While following the tanks forward, Shulka complained about the soldiers of the 251st Division. Their so-called "coordinated attack" was purely to cause trouble for the 4th Tank Brigade.
For example, now, in order to save these officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the tanks have to advance to within the 100-meter line and risk being destroyed by German anti-tank guns.
Fortunately, the German troops had lost their will to resist at this time and abandoned their equipment in batches and fled. The Soviet troops quickly occupied the defense line.
"Keep moving forward!" Major Gavrilov ordered loudly, and the troops continued to attack the German positions in depth.
It can be said that the German army was defeated like a mountain, especially since the German army organized attacks from front to back instead of defense. Even because of convenient logistics or armored units, it was easier for mechanized troops to pass through. They also organized Soviet civilians to build roads.
This enabled the Fourth Tank Brigade to advance very smoothly, advancing ten kilometers in just two hours, during which time two German artillery battalions and a logistics transport team were also eliminated.
The news soon reached the headquarters of the German Fourth Army.
"Your Excellency Marshal!" the staff reported to Kruger: "We have discovered the 4th Tank Brigade..."
"They attacked?" Kruger, who was drinking hot coffee while looking out the window at the snowflakes in the darkness, couldn't help but excitedly turned around, put the coffee cup on the table, and said: "They were finally fooled! They attacked
Where are you? Order the 106th Infantry Division to prepare for battle!"
"No, Your Majesty Marshal!" The staff officer looked a little ugly: "They are not attacking from the direction of Volokolamsk, but from Klin!"
"Klin? You mean they attacked from Klin?"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!"
"The 4th Tank Brigade? Are you sure it's the 4th Tank Brigade?"
"They are not sure, but the tanks they saw were all T34s, at least dozens of them, attacking simultaneously along the roads and railways!" the staff officer replied: "The target is Tver!"
Kruger couldn't help but look pale.
There is no doubt that it is the 4th Tank Brigade. Other than that, no other army can have dozens of T34s.
In other words... those nasty Russians deceived him into thinking that the 4th Tank Brigade was in Volokolamsk.
After being stunned for a while, Krug suddenly stood up and walked to the map. After looking at it for a while, he ordered: "Order the 5th Engineer Battalion to reinforce Tver immediately!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" the staff officer responded and passed on the order.
On the other hand, Major General Rokossovsky also contacted the 32nd Army at this time.
The reason why we did not contact the 32nd Army until this moment was mainly to keep it secret... The Fourth Tank Brigade's attack from the direction of Klin was unexpected. Once the news was leaked, not only the 32nd Army would not be able to save it, but the Fourth Tank Brigade might also be trapped.
trap.
At this time, the telephone line with the 32nd Army had been cut off, and Major General Rokossovsky could only order through the radio: "Be prepared to attack Tver, Comrade Anufrievich!"
"What? Attack Tver?" Major General Anufrievich, who was surrounded by German troops and was anxious, couldn't help but became furious after receiving the telegram. He ignored others present and yelled: "These bastards, they will just sit in the office.
Issue some inexplicable orders, why don’t they come here to take a look?!”
With that said, Major General Anufrievich called back in an unceremonious tone: "Sorry, Comrade Rokossovsky, I can't carry out your order! Because we are being surrounded by twice the number of enemies.
Work hard to break through!”
When Major General Rokossovsky called back, Major General Anufrievich realized that he had wrongly blamed the army commander.
"To attack Tver is to break through!" Major General Rokossovsky explained in the telegram: "The Fourth Tank Brigade is advancing from Klin to Tver and is expected to arrive in two hours. You attack at the same time and attack from two sides to capture Tver.
After that, you successfully broke through!"
"Klin...they actually attacked from the direction of Klin?" Major General Anufrievich couldn't help but be stunned.
Colonel Katukov, who was commanding the tank troops on the front line, couldn't help laughing when he heard the news, and his tense face gradually relaxed.
"Comrade Political Commissar!" Colonel Katukov raised the phone in his hand and said to Political Commissar Fomin who was not far away: "Do you know? It's Shulka! The 'breakout hero' is here to save us from the encirclement!"
There was a burst of cheers in the headquarters. They didn't even know the battle plan, let alone where the reinforcements were and what the situation was. It seemed that just hearing the name of the "breakout hero" convinced them that they were saved.
Shulka, who was still marching along the railway, certainly didn't expect that he would have such popularity, and even just showing his name could boost the morale of the troops.
He and his men were riding in a car heading towards Tver.
After the German defense line was breached, there were no German troops for a long period of time. Sometimes even if there were German troops on defense, they were temporarily organized.
Shulka even believed that these German troops were self-organized, because they did not even have a radio... Without a radio, it meant that they could not contact their superiors, and of course their superiors could not give them orders.
They are logistics troops and SS special operations units scattered in the villages along the way.
As mentioned before, the SS Special Operations Team follows the Wehrmacht and is responsible for tasks such as maintaining order and hunting down guerrillas... Because the targets are guerrillas, they must be dispersed.
But precisely because of this, most of them only have light equipment.
Of course the guerrillas cannot have tanks.
If there is any heavy equipment, it is mortars.
The only thing that really poses a threat to the Soviet army is the anti-tank grenade called "parachute" by the Soviet army... This kind of grenade, which opens a small parachute at the tail after being thrown, can penetrate 150mm of armor, and it is certainly no problem against T34.
The Germans would hide in a row on high ground next to the railway, prepare one such grenade in each hand, and throw the grenades together when a tank passed by below.
Two Soviet T34s were blown up in this way.
It should be said that these German soldiers were commendable for their courage, because what they did was almost a suicidal action.
The Soviet army quickly aimed machine guns at their hiding place and fired a burst of fire, then divided into several groups to outflank them and beat them all to death in the jungle.
From this perspective, German soldiers are also similar to the Soviet army. They also have many cases of fighting desperately against the enemy regardless of their own safety, and there are many of them.
It's just that some people prefer to exaggerate these battles as heroic, while similar battles by the Soviet army are said to be crazy and disrespectful of life.
Shulka knows that there is actually not much difference, because they are all for victory.