Chapter 342 Decision

The 1st Guards Tank Brigade rested for a few hours

To be exact, I rested for more than ten hours.

This is determined by the weather, as I said before, the night in Moscow is as long as 15 hours at this time.

On the other hand, the Soviet army has the upper hand in air force and artillery at this particular moment, so it is of course more advantageous to choose to fight during the day.

However, the Soviet army did not wait until dawn before launching an attack. They began to prepare for battle at seven o'clock in the morning.

First of all, this is because British and American tanks are also not resistant to frost, and they need at least half an hour to prepare.

If it was the German army, they would have exposed their offensive intentions if they used fire to thaw the tanks.

But the Soviets were lighting fires all the time, so there would be no problem.

Secondly, the strategic surprise is only when the attack is launched at night.

The German army thought that the Soviet army would not attack at night, so the Soviet army attacked at night, and the route of attack was beyond their expectations... the river.

As the saying goes, "Water flows to low places and people go to high places", the river course is always a place with low terrain.

From a tactical point of view, it is actually not a very good offensive line, and it can even be said to be very poor.

The reason is that its ice surface can easily make tank tracks slip, and the low terrain gives the German troops on both sides a condescending advantage, etc.

But sometimes, the seemingly most improbable is feasible, because the enemy often thinks so too.

It's eight o'clock in the morning.

The sky was still pitch black, and there was still an hour before dawn, except for the "rustling" sound of snowflakes falling slowly in the air, there was no sound at all.

Suddenly, three red flares rose into the air.

Then violent artillery fire rang out, which was also mixed with the terrifying whistling sound of rocket shells "swish".

The artillery fire is concentrated on the contact line of the Soviet and German armies... This contact thread is very obvious. On the German side, most of the houses and buildings are still intact, while on the Soviet side, they are basically in ruins.

Such a bombing would tell the Germans the wrong message: the Soviets would attack again from the line of contact.

but it is not the truth.

At the moment when the artillery sounded, the 1st Infantry Battalion was advancing along the river under the cover of the 1st Tank Battalion...but at this time it was a bit unclear whether the infantry was covering the tanks or the tanks were covering the infantry.

The Germans had no fortifications in the middle of the river.

This is not because fortifications cannot be built in the river course. Fortifications can be built anywhere in winter when the temperature is extremely low. Both the enemy and the enemy can use rubble and pour melted water to build strong fortifications.

In an emergency, even just digging down the snow can build a trench.

The problem is that there is no grass on the river, that is, there are no buildings or trees. Building fortifications here is a target for the Soviet artillery.

So, the Germans put barbed wire in the river, planted mines and it was over.

The Germans thought that no one would attack from the river, it was like getting into their encirclement.

But the Soviets did just that.

The tank "rumbled" forward, and Shulka led his subordinates to follow closely behind the tank panting and pushed forward... It is not easy to act in winter, the heavy cotton clothes, and people's feet are deep and shallow. Worse still, you could get frostbite at any moment without knowing it until it was too late.

This is not a joke, because being frozen usually loses consciousness or loses part of consciousness, and there are not a few Soviet soldiers who have to amputate because of this.

Several mine-sweeping tanks drove ahead. They successfully rolled the barbed wire and roadblocks into the snow to flatten them, and then rushed into the minefield and crushed the mines with a "bang bang" sound.

Because of the sound of gunfire and the cover of darkness, the Germans were unaware of this.

It wasn't until fifteen minutes later that the gunfire gradually stopped that the movement here attracted the attention of the German army.

But it was too late at this time, the Soviet army had successfully passed through the minefield and entered the safe zone.

Several flares rose into the air to illuminate the river, and the Soviet tank units were exposed to the sight of the Germans.

Intensive gunfire soon rang out, and the German army fired at the Soviet army in the middle of the river with various weapons.

But this doesn't help at all... The German army deployed anti-tank guns along the contact line, and a considerable part of them was still in the building and could not be quickly mobilized.

On the other hand, the Soviet army was divided into two groups and advanced along the river bank.

There is usually a certain height difference between the river bank and the river channel, and this height difference happens to be a blind spot of firepower that becomes a bunker for Soviet troops.

Of course, if the German army rushed up directly, it could still pose a threat to the Soviet army.

This is exactly what the German army did. In desperation, they got out of the building in groups and attacked the Soviet army... But it was in vain. They were quickly beaten by the 1st Guards Tank Brigade with tanks, machine guns and rocket launchers. He beat back hard.

The information quickly reached Kubilana.

Kubil was taken aback at first, because he didn't expect the enemy to break through the river so boldly.

But after looking at the map for a while, Kubil felt relieved.

"General, organize an attack immediately!" the adjutant said to Kubil: "It's too late, they may reach the Tver Bridge after dawn, which is our railway!"

"No, Felix!" Kubiler said. "This may be the enemy's tactic! Once we transfer our forces to the Tver River, they will launch a fierce attack from the contact line!"

Hearing this, the adjutant stopped talking, because it was indeed possible.

"Calm down, Felix!" Kubiler continued, "Now the enemy's intentions are unclear, we should observe for a while before making a decision!"

"Yes, General!"

What the adjutant didn't know was that Kubil was actually planning another plan in his mind.

In fact, the strategic intention of the Soviet army is very obvious. Attacking along the river is to cut off the German railways and roads on the Tver River.

Kubil understood this the moment he heard the information and looked at the map.

But Kubil pretended not to know and made a wrong decision...

However, perhaps this cannot be said to be a wrong decision, at least for Kubiler it was not a mistake.

What happens if you let the enemy cut the transport line?

This had little effect on the German Fourth Army Group stationed in Tver, because the main force of the Fourth Army Group was on the west bank of the Tver River.

The effect of it was that the supply and even the retreat route from the Trevescope to the Fourth Tank Army would be cut off.

To be precise, it is the main retreat.

What happened next, then, was the collapse of the 4th Tank Army and 3rd Panzer Group in the north.

This is not what Kubiler wants to see, Kubiler just doesn't want to fight back the interspersed Soviet army so early.

He hoped that everyone would see this threat, and then... the head of state would have to make a decision to retreat.