While Tolbukhin opened the door for Akerman with a clever surprise attack, in the direction of Izmail to the south, Konev and Vasilevsky's troops also gave Izmail's German and Romanian troops a sense of what is called a wind-forest volcanic attack. In just one face, Izmail's defenders collapsed, and this led to the entry of Tulcea, the most important military port in Romania, into the range of the Red Army.

At that time, Konev was located south of the North Vasilevsky Bureau, and supported two huge attack arrows, pointing at Galats and Tulcha. These two were not the indecisive Yeremenko, and the two leading military experts in the Red Army gave full play to the power of the mechanized troops, like a red-hot meat fork, and stabbed fiercely in the direction of Bucharest.

The Red Army's furious offensive made the Germans feel suffocated, and the famous 49th Mountain Army was originally preparing to follow Hitler's instructions to reinforce Admiral Jenek, who was besieged in Jakerman, but as soon as he saw that the signs were wrong, he retreated to Romania on his own without waiting for the Führer's order.

On the other hand, the main regiment of the German 50th Infantry Division, which was holding the bridgehead of the Sulina River, was stronger than the 49th Mountain Army, and the tanks of the 37th Army of the Red Army tried to stop the car in the face of the fierce rushing Red Army, but they were soon taken away by Vasilevsky in a wave.

Seeing that this was a pill, the remaining troops of the 50th Infantry Division also hurriedly escaped, took the initiative to abandon Tulcha, and retreated south together with the remnants of the 111th Infantry Division. A soldier belonging to the 50th Infantry Division recalled this "humiliating" retreat in his family letter:

"We marched day and night, most of course on our two legs, and the long line of escapees was filled with countless Romanians. Before these poor creatures who had just returned home had time to taste what it was like to go home, they had to flee like lost dogs...... Of course, we were not much better than the Romanians, and the Red Army was endlessly pursuing us, and at all times there was a constant danger of being caught up and surrounded. It's so heart-wrenching, my only thought is to get out of this damn place as soon as possible! ”

This time the Romanians finally "fought side by side" with the Germans, and they were like two grasshoppers on a rope that had to work together.

Seeing that the Germans were about to be run over by Vasilevsky's iron hooves, fortunately, the "Kzhim" mountain infantry regiment stepped forward in time and strangled part of the communication points outside Tulcha. Keeping the pursuing Red Army units behind their main forces until these mountain infantry were completely wiped out.

Of course, the Luftwaffe also contributed a lot during this period, and seeing that the situation in Romania was about to collapse, Goering was ordered by Hitler to devote all the air power he could to block it. Whenever the vanguard of the Red Army was about to catch up with the retreating German troops, the air force's antiaircraft artillery units, fighter planes, and attack aircraft units would rush to the scene to provide valuable support and cover for their fleeing comrades, greatly delaying the Red Army's pursuit.

According to German sources, the fighters and dive bombers of Major General Diechumann's First Air Force made a total of 2,390 sorties in just a few days (especially the 27th Dive Bomber Wing), and the ferocious low-altitude strikes turned nearly 50 Red Army tanks into scrap metal (at least the Germans thought so). And the results of the German anti-aircraft artillery units are even more exaggerated. They claimed to have shot down 58 Red Army planes and destroyed 88 Red Army tanks with 62 guns.

It is safe to say that the report of the Germans' results was full of moisture, but this was not an exaggeration during the war years, and both the Axis and the Allies liked this tone anyway. However, it must be admitted that the strong resistance of the Luftwaffe did buy the fleeing German and Romanian troops time to breathe, and caused a lot of problems for Vasilevsky and Konev.

On the whole, the Germans retreated in an orderly manner, in Guderian's words: "It was retreating in the way we wanted, not in a rout." "Of course, for those who witnessed the retreat. The experience was not so interesting, the "bayonets" of the Red Army were already pressed against their chrysanthemums. Let them have to speed up their pace all the time, not daring to be careless, camping and resting to get a good night's sleep is even more fantastic, at most it is to rest on the road and then have to continue to run wildly.

It was not easy for the runaways who lacked mechanized ability to walk 20 to 30 kilometers a day, and everything that was considered superfluous was ruthlessly abandoned by the Germans and Romanians. Cars and carriages were so full that most of the officers had to flee on foot, and only the wounded were given a little preferential treatment.

In order to ensure the smooth retreat of the large army, the Germans also had to leave a part of the troops behind the palace to block the attack. But it turns out that on this flat plain, where there is not enough terrain to cover it, there will be no stage for individual heroism. The Black Death, whistling overhead, would soon ravage, tearing all exposed targets on the ground to pieces. And the few tanks and assault guns of the German army could hardly cause too much trouble for the Red Army T-34 and T-35 that were pouring in.

Obviously, whether or not to gather enough strength and a strong defensive line for a battle before the Red Army's pursuers arrived became the main concern of the Romanians and Hitler in the rear. The Führer had to urgently draw troops from the front lines of France and Norway and throw them into the mud pit of Romania at the speed of burning his ass.

