The 36th Motorized Division of the 41st Motorized Corps of the German Panzer General Hans-Reinhardt was tasked with the frontal assault on the city of Grodno, but after the Red Army voluntarily withdrew from its humble positions on the side of the border line, they were faced with the Neman River, which could not be crossed for a while. At the same time that the 4th Panzer Group used cluster artillery to shell the defensive positions on the outskirts www.biquge.info of Grodno, the cluster command ordered the 56th Motorized Army on the southern flank to look for a breakthrough to the south, and the 3rd SS Panzer Division ("Skeleton") of the 56th Motorized Army, the strongest spearhead of the 56th Motorized Army, assumed the heavy task of breaking through the Red Army defense line on the southern flank.

The "Skeleton" Division, its "great name", will already be "world-renowned", not only because of its sweeping achievements in Western Europe, but also because of its ferocity -- the massacre of prisoners of war is its "specialty", which is very worthy of its name; His division commander, SS Lieutenant General Theodore Ick, had always been known for being cruel, suspicious, callous, and fanatical, a standard Nazi.

Theodore Ike was the administrator of the Nazi concentration camps and the founder of the "Nazified" concentration camps, and the "cruelty" of the Nazi concentration camps was "credited" because his cruel character also affected the camp guards, and because his harsh orders made the camp guards no longer have the slightest mercy - they carried out their cruel discipline mercilessly, even after Ike no longer managed the affairs of the camp.

After ceasing to manage the concentration camps, he became a senior leader of the SS and police of the "Polish occupation forces", and his "great achievements" can be found in the reign of terror that was already being staged in Poland. The soldiers and officers of the "Skeleton" Division have such a division commander, and the fierceness can be seen! Even in the final stages of the war in history, the "Skeleton" Division has always been known for its brutality and disregard for casualties, which is also recognized as a continuation of Ike (February 26, 1943, the plane was shot down and killed. The law of cruelty that has always been followed.

Now, the armored vanguard of the "Skeleton Division" has arrived on the southern outskirts of Grodno City, outflanking the Grodno defenders from the flank, for the nail in front of him blocking the rapid advance of the fourth armored group, Theodore Ike is confident that he will quickly pull it out, "Let the Russians know what it costs to dare to resist!" ”

In this way, the 14th tank division of the Red Army collided head-on with the "skeleton" division, and a big battle broke out on the southern outskirts of Grodno!

The order given by the command of the Western Front to the 14th Division was clear - to hold back the Germans at all costs and create time for the follow-up troops! For this purpose, the 1st Tank Regiment, which had the strongest attacking power, made a move that amounted to suicide - the whole regiment launched a frontal assault on the superior German armored clusters, creating time for the whole division to deploy and build positions!

At the forefront of both sides, the tank regiment rushed to the German No. 4 tank group without hesitation, and a major battle broke out on the plain, and behind the T34s, the other regiments quickly built positions and had to build two lines of defense in the shortest possible time.

Without the troops taking a suicidal offensive to delay time, once the German panzer group was allowed to advance quickly, the 14th Tank Division would soon be crushed: the troops needed to defend, not fight the Germans in one go, there was no choice!

"Company commander, the regiment headquarters wants us to deploy 5 kilometers south of the city, and build a position behind the reconnaissance battalion of the division headquarters!"

These are 15 new SU-12 76.2-mm self-propelled anti-tank guns, and the company commander is "famous" in the 14th tank division than the division commander, because he is Yakov-Dzhugashvili, Stalin's son!

He is not tall, he looks more like his mother, but his resolute expression is as firm as his father Stalin, and in the hearts of the soldiers, under such a company commander, no difficulty can defeat them!

Standing in the fighting room of the self-propelled guns, with a field of wheat in front of the view, the divisional reconnaissance battalion was building positions on the left flank, and the fighters were digging foxholes, which would be able to form a trench if they had time. There is a small forest on the right flank, and the black smoke from the explosion can be seen directly in front of it, up to 5 kilometers from here!

"The Forward Tank Regiment has already received fire." Yakov saw that this terrain was not conducive to defense, but he could only hold on here, and there was no suitable terrain for defense for more than 20 kilometers in the future, and letting the Germans pass would form an outflanking of Grodno.

"Alexander, your platoon goes to the woods on the right flank and waits, and the German tanks can only fire within 800 meters of the German tank!"

"Yes, Comrade Company Commander!" The platoon commander, Alexander Vasilyevich Zinoviev, immediately ran back to his car and directed four self-propelled guns to make a detour to the rear to the woods on the right flank and wait for hiding.

"The second platoon, the third platoon and the company tanks will form positions 200 meters behind the position of the reconnaissance battalion in accordance with the standard anti-tank formation, be fast!"

