Eight Hundred and Fifty-Four Marched Into the Caucasus

?

How big is the Caucasus? Many people may not have an intuitive impression. But when the German soldiers set foot on this territory, they realized that it was really unimaginably large. They conquered a city, and there were more cities in front of them. They occupied a high ground, but found Just one of thousands of highlands.

Just when the Soviet soldiers raised their heads and watched the German planes dive down one after another, dropping bombs to unknown places in the distance, at their position, at the limit of their field of vision, a German Tiger The Japanese tank knocked down a big tree as thick as a wrist, and rushed out of the woods roaring.

The Soviet soldiers were leaning in their trenches. They looked at the back of the Tiger tank. Farther away, another German tank came out of the woods. No one was surprised or shouted. They just pulled away silently. Bolt your own gun, push the bullet into the chamber of your own gun.

There is no need to sound the horn, nor to remind or order. Everyone knows that the battle has begun, and their own destiny no longer belongs to them. survive.

A shell landed on the positions of the Soviet troops, causing a wave of panic. Then more shells landed around the trench, splashing pieces of soil, everyone's panic was suppressed, and everyone hugged their weapons and curled up in the corner of the trench, praying that these terrible shelling would pass quickly.

"Damn it, the German infantry and artillery coordination is getting more and more proficient. Their troops started shelling when they attacked, and the cover is really in place." A Soviet commander hugged his helmet and squatted in the trench. Cursed. His voice was quickly drowned in the rumble of shell explosions, and he couldn't hear clearly a little further away.

After finally surviving this round of intensive shelling, the Soviet troops judged by the power of the explosion and the trajectory. There were German howitzers with a caliber of 122mm, Soviet goods with a caliber of 122mm, and guys with a caliber of 75mm. It is a large collection of existing German artillery.

When the Soviet soldiers shook off the dirt on their bodies and poked their heads out of the trench to observe the German army on the opposite side, they found that dozens of tanks were only 200 meters away from them under the cover of densely packed German grenadiers. Not far away.

"Tudu! Tut!" The German machine gunner lay down on the ground, and the deputy shooter held the ammunition belt in his hand. The two of them established a simple shooting position and sprinkled the barrage on the opposite position. Several German soldiers The machine gun positions fired at the same time, and for a while the Soviet troops on the Soviet positions could not raise their heads.

"Boom!" After a long preparation, the first gunshot finally came from the Soviet position. A Soviet soldier held his rifle and fired the first Soviet counterattack shot at the enemy on the opposite side. With this gunshot, the Soviets finally opened fire, but the weak rifle sound was a bit out of proportion to the fierce firepower of the German army on the opposite side.

A German commander standing on the edge of the woods put down the binoculars in his hand,

Pointing to the troops in front, he said to several officers around him: "The Air Force investigation said that the first line of defense of the Soviet Army was only used to delay our army's attack. Now it seems that this is indeed the case."

It seems to confirm the commander's words, the German grenadiers have been advancing with the tanks to the position of the Soviet trenches, a large number of grenadiers entered the Soviet trenches behind the tanks, the gunfire became more intensive, and the Soviet army quickly It collapsed, as if there was no plan to defend this position at all.

A position changed hands, and the German army had already gained a firm foothold on the way forward. As the tanks continued to advance, more German grenadiers attacked the Soviet army's position. Not on a level line at all.

"It's not too difficult to cut into this kind of position, because the air support is here, and the Soviet artillery support can't be used..." A German officer looked at the distant battlefield where there was no suspense, and he was a little unmotivated Said: "What is certain is that the elite of the Soviet Union in the Caucasus is not here."

"There is no decent artillery support. It seems that the Soviet Union has really given up on Surovikino." Another German officer shook his head and said: "The Soviets are becoming more and more cautious. This is not a good sign. They Instead of putting the army in the wild, we will fight with us city by city."

With the attack of the German army, the position here has been completely captured. A small number of German troops escorted the Soviet prisoners back and retreated. There seemed to be thousands of Soviet prisoners of war listlessly following one by one. German armored command vehicles, and some motorcycles and bicycles.

