To the south of Petrosu Peak, the positions of the 122 Infantry Division of the XVIII Army of the Southern Front were under strong pressure.

After the start of the battle, it took eight days for the infantry of the 122nd Division to march at a speed ranging from 30 to 40 kilometers a day to the front line of the war, the area on the right bank of the Buzeu River.

Stationed in the south of Petrosu Peak, the troops had only rested for one day, the fatigue caused by the rapid march had not yet recovered, the fortifications had not yet been completely constructed, and the "battering ram" led by the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion smashed into the defense line of the 122nd Infantry Division.

There were no minefields, no barbed wire, just foxholes and jagged trenches that snaking and crissling.

Seeing the BT-5 tank groups fleeing back to their starting positions in droves, and the few remaining T-34 tanks, the infantry of the 122nd Division immediately fell into panic.

Where are the KV-1 tanks with square heads that look strong and violent? Could it be that all of them were killed by the Germans, and not a single one survived? What's really going on on the battlefield ahead?

The infantry of the 122nd Division were full of doubts and panic, but they were still ready for battle under the orders of officers at all levels.

They had already been alerted by the surviving tank units, and the enemy was right behind them.

In less than twenty minutes, they saw that the south was dusty, and the sky was filled with pale black dust, and in the distance, the entire horizon seemed to be ablaze.

The formidable yet graceful figure of the E-40 tank was the first to burst into the sight of Soviet officers, attracting countless glowing muzzles.

In the trenches, the anti-tank gunners stuffed the chambers of the PTRD-41 anti-tank guns in their hands, and the position suddenly resounded with the sound of clicking and pulling the bolts.

The 14.5 mm caliber copper-clad steel is armor-piercing bullet with a hard steel core, and the vertical armor penetration depth is about 35mm at 100 meters.

If the BS-41 tungsten core armor-piercing projectile is fired, the vertical armor-piercing depth at 100 meters is 40mm.

According to the orders of the officers, the anti-tank gunners uniformly used tungsten core armor-piercing rounds, which were more powerful in armor-piercing.

The shouts of the officers echoed over the position. From time to time, infantrymen carried ammunition boxes and trotted to deliver ammunition to machine-gun positions.

The safety cover of the grenade was unscrewed and neatly placed on the right hand side of the infantrymen. at the distance they think is most convenient for them to reach.

The officers were visually observing that the German tanks were only about a kilometer away from the forward position when they suddenly heard a strong wind blowing overhead.

"Woohoo"

The 122-mm howitzers and 152-mm howitzers of the 122nd Division's artillery regiment threw tons of bombs over the heads of the infantry and smashed into the German charging formation.

Shells are exploding. The earth was shaking, and the Soviet infantry was shouting.

Long live the artillery!

Germans, die!

The Germans are finished!

Seeing the smoke from the explosion of shells flooding the cluster of German tanks, the Soviet infantrymen could not help but shout as if they had won the battle.

Artillery, as the god of war that Stalin always trusted. Their timely firing greatly alleviated the psychological fear of the infantry caused by the defeat of the tank troops.

Seeing that the morale of the soldiers was high, the officers had smiles on their faces and did not stop their subordinates from violating common sense.

However, the excitement of the Soviet infantry did not last long, when they felt a sudden evil wind appear above their heads.

Shelling! Get down!

The veterans squatted down with their heads in their hands, and did not forget to shout to remind the recruits around them.

Most of the recruits were alerted by officers and veterans to quickly retreat into trenches and foxholes, and there were unresponsive unlucky ones who were caught up in the intense artillery fire.

The grass-green steel helmet spun and flew into the sky, stuffed with half of the owner's severed head, spinning. All sorts of red and white liquids spilled and fell to the ground, dripping on the bodies of the other infantrymen in the trenches.

Each shell landed, and an additional crater appeared on the ground, and the soil in the pit sprayed into the air, and then crackled on the Soviet infantry in the trenches, and the well-dressed infantry instantly turned gray.

While the Soviet infantry was dodging the shelling, most people did not notice that in the rear of the German attack cluster, two FI-282 helicopter helicopters urgently pulled up to an altitude of about 500 meters. The artillery observation post on the plane picked up binoculars and looked behind the Soviet positions.

