Knowing that the enemy on the opposite side had a mysterious tank of unknown type, the commander of the 23rd Tank Army, Major General Pushkin, attacked very carefully.

Before dawn, the reconnaissance unit of the 23rd Tank Army, which had encountered the Michel Wittman battle group and was tragically repulsed, returned the same way in the night.

This time, the scouts, who had already figured out the situation, did not rush in, and used the cover of night to sneak into the woods on the south side of the town of Shelbsiki, and then stopped and quietly spied on the movements of the German troops in the town.

However, the town's lights were strictly controlled, and all they could see was the vague outlines of the buildings under the starlight.

In the darkness, it is unknown how many German troops are hidden in the town, and it is dangerous to attack them at this time.

Having learned that the scouts had successfully captured the woods south of the town, Major General Pushkin immediately sent prepared troops, a motorized infantry battalion, a motorized medium mortar battalion and a SU-122 self-propelled artillery regiment.

The 23rd Tank Corps has two medium tank brigades, one light tank brigade, and one motorized infantry brigade, and is attached to a motorized mortar battalion, a Katyusha self-propelled rocket artillery battalion, an antiaircraft artillery battalion, and a reconnaissance battalion, as well as engineering and transport units.

Before joining the 12th Army, the 23rd Tank Army was reinforced by a separate heavy tank regiment and a separate self-propelled artillery regiment.

The separate heavy tank regiment is equipped with one command T-34 tank and three companies of KV-85 heavy tanks of 10 units each, for a total of 31 tanks in the regiment.

The separate SU-122 self-propelled artillery regiment is armed with 1 command T-34 tank, as well as 16 SU-122 self-propelled guns.

In the past 1942, the Soviet army encountered the German No. 3 assault gun and No. 4 tank destroyer and other weapons on the battlefield, and then carried out the reverse (mountain) (wall) engineering of these two weapons, based on the T-34 tank chassis, developed its own assault gun, which is equipped with the M-30 122 mm caliber howitzer SU-122 self-propelled gun.

After the birth of the SU-122 self-propelled gun, it successfully became the mainstay weapon that the Soviet army could use to effectively kill the E-40 tank after the KV-2 was discontinued.

The SU-122 self-propelled artillery regiment, a motorized infantry battalion, and motorized mortars crept into the woods, already controlled by the scouts, and began to build fortifications in the direction of the town of Shebshiki to the north.

Behind this unit, Major General Pushkin also used a "Katyusha" self-propelled rocket artillery battalion as a reserve, and once a German army rushed out of the town, the rocket artillery battalion would immediately open fire and first give a "warm welcome" to the German troops in the style of a firestorm.

The defensive positions facing the north had been constructed, and there were no German troops in the middle to cause trouble.

Knowing that the security of the right (northern) flank of the troops was secured, Major General Pushkin calmed down and turned his attention to the primary target of the offensive, the village of Smilie, due west.

Faced with the densely housed, larger town of Serbshiki, Major General Pushkin still had an inexplicable fear in his heart.

The larger town meant that it could accommodate more troops, and it was exceptionally durable, and the tank units were not very suitable for street fighting, especially as an attacking side.

To the west, the village of Smilje is a small and undefended village on a plain surrounded by fields.

The small size meant that there would not be too many troops in it, and even if the Germans defied common sense and stuffed a lot of troops into the village, that would be fine, that was exactly what they were looking for.

In order to attack Vlasov's 1st Army, the Soviet High Command transferred eight artillery regiments in addition to two tank corps to the 12th Army.

The 23rd Tank Corps, as a diversionary force, was assigned one 122-mm howitzer regiment and two 152-mm howitzer regiments.

Major General Pushkin fully implemented the idea that artillery is the "god of war" and used all three howitzer artillery regiments in the direction of the village of Smilek.

No matter how many troops you have hiding in the village, bombard them with howitzers, even the mysterious tank of unknown model.

