Chapter 124 Artillery
On this day, the 131st Division chased the German army for fifty kilometers.
This is not to say that the Soviet army likes to chase the German army. The quality of the German 198th Infantry Division is very good, and the will to fight is also very tenacious, and it is defeated every time.
If possible, the Soviet army would rather bypass this opponent.
The problem is that this German infantry division is quite conceited. They use one division to face the Soviet army, one army, or even two armies. They dare to divide into several parts and guard the traffic arteries.
However, this is true from an overall strategic point of view. It does not make much sense to concentrate troops in one place, because there is often only one favorable terrain that needs to be defended, and a breakthrough is a breakthrough.
On the other hand, the German defense is a bit like the "roller" defense used by Shulka in front of Kyiv, that is, it is divided into several lines for defense and then retreats layer by layer.
Obviously, as long as the German 198th Infantry Division blocked or even delayed the advance of the Soviet army, the defeated Romanian 1st Armored Division in the west would have time to regroup, and at the same time, the Italian Expeditionary Force in the east would arrive two days later, so The Soviet army can be completely blocked in the Uman area.
The problem is that the German army has too few troops, and the first line of defense was quickly broken by the Soviet army... "Roller" defense is often the most important first line of defense, because whether the first line of defense achieves the set goal directly determines the second line of defense If there is enough time to prepare, then the third line of defense may not be ready, and the entire defensive rhythm will collapse because of this.
The next battle situation developed like this.
Maybe knowing that they are short of troops, the German defense lines are separated by 7 kilometers.
Later Shulka learned that the distance of 7 kilometers was not only to enhance the connection between the two lines of defense, but also because of the range of German artillery.
At this time, the artillery equipped by the German army is mainly the 105mm le.FH18 howitzer, which has a range of 10 kilometers.
If the two lines of defense are 7 kilometers apart, the German army can provide artillery assistance to the first line of defense by placing artillery positions behind the second line of defense... The Germans did indeed do this, so when the Soviet army attacked the first line of defense That's why there's so much resistance.
But after the collapse of the German first line of defense, these artillery basically lost their effect.
These artillerymen had already calculated and set up several artillery blockades, but because of the retreat of the German army, they were unable to fire on these blockades.
The Soviet army followed the German deserters all the way forward.
At this time, the role of the mechanized division of the Soviet army is reflected. As soon as the car drives forward, the troops and equipment will be transported forward in batches...Although the road conditions are poor and the German army blew up the road when they retreated, the car is still there. faster than walking.
While in the car, the actor asked curiously: "Why didn't they plant landmines? That's what we did when we retreated!"
"They're scared out of their wits, they don't have time to lay mines!" the thief replied.
The soldiers all laughed, but this answer was not satisfactory, because everyone knew in their hearts that the Germans were not so chaotic.
"They believe they can stop us!" Shulka replied while pouring out the water in the hand pot to rinse the mud on his hands.
"Yes!" The veteran replied: "Because this is their logistics supply line, and their own tanks, cars, etc. have to pass through here. If they think they can stop us, there is no need to lay too many mines!"
What Shulka said is actually not entirely correct.
Another reason why the German army did not lay mines is that the German army was the attacking side, and the attack was very smooth, so landmines were not very necessary... What the attacking side needed more were bullets, shells, and gasoline, and landmines were mainly used for defense.
In addition, the heavy rains in the past few days have made the transportation situation worse, so the landmines are backlogged and not transported to the front line.
Of course, one of the reasons is that the German army believed that they could stop the Soviet army. If they knew that they would fall into this kind of predicament, how could they find a batch of landmines to block the pursuit of the Soviet army.
If this is the case, the Soviet army will be in trouble. They have to clear mines while advancing, or crush mines at the expense of tanks. Either option will give the German army more time to prepare.
But now, the forward of the Soviet army almost stepped on the corpse of the German army and broke into its second line of defense. By the time Shulka and others arrived, the battle was over.
The first battalion passed these combat units and continued to push forward... The core of "blitzkrieg" is the word "fast". The forward was blocked and consumed a certain amount of kinetic energy, and the follow-up troops should continue to push forward like waves.
As a result, this push hit the jackpot, and the first battalion plunged into the German artillery unit.
At that time, the artillery units of the German army were retreating urgently. They obviously did not expect this to happen. The two lines of defense, which were originally estimated to be able to block the enemy for at least two days, were broken through within two hours.
This made the German artillery units into a mess, and hurriedly collected the artillery and moved the shells.
As mentioned before, vehicles and other means of transport are generally given priority to armored units, and many artillery units assigned to infantry, even the German army, are transported by animal power. Of course, emergency retreats will encounter various troubles at this time:
First remove the gun mantlet... This is not necessary, and you don't need to do this before the rainy season.
But now, the German 105MM howitzer has a total weight of 1525 kilograms. If it is loaded with a gun shield and goes on the road with full weight in the rain, it will almost inevitably fall into a mud pit.
The second is to load and unload ammunition or tow the artillery.
This was not a difficult task at first. The German artillery had practiced quite a lot. They could complete this series of actions methodically in the shortest possible time, even though it was raining heavily at this time.
The problem is that the training ground is not the same as the real battlefield: mules and horses on the battlefield are easily frightened, and when a shell is fired from a distance, these animals will run around and cannot be pulled.
So shouting, exclamation, and urging... The entire artillery position was as chaotic as a vegetable market.
Some of those transported by car wanted to go ahead, but were blocked by a horse-drawn carriage that got stuck in the middle of the road because of running around.
"Push this **** carriage away!" The driver poked his head out of the cab and shouted loudly.
"You see, we are doing this!" The soldiers driving the cart replied loudly.
"Why don't you move the things off the car?" the driver yelled, "Let's go there first!"
"I think it might be quicker for you to get out of the car and help!"
…
But soon they found that they didn't need to worry about this problem, because a burst of machine guns sounded from the rear, and then there were a few more gunshots, and several tanks drove out from the rain-covered road.
Tanks, Soviet tanks.
(end of this chapter)
