Lavrenti thought with his toes and could imagine how the German army would start today's battle. Summit 23S.
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It is already dawn, and a large number of German artillery shells can be fired at any time. Currently, more than 5,000 Soviet soldiers are stationed in this city covering an area of 12 square kilometers. On average, there are 400 people per square kilometer, so high
With such a population density, there will definitely be heavy casualties in shelling.
Lavrenti had no greater illusions about the anti-artillery effect that the Soviet army could achieve by digging holes as much as possible. Considering yesterday's situation, perhaps some troops deployed and along the riverside could better avoid artillery bombardment.
Lavrenti implemented his idea, and half of the troops gathered near the riverside road, some even close to the river. It was summer, and the temperature of the river water was suitable, so that after some soldiers carried out this order, they made such preparations.
That is, once the German army attacks the riverside, they will jump into the water and use the buffer of the water to avoid damage.
Lavrenti's wishful thinking was exactly like this. At five o'clock in the morning, he ate two potatoes, carried a submachine gun, and moved the headquarters to the river.
He would never withdraw to the other side of the river on the 29th. At the same time, the two independent regiments on the other side of the river also received orders to prepare for reinforcements. The troops of Vasilyev and Medvedev suffered casualties in yesterday's battle.
It's very small. Once the battle turns into an infantry street battle, they will become a powerful combat force with reinforcements on rafts and gunboats!
However, who would have thought that the first round of fire attack by the German army was not artillery shells?
At 5:30 in the morning, ten FW190 fighter jets took off for combat. They were all models that could carry small aerial bombs. In this special operation, each fighter plane was equipped with a 100kg aerial bomb.
In terms of charge alone, a 150mm howitzer is loaded with six kilograms of TNT, while a 100kg aerial bomb is loaded with fifty kilograms of TNT. Aerial bombs do not have to bear the launch pressure, so the charge is naturally large, and its power is more terrifying.
So much so that those concrete buildings that were difficult to be destroyed by artillery bombs were easily reduced to the ground by aerial bombardment.
The person who led this round of air raids was Paul, who narrowly escaped death. He was extremely lucky. After being sent back to Gomel, after some training, he actually decided to participate in the battle. Logically speaking, Koch would not let a wounded soldier participate in the battle.
Considering that there were only a handful of elites in the army, Paul participated in his first actual battle after returning to the army.
Besides, when it comes to bombing cities, Paul has accumulated a lot of experience in the past month. Of course, he really doesn't want to experience all the experiences in the past month again.
"Today, we can have an understanding! Berekov, what kind of person are you? Do you think your troops can withstand my bombing?" Paul murmured to himself as he flew to the battlefield. He actually lost his temper because of his anger.
Forgot to turn off the intercom.
As a result, all the wingmen understood the captain's attitude. Most of these fighter pilots were transferred from other places, and half of them had a short flying time. They suffered huge losses from the new Soviet aircraft in air battles.
I personally feel a lot of energy in my heart.
"Squadron leader, you mentioned Belekov. It is said that that man is the Russian commander?!" a squad leader of a three-machine formation said into the walkie-talkie.
"Yes! Sir, please pay attention. Our enemy is a Tatar, they are very cunning. Now they have no way to escape, we must blow up Lechica and use it as their tomb!"
Driven by anger, the ten old eagles fought fiercely to Lechica, but were surprised by the ruins of the city.
Paul has been to this city many times, mostly to buy beer and sausages. He was not very interested in the Waffen SS here, so he left in a hurry after buying things. Now that the city has become like this, it makes people sad.
His eyes were opened. The city had been bombed beyond recognition. Even so, could the Russians continue to hold on?
In line with German rigor, Paul issued the order to drop the bomb.
Ten 100kg aerial bombs, with their unique falling and roaring sound, smashed towards the ruins of the city. After the bombing was completed, the fighter planes flew away, not even giving the Soviet army a chance for air defense.
The bombing came too suddenly and was very powerful.
An explosion occurred, and the powerful impact of the aerial bomb acted on the ruins, blowing away a large amount of bricks and stones and causing violent vibrations. The ground trembled, and the defenders suddenly suffered heavy casualties.
In particular, an aerial bomb landed near the river. It leveled a building to the ground, and a large number of stones fell like hailstones. The casualties caused by it were as high as 150 people. At least 50 people,
The rubble blown up by this bomb caused severe head injuries, and even those who were injured basically lost their ability to fight.
"What the hell! Am I going to die here today?" Lavrenti scolded as he ran. He ran to the outer wall of a building and huddled up, avoiding the attack of stones.
A large amount of smoke and dust was raised due to the bombing, and the city was in chaos.
Even if the Soviet army established a large number of city defense offensives and dug a large number of foxholes overnight, to be honest, these measures seemed so powerless against the aerial bombs that came from the initiation.
