Located about sixty kilometers west of Pustoshka, the city of Shebezh was an important strategic support point on the Stalinist Line.

At 9:30 a.m. on July 11, a group of special guests were welcomed outside the city of Xie Beiri.

Colonel Wolf von Dietrich (played by an old man), commander of the 1st Police Regiment of the 4th Waffen-SS "Police" Division, led four guards into the birch forest, ten kilometers west of the city of Shebeře.

Behind him, a SDKFZ251 communications armored vehicle slowly followed.

The forest was full of soldiers of the 1st Police Regiment, fully armed and ready to attack.

Colonel Dietrich whispered hello to the officers and soldiers in the forest, and made his way through the crowd to the edge of the forest.

The guards set up scissor-like binoculars at the edge of the forest, and Dietrich quietly observed the Stalinist lines in the distance.

It had been two days since the police division's troops arrived outside Shebezh, and on the basis of the information obtained by the scouts over the past two days, as well as the information provided by the friendly Fourth Panzer Army, Colonel Dietrich already had an intuitive understanding of the Soviet Stalinist line in the Shebezh area.

Outside the forest, about five kilometers ahead, you will enter a minefield set by the Soviet army.

Behind the minefield, there are two anti-tank trenches up to three to four meters deep, behind the anti-tank trenches are towering reinforced concrete pillboxes and infantry trenches, between which there are many oblique positions, and the firing holes between the reinforced concrete pillboxes can also support each other to form crossfire.

During fire reconnaissance, even if a 150-mm howitzer landed on those reinforced concrete pillboxes, it only left some white marks on them.

Fortunately, according to aerial photographs provided by air force reconnaissance planes, the depth of defense of the reinforced concrete pillboxes and trenches of the Soviet army was only about three kilometers.

In the eyes of veteran birds such as Colonel Dietrich, the depth of defense is about three kilometers. It was built entirely on the basis of the assault capabilities of infantry divisions of the First World War.

After "tea and chatting" with some captured Soviet officers, Colonel Dietrich confirmed that the line, which had been built in 1928, was entirely an outdated project built on the combat model of the First World War.

This line of defense, named after Stalin, from the day it was born, was already behind the times. Conservative estimates are twenty years behind the times.

He touched the Iron Cross of the First Class on his left chest, which he had received when he led his troops to fight in France.

Remembering the Iron Cross Act, which had just been promulgated, Colonel Dietrich decided that it was necessary for him to go through some violent construction to turn the Stalinist line in front of him into a German Cross and hang it on his chest, so as to lay the foundation for the future knight's Iron Cross.

In the original plan, the task of the police division was to make a frontal feint attack on Shebezh and attract the attention of the main Soviet forces, while the real main attack was to be carried out by the 56th Panzer Corps under the 4th Panzer Army. The main attack was located directly south of Sheberi.

Spurred on by the Knight's Iron Cross, Colonel Dietrich felt the need to carry out this feint with the attitude of the main attack.

After making up his mind, Colonel Dietrich recruited three battalion commanders under him, and after the three battalion commanders openly and honestly expressed their ideas, Colonel Dietrich's idea was immediately fully supported by these knightly Iron Cross enthusiasts.

Before the meeting to unify ideas within Dietrich's regiment was over, a phone call from the division headquarters asked Colonel Dietrich to appear in the conference room of the division headquarters.

The content of the divisional meeting was similar to that of the 1st Police Regiment. It was confirmed that the feint attack would be the main attack, and in one fell swoop the Stalinist line and the city of Sebezh behind it. Then return to the furnace to process the badges urgently needed by the officers and men of the police division of the city.

After a meeting and a small meeting, the police division collectively unified their thinking, and the First Police Regiment, which was the main attacker, began to make combat deployments overnight.

After patiently observing for ten minutes, Colonel Dietrich confirmed that there was no movement of the Soviet troops in the direction of the Stalin line and returned to the depths of the forest. While cheering up the officers and soldiers who were about to enter the battle, while waiting for the time to launch the offensive.

At 9:58 a.m., a loud roar passed through the dense foliage of the trees and reached Dietrich's ears.

The forest was instantly covered with a murderous atmosphere, and all eyes turned to the western sky.

The two groups of planes quickly approached Xie Beiri, one after the other. Flying at the forefront were medium bomber formations.

Forty HE-111 medium bombers crossed the Stalin line in dense formation and flew over the city of Shebezh.

