Chapter 452: Burning Moscow (22)
After obtaining information from secret channels in the Russian military's upper echelons, Zhang Cheng quickly readjusted the deployment of Army Group Center. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info He first gave the operational timetable to the troops surrounding the Russian army near Ryazan, ordering them to end the fighting within three days, thus freeing up logistical supply lines and numerous troops.
Subsequently, Zhang Cheng adjusted the encirclement near Moscow. The encirclement to the east of Moscow weakened somewhat, because from Moscow to the east was occupied by the Ming army, and most of it was a vast forest. Without strong transport capacity and large quantities of supplies, if the Russians were to break through in this direction, they would only be able to penetrate their troops in the open field. Once the Ming army mobilized its armored forces and returned, the Russian infantry would soon be defeated in the wilderness.
As for the fact that the Russians went all the way east into the vast forest, no one in their right mind would think about it. It was also at least one or two hundred kilometers from the forest to the nearest Russian-controlled zone.
This is not a march in the wilderness or on the roads. It's in a big forest with no people. Whether the Russians are infantry or armored troops, as long as they really dare to enter the forest sea, no more than one-tenth of them will survive in the end. In that case, the Russians themselves would be defeated, and there would be no need for the Ming army to waste bullets at all.
Zhang Cheng's main focus has been on dealing with the strategic reserves of the Russian army moving south from St. Petersburg. The Russian troops in Moscow and Ryazan are already meat on the chopping block and can be eaten at any time. And the Russians' strategic reserves took the initiative to send them to the door, how could Zhang Cheng not laugh at them?
You must know that Zhang Cheng's purpose of fighting all along has been to destroy the living force of the enemy army. In addition to advancing the battle line, the more important purpose of taking the initiative to attack Moscow is to attract the main forces of the Russian army to come to the decisive battle. As long as the main forces of the Russian army can be crushed, then the Russians will soon withdraw from the war.
Zhang Cheng transferred a large number of infantry to the front line to take on the task of blocking the encirclement. The two powerful Panzer armies were deployed in the northern part of Moscow, one after the other, to confront the strategic reserves of the Russians. At the top of the line is the 6th Panzer Army, which will take on the task of resisting the Russian offensive. And the 11th Panzer Army will launch a counterattack after resting and recuperating to encircle and annihilate the main army of the Russian army.
Zhang Cheng expected to encircle and annihilate another main force of the Russian army in the Volga valley at the same time after eating the strategic reserves of the Russians and the defenders of Ryazan and Moscow. Then the Russians will lose millions of regular troops. At that time, Russia will not be able to afford to continue the war. Either they will surrender or the whole country will collapse.
On the morning of September 9, the Russian Fifth Army and the 16th Mechanized Army launched an offensive against the Ming line. The Russian army used hundreds of artillery pieces to bombard the Ming positions in the northern area of Tver, and then numerous infantry accompanied the tanks to rush to the Ming positions.
The battle was fierce that day, and the troops of the 45th and 66th Infantry Divisions and the 88th Tank Division of the Russian Army launched several attacks on the Ming positions, but they were all repulsed by the Ming Army. And to the east of Tver, units of the 22nd Infantry Corps and the 37th Mechanized Corps of the Russian army were also storming the positions of the Ming army. By the afternoon, these Russian troops had made some breakthroughs. They penetrated a number of breakthroughs on the Ming army's front and successfully embedded themselves in the Ming army's position for several kilometers. But that's the end of it.
The attacks launched by the Russian army in the south-west and north-west directions of Tver at the same time were very ferocious, but the resistance of the Ming army was no less strong. The Ming army had long been prepared for the movement of the Russians, and the troops in the front-line positions had already repaired the fortified positions before the Russian army launched an attack. They dug trenches, laid minefields, and erected barbed wire. At the same time, the armored forces of the Ming army stayed a few kilometers behind the positions of the first-line mechanized infantry divisions, and once the situation on the front line was critical, the armored forces of the Ming army would immediately attack and launch a counter-charge, so as to drive the Russian offensive back.
The Ming army did not have only one line of defense, they built many positions. After inflicting heavy casualties on the Russian troops, the front-line troops will soon leave their positions that are badly damaged under the attack of the Russian troops, and withdraw to the next position along the communication road left before to continue the blocking mission.
Although the Russian army paid a huge price for this offensive operation, they mobilized a large amount of air power and artillery units to carry out powerful pre-war preparations. However, the Ming army had the tactical training that Zhang Cheng brought from modern time and space, such as cat ear piercing and elastic defense, so that the Ming army could effectively protect itself in combat and kill and injure a large number of enemy troops.
