Sixteen kilometres northeast of Orsha, the city of Dubrovno is crossed by the broad Dnieper River, which splits the city into two halves.

To the west of Dubrovno, after a short battle of less than ten minutes, Major Krugel's reconnaissance battalion captured a village called Nipari.

Standing on the side of the road to the east of the village, Major Krugel climbed onto the roof of an armored car SDKFZ251 and peered with a telescope at the city of Dubrovno, which could be said to be a kilometer away.

After four or five seconds, Major Krugel lowered his binoculars and pricked up his ears to listen to the gunfire from the north.

According to the plan, the infantry of the 9th Panzer Division is attacking the village of Liye in the north of Dubrovno, and after taking the village of Liye, all the obstacles on the periphery of Dubrovno will be cleared, and the main force of the 9th Panzer Division will launch a general attack on Dubrovno.

The gunfire in the direction of Liye Village was already extremely sparse at this time, and every ten seconds, Major Krugel could barely hear the crisp gunshots, presumably because the battle had come to an end, and there were few Soviet troops left in the village.

The roar of truck engines was heard behind Major Krugel, and a long convoy drove from the northwest, and the Mercedes Benz trucks and Opel lightning heavy trucks kicked up yellow smoke and dust until they reached the northern entrance of the village of Nipari before stopping.

The trucks stopped on the right side of the road in turn, and the officers jumped out of the back compartment, shouting loudly for the soldiers in the car to leave the compartment and form a line on the side of the road.

A stocky major soon approached Major Krugel, who was Major Schlottke, an old friend and comrade-in-arms of Major Krugel, commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 9th Motorized Rifle Regiment.

After a few simple words of exchange. Major Krugel handed over control of the village of Nipari to Major Schlotke. He then moved with his men to the southwest of the village of Nipari.

Between the endless cornfields and small birch forests. There is a dirt road used by local farmers, which stretches all the way to the Dnieper.

On the other side of the Dnieper is a dense but small forest, and Krugel's aim is to use the shelter of forests and cornfields to penetrate across the Dnieper.

When grasping the initiative on the battlefield, it is even more necessary to make use of the superiority in mobility and troop strength to blossom at multiple points, so that the enemy on the opposite side cannot take care of each other. And then break through the Dnieper defense line in one fell swoop.

Major Krugel soon waited by the river to support the troops, sappers and artillery, and a motorized infantry company, who also brought assault boats to cross the river.

The scouts were the first to rush along the dirt road to the Dnieper, and the infantry lined up and rushed straight into the cornfields, where the corn stalks rose and fell like raging waves.

Infantry and scouts walked through cornfields and lurked on the banks of the Dnieper, quietly watching the forest opposite. As well as possible lurking enemies.

The muzzle of an MG42 machine gun was pointed across the river, and the muzzle of the black hole exuded a chill. At the slightest hint of wind in the forest opposite, these muzzles will mercilessly spill death on the other side.

More than twenty minutes later, Krugel heard the earth-shattering sound of gunfire coming from the direction of Dubrovno, and his spirit immediately increased.

The general assault of the main forces of the 9th Panzer Division on Dubrovno began, and its own troops could also launch an offensive.

Major Krugel waved his hand to his men behind him, and the scouts and infantrymen rushed to the Dnieper without saying a word, carrying assault boats and rubber boats.

"Puff puff puff"

The rubber boat fell into the river, splashing white waves, and the soldiers jumped nimbly into the assault boat, waving their oars and paddling vigorously to the opposite bank.

The part of the Dnieper here is not wide, only the widest part is less than a hundred meters, and generally only sixty or seventy meters.

With the soldiers paddling hard, the boats dragged their white wakes and rushed across the river in just over a minute to the sand on the opposite bank.

Jumping out of the assault boat, the scouts and infantry disappeared into the forest, and the remaining soldiers pushed the boat back into the river and rowed back to the north bank, and the crossing was outrageously successful.

Major Krugel followed the second group across the river and then into the forest.

