"What the hell are we bombing? God forbid, is Moscow going to be in ruins like Stalingrad?" said a soldier in charge of hoisting shells, sitting boredly on the ammunition box, complaining to his colleague next to him. Although the weather was not so hot yet, he had already taken off his upper body and only had a vest left.

Another soldier was also sweating profusely, after all, it was not easy to load the 210 mm howitzers equipped by the German army, and they had to use specially prepared artillery pliers to assemble and fill one shell in groups of four people. It's a very dull and boring job, and to put it bluntly, it's the same as a brick-moving laborer on the streets. However, the place where they are located is very safe, so even this kind of work is a sought-after job in the army.

In fact, to be honest, Germany did not go to the forefront of the world in artillery design, on the contrary, they were still very backward. At least in the field of large-caliber artillery design, the Germans had stagnated for many, many years that a large part of their experience came from World War I design.

But this is a weapon after all, and when the performance of other weapons is good enough, the poor performance of a certain weapon or a small part of the weapon is covered up, and there is no problem at all in making do with it. So when Krupp began to produce guns of this caliber 210, it was not too entangled in range or other performance indicators.

They were simply ordered to produce as many large-caliber guns as possible in as little time as possible to compensate for the embarrassing situation of insufficient heavy artillery firepower on the German front. Because more and more battles began to break out on the entire Eastern Front, the German army was not well adapted to this kind of difficult fighting.

Most of the German generals have not even fully understood what the Soviet Union's war attitude of fighting for every inch of land is for. They can't imagine what they are doing to fight until the last moment after their hometown has been scorched to the ground.

In their previous experience, there are many examples that prove that surrendering when they can't fight is the best option - Paris has basically not experienced war, it is still one of the most important cities in Europe, people have not suffered, and there has not been much change in their way of life because of the war, and the same city has been renamed Leningrad St. Petersburg...... There are many examples of the opposite, such as London, which is still being rebuilt, and Stalingrad, which was renamed St. Rudolph.

"You may not have heard, but one of my buddies is in the 712th Artillery Infantry Battalion. He told me that a few kilometers away, there was a huge artillery position, where the shells were so large that they needed to be loaded with cranes, and there was a constant fire in the direction of Moscow!" said another artilleryman, who was sitting in another ammunition box, fanning himself with his hand.

Hearing this, the other soldiers showed shocked expressions on their faces, and they didn't quite believe that their country had gathered such a huge artillery force on one front: "My God...... There's also an artillery position? Just here, I've heard that there are more than 40 heavy guns of 210 caliber, right?"

To be precise, the Wehrmacht assembled 53 210-mm guns from the direction of Stalingrad, 6 240-mm guns from France, and 30 280-mm 280-mm guns -- nearly 90 large-caliber guns -- on the front of Moscow on the Eastern Front.

So the artillery disaster in Moscow came, and the German army used its own long-range artillery to carry out irregular shelling of the city of Moscow, and this irregular shelling slowed down the Soviets to tidy up the city, and the streets and alleys began to be filled with the smell of decay.

Two days have passed since the bombing and shelling of the German army in response to the military parade in Moscow. In the past two days, the Germans poured 890 large-caliber shells of more than 210 caliber into the city of Moscow. The shells exploded in the streets, destroying building after building.

"Get up, reload 5 more shells!Come on! This round of shelling is over to us!" a German artillery commander commanded loudly from a distance. He waved his arms vigorously so that everyone could see his gestures.

So everyone got up from their positions, and some of them used iron drills to pry open the wooden ammunition box that had just sat under their buttocks, and a shell was presented to everyone.

The four of them set up the cannonball with cannonball tongs, shouted slogans and sent the cannonball to the cannon position not far ahead, and pushed it into the barrel with concerted efforts. Soon the shell will be shot out and fall on the heads of the Soviets, and the explosion will be powerful enough to destroy an entire building, which is exciting to think about.

