Outside the village of Lasvet there is a road from Novocherkassk to Rostov-on-Don. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info Because the Ming army had to transport supplies and soldiers to the front line after occupying the Novocherkassk region, the road was not badly accessible after being rested by the sappers. This is also an important reason why the German army chose this side as a breakthrough.

The role of this road in the middle of the snow is absolutely strategic. Because of the hurry of the German army, most of the equipment was not protected from the cold in winter. If they don't follow the road but move on the snowy fields, it won't be long before the engine will lie down.

The German Hausser Panzer Group has about 890 tanks and self-propelled guns of various types, of which about 400 are the new Mark V and Mark VI. This is mainly due to the fact that all three German armored divisions are elite units in the German army, and their strength exceeds that of ordinary armored divisions. In particular, the Reich Division and the Großdeutsche Division were super units with regular names.

The three armored divisions of the 12th Panzer Corps of the Ming Army had about seven hundred tanks and self-propelled guns at the moment. This is mainly due to the fact that the captains of this unit have suffered a lot of losses in front-line operations, and they are in a distant front line, which is difficult to replenish in a short time. On the afternoon of 7 February, a large group of tanks between the two sides collided in the wilderness east of the village of Lathwaite.

The Germans had a numerical advantage. After a large number of Mark V and Mark VI tanks were equipped, the mass of the tanks of the Germans was already rapidly approaching that of the Ming army. The quality of the armies between the two sides is also very close, at least the three German armored divisions in front of the Ming army are all elite units in the German army. These German officers and men were as well-trained and well-equipped as the Ming army. The intensity of the tank battle, in which more than 1,600 tanks and self-propelled guns were invested, was unprecedented.

It was also a day of heavy snowfall, and the air power between the two sides was unable to take off. The Ming troops, who had air superiority, could only watch their planes parked in the hangar, but they could not join the battlefield. This feeling of aggrieved made Daming Luhang, known as the king of the air, very dissatisfied. The concept of an all-weather combat aircraft was also born at this time.

At 12:40 p.m., after lunch, the search force of the German Reich Division quickly advanced along the road, and soon reached the vicinity of the village of Laswaite, and tried to enter the village. However, the officers and men of the logistics baggage battalion of the 59th Infantry Division of the Ming Army stationed here quickly drove the Germans out with fierce fire.

After receiving the report of the front-line reconnaissance troops, Hausser analyzed that the Ming army had insufficient garrison strength here, and immediately sent troops to attack and try to seize this very important village. The 99th Self-Propelled Artillery Battalion, attached to the German Imperial Division, quickly opened up and smashed heavy shells into the village of Lathwaite with unusually accurate shelling. Hundreds of Ming troops suffered heavy losses under the bombardment of thirty-six 155 mm self-propelled guns. A large number of buildings in the village were destroyed.

Subsequently, about two battalions of German grenadiers made a quick sortie and fought a fierce battle with the Ming army in the village of Laswaite under the cover of tanks. About twenty minutes later, the remnants of the 100-odd Ming troops fled from the village of Lathwaite, and the Germans immediately occupied this important stronghold.

Soon, at half past one o'clock in the afternoon, the armored units of the Ming army, which had quickly returned from the front line, arrived near the village of Lathwaite. And then the self-propelled guns of their own were used to carry out heavy shelling of the village. The not-so-small village was quickly reduced to ashes under constant shelling from both sides.

The Ming motorized infantry once again stormed the ruined village of Lathwaite and engaged in a fierce battle with the German panzergrenadiers. And just as both sides were desperately calling for reinforcements from their own armored forces, the vanguard of the Ming and German armored forces soon collided outside the village of Lathwaite.

The snowflakes flying in the sky greatly affected the sight of both sides, and even the powerful search force could not find the main force of the other side in the vast snowfields and forests. At this time, it is difficult for the armored vehicles equipped by the power search force to run in the snow more than one meter deep to conduct long-distance reconnaissance. Moreover, the planes of both sides were unable to take off for aerial reconnaissance, and the battlefield was full of inadvertent crises, and the ability of the two sides to reconnoiter each other was greatly reduced.

At first, both sides thought that the other was just a small force of armored troops, and about 30 tanks from each side soon got mixed up. Because the two sides were relatively close in strength, this encounter cost both sides in a short period of time. Naturally, both sides, which had also suffered heavy losses, began to call for reinforcements from their superiors. And the fighting in the village of Lathwaite is not over. The Ming army threw in one and a half motorized infantry regiments to finally capture the village.