Diesel engines roared, and the remaining 11 self-propelled guns drove behind the reconnaissance battalion.

The commanders of the various wagons took advantage of all the favorable terrain to build positions, and the platoon commander concealed his four tanks on the flanks of a huge barn, and the soldiers covered the chariots with wagons loaded with miscellaneous items, and the company headquarters also sent men to the barn to observe.

The comrades of the reconnaissance battalion had already "occupied" the barn, and of course they were happy to "share" this good place with their comrades in the self-propelled artillery company - to see far enough that if the Germans attacked, they would be able to find the target before the Germans.

As Yakov was asking the driver to drive the tank into a hollow terrain, the liaison officer of the reconnaissance battalion ran over: "Comrade Dzhugashvili, our right flank is the second battalion of mechanized infantry, and the first battalion is on the left flank, and here we will be the weak link of the entire line of defense, and the infantry will rely on your artillery." ”

"There aren't many shells, but it's enough for the Germans to enjoy for a while!" Yakov said after returning the salute.

Two ammunition trucks brought up the spare ammunition, and the boys put the shells in a relatively safe place next to them - there were only forty-two shells on the truck, and it would not be long before they ran out.

"Franz, is there any contact with the observation post?"

"It's connected, comrade company commander, the same platoon can be connected at any time. German infantry was moving towards us from the left flank, about a dozen armored vehicles, about a battalion in strength, at a distance of 4 km. ”

"Give me the specific parameters, and give the Germans a taste of the cannon first!"

Yakov is not doing it blindly, the tanks of the two sides are still fighting 5 kilometers away from the front, and he has no time to take care of himself, so let the German infantry taste high-explosive shells first - dozens of shells are a much greater threat to the infantry than a battalion of infantry to confront head-on!

In the old tradition, the flag language was used by the command vehicle in a small area, which is still very effective in the current situation of defensive warfare, and it is even more effective than shouting in the intercom.

A few hundred meters away, Alexander saw the flag on the company commander's chariot through the telescope and informed his subordinates: "We are just hiding and waiting, don't be exposed, the company is going to launch a warp artillery bombardment." ”

A row of four chariots had been loaded, and the chambers were full of armor-piercing bullets - it was already clear in the flag: "One exclusive, external ammunition, azimuth 330, 1.5 dense to the left, 4,100 meters away, high-explosive shells, rapid fire in the whole company!" 10 rounds! ”

A deafening sound of shelling sounded on the plain, and 76.2 mm high-explosive shells roared towards the German infantry 4 kilometers away, and all self-propelled guns were fired ten rounds in 90 seconds!

"The observation post reported that the German infantry continued to attack at a speed of 6 km."

"Pay attention to the whole company, shoot continuously, shoot all the high-explosive shells on the car, and make room for armor-piercing shells!"

It was the ammunition unloaded from the ammunition truck just now, otherwise the gunners of the Yakov company would have no problem firing a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute in the first round of rapid fire. There were only five high-explosive shells on each SU-12, and the continuous firing was one every ten seconds, so as not to heat up quickly - a fierce battle was in the back.

"The division headquarters ordered a regiment to retreat, and it retreated to us." Correspondent Franz reports.

"They're running out." Yakov thought to himself, "Attention of the whole company, our tanks will retreat from our front, see clearly before fighting." He turned his head and asked, "Does the reconnaissance battalion know?" ”

"It should be clear, I'll be sure."

The Germans would definitely pursue the retreating tanks, so that their attacking arrows would come straight at them, and this would become a strong point of attack, and the pressure would be greatly increased. But judging from the terrain, even if a group of remaining tanks does not retreat to their side, the Germans will also attack in this direction, and the remaining T34 will increase the strength of their own line, which is not a good thing.

The bunkers had been hastily constructed, the reconnaissance battalion in front had built a shallow trench, and there were some foxholes in the rear, barely having a reserve position - it was all up to them to hold off the German front! If the first attack of the Germans is fought back, precious respite will be obtained, otherwise the entire southern flank of Grodno will be torn apart!

"Lads, the time has come! The Motherland is watching us, the people are watching us! The Germans must not be allowed to pass our positions! ”

Yakov's shouting aroused the enthusiasm of the fighters, and if it was other commanders who did the passionate mobilization before the battle, they would have added "Stalin", but Yakov would not.

The soldiers of each vehicle were in their positions, the loaders had already stuffed the armor-piercing shells into the chambers, and they sat quietly resting on the edge of the fighting compartment with the second shell in their hands.

In front of Yakov, the reconnaissance battalion already knew what was going on - the commanders were also mobilizing before the battle: "The Motherland and the people are watching us!" Comrade Stalin is watching us! Comrade Dzhugashvili is fighting side by side with us! (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )