Chapter 389 Reinforcements
Before the poor two German soldiers had time to shout out, they were rushed forward by a swarm of Soviet soldiers, covered their mouths with military thorns and pricked them into a hornet's nest.
Shuerka at this time certainly wouldn't pay attention to such trivial matters.
He got up from the ground and looked ahead, then ordered: "Accord to the plan!"
"Yes!" Several company commanders responded and led their troops to advance in different directions.
It is obviously inappropriate to use the battalion as a combat unit at this time, because the German artillery fire is relatively scattered, and it is inefficient to work together and it will also give the enemy more reaction time.
So fight in companies or even in platoons.
It's just that it is difficult for the Soviet army to fight in platoons, because they lack communication equipment. If a platoon is sent out to fight in the dark, it will be difficult to get it back, and of course it will be impossible to command.
Shulka personally commanded the third company.
The third company is Shulka's old army, with many old subordinates, it is easier to command, so Shulka is always used to being with them.
The plan is very simple, it is to attack along the sound of German artillery.
And all the attention of the German army was focused on the main force of the Soviet army attacking from the front. Their infantry was also fighting fiercely with the Soviet army in the front trenches. artillery positions.
The sound of the guns was getting closer and closer, and Shulka could even hear the voice of the German artillery commander yelling out the metadata.
The artillery bunkers of the German army were very secretive. They dug a hole on the ground to hide the entire gun body inside, and then propped up a piece of white canvas on it, revealing only a white-painted gun barrel outside... If It wasn't the sound of cannons and the flames from the muzzles. It would not be easy for Shulka and others to find them, let alone the reconnaissance plane in the sky.
"Fight!" Following Shulka's order, several Soviet troops who had reached the bunker immediately stood up and rushed up, and then rushed towards the German army in the bunker.
Several nimble German soldiers realized that something was wrong and wanted to run away, but they were quickly knocked to the ground by a burst of bullets from the "Poposa".
Then there were gunshots, and occasionally there were a few grenade explosions.
But these grenades should be fired by the German army... Before the war, Shulka ordered the Soviet army not to use hand grenades as much as possible.
On the one hand, the Soviet army was prepared to fight unprepared and at the same time it was infantry against artillery, which could easily destroy the enemy.
On the other hand, the grenade is likely to cause the shell to explode and cause unnecessary losses and casualties.
More importantly, howitzers are too important in Rzhev. If they can be captured, especially if there are still a considerable number of shells, then a radius of ten kilometers will be under their control.
So it was a considerable wealth for the Soviet army... This wealth is not just the artillery itself.
In fact, the German howitzer is of little significance to the Soviet army. As I said before, the standard M30 howitzer of the Soviet army has a range of 1.5 kilometers farther than the German howitzer, and it is more powerful.
More importantly, it is actually able to buy considerable time for the troops.
The artillery and shells captured by the German army can be put into use immediately. They can provide cover for the Soviet army and even support the 9 divisions of the Soviet army surrounded in Sychovka... Sychovka is only a dozen kilometers away from Rzhev. That is to say, the German armored forces that surrounded the Soviet army were even under the guns of Rzhev.
The German army quickly became a mess.
This is not to say that the quality of the German army is not good, but that the German army originally relied on the artillery fire from the rear to suppress the Soviet tank troops attacking from the front.
There were even some Soviet troops who immediately adjusted their muzzles to hit the German defense line after capturing the German artillery... This was not planned, it was purely because some of the 1st Infantry Battalion It was the artillery who followed from the Brest Fortress. Of course, the artillery captured at this time would be itchy and they would be used immediately.
Model on the other side, he didn't realize that Lezhev was in danger at all.
At this time, he took the FW189 reconnaissance plane to fly to Wolf's Lair... The FW189 reconnaissance plane has a good view, and it is usually a small aircraft used by the German army to calibrate artillery firepower.
Model rushed to Wolf's Lair because he knew that the reinforcements from Berlin had arrived at this time, and Hitler didn't seem to want to hand over the reinforcements to him and planned to use them for attack.
Yes, Model is very sure of this, and their head of state did not give up attacking Moscow even in this situation.
This is obviously a mistake, and Model wants to correct this.
So, as soon as he walked into Hitler's headquarters, he said bluntly: "Your Excellency, I need reinforcements, otherwise we will not be able to stop the Russian attack!"
"What's the matter? My general!" Hitler replied: "I think you have done a good job so far... You not only held our defense line, but even surrounded the enemy who broke into the defense line! This also proves that I said That's right, as long as we boldly launch a counterattack, the enemy will undoubtedly be defeated by us!"
"However, Your Excellency the Fuhrer!" Model replied, "The good situation on the front line is only superficial. The Ninth Army has only 67% of its troops, and quite a few of them are still wounded. In addition, our tanks and anti-tank guns are also damaged." Insufficient, which makes us helpless against the besieged Russians... We should have eaten them long ago and stabilized the entire line. But now, we are seriously short of troops on the front line!"
Hitler was silent for a moment, then replied: "Well, my general! I can give you a panzer division..."
"No, Your Excellency the Führer!" Model interrupted Hitler: "I need all four divisions!"
The reinforcements consist of the 5th Armored Division, the 11th Armored Division, part of the 10th Armored Division, and part of the Imperial Division. They are quite powerful forces.
Model's request was not just to supplement the 9th Army's victory in this battle. His subtext was to tell Hitler: Give up attacking Moscow, that is unrealistic. What we need to do is to hold the line of defense to ensure that our troops do not collapse.
Hitler understood Model's words.
He hesitated for a while... If it was before, he wouldn't hesitate at all.
But now, after the generals have been replaced by him, there is finally a general who can turn the tide.
Hitler was worried that if he did this again, no one would be able to support the front-line command.
So his tone was surprisingly less tough than before: "I think you can think about it, my general, the current situation is equally severe for the Russians!"
At this time, the staff officer walked into the headquarters, and he said to Model in a panic: "Your Excellency, the front line has an urgent call, and Lezhev was attacked by the enemy!"
(end of this chapter)
