Chapter 525 Reinforcements
Edmund looked at the several tanks on fire in the middle of the road with a ashen face, without saying a word.
"Lieutenant Colonel!" said the adjutant, "I'll send a few more tanks up immediately!"
"No!" Edmond shook his head: "It won't be useful. They can hide one group of bazooka shooters in the cemetery, and they can hide another group. Until our tanks are blown up..."
Lieutenant Colonel Edmond was right. Shulka had hidden three batches of ten people in each batch.
The reason why the three batches are hidden is because if you hide too much and can't function, it is a waste.
With less concealment, the German army will have no way to deal with the tanks coming up.
The three batches were neither too many nor too few, and the 29th Motorized Infantry Division had only 20 tanks in total (the original 30 tanks, but 10 tanks were lost in the attack on Mamayev Gang).
If three more batches come up and are bombed three times, they will almost be blown up.
As for the assault gun... Shulka doesn't worry about that at all.
Assault gun turrets cannot be rotated, and they can still play a role in attacking larger and more obvious targets on open ground, such as enemy bunkers, firepower points, trenches, etc.
If you use them in a place like a cemetery where there are tombstones everywhere and soldiers can move quickly, they will be useless...Tank turrets can rotate, so they can respond faster to targets, and assault guns need to be aimed at the target It is necessary to rely on the vehicle body, which is a very difficult and time-consuming process. By the time it finally aims at the target, the Soviet soldiers have already moved elsewhere.
"Then..." The adjutant looked at Edmund with some helplessness in his eyes. He had never experienced such a tactic, and he had no choice at this time.
In fact, it's not just the adjutant, Edmond is also helpless.
But Edmund knew that the attack could not just stop like this, otherwise the Mamayev Gang, which he had fought so hard to win, would fall into the hands of the enemy again.
After thinking about it, Edmond said to the adjutant: "Immediately ask for reinforcements, we need more troops, infantry!"
"Infantry?"
"Yes!" Edmund replied: "Let them send more infantry, no need for tanks!"
Edmond has realized at this time that a battle like this can only put aside aircraft, tanks and even artillery, and should use infantry to fight enemy infantry.
This idea is correct.
Because in this special terrain, if you still stick to the usual infantry-tank coordinated operations, you can only say that you are tying your own hands and feet... Tanks cannot play much role in such terrain, and they will even become infantry. It is cumbersome, because the infantry has to protect the tank, so that the infantry exposes its position.
Although Andreas, the commander of the 29th Motorized Infantry Division, didn't know what happened on the front line, he believed in Edmond's judgment.
This is a manifestation of the high-quality commanders of the German army. They always give full freedom to the front-line commanders.
In fact, the same is true of Hitler at the beginning of the battle, which makes the German army's operations very flexible. They will always make the best choice in a timely manner according to changes in the frontline situation.
Until Hitler increasingly mistrusted the Wehrmacht's loyalty to him, while repeatedly blaming the front-line failures on the front-line commanders...
In fact, this is why Hitler lost the support of the senior commander of the Wehrmacht.
Almost all commanders understood that the battle to attack Moscow was due to Hitler's self-willedness and disobedience.
For example, Hitler's insistence on encircling Kyiv caused the Central Army to lose nearly a month's time to attack Moscow.
Another example is the attack on Stalingrad. Hitler insisted on splitting the Southern Army into two armies to attack the Caucasus and Stalingrad. There was even a completely unnecessary low-level mistake... First, the Huth Fourth Armored Army belonging to the B Army was assigned to the Army A attacked the Caucasus, and then found that Army B was insufficient, and transferred the Fourth Armored Army back to Army B.
This made the entire German Panzer Army maneuver meaninglessly back and forth between the Caucasus and Stalingrad.
It might not be a big deal at other times, but this was a mobilization made when the German army was short of supplies and troops. One can imagine how many supplies were wasted and how many fighter opportunities were missed.
The German senior commanders are not fools, they are well aware of these mistakes made by Hitler.
But Hitler blamed all these mistakes on the front-line commanders.
This made the generals of the National Defense Forces feel insulted and treated unfairly, but they also suffered, because as long as they resisted, they would be dismissed or sent to military courts.
As a result, conflicts inevitably arise.
This was one of the reasons for the "Assassination of Hitler" incident. If the Wehrmacht generals were not dissatisfied with Hitler, the assassination organization might not be successful.
Although Hitler had interfered too much at this time, the German frontline operations still maintained the tradition of giving frontline commanders sufficient freedom and power.
So, without much thought, Major General Andreas immediately sent the 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment to reinforce Lieutenant Colonel Edmund and gave him command... Lieutenant Colonel Edmund was the head of the 87th Motorized Rifle Regiment. No authority to command the 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment.
But because he is familiar with the principles of the battlefield, Major General Andreas temporarily gave him the command.
The 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment moved quickly, and arrived at the cemetery in less than 20 minutes.
The reason why it took twenty minutes was because the hospital and the school were almost destroyed by bombs, and they couldn't even pass through them, so they simply marched all the way to the cemetery.
"Lieutenant Colonel Bauer!" Edmund spread out the map and said to the newly arrived commander of the 86th Motorized Rifle Regiment: "What you see is this area, a cemetery...we must go through it and reinforce the horses. Mayev's Hill. You know there is an emergency there, and we must do this as soon as possible!"
"The enemies in the cemetery are tricky, aren't they?" Lieutenant Colonel Bauer asked.
"Yes!" Lieutenant Colonel Edmund replied: "We have suffered heavy casualties, but we can't even touch their shadows!"
"This is normal, Lieutenant Colonel Edmond!" Lieutenant Colonel Bauer replied: "Because we identified these enemies not long ago!"
"Their identities?" Lieutenant Colonel Edmund looked at Lieutenant Colonel Bauer puzzled, and asked, "Are they an elite unit?"
"No, on the contrary!" Lieutenant Colonel Bauer replied: "They are a motley crew similar to a punishment battalion, and they have only been formed for a few months!"
This embarrassed Lieutenant Colonel Edmond, because it also meant his incompetence.
Lieutenant Colonel Bauer Anwei said: "But you don't need to think it's your fault at all, because you don't know who is directing them!"
After a pause, Lieutenant Colonel Bauer revealed the mystery: "It's the 'Breakout Hero', Lieutenant Colonel, what you are facing is the 'Breakout Hero'. Even Marshal Manstein failed to defeat him!"
(end of this chapter)
