In the fresh breeze of dawn, the bright battle flags of the various divisions of the 1st Corps of the Reich appeared for the first time in the German positions on the outskirts of Essen, where the German officers and men who had been fighting for many days were as exhausted as the enemy on the opposite side, and the officers and men of both sides were fighting with stubborn will. After the arrival of powerful reinforcements, the German companies with serious drawdowns were finally able to withdraw from their positions, and on the way to the rear to rest, they rubbed shoulders with the headquarters of the German 7th, 11th, 17th and 20th Infantry Divisions rushing to the battlefield. The ragged and stained retreating officers and men speculated about what they had seen, and as they passed through one of the outermost artillery positions, the officer there came out of the command post and shouted in a loud voice:

"Attention to all gun positions...... Fire! ”

The signal men on the artillery positions waved small flags with powerful movements, and the deafening roar suddenly rose, and people seemed to be in the center of a violent storm, and the fire and smoke were scattered in their sight, and countless rockets and shells flew away with a deadly roar. For a long time, the German soldiers on the front line always endured the ravages of the enemy's artillery fire, and this scene was very relieved for the soldiers, who stopped on the side of the road to watch their artillery show their might. Before the first rays of the morning sun came, another sound sounded in the sky, two groups of jet fighters dragging a thunderous roar to the east, they were few in number, but their sleek posture left a deep impression on the hearts of every German soldier.

"Long live Germany! Long live the artillery! Long live the Air Force! ”

A burly soldier raised his arms and shouted, his voice could not drown the sound of artillery fire and airplanes, but it still attracted the soldiers around him to follow suit, and the cheers full of hope echoed in the hearts of the people for a long time!

The Soviets were not unaware of the German counteroffensive and artillery bombardment, but they really did not want to see the battlefield continue at the pace that the Germans wanted. In the Essen region. The two infantry corps, which had just been transferred from the Far East, were extremely fierce, and the attack of the day before yesterday captured many German positions in one go, and the officers and men were confidently planning the follow-up offensive after dawn in the face of the sudden German artillery fire. These well-trained Soviet soldiers tried their best to rely on trench shelters to conceal themselves, and the Soviet artillery deployed in the rear also carried out short artillery counterattacks under the observation and guidance of the personnel in the front. The German fighters followed the artillery fire and effectively suppressed the Soviet artillery, and the Soviet fighters who arrived first rushed into the enemy line without fear, regardless of the enemy's strength and weakness. In just a few minutes, none of the 21 Yak-9s and MiG-3s that first arrived in the airspace of the battlefield survived, and they also fought the German 4 jet fighters with tenacious spirit. Followed by. The Soviet MiG-9 entered the battlefield with the characteristic roar of jet fighters, and the competition between the two sides returned to the same technical level. The German Black Wraith (improved version of the Me-262) and the American-made F-84 Phantom were superior in technology with advanced guided rockets, while the Soviet pilots and their MiG-9s showed no signs of weakness, and the two sides engaged in a pinpoint-to-point battle over Essen. In order to compete for air supremacy on the battlefield, the two sides also invested a large number of piston fighters in this area, and the collective collision of Mustang, Spitfire, Fokker and Jacques, MiG, and Ils once again interpreted the magnificent battlefield wonders of the Eastern and Western camps!

Their own artillery and air force contained the consistent superior factors of the Soviet army, and the German officers and men who participated in the counterattack were more confident to move forward with their heads held high. In the city of Essen, the 1st Corps of the Reich, with its tacit and delicate tactical coordination, inexorably broke through to Soviet positions. German battle flags were planted in one urban stronghold after another that had been repeatedly contested by both sides, and this time the German offensive frenzy did not give the Soviets a chance to breathe or even counterattack. Within two hours of the ground battle, the Imperial Army had separated and surrounded many Soviet units that had not had time to retreat in the east and north of the city. The Germans, who had copied from outside the city, also overcame many Soviet defensive lines, and the inferior Soviet troops began to retreat. …,

