Major Krugel hid at the edge of the forest, his eyes staring at the city of Dubrovno without blinking, and his sharp gaze seemed to be able to penetrate the high-rise buildings in the city and see through every move of the Soviet troops in the city.

The forest is only about two kilometers away from Dubrovno, separated by wheat fields, and if you fight in armored vehicles, almost in the blink of an eye, your own troops can rush into the city and take Dubrovne in one fell swoop with friendly forces on the other side of the river.

Through the binoculars, Major Krugel clearly saw vehicles coming in and out of the outskirts of the city, as well as the formidable KV series tanks.

It was the sight of those tanks that Major Krugel dismissed his plan to lead his men on foot to attack the city,

With the current forces, if you leave the cover of the forest and take the initiative to attack the city protected by tanks, what awaits you and your subordinates is definitely a one-sided massacre.

As time went on, more and more infantry appeared in the forest behind Krugel, and they brought good news that the pontoon bridge was in its final form, and in twenty minutes at most, he could see tank four and armored vehicles in the forest.

Major Krugel glanced at the Swiss watch on his wrist and counted down the countdown as he silently planned the line of attack.

As long as the order to attack is given, he and his subordinates must attack the city in the shortest possible time.

Looking up at the blue sky, Krugel relaxed.

The sky was covered with the same fire as the ground, fighters and bombers were intertwined and shuttled in his eyes, the sound of guns and cannons was incessant, and the gray-white smoke of gunpowder floated in the sky. It was the masterpiece of the anti-aircraft artillery units of the Soviet-German armies.

From time to time, Soviet bombers rushed behind the forest where Major Krugel was. Wanted to bomb the pontoon bridge under construction on the Dnieper. However, they were intercepted by German ME-109 fighters and anti-aircraft guns, and they could only drop bombs in a hurry, setting off white water columns that soared into the sky on the river surface.

Under the protection of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces, not a single aerial bomb hit the pontoon.

From time to time, German sappers were hit by flying shrapnel and fell to their posts, or fell into the raging water, blood stained the river, but the pontoon bridge still advanced meter by meter towards the riverbank.

What Major Krugel didn't know was. He was observing the Soviet troops in the city of Dubrovno, and on the roof of a small three-story building west of Dubrovno, five Soviet officers and soldiers were also observing the forest in which he was located.

The five Soviet soldiers set up scissor binoculars and rangefinders, and there was a radio station next to them, and every move of the German troops in the forest was reported to their superiors in detail.

In front of the door of the headquarters of the 20 th Army, Lieutenant General Kurochkin laughed and hugged an officer with a major's epaulette on his shoulders and a very honest look, and then pointed to the convoy behind the major and shouted: "Welcome, Major Fliyulov, of course." And the girls under your command. ”

"Comrade Lieutenant General, what is our task?" Major Fliyulov asked sullenly.

Lieutenant General Kurochkin laughed bitterly. Then he said: "Our deputy commander, Comrade Commander, always refers to you and your subordinates by the names of girls, and has successfully carried out strategic deception against me. Well, as you can tell from the look on my face, I was pleasantly surprised by your arrival, and as for your mission, I decided to let the Germans on the banks of the Dnieper share my surprise. ”

After listening to the order of Lieutenant General Kurochkin, Major Fliyulov led the convoy to take his leave and moved to the north of the town where the headquarters of the 20 th Army was located, but at this time there were already two more liaison officers sent by the headquarters of the army group in the convoy.

Under the skilful command of Major Fliyulov, his "girls", twenty BM-13 "Katyusha" self-propelled rocket launchers in a row of five, parked at the edge of the forest.

After communicating with the liaison officer, Major Fliyulov quickly determined the direction of the target, and under his loud command, the launchers of all twenty Katyusha self-propelled rocket launchers were slowly raised and pointed westward, until the designated firing angle was stopped.

Fliyulov took out a red handkerchief with a trembling left hand, and the troops he led participated in the actual battle for the first time, and were entrusted with important tasks by the deputy commander of the front and the commander of the army group, and he could not suppress the excitement in his heart at all.

Holding a handkerchief in his left hand, Major Fliyulov held his head high, raised his right arm and said in a loud voice: "Comrades, let the enemy share the joy of Comrade General and feel our wrath, launch." ”

After Vliyulov finished speaking, he waved his right arm vigorously and covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

With his order, two red signal flares flew into the sky, twenty Katyusha self-propelled rocket launchers suddenly roared, and the tails of one 132 mm caliber rocket spewed dazzling red light, whistling out of the launch frame, dragging bright trails and black smoke, splitting the blue sky like lightning.

In less than 20 seconds, all 20 Katyusha were launched, and 320 Katyusha rockets roared to the west, and a dense rain of bullets almost covered the sky

In the forest west of Dubrovno, Major Krugel glanced at his watch anxiously, then pricked up his ears sharply.

There was a familiar creaking sound behind him, it should have been a tank, Major Krugel made a judgment with great experience.

Turning his head to look, Major Krugel saw the huge figures of two Type 4G tanks faintly flashing in the dense woods behind him.

Passing through the dark forest, two Type 4G tanks stopped behind Major Krugel, and the commanders lifted their turrets with half of their bodies out of their turrets and picked up binoculars to check the terrain.

Hopping on Tank Four, Krugel communicated with the leading Panzer Captain and learned that two companies of Tank Four would cross the river to support his troops in the siege.

The two men pointed to the city of Dubrovno in the distance and the wheat fields in the middle, and were discussing a specific battle plan while waiting for the tank troops to complete the assembly, Major Krugel's face suddenly changed, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the eastern sky, and the captain of the armored corps also showed a frightened expression on his face.

"Hidden."

The captain of the armored corps shouted for concealment, and his body jerked into the turret, not forgetting to pull the turret hatch shut.

The veteran Major Krugel was not slow, jumped out of the tank, flew in front of the No. 4 tank, and plunged headlong under the chassis of the tank.

No sooner had Krugel done this than a firestorm descended on the forest where he was hiding and on the banks of the Dnieper River behind him.

The rocket fire formed a blaze that raged like a tornado over the German troops, and the boundless light and smoke shrouded the forests and rivers, and from a distance, almost cut through the raging river.

Wherever the storm passed, the pontoon bridge was blown apart, the trees were cut off, and the stumps flew into the sky

The power of the flame storm instantly attracted the attention of the four eyes, and it was none other than Chen Dao and Lieutenant General Hui Biqi, who had just arrived at Nipari Village.

Staring at the smoke of gunpowder covering the sky, Lieutenant General Hui Biqi gritted his teeth and said: "For an artillery bombardment of this scale, the enemy has used at least three artillery regiments, my troops."

Chen Dao didn't have any expression on his face, just silently took off the military hat on his head.

"No, it's not so, the enemy doesn't have three regiments, most likely not even one. But remember them, no, their names, so that you don't recognize them when you meet them later. ”

"Who are they?" Lieutenant General Hui Biqi asked.

"If I'm not mistaken, their name is Katyusha." (To be continued.) )