As usual, they fired artillery shells in the direction of the Soviet positions for a while, and then dozens of tanks advanced toward the Soviet defense line in a dark, row after row, menacingly.
Shulka roughly counted fifty tanks, followed by a large number of infantry.
What surprised Shulka was that he actually saw five T34s among these tanks. They were driving in the front, but they were painted with the black "cross" of the German armored forces.
Obviously, these are tanks captured by the German army, and due to the excellent performance of the T34, even if the German army is not familiar with them and does not have communication equipment, it is difficult to cooperate with other tanks. These tanks may even be misunderstood by the air force as enemy tanks.
, but the 10th Army still used them.
It can also be seen from this that the German army hoped to break through the Soviet defense line before dark and make a difference.
Shulka was right. The German troops attacking frontally were the 7th Armored Division, the 14th Motorized Infantry Division and the 35th Infantry Division.
The first two were the 3rd Armored Group belonging to Huth. They originally attacked the Soviet 30th Army's defense line in the north.
However, Tver suffered heavy losses due to the counterattack by the 4th Tank Brigade... Mainly due to the destruction of supplies stored in Tver and the bombing of several bridges, which made the German army's supply in the north very difficult and unable to support the armored forces.
attack.
Therefore, von Bock transferred Hoth's 3rd Armored Group to the center to attack Volokolamsk.
At this time, the 7th Armored Division was responsible for the offensive mission.
This armored division once participated in the French Campaign and completed the encirclement of the Allied forces at Dunkirk and the encirclement of the French 9th and 10th Group Armies. Under the command of Rommel, it almost crossed France all the way to southwest France, and
Its own casualties were only 2,624 people and 42 tanks were lost.
Therefore, this armored division is also called the "Devil Division".
The commander of this force at this time was Major General Hans von Funk.
After taking over the armored division from Rommel, Major General von Funke felt a little pressure.
The reason is that as a Prussian nobleman, Major General von Funke had high hopes from everyone, including Rundstedt. They hoped that the 7th Armored Division commanded by von Funke could surpass his predecessor.
It was Rommel, the principal's son.
This has always troubled Major General von Funke because his record in Russia was not outstanding compared with Rommel's brilliant record.
Although it was a victory, it was an eye-catching victory: the 7th Armored Division completely wiped out the 5th Russian Tank Division, but the 7th Armored Division also lost about half of its strength.
"This is unfair!" Major General von Funke said privately to his adjutant: "When Rommel attacked France, the French fought him with their backs, but I had to face the enemy's T34!"
This is also the reason why the 7th Armored Division owns several T34s. They captured this equipment from the Russian 5th Tank Division and immediately used it to replenish the troops.
But now, Major General Funk believes that his opportunity has come.
Through several previous exploratory attacks, Major General Funk knew that the Russians were extremely short of anti-tank guns, and they even used Molotov cocktails to attack German tanks.
But despite this, Major General Funk still had a headache with this kind of incendiary bottles... German tanks used gasoline engines, and they were easily ignited by incendiary bottles.
Therefore, Major General Funk ordered the infantry: "You must keep up with the tanks. When the tanks cross the trenches, you must eliminate the enemies in the trenches and bomb craters, especially those holding Molotov cocktails in their hands!"
Then, Major General Funk ordered his troops to attack.
Just like Guderian said, they must break through the enemy's defense lines during the day to maximize their victory, and then build fortifications before night arrives to prevent enemy sneak attacks.
However...Major General Funk didn't think so.
He held up his telescope and observed the Soviet army in depth for a while. From here all the way east is suitable for armored forces to attack. Why not keep pushing towards Moscow?
Worried about Russian counterattack?
That 4th Tank Brigade?
No!
Major General Funk said to himself: "Only fools will stop, there is nothing terrible about T34! We even have T34 in our hands! If the 4th Tank Brigade tries to stop it, then it is time to prove the strength of the 7th Armored Division!
"
To be more precise, Major General Funk believed that this was the time when he proved that he was stronger than Rommel: when other armored divisions were beaten by the Russian Fourth Tank Brigade and suffered heavy losses, if the 7th Armored Division could defeat
4th Tank Brigade...
What Major General Funk didn't know was that the 4th Tank Brigade was hidden in front of him, even under the aperture of his telescope.
The tanks "rumbling" advanced towards the Russian trenches, and the Soviet army began to implement immobile blocking fire.
"Fixed blocking fire" is a military terminology. In fact, it means using a howitzer to create a wall of fire at the front of the position to prevent the enemy from attacking.
This is a common defense method used by the Russians. The reason is that the Russian army lacks communication equipment and it is difficult to carry out effective infantry and artillery coordination. In addition, the quality of the Russian artillery is not good enough.
And "immobile blocking fire" does not require high coordination ability and artillery quality... The infantry only needs to tell the artillery to fire, while the artillery only needs to stuff the shell into the barrel and fire it. Even Zhu Yuan is
Adjusted in advance.
Major General Funk was well prepared for this. He immediately ordered the artillery to carry out suppression. At the same time, the Air Force also launched precise strikes against the enemy's artillery positions.
Of course, there is also the coordination of reconnaissance aircraft and artillery to guide the artillery fire to the accurate position.
These are what the German army is good at.
After a while, the Soviet artillery fire weakened... This was inevitable. The Soviet army's implementation of "immobile blocking fire" exposed the location of the artillery position.
Then, the German tanks accelerated again and rushed towards the enemy position, this time at full speed, because they knew that the enemy was no longer capable of blocking fire.
In the eyes of Major General Funk, this is a battle between infantry's flesh and steel.
The Russian army only had a limited number of anti-tank guns that could pose a threat to the German army, but these anti-tank guns also could not pose a threat to the T34... So the T34s driving in front blew those anti-tank gun positions into the air one by one.
Major General Funk couldn't help but sigh in his heart, it would be great if the empire was equipped with such tanks and all the troops were equipped with such tanks, so that they would be like a handful of steel inserted into the enemy's heart...Moscow.
But there seems to be no difference now.
Funk put down the telescope and ordered to the adjutant: "Order, break through quickly!"
"Yes, General!" The adjutant turned around and passed on the order: "Quick breakthrough!"