Shulka and others did not know this. They only knew to attack along the river, and it was surprisingly smooth. After more than half an hour, they reached the Volga Bridge.
The Volga River Bridge was once blasted by the Soviet army, and more than half of the bridge deck collapsed. However, the river was not frozen at that time, so there was no trace of ruins in the river... The collapsed section of the bridge deck has sunk to the bottom of the river.
.
The German army built a line of defense here.
This was completely unexpected by Shulka.
Because on the one hand, the German army responded quickly, and on the other hand, the broken bridge was covered by piers and remaining bridge decks, and these things were quite strong and could withstand Soviet artillery fire and even aerial bombs, especially
Those bridge arches, after being erected with a few sandbags, become a natural bunker.
This is exactly what the Germans did, and they even hoisted several anti-tank guns into the bridge arches in preparation.
In addition, there is a defense line composed of pontoons in front of the broken bridge.
Of course, this was not built by the Germans, but was built by the Germans for traffic after the bridge was blown up. However, as the river froze, these pontoon bridges were also frozen.
This is a perfect line of defense for the German army. There is condescending firepower on the remaining bridge, and there is a natural anti-tank trench made of pontoons on the river... Unless the Soviet army blows it up, otherwise the "Matilda"
The height-climbing ability cannot cross the pontoon bridge in front of it.
Kubiler planned to block the Soviet army here because he believed that this was the time when "enough was enough."
So, he immediately hung up the phone and reported to Marshal Lugar.
"Your Majesty Marshal!" Kubile said nervously: "The Russians have penetrated our defense line!"
"What do you mean?" Marshal Luger asked doubtfully, "You told me not long ago that you could block their attack!"
"They found a loophole in our defense line, Your Excellency Marshal!" Kubile said: "The river, the river has always been a weak point in our defense... It was a river before this, and it was still in a semi-frozen state not long ago. We couldn't get on it.
Deploy troops, but it is now completely frozen. It is now a flat road with almost no obstacles or obstructions, and the Russian tank troops are attacking along it!"
Marshal Luge couldn't help being shocked when he heard this, and then turned his eyes to the map. After looking at it for a while, he said in horror: "Stop them, general! You must stop them no matter what, otherwise the Fourth Tank Army will be finished!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" Kubil replied: "That's exactly what I did!"
After hanging up the phone, Kubiler showed a smile that was not easily noticed by others.
Everything was under his control, and Kubiler was very satisfied with the result.
First of all, he believed that the defense line of the Volga River Bridge could block the Russian attack, because it was actually surrounded on three sides. If the Russian army dared to attack the bridge, they would soon be surrounded in the river.
Of course, Kubil will not eat up this Russian army so quickly.
Secondly, he believed that with such a threat, the Fourth Tank Army and even the Supreme Command would be shaken.
Kubiler was right.
Marshal Ruge immediately reported the news to Hitler as soon as he put down the phone.
After receiving the information, Hitler walked around in front of his desk anxiously, and then ordered: "Order the air force to be ready to attack this Russian army as soon as it gets dark. They must be destroyed!"
This may indeed be a solution. Although the German Air Force no longer has the advantage at this time, the Soviet Air Force cannot guard the skies above the 1st Guards Tank Brigade around the clock.
At the same time, there was nothing on the river without any cover. The German air force only needed to concentrate its forces to launch a sudden attack, and it was still possible to push back the Russian army or cause it heavy losses.
However, what Hitler and Kubiler did not expect was that the Soviet army suddenly changed its marching direction.
In other words, the 1st Guards Tank Brigade came ashore and launched a lightning-fast offensive towards the residential buildings on the east side of the river.
In fact, this is normal. No one would be so stupid that they would continue to jump into a trap even if they knew there was a trap ahead. This was actually the German army's "blitzkrieg" strategy. During battle, they often bypassed the enemy's strong fortifications to attack weak points.
The same was true for the 1st Guards Tank Brigade at this time.
The east side of the river is the German defense weakness, and the main city of Tver is on the west bank of the river.
There are few buildings on the east bank and most of them are dilapidated and unsuitable for defense. The German army will naturally concentrate its forces on the west bank.
At this time, the sky was just getting dark, and the tank drove out of the river with a "rumbling" motor sound, and then covered the infantry and broke into the houses...
As mentioned before, there are fewer buildings on the east coast and they are generally low-rise, and a large number of them are wooden houses.
These were not a big threat to the 1st Guards Tank Brigade. The tanks opened fire on the houses a hundred meters away. With just a burst of "boom", the houses were blown up and down.
Although "Matilda" lacks firepower, it is more than enough to attack wooden houses.
In addition, "Matilda" has another advantage. It has many road wheels and is slow... Although slow speed is a disadvantage, everything has two sides, and disadvantages can also be advantages at the same time.
For example, the impressive speed of "Matilda" makes its body very stable when driving, so it can fire with a certain degree of accuracy while traveling.
This also makes it the only tank other than the Sherman tank that can fire on the move.
Therefore, along the way, they first used tank guns to blow up the houses, and then used rocket launchers. The closer the distance was, the grenades were thrown into the windows. By the time the Soviet army saw those houses, only bloody bodies were left inside.
bodies or struggling wounded.
Of course, if the building has not been blown down, the infantry will occupy it and temporarily defend it.
They did not want the Germans to suddenly attack the tank troops from the side and rear.
Shurka saw almost no living Germans along the way. He only saw soldiers on both sides throwing a grenade into the building and then rushing in with submachine guns.
Then there were gunshots and screams, and occasionally calls for mercy in German.
But begging for mercy could not win the mercy of the Soviet army, and there was no doubt that there were several more gunshots... At this time, the Soviet army was interspersed, which meant that they could not take prisoners.
The German Air Force happened to be flying over the battlefield at this time, but they circled around and found no target... The news they received was that the enemy was on the river, but at this time the river was empty.
Although the pilots were soon informed that the Soviet troops had entered the residential area, they were unable to do anything because they could not distinguish between friend and foe.
At this time, the Soviet fighter planes that had been waiting in the sky suddenly swooped down, and another fierce air battle began in the sky.