Especially the troops of Roshakov and Doronin. Two weeks ago, the infantry regiment was still a "complete family". It was attacked by a large number of aerial bombs, and more than half of the troops were killed or injured in an instant.
In the chaos, casualties could not be counted. The surviving soldiers hurriedly searched for those buried alive in the rubble, but most of what they found were severed limbs. Even if they found some people with intact bodies, a closer look showed that their bodies had already been pierced by shrapnel.
Some corpses had no obvious wounds, but their ears and noses were bleeding heavily. Their hearts had been shattered alive.
With just ten aerial bombs, the Soviet army paid the price of 230 dead!
It seems that this loss is not serious. After all, there are 5,000 Soviet troops defending the city! From the perspective of the grassroots soldiers, they believe that the troops suffered serious losses.
What's worse is that the soldiers didn't even have time to complain. An hour after the German artillery bombardment, the full-scale bombardment started!
When the artillery positions received follow-up ammunition, the Air Force had just completed the bombing.
Genus believed that the bombing had achieved great results. In order to ensure that the attack did not go wrong, and to observe and implement the commander's order, he issued an order for a full-scale bombardment at 6:30 in the morning.
For a time, the German artillery position was filled with thousands of guns!
Currently, the 370th Division is equipped with more than 8,000 rounds of artillery shells, most of which are 75mm howitzers.
To be honest, this type of artillery shell is not very lethal unless the artillery shell can accurately hit the marching enemy column.
The order Gnus received was to shoot out all these artillery shells, so he gave the order to his three artillery regiments to complete the task within one hour.
Each gun carries a heavy bombing mission, especially the 75mm guns. Each gun will fire ninety rounds an hour until there are five rounds left.
Each salvo from the artillery position fired more than a hundred artillery shells. Most of the artillery had to work at maximum efficiency, and the barrels also endured extremely high temperatures.
Every time a round was fired, the soldiers poured water on the gun barrel, so in addition to the smoke from the shelling, the artillery position was still filled with thick water vapor.
Gnus held up the telescope and faced the spectacular bombing scene in the distance. He regained his confidence and couldn't help laughing while holding the telescope.
"Haha! Idiots, do you think you can survive such a bombardment? Go to hell!"
The deputy division commander corrected him and said: "Commander, they are a group of Bolsheviks who do not believe in God."
"Oh? Really? How sad. Our shells will kill them anyway."
In this situation, who would doubt that the Third Reich's army was invincible? After the air attack, there were more than 8,000 artillery shells. How could a small Lechicha endure such a bombing?!
Indeed, the Soviet troops in the city of Lechica were holding on with perseverance.
Of course, victory in modern warfare cannot be entirely dependent on mental strength. Being not afraid of suffering and not being afraid of death is of course very important to the army. If a soldier is completely destroyed by a single attack from the enemy's heavy weapons, what else can he be proud of?
Lavrenti had to evacuate his headquarters to a small cellar. As a result, during the bombing, the building above the cellar collapsed, and some rubble hit the cellar exit, so that Lavrenti thought for a while that he was buried alive.
Even evacuating to the cellar is not safe. Looking at the dust that keeps falling, Lavrenti has been worried that he will be buried alive. Now he can't care about his subordinates. From the feeling, today's encounter is much more terrifying than yesterday.
A hundred times more, he watched helplessly as his guards howled in fear. He was helpless because his body was also trembling subconsciously.
His mind was still awake, but he wished he could pass out so that he would no longer be worried.
The German army's hour-long artillery preparation did indeed cause heavy casualties to the Soviet army, especially the troops deployed in the west of the city. They were really outnumbered!
Fortunately, Lavrenti placed half of his troops on the riverside road. This area was also bombed, but the situation was much better than in the west of the city.
There are two reasons for this. First, the German army believed that street fighting must take place in a large number of alleys in the west of the city, so they bombed there desperately and tried their best to kill the enemy. Second, the howitzer was a projectile ammunition, and the artillery shells would fire at small speeds.
The angle touches the ground, so even if they come towards the river, they will be blocked by the buildings on the riverside road.
A large number of Soviet soldiers jumped directly into the cool Dnieper River. They even immersed themselves in the river with their guns. Not to mention, this operation can indeed reduce casualties, at least the river water can provide a good buffer for falling rocks.
.
However, the defenders in the west of the city could only hide in cellars or corners, covering their ears with their mouths wide open, waiting for the bombardment to end. Many soldiers did not die from shrapnel shock waves, but were killed by collapsing walls or had their internal organs shattered.
Bleed to death.
If they could, they really wanted to escape from the war zone and jump into the river to take refuge. But they couldn't do it. Once they left the current shelter and exposed their bodies to the outdoors, they might be blown to pieces in a few seconds.
