Guderian was a man who could not sit still, squatting in the command headquarters and directing to the map was not his style, and even after serving as the commander of the Panzer Army, he maintained a good habit of often walking to the front line. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

In the west of Kirovgrad, Guderian's convoy of four SDKFZ251 armored vehicles lined up about eight kilometers west of the city.

If Kirovgrad is a planet, the villages and towns scattered around the city are satellites, and in order to enter Kirovgrad, you must first take the satellite cities occupied by the Soviet army.

Guderian stared at the battle-torn village in the distance, while the adjutant beside him stared nervously at the sky.

In the sky, directly in front of his gaze, there were at least two dozen planes, turning their heads to look at the sky on both sides, and the number of planes had more than tripled.

Guderian noticed the adjutant's small movements, and said without looking back: "You don't have to be nervous, the Russian planes will not be so easy to detect us." ”

"The Russians finally stopped retreating, and we finally caught them." The adjutant said.

"Judging by the number of planes in the sky, it seems that the Russians are going to fight us a decisive battle on the Dnieper, and our plan to encircle us is probably bankrupt. I have a hunch that across the Dnieper, millions of Russians will await us. The gentlemen of the Army Command must develop new tactics, otherwise, we may well be kicked to the iron plate. Guderian said.

"They succeeded." The adjutant shouted excitedly as he pointed to the distant village in flames.

Guderian clearly saw that in the village ahead, several Waffen-SS soldiers were escorting a group of prisoners of war out of the village, numbering forty or fifty people.

Guderian jumped into the armored car, and four armored cars sprayed with white G letters drove towards the group of prisoners.

"Sergeant, is the battle in the village over?" Guderian shouted to a sergeant escorting a prisoner.

"The battle is over, General." The sergeant said.

As Guderian's four armored vehicles rushed into the village with a gust of wind, he saw a wooden sign with a capital line of Russian letters hanging on the wall of a ruined house on the side of the road.

"Is it Lutsk?" Guderian asked the interpreter in the car.

"It's Lutzk, General."

Guderian quickly sketched a military map in his mind.

"If I'm not mistaken, Lutsk is eight kilometers from Kirovgrad, take it and the door to Kirovgrad is completely open. What we have to think about next is street fighting and taking out the Russians' reinforcements. ”

Of the four armored vehicles, one was the SDKFZ251-3 armored car, a sub-model 3 armored car, which was converted into a radio communication vehicle.

It was with this sub-model of armored vehicles that Guderian would run around the battlefield without losing contact with the command in the rear.

"Commander, a telegram from the headquarters, the troops on the left and right flanks have completed their tasks, and the fifteenth and twenty-first armored divisions have just met in the town of Edzhaka, east of Kirovgrad." The adjutant took the telegram from the signal corpsman and said.

Guderian looked at his watch, and then said: "The battle has been going on for four and a half hours, and their speed is quite fast, what about sixty motorists?" ”

"The 60th Motorized Infantry Division, on the right flank of the 15th Panzer Division, has reached the road and is now continuing its advance in the direction of Alexandria."

"Well, quickly contact the Air Force and ask them, what are the Russians doing near Alexandria?"

While anxiously waiting, Guderian saw that in the wilderness between the village of Lutsk and the city of Kirovgrad, countless SS soldiers sent a huge fan and rushed to the western outskirts of the city.

More than 30 No. 3 assault guns were mixed in the infantry group, providing direct fire support for the infantry.

In the sky, four FI-282 Hummingbird helicopters hung at an altitude of fifty or sixty meters above the ground, like generals in a pressuring formation.

Large-caliber shells whistled over Guderian's head and fell on the western outskirts of the city, and the smoke from the explosions blocked Guderian and the city, and the whole city looked hazy and beautiful.

Standing east of the village of Lutsk, after admiring the offensive for another half hour, Guderian finally waited for the long-awaited telegram.

"On the road near the city of Alexandria, armored units of the Soviet army appeared, and they were advancing towards Kirovgrad."

"Telegraph," Guderian raised his right hand, and the adjutant hurriedly took out a notebook and pen.

"Tell the army group command to forward, first, inform the 60th Motorized Infantry Division to be careful of the enemy's counteroffensive troops; Two, let Balk an hour and a half later, no, two hours later, launch an attack on Kafbas. ”

After confirming that the contents of the telegram were correct, Guderian asked the adjutant to send the telegram.

The contents of the telegram were converted into radio waves by radio communication vehicles, which first penetrated the headquarters of the Fifth Panzer Army and then flew to other corners of the battlefield.

Two hours later, west of the city of Kafbas, with the order of Lieutenant General Balk, the 23rd and 24th Panzer Divisions attacked in a pincer attack from the north and south sides of the city, pincering the city of Kafbas, which was blocking the way to the advance.

To the west of the city of Kafbas, the infantry of the 65th Infantry Division of the German Twelfth Army launched a simultaneous attack.