A few minutes later, a new round of shelling began, and everyone covered their ears and squinted at these Krupp heavy guns, which were slightly backward in design and completely inferior in range, to the American artillery, and were shaken up to dust by the powerful recoil. They felt the deafening sound, watched the flames and smoke coming out of the muzzles, the last time the Germans poured ammunition on a city on such a large scale was the First World War.

Several photographs were spread out and placed on the desk of Field Marshal Rundstedt's operational command. Rather than a dimly lit basement, this makeshift house has bright glass windows, elaborate chandeliers and a full cupboard of wine and vodka. It is said to be a country house of a high-ranking Soviet official, and when the Germans occupied it, there were two maids cleaning it.

By the time Rundstedt's army group requisitioned it, the two good-looking maids had already been "used" by many German troops, so Rundstedt could only continue to clean it with guards, and because of this, it looked a little messier than when it was first occupied.

"Your Excellency Marshal! This is an aerial photograph taken during the last reconnaissance before the bombing, and because of the height, these neighborhoods are relatively blurry here, here, and here......" The Air Force staff officer pointed to a few blurred places on the aerial photo, and then pointed to a map of Moscow on the table: "But we can still check the map and find some corresponding locations." ”

Rundstedt nodded, took a magnifying glass, compared the photo a few times, and then said approvingly: "This altitude is already the lowest altitude that a reconnaissance plane can descend, although the military aerial camera we purchased may already be the best in the world, but it still needs to improve some accuracy." ”

As a front-line general of the German army, Rundstedt is also a battlefield veteran, and he often compares the aerial photos in his hand to analyze the intelligence inside. For a long time, even if he was not the commander of the Air Force, he could know the height of the shooting by looking at the photo, and he could almost guess the type of reconnaissance aircraft used.

There was a sense of superiority that he could guess the vintage with a sip of wine, and the Air Force staff officer next to him smiled and nodded, agreeing with the marshal's speculation: "This is a photo taken at a low altitude by our venture the day before, and you can still find these blocks." ”

Then he pulled out a few clear partial photographs from behind that had just arrived and had been taken at a lower altitude this morning, pointed to the place above that had been changed beyond recognition, and said to Marshal Rundstedt: "Our shelling has destroyed these blocks, and judging from the photographs, this is probably the building before the bombing, and now it has completely disappeared." ”

"In the photo, several spires of the Kremlin have disappeared in half, some have collapsed, and some have broken directly...... "From a professional point of view, the staff officers of the Air Force introduced to Rundstedt one by one, and the German army has confirmed the achievements in those photos.

"So, these huge craters were caused by 280 mm railroad guns, right?" Rundstedt picked up one of the photos and asked the Air Force staff officer next to him, "They are larger than the other craters, and they are more concentrated......"

"Yes, Marshal!" the Air Force staff officer nodded, then picked up several other identical photos and put them together, and then pointed to the upper, middle and lower rows of photos to compare: "The top is the traces of the Air Force bombing, the middle is the crater of the 210 mm and 240 mm guns, and the bottom is the 280 mm train gun." ”

"The Führer meant to carry out another bombardment of the Air Force and completely destroy Moscow's defenses. Rundstedt pointed to a few relatively intact blocks on the map, and then ordered the Air Force staff officer beside him: "In the inventory, there are more reserves of napalm incendiary bombs, use these blocks, try the effect." ”

The officer was stunned for a moment, then nodded, stood upright and replied, "Yes, Your Excellency Marshal! Then I will take my leave, Marshal! Long live Führer Accardo Rudolph!"

"Long live Führer Accardo, Rudolph!" said Rundstedt with a military salute, and then looked again at the map of the theater of operations hanging on the wall, where Army Group E had firmly occupied positions in the northern part of Moscow, and on the front of Moscow, Army Group A and Army Group F were pressed in front of the Soviet army like Mount Tai - and now, as soon as Guderian's Army Group G reached the designated position, Moscow would be encircled by several main German armies.