The 4th Tank Brigade finally crossed the German line of defense with three-legged barricades...... The three-legged barricade is cheap and can be laid quickly, but it is not difficult to move it.

Of course, it is not the wreckers who directly step forward to move them away, which is dangerous under the gaze of the enemy under a hail of bullets and at the same time, and at the same time it is not necessary.

The wrecker infantry is advancing under the cover of the tank, and when they reach the barricade area, the wrecker infantry carries a steel tow rope over the tank and crawls forward, and then only needs to hook the hook on the tow rope like an iron anchor to the intersection of the three-legged barricade.

Each leash has three to five of these hooks, each hooked up to a barricade and then signaled backwards...... As soon as the tank at the other end of the tow rope retreats, the barricade is dragged away.

This is a verification of the saying "the road is one foot high, one foot high, one foot high", and things on the battlefield are often like this, just like spears and shields restrain each other, and at the same time, they are also the process of blood and death when the enemy and the enemy are facing each other.

The 4th Tank Brigade arrived in Tver more than half an hour later than planned.

Tver is located on the main roads of Moscow and Leningrad roads and railways...... It is 160 km from Moscow and 484 km from Leningrad.

Even more than just a main road by road and railway, it also controls the upper reaches of the river, where the Tvertsa River meets the Volga and then flows in the direction of Moscow.

Among Shulka's subordinates was a Tver man, Larinovic.

He was Shulka's old subordinate when he was a platoon commander, and Shulka almost forgot about him, until he returned to the team last week, he saluted Shulka excitedly, and then held Shulka's hand tightly, and said: "Comrade Ensign, thank you, the doctor said that you let me save my left arm, to be exact...... You saved my life! ”

Shulka was a little confused, there were so many subordinates who came and went, and some of them had already died before they could get acquainted, so Shulka really didn't remember saving the life of the corporal in front of him, but he knew that he was once his own subordinate.

"Comrade Second Lieutenant, you must not remember!" "On our way from Kyiv to Odessa, I was wounded in the arm by a mine!" ”

"Oh, Larinovic!" Shulka then remembered that he had indeed bandaged him, and advised him to follow the troops to Odessa instead of waiting for the follow-up troops to contain him on the side of the road.

"It turns out you're right!" "There are more medicines in Odessa, I was well treated there!" ”

"Why did you come to Moscow too?" Shulka asked.

"Reinforcements from Odessa!" Larinovich replied: "I came with them...... Of course, I asked for it, and they helped me go through the formalities smoothly after knowing that I was a soldier of the 333rd Regiment! ”

The 333rd Regiment is already a star unit and a hero unit in Pravda, so if a soldier asks to return to the team, of course priority will be arranged.

But Shulka doesn't think it's a good thing, because he has to go to the most dangerous front line as soon as he comes up.

At this time, Larinovich served as the guide of Shulka's company...... Because it is a night operation, in order to allow the troops not to get lost and better coordinate, each company is assigned one or two soldiers who are familiar with the terrain as guides, otherwise the tanks are scurrying around like headless flies in the streets and alleys, not only can the battle not go smoothly, but they are also afraid of accidental injuries.

The tanks "rumbled" onto the streets, and the doors of the houses on both sides were closed, and I didn't know whether people were going to empty buildings or hiding in them and didn't dare to make a sound.

Shulka led his soldiers cautiously forward, occasionally pointing his rifles at the windows on either side, because you couldn't be sure if those windows would suddenly pop out of a few guns or throw out a few grenades.

There was a deathly silence, no enemies, no civilians, only snowflakes falling from the sky and suffocating exhaust fumes from tanks.

The placket of General Shulka's hat hangs from the crown...... This is a Soviet-style cotton ear cap, which the soldiers called "Shapka", and its production is very simple, almost the common people use a red star cockade in front of the cotton cap.

This winter ear protector has two flaps on both sides to cover the ears and the back of the neck when lowered.

Shulka, as the commander, of course, could not put it down at this time...... It's not about demeanor, it's about hearing more voices, such as enemy movements, reports from subordinates, and so on.

Larinovich approached Shulka and said: "Two hundred meters further is the Volga bridge!" ”

As mentioned before, the Tvertsa River meets the Volga here, so of course there will be bridges.

The bridge will inevitably be the focus of contention between friend and foe.

In this regard, the German 571st Infantry Regiment stationed in Tver would only need to blow up several bridges across the Volga and Tvertsa rivers to effectively prevent the 4th Tank Brigade from occupying Tver.

But the Germans were reluctant to do so, for obvious reasons, which would cause heavy damage to German logistics.

In fact, there was a debate within the German army about whether or not to blow up the bridge.

The commander of the 571st Infantry Regiment, Colonel Finn, preferred to blow up the bridge.

He said the same thing to Marshal Kruger on the phone.

"Your Excellency, at least we should be prepared to blow up the bridge!" Colonel Finn said: "So that we have a choice......"

"You mean to put explosives on the main part of the pier?" Marshal Kruger interrupted Colonel Finn's words without thinking: "No, Colonel! It's stupid, you're tasked with defending the two bridges, you know? Hold them before the enemy has a chance to blow them up! ”

After a pause, Marshal Kruger said: "Do you think that you have a choice when you install explosives on the bridge?" God, don't you know how dangerous this is? What do you think the Russians will do when they find out that it is impossible to breach the bridge and at the same time find that the bridge is loaded with explosives? All they need to do is hang themselves off the pier with a few ropes and detonate the explosives, and you can't even stop them! ”

Colonel Fein was speechless when he heard this, because what Kruger said was right, it was easy for the Russian army to use explosives on the bridge.

"What's more!" Kruger said in an accentuated tone: "You have an armored train, and the four 88MM anti-aircraft guns on it can effectively block the enemy's T34, I don't know what else you need to worry about!" ”

"Say it again!" Kruger emphasized: "Hold the bridge, and at the same time you can't load explosives to ensure the safety of the bridge, understand? ”

"Yes, Your Excellency Marshal!"

Kruger hung up the phone fiercely and scolded: "These cowards, they only think about their own safety, and they don't think about how important these bridges are for the attack on Moscow!" ”