At the end of the tank battle, the 26th Motorized Infantry Regiment took the initiative to attack and sent a motorized infantry battalion to search for and kill the Soviet troops who fled to the field.

In the back seat of the VW82 barrel truck, Major General Hausenfeld stood up and scanned the vast battlefield.

Countless tank wreckage, at least two-thirds of which were rear-facing to him, is enough to see that this roundabout outflanking was successful and had the effect of surprise.

There was no expression on his face, but Hausenfeld's eyes were full of joy.

If, according to his own ideas, the two tank battalions of the 24th Panzer Regiment were reinforced to two Romanian divisions, and they were driven to the front line to fire at the Soviet tanks, at most they could only repel the Soviet tanks, and they would certainly not be able to achieve this kind of total annihilation.

Not only that, but their own losses would have to be at least a tenth of the number of Soviet tanks, reaching 30 to 40 units, instead of the current cost of four destroyed and six wounded.

A straddle motorcycle swoops across the grass to find Hausenfeld.

Colonel Henrich, commander of the 26th Motorized Rifle Regiment, jumped off the motorcycle and waved in Hausenfeld.

Taking a cigarette from Hausenfeld, an old friend and superior, Henrich took two puffs of the whole cigarette and spat out the mouthpiece.

"When the reconnaissance plane informed me that more than 300 tanks were rushing towards my position, I thought that today was the day of my martyrdom. Fortunately, the Russians will not fight, so many tanks do not know how to outflank, only know a frontal impact, and there are dozens of them, dozens of them rushing over in batches. That's why I have the opportunity to come here and thank you for being behind your back. ”

Hausenfeld patted his old friend on the shoulder.

"The task of cleaning up the battlefield is entrusted to you, and there must be a lot of treasures in it that we need, as compensation for you."

Henrich shrugged his shoulders and said with a smile, "Okay, I'll look to see if there's any map, battle plan, or anything like that." Anything else? ”

"Let the maintenance department assess those wounded Russian tanks, see what are worth repairing, and let them tow them back for repair."

The two then parted ways.

After confirming that there were no surviving Soviet tanks on the battlefield, the 24th Panzer Regiment wasted no time and turned around and drove north to support the 21st Regiment, which was fighting a blocking battle.

When Major General Hausenfeld and the XXIV Panzer Regiment arrived at the battlefield. From a distance, seven or eight black pillars of black smoke rushed into the sky in front of the position of the 21st Regiment, and the 21st Regiment had already repelled the later Soviet troops.

Hauseenfeld immediately sent five Bobcat light tanks north to reconnoitre, followed by the 24th Panzer Regiment and the 21st Regiment, and launched a pursuit to the north.

The Soviet army saw that the momentum was not good. Turning around and fleeing, Hausenfeld led his men in unhindered pursuit to the positions of the Romanian Fourth Army.

With the assistance of the XXIV Panzer Division, the officers of the Romanian Fourth Army collected the rout and re-established the entire position.

On the night of 27 May, the battlefield returned to calm. There was only sporadic gunfire from nowhere.

In the city of Buzeu, in the headquarters of the 8th Mechanized Army, Ryabishev's shouting almost lifted the roof.

"In one morning, the main force of the 12th Tank Division and the 1st Division of the 34th Tank Division were completely annihilated, and no one escaped. What really happened behind the positions of the Romanian troops? Whether our troops surrendered to the enemy en masse or committed suicide en masse, or were like a flock of sheep that had encountered wild wolves, frightened by the Germans and afraid to resist, and stood there watching the Germans pounce on them and eat them. ”

In the face of Ryabishev's anger. One by one, the staff officers hung their heads and just silently did the work in hand, and lowered their voices when they spoke, for fear of being caught by Ryabishev and used as a punching bag.

No one paid attention to him, and Ryabishev sang a one-man show alone, spitting out countless saliva before venting the anger in his heart.

