At this time, there was a very strange dead silence, perhaps the German artillery was frightened by the Soviet tanks that appeared in front of them, and they all stared at the rear in a daze, and the scene could actually hear the "whooshing" sound of rain and the sound of mules and horses stomping restlessly.

Until a T26 stops, then turns the turret and fires at a car in front.

With a loud bang, the shells in the back of the car exploded, and a cloud of bright red flames and a cloud of smoke like mushrooms erupted from the place where the car was.

The car was torn apart and thrown into the sky at the moment of the explosion, along with a dozen German artillery officers nearby.

The explosion seemed to wake up the artillerymen, and the battlefield was soon chaotic again, with those fleeing, driving into drivers, and even trying to re-erect howitzers.

It is not surprising that this situation will arise, they are artillerymen, they always set up artillery and fire on the orders of their superiors in the second line, and no one ever tells them what to do when they encounter the enemy, especially tanks.

The tank "rumbled" up, left the road and knocked down a few cannons blocking the view and set up a formation, and then the machine guns "roared...... Patches of German soldiers fell in bullets, like harvested rice, in neat and regular rows, including mules and horses for transportation.

Then, when Shulka crossed the tanks and attacked them, the Germans abandoned their cars and equipment and fled...... This was the first time that the Germans had fled, and they didn't even have time to blow up their artillery and shells.

As a result, the first battalion captured a large number of howitzers and shells, as well as vehicles and some supplies, and a total of 37 artillery pieces and 21 vehicles were later counted.

But what is more important is the horses and mules...... ARTILLERY ACTUALLY DID NOT HAVE A LOT OF SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE 9TH ARMY, BECAUSE AT THIS TIME THE SOVIETS USED MORE 122MM HOWITZERS, WHICH WERE DIFFERENT IN CALIBER AND AMMUNITION WERE NOT UNIVERSAL.

This means one thing: after these shells are fired, these cannons will be turned into scrap metal, and no one will want to march with such things that will become scrap metal at any time, so their fate is mostly to be handed over to the infantry who will follow them, and the infantry will deploy them in their place and then blow them up after all the shells have been fired, so that they do not fall back into the hands of the Germans.

Cars, of course, are useful, and there are never too many cars for mechanized troops.

The most useful are the mules and horses......

You must know that this is the Soviet army, they starved to death not so long ago, and now they are still munching bread with grass seeds and mineral powder all day long, and some people have not even tasted meat for several years, where will these things be spared.

So in a few moments, the dead mules and horses lying on the ground were divided by them with military thorns...... The thief also cut a piece, he had always been very sensitive to such cheapness, and wrapped it in a tarp and put it in his backpack, probably because it was not tightly wrapped, so he was bleeding as he went.

Leonyev asked the thief with some incredulity: "Comrade Fovakov, are you going to eat that piece of meat?" ”

"Why not?" The thief asked rhetorically.

"But......" Leonyev stopped talking.

"But what?" The thief laughed: "I know what you are thinking, Comrade Leonev, we are not from Kiev like you, you don't know what it feels like to starve to death alone!" ”

Shulka knew what they were discussing, and Leonev was disgusted...... Although that piece of meat was horse meat, it came from the battlefield after all, and there were dead bodies everywhere around, and the thought of it would be unappetizing, so in his opinion, let alone eating it, it would be better if he didn't vomit out yesterday's dinner.

But Shulka felt that the thief was right, this was the battlefield, and the battlefield should not think too much about spiritual or civilizational issues, they had only one thing to consider, and that was survival.

So, if you sum up the takeaways from this battle, it's cars and horse meat.

However, Shulka thought that the artillery and shells were more important...... This was the equipment of an artillery regiment of the German army, and although these guns were of little use to the Soviet army, they were an indispensable fire cover unit for the German army.

If they had not been captured, then in the next battle, the Germans would have smashed these shells on their heads.

Shulka was right, in the next battle, the Germans lost their credentials to block or block the Soviet mechanized troops because of heavy artillery losses, so the 9th Army was even more overwhelmed, advancing fifty kilometers in only one day...... Again, this is because the roads are muddy and it is impossible to march quickly.

With the rapid breakthrough of the Soviet army, it brought the heavy casualties of the German army: the 198th Infantry Division suffered more than 4,000 casualties, not counting the number of missing, in addition to the loss of a large number of equipment, such as cars, artillery, ammunition and so on.

This is the difference between attacking and retreating.

Just as large Soviet forces were beaten by the Germans all the way from Poland to Moscow, some units lost their combat effectiveness and mobility, although they only retreated from beginning to end and did not seem to have much loss...... The reason was the loss of the necessary equipment in the process of retreat.

War has always been a combination of men and equipment, and they are trained to fight with this equipment, and if there is no equipment for them to charge with bayonets, then the combat effectiveness will undoubtedly decline in stages.

This was the case with the German 198th Infantry Division.

Admiral Chaubert was not well when he heard the news......

He was looking down at the map in the command headquarters when the adjutant hurriedly walked in with a telegram and reported: "General, the Russians have broken through our defenses!" ”

Admiral Chaubert let out an "um" and asked, "The first line of defense?" The Russians are even stronger than I imagined! ”

"No, General!" The adjutant said, "It's all!" ”

"What?" Admiral Chaubert raised his head in surprise: "What did you say?" ”

"Colonel Marcus didn't have time to report back to us!" "The Russians had already broken through the first line of defense two hours earlier, and then quickly broke through the second line, and Colonel Chris asked for reinforcements......"

Colonel Chris is the commander of the third line of defense, if even he is calling for help.

Chaubert stood stunned for a few seconds, then shook his head helplessly and said, "Reinforcements? No, they won't have any reinforcements! ”

Chaubert was not joking, his main forces were all on the Dnieper line, and this was already the last force he could organize.

Then, the weak rear and flanks of the southern Ukrainian theater of operations were completely exposed to the guns of the Soviet army.