"This proves you right, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov said to Shulka: "Taking Rzhev will obviously be of great help to us in rescuing the besieged troops!" ”

This is one of the reasons why Rzhev will become a battleground for soldiers, as long as the artillery is swung upward...... Targets within a radius of ten kilometers are simply found and destroyed.

The problem was that Rzhev was in German hands at this time, and there was also a railway, which they could use to transport artillery, shells, or other supplies.

As a result, Soviet tanks could be bombed as soon as they entered a range of ten kilometers, let alone attack the Rzhev hard ground.

"Looks like we're only going to attack at night!" said Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov.

A night attack could try to avoid the superiority of enemy artillery fire, as well as the possibility of air supremacy for the Germans.

But this did not seem to be a good idea, as tanks also did not have the ability to fight at night, and tanks were a target for German anti-tank guns that were condescendingly hiding in the snow at night.

"Will our artillery fire be able to suppress the fire of the Germans?" Katukov turned his gaze to Colonel Egorovich.

Colonel Egorovich shook his head and replied: "No, Comrade Katukov!" The enemy was condescending and hid in artillery bunkers, while our artillery was exposed to the open snow and had nothing to cover. So, although our artillery fire has a longer range than the enemy, we are always suppressed by them! ”

"What about 'Katyusha'?" Zahakavich asked.

"Katyusha" is perhaps an artifact for suppressing enemy artillery, since it can fire a large number of shells in a short time and evacuate.

But......

"We bombarded with 'Katyusha' a few times!" Colonel Egorovich replied: "But we are not sure whether to blow up something, we only know that the enemy's artillery is still ringing, and we will blow up our artillery accurately!" ”

Don't think about it, the bombing effect of the "Katyusha" is not very good.

"Katyusha" is actually more suitable for bombing densely lined targets, such as groups of infantry, tanks, etc., if the German army disperses the artillery, the "Katyusha" is afraid and can do nothing, unless the Soviet army has so much ammunition that it does not hesitate to blow up one of the enemy's artillery pieces with dozens of rockets.

Not to mention the Air Force, which at this time had become the main defensive target of the German army, and the German Air Force had concentrated here to seize air supremacy with the Soviet army.

So the command fell silent.

After a long time, Lieutenant Colonel Zahakavich said: "Perhaps, we should return to the original plan, that is, tear through the enemy's defense line and rescue the besieged troops." I mean, the capture of Rzhev is not at all simpler than that! ”

"But the assault on Rzhev is feasible for our tanks, Comrade Zakhakavich!" Lieutenant Colonel Gavrilov stood firmly on Shulka's side.

"But it doesn't seem feasible now!" Zakhakavich replied: "The enemy's artillery fire blocked the radius of ten kilometers around, and it took us an hour to drive the tanks to Rzhev...... That is, the enemy can use our tanks as targets for an hour, and their artillery observers use high-powered binoculars to hide from high places to observe us, and then tell the artillerymen where we are, and the artillerymen knock out our tanks one after another! We are targets, targets who have no ability to fight back, Comrade Gavrilov! ”

"It's useless to say that, is it?" Colonel Egorovich said: "We should fight a battle and try to attack the enemy when there are tanks, instead of staying here and worrying about this and that, maybe the enemy is not as terrible as we think!" ”

What Colonel Egorovich said, although somewhat reckless, seems to be right, after all, war is like that, it does not stop and wait for you just because you have not thought of a suitable method of attack...... The besieged 9 divisions were struggling to hold on without supplies.

More importantly, Colonel Egorovich's suggestion was in line with the appetite of the Soviet officers, and Katukov also wanted to see how Rzhev's defenses were.

So an attack was quickly organized.

It is initiated after it gets dark...... Katukov, no matter how big-hearted, would not want to expose his tanks to enemy fire and aircraft during the day.

The days in the USSR were very short, just over seven hours before and after, so it was a matter of waiting a little longer.

The attack was carried out by the 2nd Tank Battalion and the 2nd Infantry Battalion, plus two infantry battalions under the command of Colonel Egorovich.

The tank battalion was divided into three parts in company units, one part covering one infantry battalion to attack the left flank of Rzhev, one part attacking the right flank, and the remaining part as a reserve ready to support.

Katukov called Shulka, and the two of them, under the cover of the guards, sneaked to the front line, hid in the snow, and watched the attack with binoculars.

"Look at that!" Katukov pointed in a direction and said: "Maybe you are right, we should attack Rzhev, but this is not an easy place to attack, it may be beyond our capabilities!" ”

Looking in the direction indicated by Katukov, Shulka saw a cliff tens of meters high in front of him, which formed a natural barrier for Rzhev, and then moved his eyes to the side, a steep wall more than two meters high, and then all the way uphill.

Shulka originally thought that this steep wall was an anti-tank trench dug by the Germans, but later learned that it was actually a river, and the river continued to wash away so that a natural anti-tank trench more than two meters high could not be passed through, and because this area was relatively humid, it was very hard after being frozen, and artillery fire could not destroy this natural "anti-tank".

As a result, Soviet tanks could only attack along two main roads, which must have been the main direction of German defense.

At this moment, the battle began with several raised flares.

German artillery fire was not heavy, usually only three or five rapid fires, with occasional more rounds when targeting tanks.

Shulka shulka shurped at the sight of such artillery fire.

Because this also means that these artillery fires are grouped and targeted...... If it is not moving to block the shooting, it means burying the artillery according to the pre-adjusted target, and the artillery fire is in a row.

Most of the Soviet artillery, which lacked communication equipment and coordination capabilities, had such a fighting style.

The Germans sometimes did the same, but now it is not.

In other words, the German artillery stationed in Rzhev was a group of experienced veterans, who could perfectly coordinate the coordination of artillery observers and artillery to achieve "pointing and fighting" artillery defense.