Especially at this time, the Germans also used a new equipment...... Assault gun No. 3.

The assault gun No. 3 was proposed by Manstein, and after the German attack on Poland, they found that their armored forces lacked a weapon to support the infantry in attacking the pillboxes.

Tanks were up to the task, but their use as infantry for assault on enemy fortifications was actually a serious waste...... Attacking the enemy's fixed and immobile pillbox fortifications does not actually require much rapid mobility, it only needs to slowly move the artillery to the forefront to support the infantry, and it does not require the artillery to be able to have all-round angles of fire, because the pillbox is there, it will not move.

Conversely, thicker armor was needed to attack the bunkers in order to withstand enemy anti-tank equipment inside the bunkers.

In these respects, the tank is not suitable for such a task, because its high mobility and rotatable turret are completely wasteful, and the thickness of the armor has to be sacrificed for the sake of high mobility and firing angle.

So the No. 3 assault gun was introduced, which was more or less the chassis of the No. 3 tank and then a cannon was added...... Assault guns are artillery and cost about four-fifths of the cost of tank three, but they can be more useful when attacking pillboxes, machine gun bunkers, trenches, or enemy anti-tank gun positions, because they can thicken armor more freely. (NOTE: THE NO. 3 ASSAULT GUN THICKENS THE FRONTAL AND SIDE ARMOR TO 50MM, AND EVEN TO 80MM IN THE MIDDLE AND LATE STAGES, AND THE GUN BODY IS LOWER AND DIFFICULT TO HIT)

This kind of assault guns were put into the battle to attack the "Stalin Line", and they drove calmly in front of the Soviet pillboxes by virtue of their superior armor, and the shooting holes of the Soviet pillboxes were a burst of heavy bombardment.

Of course, it is still very difficult for the shell to penetrate the perforation directly, after all, it is a 1.5-meter-deep perforation, and the slightest deviation or deviation of the trajectory will explode around the perforation.

However, the machine guns and artillery in the Soviet pillboxes were undoubtedly suppressed, and the German sappers took advantage of this time to rush forward and throw explosive packets, grenades, etc. into the holes.

Intelligence soon reached the command of Colonel Ovich.

"Comrade Colonel!" The staff officer reported to Colonel Ovich: "Our line of defense has suffered heavy losses under the attack of enemy tanks, and the first layer of defense has been breached!" (Note: The Soviets couldn't tell the difference between tanks and assault guns at this time, so they simply called them tanks)

Colonel Ovich couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat on his forehead when he heard this.

At this time, it was only a little more than an hour before the German army launched an attack, and in such a short time they broke through the first layer of defense, and at this speed, they were afraid that they would be able to break through the defense line and march towards Kiev after more than ten hours, that is, before dark, and according to Colonel Ovich's estimate, it would take the Germans at least a month to do it.

In fact, a month was what Colonel Ovich said when he asked his superiors for more equipment and troops, and he knew that only by saying this could he get more people and things.

Ovich's real thoughts were that it would be a trench war in World War I, that is, the enemy and us were deadlocked in front of the defensive line, and no one could help anyone.

It is clear that Colonel Ovich's thinking is still stuck in the First World War, which is one of the reasons why he disdains to use any "cabin camouflage".

But now...... Ovitch thought about all kinds of possibilities, but he didn't expect this situation to happen, and he didn't even know how to solve it, because all his defensive ideas were based on a system with pillbox fortifications as a support point, and the pillboxes that were now relied on were vulnerable to the attack of the German army, so the whole human system collapsed.

Seeing that Colonel Ovich was stunned, the staff officer added: "Colonel...... We have a spot to stop their attack! ”

"Which location?" Colonel Ovich regained some strength in his eyes, because if anyone could hold off the Germans, it meant that others could.

The staff officer hesitated, and then replied: "It's the 333rd Regiment, Comrade Colonel!" ”

"No, it can't be!" Colonel Ovich said: "They are just adding a little camouflage in front of the pillbox......"

"Yes, Comrade Colonel!" The staff officer replied: "But it is this camouflage that makes the Germans unable to distinguish where is a pillbox and which is a wooden house, and more importantly, they can't see the shooting hole before the attack, so they can't allocate firepower in advance to make an attack plan!" ”

"No, that might just be a coincidence!" Colonel Ovich said: "Their position is not the main direction of the German offensive!" ”

The staff officer didn't answer in a knowing way, he knew that he shouldn't speak at this time, because it might directly affect his career.

But the staff officer was not smart enough, otherwise he should have answered: "Yes, Colonel." That's clearly not the workhorse of the Germans! ”

It's just that the staff officer can't say anything like this, which is contrary to the facts, so he chooses to be silent.

Colonel Ovich understood the meaning of the silence.

He looked at the staff officer with incredulous gaze and asked, "The Germans attacked the defense area of the 333rd Regiment with the main force?" ”

"You can say attack, or you can say no, Comrade Colonel!" The staff officer replied: "The Germans probably used it as a gap in the line of defense, you know, all they saw was a wooden house, even aerial reconnaissance, so ...... They launched a strong attack with more than seventy tanks from two armored battalions! ”

"And then?" Colonel Ovich asked.

"The Germans suffered heavy casualties!" The staff officer handed Colonel Ovich a telegram and said: "This is a report from Major Gavrilov, who destroyed twenty-five tanks and killed and wounded more than three hundred enemies!" ”

Colonel Ovich looked at the staff officer in shock, this result was simply astronomical for the Soviet troops who were fleeing all the way at this time, but the 333rd Regiment could easily do it in one battle.

Colonel Ovich immediately regretted that if he had done what Major Gavrilov had said, then now it was not only the defense area of the 333rd Regiment that had such results, but his 79th Division, even the 27th Army, and even the entire defense line.

But Colonel Ovich thought about it and said to the staff officer: "This is nothing, Comrade Vertoriak, this is just an ambush of the 333rd regiment, which they managed to ambush the Germans. But that doesn't mean their tactics are right! Once the Germans realized that it was an ambush, it was not an ambush, understand? ”

"Yes, Colonel!" The staff officer replied.

Although the staff officer did not agree with Colonel Ovich's attitude, he felt that what he said made sense, and the Germans could not be fooled again after being fooled once.