Southwestern Ukraine, eastern Romania, Chisinau, the capital of the Soviet Union Republic of Moldovation. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Despite being located on the shores of the Black Sea, the late August in the Republic of Moldova is still hot.

The infantry of the German Balkan Army Group, the subordinate 12th Army, braved the scorching sun and rushed to the heart of Ukraine with a rapid march.

On the dry road, the infantry platoon walked on the right side of the road.

On the left side of the road, armoured vehicles, trucks and motorcycles pass by from time to time, and more often horse-drawn carts with cannons in tow.

The dust raised by the march of the men and horses hung over the road, and from a distance, the road was surrounded by yellow soot.

Under the yellow smoke, the face of each infantryman was covered with a layer of dust, which was as fine as lime, and it burrowed into the military uniforms along the collars and cuffs of the soldiers, and under the soaking of sweat, it stuck to the infantrymen's bodies, and stained the uniforms.

The fatigue of the rapid march, coupled with the slimy discomfort of the whole body, made every infantryman's mood restless.

To the west of the road, a convoy of VW82 barrel trucks, SDKFZ251 armored vehicles and trucks roared past.

The wheels of the vehicle spun at high speed, raising large clouds of smoke and dust that slapped at the soldiers near the inner side of the road, causing an immediate shout of swearing.

The shouting was quickly stopped by the officers.

Some of the officers pointed to the whitewashed white G on the body of the convoy and shouted to their men: "Look, it's General Guderian's troops." ”

"It's unbelievable that Scud Heinz is falling behind us."

Guderian sat in the back seat of the VW82 barrel car, the convertible could not stop the dust from the invasion, and Guderian had to rub his nose regularly to dispel the sour itch of his nose.

The convoy plunged headlong into the city of Chisinau and, after twisting around the city, stopped in front of the gate of the town hall.

"Poof" A few times to spit out the dust from his mouth, Guderian strode into the gate of the town hall, grabbed a captain and asked, "Where is General Balk?" ”

Led by the captain, Guderian rushed to the conference room on the second floor, where he saw that the conference room had been transformed into an operational command room.

Lieutenant General Balk, commander of the 1st Panzer Corps, was explaining the battle plan to the staff officers when he heard the door slammed open, and Guderian, the old superior, rushed straight in front of him with a gust of wind.

"I said that it would take seven days to cover 350 kilometers and reach the Dnieper. Today is the fourth day of the offensive, and we have only covered 70 kilometers. Can you cover the remaining 280 kilometers in three days? ”

In the face of Guderian's questioning, Balk said helplessly: "It happened quite suddenly, the Russians actually have a Stalin line here, and there are many fortified areas on this line, not the kind of rough field fortifications. Moreover, in front of this line of defense, there is also a Transnistria, and the bridges on the river were all blown up by the Russians. It's summer, and the river is full of water and fast. These are causing us a lot of trouble, and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it. ”

"Time, I want to be able to break through the specific time of the Russian line." Guderian said bluntly.

Lieutenant General Balk didn't talk much nonsense, and said simply: "By tomorrow morning at the latest, we must cross the river." ”

Guderian pinched his waist with his left hand, stared at the map for a while, and then said: "On the way here, I saw that the infantry of the Twelfth Army was about to catch up with us, and we must hurry. ”

After spewing a lot of air and forcibly suppressing the irritability in his heart, Guderian continued: "I have good news that is not good news, the entire Balkan Army Group is not going very well, it is because of this Stalin line. We will strive to be the first to break through this line of defense. If, because of our tardiness, we delay the closing of the encirclement, we will all be court-martialed. ”

"I know the seriousness of the matter, and I'm trying to figure it out." Lieutenant General Balk said.

"Where is the main area? I'll take a look. ”

"Dubersaari, where the two fortified areas meet." Balk said.

When Guderian, Balk and Balk arrived at the Dniester River, they could see from a distance the black or white wakes of the planes under the blue sky, and they could often see the white umbrella flowers after the pilots parachuted out of the planes in volley.

"Has it always been so lively here?" Guderian asked, pointing to the sky.

"It's been like that for the last few days."

From a distance, Guderian saw six tadpole-shaped FI-282 hummingbird helicopters hovering or swimming in the sky by the river, directing the artillery on the ground to fire at the opposite bank.

