"The Soviets are on the offensive!" Putting down the field phone in his hand, the staff officer looked at Guderian, who was standing in front of the map.

The current G-cluster is not so much a sharp knife inserted into the south of Moscow as a dangerous salient.

If this salient had been cut off, then the losses of the Germans would have been undoubtedly enormous. At least 1,000 tanks are to be destroyed, and a defensive vacuum will be created on the front line.

"We've lost an entire reconnaissance company, and the other side is rushing forward, and it looks like we're going to make a quick move." The staff officer walked up behind Guderian and continued.

It was raining heavily outside the window, which reduced the view to a minimum. This affects not only the operations of the Air Force, but also the ground forces.

For example, the German tank, which originally had an absolute advantage in range, is now unable to use this advantage.

This annoying rainy day made the German tankers very uncomfortable, and they preferred to have clear skies, get enemy intelligence, and have air force support, and then start their own destruction.

"Let the troops shrink! Prevent the Soviets from breaking through the positions directly ahead! Order the soldiers to return to their fortified positions and prepare to resist the onslaught of the opposing side! Guderian ordered.

Because the weather conditions were predictable, the Germans were not completely unprepared, and Guderian left his grenadier units in a relatively backward position and built some fortifications.

With these fortifications, the German units had something to rely on, and as long as there was no collapse, it would be impossible for the Soviet troops to quickly break through the German lines.

Once the battle is in a stalemate, the Soviets will be in a dilemma, if they do not retreat, then when the weather clears, the Luftwaffe can easily find their target and destroy it.

But if you retreat before the rain stops, then the effectiveness of the counterattack will be greatly reduced. However, the premise of all this is based on the German army holding its own defensive line.

The order was quickly conveyed layer by layer - covering each other, retreating near the line of defense to strengthen the defense, was the response tactic of the German army.

Wittmann heard the command in the headset and immediately shouted to his crew, "Cover the nurse and retreat!" There is no need for us to waste time here. ”

The rain in the sky made the retreat of the Germans very embarrassing, but their losses were not huge.

Some of the reconnaissance units collided with the Soviet counterattack troops, so they paid a heavy price, but most of the reconnaissance units were able to retreat immediately because of their better mobility and although they suffered heavy losses.

The German reconnaissance units generally had motorcycles and armored reconnaissance vehicles, some of which were wheeled and some were half-tracked, so it was easy to retreat away.

They quickly retreated to the vicinity of the main forces where the Germans were retreating, and then reported on the Soviet offensive.

Wittmann was covering the retreat of the surrounding infantry, and the scouts who had fled in front arrived.

A scout on a motorcycle stopped next to Wittman's tank, pointed to the other side of the village in the distance, and said: "Soviet tanks have arrived near there, there are T-34 tanks, a lot!" ”

The direction the scout was pointing in the direction of the village where Wittmann had just been stationed, and he knew that there was some woods at the entrance of the village, not far from the village.

Now that the enemy has arrived there, the village will be occupied by the Soviets in a short time, and if the enemy continues westward, it will run into Wittmann's troops.

"Let the people in the field hospital behind you, as well as the ammunition transport troops, retreat quickly! Hell, why are they so far ahead? Wittman frowned and grumbled in a depressed whisper.

Of course, he knew that the hospital was positioned at the front because their expected attack area was earlier.

He also knew that if it weren't for the desperate pursuit of those ammunition transport troops, perhaps his tank would have run out of ammunition and lost its combat effectiveness.

It's just that once the enemy counterattacks, and it's a menacing counterattack, these support units arranged in front of them become in the way.

"If it doesn't work, we'll have to fight a blockade here and let the follow-up troops retreat......" Wittman said depressedly, looking at the terrain around him.

The terrain here is quite spacious, which is very conducive to the German army to take advantage of the firepower of the Leopard tanks.

Moreover, the Soviets had no way to make a detour around here, so they could only attack the German positions head-on - if the Soviets made a detour, then the Germans could easily turn their guns and take out the Soviet tanks with their flank armor exposed.

It's just that the engagement distance may be shorter, and the German army can fire at a distance of about 1,000 meters on weekdays, and can achieve a high hit rate.

Now it is estimated that the engagement distance will be reduced to about 700 meters or even 600 meters, and at this distance, the artillery of the T-34 tank can already be counted as a threatening attack.

Wittmann also did not want to engage the tank units of the Soviet army in such conditions, if he had a choice. It's a pity that he has no better choice, so he can only make a hard decision.

"Set up a defensive formation! Let the grenadiers covering the hospital place machine-gun positions on the flanks to cover our left! Wittman shouted to the grenadier commander who was following his tank as Duke continued to reverse.

The commander of the grenadiers, a company commander, immediately made a good gesture to Wittmann, and then pointed to the distance and ordered his soldiers to build a position.

"1 platoon of tanks, ready to meet on the front! 2 platoons protect the right flank of the position! Leave a tank behind to support! We could retreat at any moment! He held down the intercom and shouted to the friendly tanks.

In the distant village, the figure of the Soviet tank was already looming, and through the dense rain curtain, Wittman could see through the telescope that the Soviet tank tracks had knocked down the fence.

The German tank had some stones in front of it, and there was a slightly raised anticline on the terrain, so it was impossible for the Soviets to open fire and attack.

They had to kill the anticline before they could get the right angle of fire. However, in terms of the previous terrain, the area of this engagement was already particularly advantageous to the Soviet army.

Why is it advantageous? Because they can unscrupulously deploy their tank forces and make full use of their numerical superiority.

At least, they had a numerical advantage over the German tank forces in terms of local numbers, which was also an important factor in their courage to counterattack.

To Weitman's dismay, the opponent's tank forces were obviously faster than the infantry, so the grenade he preloaded might be useless.

"Second shell, armor-piercing shells ready!" Wittmann fastened the hatch over his head and commanded Wegener: "Aim at the enemy's tank!" Fire when you're ready! ”