"I agreed to launch a tentative offensive on the Tula front, commanded by the commander of the 6th Panzer Division, General Kirchner, known as the Chichna Panzer Group. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info" Hoffman paused, "but reinforcements to the 9th Army are indispensable, and the rest of the 3rd Panzer Army will not move to the 2nd Air Wing, plus the 2nd Panzer Division. In addition, the attack on Moscow is not the goal of this year, at least not this campaign, we can scare Stalin, but we must not deceive our own people. ”

As soon as he said this, everyone laughed.

The 2nd Panzer Division was the only reserve Panzer Division in the hands of the General Staff, and Zeitzler was somewhat reluctant, but since the Führer had given the order, he could only carry it out.

"My Führer, do you need me to return to Smolensk to take command?" ”

"Let Schellner command, and trust your subordinates as much as I trust you." Hoffman put gold on his face and explained, "Your task is to take Borisoglebsk as soon as possible and eat the right flank of the Central Front, and I always have a feeling of horror about the defense of Karachi - who knows if the Italians will suddenly collapse?" ”

Moder smiled and nodded, although the Führer vetoed his grand plan, he was particularly touched by this trust and respect.

Hoffman did not expect that Baghramyan felt the same way as him, and he was also shocked: the Italians in Karachi were too difficult to play well, and they could play hardly decently, was this still Italian?

"Who spread the false news that the Italians are not beaten? Who boasted in front of me that a single charge would take the position? He thundered in the front-line headquarters, "After fighting for 4 whole days, you have only advanced 1,800 meters, and if you continue to fight at this speed, not to mention this week, even this month, you will not be able to break through the Italian defense." ”

The commanders and commanders of the group armies below were all silent, and they did not dare to breathe.

Baghramyan stood in front of the commander of the 9th Mechanized Corps and sneered: "Comrade Ivanov, you promised me that you would be able to take Highway 7 in 24 hours, and now that 3 24 hours have passed, Highway 7 is still in the hands of the Italians, what are you going to do?" ”

"Enemy ...... Enemy...... The air power is too powerful, and the anti-tank fire is endless...... Our army suffered great losses in tanks! ”

"Bastard, why don't you push it up with infantry? Is it you who have more people or more enemy anti-tank guns? Baghramyan shouted, "Someone is coming...... Pull this compromise wavering coward down...... Shoot immediately! ”

The blue-hats of the Ministry of Internal Affairs rushed up and escorted poor Ivanov away without saying a word, and it was only then that he realized that the commander was not joking, but was about to move seriously, and hurriedly shouted loudly, but before he could shout a few words, there was already a "bang" of gunfire outside. This army commander, who had just been transferred from the Far East not long ago and had not yet seen the cruelty of the Eastern Front, died in a daze.

Baglamyan's anger continued: "Listen, you all listen, Karachi is the target we must take, and if we can't complete the task, Comrade Stalin will shoot me, I will shoot you!" ”

"Comrade Primakov!"

"Yes!"

"Now change your 4th Guards Mechanized Corps to attack, how long will it take you to complete the mission?"

"I ...... Can I make a small request? ”

"Say!"

"Please comrade commander give me a separate rocket artillery battalion, I promise 2 ......" Primakov wanted to say that he would take it in 24 hours, but seeing that Bagramyan's eyes had become bloodshot, he hurriedly changed his words, "Take the position in 20 hours!" ”

"It's too long, I'll give you 2 rocket artillery battalions, you have to take them within 12 hours, and the time is calculated from the time the rocket artillery battalion is in place."

Primakov gritted his teeth and hurriedly replied "Yes!" Then he turned around and left.

Route 7 is the only way to Karachi, where the Italian Ram Panzer Division has deployed a large number of fire points using the terrain, woods, and bushes, in addition to heavy machine guns, most of them are 50mm anti-tank guns replaced by the Germans, and some are Russian-made 76.2mm anti-tank guns, compared with the original era when 37mm anti-tank guns could only be used to fill the façade, the equipment has been greatly improved. And the Russians' tanks seem to have become incapacitated, and those T-34 armor with 50mm anti-tank guns often hit a hole.

In addition to these semi-stationary fire positions, the division also put 2 battalions of tank units into mobile defense, and whenever the line was stormed to the ground, tanks or assault guns appeared in time for reinforcements. In addition, the Luftwaffe provided strong air cover, and whenever the Red Army tried to launch a dense charge with artillery fire and infantry, He-218 dive bombers and Ju-87G ground attack aircraft would always arrive at the request of the infantry and use their firepower to recklessly harvest the Red officers and soldiers below.

At nightfall on 3 June, Primakov's troops crept into their starting positions, and the Italians encountered the heaviest attack since the beginning of the Karachi defense.

