The German army launched two more attacks that day, but was eventually repelled by the Soviet army.
The heavy rain caused great trouble to the German army and prevented them from exerting their combat effectiveness normally, but the Soviet army relied on field fortifications to stabilize its position.
Otherwise, if the weather is clear and the visibility is good, it will be difficult for such field fortifications to block the German attack.
Because first there was artillery fire, indiscriminate bombing by fighter planes and bombers. After a few rounds of bombing, the trenches would no longer be trenches, and the anti-tank trenches would be basically flattened. Then the Germans would send out tanks and assault guns to cover the advance of the infantry..."
"Stalin's Line of Defense" could not successfully block it, so how could field fortifications be able to do so?
This is not to say that there is a problem with the "roller type" defense mentioned by Shulka, because it is not just a matter of defense. The Soviet army has built three lines of defense behind it. If one line cannot be defended, there will be another line, and then there will be
There was one line, and when the Germans thought they had broken through the last line, the Soviet troops who fled to the rear built another line... This was repeated endlessly.
Therefore, unless the German army can break through several lines of defense at the same time in a short period of time and then drive straight in, it is destined to fall into the trap of this "roller-type" defense and struggle.
The problem is that Shulka or the 333rd Regiment does have some luck, otherwise they may not be able to hold off the Germans for a day on that defense line with only field fortifications, and this often means death.
Fortunately, none of this happened, so Shulka and others successfully entered the evacuation procedure at one o'clock in the morning.
Because of the experience last time... to be precise, it was not my own experience but the experience of friendly troops retreating and being discovered by the Germans and chasing them. This time the Soviet army did not dare to be careless at all before retreating.
First they had to dig two more fortifications behind the defense line.
This is for covering troops.
You can never have too many fortifications in a war, especially when the enemy has tanks but the Soviet army does not... The Soviet tanks suffered heavy losses after the war, some of which were destroyed by the Germans during the battle.
What's more, the Soviet tanks had poor maneuverability. They broke down while retreating. There were enemies chasing behind them and they had no time to repair them, so they had no choice but to blow them up.
So something happened that confused many soldiers: before the war began, the Soviet army had many aircraft and tanks, but after the war began, they were almost invisible.
After setting up a defensive line in the rear, a large number of mines were laid on the original position.
The landmine is a pmd mine, which is also the "wooden shell mine" often mentioned by modern military fans... Soviet equipment is often rough, simple, low-cost but very practical, and the "wooden shell mine" is one of them.
It is actually two wooden boxes that are turned upside down like lunch boxes, with a pull or press fuse and explosives in the middle. As long as the upper lid is stepped on, the fuse will be activated and the mine will detonate.
Because it is a wooden mine, it completely renders the German mine detectors ineffective. The disadvantage is that it is not powerful enough and does not have an iron shell to act as shrapnel to kill nearby targets.
However, this does not affect its deterrent power as a mine.
It was only then that Shurka learned how to lay such mines on the fly...Landmines were delivered to the soldiers in large quantities by engineers from the rear, and then the engineers needed to teach the soldiers on site how to lay mines and what to pay attention to.
This is because the entire defense line is more than 100 kilometers long from south to north. If it is all laid by engineers, there will not be enough manpower.
But this also exposed the laxity of the Soviet army... They laid large areas of combat troops on the battlefield, and among them were many new recruits who had only been in the army for a few days.
Shulka was a little frightened when she thought of this.
"First of all, you must make sure that there are no friendly troops of your own in front!" An engineer sergeant explained to Shulka and others: "If you don't pay attention to this, you will soon find that the friendly troops are trapped in the minefield and cannot get out.
!”
The soldiers burst into laughter.
The engineer sergeant said very seriously: "This is no joke, comrades, because it is very likely that this 'friendly army' is you!"
This is indeed true. This is what happens on the battlefield. Your own negligence may cause the death of a friendly force, and conversely, the negligence of a friendly force may also cause your death.
Therefore, only by cooperating with each other and carefully restraining themselves can we ensure that each other will not become "friendly forces" trapped in the minefield.
"Then you have to do this!" the engineer sergeant said, demonstrating the minelaying process to Shulka and others.
The process is very simple. After setting up the thunderbolt, remove the safety pin, and then gently close the upper cover... You don't even need to do any disguise.
Of course, this is because the engineers have lowered their requirements for the combat troops: the engineers are worried that the mines will detonate when the combat troops lay out camouflage, that is, cover them with something. On the other hand, this kind of wooden shell mine is easily affected by moisture and becomes ineffective, although its explosives have been
Some waterproofing measures were taken.
Then, the soldiers lined up almost in a row, laid mines in front, took a few steps back, and then repeated the action.
Although this makes the mines very regular, the key point is that your team will not be in chaos to minimize accidents during the minelaying process.
However, several accidents inevitably occurred.
At first, everyone was very careful and even did it with awe, because just such a small landmine could take away a person's life.
But as time went by, the soldiers became a little unruly... While Shulka and others were still laying mines, they heard a "boom", followed by a burst of wailing. A soldier's calf was blown away, and wood chips were inserted into it.
Got it all over him.
"What's going on?" The engineer sergeant asked the people next to him while asking the medical soldiers to come up: "Who did the good thing?"
"I don't know, sir!"
"I don't know either!"
…
Of course no one admitted it, but the engineer sergeant quickly found the problem. He grabbed a soldier on the right and pushed him to the ground, cursing: "You bastard, you are one step ahead of others!"
Therefore, sometimes moving too fast is not a good thing.
After the original position was covered with mines, the troops retreated under the cover of subsequent troops.
While on the road, Shulka was thinking:
There are 165 kilometers from the "Stalin Defense Line" to Kiev. There are 16 lines of defense for every ten kilometers. It takes the German army almost ten days to reach Kiev if they capture one or two lines of defense every day. That means there are still ten days left in Kiev.
preparation time.
This time is enough for Kiev, after all, they only need to set up disguises and make use of basements such as cellars.
Then, blocking the German Army Group South on the Kiev defense line is not a big problem, the focus is still on the rear.