How big is the Caucasus? Many people may not have an intuitive impression. But when the German soldiers set foot on this territory, they found that it was really unimaginably large, they took a city, and there were many more cities in front of them, and they occupied a high ground, only to find that it was only one of thousands of high grounds.

Just as the Soviet soldiers were tilting their heads and watching the German planes dive down one after another, dropping bombs in the distance and not knowing where, at the limit of their position, a German Tiger tank knocked down a large tree the thickness of a wrist and roared out of the woods.

The Soviet soldiers leaned against their trenches, they watched behind the Tiger tank, and further away another German tank slaughtered out of the woods, no one was surprised or shouted anything, they just silently pulled the bolt of their guns and pushed the bullet into their chambers.

There is no need to sound the horn, there is no need to remind or order, everyone knows that the battle has begun, and their own fate is no longer theirs, on the battlefield, they can only live as much as possible, praying to God that they can continue to live.

A shell fell on the positions of the Soviet troops, causing a panic. Then more shells fell around the trenches, splashing patches of dirt, and everyone's panic was suppressed, and everyone huddled in the corners of the trenches with their weapons in hand, praying that these terrible shelling would pass quickly.

"Damn, the Germans are getting more and more skilled in infantry and artillery coordination, and their troops are only shelling when the offensive begins, and the cover is really in place. A Soviet commander squatted in a trench with his steel helmet in his arms and shouted. His voice was quickly drowned out by the rumble of the shell exploding, and it was inaudible from a little distance.

Finally survived this round of intensive shelling, and the Soviet troops judged according to the power of the explosion and the trajectory of the explosion, there were German howitzers of 150 mm caliber, Soviet goods of 122 mm caliber, and guys of 105 and 75 mm caliber, which can be regarded as a large collection of existing German artillery.

When the Soviet soldiers shook off the floating soil and poked their heads out of the trenches to observe the German troops on the opposite side, they found that dozens of tanks were only less than 200 meters away from them under the cover of dense German grenadiers.

The German machine gunner lay down on the ground, the deputy shooter held the bullet chain in his hand, and the two men set up an improvised firing position, and then sprinkled the barrage to the opposite position, and several German machine gun positions opened fire at the same time, and the Soviet troops on the Soviet positions that hit for a time could not raise their heads.

After a long period of preparation, the first gunshot was finally heard from the Soviet position, and a Soviet soldier with his rifle fired the first shot of the Soviets' counterattack at the enemy on the opposite side. With this gunshot, the Soviets finally opened fire, but the thin sound of the rifles was a bit disproportionate compared to the heavy fire of the Germans on the opposite side.

A German commander standing at the edge of the woods put down the binoculars in his hand, pointed to the troops in front of him, and said to several officers beside him: "The air force reconnaissance said that the first line of defense of the Soviet army was only used to delay the offensive of our troops, and now it seems that this is indeed the case." ”

As if to confirm the commander's words, the German grenadiers had advanced to the position of the Soviet trench with the tank, and a large number of grenadiers entered the Soviet trench behind the tank, the gunfire became more intense, and the Soviet army quickly collapsed, as if it had no intention of defending this position.

A position changed hands, the Germans had already gained a firm foothold on the way forward, as the tanks continued to advance, more German grenadiers attacked the positions of the Soviet troops, everywhere there were cries of Soviet soldiers for mercy in a rout, and the combat effectiveness of both sides was not at all on the same level.

"It's not too difficult to cut into this kind of position, because the air support is there, and the Soviet artillery support can't play ......" A German officer looked at the battlefield in the distance, which was no longer in suspense, and said with some invigoration: "It is certain that the elite of the Soviet Union in the Caucasus is not here." ”

"There was not even decent artillery support, and it seems that the Soviets had really given up on Surovichino. Another German officer shook his head and said: "The Soviets are becoming more and more cautious, which does not bode well, they do not put their troops in the field, but fight with us in street battles city by city." ”

With the German attack, the position here has been completely captured, and a small number of German troops escorted the Soviet prisoners back to retreat, and it seemed that there were thousands of Soviet prisoners of war listlessly following one after another, and they looked at the German armored command vehicles parked on the side of the road in frustration, as well as some motorcycles and bicycles.

