The Chinese New Year is coming soon. During this time, you have to send off festivals and receive relatives. It may be quite eventful. I will update three times for the time being. When it stabilizes, I will continue to update five...
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The 4th Tank Brigade rested in the military camp for only two hours before heading to the front line.
Both Shulka and Kalashnikov attended the pre-war meeting... Shulka was brought along by Major Gavrilov, which has become a routine, as Major Gavrilov said: "
This guy always comes up with some good suggestions and always has some solutions to problems, and it would be an absolute loss for us not to bring him to meetings!”
As for Kalashnikov, he attended the meeting as a technical soldier.
However, Shulka could not say anything at this meeting, because the meeting was very simple... A German armored force with an unknown number crossed into Klin and moved south along the railway.
Although Klin is still more than 100 kilometers away from Moscow, this force has broken through the newly established line of defense.
"The military situation is urgent!" Katukov said: "Moreover, there are no roadblocks or mines along the railway. This allows the enemy to penetrate very quickly. If they are not blocked, the latter will be unimaginable!"
The railway can be said to be the artery of Moscow's defense, and it can also be said to be Moscow's weakness.
As mentioned before, roads can be blocked by mines, roadblocks, etc., but railways have to continuously supply large quantities of personnel and supplies to the front line, so the Soviet army has never dared to block them.
If there was any blockade, it was sabotage and mine blockade in the few kilometers facing the German army.
However, the German armored forces always have the idea of looking at the railway... This is normal, because the muddy road is very slow, and the German army will of course keep its eyes on the railway.
Just like this time, the German armored forces once again bypassed the blockade and took to the railway.
It is conceivable that if they are not blocked, the enemy's troops will march straight into the Moscow city, or they will outflank and go behind the last line of defense.
So there is no room for discussion at all, and there is no military strategy. It is just a battle of tanks against tanks.
"But how should we march?" Major Gavrilov asked: "We have no cars, and the infantry cannot keep up with the tanks!"
"Train!" Katukov replied: "The infantry advance on the train!"
"Why don't tanks take the train?" Major Gavrilov asked again.
"It's too dangerous to do this!" Katukov said: "We only have so many tanks. Once we are bombed by the enemy, we will be completely finished!"
Shulka had to admit that Katukov was right. These tanks were the only Soviet equipment that could block the penetration of German troops, and the Soviet army could not lose them.
But infantry is different. If this group of infantry is lost, there will be another group of infantry, and the infantry must also catch up with the tanks, so this can only be done.
"Set off!"
Following the order, the tanks of the 4th Tank Brigade rumbled along the street toward the railway, while the infantry once again rushed to the train station to catch the train.
This time it was heading north, so Shulka thought it was De Hoppner's 4th Armored Group... This armored group originally belonged to Army Group North's attack on Leningrad. Since the German army concentrated its main target on Moscow
, it was moved south and attacked along the road from Smolensk to Moscow.
Different from taking the train in the past, this time everyone was trembling with fear. Because it was obvious that the Germans would be watching this railway line closely to see if there were reinforcements coming north to surround their intersecting troops, especially
It's still daytime.
As expected, less than half an hour after the train had moved forward, there was a faint sound of a motor in the sky.
"Plane, German plane!"
The soldiers in the carriage immediately became panicked.
If it were in the past, it would not be a big deal if you encountered an airplane. At most, you would just lie down on the ground and hide. It was rare for an airplane to target soldiers... The Germans also hope that their bullets and aerial bombs can be used on more valuable targets instead of
Shoot at the soldiers.
The problem is that now the soldiers are crowded on the train, with hundreds of people in one carriage, and there is no space to spread out.
Anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns started ringing soon... Each train had two flat cars, and each flat car was equipped with two twin-mounted 25mm anti-aircraft guns and two Deshka 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns.
These anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns can have a certain intimidating effect on enemy aircraft.
The problem is that the train can only move along the railway line. The German pilots do not need to guess at all. They can only guess the train's path based on the trend of the railway and accurately carry out dive shots.
With a piercing roar, a fighter jet swooped down from the side of the train.
Through the glass of the window, Shulka could even vaguely see the German pilot in the cockpit.
"Get down!" Shulka yelled.
Then there was only a "dinging, clanking" sound, and two dense rows of bullets poured out from under the wings and entered the car... The iron sheet of the car was torn apart easily like paper, and the glass on the window collapsed completely.
It was scattered all over the ground, and several soldiers who were hit were instantly carried by the inertia of the bullets and fell to the other side.
Soon there was another "boom", and a bomb exploded next to the train. The shock wave caused the train to shake.
This made Shulka feel like he was going to be derailed, but the train finally returned to the track steadily and continued moving forward.
German fighter planes and bombers continued to strafe and bomb, but perhaps due to poor visibility, they failed to cause a devastating blow to the train. Instead, one plane was hit by anti-aircraft gunfire and emitted black smoke.
Finally, the German plane disappeared into the sky after circling for a while.
The train moved forward for another ten minutes and then slowly stopped.
"Everyone get out of the car!"
The soldiers couldn't wait to jump off the train. It was really uncomfortable to feel trapped in the carriage and being bombed by enemy planes.
After getting off the bus, we continued on foot and continued marching north.
When passing the locomotive, Shulka saw a train driver wearing a peaked cap and overalls waving to the troops. He was an old man with a dark face, standing next to the locomotive, and seemed to be holding a bottle of wine in his hand...
"Goodbye, boys!" said the train driver: "I can only send you here! Go and teach those invaders a lesson!"
Later, Shulka learned that the ones that bombed the train just now were just German reconnaissance planes, and that a large number of bombers would soon arrive.
That's why the train stopped and the warriors were told to walk... and it seemed like they knew this would be the outcome from the start.
Shulka didn't know whether the heroic train driver finally drove the train safely back to Moscow. He only knew that when the troops were advancing along the railway, at least dozens of planes flew from the sky and headed straight for the train to leave.