Listening to Ryabishev's voice was a little hoarse, the chief of staff thoughtfully handed over a glass of warm water, and then persuaded: "There are many tanks hidden behind the enemy's defense line, and we have now lost our offensive strength. We can only postpone the offensive for the first time and wait for the arrival of replenishment. ”

"It's been a week since we entered Romania, and it's been four days since we occupied the city of Buzeu, but the train still can't get here. Our reinforcements and weapons can only compete with those infantry for the road, is the logistics department just an ornament? ”

"Romanian railways use 1,435 mm wide standard gauges, and we use 1,524 mm wide gauges. Before the train entered Romania, the engineers had to modify the width of the tracks, and in a maximum of two days, the train would enter the city. During this time. We must do a good job in arming and reconnaisance work. ”

Ryabishev frowned and stared at the map.

Bucharest and Ploiesti are close at hand, but you can't see or touch them.

Although he was unwilling, he could only choose patience when he lost the power to attack.

Ten days at most, no, seven days, I must rush into Bucharest, and the Ploiesti oil fields.

A hint of determination flashed in Ryabishev's eyes.

For the rest of the night, the warring sides rested and repaired the damage caused by the war.

In the early morning of 28 May, as the stars gradually faded into the night, in the northern part of the road leading from Buzeu to Ploiesti, in the town of Meret at the foot of the southern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, most of the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 23rd Motorized Infantry Regiment of the 7th Motorized Division of the Soviet Red Army were still asleep.

However, to the west, three kilometers away, there was a tense atmosphere in the town of Diel.

Soldiers and officers were heavily armed and weaved through every road in the town.

In the wilderness west of the town, seventy-four tanks of the first battalion of the 24th Armored Regiment were neatly arranged in two rows.

To the west of them, the infantry of the 1st Battalion of the 21st Mechanized Regiment sat in Type 251 armored vehicles.

Some leaned against the wall of the carriage with guns in their arms to make up for sleep, while others waited excitedly for the battle to begin.

Farther to the west, twenty-four 105-mm howitzers of the 1st and 2nd battalions of the 89th self-propelled artillery regiment pointed diagonally to the east.

The time had just advanced to 4:20, and twenty-four regiments of fire shone from the positions of the artillery regiment, and twenty-four 105-mm shells dragged a bright tracer light, and fell to the town of Merley in an instant.

No sooner had the first round of shells landed, and the sentries wandering at the western junction of the town of Merley were nowhere to be seen, either blown to pieces or lying on their heads to escape the sudden shelling.

Round after round of shells fell, a dense barrage of barrage and smoke covered the town of Merre. It makes people think that the Germans want to wipe the town of Merley off the face of the earth.

The moment the cannon rang out, the sleepy soldier opened his eyes and instantly became energetic.

The soldiers and tankers, who were already in good spirits, straightened their backs. The impatience in his eyes was swept away.

The radio was like a big net, shuttling through every No. 4 G tank and 251 armored workshop, and the roar of the engine was like morphine, shaking the nerves of every soldier.

The tracks run over the black soil, and the wheels roll over the green grass. The huge convoy passed through the wilderness south of the town of Dier, and in less than ten minutes it ran over the middle of the battlefield, and rushed to the town of Merre for about 500 meters.

45-mm anti-tank shells flew and slammed into the armor of the Type 4G tank, causing a shock to the crew.

Mortar-shells and machine-gun bullets rained down, bullets and shrenching on the tanks.

In all corners of the town of Merley, the Soviet infantry rushed out of their quarters in disheveled manners and stumbled to the west of the town to join the battle against the Germans.

They had not yet seen the German tanks, but they had long been locked by the eyes from the sky.

The two FI-282 Hummingbird helicopters were only at the height of the willow treetops at a distance from the ground. Following behind the armored clusters of the German army, it was like two generals in battle.

Each Hummingbird helicopter acted as an observation post for an artillery battalion, and with the help of altitude and the wide field of view provided by the telescopes, they clearly saw every move of the Soviet troops in the town of Meré.