Ignoring the ground anti-aircraft artillery fire, hundreds of tons of aerial bombs rained down from the sky.

The carpet bombardment blasted out gunpowder smoke and dust flying in the sky, forming a thick curtain in the sky, covering the city of Shebezh.

Under the curtain of the horrors of war, buildings were reduced to rubble and streets were clogged with piles of rubble.

Pedestrians screamed and ran to the bomb holes and basements to avoid death from the air.

A formation of JU-87 dive bombers followed, roaring over the forest where Colonel Dietrich was located, and dived into the Stalinist line at an almost perpendicular ground angle.

The panicked screams once again reigned on the land, falling along with aerial bombs, dealing a double blow to the Soviet army, both mentally and physically.

In the fountain of gunpowder rising into the sky, all the areas on the Soviet positions, which had been reconnoitred by the Luftwaffe before, and where they were suspected of being pillboxes, fire support points, and artillery positions, were all baptized by the death baptism of desperate heavy aerial bombs.

Taking advantage of the opportune opportunity when the Soviet troops were suppressed by the aerial bombs of the Air Force, Colonel Dietrich immediately gave the order to attack.

The divisional police engineer battalion, reinforced to the 1st Police Regiment, was the first to enter the battle, and the engineers, led by the platoon commanders, rode in armored vehicles through the middle of the battlefield and rushed to the edge of the minefield before stopping.

The sappers removed the Goliath RC tanks from the armored vehicles and put them on the ground, then ripped off the wires and manipulated the mini-killers deep into the minefield, and only pressed the detonation button when they knew the area they were satisfied with.

In the body of each Goliath RC tank, there are between 50 and 100 kilograms of explosives.

The explosion of every remote-controlled tank sets off a storm in a minefield.

Dirt flying. Smoke erupted, and even mines hiding underground could not be hidden, and were swept into the sky by the shock wave.

The sappers of the police engineer battalion used Goliath remote-controlled tanks to carve out three roads to the Stalinist line in the minefield with pure violence.

Following the path carved out by the sappers, the No. 3 assault gun guided the infantrymen in camouflage uniforms. Straight to the anti-tank trenches.

From time to time, mortar shells fell from the sky, forcing the infantry near the bomb site to lie down and hide.

Machine gun bullets also whizzed by, piercing bloody holes in the bodies of the unsuspecting SS soldiers.

The stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops quickly drew retaliation from the 300 artillery regiment of the police division, and two battalions of artillery were the first to enter the battle, smashing countless 105-mm and 150-mm grenades onto Soviet positions.

Small bunkers, along with the soldiers and machine guns inside, flew into the sky, leaving only craters on the ground.

The howitzer battalion covered the fire point that slipped through the net, and then came under the direct fire of the No. 3 assault gun, and one after another high-explosive shells fell precisely into the firing holes of the machine guns with flames. Explosions and screams erupted.

The fortifications, which stood high on the battlefield and were one and a half meters thick, were cared for by mortar gunners.

Smoke bombs fell one after another on the front and back of the fortifications, and the black smoke rolled, wrapping around these fortifications like cotton wool, tightly wound layer after layer.

In the middle of summer, it is hot and windless. The smoke did not disperse for a long time, obscuring the view of Soviet artillerymen and machine gunners inside the fortifications.

More than twenty fortifications. Like more than twenty blind giants, they could only attract German artillery with their huge bodies, smashing wave after wave of smoke bombs on them.

Taking advantage of the opportune opportunity to suppress the combat effectiveness of the fortifications, the troops of the assault battalion of the 1st Police Regiment quickly passed through the minefield and approached the edge of the anti-tank trench.

At this moment, swarms of shells whizzed down onto the battlefield. Falling into the crowd of the assault battalion, a bloody storm was set off, and the powerful offensive of the assault battalion was instantly suppressed, and it was no longer as sharp as before.

In the astonished gaze of Colonel Dietrich, he even saw. There were violent explosions again and again near the Soviet fortifications, and the Soviet artillery was actually shelling their own fortifications.

Soon, Colonel Dietrich figured out the intentions of the Soviet artillery.

As the explosion set off a wave of violent wind, the white smoke hovering beside the fortifications was dispersed in patches, and when the smoke dissipated, the muzzles of the guns and the firing holes of the Maxim machine guns were revealed on the fortifications.

The 76.2 mm guns roared, and the No. 3 assault gun, which served as a steel shield for the infantry in battle, finally met its equal opponent.

