Bullets hit large tree debris and flew across the forest, and gunpowder smoke filled the forest. Two German infantry regiments, with a total strength of 5,000 men, faced an attack by the Soviet army of 10,000 men.
Thanks to the cover of the big trees, the Soviet soldiers had more bunkers. They could lie down and shoot, or the prone RPG shooters could knock out the German machine gun positions.
Yang Mingzhi knew the value of individual rocket launchers from the beginning. In the airport war after World War II in that dimension, infantry often faced street fighting and needed stronger attack capabilities. Therefore, the infantry at that time began to be equipped with a large number of RPGs and
Individual rocket launchers, including individual thermobaric bombs and cloud explosive bombs, are also developed for the purpose of enhancing the infantry's ability to attack difficult targets.
The RPG production at the Blacksmith Village Armory was limited, and it was certainly impossible for Yang Mingzhi to allow the urgently expanded troops to place an RPG shooter in each infantry squad.
For the troops on the left bank of the Dnieper River, the two independent regiments and the 17th Partisan Brigade, only half of the infantry squads have RPG operators. The two female regiments each have only 30 shoulder-mounted RPG launchers.
This equipment is enough.
The most forward machine gun positions of the German army were knocked out by RPGs and recoilless rifles. Although hundreds of Soviet soldiers fell under the fire of German machine guns, they still destroyed two of the three German defense lines. At this point, the left bank of the river was
The battle in the southern forest has only been going on for half an hour, and it is already a matter of time before the German army's last line of defense, the third line of defense, collapses.
The Germans tried their best to block the attack. They tried hard, but unfortunately, the brave machine gun positions were blown over one after another. It was obvious that the Soviet army had mastered advanced weapons, which made it difficult for the machine guns that could have held on for a long time to exert their firepower advantage.
Once the machine gun is damaged, the average German soldier can only rely on the Mauser 98k with a bayonet in his hand and the long-handled grenade hanging on his waist.
Many wounds were torn and bloody bayonet battles took place.
The young German soldiers are in good physical condition, but the condition of the Soviet soldiers is much worse.
The former has enough bread and beef, while the latter mainly consists of fish and preserved potatoes. However, morale is a very mysterious thing. Once confidence collapses, everyone on the defensive side will be in danger, and no matter how strong the soldiers are, it will be difficult to withstand hundreds of soldiers.
For an enemy with bayonets, the retreat of a few people may trigger the retreat of dozens of people.
Let's talk about Nollenberg, who was blown over by the regiment headquarters. He was knocked unconscious by the Soviet RPG. When he was rescued by the guards who caught up, they found that the correspondent had been killed and the telegraph machine had three big holes.
There's green smoke!
"What the hell! These Russians are crazy."
"Commander! Let's withdraw! The Russians are already in front of us. If we don't withdraw, we will die."
"You!" Nollenberg held the pistol against the soldier's chin, but he could not see the soldier's fear. He could hear the sound of gunfire and shouts of death, and he was already on the battlefield!
Nollenberg put down his gun and said to the guards: "Pull me up. I want to see the situation."
It wasn't until he stood up that Nollenberg truly realized the danger. He suddenly saw that his soldiers were actually bayoneting with the Russians. He looked into the distance, and the Russians were coming in a steady stream.
Isn't this scene creepy? Nollenberg suddenly felt extremely unreal, as if everything was false, as if the fighting and killing around him had nothing to do with him.
Until a few bullets flew past him, awakening the dazed guy.
Nollenberg looked at his bombed regiment headquarters and saw that the deputy commander had fallen into a pool of blood, his eyes still open!
"Karl!"
No one reacts.
"My God. Karl, are you dead?!" Regardless of his injured and bleeding face, Nollenberg stamped his feet and shouted loudly: "Everyone retreat immediately."
Although he knew that he should not retreat, his reason told him that if he continued like this, the entire infantry regiment would be in trouble. Not all soldiers would die, but there would be no difference between surrendering and dying. What Nollenberg was thinking of was not "
"Leave green hills without worrying about having firewood", but pure terror. He, and most of the soldiers, have been dominated by the human survival instinct of "living on".
Nollenberg's regiment fully retreated, and Friedrich's regiment to the east of them withdrew earlier.
Regiment commander Friedrich also contacted the division headquarters. This regiment commander was lucky and his regiment headquarters was not hit by artillery shells. Only then did Hendrickson learn from Friedrich the fact that the front line collapsed.
The battle situation really took a turn for the worse. Hendryson was so anxious that he was sweating. If it weren't for his good physical fitness, he might have been knocked unconscious. His troops were by no means a weak brigade that could collapse at the first touch. It was purely because the Soviet army was too strong.
The numerical superiority overwhelmed his two regiments. If you think about it, the Romanian 6th Division, which he sold two months ago, completely collapsed in a short period of time, and only 4,000 people were able to retreat back to Chernigov alive.
"Grisescu, is this your curse?!" Hendrickson knew he had no choice. He really had to order the southern troops to retreat because the artillery regiment was passing through the forest road.
He issued an emergency order to the Friedrich Regiment: "You immediately notify Nollenberg's headquarters. After your two regiments arrive at the dirt road in the forest, immediately set up a defense line and defend it. I will forgive you for retreating without authorization, but if you cannot defend it,
If we live on that road, we will all be wiped out by the Soviet army!"
Hendrickson and Schmidt always believed that the dirt road in the forest was a key strategic point, and the Soviet army certainly thought so too.
Hendryson issued an emergency order to the artillery regiment, that is, all artillery that had not entered the forest should move one kilometer eastward, assume a good position for the assault, and prepare for bombardment.
At the same time, the artillerymen all heard the gunshots coming from the south. Everyone was muttering in their hearts and couldn't help but worry about their own safety.
The artillery also faces a big problem, that is, the problem of potholes on the road. The howitzer is hung on the carriage. If it is flat ground, the howitzer pulled by four horses can still move forward at a very fast speed. However, the road is blown up by its own artillery shells.
It's a pit, and there are many blown down pine trees lying across the road.
The artillerymen had no choice but to carry out the order and had to do their best to remove the obstacles. Time was wasted like this. They just moved away the debris while complaining about the inaction of the friendly forces. Little did they know that the friendly forces were being massacred by the Soviet army.
, the forest road full of debris that the artillery has just set foot on will soon become an even more chaotic place - the Soviet and German armies are destined to have a fierce battle here!
Suddenly, the artillery regiment commander received an emergency order from the division headquarters. On the surface, the regiment commander Fuller responded kindly to the division commander's clear message. During one section of the communication, he directly stamped his feet and cursed: "The division commander is really stupid. What on earth is he going to do?"
What should I do? To bombard the Soviet army in the forest? The main force of the Soviet army is in the forest?"
An order is an order. He immediately ordered all the carriages pulling cannons to turn around immediately and the artillerymen to return to the original route.
Deep in the corner of the battlefield, they had no idea what kind of crisis the macro battlefield was for the German army. At least they no longer had to carry debris, fill up large pits, and push huge artillery wheels away from the pits. The panting soldiers were somewhat relieved.
After all, walking eastward is flat, and when the cannons let out an astonishing roar and blew the Soviet troops into ashes, their accumulated resentment and fatigue could finally be vented in one fell swoop.