After a new round of shelling, huge smoke and dust rose up in the city of Homnage. The explosion effect of the heavy artillery was very terrifying, with deep craters appearing where the blast occurred, the land was blown to pieces, and there was a strong smell of gunpowder smoke.
Many buildings in the city were destroyed by the blast wave, but such artillery preparations seemed too weak.
"This group of Germans, with just this little artillery fire, can't defeat us at all. Because that's why we were born." Roshakov said to himself confidently. He and Klavsky, as experienced soldiers,
Positional warfare commanders have great experience in artillery fire.
In his opinion, if it were the Soviet army, it would probably take an hour or two to prepare for the artillery fire, and the firepower would be far stronger than this group of German troops.
Although the German army had many heavy artillery, they only bombarded the city with dozens of them, and the results were very limited. Because the reinforced concrete in the city was very resistant to explosions, not to mention that most of the Soviet troops were deployed outside the city, with one or two wearing white cloth hiding in the tunnels.
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The preparations for the artillery fire ended in such a hasty manner. Hoffman once again raised his telescope to observe. The city opposite still looked like a dead city.
"No matter what, an order is an order. Maybe the enemy has really escaped?" He looked at his colleague Floyd beside him, "Now, shall we start marching?"
"Okay! Let's march!"
The two men each ordered their entire regiment to dispatch. They were bound to win this battle. The soldiers were ordered to form a skirmish line, accompanied by some half-track armored vehicles.
The significance of these armored vehicles of the German army is similar to the BMP infantry fighting vehicles of later generations. However, in this era, the German army used a large amount of machinery to make tanks, and there were not many materials used to make armored vehicles.
In addition to transporting small troops, their role is more as tractors, towing artillery and other baggage.
Especially as a second-line force, most of the German half-track armored vehicles have no roof, so there is no machine gun tower. Only soldiers put the mg34 on the vehicle and move forward.
The offensive system of the German infantry revolved around the machine gun. Even though the weapons and equipment were reduced, the number of machine guns remained the same.
They moved forward with squads as combat groups. Even in a skirmish line, the formation still seemed too dense.
In the distance where Roshakov watched closely with his telescope, the enemy was approaching the city little by little.
"Order the snipers and machine gunners to watch closely and fire again when the enemy reaches a distance of 100 meters!"
Orders were sent by messengers through the communication trenches directly to the defensive positions of each company.
These soldiers have not only been trained in positional warfare, but have also become veterans of guerrilla flexible combat. The companies on the front line are even crazier than Roshakov. Several company commanders even ordered: "Everyone grab the grenades."
Come out, immediately untie your leggings and bundle cluster grenades. All bazooka operators, have your matches and ammunition ready and focus on attacking the enemy's armored vehicles!"
On the Soviet side, a large amount of ammunition was laid out, and the soldiers remained calm and waited for the battle.
Rosakov paid close attention and saw that the enemy was approaching only one kilometer away from the city. He immediately ordered: "Order Doronin to adjust the mortar position immediately and correct the target to the eleven o'clock direction, five hundred meters."
The heavy weapons that the Soviet army relied on were the mortars of the troops, and the two large-caliber mortars were the top priority. For the convenience of coordination, Roshakov set the mortar position as the origin, and then placed it on the map
Use a ruler to plan the upper shooting range.
Compared with the Soviet army's urgent preparations for war, the German army's offensive seemed slightly relaxed.
When the German soldiers saw the artillery attack, they were all elated, as if the Soviets had been blown up to the sky. However, junior officers believed that the Soviet defense of the city did not seem to exist. Many people still preferred to attack Hom.
Niqi's Soviets are just a bunch of ragtag people, they should withdraw after the battle is over. Even if they don't withdraw, they can only leave a small force to defend.
A German company commander stood on a tracked armored vehicle and called out to his men. "You stay alert, keep your eyes open, and beware of the enemy's cold shots. The Soviets are very tenacious, and they will attack us even if they have one more person left."
