Chapter 12 Encounter with the German 14th Armored Division
At the same time, the German Army Group Center was swooping towards Minsk. The armored group commanded by Hoth attacked north towards Vilnius, while Guderian led his troops to outflank the south. The German army was preparing a huge encirclement network
, but Guderian was more eager for military glory. He always had only one goal - Moscow.
Therefore, on the front of the 284th Infantry Division, they were not facing the most powerful armored division of the German army. Yang Mingzhi was very lucky later. Fortunately, it was the German 14th Armored Division that was responsible for breaking through the defense line.
The ground was roaring, and the soldiers clung to the trenches. The soldiers turned on their gun safety, and each of them looked at the distant horizon with solemn expressions.
Mortars, howitzers, and combat artillery were all ready for battle. Tank shells were loaded, and armor-piercing shells were waiting for the opportunity to be fired. All that was left was to wait anxiously, waiting for the enemy tanks to appear and be blown to pieces.
But the Germans did not let the Soviets think too much. First, a group of Stukas carried aerial bombs and tried to destroy the 284th Infantry Division's position.
Luck often determines whether you can survive under fire. German aircraft naturally bomb the large targets they see first, and the big heads of those KV2 tanks naturally become live targets.
Bombs exploded one after another, and many soldiers were blown to pieces.
Yang Mingzhi has been ordering his people to dig deep holes, and then dig out small holes like mice. This can slow down the effect a little, but the psychological comfort is greater.
The enemy's self-propelled artillery and dive bombers took the lead in attacking the Soviet defense lines, and the soldiers could only hide in the trenches and pray to avoid the bombardment.
This was the most terrifying thing that the girl Yang Tao had ever experienced. In order to ease her fragile nerves, Yang Mingzhi opened his arms and hugged her tightly.
"Don't be afraid, Xiao Tao, we won't be hurt if we hide in the cave."
A kiss on the forehead can calm her down the most. It is to implement the sentence "I am the supporter you can rely on" as a husband.
The two of them huddled together, like many soldiers huddled like meat balls. The air waves set off by countless explosives were as devastating as the air waves, and messy things fell from the sky, including the corpses of soldiers who were blown into pieces. The air was filled with the smell of gunpowder smoke and
There was a burning smell. Large and small craters appeared in the originally smooth position.
The division's field hospital was also attacked, and both wounded soldiers and doctors suffered serious casualties. This was a huge psychological blow to the soldiers. The doctors were all dead. Once injured, any possibility of survival would be gone.
The German artillery preparations lasted for twenty minutes, and the Soviet positions suffered huge casualties. According to the traditions of various countries around the world, the rest was a fierce attack by the enemy.
Pugachev's division headquarters was also hit by a bomb blast, and the entire tent was blown down. He was helped up by the guards. At this moment, the division headquarters was in chaos. After patting the dust, I saw that the telegraph operator was still fine.
Yes, the radio station is very well protected by this person.
However, political commissar Bajijin was unfortunately injured. His face was bloody and he still said that he was not in the way.
"No, the division headquarters must be moved. We move to the front line." Pugachev made his own decision. He was still acting as an infantry regiment commander. At this moment, he forgot that he still had more than 10,000 officers and soldiers.
Yang Mingzhi and many officers and soldiers were guarding the core of the defense line. He was surprised to see Pugachev, with a face full of soot, staggering to the front line.
"Comrade division commander, were you knocked unconscious by the bombing just now? This is the front line, do you want your life?"
Pugachev just smiled bitterly, "We are all desperate. Many of our friendly troops are retreating towards the city of Minsk, and some are even running crazy towards Smolensk. Only we, more than ten thousand lunatics, are very Gotta fight the Nazis."
When Yang Mingzhi heard this, he laughed like a fool.
Yes, it’s just that I came to this era inexplicably. Now that labor and capital are running from the distant Heilongjiang to Eastern Europe, do they have to face the fate of being crushed into the ground by enemy tanks? Bah! I have to cut off a few of his Hitler roots. Beards are not allowed.
The division commander's actions were very dangerous, but he also inspired many soldiers.
Yang Mingzhi immediately imitated Panfimov's heroic words of 28 warriors and roared at the radio station.
"Comrades, some people say that the Soviet Union has a vast territory and our population is huge. But we have no way to retreat. Behind us is Minsk, Smolensk, and Stalin in Moscow. If we cannot stop the enemy, Then the Soviet Union will cease to exist!"
Pugachev was very satisfied. It seemed that this young man could also serve as a political commissar.
The patriotism of the soldiers was completely awakened, and everyone was focused on waiting for the enemy to appear. Finally, on the horizon, after undergoing artillery preparations, the armored group of the army began to attack fiercely.
The 14th Armored Division of Nazi Germany, division commander Friedrich Kuhn. The original history was that his unit was defeated in 1943, and he died in the Berlin bombing in February 1944, but he still does not know what he is facing. That's right, it's a formidable enemy.