Primakov did not rush forward to attack after receiving the position and the independent rocket artillery battalion in the afternoon, but first carefully studied the lessons of Ivanov's failure, and found that he still used the original routine against Japan when attacking, first covering with artillery and then attacking with tanks, this routine was of course overwhelming against the Japanese Kwantung Army, which lacked heavy equipment, but it could not be used well on the Eastern Front: the German army firmly occupied air superiority, and the daytime attack could not achieve surprise and concealment, and could not get rid of the pursuit of air fire, And the artillery support in the rear should not be too dense, as soon as it is dense, German bombers will come to attack it.

At the beginning, Baglamiyan reported to the General Staff that the 2nd Air Force Army could be transferred to support the northern front on 1 June, but he did not expect that by the afternoon of 3 June, the army would not only be unable to transfer, but also lost nearly half of its planes.

After studying the situation of the position and listening to the cries of several division commanders under Ivanov, Primakov simply put the attack time at night, and everyone sweated for him -- Commander Bagramian only gave 12 hours, and once the attack was carried out at night, there would be less than 8 hours left, but the former thought that if the attack went well, the attack would be effective in 1-2 hours, and if it could not be rushed down in one round, let alone 12 hours, I am afraid that double the time would not be enough.

"Ulla! Ulla! ”

Groups of Red Army soldiers shouted their throats and followed the T-34 to launch a flood of onslaught, although Primakov's troops hung the title of guards, but in fact the quality of the soldiers was worse than that of Ivanov's troops transferred from the Far East.

Not long after they entered the preset position, the Italian heavy machine guns and mortars on the left and right flanks immediately opened heavy fire, and the soldiers hurriedly lay down in panic, trying to suppress the fire on both sides while slowly advancing slowly. The tank, on the other hand, continued on its way despite all odds - once stopped, it became a live target for anti-tank fire, and tried to open a way for the team by sweeping the surrounding fire points with shells. There are many tanks and corpses left on both sides of the road, all left behind by the friendly attack in front, and there are various ways to die, and most of the tanks are destroyed by anti-tank guns or mines.

The two sides exchanged fierce fire, and the Red Army infantry battalions were thrown into positions one after another, and three regiments had been sent up in succession, except for adding a pile of casualties and adding corpses to the ground, it seemed that little progress had been made, and more than 30 tanks alone had been killed.

But Primakov was unconscious, and still commanded the troops to charge continuously, as if he wanted to pile up a passage with his human life.

After about five minutes, he picked up the phone and asked the chief of the army's artillery: "Have all the enemy's firepower been exposed?" Did you write it down? ”

"Write it down!"

He waved his hand fiercely and shouted into the microphone: "Fire!" ”

After an order was given, two independent rocket artillery battalions that had advanced covertly and had touched not far from the first line suddenly opened fierce fire, aiming at the fire point exposed by the Italians just now, regardless of whether there were soldiers or tanks of their own side nearby, and carried out a large-scale indiscriminate attack, the continuous howling made people's scalps tingle, and the entire road 7 formed on both sides of the fire, and the fire reflected half of the sky, and then in the consternation of all the surviving soldiers, the second attack echelon had a total of more than 60 tanks and 3 battalions of assault infantry behind, Roaring through the most thrilling sections of the road as fast as possible, regardless of whether there were Red Army corpses in the place where the tank had run over.

In order to take the position and not be shot, Primakov almost went crazy.

The officers and men of the Ram Division did not expect the enemy to take a burning attack, and many of the firepower points were destroyed in this rapid rocket rain before they could be diverted, and the defensive firepower was greatly reduced immediately.

The heavy artillery fire in the deep zone only then remembered to respond to the Soviet artillery fire and intercept the enemy's second echelon, but it was obviously too late, and batches of tanks and infantry on Route 7 continued to pour in with the landing point of the rocket artillery, and these moving targets were too small to distinguish, and finally the retaliatory artillery could only be poured on the Soviet rocket artillery battalion that had not been completely transferred.

The tank units of the Ram Division tried to play the role of firefighters again, desperately rushing towards the Red Army tanks, and the leading tanks launched a confrontation with the enemy, although the current defensive level of the T-34s continued to decline, but the offensive firepower was still the same as before, plus both sides were close combat, melee, and the Red Army with more infantry support was obviously more advantageous. In the ensuing 20-minute tank exchange, the Ram Division destroyed nearly 50 Red Army tanks at the cost of more than 30 tanks, but finally retreated from its position because it was difficult to support itself.

At 11 o'clock in the evening on June 3, the Red Army completely occupied the first line of Route 7, and the follow-up troops continued to advance and began the siege of Karachi. (To be continued.) )