Jonas looked at Xu Rui dejectedly. He did not expect that he would be captured by the Soviets. However, his strong sense of survival told him that he must cooperate with the Soviets' inquiries, for himself and his family, and for Luca.
My family must live.
Thinking of this, Jonas said: "My name is Jonas."
Xu Rui nodded and continued: "Tell me what you know about the German defense situation."
Jonas knew that in order to survive in this situation, he had to tell everything he knew, so he poured out everything he knew to Xu Rui.
Xu Rui listened and took notes. Speaking of which, Jonas had limited authority, so he didn’t know much about the inside story of the German army. But from his words, Xu Rui could get several pieces of information. First, although it was winter, the German army was preparing to
Plenty, no shortage of cotton-padded clothes and winter supplies.
Secondly, due to the severe cold in winter, the German tank force suffered a heavy non-combat consumption and was in urgent need of various parts and engines.
Third, the German army in Moscow was very strong, with at least more than one million people. This size of force completely exceeded the strength of the Soviet army, giving the German army a numerical advantage.
With the current strength of the German army in the direction of Moss, it seems that defeating the German army will be a long process. Xu Rui thought to himself.
Xu Rui stopped asking questions until he could no longer ask for any valuable information. He was very satisfied with Jonas's performance, so he said: "Jonas, Germany is destined to fail in this war. You
It is a wise move to surrender to the Soviet Red Army. As long as you cooperate with us well, I can guarantee your life safety, and you will be reused after the war."
Jonas smiled bitterly and said: "I don't want to be used in any important way. As long as I can return to my hometown alive and see my relatives, I can't die. If I die, they will lose the financial support of their family."
Xu Rui said: "As long as you cooperate well, you will definitely return to your hometown alive."
Xu Rui asked Jonas to be taken to see Zhukov, and then he began to formulate an action plan for the evening.
"Boom! Boom!"
Because Xu Rui's actions last night caused great losses to the German army, the German army was carrying out retaliatory activities throughout the day. The artillery unit of the 4th Armored Group Army did not stop shelling all day long, launching wave after wave of bombardments at the positions lost last night.
Despite the wave of attacks, the Soviet troops still held their position firmly, leaving the German 4th Panzer Army without gaining an inch of ground.
At this time, Xu Rui had set his sights on the 3rd Armored Group Army on the northern front. From Jonas's mouth, Xu Rui got an important fact, that is, at this time, the 3rd Armored Group Army had nothing left.
As a result, most of the armored divisions in his unit were transferred to the 4th Armored Army and the 2nd Armored Army, which were the main offensive forces.
The northern front where the current 3rd Armored Group Army is located is not the main direction of the German attack, so it is only in name only. Its troops are composed of infantry divisions, becoming an armored group army lacking armored divisions.
The troops under its direct command are as follows: the 59th Infantry Corps, which has the 205th Infantry Division, the 330th Infantry Division, most of the 83rd Infantry Division, and one unit each of the 218th and 328th Infantry Divisions.
The group army is directly under the jurisdiction of: one unit of the 83rd Infantry Division and one unit of the 81st and 218th Infantry Divisions. In other words, the current actual strength of the 3rd Army is only a few infantry divisions, but the German 9th Army is behind the 3rd Armored Army.
Therefore, in terms of the thickness of the troops, it is quite good.
Xu Rui knew, however, that an Armored Group Army without tanks was like a tiger without teeth, so his next target of attack was the 3rd Armored Group Army.
Because Xu Rui's actions last night caused a strong psychological shock to the German army, General Huth of the 3rd Armored Army deployed a large number of troops in the front line positions on the northern front to prevent possible Soviet tank attacks.
At this time, General Holt was planning the next move in a temporarily established headquarters.
General Holt's father was a military doctor. He participated in World War I and was a member of the German officer corps. In 1935, he was promoted to commander of the 18th Infantry Division.
On November 1, 1938, he was promoted to general of infantry and appointed commander of the 15th Armored Corps. The following year, he participated in the invasion of Poland. He performed outstandingly in the French campaign and led his troops to Normandy and Brittany.
He was promoted to Army General on July 19, 1940. At the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, he served as the commander of the 3rd Armored Group.
After Operation Barbarossa began, his 3rd Armored Army and Guderian's 2nd Armored Army launched a long-distance attack with thunderous momentum. The Soviet army had no time to make any preparations to meet the enemy and fled.
In the encirclement of Minsk and Kiev, they coordinated with each other with clever tactics and launched annihilation tactics, winning honors for the army and the largest encirclement battle in human history. General Hoth also received the oak leaf on the 25th Knight Medal of the German Army.