He learned the lessons of the previous battle in the forest, and in order to prevent the Soviet army from setting up an ambush in the forest, he first sent two squads to explore the road in front, and the main force pulled away and cautiously followed behind.

About ten minutes later, the pathfinder infantry squad arrived safely at the edge of the forest, and Krugel immediately followed, hiding under a pine tree the size of a basin to spy on the movements of the Soviet troops near the city of Dubrovno.

Behind him, on the banks of the Dnieper, sappers have already begun to lay pontoon bridges over the river.

In the eastern part of the forest, in Dubrovno, in the northern part of the Dnieper, the infantry of the 9th Motorized Rifle Regiment rushed into the city, and the Grizzly assault gun, Tank 4 and E-40 tanks, and Spitfire launched a joint attack to clear the way for the infantry to follow.

The Soviet soldiers, the city's police, and militia were very tenacious, forming street fighting squads and fighting in the buildings and neighborhoods they were ordered to defend.

Every building, every basement, the Germans had to use pistols, grenades, bayonets and flamethrowers to take them.

The Soviets resisted resolutely, but could not resist the fierce German firepower, and the city of Dubrovno was only a small city with a population of less than 10,000 people, with a limited urban area, and the part north of the Dnieper River was even smaller, less than a thousand meters deep.

After an hour and a half of fighting, the 9th Motorized Rifle Regiment successfully broke through to the Dnieper River.

Major Krügel's old comrade-in-arms, Major Schlotke, rushed to the front of the battalion and was the first to reach the only bridge in the city that connected the banks of the Dnieper.

Major Schlotke was about to rush across the bridge in one go, but he ran head-on into machine-gun fire from across the river.

Major Schlotke collapsed on the bridge, and when his men hurriedly set up machine-gun fire to suppress the machine-gun fire from the opposite bank, and then prepared to organize men to rescue him, in the building opposite the bridge, the cross-shaped crosshair of a scope was already aimed at Major Schlotke's chest.

With a crisp gunshot, the soldiers of the second battalion of the 9th Motorized Rifle Regiment lost their commander forever.

Shortly after the death of Major Schlotke, a No. 4G tank drove to the side of the bridge, and slowly drove up the bridge under machine gun fire from the opposite bank, and the guns and coaxial machine guns on the turret fired one after another to suppress the Soviet fire on the opposite bank.

When the No. 4G tank almost drove to the center of the bridge, there was a sudden loud sound under the bridge that shook the mountain, the sound was so loud that it almost broke the eardrums of the surrounding soldiers, the bridge trembled and cracked, and the ten-meter-long bridge deck fell together with the No. 4 tank above, and the raging river splashed white water.

The touching scene shocked every soldier in the vicinity, whether Soviet or German, and an eerie silence flashed around the bridge.

About five minutes later, in the village of Liye, north of the city, Lieutenant General Hui Biqi, who had just moved the division headquarters here, received the bad news that the bridge had been blown up.

Chen Dao pointed to the forest south of Dubrovno on the map and said, "Fortunately, Major Krugel has occupied this forest, and we still have a chance." ”

Lieutenant General Hubich then ordered reinforcements of the bridgehead positions established by Major Krugel's headquarters in the forest, and the dense assault boats diligently moved to and fro the banks of the Dnieper, sending groups of infantry to and from the forests on the opposite bank.

On the river, the sappers also accelerated the speed of building the bridge under the leadership of the officers, and a busy scene appeared near the bridgehead position.

In Orsha City, a city in the eastern part of the Dnieper, Yeremenko was hiding in a basement and was talking on the phone with Lieutenant General Kurochkin.

"Since the enemy has penetrated from the vicinity of Dubrovno to the left bank of the Dnieper, as we expected, we will resolutely counterattack according to the predetermined plan and knock out their bridgehead in the forest.

In order for you to do this task better, I will give you a batch of girls, and you must let the Germans know how good they are. ”

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PS: I'm sorry.,I was caught by the boss today.,I didn't go home until more than nine o'clock.,I'm tired.,I can only change it today.,The chapter owed is made up on Saturday and Sunday.,Please forgive me.。 (To be continued.) )