After all, the cavalry has a unique advantage over other arms in the mud: they do not rely on roads, and their trained horses and warriors with excellent riding skills can march in the muddy fields, so they quickly fought all the way to Prodovito
yeah.
Lieutenant General Shapkin was dazzled by these small victories. He even said to the political commissar: "Look, no army can compare with our cavalry. Who said that cavalry is not suitable for modern warfare? Damn those nonsense guys.
Go for it!”
"What should we do next?" the political commissar asked: "Comrade Trufanov's order is to wait for the mechanized troops to arrive before launching an attack!"
Lieutenant General Shapkin hesitated and said to the political commissar: "This is our chance to prove ourselves, Comrade Political Commissar! I think we should attack!"
The political commissar thought for a while and nodded in agreement with Shapkin's statement.
The reason is that the political commissar is also a cavalry, and he does not want the cavalry to face the fate of being demobilized, so he is as eager as Shapkin to prove himself on the battlefield. It can even be said that this is the common wish of all cavalry.
So Shapkin waited for two hours.
These two hours were not due to Trufanov's order, but to wait for other units that had not arrived and another cavalry division, the 81st Cavalry Division, to arrive north of Prodovitoye.
When everything was almost ready, Shapkin ordered the troops to attack.
The attack was launched under the cover of M197 artillery.
The M197 artillery was affectionately called "cavalry gun" by the Soviet cavalry, which means cavalry gun.
It is not an exaggeration to say this, because this gun was developed in 195 and equipped in 197.
At that time, the Soviet army mainly relied on horses, including artillery.
Therefore, the Soviet Union considered developing five infantry guns suitable for horse maneuvers. This was the M197. In order to reduce weight and enable horses to pull, the barrel was designed to be very short.
With the development of the war, infantry has more and more artillery options. At the same time, the M197 gun cannot meet the anti-tank needs of the infantry... The M197 gun can only penetrate 4MM thickness when hitting the target at a 90-degree angle within a distance of 100 meters.
Armor.
This kind of armor-piercing ability cannot even deal with the No. 2 tank with an average armor thickness of 0MM in the front, because it rarely has the opportunity to get close to the tank 100 meters without being blown into the sky by the opponent.
As a result, the infantry has basically eliminated the base.
However, the cavalry was unable to use more powerful infantry guns due to the weight of the horse's maneuverability, so the M197 became "cavalry exclusive."
The cavalry attacked very quickly. They shouted and drove the horses forward while raising their guns and shooting... In fact, it is not easy for the cavalry. For example, this tactical move requires them to keep their balance on the fast charging horses while freeing their hands to shoot.
, you also need to be accurate. You can't reach this level without putting in the effort to practice, just like bending a bow and arrow on horseback in the cold weapon era and then piercing the Yangtze with a hundred steps.
The problem is that the battlefield is a real place, and it does not determine victory or defeat based on whether there is training or whether it is not easy.
These trainings and difficulties are sometimes useless or even counterproductive. It is like making a mistake in the wrong direction. No matter how hard you try, you will not get anything.
Another fire support equipment of the cavalry is the Mark Mi machine gun. The Soviet cavalry will mount the Mark Mi machine gun or the Goryunov heavy machine gun on the carriage in reverse. In winter, it will be mounted on the snow, and then the carriage will run to the appropriate location.
As soon as the position is turned around...the machine gun can spit out tongues of flame toward the target to provide cover for the charging cavalry.
Such an offensive might be effective against stragglers, but Prodovitoye is the center of defense for the Romanian army. There are complete fortifications here. There are mines, barbed wire, and roadblocks that prevent tanks from advancing outside the defense line.
Bunkers, firepower points, artillery deployed in the city...
These are all the enemies of the cavalry.
Not surprisingly, the attack of the 61st and 81st Cavalry Divisions quickly turned into a tragedy: as shells exploded among the horses, the cavalry and horses were either blown into the sky or hit by shrapnel and fell off their horses.
, and soon there were scattered horses and corpses everywhere.
But of course Shapkin would not give up there. The Soviet commander's habitual thinking was that if he failed to win the battle, it would be because there were not enough people charging, the speed was not fast enough, and the fight was not resolute enough.
So soon another group of cavalry charged towards the enemy's defense line.
This time, several small troops did rush into the city. The reason was that the cavalry accidentally found a passage in the minefield.
But rushing into the city on horseback is basically asking for death... The enemy is hiding in the building, sticking out his gun from the commanding heights in the bunker, and the cavalry is swaggering through the city on a tall horse.
As a result, these cavalrymen who rushed into the city did not even make any waves.
Fortunately, after two waves of charges, Trufanov got the news that the cavalry was attacking Prodovitoje... This was observed by Air Force reconnaissance planes.
This is also one of the benefits of the reform of the Air Force. The command system has been streamlined, and the connection and coordination with the infantry have been enhanced in series.
The angry Trufanov immediately contacted Shapkin, scolded him and ordered him to stop the attack immediately.
From this aspect, Trufanov is right. Attacking a city with complete fortifications is not something that cavalry can do. Mechanized troops will be much better than cavalry.
In the evening of that day, the 59th Mechanized Division arrived at Prodovitoje and launched a fierce attack, which proved this: various artillery and rocket launchers blasted Prodovitoje, and then armored vehicles and tanks covered the infantry advance, and the two charges
As a result, the Romanian army hid back in the city and engaged in street fighting with the enemy.
At this point, the commander of the Romanian Army Group panicked.
"General Wolf!" Dumilescu said in panic in the telegram: "I think you'd better launch an attack on the enemy immediately, because Prodovittoje has concentrated enough enemies! We are bearing unprecedented pressure.
pressure!"
Major General Wolfe frowned. He knew what this telegram meant, that is, Prodovitoye could no longer hold on.
Major General Wolfe did not want this, but he had no choice but to do so, because once Prodovittoje was lost, the Romanian army might collapse across the board, and his two divisions would be left alone. Even if they could destroy some Russian logistics, they would soon be destroyed.
He was overwhelmed by the enemy coming in a steady stream.
After thinking about it, Major General Wolfe could only reply: "You must hold on until dawn! We will launch an attack as soon as it gets dark!"
"No problem!" Dumilescu replied: "Dawn, seven o'clock in the morning!"
In fact, in rainy weather, seven o'clock is not even considered dawn. (To be continued)