To the east of the village of Lathwaite is the road and snowfields, and to the west of the village is a large wooded area. The troops of the 15th Panzer Division of the Ming Army were in this wood. After receiving the report from the front-line troops, the commander of the 15th Armored Division of the Ming Army immediately ordered the whole division to attack and kill the village of Lathwaite, which was only two or three kilometers away.

At the same time, the German Reich divisions that had been killed along the road also began to attack on a large scale, also in the direction of the village of Lathwaite. When Hausser personally commanded the Reich Division into battle, he also gave orders to the Great German Division and the 7th Panzer Division behind him to quickly follow.

The fierce fighting in the village was at its peak as the armored forces of both sides approached the village of Lathwaite from two different directions. Not long after the capture of the village from the Ming army, about two battalions of German panzergrenadiers were driven out of the village by the Ming army after fierce resistance.

Many of the German officers and soldiers who had fled the village struggled in the snow, and many were knocked to the ground by the dense rain of machine-gun bullets from the Ming army, and before long they would be covered in the heavy snow, and there would be no trace of them. Their relatives will never be able to find their bodies in the wasteland, as they will become fertilizer in the local fields after the beginning of spring.

Before the Ming army in the village could catch their breath, swarms of shells flew over. Heavy shelling by German self-propelled guns began. The village, which had been peaceful and peaceful for many years, suffered great destruction on this day, and the entire village was largely devoid of intact buildings.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the large force of the 15th Panzer Division of the Ming Army rushed out of the woods and came to the village of Lathwaite, and at the same time the main force of the German Imperial Panzer Division also arrived. No matter how heavy the wind and snow were, such a large army on the opposite side could still be seen very clearly when it was only separated by a small village.

Both sides were shocked, shocked by the sheer strength of the other. Almost simultaneously, both sides began to quickly call for their own reinforcements. At about 2:10 p.m., the Ming troops stationed in the village of Lasvet watched in amazement as nearly 500 tanks of various types collided with each other outside the village, dodging the fire of German self-propelled guns.

The Ming 15th Panzer Division had about two hundred and twenty tanks, while the German Imperial Division had nearly two hundred and ninety. The tanks of both sides were of about the same mass, each with a battalion of heavy tanks. Needless to say, the quality of the officers and men is that the Ming army is a veteran of the battle for a long time, and all of them have rich experience. Although the German Imperial Division had not been on the battlefield much, the officers and soldiers here were all carefully selected from all the German armies.

The engine roared desperately, and the tank, with thick black smoke emitting from its tail, struggled to drive its tracks through the one-meter-deep snow towards the opposite side. The coaxial machine gun fired rapidly, and tracer shells in a long chain of bullets pointed out the position of the opponent for the main gun. The muzzle of the cannon flashed with orange-red flames, and one shell after another was constantly sent out of the chamber.

Both sides are elites, and they know that in this weather condition of more than 30 degrees below zero and heavy snow, if they want to play a long-distance precision strike, it is nonsense. The only way to win now is to rush over and knock down all the enemies on the opposite side with powerful firepower! Both sides have deep confidence in their own strength.

The sound of howling wind and snow was drowned out by the sound of roaring engines and shells. The soldiers on the battlefield did not even have the right to be wounded. Under the current conditions, injury means death. The scale of troops thrown into the battlefield by both sides was large, but the actual line of fire was only about 300 meters. Both sides formed a dense wedge queue, stabbing each other like sharp knives. This is the difference between elite troops and ordinary troops.

Armored forces are used to attack, and both sides have used their power to the extreme. Compared with the German artillery that did not receive an order and was still violently bombarding the village of Lathwaite, the self-propelled artillery units of the 15th Panzer Division of the Ming Army had already launched a position to bombard the Imperial Division.

Although these hasty shelling could not inflict heavy losses on the Reich division, they succeeded in disrupting the German formation.

Unlike the village of Lasthwaite, which has fixed coordinates. The rapidly moving armored forces on both sides have no exact coordinates to speak of. And with the current bad weather conditions and the rush of time, accurate shooting is simply not possible.

The well-trained armored units of both sides, after entering a distance of five hundred meters, almost simultaneously began a fierce battle using echelon shocks. Tanks were penetrated almost all the time.

This is a collision between steel and steel, this is a duel between gunpowder and gunpowder. Bullets rained down and steel splattered. The super-monsters created by humans themselves continue to devour their own lives. This is the sorrow that war brings to humanity. (To be continued.) )