81_81266The vast plains of Ukraine have always been rich and beautiful, but at this moment they have been destroyed by the war, smoke is everywhere, and fleeing wagons and refugees are stranded on the roads, crowded with the retreating Soviet Red Army.

Above their heads, German fighter jets flew by from time to time, and these planes only returned when they ran out of fuel or ammunition, and in most cases they would turn a blind eye to these low-value Soviet targets, after all, the Soviet Union had too many targets, and now it was not that there was no opportunity to bomb them, but that they could not be bombed at all.

Putting down the binoculars in his hand and pouting at the German fighters flying farther and farther in the sky, Wren jumped out of the turret of the Tiger tank, leaned against the turret and looked at Alice, who was wiping the heading machine gun.

I have to say that after three years in the army, the sow is a sable cicada. Looking at Alice's delicate ass wrapped in military pants, Wren took a lot of effort to look away. He stupidly stuffed the bread in his hand into his mouth, then unscrewed the lid of the kettle and took a sip of cold boiling water to calm down his restless body.

A German scout on a motorcycle with an iron tag on his chest passed by Rennes' Tiger tank, stopped the car and saluted Rennes: "Sir, the nearby Soviet troops are retreating in the direction of Kyiv, and I and other scouts have not found enemy tanks. ”

Wren nodded, then politely opened the storage compartment behind the turret of the tank, took out a box of cans and threw it to the dusty scout under the tank, and thanked him for the information: "Thank you! ”

This is the way to get along in the army, and every now and then send something to these scouts, and they will work harder when they are scouting. Sometimes, a few minutes in advance of warning and intelligence can avoid some fatal mistakes. Making fewer mistakes or trying not to make mistakes is the secret of survival on the battlefield.

The vast plains of Ukraine stretched the Germans' strength, and Wren's 502 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion was now torn apart. The battalion headquarters and the 2 company were 3 km away, and the 3 company was about 5 km away on their own flank. And now the 1st Company of Rayne's unit has also been divided into three units, and it is discarded everywhere.

On the way to Kyiv, tank No. 114 fell behind due to a mechanical failure caused by a blocked oil road, and in order to rush to the village in a hurry, tank No. 111 was ordered to stay behind to cover car No. 114. So as the commander of the 1st company and 1st platoon, Wren now has only 3 tanks in his hands to fight.

Of course, along with them were the grenadiers of the 1st Battalion and 2nd Company of the 1st Regiment of the 3rd SS Panzer Division, who were responsible for reconnaissance and cover, and it was thanks to these hard-working grenadiers along the way that Wren dared to kill the village where they are now.

An hour earlier, the grenadiers had spotted the Soviet rout near the village, and Marcus's car No. 112 had volunteered to take the No. 115 tank to cover 40 infantrymen to intercept them—they had done this no less than five times along the way, each time with unexpected gains.

The grenadiers captured at least 1,000 Soviet routers along the way, almost 10 times their number. About 20 soldiers escorted the prisoners back to the regimental camp behind, so that the grenadier company was now not fully staffed, with only about 80 soldiers.

So there were only about 40 German infantry left near Rennes, and there were no 30 of them capable of fighting, excluding mortars, communications, and a mess of non-combatants. The unit was also resting, leaning against the outer walls of the village's buildings, asleep from exhaustion.

They were so tired that they hadn't had a good rest for four days, and the German soldiers put on their raincoats and all kinds of warm equipment, and then lay on the ground, snoring one after another.

Bruce and Andre were also sleeping, they were also very tired, although they were not walking on their feet, but they really should have rested these days. Because the two of them were snoring like thunder in the tank, Alice couldn't stand the noise, and she was embarrassed to sleep in the car as well, so she came out to wipe the machine gun. Presumably, the sound that makes people more desperate than the engine is the snoring of a few big men with their feet, right?

The more advanced the weapon, the more it must be maintained and maintained by high-quality soldiers, so that the role of advanced weapons and equipment can be brought into play in battle. Do not underestimate every revolution in military technology, every such development marks a steady improvement in the grassroots level of the military.

If there is only one rifle, the soldier needs to disassemble and clean the rifle frequently, and then maintain and oil it. But what if it's a motorcycle? It's up to the soldier to inflate the tires, add lubricant, and even fix some simple mechanical problems himself.