The German commander led by the German army walked to the front of his armored command vehicle, spread a map on the engine compartment cover, looked at it carefully for a while, and then pointed to the area around Surovikino, and said to a second lieutenant who followed him: "Let your reconnaissance troops fan forward to search and advance, and return immediately when there is resistance, I want to see how many positions west of the Don River the Soviets have abandoned." ”

"Yes, sir. 20 km, or 30 km?" the second lieutenant looked at his commander, trying to confirm the distance he had traveled.

"Forward, advance as many kilometers as you can!" The German commander climbed into his armored car, looked at the dense Soviet prisoners in front of him, and said: "Establish accurate road signs, I want to have lunch in Surovichino City, my armored troops will make sure to go all the way to the west, if your reconnaissance unit encounters any trouble, you can contact my tank commanders nearby." ”

"Yes, sir, long live the Führer!" the second lieutenant saluted, and then, under the watchful eye of the Soviet prisoners behind him, walked towards his six-wheeled armored reconnaissance vehicle. Along with the launch of this reconnaissance vehicle, there were several armored vehicles of the same model around it, as well as some motorcycles and off-road vehicles.

At this time, a barrel car drove from the road not far away and stopped next to the armored car of the German front commander, and a staff officer of the division headquarters jumped out of the barrel car and stepped forward to salute the regimental commander: "I am here on the order of the division commander to check the current advance of your troops, the situation has changed, it seems that the Soviets are systematically abandoning the defensive positions west of the Don River. ”

"Yes, Chief of Staff. My unit had just confirmed the intelligence of the Air Force reconnaissance planes with a short advance, and their resistance was so slight that it could be said that these places were given to us by the Soviets. The regimental commander reflexively jumped out of the armored car, walked in front of the chief of staff of the division headquarters, and gave a casual military salute before saying: "I am ordering the troops to search and attack forward, covering all areas on the west bank of the Don River." ”

The chief of staff of the division headquarters nodded and said: "The problem you said, another armored division next door also encountered it, and when they attacked, they found that the Soviet army was about to collapse at the first touch, so they sent a report to the military headquarters. The report said that they would occupy the west bank of the Don River as quickly as possible and encircle the tens of thousands of Soviet troops here. ”

It's not just that the attack here feels like a punch on cotton, but farther away, the Germans attacking Perelazovsky actually rushed directly into the city, and then caught up with the retreating Soviet infantry on the road behind Pererazovsky, directly capturing more than 2,500 Soviet prisoners.

The Germans broke through all the lines of defense between Pererazovsky and Surovikno, and more than 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war were captured, but these prisoners were civilians who had just been armed, and many of them were not even equipped with ammunition.

These Soviet soldiers had been completely abandoned by Rokossovsky, they had been without supplies a day earlier, and they were hungry on the ground waiting for news from the rear, but while waiting, they were subjected to large-scale German air raids and fierce attacks on the ground. They were at a loss for what to do, and they couldn't figure out why the main forces east of the Don River did not support them, and they couldn't figure out why artillery, anti-aircraft guns, and other weapons and equipment were rushed back to the east of the Don River.

By the time they knew they had been abandoned, they were escorted by the Germans to concentration camps in Ukraine and Poland. They were left in place for the sole purpose of piling up like garbage in the middle of the road, slowing down the German offensive and buying a paltry amount of time for the main Soviet forces east of the Don River.

The Soviet troops, who did not want to hold the front-line positions at all, were crushed, and Manstein's troops attacked even faster than Guderian's Army G. One of the armored regiments he used as the vanguard fought as far as October Town, where it halted its attack in order to wait for fuel.

In contrast, Guderian's troops were much more conservative, and after his troops had advanced for dozens of kilometers, they stopped the offensive because they could not figure out what the Soviets were doing.

Then the Germans arrived along the Don River, the two sides made contact on the Don defense line, the Soviets and the Germans carried out a brief artillery bombardment, and after the German bombers visited again, the Soviets voluntarily stopped this provocative behavior. Guderian did not rush to cross the Don, but waited for his own infantry to arrive, and then began to erect pontoon bridges in preparation for crossing.

Within 48 hours of the start of the Battle of the Caucasus and the start of the all-out German offensive, all of the German offensive plans were completed, and most of them were overfulfilled. But everyone was not happy, because they knew that the Soviets were deliberately shrinking their forces.