This is what the officer said. In fact, he was very bold. He has become a target for wearing a big-brimmed hat. This is an excellent target. He also does this out of great confidence-the Soviets no longer exist.
Homnage is probably a ghost town.
In this way, the German army marched for more than four kilometers, and the Soviet army did not counterattack at all. There was no resistance to this advance, so that as the advance progressed, the German soldiers slowly let go of their worries.
The Soviet army has been lying in ambush in the snow because the enemy will soon enter the minefield.
As the German troops advanced in the snow, they did not notice that some of the snow had been tampered with.
The Soviet army has very few anti-infantry mines, and most of them are ordinary landmines. However, for the sake of success rate, each mine has multiple stumbling blocks. When humans and animals touch the stumbling blocks, the mine explodes.
As the German infantry advanced, some people were hit. An explosion occurred in an instant, and some even more crazy explosives were blown into the air and exploded twice. Fragments swept across the skirmisher line like raindrops.
The fragments flew and directly hit the soldiers' bodies, so that an anti-infantry mine easily blew up at least one German infantry squad. It was like a small shrapnel. The enemy was not necessarily directly blown into an ant's nest and died, most of them were killed.
People were injured by the bombing, and they were wailing in the snow with blood flowing out. The scene was miserable.
Most of them are ordinary landmines, the explosion effect is much worse, but they still achieve good damage.
The officer standing in the half-track armored vehicle was accidentally hit by fragments in the cheek, which turned into a long bloody trail. He subconsciously covered his face, but only paused for a few seconds before a bullet killed him.
The sniper, unable to hold himself any longer, fired first, which was not what Roshakov wanted.
However, at this moment, Roshakov had been watching the enemy's attack outdoors, and they suddenly began to charge.
"They now know how powerful we are, and a full-scale battle has begun." Rosakov subconsciously pulled out his pistol.
The German commanders Hoffmann and Floyd were shocked by the scene on the front line. The enemy had actually laid mines! The troops had already launched a full-scale attack, and there was no turning back. The two could only continue to adhere to the order.
The German troops of the two regiments, after losing some non-combat personnel, still had overall strength. The infantry guns pulled by their armored vehicles were immediately unloaded, because the battlefield was too far forward, and they had to be less than one kilometer away from the front line.
Set up artillery positions.
"Damn it! Radio operator! Order Doronin, adjust the mortar elements, target, twelve o'clock direction, distance 85o, three rapid fires, blow up the enemy's artillery!" Rosakov ordered.
As Doronin adjusted the angles of the guns, the German soldiers shouted. They were running faster than the armored vehicles and were very close to the Soviet defensive positions.
Regarding this, the junior officers of the Soviet army ordered the soldiers to squat down, "All of you, prepare your grenades, collectively pull the ring, and wait for two seconds to throw!"
Just as the German troops were advancing roaringly, suddenly a large number of stone-like objects flew out of the snow not far away. Before they could even react, they encountered a large number of volley explosions.
This is a tactics that this German army has never been exposed to. They never expected that the Soviet position was only fifty meters directly in front of them. Compared with the gunfire, the first round of the attack turned out to be a large number of grenades.
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Just as the remnants of the explosion subsided, suddenly, a large number of Soviet soldiers appeared, firing rifles, machine guns, and submachine guns one after another, and bullets rained down on them.
The German troops on the front line had no chance to react. This was the first time for many of them to go to a real battlefield. Some soldiers were shot dead by the Soviet army before even firing a shot.
Suddenly, a large area of the front line fell to the ground. The German soldiers in the rear suddenly fell to the ground. And they also saw with eager eyes a large number of objects flying out of the snow. They rushed towards the armored vehicle with white smoke.
An explosion occurred, and fragments flew everywhere.
This is a precise attack by Soviet rocket launchers and anti-tank gunners on enemy armored targets.
All this happened within a few minutes. In just a few minutes, the German troops on the front line suffered heavy losses. Ten of their more than 30 tracked armored vehicles were lost in one go. The German troops were stunned when they encountered this sudden attack.