The streets and alleys were bombarded continuously, the air was filled with countless shrapnel, a large amount of gravel fell from the sky, and the whole city seemed to be surging with magma.
Lavrenti had no idea how many artillery shells the German army would prepare. He looked at his watch in shock. Half an hour had passed, and there was no sign of the German army's fierce shelling ending!
He had nothing to say, and no new orders were issued, so he could only continue to endure.
During the bombing, the Soviet army not only suffered heavy casualties, but the heavy weapons they were proud of, especially the recoilless rifles, suffered staggering losses. The weapons used by the Guerrilla Republic were packed with gunpowder. The propellant was damaged during the bombing, and the warheads were not counted.
It's lossless and can't be fired.
The two main regiments of the 284th Division were arranged to guard the west area of the city because of their strong combat effectiveness. The so-called artillery preparations are over and the German infantry comes over. The 284th Division will definitely be able to maintain good combat effectiveness to block the enemy. If they were replaced by two independent regiments, they would
If they encounter the fiercest shelling, they will probably retreat eastward and jump into the river one by one to swim for their lives. This will not be stopped by shooting three deserters.
This is really a helpless choice. It is Laf Lianji's choice and Yang Mingzhi's choice.
The company and platoon commanders in the team are all veterans who evacuated into the swamp last year. Today, they will defend Lechica with their lives, but their defense will only last for one day.
Since ancient times, troops in the rear have suffered heavy losses, and entire armies have been wiped out. In order to survive for friendly forces, the 284th Guards Division had to serve as a shield and resist eight thousand German artillery shells with its flesh and blood.
The violent bombing finally ended after an hour. After performing such a mission, the German artillery almost collapsed. Their artillery barrels could still withstand it, but their lifespan had been greatly reduced. If they continued to fire at such high intensity, the barrels would explode.
"Alas, our artillery bombardment seems to be over!" The whistling sound in the air suddenly stopped. The German division commander Gnus looked at his pocket watch, "The artillery completed the task within the specified time!"
The deputy division commander asked: "Is the infantry dispatched quickly?"
"Wait a moment. When the dust in the city settles, we will launch a full-scale attack."
Indeed, after the artillery preparations were completed, the infantry attack was launched in less than a minute. The German army almost did not do this kind of thing, and according to the German Army's instructions, there was no such provision.
It is thought that the infantry attack requires some final preparation time, and the artillery also needs barrel cooling. The so-called guarantee is to ensure that when the infantry is attacking, once it encounters a stubborn resistance from the remaining enemy, the artillery can also provide fire support, so that the infantry can retreat calmly.
However, the 370th Division no longer has abundant ammunition, and what is left is just the bottom line of the artillery unit. After all, the artillery regiment does not have a single shell. Isn’t it a great shame?
The senior officers of the entire 370th Division were very convinced that the Soviet resistance would be weak and that the entire Lechica might also be destroyed.
Genus couldn't help but joke about this: "This city is really in a mess! The following troops have to build railways, build bridges, and clean up the debris in the city, especially the train station!"
He had reason to believe that the Soviet army had collapsed. An hour after the artillery preparations, that is, at 8:30, the three main infantry regiments of the German army launched a pincer offensive again and rushed towards Lechica.
This hour was precisely the time for the Soviet army to respond urgently.
Lavrenti really did not believe that the German army could prepare for another artillery fire. The most intense German artillery bombardment he had ever experienced was on the Minsk battlefield a year ago. Based on his experience, this German artillery attack was a rare and generous one, which reflected the
The German army attaches great importance to Lechica. Then, after the bombardment is over, the German army's artillery shell reserves should also be exhausted.
The German army launched an infantry attack at any time, and before the enemy arrived, he quickly started counting people.
The result is heartbreaking. The main force of officers and soldiers of the 284th Division, which still had 3,000 people in the early morning, now has only 1,500. The independent regiments of Peronisky and Tchaikov currently only have 1,700.
people.
In other words, after enduring the German artillery attack in the morning, the Soviet army lost 2,000 men!
"Bastard ***! I'm going to fight! Brothers, we have to fight them desperately!" Lavrenti was so angry that he smashed the slightly deformed helmet on the ground.
He found himself in an even more incomplete Lechicha and expressed his determination to the still-living battalion commander and regimental commander.
During the shelling, Roshakov's left arm was injured. Although he was bandaged, he could not fight for a while. Doronin did not die either. His arm was pierced by a shrapnel, but fortunately no bones were injured. But his left hand was also dropped.
The brick hit it and it immediately swelled.
Perhaps anger is the best stimulant. Are there still people who want to escape now? No more, not a single one left! Two thousand brothers were killed by German artillery. If you run away without avenging them, are you still human?
The grieving and angry soldiers, ignoring their own pain, reoccupied the ruins and decided to fight the Germans to the end.