The leading German commander walked to the front of his armored command vehicle, spread a map on the engine compartment cover, looked at it carefully for a while, then pointed to the area around Surovikino, and told a second lieutenant who was following him Said: "Let your reconnaissance troops search forward in a fan shape, and return immediately when encountering resistance. I want to see how many positions west of the Don River the Soviets have abandoned."

"Yes! Sir. Advance kilometers? Or kilometers?" The second lieutenant looked at his officer, wanting to confirm the distance he had advanced.

"Forward, advance as many kilometers as you can!" The commander of the German army climbed into his armored vehicle, looked at the densely packed Soviet prisoners in front of him, and said, "I want to establish accurate road signs. Have lunch in Nuocheng, my armored unit will make sure to go west, if your reconnaissance unit encounters any trouble, you can contact my tank commanders nearby."

"I obey! Sir! Long live Yuan!" The second lieutenant stood at attention and saluted, and then walked towards his six-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle under the watchful eyes of the Soviet prisoners behind him. Along with the reconnaissance vehicle, there were several armored vehicles of the same model around, as well as some motorcycles and off-road vehicles.

At this time, a barrel truck drove over from the road not far away and stopped next to the armored vehicle of the German front-line commander. A division staff officer jumped off the barrel truck and stood up to attention to salute the regimental commander. : "I am here under the order of the division commander to check the current advancement of your troops. The situation has changed. It seems that the Soviets are planning to abandon their defensive positions west of the Don River."

"Yes, Chief of Staff. My troops have just confirmed the intelligence of the Air Force reconnaissance plane through a short push. Their resistance is very slight. It can be said that these places were given to us by the Soviet army." The commander of the regiment turned back He jumped off the armored vehicle again, walked up to the chief of staff of the division headquarters, stood at attention and gave a casual military salute, and then said: "I am ordering the troops to search and attack forward, covering all areas on the west bank of the Don River."

The chief of staff of the division nodded, and said: "The problem you mentioned was also encountered by another armored division next door. When they attacked, they found that the Soviet army was about to collapse, so they sent a report to the military headquarters. In the report Said that they will use the fastest speed to occupy the west bank of the Don River and encircle the tens of thousands of Soviet troops here."

Not only did the attack here feel like a punch on the cotton, but farther away, the German army attacking Perelazovsky rushed directly into the city, and then on the road behind Perelazovsky He caught up with the retreating Soviet infantry and directly captured a number of Soviet prisoners.

Along all the lines of defense between Perelazovsky and Sulovkino, the German army successfully broke through and captured a number of Soviet prisoners of war, but these prisoners were civilians who had just been armed. Many were not even equipped with bullets.

These Soviet soldiers have been completely abandoned by Rokossovsky. They have run out of supplies a day ago, and they are hungry on the ground waiting for news from the rear. And the onslaught on the ground. They were at a loss and couldn't figure out why the main force east of the Don River didn't support them, and they couldn't figure out why the artillery and anti-aircraft guns and other weapons and equipment were snatched back to the east of the Don River.

By the time they knew they had been abandoned, they had been escorted by the German army to concentration camps as far away as Ukraine and Poland. There is only one purpose for them to be left in place to defend their positions, and that is to pile up in the middle of the road like garbage, slow down the German army's offensive speed, and buy a little time for the main Soviet army east of the Don River.

There was no Soviet army that wanted to hold the front line at all, and the attack speed of Manstein's troops even surpassed Guderian's G Army. One of the armored regiments he had used as a striker had fought as far as Octobertown on its way south, and stopped attacking in order to wait for fuel.

In contrast, Guderian's troops were much more conservative. After advancing tens of kilometers, his troops stopped attacking because they couldn't figure out what the Soviet army was doing.

Then the German army arrived along the Don River, and the two sides made contact on the Don River defense line. The Soviet army and the German army conducted a brief shelling. After the German bombers visited again, the Soviet army took the initiative to stop this provocative behavior. Guderian did not rush to cross the Don River, but waited for his infantry to arrive, and then began to erect pontoon bridges to prepare to cross the river.

Within 48 hours of the beginning of the Battle of the Caucasus and the start of the German offensive, all the German offensive plans were completed, and most of them were completed. But everyone was unhappy, because they knew that the Soviet army was deliberately shrinking its forces.

...