Three assault guns were hit by armor-piercing shells one after another, and after a column of black smoke rose from the body, the actions of the remaining assault guns became cautious.

Colonel Dietrich's phone was quickly connected to the artillery regiment and subsequently to the artillery observation posts at the front.

Two FI-282 Hummingbird helicopters also risked being hit by Soviet anti-aircraft artillery and penetrated deep into Soviet lines to find the location of Soviet artillery positions.

Perhaps sensing the intentions of the German army, the Soviet artillery fired a stormy salvo and disappeared into the battlefield in an instant.

Perceiving the cessation of Soviet shelling, the actions of the assault battalion were again active.

Assault gun No. 3 rushed forward, tore through the remaining barbed wire, knocked down the wooden stakes that had been staggered by the shells, and rushed straight to the side of the anti-tank trench, where it fired at the Soviet fortifications, but with little effect under the protection of the thick reinforced concrete, until the fortifications were again covered in smoke.

Sappers and infantry took the opportunity to rush into the anti-tank trenches, in which trenches were erected.

At this moment, a series of explosions sounded near the fortifications.

Grenades flew out of the firing holes, and rounds of mortar shells were fired from behind the fortifications, dispersing the surrounding smoke.

Machine gun bullets fell like hail near the anti-tank trench, the grass near the trench flew everywhere, the soil on the ground also sneered, and the German soldiers in the anti-tank trench were suppressed and did not dare to show their heads.

"We need Stuka, we have to get Stuka to do it again, to get bigger caliber aerial bombs to take out the big guys." Colonel Dietrich took the phone and shouted to the commander of the police division, Lieutenant General Alfred Windenberg, on the other end of the line.

"Stuka will not come again, we can only rely on the troops at hand to complete the task now, do not forget, in the eyes of the superiors, we are just a feint force, and the Air Force will give priority to supporting the combat area of the 56th Panzer Corps."

Hearing Lieutenant General Windenburg's explanation, Dietrich had no choice but to put down the phone, and then connected to the artillery regiment.

Five minutes later, the other two artillery battalions of the police artillery regiment were hiding and standby, finally waiting for the order to undisguise and enter the battle.

Two battalions of LEFH18 105mm howitzers, with their muzzles raised, pointed at the southeastern corner of the battlefield.

Two companies of reinforcements rushed out of the hidden forest and into the battle-torn battlefield, the main attack also pointing to the southeast corner of the battlefield.

With a dull roar of thunder, twenty-four smoke grenades of the FH.Gr.Nb type flew down to the southeast corner of the battlefield, and thick smoke enveloped the Soviet fortifications.

Taking advantage of fleeting fighters, the German infantry and sappers who were pinned down in the anti-tank trench moved quickly, climbed out of the anti-tank trench with a trench ladder, broke into the other side of the trench, and began to erect a wooden bridge over the anti-tank trench.

Without waiting for the Soviet troops to repeat their old tricks, they used the air waves of artillery shells to disperse the smoke, and the artillery of the units participating in the battle, which received the order, fired smoke bombs into the southeast corner of the battlefield one after another.

With the arrival of reinforcements on the battlefield, Colonel Dietrich's new battle plan was conveyed to the front.

The combat engineer swirls were about to turn the direction of their main attack to the southeast.

The sappers took off their gas masks from their waists and put them on their heads, plunged headlong into the smoke and threw themselves at the Soviet fortifications.

As the combat sappers approached the fortifications, the flamethrowers in their hands sounded the death knell for the Soviet shooters in the fortifications.

The flames of the jets were blazing, and they burrowed into the pillboxes and fortifications through every gap in the shooting hole, turning the fortifications into human ovens, and soon the screams of the Soviet infantry were heard inside the fortifications.

Where the relentless flames swept through, the firing holes of the fortifications in the southeast of the Soviet army were ineffective one after another and became decorations on the battlefield.

The tight network of more than 20 fortifications was forced into a gap by the combined efforts of SS sappers and artillery.

A little breakthrough, the whole line collapsed, and they were finished.

Seeing more and more troops massing in the southeastern part of the front, Colonel Dietrich smiled confidently at the corner of his mouth.

However, the curvature of the corners of his mouth had not disappeared, and he saw that the southeast of the battle line suddenly fell into a sea of fire.

It was the artillery of the Soviet army, and they turned out to appear again. (To be continued.) )