In the bushes by the river, 88-mm anti-aircraft guns were parked, and the muzzles of some Dongfeng self-propelled anti-aircraft guns were also pointed into the sky, raining shells on Russian aircraft.

On the river, assault boats and rubber boats came and went, sending groups of infantry to the other side of the river.

From time to time, white columns of water burst out on the river, and Guderian witnessed an assault boat being overturned by shells, and the shattered hull and overboard soldiers floating on the water.

Assault boats passing nearby quickly rushed forward to salvage the soldiers who had fallen into the water.

"I remembered the Maas River." Balk said.

"It's much livelier than the Maas River." Guderian said.

Guderian saw that although a considerable number of infantry had already rushed to the other side of the river, they were suppressed by the superior firepower of the Soviet troops on the other side of the river and could not continue to develop victory.

Looking at the river, the two pontoon bridges that the sappers are building are not even a third of the width of the river.

"Damn the Black Death, it's here again." Balk said, pointing to the sky.

Two representative fighters of the Soviet Air Force, the Il-2 attack plane, rushed from south to north at an altitude of more than 100 meters above the ground, against the direction of the river.

Behind the two Il-2s, two German fighters were chased.

Ignoring the Me-109 pursuing behind, the two Il-2s rushed straight to the pontoon bridge under construction.

On the way to charge, black smoke came out of the body of an Il-2, which looked like it was full of destruction.

The German sappers, sensing the arrival of the Black Death, rushed back to the shore with shouts and fell headlong on the shore.

Machine gun shells rained down into the river, and several rows of dense white columns appeared on the river.

On the strafing path of a Black Death, the German infantry on assault boats plunged headlong into the river, dodging flying guns and shells.

"Bang bang bang ・・・・・・" With the muffled sound of a hammer hitting the bucket, a string of bullet holes instantly appeared on the assault boat.

In the assault boat, the soldiers who did not escape in time were lying on the bottom of the boat, and the blood flowed down the bullet holes into the river, staining the surface of the river red.

Another Il-2 attack aircraft, dragging black smoke, began to strafe close to the river, sweeping all the way over the pontoon bridge under construction.

At the moment when it was about to fly to the top of the pontoon, the bomb pylons directly under the fuselage were released, and the 250-kilogram bomb fell to the river with a vicious wind.

With a loud bang, a pontoon bridge was torn apart by bombs, and the pontoon boats and steel plates on the bridge deck flew into the air, and then smashed heavily into the river, splashing countless splashes, and half the morning's work of the sappers was in vain.・・・・・・

The black smoke from the tail of the Il-2 attack aircraft, which had established meritorious achievements, became thicker and thicker, almost covering most of the fuselage.

It was getting lower and lower from the ground, and finally it couldn't hold it anymore, and hit the ground headlong and shattered. 、

Another Il-2 had just finished dropping its bomb and was about to raise altitude and turn around to flee to the east coast, when a volley of 20-mm anti-aircraft shells swept by, the left wing suddenly snapped, and the plane plummeted to the ground in a spiral, falling headlong to the outskirts of the town of Dubersaari on the opposite bank.

Guderian saw these battle scenes one by one, and the anger in his heart gradually disappeared.

"The Russians seem to have gotten stronger."

"What we might encounter are elite troops." Balk said.

"It could also be because the war has spread to their hometown." Guderian said.

"Until today, we can barely suppress the Russian artillery, but we still can't deal with these difficult Black Deaths." Balk said.

"At this rate, these two pontoon bridges have not been repaired, and our bridge erection equipment will run out, what are you going to do?" Guderian asked.

"Mr. General is here just in time, you must have a way to solve this problem." Balk said.

Guderian was silent for a few seconds, staring at the sappers who were restarting construction on the river for a moment, and then said, "The people of the Twelfth Army will help." ”

After pricking up his ears and listening carefully to the movement outside, Guderian suddenly asked, "Why did the people from 501 come?" ”

Balk was impressed by the ears of his old superiors, and he could tell by his voice that it was an E-40 tank of the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion, not a Type 4G Four.

