, smoke grenades were of great use.
Under the cover of smoke, the lieutenant finally came to the destroyed tank.
"Dennis—" the lieutenant called to the flamethrower-equipped commando.
Dennis's flamethrower was donated by Southern Africa.
Russia can also produce flamethrowers.
However, the power and range of flamethrowers produced in Russia are different from those produced in southern Africa.
The flamethrower produced in Russia has a range of only 20 meters and a flame temperature of only 800 degrees.
The flamethrower produced in southern Africa has a range of up to 50 meters and a flame temperature as high as 1,300 degrees. It is even more popular among Russian officers and soldiers.
Thrash——
With the help of the cover of the tank wreckage, bright and dazzling flames sprayed directly towards the German firepower point.
The lieutenant took out a grenade with his backhand, unscrewed the back cover, pulled off the tab, and threw it out. The other Russian soldiers followed suit. All kinds of grenades and smoke grenades flew past like raindrops, which was a spectacular sight.
After a series of explosions, gunpowder smoke spread everywhere, and the sightlines of both sides were blocked, and nothing could be seen.
The engineer carrying the explosive package set out at this time. His task was not to place the explosive package on the German firepower point, but only to light it and throw it out.
It doesn't need to be too close, as long as it is thrown out, the shock will kill the Germans.