The Battle of Essen sounded the clarion call for a German counterattack on the entire front, and by noon of the same day, the Germans who were scheduled to go on the offensive had crossed the Rhine. The two main armored forces of the German team, the Reich armored battle group, which was dominated by German armored combat vehicles, and the 1st Panzer Corps of the German Army, which was dominated by American armored combat vehicles, set out from Cologne, west of Essen, bypassed Wuppertal and entered the area east of Dortmund, directly threatening the retreat of more than 200,000 Soviet troops around Essen. Inevitably, the nightmare of the Austrian Army reappeared, and the Soviet High Command forced all units to stabilize their positions and launch countermeasures, and several ace armored units of the Soviet Army also rushed to Dortmund from Münster, Bonn, Koblenz and other front-line areas. However, under the organized sabotage and harassment of the Germans, only the Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Corps in Münster rushed to Dortmund to support the passage for the retreating troops. The 2nd Guards Tank Army and the 5th and 11th Guards Tank Corps were the first armored units in the Soviet Army to be equipped with T-54s, and the 2nd Guards Tank Army was unstoppable in the early combat operations. However, in the face of the opponent's war strategy of avoiding reality and making up for nothing, apart from participating in two battles in the city, the officers and men have not been really challenged, but have been busy as mobile troops. The Soviet officers and men of the 2nd Guards Tank Corps could not help but feel full of ambition and earnestness when they heard the news.

In terms of tank performance, the German-made "Panther" and the American-made "Patton" are not opponents of the T-54, the "Cheetah" and "Pershing" are strong enough, but the balance is inferior, not to mention the number of equipped German troops is not enough to affect the battle situation, and the various anti-tank rocket weapons used by the German infantry are difficult to keep up with the combat rhythm of the armored forces. Although the FI282 was exhausted in the previous combat operations, the combat helicopter copied and improved by the United States has been mass-produced and shipped to Europe. With the bold style of the Americans in terms of equipment and the delicacy and delicacy of the Germans in the handling of weapons, this new unit was destined to exert amazing energy on the battlefield!

With both sides prepared, the first large-scale armored battle of the Second Soviet-German War began. In order to encircle and annihilate the Soviet troops in the area of Essen, the German armored corps continued to detour north when the infantry stormed Dortmund, and in the evening of the same day, the reconnaissance unit of the Imperial armored battle group encountered Soviet tanks in the small town of Rast, about 25 kilometers northeast of Dortmund, and the German No. 4 tank and Type 3 assault guns were far from enough to confront the Soviet T-54, and quickly withdrew from the range of engagement as soon as the fire was exchanged. After about half an hour, a team of American-made "poison arrow" combat helicopters flew to Rust and tried to attack Soviet tanks with guided rockets, but was blocked by Soviet small-caliber anti-aircraft guns and vehicle-mounted antiaircraft machine guns. Having no advantage in range, the German helicopters did not force an attack, but quickly withdrew from the battlefield. Immediately after, Soviet Yak fighters flew in from the east and fought against the German fighters in the airspace near Last, and the "Mustang" piloted by the German pilots won the air battle. Near dark, the German "Panther" tanks appeared east of the town under the cover of armored vehicles and combat infantry, and the Soviet T-54s remained in place, and the two sides still did not fight, but their respective aerial reconnaissance planes noticed the opponent's move to increase the number of troops in Rust.

After nightfall, the German armored units aimed at repelling the Soviet army took the lead, and the Panther tanks equipped with infrared night vision devices were supported by night battle commandos, and their outflanking offensive effect was remarkable, and the Soviet tank units that used buildings and fortifications to carry out operations not only did not take advantage, but lost their troops under the blows of the other side, and the German helicopters also took advantage of the weak anti-aircraft fire of the Soviet army at night to come to exert their power, and the hit rate of the rockets they fired at medium and long distances at night was not high, but it still caused greater pressure on the Soviet officers and menAt this time, the main force of the 2nd Tank Brigade belonging to the 2nd Guards Tank Army had arrived in the northern area of the town, and the commander was ready to launch a surprise attack when the Germans occupied Rass, but this powerful armored unit had already been targeted by the German reconnaissance vehicles equipped with infrared night vision devices. After receiving the reconnaissance report, Guderian, the commander of the German armored forces and the "blitzkrieg hero", decided to concentrate the elite to eat this group of enemies, and he urgently transferred the 1st Panzer Division of the German Army to the south of Rust to ambush, and then transferred anti-tank fighters from various departments into the ambush area. After the Soviet 2nd Guards Tank Brigade launched an attack on Rust, the German tank units that occupied the town pretended to be defeated and retreated to the south.

After repelling the Germans and reoccupying the town of Rust, the tank units of the Soviet 2nd Guards Brigade did not pursue the retreating German tanks, and just when Guderian ordered the 1st Panzer Division to send a small number of troops to reattack Rust to lure the enemy, the reconnaissance unit made another great achievement: they found a considerable Soviet armored unit east of Rust, judging from its marching route, it should have been intended to copy the German attacking troops from the flank, coincidentally, the tank brigade directly under the Imperial Guards also detoured from this side, and the distance between the two was close, It is possible to take a picture in the open field at any time. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )