The tanks are gone, the howitzers are gone, and in the past few days, the 238th Division has fought quite brutally, as the main force of the entire Rokossovsky cluster, they are almost writing their loyalty to the Soviets with their lives.

Thanks to the swampy terrain here, it was difficult for the German tank units to rush up, and the protection of those screw vehicles was insufficient, and in the past few days, the German screw cars have almost been charging frantically towards this side, while they use anti-tank guns, grenades, and even carry explosive packs to blow up.

They held back the German charge after charge, and they themselves were bleeding.

The entire 238th Division has already suffered more than half of the casualties, and they are still holding on.

The division commander Koroya was in a makeshift command headquarters, commanding together with Rokossovsky.

"Our casualties are too great, can't we bring up other troops?" Koroa was worried.

There were constantly troops retreating from the openings they had propped up, and if they stayed, they would have allowed their own side to breathe a comfortable breath, but now, there was no such order.

Although this is your own position, you can't just let your own side be wiped out, right?

"These retreating troops are in a hurry to set up a new line of defense in our rear, and we can't let the Germans rush to Moscow in one go, Koroya, you have to stand a little taller, you have to have a global perspective, otherwise, you can only be a division commander." Rokossovsky said.

Yes, a group of troops have withdrawn, but they will not stop at their own side, and they have a more important task, which is to set up a new defensive line.

You know, now from Smolensk to Moscow, it is already empty, if the Germans do not want to encircle and destroy themselves, but attack Moscow in one breath, I am afraid that they will be able to drive straight into Moscow in one breath!

They are in a hurry to deploy a new line of defense, and they will definitely not stop here on their side, and at the same time, Rokossovsky is also curious, why don't the Germans bypass here and drive straight in?

This is related to the strategy of the Germans, rushing to Moscow in one go, this German can do it, but if the rear is not consolidated, then it will face the trouble of endless supply lines, Germany's airlift capacity, it is no problem to supply a division, but if it is a whole cluster, it will be far from enough.

It would be quite risky to leave Smolensk behind itself and push forward.

On the other hand, Germany's strategic goal was to attack Moscow, but the elimination of the Soviet Union's living forces was also another goal, as long as the Soviet army was eaten in formation, it would be able to accumulate an advantage for the final victory.

"If we continue to fight, our troops will collapse." Koroa said.

Generally speaking, when the casualties of the troops exceed one-tenth, the morale is low, and if half of them are gone, it will definitely collapse, and although they are still holding on now, they may be waiting for the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

Koroa was worried.

"We've got to keep going." Rokossovsky said: "We have no choice. ”

After speaking, Rokossovsky looked at his watch: "No, in the past, the Germans had already started to attack, why didn't there move today?" ”

The Germans' artillery, rockets, and bombers in the air should have been greeted a long time ago, but now there is no movement!

Just then, the phone rang.

"Hey, what's going on on the position?" Picking up the phone, Koroa asked.

An anxious voice came from inside: "Division commander, the Germans have mobilized sappers and are filling in the swamp!" ”

Hearing this, Koroya's face suddenly changed.

In the swamps, only the middle road was passable for tanks, so that the Germans could not open up a wide offensive front, and the only road had long been blocked.

If the main German tanks can't come up, then their firepower is not fierce enough, and it is impossible to take the position on this side with only screw vehicles.

And now, the Germans are actually filling in the swamps!

When Rokossovsky took Koroa and others to the front line, he saw a scene that he could never forget.

There are thousands of 10-ton Ford trucks with all-wheel drive from the Germans!

They were carrying materials for filling the swamp, some of them were gravel, some of them were soil, some of them were branches, some of them were straw, and trucks were rumbling and slowly moving forward.

They are filling a channel a hundred meters wide!

Six-cylinder diesel engines rumbled, and when they reached the work surface, they were driving backwards.

In this era, most trucks only have two small round lenses, this small lens, just to look at the situation behind when driving normally, when reversing, only look at this small lens, the field of vision is too small.

So, when reversing, you have to use other ways.

Like now.

The driver is standing outside the cab.

Yes, just outside.

They opened the door, put their feet on the pedal of the doorway, pulled the steering wheel with their right hand, and held the handle on the outside of the car with their left hand.

Inside the cab, the throttle lever was pushed to the middle position, the engine rumbled, just now, they hung up the reverse gear, adjusted the throttle, and after starting, the body came out nimbly, operated the steering wheel with one hand, and the car steadily reversed.

(Maybe most readers have never seen our first generation of cars in China, Lao Jiefang, is this kind of small round lens, many people reversed at that time, this is the way, of course, there are also unlucky, such as accidentally falling off and being crushed by the front wheel.) This is the way of reversing the train in that particular era, and East China Zhixiong still remembers it vividly. ）

The 100-meter-wide working surface required 20 trucks to reverse together, and their wheels crushed the newly paved road, and then came to the back of the working face.

"Lift the tipping bucket!" With the shouting, twenty trucks turned the buckets up almost at the same time, and the filling pulled behind them all rolled down.

When the twenty trucks were unloaded, they began to move forward, and the other twenty trucks, through the gap between their bodies, easily interspersed and continued to reverse backwards.

Almost like the assembly line in the factory, in a short period of time, you can see their work surface, rapidly advancing towards their own position!

Only the Germans had enough resources to come up with such a solution, and they had to fill in a path in the swamp!