They deduced the general direction of the Soviet artillery position based on the landing point of the Soviet artillery shells, and then used the open field of vision to find the gray-white smoke cloud floating over the Soviet artillery position.

Further behind them, the Wasp and Wild Bee self-propelled guns in the artillery regiment of the 23rd Panzer Division. In accordance with the coordinates provided by the helicopter observation post, fire suppression was carried out on Soviet artillery positions.

After about five minutes, the German tankers realized that the shells that had fallen near their vehicles had become sparse and could no longer stop their advance, and the armored group regrouped and charged again.

The shelling by the Germans finally ended. The Soviet infantry stood up straight, and before they had time to beat the dust on their bodies, they heard the shrill whistles of the officers.

They looked up at the battlefield, but they were dumbfounded.

At some point, the German tank cluster had rushed to a distance of only five or six hundred meters from them.

There is no need for an officer's order, the ZIS-3 76.2 mm cannon was the first to fire, this new cannon, which was mass-produced and equipped with troops only at the end of last year, has good accuracy and fast rate of fire, and was warmly welcomed by Soviet artillery as soon as it entered the Soviet artillery unit.

The performance of weapons can only be tested in real combat.

Seeing the shells that crashed into the front armor of the German tank and were gorgeously catapulted into the air, the gunners of the ZIS-3 became more and more frightened the more they fought.

Beside them, a 45mm 1937 anti-tank gun joined the attack, but there were no surprises, and not a single E-40 tank was destroyed, except for four or five tanks that were damaged on their tracks or stopped on their load wheels.

The frantic fire of Soviet artillery revealed their position.

In the north of the battlefield, a ZIS-3 cannon covered with camouflage nets and more than a dozen willow leaves was inserted on it, and the seventh shell had just been fired, a mortar shell fell from the sky, willow leaves scattered in all directions, four gunners screamed and fell in a pool of blood, and the other four were killed on the spot.

In the middle of the battlefield, after a 45-mm anti-tank gun damaged the tracks of an E-40 tank, it was aiming at the exposed side of another E-40 tank. The surviving gunners hid behind their shields, and an 88-mm high-explosive shell flew in, engulfing the gun with the flames of the explosion

Machine gun bullets, 88-mm high-explosive shells, 81-mm mortar shells rained down on every exposed anti-tank gun, and the anti-tank fire on the Soviet positions became weaker and weaker.

The first E-40 tank ran over the Soviet trench, and countless figures followed through the open space between the tanks and jumped onto the Soviet positions, they were heroic German infantrymen.

The MP-40 submachine gun and G42 semi-automatic rifle acted as a trench sweeper, spurting blood all over the body of countless recalcitrant Soviet infantry and falling to the ground.

Any Soviet soldier who tried to get close to the German tank, throwing grenades and Molotov cocktails at the German tank, was knocked to the ground and subsequently smashed into the skull by the butt of the gun.

Two battalions of more than 1,000 infantry either jumped into the trenches to sweep the Soviet infantry, or they jumped directly over the trenches and continued to advance with tanks and armored vehicles to attack the rear of the Soviet positions.

In the town of Chintesti, Carpezzo walked around the military headquarters anxiously, watching the staff officers who were hurriedly packing up all kinds of intelligence and office supplies to prepare for retreat, and the anger in his heart grew stronger.

"Inform the 8th Mechanized Corps that our counteroffensive has failed, that the Germans have broken through the positions of the 122nd Infantry Division on the south side of Petrosu Peak and are developing a victory towards the Buzeu River in the north, that our army headquarters is less than five kilometers from the German advance, and that we must retreat at once and tell them to decide for themselves whether to hold on to the city of Buzeu."

Five minutes later, Carpezzo jumped into a Gas-A staff car and led the members of the military to flee eastward.

Inside the city of Buzeu, Ryabishev stared at the map, his eyes lost their brightness, as if he had aged ten years.

The Germans' troops south of Petrosu were only about fifteen kilometers away from the Buzeu River, and after these fifteen kilometers the B2 road would be cut off, and the city of Buzeu would be completely cut off from the outside world.

In other words, after the Germans had covered those fifteen kilometers, the Soviet troops near the city of Ryabishev and Buzeu would all fall into hell. (To be continued.) )