Chen Dao's hand pressed on the largest number on the calendar, 15.

Today is June 15th, no more, no less, exactly a week away from that crucial day.

Before returning home, the 7th Panzer Army had to beat the Soviets one more time, put pressure on the Soviets in Hungary, and add some propaganda material to the implementation of Operation Invitation and Operation Reich Radiance.

These propaganda materials had to be strong enough to provoke Stalin's cold heart and drive him mad.

Victory is the best propaganda material.

Chen Dao looked up at the window, the night had receded, and the dawn was reflected in the room through the window.

Turning his head to face the three adjutants, Chen Dao said, "Three days, we only have three days to complete this attack. At the end of this attack, our mission is complete, and we can return home with honor and honor. ”

"Shall we go back so soon? Isn't it about driving the Russians out of Hungary and then into Russia proper? Captain Nietzsche asked.

"There is no need for that, one day after a while, without us attacking, the Russians will get out of Hungary and Romania on their own, and at that time, we will just chase them, kick them in the ass, and speed up the process of getting them out, there is no need to fight them head-on."

Chen Dao said, raising his left hand to look at his watch.

"The time is coming soon, get ready."

Major Lorenz picked up the phone on the table and put it to his ear.

When the hands of the watch pointed to 5:15, Chen Dao said, "Let's fire." ”

With a low roar from Major Lorenz on the phone, the thunderous sound of shelling broke the silence on both sides of the Tisza River.

On the right bank of the Tisza River, east of the city of Mezekweshd. Twenty kilometers wide front. Imperial Marshal Panzer Division, Italian Litorio Panzer Division. and one infantry division under the 67th Infantry Corps, a total of three divisional artillery opened fire at the same time.

On the left and right flanks of the Imperial Marshal's Division, on a front about seventeen kilometers long, was carried out by the artillery regiments of the Litorio Panzer Division and the Infantry Division.

In the middle of the front, on both sides of Highway M3, on the main breakthrough section about three kilometers wide, the Reichsmarshal Panzer Division devoted all the firepower of the divisional artillery regiment to cover the Soviet positions on the opposite side in full depth.

Forty-eight howitzers fired wildly. Tons of shells flew through the middle of the battlefield with a piercing trail and fell on the positions of the Soviet troops.

In a three-kilometer-wide section, the defense area of the two infantry battalions of the Soviet army instantly turned into a sea of fire, the trenches were cut off by craters, and the flying dust fell into the trenches, almost burying the Soviet troops in the trenches alive.

The barbed wire fence had just been halfway built, and in the explosion, the wooden stakes were thrown into the air along with the barbed wire, and the chance to finish it forever was lost under German shelling.

Taking advantage of the fact that the Soviets were suppressed by heavy artillery fire, the E-40 heavy armored company took the lead. A battalion of tanks No. 4 followed, and groups of tanks rushed to Soviet positions.

There are no minefields. The tank swarm drove unhindered through the open space in front of the Soviet lines, ran over the remaining barbed wire, and guided the infantry towards the Soviet trenches.

The steel body of the tank was not afraid of shrapnel from artillery shells, and the fire of the E-40 tank extended to the rear of the Soviet position only when the E-40 tank company reached a distance of about 150 meters from the Soviet trenches.

Two battalions of Soviet troops were suddenly hit hard by divisional artillery forces, and they were already devastated, both mentally and physically.

The surviving Soviet soldiers shook off the dust from their bodies, picked up their weapons and looked at the front of the position, but there was almost no German infantry, only an ironclad corps of tanks and armored vehicles in front of the position.

Who are we supposed to fire at? Who can our bullets penetrate? Soviet infantry hesitated with rifles and submachine guns.

The artillery regiment's fire extended to the depth of the position, and another round of shelling followed.

The 75mm, 88mm, and even the 150mm howitzers on the Grizzly assault guns were aimed at all the firing points on the Soviet positions that dared to open fire, and smashed high-explosive shells one after another on them.

Behind the tank cluster, on the SDKFZ251 armored vehicles, the German mortars also fired mortar shells one after another, attacking the Soviet firing points.

Although it is inferior to the artillery regiment in terms of firepower, the firepower of the armored cluster is more accurate and more deadly.

One by one, the machine guns were covered in flames, and the machine guns were knocked to the ground or simply blown into parts.

The bodies of the machine gunners lay on their backs in the trenches, with stumps and severed arms mixed in the parts of the guns, and almost none of the bodies were intact.

In terms of numbers and intensity of firepower, the Soviets were far from being the opponents of the Germans, and could only watch as the tracks of the German tanks crushed onto their trenches.