The division was the first infantry division to arrive from the rear during the three-day rest of the Fifth Panzer Army.

・・・・・・

Of the four divisions under the 13th Infantry Corps of the Soviet Army, the 270th Division, the only intact infantry division, was responsible for the defense of Kirovgrad, and the other three broken infantry divisions were responsible for defending villages on the north and south flanks of the city.

As Major General Garanin feared, the sparse infantry could not fill the wide front, and the three broken infantry divisions could only be scattered in the villages around the city, only to be broken by the torrent of steel.

The 60th Motorized Infantry Division and the 15th Panzer Division marched side by side, sweeping villages along the road and detouring back to the east of Kirovgrad.

According to the pre-established plan, the 15th Panzer Division and the 21st Panzer Division continued to attack in the direction of Kirovgrad, cooperating with the frontal attack of Hitler's Youth Division to attack the city, and the 60th Motorized Infantry Division continued to advance in the direction of Alexandria, responsible for intercepting the Soviet reinforcements that would definitely appear.

To the east of the city of Kirov, the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, having received an early warning telegram, stopped its advance in the direction of Alexandria in the east, and turned to the defense on both sides of the road.

The 243rd and 244th motorized infantry regiments defended on both sides of the road, and the 92nd motorized infantry regiment acted as a reserve in the rear.

The infantrymen were in front, wielding sapper shovels, digging out a bunker as much as possible with the short pre-battle time, behind the infantry,

The artillerymen of the 160 Artillery Regiment also formed formations, and the four subordinate artillery battalions each looked for positions and turned into battle formations, with their muzzles raised and pointed to the east.

To the east of the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, the 15th Tank Division under Major General Sokolov was also changing formations.

Tanks left the road, convoys of trucks stopped on the side of the road, infantry jumped out of their carriages and ran in droves to both sides of the road, and farther behind, the divisional artillery also began to erect the god of war.

The decisive battle with the Germans near the Dnieper River was a predetermined battle plan of the Soviet army, and the army and air forces were in the service of this plan.

Major General Sokolov's request for the Air Force to protect the overhead was vigorously implemented by the Soviet Air Force.

Most of the German fighters that appeared in the sky, whether bombers or fighters, were intercepted by the Soviet Air Force, and the few German fighters that launched attacks on the ground also returned in vain under the anti-aircraft fire of the 15th Tank Division.

After skillfully transforming into an offensive formation, on both sides of the road, three columns of tanks guided groups of infantry to rush to the defensive line where the 60th Motor Infantry Division was located.

Of the three columns, the first and third were T-34 tanks, nicknamed Mickey Mouse by the Germans.

The two round hatches on the turret of the T-34 tank, when opened at the same time, resemble the two ears of the famous animated image of Mickey Mouse, hence the name.

Sandwiched between two rows of T-34 tanks is the massive KV-2 heavy tank, known as a mobile public toilet.

More than 200 tanks rushed to the position of the 60th Motorized Infantry Division, and the infantry trotted behind.

During the charge, behind the Soviet infantry cluster, a sudden thunder sounded, and the gods of war roared.

The artillery position was instantly surrounded by dense gunsmoke, and countless shells spun and flew out of the muzzle, whistling over the heads of the butan cluster and smashing into the German position.

In the continuous explosions, the German position shook in an instant.

The rolling ground was covered in craters, and in the flying dirt, flesh and gun parts were scattered in all directions.

Under the heavy fire of the Soviet army, most of the German soldiers prostrate on the ground, opening their mouths wide to balance the air pressure and prevent the air wave from the explosion from bursting their eardrums.

The death of their comrades, the wails of the wounded, could not touch them, they had long been accustomed to the battlefield of blood and fire.

Some veterans deftly took advantage of the gap between the falling shells and jumped into the craters that were relatively close to them, using the craters as foxholes given by the Soviets.

Another thunderclap soon sounded on the battlefield, and the German artillery retaliated one after another, and the Soviet infantry was immediately covered in a storm of flames.

Where the fire and smoke passed, the Soviet infantry in the charge instantly fell to the ground, no longer having the momentum they had before.

The formation of the three columns of tanks became chaotic, and with every round of German shells landed, the tanks broke down.

Either the running gear was damaged, or the engine stalled, and even a T-34 was hit by a shell on the top of the turret, and the turret, along with the tankers inside, exploded to pieces.

With the passage of time, a strange and tragic scene appeared in the infantry cluster of the Soviet army advancing in the face of artillery fire.

Only the tanks of the Soviet army were equipped with radios for officers of the company commander and above, and the Soviet officers had to risk their lives to open the turret hatch and convey orders in the language of the flag.

In the chaotic battlefield and tense atmosphere, the flag language could not effectively convey orders, and the tank formation of the Soviet army was quickly chaotic.