Don't think that Bruce is responsible for loading Andrei, he is also a maintenance worker who can open the engine compartment of the tank, clean the oil circuit and the strainer, and he is responsible for maintaining and repairing some minor problems on the tank, including replacing the worn tracks and load wheels of the tank.

Of course, Bowman was not only a driver, he also needed to repair and maintain the tank's engine, and he was so familiar with the Tiger engine's engine that he could tell what was wrong with the chatter of the engine and the sound it made when it turned.

And Wren...... Well, he's the only commander who only kills. Now he was eating to replenish his body, because on the way to this village, he put Andrei on the alert, and he had slept on the shaking tank for 2 hours.

I simply took out a newly drawn map of the neighborhood and carefully checked the surrounding environment. The local Ukrainians, disgusted with the oppression of the Soviet Union, welcomed the arrival of the German army, and their cooperative attitude relieved the German army of a lot of pressure. For example, the map in Wren's hand was modified and refined by the local people of nearby Ukraine on the military map of the German army.

Because the area was so vast, the Germans, despite their careful planning and preparation, were still unable to master all the tactical-level maps in the Soviet Union. With the opportunity to help the Soviet Union build the railway, the German army can be regarded as a tactical-level map of some important areas along the Soviet railway, but the drawings of other remote areas are suspected of being indiscriminate.

However, with the help of the locals, Rennes' map is marked with a lot of useful information. For example, the approximate location of some woods and hills, as well as the direction and distance of the nearby villages. The information provided by these locals is much more accurate than the road standard, and it is a pity to say that the infrastructure of the Soviet Union is more than a little worse than that of European countries.

Some of the secondary roads marked on the map are in fact small dirt roads with potholes, and German tanks and trucks are still expected to be crowded on the Ukrainian border in eastern Poland if they had been followed according to the original map. The Germans, with some volunteer guides and the guidance of the locals, barely completed the seemingly simple task of marching.

About four kilometres further south of where Wren's troops are now located is a small town that straddles a small river about 10 meters wide and is one of the more famous places in the vicinity. Soviet troops must be massing towards that town, and if nothing else, the capture of it will almost open the main road to Kiev.

The vast plains are an excellent combat environment for armored troops. Wren was sure to take out the Soviet forces that stood in his way in the plains and get closer to the town. He also needed to make sure that the grenadier company commander who was following him was sure that he would take a few dozen soldiers and capture a strategic location.

"What are you thinking?" Alice finished wiping the machine gun, oiled some parts of the machine gun, found a water source nearby and washed her hands, then shook her hand and smiled while standing by the tank and asked Wren.

"Nothing. Wren closed the map, carefully put it in his map bag, then pointed to the smoke in the distance, and replied, "We may go there a little later, I guess there is a fierce battle." ”

Alice nodded, and then reminded: "In the morning, the battalion headquarters called and said that the ammunition supply would be delayed, so we should save some ammunition now...... The machine gun bullets are fine, and we are still 20 rounds less than the normal number. ”

There is indeed no shortage of machine gun ammunition, and when he left the battalion headquarters a few days ago, Wren took an extra 1,000 rounds of ammunition in one breath with the familiar face of the old man in the logistics department, so their machine gun ammunition was very sufficient. However, the artillery shells were not so lucky, after all, there was no way to safely cram dozens of more shells into the tank.

It happened that there were two encounters with Soviet tanks on the road, and Wren's tank fired almost twenty shots. As a result, Rennes' tank now has only 50 shells, and even fewer armor-piercing shells if grenades are not counted.

"Wait for the supplies from the battalion headquarters to be delivered, it is estimated that it will be tomorrow evening. Wren said with a sigh. He knew how chaotic the supply near the battlefield was, and in most cases it was up to the company-platoon-level commanders to arrange it themselves, and the more modern the war, the larger the scale of this supply.

"The Soviet Union is really big, I only know when I see it with my own eyes, it turns out to be so big. Alice leaned on the tank and sighed, and as she spoke, she stretched out her arms, as if she wanted to embrace the whole world: "If we were in Poland, the distance we are advancing now would probably have reached Warsaw, but we are still a long, far away from Moscow." ”

"Gollum. Wren swallowed and looked away into the distance—it was so big.......