In the town of Tony, on the north bank of the Dnieper River, an east-west road runs out of the town and leads to the city of Zolotonosha in the west. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the north side of the road just west of the town of Tony, in the lush birch forest, the rumbling of artillery is heard one after another.

Large expanses of gray-black smoke rose from the trees, drifted up to the treetops, and were then dispersed by the wind.

The same process repeats itself, and from a distance, the sky above the birch forest seems to be covered with dark clouds.

Under the dark clouds, 12 B-4 203-mm howitzers of the heavy artillery battalion directly under the Soviet 37th Army were pouring shells on the German crossing site.

Every shot of the heavy artillery made the earth tremble, the trunks of the birch trees swayed, and the scattered branches and leaves fluttered among the trees.

Even when they could not see the tragic situation of the German troops being shelled in the distance, the Soviet gunners were still happily repeating the boring firing procedure of reloading and firing.

No one could withstand the heavy blow of Stalin's hammer, not even the tanks, and the Soviet gunners were doing their job with enthusiasm while reminding themselves of the heavy casualties of the Germans under the shelling.

To the north of Tony, Rommel's telescope made several rounds between Tony and the birch forest west of Tony, followed by a series of orders.

For a battlefield veteran like Rommel, the black clouds of smoke over the birch forest and the muffled sound of shelling sent a message that an artillery position was hidden.

The battle group then split into two parts, and Colonel Ressetu led the main force of the battle group to storm the town of Tony from the north.

Consisting of two infantry companies and scouts, the smaller unit rushed into the birch forest west of the town of Tonni, aiming directly at Soviet artillery positions.

The ground north of Tony Town was open and there were no trees to cover up, and as soon as the No. 4 tank and armored vehicle of the battle group appeared, they were spotted by the Soviet troops in the town, and the battle broke out.

To the west of the battlefield, the armoured vehicles of Captains Jeugen von and Heinrich whirlwind over potato fields and into the edge of the birch forest.

The infantry and scouts jumped out of their armored vehicles and rushed into the birch forest on foot to carry out the task of clearing the Soviet artillery in the birch forest.

No sooner had Captain Heinrich and his men stormed the birch forest than the sound of shelling in the woods subsided, then replaced by a dense burst of gunfire.

The Soviet artillerymen in the woods were alerted by friendly forces and learned that German units were approaching behind them, so they turned to infantry to meet the charging Germans.

The Soviets were on the defensive, with terrain and numerical superiority, while the Germans had far more combat experience than their opponents, and the battle was at a stalemate from the beginning until four Bobcat reconnaissance tanks reached the line of fire.

Four Bobcat reconnaissance tanks ran over the bushes, crashed into the birch trees blocking the road, staggered to the line of fire, shook the turrets, 20-mm machine guns and vehicle-mounted machine guns swept through Soviet positions.

Under the sharp fire of the Bobcat reconnaissance tank, the Soviet gunners who cameo in the infantry were the first to be routed, and the retreat of the gunners immediately caused the collapse of the artillery battalion guards.

Captain Heinrich took the opportunity to command his subordinates to charge, and German infantry and scouts immediately swept through the Soviet artillery positions.

"Shoot or kill."

"Put down the guns, we treat the captives preferentially."

Captain Heinrich roamed the battlefield, speaking in German-accented Russian, shouting incessantly to break the Russian army's will to resist.

The report of the destruction of the Soviet artillery battalion was soon sent to Rommel, who immediately sent reinforcements, a group of German gunners.

Because they were behind enemy lines, the supply lines were cut off, and the air force could not meet all the needs of the troops, not only fuel, but also the ammunition of Rommel's troops was about to run out.

The Wild Bee self-propelled artillery battalion in Rommel's battle group was also facing the dilemma of running out of shells.

As a last resort, Rommel had no choice but to turn his mind on the Soviet army.

Having learned of the occupation of Soviet artillery positions, six Wild Bee self-propelled howitzer artillery crews without shells were stationed in the woods.

After some interrogation, Captain Heinrich selected more than forty Soviet gunners from among the prisoners.

