The Soviet army made a mistake. There was a two-hour difference in attack time due to command issues.
An elite German force arrived in the direction of Prodovitoje in just two hours, and Paulus even urgently mobilized an aviation regiment for reinforcements.
Although the weather at this time was not suitable for aircraft to take off for combat, the German pilots took the risk and prepared for combat.
Compared with the experienced and skilled German pilots, the vast majority of Soviet pilots did not dare to take off in such weather.
Of course Shurka didn't know this at this time. He was still waiting for the development of the battle amidst the "rumbling" sound of the cannon.
Finally, the gunfire stopped.
Shulka's ears were buzzing and he couldn't hear anything. His hands and feet were numb, and his whole body was about to fall apart, as if he had just gotten off an old-fashioned tractor without shock absorbers for more than ten hours.
Then a few more flares were fired, and then there was a shout of death and the sound of motors in front of them.
Needless to say, the naval infantry on the front line began to cross the river.
Shulka raised his telescope and looked outside. It was gray outside. It was hard to tell whether it was fog or gunpowder smoke. Only the occasional bright fire from a few shells exploding could penetrate it for Shulka to see.
A charging naval infantry battalion.
Just as planned, the naval infantry battalion attacked aboard amphibious landing craft.
The amphibious landing craft can be said to be an artifact on such terrain.
Because in terms of weight, it is less than half of a car... The Soviet car models are very monotonous, mainly GAZ and GIS, and these cars are basically general-purpose, used to pull people, pull guns, transport, and even be modified
"Katyusha" rocket launchers use them.
This leaves the Soviet Army with few light vehicles suitable for traveling in muddy terrain, even though quite a few areas in the Soviet Union will fall into mud or even swamps in the summer.
The amphibious landing vehicle can be regarded as a light vehicle. Its tires and engines are taken directly from the car engine and tires, and some weight such as the cab is omitted. Even in order to reduce the weight, the naval infantry will also use the amphibious landing vehicle originally installed on the amphibious landing vehicle.
The heavy machine gun was changed to a rotary machine gun...
Compared with the crane machine gun, the rotary machine gun has the advantage of being light in weight. At the same time, its firepower is not much weaker than the heavy machine gun. More importantly, it can be quickly removed from the amphibious landing ship and put into battle, so it is very popular among Soviet soldiers.
This allowed the amphibious landing ship to smoothly carry the naval infantry towards the Don River at high speed.
When Shulka rushed up, he discovered that it was not just because of the lightness of the amphibious landing ship. The naval infantry battalion had made some preparations before the charge. They sprinkled gravel, sand, etc. on the road to be charged to strengthen it.
Friction.
It has to be said that the soldiers of the Marine Infantry Battalion are indeed the more educated and better-quality troops. They know what preparations to make before the war.
Due to low visibility, Shulka did not see the amphibious landing craft being launched into the water. He only saw towering water columns rising from the river and the sound of gunshots.
Obviously, the Romanian army was also prepared. They positioned their artillery units on the Don River.
Therefore, even if they cannot see the enemy at this moment, they can still use artillery fire to stop them and kill the Soviet troops.
It can be felt that the battle was fierce, because twenty minutes have passed and the outcome has not been decided... This has proved that Trufanov and others' estimates were wrong, and the Romanian army was not what they thought.
Vulnerable, at least not to the Soviet army in this environment.
Shulka even heard that the naval infantry battalion was repulsed once.
Information was obtained from Andrian Kana.
"We may have to wait longer!" Andrianka said: "I just received information from my superiors that the Marine Infantry Battalion is organizing another attack!"
"What's going on?" Shulka asked.
"It is said to be a problem with the terrain on the other side!" Andrianka replied: "The other side was bombarded by artillery fire and there were too many craters, even on the river bank. Many amphibious landing ships were unable to land normally!"
Shulka understands this.
If the river bank is naturally formed, there will usually be a gentle transition. This gentle transition is suitable for amphibious landing craft to transfer from water to land.
The problem is that the Soviet artillery fire preparations are untargeted carpet bombing, so the river bank, that is, near the waterline, will be blasted with craters.
These craters are fatal to amphibious landing craft.
First of all, the crater is underwater, and there is no crater underneath at all from the surface.
Secondly, the amphibious landing ship has not yet completely landed ashore, that is, half of it is still buoyant in the water, so the entire ship is in a semi-suspended state.
At this time, when it got stuck in the pit, there was not enough pressure, so the wheels easily slipped, so the amphibious landing craft was unable to move.
Fortunately, this situation was not unsolvable, because the amphibious landing ship had successfully reached the other side of the river and ran aground, so the soldiers of the Marine Infantry Battalion made a prompt decision and immediately jumped into the river and waded to attack.
Every time we attack, we fail because of this unexpected situation.
The soldiers of the Marine Infantry Battalion were ready for the second attack. They installed several sandbags on the amphibious landing ship... On the one hand, these sandbags can increase the weight of the amphibious landing ship and increase the friction of the wheels;
Sandbags to fill craters.
So the second charge went very smoothly. Amphibious landing ships rushed to the river bank and then carried wolf-like soldiers one by one directly into the Romanian soldiers' defense lines and fighting with them in depth.
Once the battle reaches this point, the overall situation is decided.
The amphibious landing ship rushing deep into the enemy's defense line means bringing internal pressure to the enemy, so their fire blockade on the river surface decreases in a series.
As a result, it won't take long for more and more Soviet troops to land, and more and more amphibious landing ships to break into the depths of the defense line. The river bank defense line composed of Romanian soldiers will soon collapse.
This was completely beyond the surprise of Dumilescu, commander of the Romanian Fourth Army. He thought that the Romanian river bank defenses could hold out for at least a few hours while the German reinforcements unloaded their equipment and rushed to the river bank.
Unexpectedly, before the equipment of the German reinforcements was unloaded, an urgent telegram for help was sent from the other side saying that the river bank was lost.
"Only half an hour before and after!" Dumilescu couldn't help but furious: "You have bunkers, barbed wire, a Don River defense line, and even artillery coordination, but you only lasted for half an hour?!"
"General!" the frontline commander reported in shock: "The enemy has amphibious landing ships, many amphibious landing ships! The Don River defense line almost does not exist in front of them, because they can rush into our defense line directly from the other side of the river!" (To be continued!