Under their guidance, the Soviet firing points that exposed the target as a result of the fire were covered one by one with 105-mm shells.

The house was reduced to rubble, and the Soviet infantry inside was buried.

Parts of the anti-tank guns, along with the gunner's stumps and severed arms, flew into the sky, and the Soviet firepower had just reached its peak before being suppressed by the fierce and accurate German fire.

Two artillery battalions turned into violent demolition teams and forcibly demolished more than 30 houses in the west of Meire Town.

Between the ruins, there were Soviet corpses and broken weapon parts everywhere.

Tanks outside the town lined up in two rows. One line opened fire, the other advanced, alternating cover and rushing towards the town.

Rushing to a distance of more than three hundred meters from the town, the rear hatch of the armored car was opened one after another. The infantry jumped out of the cabin and rushed after the tanks and armored vehicles towards the town of Merley.

Five minutes later, a battalion of infantry rushed into the town from the west, northwest, and southwest of the town of Merrey in a half-moon shape.

The Soviet infantry retreated into the town and prepared for street fighting.

However, a sharp weapon of street warfare shattered their illusions.

Four had no turrets, but had wide, tall, beveled fighting compartments. A Grizzly assault gun armed with a 150-mm howitzer drove up the streets of the town of Merley.

A Dzhegalev light machine gun hid in a small two-story building on the south side of the main street, frantically spitting bullets at the German infantry in the street, only to see the short, thick muzzle of the Grizzly assault gun pointed at itself.

The sound of artillery echoed over the town like thunder, and the side of the small building facing the street was immediately surrounded by smoke and dust, and after the smoke cleared, the second floor of the small building and the machine gun crew inside evaporated.

Tank 4G followed suit and stormed the town, assisting infantry and Grizzly assault guns in continuing the demolition work.

The town was filled with fires and smoke, and houses that had worked so hard and soaked in the sweat and hard work of the builders collapsed to the ground and turned into graves for Soviet soldiers.

After more than 30 minutes of street fighting, the Soviet troops in the town completely retreated, and only seventy or eighty people escaped from the town.

Leaving a platoon to guard the prisoners and look after the wounded, the infantry jumped into armored vehicles and followed the tanks back outside the town to launch a second charge to the east.

In the city of Buzeu, Ryabishev rushed into the operational command room while fastening the buttons of his military uniform.

"How many enemies are there? In what location? ”

As soon as he reached the door of the command room, Ryabishev hurriedly shouted.

"From the town of Mere at the foot of the Carpathians to Petrosu Peak, the Germans launched an offensive on a fifteen-kilometer-wide front, the town of Meret has already been occupied, and the rest of the area is currently unclear." said the chief of staff.

hum

Ryabishev sneered a few times, his eyes full of triumph in his treacherous scheme.

"As soon as our infantry units arrived, the Germans attacked, and their luck was a little too bad."

The chief of staff also had a smile on his face, and he pointed to the map and said:

"There is also the vanguard of the 15th Mechanized Corps, I have already thought that the Germans will attack us with the Carpathian Protected Left Wing, and that their troops will just expose the elongated right flank to us after they have advanced, and we can use the troops of the 15th Mechanized Corps to launch a counterattack on their right flank, and then rush straight to the Carpathians, completely annihilate their advancing troops, and then take advantage of the situation to counterattack."

"Very good, do as you say, notify the 15th Mechanized Army, and let them cooperate with our actions."

As soon as Ryabishev's words fell, a staff officer put down the phone in his hand and shouted to him in a panic: "Comrade commander, the bridge, our bridge has been blown up. ”

"Which bridge?" Ryabishev asked.

"The railway and road bridges leading to the right bank of the Buzeu River, both bridges were blown up, and our road to the rear was cut off."

***********

PS: I drank too much at noon today, my brain was dizzy, there is only this chapter today, and I will add more tomorrow, please forgive me. (To be continued.) )