Under the coercion of the muzzle, the Soviet gunners and the German gunners had a brief but soul-touching exchange, which soon allowed the German gunners to learn the operation of the "Stalin's hammer", and with the joint efforts of the two groups of gunners, the entire artillery position was reactivated.

Rommel had already made contact with the Reichsmarshal's division on the other side of the river, and under the guidance of the artillery school firing aircraft sent by the Reichsmarshal division, the muzzles of the B-4 howitzers were pointed at their former comrades, responsible for defending the Soviet positions on the riverbank.

The thunderous sound of cannon resounded through the birch forest again, and the gray-black smoke of gunpowder once again shrouded the sky over the birch forest.

The village of Tchaikovka, adjacent to the banks of the Dnieper, became the first casualty of the "Stalin's hammer".

After a rapid fire of five shots, the village of Tchaikovka, which had been shattered by the fighting, was almost wiped off the ground.

The power of the 203-mm howitzer erased the village of Tchaikovka, as well as the lives and will of the Soviet troops in the village.

After the five rapid fire stopped, the infantry of the Imperial Marshal's Division outside the village rushed into the village with only one charge, easily sweeping away the few remaining Soviet troops in the village and opening the door to the depth of the Soviet defense.

The artillery positions outside the town of Tony are fighting, and the town of Tony has also changed owners.

When Rommel moved into a wooden house north of the town of Tony, he was not happy about a victory.

"We really couldn't run this time, and the most painful thing in our lives was knowing that there was an enemy army headquarters near us, but we didn't have gasoline."

Rommel said depressedly as he stared at the location of the town of Zolotonosa on the map.

Zolotonosa is located to the west of the town of Tony, less than ten kilometers away, which for armored forces can be said to be a distance that can be reached in the blink of an eye.

The journey and battle to Tony almost depleted the little fuel left in Rommel's battle group, especially the tanks in the battle group.

Rommel had no choice but to let his troops turn into a defensive state with the town of Tony as the center, and at the same time contact friendly forces on the other side of the Dnieper River to airdrop supplies to his troops.

While waiting anxiously, Rommel was suddenly attracted by the sound of artillery outside the town.

After sending someone to inquire, Rommel learned that the caliber of the heavy artillery outside the town turned out to be a rare 203 mm, and his face was immediately covered with a blush of excitement.

"Order the artillery to turn the muzzle and point it at Zolotonosa, and not to skimp on the shells."

With an order from Rommel, the artillery positions outside the town stopped firing and switched the firing target.

In the busy crowd of artillery positions, the figure of Captain Heinrich flashed.

After capturing the artillery positions, Captain Heinrich and his men remained in the birch forest to protect the artillery positions.

Since there were not enough gunners to operate all 12 guns, Captain Heinrich's men occasionally assisted the gunners in unskilled tasks such as carrying shells.

203 mm caliber howitzers, a rarity for the army, and Captain Heinrich was equally curious about these big guys.

After writing a combat report, Captain Heinrich walked behind a B-4 howitzer, pulled out a piece of white chalk and wrote a line in German on the shell.

Dear Ivan, Captain Jurgen von Heinrich of the German Army salutes you.

After the gunners had finished turning their guns and locked on to the city of Zolotonosa, the shell, with Captain Heinrich's kind wishes, was the first to be stuffed into the chamber, and then the cartridge was fired.

After a loud bang, the cannonball spun and rushed out of the chamber and flew towards the city of Zolotonosa.

Three minutes later, north of the city of Zolotonosha, the headquarters of the 37th Soviet Army was in chaos.

The guards of the headquarters cooperated with the medics to carry the stretchers onto the trucks parked outside.

Lying on the second stretcher was none other than the commander of the 37th Army, Lieutenant General Vlasov.

Vlasov was lying on his back on a stretcher, the black-rimmed glasses on his face had long since been thrown out, and the right half of his face was bruised.

With red blood foaming in his mouth, Vlasov stammered: "Quickly let the headquarters transfer・・・・・・ cough cough ・・・・・・"

After saying this with difficulty, Vlasov rolled his eyes and fainted.

The unconscious Vlasov was lifted into the back of a gas truck, which spewed out a puff of black smoke and dragged Vlasov to the field hospital in the city.