In the city of Breira, the commander of the city defense, Major General Conrad, knew very well that time was running out for him, and that once the main forces arrived, they would be followed by countless Red Army pursuers. He resolutely relied on a favorable terrain in the north of the city to arrange what little troops he had at hand - three infantry battalions, six artillery batteries and some assault guns to build a fairly solid blocking position. Conrad hopes he can give the main force a little more time to get back on their feet.

Sure enough, soon the vanguard of the 37th Army of the Red Army (the 60th Tank Division) arrived on the outskirts of Breira. Soon, on Konev's orders, the 60th Tank Division continued its non-stop pursuit. Perhaps it was a period of time that went so well that the 60th Tank Division's vigilance was reduced to an almost negligible level.

At that time, the dense Red Army tanks and motor vehicles were marching towards Breyla unsuspectingly, and no one expected that the Germans would be able to kill a horse pistol at this time! Suddenly, accurate and fierce artillery fire struck at the head. Let the careless Red officers and soldiers really mess up.

The commander of the attack, Major General Conrad, described the scene as follows: "As I had predicted, the Russians' T-34s, T-35s and soon came into our sights, wow! 1、2、3、4…… When I counted to ten, I couldn't count them anymore, there were so many tanks in rows and rows, and it was no exaggeration to say that this was a military parade. The only thing that makes me a little glad is that the Russians have apparently not discovered us yet, so let's teach them a good lesson now. Beat! ”

With the order of Major General Conrad, the condescending German artillery fire ravaged the convoy of the Red Army. After surviving the initial surprise, the relieved Reds quickly retreated, waiting for the flanks to be adequately protected before resuming the pursuit.

It has to be said that in 1943 the Red Army sometimes made some low-level mistakes and paid some undeserved losses. Fortunately, at this time, the replenishment speed of the Red Army was already fully able to withstand such attrition, and the further similar tuition fees went on, the less the Red Army would pay.

On the other hand, although Conrad's blockade interrupted the Red Army's good pursuit momentum, it did not cause much damage to the Red Army to tell the truth, and when the Red Army relaunched its attack from both flanks. Conrad had to retreat south with his blocking force.

Of course, Conrad was not useless, and his actions bought the retreating 49th Mountain Army 12 hours, allowing it to successfully escape the hard pursuit of the Red Army for several days, and to get the vast majority of the German and Romanian troops to their destination, Buzeu.

As soon as Conrad's troops arrived in Buzeu, they were thrown into a pre-set defensive line on the eastern outskirts of the city. When the vanguard of the Red Army's trail was repulsed, the German forces in Buzeu, including Admiral Jenek, who had just been withdrawn from the Akerman encirclement, finally gained a precious respite.

The 49th Mountain Army managed to escape from the tiger's mouth, but the casualties paid by the Red Army under the continuous blows were also quite heavy. However, in the case of fighting day and night and marching more than 100 kilometers in three days, almost all the large-caliber artillery pieces could be brought back together, which also fully demonstrated the military quality of the German army.

The 50th Infantry Division and the 111th Infantry Division to the south were no easier than the 49th Mountain Army. They also started a marathon race with the Red Army!

The commander of the 111th Infantry Division, General Charles, had not yet realized the gravity of the situation, and when he fled to Babadag, he tried to rebuild the defensive line, leaving a battalion of each regiment in the division under the command of Colonel Schmidt: the 1st Battalion of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment under the command of Captain Friedez, the 1st Battalion of the 290th Grenadier Regiment under the command of Captain Meyer, the 85th Reserve Battalion, and a train gun under the command of Major Claus. They had to resist until the early hours of the next morning before they could withdraw from the defensive line.

Charles did not realize the arduousness of the work, he retreated with the main force of the division in a good time, and it is difficult to imagine how much combat strength these rear battalion and company level troops can have. For example, the 290th Grenadier Regiment actually had only 200 soldiers left on that day, and the 282nd Grenadier Regiment was in a similar situation. They had suffered huge losses in Odessa, and were sometimes caught up and beaten by the Red Army during the retreat, and it was difficult for the whole regiment to find a single soldier without a lottery.

Of course, it is not easy to leave behind, but how easy is it to evacuate? At that time, Charres ordered the 13th and 14th companies (belonging to the artillery) of each regiment responsible for carrying heavy weapons and equipment to retreat with heavy artillery, which made the artillerymen of the two companies experience what it means to be struggling. Since the vehicles were basically used to carry the wounded, they had to collect mules and horses to haul the heavy anti-tank guns and anti-aircraft guns. And the road conditions in Romania in the spring are really not much better than in Ukraine, and the muddy roads make the artillerymen have to discard most of the artillery after a lot of effort.

The real crisis came when the vanguard of the Red Army arrived, and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles appeared in front of the German 282nd and 290th Grenadier Regiments, facing the Red Army Panzer Corps that were overwhelmingly overwhelmed by Tarzan. The blocking force left behind by Charles chose to be a hero and not suffer the immediate loss, and immediately chose to smear oil on the soles of his feet.

