The fact is that there is no need to add too many rollers at all, because the speed of German engineers laying mines is not as fast as imagined.
It should be said that the speed of laying mines can be faster, but the Germans estimate that the marching speed of the Soviet 9th Army will be much slower than them...
This is certain. To mine mines, you only need to dig a hole in the ground and bury it and make some disguises. However, mine clearance requires slowly searching every place on the road and even testing with military spikes. Of course, the speed is much slower than mine laying.
.
Under this premise, the German army retreated step by step.
In fact, they are mainly Romanians. The current connection line between the enemy and ourselves is the defense area of the Romanian 3rd Army. The German engineers must wait for the Romanian troops to withdraw from this area before they can continue to lay mines.
But the Romanians... they seemed to have become more arrogant in the previous battles, especially the 3rd Army, which was advancing behind the German army.
Although they were advancing behind the German army, they encountered several sizable Soviet armies on the way and won several victorious battles.
In this case, the 3rd Army was somewhat swollen.
The commander of the 3rd Army was General Dumitrescu. When he received the order to retreat, he immediately called Lundstedt.
"Your Majesty Marshal!" Dumitrescu said on the phone: "The 3rd Army has two divisions and an artillery regiment in the Bershad area. Why don't we organize a defense?"
"Your courage is admirable, General!" Rundstedt replied: "But I don't think it will be of any use..."
"But that is our supply line, Marshal!" Dumitrescu said: "If they are allowed to occupy this section of railway and highway, our frontline troops will be in a supply dilemma!"
"No, they won't!" Rundstedt replied: "As long as Odessa is in our hands!"
"I think……"
"You don't need to think that, General!" Rundstedt interrupted Dumitrescu impatiently: "What you need to know is to obey the order and retreat!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" Dumitrescu replied helplessly.
After putting down the phone, Rundstedt shook his head with a wry smile.
Two divisions, plus an artillery regiment... just want to stop a Russian mechanized army?
You must know that this Russian mechanized army defeated the defenses of the Romanian 1st Armored Division and the German 198th Infantry Division one after another. It may not be appropriate to say defeat, but a rout is more appropriate.
As for Romania's two infantry divisions, they lack combat experience and equipment and cannot even slow down the advance of the Russian army. Using them to block the Russian army will only bring more trouble to themselves... because when they are attacked
During the siege, troops must be squeezed out to rescue them, otherwise the alliance and mutual trust between Germany and Romania will be affected.
More importantly, if the Russians drove the Romanian army all the way south, the German engineers would not even be able to lay mines.
With this in mind, Rundstedt preferred to ignore these two infantry divisions.
As for the artillery regiment...the artillery regiment using mules and horses, Rundstedt really didn't dare to use it, because they would probably fall into the hands of the Russians.
General Dumitrescu did carry out this order, but his subordinates were a little arrogant about their victory, so they retreated slowly, and many even laughed at the nervous German engineers.
.
"These idiots!" Major Luca, commander of the German engineer battalion, couldn't help but curse.
"They think they can defeat the Russians!" said the adjutant: "I really wish I could let the Russians come over and teach them a lesson!"
"No, Koch!" said Major Luka. "That will get us into trouble!"
"I'm just saying, Major!" the adjutant laughed.
But what they didn't know was that this talk would soon become a reality...
Just as Major Luca was directing his men to lay mines while assisting the Romanian army in retreating, there was a faint "bang bang" explosion from the other end of the road.
"What's going on?" Major Luka, as the commander of the engineer battalion, certainly knew that the sound was the explosion of a mine.
"Maybe it's some animal!" the adjutant said, "you know, horses or something else, they ran into our minefield!"
The adjutant's words reassured Major Luca, but Luca soon denied this statement because the explosions were uninterrupted and there was also the faint "rumble" of tanks.
"This is impossible!" Major Luca said, and then ordered to the adjutant: "Let them be quiet!"
"They" refers to the retreating Romanian army.
"Quiet, quiet!" the adjutant shouted loudly for a while before the people nearby became quiet.
Major Luca listened carefully, and this time he heard clearly that there was indeed the sound of the tank's motor in the explosion.
"It's a tank!" Major Luka said, "Russian!"
"How did they do it?" The adjutant was a little helpless.
"I don't know, but they are indeed coming!" Then Major Luka ordered loudly: "Get ready to fight!"
The German engineers immediately took out their weapons and prepared for battle. Some engineers even spontaneously deployed several anti-tank mines in the middle of the road... A well-trained unit does not know when it hears an order.
What to do, but having the subjective initiative to know what to do when.
There was still no response from the Romanian army.
This is the difference between them and the German army... The Romanian army was ordered to retreat, so they didn't know whether to retreat or stay and fight.
Their stupid look made Major Luca yell angrily: "Didn't you say you want to fight the Russians? Now the opportunity has come, I wish you good luck!"
Of course the adjutant knew that Major Luca was speaking out of anger, and immediately ordered the Romanian army to prepare for battle like them.
The rain had subsided a bit at this time, but it was already evening and the sky was gray and hazy, making it impossible for Major Luca to see clearly what was ahead, even with a telescope.
All he knew was that the "rumble" was getting louder and louder, the explosion of the mines was getting closer and closer, and soon he could even hear the "rattling" of the tracks.
Major Luka was puzzled: The Russians used tanks to clear mines?
This is impossible, because there are even explosions of anti-tank mines, but this does not stop the enemy from continuing to advance!
Getting closer, getting closer...
Then Major Luca finally saw clearly that they had installed a roller in front of the tank, and the mines were detonated by these rollers.
"Go to hell!" Major Luca couldn't help but cursed. He realized that this time it was more dangerous than anything else.