Chapter 450: Go to the Left, Go to the Right, Fight Hard

The military situation is urgent, and the sky will not get dark until ten o'clock in the middle of summer, and precious time cannot be wasted.

After dinner, all the officers and men of the 10th Panzer Division had been informed of their combat mission, and they set out one after another, turning left through the city of Pustoshka and marching along a parallel road and two dirt roads, aiming at Sheberi, 60 kilometers to the west.

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For the 21st Mechanized Corps of the Soviet Army, time was also precious.

Less than a day after passing through the city of Shebezh and entering the Stalinist line, the troops of the 21st Mechanized Corps had not had time to rest or replenish the losses they had suffered in the previous battle, and after a simple meal and a good dinner, they hurriedly assembled under the leadership of officers at all levels, turned around and turned to the right, aiming directly at the city of Pustoska, 60 kilometers to the east.

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The battle plan of the 10th Panzer Division was divided into two steps, first to occupy the city of Idrisa, the midpoint of the front, and at the same time to make contact with the 56th Panzer Corps west of Shebezh, and then to attack at the same time and break through the Stalin line in one fell swoop.

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The combat mission of the 21st Mechanized Corps was also divided into two steps, first rushing to the city of Itrica to meet up with the defenders there, and at the same time making contact with the 10th Mechanized Corps east of Pustoshka, and then flanking the German troops in Pustoshka on both sides, recovering the fallen city in one fell swoop and breaking the German encirclement.

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The 10th Panzer Division is a veteran German Panzer Division, one of the ten Panzer Divisions established by the German Army before the outbreak of World War II, and has participated in all German military operations such as the Polish Campaign and the Blitzkrieg in Western Europe. He contributed to the expansion of the territory of the Greater German Empire.

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The 21st Mechanized Corps is a relatively young unit. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German war. It was the first time that the 21st Mechanized Army set foot on the battlefield to participate in actual combat.

However, it was this rookie unit that had just entered the battlefield that stubbornly slowed down the march of the 56th Panzer Corps with heroic and flexible tactics such as blocking battles and counteroffensives, and covered most of the infantry of the 11th Army to retreat safely to the Stalin line.

The first of the rivals destined for a big fight was the German 10th Panzer Division.

About 10 kilometers east of Idricsa, passing through a small village called Raskov, the 10th Panzer Division's vanguard reconnaissance unit was blocked by Soviet troops stationed in the village, and after a brief and not fierce exchange of fire. The Soviet troops in the village voluntarily broke away from the battle and fled to the west.

The short outpost battle kicked off the Battle of Idrichata, and the fleeing defenders of the village of Laskov made every defender in Idritsa tense their nerves.

By the time the 10th Panzer Division arrived in Itrica at about eight o'clock in the evening, the defenders were already in high formation.

At this time, two hours before dark, the commander of the 10th Panzer Division, Lieutenant General Fisher, immediately decided to launch a tentative attack.

Four FI-282 Hummingbird helicopters approached from the south of the city, and on the ground about fifty meters below the fuselage, the No. 4G tank of the 1st Battalion of the 8th Panzer Regiment led a battalion of infantry to charge towards the city of Idricia.

The city is surrounded by forests and lakes on three sides, with only large tracts of arable land in the south. Lieutenant General Fisher did not hesitate to put the main direction of attack in the south.

The Butan cluster had not yet reached the outskirts of the city, and the divisional artillery regiments had already smashed tons of shells on Soviet positions on the outskirts. Clouds of gunpowder smoke and fire instantly flooded the Soviet position, and the originally orderly position also had countless large and small craters.

In the telescope of Admiral Fisher, who was observing the battlefield in the rear, in the formation of the attacking infantry clusters, from time to time there were clusters of fire, and gray-white gunpowder smoke rose with it.

According to the area covered by the fire and gunsmoke, Lieutenant General Fisher judged very old-fashioned that the Soviet army's artillery fire against his subordinates was only some mortars and infantry guns, and there were no large-caliber howitzers, which showed that the defenders in the city lacked heavy firepower, and the number of troops was not very large, at most the regimental size.

If all goes well, with a single charge, his troops should be able to rush into the city, Lieutenant General Fisher quickly decided.

As Lieutenant General Fisher had predicted, the Soviet artillery fire did not cause great losses to the 8th Panzer Regiment and the infantry behind, and the No. 4G tank successfully approached about 500 meters in front of the Soviet position, and used the KWK40 75mm tank gun to name the remaining firepower on the position, and the battle entered a close-quarters encounter.

The artillery regiment then ceased fire, saving valuable shells.

Seeing that the stormtroopers had already rushed to the Soviet positions, Lieutenant General Fisher had already begun to consider whether he should send reserves to storm the city in one go.

Outside Idrichatsa, Lieutenant General Fisher sharpens his sword.

In the city of Idricha, there is also a tense atmosphere.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way, don't get in the way, let's get through."

A tank column consisting of BT-5 light tanks sped from the road west of the city to Shebezh and rushed straight into the city, led by a tank with a major officer half exposed outside the turret, brandishing a revolver in his right hand, and shouting at the soldiers blocking the road as he fired.

His shouting was more of a pistol in his hand that played the role of a "traffic policeman", and the citizens and soldiers on the road flashed to both sides of the road in a panic, and after the panic, the expressions on their faces were instantly replaced by excitement.

Reinforcements have arrived!

The BT-5 fast tank column was only the pioneer, followed by the more powerful T34 tanks.

Asking along the way, the tank column made its way through the streets and turned around and rushed to the south of the city, which was under heavy artillery fire.

In the southwest corner of the battlefield south of the city, above the battlefield, on the Hummingbird helicopter numbered 1011, the pilot Friedrich pulled the control stick and let the plane hover in the air, and his vigilant eyes swept the battlefield to see if there were anti-aircraft guns staring at him.

As his eagle-eyed gaze swept over the southwest corner of the battlefield, on a road leading from west to east to Idricsa, Friedrich suddenly squinted at the road.

"Hey, what are you doing? From this angle, I can't see the battle in the direction of the city. Observer Eric shouted.

"Look what's running on that road?" Friedrich shouted.

Eric immediately turned the Zeiss telescope in his hand in the direction of Friedrich's finger, and quickly saw the fast-moving steel monsters on the road.

"It's the Russians, a lot of tanks, rushing here, there are T-34s, there are a lot of light tanks, and there seem to be some big guys in the back." Eric said.

Less than a minute later, a radio wave fell into the position of the artillery regiment of the 10th Armored Division, and the nine Wasp self-propelled howitzers of the 1st Battalion immediately turned on the spot and aimed their guns at the southwest.

Information about the approach of Soviet tank units in the southwest was quickly sent to Lieutenant General Fisher, and another battle report was sent to him.

A large number of tanks poured out of the city of Idrica and the troops' attack was blocked.

Lieutenant General Fisher hurriedly picked up his binoculars and looked into the city, and sure enough, he vaguely saw tanks emerging from the streets and alleys of the city, and fierce tank battles broke out on the outskirts of the city.

In his line of sight, there were already two Type 4G tanks billowing smoke, and there were more on the Soviet side.

It is nasty news that Russian reinforcements have arrived at this time.

Looking up at the increasingly dark sky, Lieutenant General Fisher thought for a moment before giving the order.

"The artillery was ordered to open fire, cover the retreat of the troops, and the offensive was suspended."

A moment later, the artillery positions of the 10th Panzer Division were again filled with earth-shattering roars・・・・・・ (To be continued. )