Karachi is an important port city located on the Don River, because it is directly west of Stalingrad, a straight road and railway from Stalingrad to Karachi, the Soviet Union from Stalingrad to the west of the Don River can be collected here, and then transported across the Don River or from the waterway to the Sea of Azov, and then through the Black Sea to all places and even with foreign imports and exports.

In fact, before the opening of the Don Canal, a considerable part of the supplies along the Volga River were transported to the west in this way...... The lack of a canal meant that the Volga, which flowed to the Caspian Sea, was cut off from the outside world, so supplies had to be collected to Stalingrad, then transported by land to Karachi, and then by river and the Black Sea route in all directions.

Therefore, Karachi can almost be said to be the gateway to the west and southwest of the Soviet Union, which is why Lieutenant General Lopatin nervously transferred the 169th Tank Brigade to Karachi when the Germans launched an attack.

But now, instead of a threat from the Don direction, Karachi was facing the 21st Panzer Division, which was rapidly advancing from the south to the north.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, after eight hours of continuous breakthroughs and rapid marches, the 21st Panzer Division reached the outskirts of Karachi.

At this time, Karachi was already thick with smoke and fire, and the German fighters continued to whistle in the sky to launch dive bombing and strafing at Karachi, and occasionally a few Soviet fighters rushed from the periphery to reinforce, but they were soon hit by German fighters with superior performance and much better combat quality and fell to the ground one after another.

It was General Paulus's 6th Army, which was also the main force attacking Stalingrad, and they were attacking Karachi, to be precise, a "feint", so that the main forces in Karachi could not be effectively organized from the flank.

Suddenly, several German fighters suddenly swooped down from the sky and fired a string of bullets and dropped two bombs at the 21st Panzer Division, and a group of sappers who were building a road to make the tanks move better were blown up in an instant, screaming and wailing.

"Fuck it!" The German soldiers couldn't help but shout in the air: "You have hit the wrong person!" ”

"Hey! Keep your eyes open, we are our own people! ”

"Didn't anyone inform these reckless pilots?"

……

But the shouts of the German soldiers did not make the pilots realize their mistake, they turned around and turned back again, and then a dive and another indiscriminate bombardment, this time a 35T tank driving in front of the reconnaissance mission was blown up in smoke, and the surviving tank crew hurriedly climbed out of the tank compartment and let out a hysterical roar into the sky.

If these casualties were from the hands of the enemy, I am afraid that the German soldiers would not frown, dozens of sappers and a 35T light tank, which is like a drop in the ocean for the German army with millions of troops.

But these casualties came from their own people, which was difficult for the German soldiers to accept.

However, it seems that the pilots can't be blamed, the smoke is billowing on the battlefield, the visibility is very poor, the Germans are attacking Karachi, and the pilots see a group of armored troops from a distance while building a road along the road to Karachi, and they naturally think that this is a Soviet reinforcement.

In particular, the 21st Panzer Division still belonged to the 4th Panzer Army, and the German army attacking Karachi was the 6th Army...... Friendly casualties are inevitable.

Fortunately, the communication equipment of the German army was relatively smooth, and General Stryk immediately made contact with General Paulus.

"Tell those idiots!" General Stryk said on the phone, almost in an expletive tone: "They're bombing their own people!" ”

General Paulus immediately contacted the Air Force, and the bombing stopped, otherwise it is conceivable that it would continue and grow in scale.

Soon a telegram from the Air Force was delivered to General Stryk: "Apologies, General. Our pilots don't think you guys will arrive so soon! Apologies very much! ”

This reason makes sense, since Karachi was seventy kilometers from the German breakthrough of the Soviet lines, which should have taken a day, but the 21st Panzer Division took only eight hours.

But General Stryker didn't accept it, and he replied unceremoniously: "Is this the reason why you bombed it by mistake?" Didn't expect that? Maybe I'm going to apologize to you for the speed of the march, right?! ”

But scolding and scolding, "friendly casualties" on the battlefield are inevitable, especially in the era when the identification system of friend or foe is not perfect, so General Stryk can't do anything about them...... You can't order anti-aircraft fire to shoot down your fighter plane to take revenge.

However, there are some benefits to this accidental bombing incident.

Because of this, the Soviet troops in Karachi also thought that this armored unit reinforced from the road was "their own people", so they did not intercept it with artillery fire until they saw the black "ten" on the German tank and exclaimed "fooled".

But it was too late to wake up, and the German tanks rushed into Karachi on a rampage, rudely knocking down houses one by one, bullets and shells were fired indiscriminately, and soon the unsuspecting Soviet troops were scattered with corpses.

However, the situation arose during the storming of the train station.

Attack on the passenger railway station to be exact...... Karachi has two railway stations, passenger and freight stations, the passenger railway station is located in the eastern suburbs, and the freight railway station runs directly through Karachi to the port in the west.

As the German soldiers followed the tanks along the streets and railways, they were hit by a rain of bullets that cut their heads and faces, and the two tanks in front of them were blown into two fireballs with a muffled sound.

"What's the situation?" Colonel Slane asked from behind.

Qin Chuan was also a little inexplicable by this firepower, and when he poked his head out to take a look, he saw an armored train lying in front of him, and the Soviet army was relying on the armored train to form a defensive line to resist.

"Armored train!" Qin Chuan shouted.

Colonel Slain ran up to take a look, and then ordered the messenger: "Call the planes, it's time for them to atone for their sins!" ”

The two Stuka bombers soon flew over the railway station, but the Soviets were not fools, starting and hiding themselves before the bombers arrived...... Later, Qin Chuan learned that the Soviet army had built several underground fortifications nearby specifically to hide and protect the armored train.

In other words, this armored train drove out to fire a few cannons when needed, and when the bombers came, they hid in underground fortifications for air defense, and for a time the Germans had nothing to do with it.