The Armored Division advanced faster than Manstein imagined.
This is inseparable from the urging and reasonable adjustments of Major General Linus, the commander of the 1st Armored Division... He asked the vanguard troops to take cars and motorcycles under the cover of light tanks to take the lead in occupying the front, reconnaissance, and engineers then repaired
Road, exploration, and then the main armored force headed straight to the destination unimpeded.
This should be said to be the most reasonable way of marching. The fast scouts are at the front to eliminate all possible dangers, including guerrilla ambushes, and the slow main force will not be delayed for a moment.
Major General Linus, who had been fighting with Manstein for many years, was no stranger to these. This bought the German Armored Division ten minutes of preparation time.
Although these ten minutes are not enough to build fortifications, it is enough for the armored troops to set up a defensive formation... Major General Linus originally wanted to have an offensive formation, because in his opinion, the best defense is to attack.
But Manstein ordered him not to attack.
"Although I know that attacking is more beneficial to us!" Manstein said: "But you have to know that the enemy's strength is several times ours. You must hold your position, otherwise the enemy will take advantage of you when you attack.
Slip past me!"
"Yes, Your Majesty Marshal!" Major General Linus replied, and then ordered the defense.
The difference between the defensive formation and the offensive formation of tanks is that when defending, the main tanks with thick armor and strong firepower are usually placed in the front, because this can protect the light tanks and allow the light tanks at the rear to continue to exert their firepower.
In offensive formations, light tanks are often placed at the front... This is not only because light tanks are faster and can impact the enemy's defense line more quickly, but also because the enemy's anti-tank firepower will expose these light tanks when attacking them.
position, so that the main tanks following behind can be targeted and reduce losses.
At this time, Major General Linus placed the "Poseidon 3" and "Plank 4" tanks in front, and there were also some "Type 3 assault guns" among them.
At this time, the "Type 3 assault gun" was no longer purely used to attack the enemy's defense line. As mentioned before, the German "Type 3" and "Type 4" tanks generally lacked firepower when facing the Soviet T4 and could not attack at the same distance.
It can penetrate the opponent and is often at a disadvantage in a pure tank fight.
Therefore, the German army considered installing the PAK41 anti-tank gun with stronger penetrating power directly on the tank chassis for anti-tank use.
In fact, this can no longer be said to be an "assault gun", but a tank destroyer that was later called a "tank destroyer".
The tank destroyer is especially useful in defense because it can extend the effective range of the entire defense formation to a distance similar to or even further than that of the enemy T4.
Before the 7th Armored Division was fully prepared, the enemy tanks appeared in the aperture of Major General Linus's telescope.
"Alert, 10 o'clock direction!" Major General Linus shouted, and the adjutant immediately conveyed the order.
Soon, more and more tanks appeared in front of Major General Linus.
Major General Linus was a little confused, because enemy tanks should not be able to pass through that area without any obstacles. At least a few of them would be stuck in the mud and unable to move, but they could run around like nothing... However
This idea only flashed through the mind of Major General Linus, because he knew that the Russian T4 had wide tracks, so its passing rate in swamps and even snow was much better than that of German tanks.
Then, Air Force fighter planes passed over the 1st Armored Division.
This is a method of German air-ground coordination. The air force will launch an attack when the enemy and we are about to contact the enemy, so that the enemy will be attacked by three-dimensional attacks from the ground and the air at the same time.
The battle started after a minute. The German tank's gun barrel continued to fine-tune as the target moved, and then fired a shell with a "boom"... What was surprising was that it clearly hit the target but it could still move.
If it's just an example, that's fine, but there are many such situations.
"What's going on?" Major General Linus raised his telescope and looked at the target, and then he knew the reason... Those were not tanks at all. Most of them were cars or armored vehicles disguised as tanks. German tanks launched
The armor-piercing projectiles hit those camouflages and penetrated them, so of course they had no effect on the target.
Of course, the air force's attack on them is still very lethal. Whether it is an attack aircraft or a bomber, top-down strafing and bombing can make these "pseudo tanks" become a mess or even fall on their backs.
But Major General Linus immediately sensed that something was wrong: If what was in front of him was the enemy's disguised troops, then where was the enemy's main force?
Major General Linus immediately ordered: "Contact the Air Force and let them find the enemy's main force!"
Major General Linus thought that the enemy's main force might be on his flank, and was preparing to outflank the 1st Armored Division at this time.
Major General Linus was right to worry, but he was wrong.
After issuing the order, Major General Linus reported to Manstein.
"What we intercepted were enemy camouflaged troops!" Major General Linus said: "They were not tanks at all, but camouflaged with cars! We were fooled!"
At first, Manstein didn't think it was a big deal, because the Russians often used this tactic of using cars to disguise tanks, especially when tempting the Luftwaffe to attack, so Manstein had long been used to it.
However, another report from Major General Linus surprised him.
"Your Excellency, Marshal!" Major General Linus said: "The Air Force reported that they did not find any main enemy force nearby, which means...there is only this main force in disguise in front of us! I don't understand what these Russians are doing!"
Manstein didn't know either, but he had a very bad premonition.
The main force of the Russians may be behind this camouflaged main force...but this is unlikely, because there is not much point in doing so, unless they want to consume the ammunition of the Luftwaffe.
What's more, if that's the case, Air Force reconnaissance planes can also detect them.
At this time, the adjutant reported with a telegram: "Your Excellency, Marshal, the Morozzo train station and nearby railway lines have been massively bombed by enemy fighter planes!"
Manstein turned his attention to the map and found the location of the Morozo train station... It is located between Karachi and Miloway and is the only way to go.
The next second Manstein understood.
"We were fooled, Vincent!" Manstein said: "Their target was not Miloway at all!"
"Where is that?" the adjutant asked doubtfully.
"We are here!" Manstein replied: "Karachi!" (To be continued)