"They tried to cross the river once before, but it was destroyed by the Russian artillery, and today we suppressed the Russian artillery, and they are going to do a second river crossing," Balk said. ”

"The pontoon bridge is not erected, how are they going to cross the river?" Guderian asked curiously.

"Dive over."

Only then did Guderian remember that the E-40 tank, as a high-quality tank, had the ability to dive, which was also a remedy for being too heavy for ordinary bridges to bear.

Guderian saw that above the tail power compartment of nine E-40 tanks, a snorkel more than three meters high was raised.

The infantry on the shore gave way to the huge tanks and soon drove along the sandy ground by the river into the river.

The rushing river submerged the tracks, the load wheels, the chassis, and the turret.

The tall body of the E-40 tank was submerged in the river, and only nine slender snorkels remained on the river.

Guderian and Balk at the rear observation post, and the infantry on both banks, were watching the movement of the snorkels on the river.

Nine snorkels move slowly through the river and soon cross the midline of the river.

Suddenly, a volley of shells fell on the west bank of the Dniester and into the water.

Guderian leaned forward instantly, and Lieutenant General Balk also threw himself next to the scissor binoculars.

The shells caused a bloody storm among the infantry on the shore, and the infantry, although scattered, was still affected by the large-caliber shells.

At least 122 mm caliber.

Based on the size of the smoke emitted from the shells, Guderian was very experienced in identifying the caliber of Soviet artillery.

Excitingly, the snorkels on the river were still moving in the midst of the splash of the shells.

Guderian, however, was keenly aware that a snorkel had stopped moving and remained silently on the surface of the river.

Guderian's gaze went back and forth, between the other side and the stationary snorkel.

Move quickly, move quickly・・・・・・ Guderi kept silently in peace of mind.

However, until eight E-40 tanks burst out of the water, the snorkel remained untouched on the surface of the river.

When the eight E-40 tanks drove up to the other side of the river, stopping for a moment, and the tankers removed the waterproof padding to regain their visibility, the troops who had already crossed the river quickly launched an attack in depth.

On the riverside, thanks to the hard work of the sappers, the pontoon bridge stretched one meter to the opposite bank.

On the river, the assault boat is still shuttling on the river, and the snorkel is still like a lighthouse guiding the way, erected on the river.

The eyes of Guderian, the sappers and the infantrymen on the assault boat swept over one after another, but none of them woke up their comrades in the tank under the snorkel.

Eight E-40 tanks guided the infantry deep into the Soviet positions on the opposite bank, and the second batch of E-40 tanks also completed their preparations and slowly drove towards the river.

The Soviet artillery on the opposite bank suddenly disappeared under the counterfire of the German artillery, just like their arrival.

Seeing that the offensive had made phased progress, Guderian said: "Let's go, I'll go to the Twelfth Army to find you some helpers, and you can expand the breakthrough as soon as possible." ”

As he approached the door of the observation post, Guderian suddenly stopped.

"Tell the people of the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion to get those five children out when the battle is over."

Guderian walked out of the observation post and took one last look across the river.

Two FI-282 helicopters flew over the river and rushed towards the opposite bank.

In the sky on the other side, a Ju-87 dive bomber dragged a black plume of smoke and flames as it made its last dive.

When Lieutenant General Guderian and Lieutenant General Balk returned to Chisinau, Lieutenant General Willem von Thoma, commander of the Second Panzer Corps of the Fifth Panzer Army, also hid at an observation post near the river bank to observe the progress of the battle on the other side of the river, upstream of the town of Dubsaari and near the town of Yambir.

The Soviet-controlled town of Yambir on the other side has become the focus of the fighting.

More than a dozen columns of smoke rose from the town, covering the sky with a layer of black, and Soviet and German warplanes shuttled through the black smoke.

Lieutenant General Toma waited until noon, when the first pontoon bridge reached the opposite bank, and his emaciated face smiled.

Turning his head, Lieutenant General Thoma asked Major General Mills, who had come with him, "How long will it take for the boys of Hitler's Young Division to purge the Russians on the other side?" ”

"Before dark, tomorrow we can march on the Dnieper, don't worry."

"It's good, we've been blocked by the river and the Stalinist line for too long. We have to hurry. I don't want to be asked by General Kleist when I reach the Dnieper, why are you here? (To be continued.) )