After the sky lit up slightly, Major General Pushkin went to the battlefield in person, stood on the turret of a KV-85 heavy tank, and personally peeked through the village of Smilje, and was even more sure that his tactics were effective.

After the ferocious artillery fire was prepared, it only took one charge for their tank troops to break the defenses of the defenders in the village.

The time pointed to 4:30 a.m., and the visibility on the battlefield was getting higher and higher.

Major General Pushkin saw with his own eyes that the hands of his left-handed watch were pointing to 4:30 and shouted into the phone: "Fire." ”

In the distance to the east of the battlefield, a muffled thunderous sound was heard, and the soldiers in the middle of the battlefield could clearly hear the sound of shells breaking through the air as they flew overhead.

The first shells landed in the village of Smilje, and the black smoke that burst out instantly engulfed the village, and the earth, bushes and fragments of the houses torn apart by the explosion soared into the sky, flying hundreds of meters high, before falling again under the influence of gravity.

At the moment when the smoke of gunpowder rose, a light tank brigade, with 53 T-70 light tanks in front and KV-85 heavy tank regiment behind, lined up in a deep formation on a frontage nearly two kilometers wide, and rushed towards the village of Smillet.

A battalion of infantrymen, armed with a variety of weapons, followed the last column of tanks and rushed towards the village of Smillet.

As the infantry charged in clusters, the shelling continued, and the village of Smilje was filled with smoke, shrapnel and flames.

The assault units of the 23rd Tank Corps, meeting almost no resistance, charged to a distance of about two kilometers from the village of Smillet.

The suppressive shelling continued, and the assault forces still encountered no resistance, only terrain obstacles.

On the ground where the assault force launched the attack, on the vast ground, between the square fields that were divided, there were ridges that the villagers used to separate the fields, store water, and walk.

A ridge approaching the north-south direction crossed in front of the Butan cluster, and in order to climb over the ridge protruding from the ground, the T-70 tank, which was rushing at the front of the high-speed assault, had to slow down.

At the moment when the tracks of the first column of T-70 light tanks crushed the ridge of the field, a strange whistling sound fell from the sky, and a dense stream of rockets dragged black smoke through the sky, leaving behind black smoke and dust that almost dyed the blue sky black.

In the face of sudden rockets, the infantry of the Soviet tanks exposed in the wilderness could not avoid it.

The quick-witted veterans fell headlong to the ground, leaving only the charging tanks and confused recruits.

Where the rocket landed, blood and flesh flew in an instant, and the broken torso, along with the earthy yellow military uniform torn by shrapnel, was thrown away by the blast of air, staining a large area of the ground red.

The coverage area of the rocket, whether it is the KV-85 heavy tank or the T-70 light tank, is also hit to varying degrees under the attack of the rocket.

The T-70 light tank was hit by rockets at close range, the tracks were broken, and even the welds of the steel plates were cracked, and some of the crew members inside were even shocked with ruptured eardrums and blood flowing.

The KV-85, a heavy tank weighing more than 40 tons, relied on thick armor and performed slightly better, with only two of its running gear shattered and paralyzed in place.

Soon, however, more whistling sounds came from the sky.

The 88-mm high-explosive shells fired by six "Scorpio" self-propelled cannons and the 150-mm howitzers fired by twelve "Wild Bee" self-propelled howitzers fell into the Soviet offensive queue like hailstones, continuing to stage the Großdeutsch version of the violent aesthetics.

As soon as the battle begins, the gods of war on both sides reveal their ferocious side.

In the face of German artillery suppression, it was the infantry that was really suppressed, and the undamaged tanks still rushed to the village of Smiller.

Suppressed and frightened by German artillery fire, and blocked by the ridges, the Soviet tank cluster was divided into two levels, and the T-70 light tank, which had a faster cross-country speed, involuntarily increased its speed after crossing the ridge, trying to rush into the village of Smilje one step earlier, and the KV-85 heavy tank, which had a slower cross-country speed, was left behind.