The T-34 tanks in the first column picked up speed and rushed towards the German positions, and the T-34 tanks in the third column also picked up speed, passing through the gap between the KV-2 tanks in front.

Seeing the tanks in front of them charging, the infantry officers shouted and urged their subordinates to speed up and keep up with the T-34 in front at full speed.

During their previous assault training, they were ordered to follow the T-34 tank, keep it safe, and ignore the bulky KV-2.

The third column of T-34 tanks and infantry rushed past the KV-2 tanks, throwing the bulky KV-2 tanks at the back of the offensive formation, which appeared to be in chaos.

In the face of the charging Soviet tanks, the fire of the PAK4075 mm anti-tank guns on the German positions flashed with a cold cold light.

Behind them, farther away, the gunners of the 88-mm anti-aircraft guns also turned their muzzles to lock onto their targets.

In the thick grass, the low body of the No. 3 assault gun hid in the defensive line, shaking the muzzle of the gun, looking for a target to fire.

When the Soviet tank units rushed to about 500 meters from the front of the German position, the battlefield burst into heavy artillery fire.

The 75-mm armor-piercing and 88-mm armor-piercing shells spun and flew out, instantly hitting the body of the T-34 tank, a few were bounced off, and many more tore the steel plates of the tank, burrowed into the inside of the body, and set off a bloody storm in the body.

In the first round of shooting, at least twenty T-34 tanks were left dead on the battlefield.

The free fire of the German anti-tank guns contained the offensive momentum of the Soviet army, but it also exposed its own position.

The T-34 tank ended its charge and turned into stop-and-go, giving full play to the guerrilla spirit of firing one shot at another place, and turned to firing at the German tank guns.

The flexible positioning of the T-34 tank seriously affected the aiming of the German gunners, and the rate of destruction of the T-34 tank was reduced.

During the rounds of Soviet tank gunning, the German anti-tank gun positions were hit by high-explosive shells from time to time, and the gunners without armor cover were killed and wounded, and the battle situation immediately reached a stalemate.

In the passionate exchange of fire, behind the Soviet infantry group, a team that decided the direction of the battlefield pressed on the German position, which was the KV-2 tank queue that was left behind.

The KV-2 tank queue was thrown to the back of the offensive queue, not by accident, but as a result of careful design.

In previous wars, when the KV-2 appeared in the field, it was often used as the spearhead of the attack of tank clusters, expecting their strong and thick armor to block shells for the T-34 or BT series light tanks behind them.

However, the KV-2's sturdy armor became a joke in the face of the German 75mm series of tank guns and anti-tank guns, the 88mm tank gun of the E-40 model, and the 88mm anti-aircraft gun, which often made cameo appearances as anti-tank guns.

His slow speed and tall body made him the first target to be discovered on the battlefield.

And in offensive warfare, the most painful lesson was that the KV-2 was also slow turret rotation and reloading speed.

Faced with anti-tank guns with low barrels and often hidden in the grass, the KV-2 tank often did not detect the presence of the opposing side until after the enemy opened fire.

Due to the slow turret speed and reloading speed, the KV-2 tank was often subjected to two, three, or even more armor-piercing rounds before firing at the target.

Many of the KV-2 tanks that served as spearheads of the attack often died tragically under German anti-tank fire before they could fire.

Unable to run, unable to fight, it could only serve as a mobile coffin in the field, and the KV-2 received an unprecedented bad rating among the Soviet tank forces.

After learning from the pain, a general surnamed Rokossovsky, who had had enough of the suffering of the German armored forces in Romania, worked out a new way to use the KV-2.

Don't rush to the front of the queue if you run slowly, let the faster T-34 rush to the front and lure the German gunners to open fire to expose the target.

The T-34's small size and high speed made it more difficult for the German gunners to make the first hit.

The high rate of fire of 76.2 mm also allowed a quick counterattack against the German gunners.

While the German gunners focused on the T-34, the KV-2 following the line gained enough time to load, aim, and fire.

On the ground battlefield, no one dared to ignore the M-2 howitzer of the 10 type on the KV-152 tank.

A high-explosive shell weighing 52 kg, even without a direct hit, was enough to inflict a devastating blow on most ground targets.

In Alexandria, General Sokolov's answer to questions from others was vague because he knew full well that this new tactic, which ensured that the KV-2 would be able to fully exploit its firepower superiority, was based purely on the bloody sacrifice of the T-34 tanks in front of him・・・・・・

On the passionate battlefield, the reborn KV-2 tanks stopped advancing one after another.

The bulky toilet head slowly turned, then stopped, and the sound of metal hitting the chamber of a cannonball could be heard from inside the turret.

The reloading time of large-caliber sub-loading ammunition is more than a minute.

After a long period of aiming and loading, the gun muzzle of the KV-2 tank spewed gray-white gunpowder smoke one after another, firing the first round of fire after the rebirth. (To be continued.) )