Since the Soviet Union declared war on Hungary, the infantry of the 12th Army has played triumphant songs all the way to build confidence in the invincibility of the Hungarian army by beating the Hungarian army.

The defeat of the Hungarian Second Army further fueled the arrogance of the Soviet army.

However, the victory without gold content doomed the Soviet infantry division to only fight a good battle, lacking the experience of fighting in adversity, and even lacking the courage to fight a strong enemy in adversity.

Having destroyed the few machine-gun fires and taking out seven or eight anti-tank guns behind the trenches, the armored clusters of the Reichmarshal's division occupied almost the first line of Soviet trenches on the march.

A little breakthrough, a collapse on the whole line.

With the M3 road as the center, the Soviet troops on the positions on both flanks of the breakthrough were hit by German flank fire, could no longer support them, and had to abandon their positions and retreat to the second line of positions.

By the time the German armored group arrived at the Soviet second-line positions, the Soviet battlefield had already been bombarded beyond recognition by the heavy artillery fire of the artillery regiments.

Compared with the first line of positions, the performance of the Soviet army in the second-line position was not much better than before, and even the morale of the army fell sharply due to the panic caused by the rout.

With an indomitable momentum, the armored cluster of the Imperial Marshal's Division connected the Soviet Army's four trenches, and the battle continued until noon on the same day, and the troops of the Imperial Marshal's Division successfully cut through the Soviet defense line and rushed to the destination, the new city of Tisza on the banks of the Tisza River, 20 kilometers away.

About half an hour later, on the left bank of the Tisza River, the Großdeutsche Division also broke through the Soviet defense line in front of it and advanced wildly towards the destination, Bolgar, which was across the river from the new city of Tiza.

Two armoured units were pincers. Two infantry divisions of the Sixty-seventh Army and two Italian units were pincers. The pincer offensive of the Germans was repeated on the banks of the Tisza River.

The German pincer offensive was not large-scale. However, it caused great trouble to the Twelfth Army and the Southwestern Front.

At the foot of the Carpathian Mountains, in the city of Mukachevo, in the headquarters of the South-Western Front, General Kirponos and Marshal Budyonny stood next to the map, their brows furrowed.

Looking at the two blue arrows that the staff officers had just marked on the map, Marshal Budyonny said: "The two attacking forces of the Germans are trying to surround our troops by the river, and we must send reserves to counterattack and disrupt their disposition. I recommend. Let the troops of the 19 tank period split into two lines and launch a counterattack against the German troops respectively, preventing them from closing the encirclement. ”

Hearing the advice of such a layman as Marshal Budyonny, Kirponos did not hesitate to retort: "No, previous battles have proven that our tank divisions are no match for the German panzer divisions. Now to split a tank division and deal with both enemy armored armies, you will only be defeated by both German armies. Instead of spreading out what little armor we have to fight two defeating battles, we should concentrate on them and storm the enemy all the way. There is still some certainty of victory. ”

Marshal Budyonny's face was full of chagrin.

"The enemy has two sides, but we have only one armored reserve. We must send more reserves in the rear to replenish our losses. Well, you are the commander of the front, so do as you want. ”

Admiral Kirponos breathed a sigh of relief, for the old marshal Budyonny, despite his lack of experience in the use of armoured forces, had a very admirable advantage, that is, he respected the advice of others and did not force himself as a superior.

"Order the 12th Army to let the troops of the 19th Tank Division meet the Germans in the area of Tisza New Town, and this battle will only be allowed to be won, not defeated."

Hearing the phrase "only victory, no defeat", Budyonny's beard, which was wider than his face, shook involuntarily.

If the battle is lost, and the Southwestern Front loses its last tank division, the German pincers will close.

After eating the Soviet troops in the encirclement, the Germans would open a gap of more than twenty kilometers in the Soviet defense line, and then drive straight in, leaving only the infantry division of the Southwestern Front without being able to block the enemy's depth, and if they were not good, they would be driven out of Hungary.

This battle must be won.

After some hesitation, Marshal Budyonny made up his mind.

No, reinforcements must be sent to the High Command now

At 1:50 p.m., the troops of the Imperial Marshal's Panzer Division advanced to the southwestern outskirts of Tisza New Town, and ran head-on with the long-awaited 19th Tank Division.

Through the observation of helicopters, the Reichsmarshal Panzer Division had long been aware of the existence of this Soviet army and did not hesitate to "kick" at the stumbling block in front of the new city of Tisza.

Two torrents of steel and nearly 400 tanks fought fiercely on the outskirts of Tiza New Town, staging a war of quality versus quantity.

The battlefield was full of charging tanks, and the smoke and dust raised by the high-speed rotation of the tank tracks drifted over the battlefield.