The T-70 light tank, which rushed to the front, spun rapidly on its tracks, and almost in the blink of an eye, rushed through the last flat field east of the village of Smille.

Seeing that his team was almost rushing into the village, the howitzer fire in the rear was urgently stopped.

At this time, the T-70 tank, which is closest to the village of Smilley, is less than 500 meters away from the wreckage of the easternmost house in the village of Smillet, which can be said to be a foot of throttle distance for the T-70 light tank with an off-road speed of up to 32 kilometers per hour.

At this moment, the T-70 light tank in the charge seemed to have been negotiated, slowed down its advance one after another, and became cautious.

The last ridge that separates the village from the fields straddles them, and the ridges lean against the side of the fields, as well as the ditches that hold water.

To storm the village of Smilje, which is close in sight, the T-70 light tank must first go down a ditch before climbing the ridge.

The first T-70 tank had just climbed up the ridge from the ditch with difficulty on its belly, and was confronted by a 75mm L60 tank gun.

The armor-piercing projectile spun and flew out and went straight to the T-70 tank, which had been seriously stalled by climbing the ridge, easily tearing through the steel plate that was only 45 mm thick in the right front of the tank and burrowing into the tank.

The T-70 light tank immediately stopped and turned into a motionless ghost car.

More and more T-70 light tanks climbed the ridge, but they were faced with the Tank 4 destroyer, which was on standby.

As Major General Pushkin judged, the village of Smilie was simply too small to accommodate too many troops, and the SS 104th Heavy Armored Brigade did not put too many troops in the village.

Only part of a medium tank battalion remained in the village, with a 4th company of 14 tank destroyers.

Also left behind was a company of panzergrenadiers and four Dongfeng self-propelled anti-aircraft guns.

Of the 14 tank destroyers No. 4, four remained in the village, the rest remained in the bushes on both sides of the village.

Panzergrenadiers and four self-propelled anti-aircraft guns hid their vehicles in the woods southwest of the village, leaving only one squad of AWACS units in the village.

The bold deployment of the defenders of the village of Smilje successfully evaded the fierce shelling of the Soviet troops.

Three of the four tank destroyers remaining in the village were damaged, and one of them was hit by a falling grenade on the roof, killing the entire crew.

Tank Destroyer No. 4, which was hidden on the north and south sides of the village, was unharmed, and using the natural anti-tank trenches such as ridges and water gullies, Tank Destroyer No. 4 met the Soviet tanks that climbed up the ridges one after another without understanding the situation.

The sacrifice of the T-70 light tank won precious time for the KV-85 heavy tank, which was moving slowly and slowly at a cross-country speed of only 12 kilometers per hour.

Some of the KV-85 heavy tanks that had spotted the position of the No. 4 tank destroyer stopped one after another, turned their turrets, and fired at the D-5T 85mm tank gun, and soon achieved results, with black smoke and fire rising from the bushes.

As the two No. 4 tank destroyers were hit and incapacitated, the anti-tank firepower of the defenders of Smilley, who were becoming weaker and weaker, was sharply reduced, and some T-70 light tanks successfully climbed over the ridge, and then accelerated and rushed towards the village of Smilley.

At the last moment, the figures of armored vehicles and infantry rushed out of the village and the fields on both sides of the village of Smillet, and it was the Panzergrenadier Company that arrived in time after the shelling stopped.

However, it was the troops from the northwest of the village who really saved the defenders of Smilje.

To the northwest of the village of Smirje, there is a dirt road in the countryside that connects the village of Smilje with the town of Sherbshiki.

The troops of the heavy armored battalion of the 104th SS Heavy Armored Brigade, with the strength of three companies, were ambushed in the continuous bushes on the depression on the north side of the dirt road.

With an order from the brigade headquarters, the heavily armored battalion rushed out of its concealment, crossed the road, and charged at the stretched and exposed right flank of the Soviet troops.

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