Chapter 84 Bray
The German army launched two more attacks that day, but was eventually repelled by the Soviet army.
The torrential rain caused a lot of trouble to the German army, making their combat effectiveness unable to perform normally, while the Soviet army relied on field fortifications to stabilize their position.
Otherwise, if the weather is clear and the sightlines are good, such field fortifications are indeed difficult to block the German attack.
Because first of all it was the indiscriminate bombing of artillery fire, fighter planes and bombers. After a few rounds of bombing, the trenches would no longer be trenches, and the anti-tank trenches would basically be flattened. Then the German army sent tanks and assault guns to cover the infantry advancing..."Stalin "Line of defense" can't be successfully blocked, how can field fortifications be done.
This is not to say that there is a problem with the "roller" defense mentioned by Shulka, because this is not just a problem of defense. The Soviet army has built three lines of defense behind it. There was one, when the Germans thought they had broken through the last one, but the Soviets who had fled to the rear built another one...the repetition was endless.
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" defense.
The problem is that Shulka or the 333rd Regiment did have some luck, otherwise they might not be able to stop the Germans for a day on the line of defense that only had field fortifications, and this often meant death.
Fortunately, none of this happened, so Shulka and others smoothly entered the retreat procedure at 1 o'clock in the morning.
Because of the previous experience... To be precise, it was not my own experience but the experience of the friendly army retreating and being discovered by the German army and being chased and killed by the tail. This time the Soviet army did not dare to be sloppy before retreating.
First of all, they have to dig two more fortifications behind the defense line.
This is for cover troops.
There are never too many fortifications in a war, especially when the enemy has tanks and the Soviets don't have them... The Soviet tanks suffered heavy losses after the battle, some of which were destroyed by the Germans during the battle, and more Most of them are due to the poor maneuverability of the Soviet tanks. When they retreated, they broke down while retreating. There were enemies chasing behind them and there was no time to repair them, so they had to be blown up.
Then there is this thing that confuses many soldiers: the Soviet army has many planes and tanks before the war, but after the war they are almost invisible.
After the defense line is arranged in the rear, a large number of mines are laid on the original position.
Landmines are PMD mines, which are often referred to as "wooden shell mines" by modern military fans...Soviet equipment is often rough, simple, low-cost but very practical, and "wooden shell mines" are one of them.
It is actually two wooden boxes that are buckled upside down like a lunch box. There are pull or push fuzes and explosives in the middle. As long as you step on the upper cover, the fuze will be driven and the mine will be detonated.
Because it is a wooden landmine, it makes the German landmine detectors completely useless. The disadvantage is that it is not powerful enough and has no iron casing as shrapnel to kill nearby targets.
However, this does not affect its deterrent power as a mine.
Shuerka didn't learn how to lay mines until this time... The landmines were transported to the soldiers in large quantities by the engineers in the rear, and then the engineers needed to teach the soldiers on the spot to lay the mines and the precautions.
This is because the entire line of defense is more than 100 kilometers long from south to north. If it is all laid by engineers, there will be insufficient manpower.
But at the same time, it also exposed the lack of rigor of the Soviet army... The combat troops were allowed to mine large areas on the battlefield, and there were many recruits who had just joined the army for only a few days.
When I think of Shulka, I feel a little frightened.
"First of all, you must make sure that there are no friendly troops in front of you!" A master engineer explained to Shulka and others: "If you don't pay attention to this, you will soon find that your friendly troops have been trapped in the minefield and cannot get out. !"
The soldiers let out a burst of laughter.
The engineering master said very seriously: "This is not a joke, comrades, because it is very likely that this 'friendly army' is yourselves!"
What this said is indeed that things on the battlefield are like this. Your own negligence may cause the death of your allies. Similarly, the negligence of your allies may also cause your death.
Therefore, only by cooperating with each other and restraining themselves carefully can we ensure that each other will not become "friendly troops" trapped in minefields.
"Then, you have to do this!" Said the engineer sergeant and demonstrated the mine-laying process to Shulka and others.
The process is very simple. After setting the ray, pull out the safety pin, and then gently close the upper cover...even camouflage is not required.
Of course, this is because the engineers have lowered the requirements for the combat troops: the engineers are worried that the combat troops will detonate the landmines when they lay a camouflage, that is, cover them with something. Do some waterproofing.
Then, the soldiers lined up almost in a row, and then laid the mines in front, and then took a few steps back and repeated this action.
Although this makes the mines very regular, the key point is that your team will not be chaotic, which can minimize accidents during mine mines.
But inevitably there were a few accidents.
In the beginning, everyone was very careful, and even did it with a sense of awe, because as long as such a small landmine may take a person's life.
But after a long time, the soldiers became a little unruly... When Shulka and others were still laying mines, there was only a "boom", followed by a burst of wailing. A soldier's calf was blown away, and wood chips could be inserted It's all over him.
"What's going on?" The engineering soldier ordered the medical soldiers to go up and asked a few people nearby: "Who did the good thing?"
"I don't know, sir!"
"I don't know either!"
…
Of course no one admitted it, but the engineer master quickly found the problem. He grabbed a soldier on the right and pushed him to the ground, cursing: "You bastard, you are one step faster than others!"
So, sometimes being quick is not a good thing.
After the original position was covered with mines, the troops retreated under the cover of the follow-up troops.
While on the road, Shulka thought:
It is 165 kilometers from the "Stalin Line of Defense" to Kyiv, and there are 16 defense lines for every ten kilometers of defense lines. The German army captures one or two lines of defense every day, and it takes almost ten days to arrive in Kyiv, which means that Kyiv still has ten days. preparation time.
This time is enough for Kyiv, after all, they only need to lay out camouflage and use basements such as cellars.
Then, it is not a big problem to block the German Southern Army Group on the Kyiv defense line, and the focus is on the rear.
(end of this chapter)
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