These veterans really had two brushes, and they succeeded in making the Reds mistake them for friendly forces and not continue the pursuit. By the time the Red Army reacted, these old fritters had slipped away, and I have to say that this was a miracle.

But not everyone is so lucky. On the way to escape, a considerable part of the exhausted German and Romanian soldiers were quickly surrounded and wiped out by the rapidly inserted Red Army tanks, and some died under the guns and guns of the Red Army.

“…… We were resting on the side of the road when Russian tanks surrounded us from all sides. The troops were quickly dispersed, and the fighters and I gave up the idea of resisting after firing a few shots sporadically, we had no tanks, no artillery, nothing, and there was no way to take those iron guys weighing dozens of tons. Watching his former comrades-in-arms fall beside him one by one, the feeling was like a knife...... The last thing I saw as I fled the battlefield was our platoon commander, who was still hiding in a bomb crater on the side of the road. With a circle of ammunition around his shoulders to his waist, I could probably guess what he wanted to do, and there was no other possibility than to die with the Russians! ”

The same difficult situation arose in the positions of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment, and on the morning of the retreat, the regimental commander received the bad news that in the early morning the soldiers of the entire company had not done a good job of concealment in time because they were so tired from the continuous march that they had not done a good job of concealment. was actually driven out by the Red Army's Black Death, and the whole company did not leave a single living mouth. What worries them even more is that they will face both air and ground pressure. The Red Army reconnaissance planes hovering in the sky kept an eye on the movements of the German troops, and the few sporadic German fighters that could occasionally be seen when they looked up were not enough to give the German infantry on the ground much of a sense of security.

Moreover, at this time, the 282nd Regiment also made low-level mistakes, and the fire caused by the burning of camp tents and supplies that could not be taken away was undoubtedly the obvious target. The Romanians, on the other hand, stupidly blew up their ammunition depot before leaving, and the rumbling explosions and billowing smoke were undoubtedly the best reminders that allowed the Red Army to grasp their movements unmistakably.

Vasilevsky soon organized a pursuing force consisting of fifty tanks and a considerable number of assault guns and went straight ahead. The 282nd Grenadier Regiment soon spotted its pursuers behind them. It was completely impossible to get rid of the opponent's pursuit by speed, and in desperation, the regiment commander Raymond could only turn back and fight.

Raymond was more fortunate that his troops "picked up" the anti-tank guns that had been abandoned by the artillerymen on the side of the road, and he immediately ordered his own artillery to turn their guns and fire at the pursuing Red Army tanks.

"Three o'clock direction. Aim! Fire! ”

As soon as the cannon commander's words fell, the flames erupted from the cannon in an instant. But what made Raymond depressed was that probably his gunner level was limited, most of the 88 guns missed the target, thanks to a 105-mm heavy anti-aircraft gun, which was powerful enough to destroy three Red Army tanks rushing to the front in a row at close range, which stopped the Red Army's offensive.

However, this was only a death throze, and soon the armored forces of the Red Army once again sounded the horn of the attack, plowing the Raymond artillery position with powerful artillery fire, forcing Raymond's artillery to be transferred.

Naturally, the Red Army would not miss this good opportunity, the tank shells exploded on the German positions, and many of the German artillery were blown up into scrap metal before they could be hung on trailers, and Raymond could only reluctantly order himself and the few reserves to stay behind to block the attack, so that the main force of the regiment would retreat immediately.

When this decision was made, Raymond knew that he would have no choice but to die. Sure enough, the Red Army artillery fire soon covered the German positions, and Colonel Raymond was the unlucky one left behind to stop him, and shrapnel from a shell ruthlessly sliced off his skull. However, the death of the regimental commander also angered the remaining German soldiers, and in the sordid Romanian suburbs, the blocking force of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment almost fought to the last man, as Hitler demanded.

At that time, only Major Ernst, who had succeeded Raymond in command, was extremely lucky enough to escape the encirclement with less than 10 soldiers. The tenacity of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment was also recognized by the Red Army generals, who wrote in his memoirs: "On the first day of the offensive, the tank unit I sent to pursue Hitler's bandits met with almost frantic resistance in an inconspicuous village, and the stubborn resistance of a small German force delayed us for six hours!" ”

However, Raymond's death did not bring special luck to his troops, and the Reds followed closely behind the 282nd Grenadier Regiment, and as the Black Death of the Air Force began to rage again, almost all the vehicles of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment were destroyed, and soon the regiment was overtaken by the Reds and torn apart.

The more fortunate unit of the 111th Infantry Division was the 290th Grenadier Regiment, one of which took advantage of the Red Army's siege of the 282nd Grenadier Regiment and escaped from the gap in the Red Army's pincer offensive.

With the rear's troops in tatters, Charres understood that at this moment, it was no longer possible for the Germans to hold back the Red Army by the sacrifices of a small force of rearguards, and that he and his boys would have been doomed without other, more reliable and powerful troops and a strong defensive line...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to SC-VX, bosstang, the hand of the gift rose, the fat man Fei Ah Fei, the bag of Kuroko, the drunk Wu Feng and Comrade Juventus!