Half an hour later, more intense bombardment followed.

The sound could tell that it was Soviet long-range artillery that had arrived, and they were guided by skiers to fire a large number of shells into the town of Holm.

The shells wreaked havoc, and several Soviet fighters and bombers joined the bombing and strafing bandwagon. Although most of the Germans were hiding in buildings or trenches, they could not see their targets at all, but they still indiscriminately bombarded the lower parts.

Every house and even every piece of ruins was repeatedly attacked, and sometimes the characteristic whistling of several "Katyusha" rockets could be heard in the shells, and the explosion of various shells and bombs shook the whole town of Holm.

For this scene, Major General Hartmann has the deepest experience.

He hid in the church to the east...... Major General Hartman was a smart man, and he certainly knew that the east side of the First Battalion was the safest compared to his own police force and the stragglers. And the east side should be the safest church, after all, it is a certain thing of faith, he believes that the Soviets will not shell it easily, which is one of the reasons why they will concentrate the wounded in the church.

But I didn't expect the Soviets to do it right.

A cannonball hit the wall of the church and exploded violently, shaking the whole church and falling a large cloud of dust from the top, and the chandelier swayed overhead, making a "clanging bell" sound, as if it was about to fall.

The wounded lost control in an instant...... It is understandable that the wounded are deeply injured and extremely psychologically vulnerable, and it is a little unbearable to be threatened at this time.

However, there is also another extreme performance, which is to lie down and let the outside world be chaotic and not move at all, as if the world has nothing to do with him.

But more of the wounded were still making loud noises, causing extreme confusion. So there were groans, shouts, and all sorts of weird noises, interspersed with complaints about explosions and angry curses.

Another shell fell from the sky, and the wall near the entrance began to crumble, and dozens of wounded were crushed in the rubble on the spot, and the dust brought up by the collapse covered everything, and the wounded coughed and choked their throats, making a sound similar to vomiting.

Those who couldn't move tried to crawl past the more seriously injured in a panic, and everyone's face was full of fear, desperate to escape, as if it would make them safer. There are horrible images everywhere. Some stumble, crawl or walk, and some try their best to squeeze into what they think is safer.

But in this hellish slaughter, there is no safe place. Cannonballs rained down like screams, like death raising its scythe again and again......

Finally, when the bombing was over, Major General Hartmann crawled out from under the table in embarrassment, and all he saw was a mess.

"Quick!" Major General Hartmann shouted at several panicked soldiers: "Dig them all out!" ”

While the soldiers were busy, Major General Hartman scolded again: "You fools, what can we do with our little people? Go and call those damned Soviets! ”

"Yes, General!"

So soon a group of Soviets were requisitioned by Major General Hartmann...... This is how the suffering of the Soviet people began, and those who had been requisitioned by the Germans to serve the Germans would be regarded as traitors when the Soviets came to them.

However, the Soviets did not attack.

If there was an attack, it was two tentative attacks, and after being repulsed by the Germans with indiscriminate gunfire, a defensive line was formed from a distance of a kilometer...... The purpose of their offensive was to find the position of the German defensive line.

"What are they doing?" Kuhn asked: "Why didn't they attack?" ”

"What?" Gerhard asked in surprise, "Weren't they attacking just now?" ”

"That's just a temptation, Lieutenant Colonel!" Qin Chuan said: "You will soon know what a real attack is!" ”

Qin Chuan knew what the Soviets were doing, just like he had said to Colonel Slane earlier...... The purpose of the Soviets was not to be the First Infantry Corps, and certainly not to the Gerhard stragglers, nor to Holm.

The aim of the Soviets was to cut off the retreat of Army Group North.

For this purpose, they could not stop just because the town of Holm was a town, so it was wise to leave a few troops to surround Holm and then move on with the larger forces.

As for Holm, it was not a threat to the Soviets at all...... It's just a small town, and it's only a matter of time before it takes it.

Qin Chuan guessed correctly, the 3rd Assault Army of the Soviet Army had a total of 4 divisions and 7 independent snow infantry battalions, with a total of 51,500 people.

The commander, General Maxim Aleksievich Pukaev, ordered the 33rd Infantry Division to surround Holm, while the rest of the troops crossed Holm and continued in the direction of Velikiye Luki to the west.

General Pukaev gave an order to the commander of the 33rd Infantry Division, Major General Vardani: "Give you a week, you must take Holm!" ”

"Yes, General!" Major General Vardani replied confidently.

In the opinion of Major General Vardani, the German troops trapped in Holm were only five thousand men...... It was easy for the Soviets to grasp the situation of the German army in Holm, because there was an inside line planted by the Soviet army.

This was the preparation of the Soviet army during the defense of Moscow, and Holm has always been a logistics base and transshipment base for the German army because it is a transportation artery and there was a German airfield before that.

In order to understand the supply situation of the German army, the Soviets, of course, had to arrange an internal line in Holm.

With a division of more than 10,000 men attacking the remnants of the German army of 5,000 troops, and still having an absolute advantage in supplies and equipment, Major General Vardani thought that this was not a difficult task.

As a result, Major General Vardani placed three regiments in three directions on Holm: the 164th Regiment to the north, the 73rd Regiment to the west, and the 82nd Regiment to the south.

Only the east side was vacated, because he knew that the east side was the strongest defense of the German army, and this would not only avoid the enemy's sharpness, but also give the enemy a little illusion of breaking through the siege, so as to achieve the purpose of breaking his morale and will.

In the end, Major General Vardani brought up the 170 tank battalion again.

This tank battalion had twenty-five tanks, thirteen of which were T34s.

Major General Vardani believes...... With these tanks, it only took him one night to break into the town and wipe out all the enemies inside.