Cat's ear holes are small anti-gun holes dug in the side walls of the trenches. This allows the soldiers stationed in the trenches to hide in these artillery holes from the heavy shelling of the enemy. Wait until the shelling is over and the enemy charges before coming out to fight.
As the king of war, artillery has great destructive power on the battlefield. The main causes of artillery shells are shock waves and shrapnel, and this power poses a great threat to soldiers wearing only military uniforms. As the accuracy of artillery fire continues to improve, once a shell hits a trench, the soldiers in the vicinity are bound to pay huge losses.
In this case, losses could be effectively prevented by digging anti-artillery holes in the side walls of the trenches. Moreover, the methods collected by Zhang Cheng have been tested on the battlefield for a long time. For example, digging inclined holes, turning holes, T-holes, etc., are very effective on the battlefield.
The attack of the Russian army looked very powerful, under the fierce counterattack of the Ming artillery and the attack of the Ming army aviation. The Russian artillery and air forces provided strong artillery support to the attacking forces at great cost, but in practice the results were not significant. The casualties of the Ming infantry were not large, but they dealt a heavy blow to the Russians through minefields and various weapons.
Moreover, the Ming army was very generous, and their weapons hidden in strong bunkers, such as anti-tank guns, were rarely taken away because of their weight and size when they needed to abandon their positions, and they were simply blown up and scrapped. The fall of these scrapped weapons into the hands of the Russian army also did not play any role. This kind of thing was unimaginable for the Russians, and the wealth of the Ming army deeply shocked everyone.
Zhang Cheng himself did not care about the consumption of these military supplies. For Zhang Cheng, these things are actually of no use other than being able to be used in war. Like tank artillery, where will they be used in addition to war? After the war is over, won't these things be mothballed or remelted into raw materials when more advanced weapons come out? Rather than waiting for the end of the war to be recycled, it is better to use it as a consumable during the war.
Of course, this is only possible if you have sufficient capital. In the whole world, only Da Ming has the confidence to dare to do this. The armies of other countries are not enough for all kinds of military materials, where can they be as generous as Daming.
The Ming army basically left only part of the infantry units and artillery observers and army aviation liaison officers on the front line. These officers and soldiers are not in large numbers, and when the Russian army launches heavy shelling and bombardment, they will basically hide in the cat's ear hole, and the casualties are very small.
When the Russian offensive begins, the officers and soldiers will operate various weapons to launch heavy fire at the Russian attacking troops. At the same time, artillery observers would call for precise artillery strikes to deliver hordes of shells to the enemy's heads. The same goes for the liaison officers of the Army Airlines.
After inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, these officers and men would quickly leave the first-line defensive positions and return to the second-line positions in the rear through communication trenches and reserved routes. The Russians, having paid a heavy price, have not been able to achieve any decent results, except for a broken defensive line. This is also the reason why the Russian army was able to break through the positions of the Ming army.
After paying the price to attack the first line of defense, in fact, the sharpness of the Russian army has begun to gradually lose. Their artillery and aviation were no longer able to pour fire on the second line of defense of the Ming army as before. You must know that whether it is artillery or air power, the Ming army has the advantage.
When the attacking troops of the Russian army broke through the first-line positions of the Ming army for several kilometers and reached the second-line positions, they immediately crashed into the iron plate.
The focus of the Ming army's defense was on the second-line positions. Fortified positions built by sappers, large areas of dense minefields, one after another barbed wire like waves, and dense machine guns and anti-tank gun fire points. The remains of the Russian attacking forces were littered with burning armored vehicles.
The word trained is not a casual phrase. Truly professional soldiers receive all kinds of professional training almost all year round, and the combined use of various tactics is already perfected before they go to the battlefield, almost instinctively. In addition to equipment, science and technology, and other reasons, the gap in the technical and tactical capabilities of the officers and men of the armed forces is a crucial reason for such a huge difference in combat effectiveness among the armies of various countries.
Well-trained troops, like the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, quickly became elite veterans after being baptized on the battlefield. They use a variety of effective tactics to strike at the enemy while resisting the attack of the Russian army.
For example, they would deploy heavy anti-aircraft guns on both flanks of the defense line to destroy Russian armored units. Moreover, they will also place a large number of heavy machine guns and even 20 mm or 40 mm caliber machine guns on both flanks of the position, and take flank attacks on the Russian attacking troops. For the Russians, this meant that they had to pay a huge price in casualties.
The flank attack of heavy weapons is even more powerful than the frontal attack of the troops in the attack. In front of the Ming army, which had already completed the automation of weapons and equipment, the Russian army, which was attacking with real bullets and bullets, lost nearly 60,000 people in one day at its peak! (To be continued.) )