The three groups of the German Army Group Center, Huth, Feng Kluge and Guderian, lined up southward to attack the direction of Moss. Huth separated his troops to try to block the bottleneck area. Such a coincidence would determine With Kuhn's army directly in front of the 7th Armored Division, he would be the first to make contact with the Soviet 284th Infantry Division. He never imagined that he would be attacked by an unprecedented weapon.
He ordered the tank regiment to attack in traditional columns. According to the so-called German tradition, the tanks should attack in a special V-shaped column. This pattern is very similar to Hannibal's formation against Rome two thousand years ago. The two wings are forward, and the core lags behind in turn. On an attack surface of one kilometer, Soviet anti-tank weapons were not very effective.
Yang Mingzhi paid close attention to the progress of the situation, and when he saw that the enemy was still one kilometer away, some restless anti-tank guns opened fire.
"Bastard, who told them to fire!" Pugachev was furious. Because of the soldiers' unauthorized behavior, their firepower points were exposed in advance, and they were attacked by enemy tanks.
The Soviet 45mm caliber anti-tank artillery was unable to penetrate the frontal armor of the Panzer III tank at a distance of one kilometer. However, due to temporary adjustments, the "miniature anti-tank gun group" that fired without permission fired five shells, including one. It's a 76mm grenade.
A German tank was destroyed, and actual combat proved the rationality of barrage shooting. However, the Germans did not slow down their attack. They continued to advance, and the infantry accompanying the attack also began to run desperately.
"Now! All artillery fire, aim at the enemy's tanks. Vada!" Pugachev gave the order, and the light and heavy firepower of the position opened fire one after another.
The Germans were not frightened by this, and the leading tank opened fire while advancing. But they forgot that the phantom of the Soviet KV2 tank was still there. Although this tank ran like a turtle, it had an exaggerated caliber gun and a perverted cannon.
Shield. Only self-propelled artillery can destroy them at close range.
The 14th Armored Division began to suffer losses, and Kuhn did not dare to stop. Behind him were friendly forces that were pursuing and eager to win. Kuhn ordered the troops to break through the enemy's defense line. To this end, 152 tanks from the entire division launched an all-out attack.
There are motorized troops behind the scenes.
The German infantry revolved around the MG34 general-purpose machine gun, and most of the soldiers still held the Mauser K98. Due to differences in war concepts, the Soviet army's small arms firepower was relatively superior, but the firepower could not break through the tank armor.
There was a large black area on the horizon. The vanguard was a tank, followed by half-track armored vehicles, motorcycles, and a large number of running soldiers. More German soldiers followed the armored vehicles, so the results of the Soviet machine gun fire were
not very big.
If the distance is too long, only a sniper rifle can accurately eliminate the enemy.
Therefore, in order to reduce the casualties of their own troops, the two sides launched an artillery battle. The enemy tanks continued to advance regardless of the casualties. The distance between the two armies was shortened little by little. They planned to tear apart the defense line of the 284th Infantry Division with their tanks, and then use their bows to kill them all.
Soviet troops on guard.
But their plan will not succeed. The current actual combat has proved the superiority of temporary defense adjustments. The miniature anti-tank strongholds have anti-tank artillery and anti-tank guns, and even RPG rocket launchers sent by Yang Mingzhi.
Yang Mingzhi ordered his men to aim and shoot until the enemy tank was less than 400 meters away. He even suggested that for the sake of accuracy, the enemy should be placed even 100 meters away and fired decisively, so that as long as the enemy tank was hit, the results would be considerable.
.
Therefore, the German army found that its V-shaped formation encountered a brutal blockage from the enemy. The Soviet anti-tank artillery could guarantee a firepower output of fifteen rounds per minute, and the German tanks endured the attack of a large number of armor-piercing projectiles.
The front line encountered obstruction, and Kuhn temporarily ordered the self-propelled artillery to stop temporarily to provide artillery support to the tank assault group.
In this way, the infantry division endured the enemy's artillery fire and continued to counterattack. Yang Mingzhi still stood still in this situation. He ordered the three companies on hand to lock the target first and fire decisively until the enemy reached a reasonable position.
The appearance of the German self-propelled artillery disrupted the Soviet defense, and Pugachev urgently ordered the remaining heavy artillery to fire on the enemy.
After all, Kuhn had just broken through the first direction of the Soviet army, and suffered a lot of losses in personnel and ordnance. He was urged by the commander of the 7th Armored Division, Funk, and was unable to replenish his troops. Therefore, the self-propelled artillery did not achieve any decisive results.
To defeat the Soviet army, we still hope to rely on the coordination of infantry and tanks. For this reason, tanks must provide cover for the infantry following behind, and the pace of the attack is also forced to slow down a bit.
The distance was shortening little by little, and Yang Mingzhi's nervous heart rose to his throat. He took the radio operator's phone and said, "Order the first company and the second company, you are the first to open fire and destroy the enemy's attempt to outflank our army!"
Suddenly, on both sides of the huge V-shaped German tank formation, they were attacked by an unprecedented weapon. Many tank commanders saw a large number of objects with long white tails coming from the Soviet position not far away.
Then there was a violent explosion, which was the last sound heard by these tank members.