"What's the place ahead? It looks huge...... This is not a place we can occupy. "The commander of a German armored reconnaissance battalion lowered his binoculars and shouted to the man next to him while standing on the armored car.

Karyus leaned on his armored command car, looked at the map and compass in his hand, and replied loudly: "If we hadn't gone the wrong way, this would have been Vladimir!" ”

"Oh my God, we've advanced here?" The commander of the reconnaissance battalion, standing on the armored car, with a hint of disbelief on his face, opened his mouth to confirm.

Karyus, who heard the other party's shout, nodded and replied: "Indeed, judging by the display on the fuel gauge, we have arrived at Vladimir." ”

Compared to the slow progress of the German army in Moscow, the advance of General Guderian's G cluster exceeded all expectations.

His troops advanced more than 80 kilometers in a day, and the forward troops had already reached the edge of the city of Vladimir.

This was definitely an unexpected gain for the German upper echelons, and now Guderian's 46th Panzer Corps had successfully moved south and taken control of the vicinity of Ryazan.

The problem that plagued the German army and prevented it from occupying a larger area was not the counterattack of the Soviet army, but the speed of fuel supply of the armored forces.

In this case, the speed of the advance of the troops at the front depended on the speed of fuel replenishment in the rear of the German army. Guderian's armored forces soon achieved the terrifying speed of advance at the beginning of the war.

"If we were standing here, maybe the Soviets would soon build a new defensive line here, and if we rushed through the middle of the city, maybe the Soviets would collapse with it." Putting the map away, Karjus suggested.

"By what? We don't have enough troops for a regiment here, so it's not a good choice to storm the enemy's city. "The commander of the reconnaissance battalion was somewhat reluctant to make such a choice.

"We don't need to control the whole city, we just need to rush to the center of the city, and then if the other side is prepared, we will withdraw......" Calyus pointed to the city in front of him and said, "If they are the same as those towns before, we will take a big bargain for nothing." ”

His words moved the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, because he knew that he had not seen even a single Soviet soldier in the towns he had passed before.

Most of the Soviet troops here have been surrounded by German troops in Moscow, and the number of Soviet troops around is actually not very large.

The Germans had an advantage in weapons and equipment, so the German attack was twice as effective with half the effort. Soon took control of a large area of land east of Moscow.

The Soviets were not sitting still, gathering their forces farther away and began to build strong defensive lines in an attempt to stop the Germans from advancing.

As everyone knows, before the city of Moscow was completely occupied, the German top brass actually did not have any specific plans to attack the east.

The reality is that no matter how far Guderian's G-cluster advanced to the east, it was not actually an order of the Supreme Command, but only a self-inflicted initiative of the G-cluster command.

Field Marshal Rundstedt, the commander-in-chief of Army Group Center, who was responsible for controlling Guderian, had actually ordered Group G to save fuel and stop advancing eastward.

Guderian, however, ignored this order, and gave a vague order to all the troops attacking eastward, ordering them to move forward with "limited armored reconnaissance."

This trick has already been used in France, and for the German military leadership, the command does not move forward, which means that it has stopped advancing......

In fact, Karjus is now more than 30 kilometers away from Guderian's headquarters, and according to the speed of advancement, Guderian may have to walk for a day to reach where Karjus is.

After all, it is not a small project for the headquarters of a cluster to move forward, and 40,000 people, including logistics personnel, may have to move together.

"Alright! If there is resistance, or if the Soviets have already deployed their defensive lines, I will immediately turn around and leave here. The commander of the armored reconnaissance battalion agreed with a smile.

Karjus climbed into his armored car at his pace, put on a radio headset, and confirmed: "Attention to all the tanks in each company!" Go to the city ahead! Watch your formation and keep a safe distance! ”

"1 Walk Front! 2 companies on the left flank, 3 companies on the right flank...... The battalion troops followed behind to answer the ......" He pressed the intercom and gave the order to attack.

Karyus, who has been promoted to battalion commander, is currently in charge of the 505 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, which has just been replenished with equipment and personnel.

A reorganized heavy tank destroyer battalion has a total of 45 Leopard tanks, 15 in each company, with neat personnel and no non-combat losses.

On the one hand, the reliability of the Leopard tank has been greatly improved after countless tests.

On the other hand, the Soviets did not put up any decent resistance along the way, so the Germans did not suffer any losses at all.

This is also one of the most important reasons why the German forward troops dared to approach Vladimir, they rarely saw Soviet soldiers along the way, and did not encounter resistance, so they subconsciously believed that the Soviet army had no defense at all in Vladimir.

After all, along the way, it was indeed an undefended town, and many men in the town had fled, leaving a large number of old, weak, sick and disabled women to stay in place.

There was a lot of luggage and some weapons and ammunition scattered along the road, and the Soviet troops were leaderless, and the rout along the way was even faster than the German vanguard that pursued them.

"Be careful to cover each other! Brothers from the armored reconnaissance battalion go in first! If there is a barricade on the other side, we will withdraw immediately! Sensing his armored car start, the body shaking slightly, Karjus continued to order.

"Yes!" For the battle-hardened 505 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion, this kind of battle is basically a small scene.

They only need to keep the tanks at a distance from the outskirts of the city, and the other side will always open fire and force them to stay away.

Today, however, they did not encounter the expected rain of bullets, the tanks of the armored reconnaissance battalion drove on the streets, and they could even see the curious old Soviet women on both sides of the streets, looking at them with godless eyes.

"Oh my God...... They even gave up Vladimir? Looking at the depressed city, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion muttered in disbelief.

Immediately after, on the bumpy armored car, he lifted his hatch and poked his head out.