General Holt is not tall, with deep eyes and an eagle-like nose. He looks gloomy, but everyone who knows him knows that he is a person with a distinct personality and distinct likes and dislikes. He has extremely
He has a keen sense of the battlefield and has almost never lost a battle since the war began.
At this time, after the setback of Hoppner's 4th Army on the Western Front last night, General Huot was keenly aware that the Soviet army's newly formed armored rapid assault force was likely to target its 3rd Armored Division.
Group Army.
In fact, General Hott has been scratching his head recently. Since it is not the main direction of attack, several armored divisions under his command have been transferred to the southern and western fronts. This makes his 3rd Armored Group have no armored divisions.
Armored Corps.
Fortunately, the Soviet army does not have many tanks. Otherwise, it will be difficult for his own troops to defend against the attack of Soviet tanks. But even so, General Holt has not taken an offensive for some time, but has been taking an offensive on the northern front.
Defensive position. As long as the Soviet army does not attack, then he only needs to hold on to the existing position.
The Soviet offensive against the 4th Army on the Western Front last night shocked Hott. He did not expect that the Soviet army actually learned the essence of blitzkrieg and used blitzkrieg to fight back against the German army. In order to prevent possible attacks by Soviet tanks, Hott
They had no choice but to order the 205th Infantry Division to lay a large number of mines at the front of the position to prevent the movement of Soviet tanks.
Subsequently, just in case, Holt also ordered the 328th Infantry Division to be deployed behind the 205th Infantry Division in echelons to increase the thickness of the force.
Whether it is the 205th Infantry Division or the 328th Infantry Division, they are the main force of Huot's 3rd Armored Group. Huot believes that the deployment of troops in this way should be foolproof. At the very least, it will be extremely difficult for Soviet tanks to pass through mine arrays.
of.
Huot did not expect that the news that the 205th Infantry Division had laid a large number of mines at the front of the position would immediately reach the ears of Kuznetsov, the commander of the 1st Assault Army.
Kuznetsov immediately came to Xu Rui to discuss the next step.
Kuznetsov introduced Qingrui to Xu Rui. When Xu Rui heard this, he frowned and said to himself that this Holt is a difficult character. He is indeed a famous German general. The front line layout is very targeted. It seems that
, in order to launch an attack on the 3rd Armored Group Army, the mines laid by the opponent must be destroyed.
The most basic way to deal with minefields is to use engineers to clear mines, but in assault operations, this is simply impossible. Xu Rui does not have so much time for engineers to clear mines, so there is only one way left.
Thinking of this, Xu Rui said to Kuznetsov: "Comrade Kuznetsov, I heard that your 1st Assault Group Army has a cannon regiment?"
Kuznetsov said: "Yes, we do have a cannon regiment, but this regiment is the only artillery unit of the 1st Shock Army. Why do you ask this?"
"Lend it to me." Xu Rui said.
Kuznetsov shook his head repeatedly and said: "The entire 1st Assault Army only has this one artillery regiment, and it is lent to you. What should we do? The 1st Assault Army cannot fight with infantry alone."
Xu Rui said: "Don't worry, I won't transfer them away. It's not convenient for my assault force to have so many artillery. I just want to use your artillery regiment to conduct an artillery attack for me to clear the minefields in front of the German positions."
district."
"So that's what happened."
Kuznetsov nodded and said: "This is no problem. I can let the artillery regiment conduct a fifteen-minute carpet bombardment to detonate the minefield in front of the German position."
"At least twenty minutes."
"Can."
"Well, I heard that you have a tank battalion?" Xu Rui asked.
"Yes."
Kuznetsov suddenly realized that something was wrong and quickly said: "This tank battalion can't give you anything."
Xu Rui said: "It's just a battalion, don't be so stingy."
Kuznetsov said: "This is not a stingy thing. The entire 1st Assault Army only has one tank battalion. I want to hand it over to you. What will happen to the 1st Assault Army in the future?"
Xu Rui said: "Let's do this. I'll trade the German positions I defeated with you. What do you think?"
Kuznetsov's eyes lit up. If Xu Rui could really attack again and eliminate the German troops in front of him, which could change the predicament of the 1st Assault Army to a great extent, then there would be nothing wrong with leaving the only tank battalion to him.
question.
Kuznetsov was not a person who was procrastinating. He gritted his teeth and really agreed.
Xu Rui said: "Comrade Kuznetsov, just wait for my good news tonight."
"I hope so." Kuznetsov was not sure about Xu Rui's actions, but since his tank battalion had been handed over to Xu Rui, he could only wish him good luck.
After a while, Xu Rui arrived at Kuznetsov's tank battalion and saw that although the tank battalion was small in size, with only two companies and a total of 21 tanks, they were all the latest Soviet T-34 medium tanks.