The German tank cluster occupies a quality advantage, whether it is the performance of the tank, or the quality of the tanker, the E-40 tank is a combination of strong offensive and defensive capabilities, which can be called the mainstay of the German armored cluster.

Soviet tanks had an absolute numerical superiority, with a total of more than 270 units, almost three times more than the German tanks.

With the accuracy of the 88 gun, the E-40 tank took the lead in firing, naming the Soviet tanks at a distance of more than 1,000 meters to combat the arrogance of the Soviet tanks.

The KV-1 tank, with its tall body and signature turtle speed, successfully attracted the attention of German tankers and became the priority target of the 88 guns on the E-40 tank.

On the way to the charge, the KV-1 tanks were paralyzed one after another, some of the tanks had only one or two bullet holes in the body, the ammunition did not detonate, the engine and fuel tank did not burn, but no tanker escaped from the tank. The tank stood silently in place, like a ghost car.

The main culprit in the creation of the ghost car was the Pzgr88 armor-piercing projectile equipped with the 39 gun.

Unlike the 75 mm armor-piercing shells of the No. 4 tank, the E-40 tank was equipped with an 88-mm Pzgr39 armor-piercing projectile with a warhead with a bottom charge and a special time-delay fuse.

After penetrating the armor of the Soviet tank, the fuse of the warhead will be triggered, and then the bottom charge of the projectile will be detonated, and the shrapnel will be detonated to kill the Soviet tankman inside the vehicle.

It is this combination of armor-piercing shells and high-explosive shells that gives the 88 gun a powerful ability to destroy tanks, and it is also relying on this shell that the tankers of the E-40 tank create one ghost car after another on the battlefield.

Realizing that their 76.2 mm tank guns could not penetrate the frontal armor of the E-40 tank, the Soviet tanks launched a cluster charge, relying on absolute numerical superiority, ignoring the casualties on the way, and rushing to the German tank cluster with the courage to die.

There was only one company of E-40 tanks in the Reichsmarshal Panzer Division, and because of the damage in the previous battle, only nine of the fourteen tanks in the company participated in the battle, and the nine E-40 tanks were simply unable to stop the Soviet tanks that charged like wolves.

The Soviet tanks were getting closer and closer, until they were about 500 meters away from the E-40 tank, and the No. 4 tank opened fire one after another, preventing the T-34 from using its speed to outflank the E-40 tank with its dense firepower.

The defensive capabilities of the No. 4 tank and the E-40 tank were not at all of an order of magnitude, and the KV-1 and T-34 tanks instantly regained their self-esteem, the barrels pointed at the fragile No. 4 tank, and shells rained out.

More and more tanks were destroyed in the hail of bullets, and the vast field was littered with moving tanks and stationary tank wreckage.

With numerical superiority, the Soviet tanks divided about two battalions of tanks to outflank the right flank of the German tank cluster and forced the German tanks to retreat.

In order to prevent being outflanked, the German tankers, with their rich experience and coordination, fought and retreated, slowly retreating to the south.

Seeing the defeat of the German tank cluster, the Soviet tank cluster pursued closely, trying to wipe out the German tanks, but crashed headlong into the ambush circle set by the Germans.

While the forward heavy tank company and the comrades of the 1st battalion engaged the Soviet tanks, the 2nd battalion of the Reichsmarshal Panzer Division had set up an ambush in the southwest of the battlefield.

The Soviet tank group was only concerned with pursuing the German tanks, and did not have the slightest anti-ambush around.

Letting go of the comrades who had withdrawn from the muzzle, the No. 4 tank of the 2nd Battalion, seeing that the Soviet tanks had been hooked, launched an attack from west to east and opened fire on the right flank exposed by the Soviet tank cluster.

The heavily armored company and the troops of the first battalion launched a counteroffensive at the same time, and the two sides were copied, and the Soviet tank cluster was like an infantry cluster that broke into the crossfire of machine guns, and was destroyed one by one, emitting flames and black smoke.

The sudden entry of the 2nd Battalion of the Panzer Regiment of the Tank Division of the Reichsal not only caught the Soviet army by surprise, but also instantly broke the numerical superiority of the Soviet tank cluster.

The Soviets lost both qualitative and quantitative superiority, and the result of defeat followed.

Near five o'clock in the afternoon, the armored cluster of the 19th Tank Division of the Soviet Army completely collapsed, and less than 50 tanks fled to the east in disarray.

The stumbling block of the 19th Tank Division was "kicked", the road to Tiza New City was opened, and the troops of the Panzer Division of the Reichsmarshal rushed to the city. (To be continued......)