The rockets rushed to the tracks of the Soviet SU-122 self-propelled anti-tank gun, and then a huge explosion tore through the tracks of the tank, shattering the steel chains. At the same moment, the German tank on the front again fired a powerful shell that hit the frontal armor of the Soviet self-propelled anti-tank gun.

The explosion shook the mountain, forcing everyone nearby to lower their bodies, and the Soviet tank, whose engine and gearbox were still spinning, soon caused the tracks, broken by the Germans, to roll through the gaps in the wheels to the ground.

Having lost one of the tracks, the Soviet tank crew apparently knew that they would never be able to retreat again, so the crew members of the SU-122 hurriedly lifted the hatch above their heads, trying to jump out of the weapon that could no longer be used. After all, the design of the SU-122 self-propelled anti-tank gun determined that the firing boundary of the gun of this big guy was very narrow, and it could only rely on adjusting the orientation of the hull to change the position of the gun's aiming.

And self-propelled guns, which have lost power on one side, will not be able to adjust the lateral firing angle of their guns as quickly as a tank - this is also the limitation of bargains, after all, cheap things are really not as good as good goods, are they......

So the hapless Soviet crew leaned out of the car, hoping to get out of the place that had become unsafe. However, as soon as they poked their heads out, they were hit by bullets fired from various weapons by the Germans who rushed from the flank. The rain of bullets instantly shattered the Soviet soldiers who tried to jump out of the self-propelled anti-tank guns.

"Surrender!" several Germans were already leaning against the hull of the immobile SU-122 self-propelled anti-tank gun, holding their weapons and firing at the routed Soviet defenders in the distance. More than a dozen Soviet soldiers who jumped out of the trench and ran backwards were hit in the body and threw themselves directly to the ground, and the Soviet defense line quickly collapsed due to the German attacks from both sides, and some of those who insisted on resistance were also quickly eliminated. They shouted in Russian in the distance, demanding that they quickly lay down their arms and surrender.

It is almost the same as the ancient war, in the stage of confrontation and mutual fighting, the casualties on both sides, even if they are more, can only be regarded as a minority. As long as there is a rout on one side, then there will be large-scale captures and losses. The few battles in which both sides continued to invest their troops until the end were all remembered by history and called meat grinders and the like.

Before the Soviet soldiers could figure out whether the surrender shouted by the other side was asking them to lay down their arms and surrender, or preparing to surrender their weapons to them, more Germans joined the pursuit. A German tank finally broke through the Soviets' lines from the front and entered the small railway station.

The German Leopard's tracks smashed through the sandbag fortifications of the Soviets, then raised the front of its hull because of the high slope, and then smashed into the ground because of the weight. Few enemy infantry could hold on to the fight in such a situation, because the average person would be frightened to see such a scene, and shout out to leave the steel monster like everyone else.

Obviously, most of the people in the Soviet army also followed this pattern, they laid down their weapons, raised their hands high, and shouted the humiliating phrase "we surrender" to the enemy with guns in front of them. It's not that they don't have the courage to continue fighting, it's that they find that holding on is only adding more casualties.

The Germans had broken through the fortifications they had built, and there were German soldiers everywhere, and those terrible Leopard tanks were already approaching them...... As most of the ordinary Soviet infantrymen, they had few decent anti-tank weapons, and resistance at such times was simply futile, and they could not fire at enemy tanks with rifles.

"Surrender!" shouted the Germans with assault rifles and semi-automatic rifles, and more and more Soviet soldiers huddled in the trenches and foxholes stood up, raising their hands and looking at their opponents in German uniforms with horror and unfamiliarity. They were almost as young as they were, and many of them were dressed in the same dusty stains - the standard that distinguished the two armies was actually only the style of military uniforms, and the temperament imprinted in the soul.

The German army, which fought bloody battles all the way from Germany and won numerous victories, exuded a strong sense of pride from the inside of their bones, while the Soviet Red Army, which was defeated from Poland to the Caucasus in one go, was full of exhaustion and helplessness on its face at this moment. Without the support of anti-tank weapons, the Soviet army was chased and cornered by German tanks, and the subsequent battle went very smoothly, just ten minutes, and the Soviet army, which just looked like it was going to fight to the death, became a straggler who was about to collapse.

The German Leopard tank, which was the first to break through the barrier and enter the small station, was parked next to the wreckage of the destroyed SU-122 self-propelled anti-tank gun, and the upper body of the crew leaning out of the turret was curiously looking at the Soviet "tank" that was not completely destroyed. Several officers nearby were discussing something with their hands behind their backs, and beside them, several non-commissioned officers were using pens to record the relevant data of the wreckage.

Standing on a bunker made of sandbags and carrying a Mauser rifle with a bayonet loaded, the German soldiers looked at the Soviet soldiers who were lined up at their feet and walked out of the position with their heads in their hands, where the battle had just ended and everything was still in chaos. Not far away, some German soldiers leaned on sandbags, oblivious to the corpses under their feet, enjoying the thrill of the aftermath of the battle. With cigarettes in their mouths, they looked at the Soviet prisoners who passed in front of them.

"Let the reconnaissance company enter the town behind, and if you encounter a rout of the Soviet troops, take as many prisoners as you can. Pointing to a town with more than a dozen roofs already visible in the distance, the German commander stretched out his finger and pointed to the corresponding place while checking the map.

The officer of the reconnaissance unit nodded, and ran to the armored car parked behind the outer wall of the small station, a dozen tanks had now entered the nearby starting position, and they only waited for the reconnaissance company to bring back the relevant information of the enemy army, and then launched the next attack.

Some soldiers were carrying the shells consumed by the tanks down from the tanks, and several tank crews that had just hit the hardest were clumsily moving the shells out of the hull. It's not a comfortable job, and what they're doing now is rather monotonous and boring compared to the heroic killing they had just done in battle.

"Arthur, hey Arthur!" the commander of the armored unit, the infantry battalion commander standing beside him, finally waited for the task of his troops, he called out to his men, and then ordered the task received here: "Take your men to establish a ring defense position near the small station and guard the remnants of the Soviet army nearby." ”

The officer of the armored unit then instructed the other battalion commander beside him: "Divide a platoon of soldiers and watch over these prisoners! The rest of the soldiers try to clear all kinds of obstacles in the small station, and the sappers behind will soon arrive, and we must open this railway as soon as possible." ”

"Commander of the 13th Regiment of the 22nd Panzer Division of the 1st Panzer Army...... It's majestic to look at. At the urging of his squad leader, a German soldier dragged a corpse under his feet to the base of the outer wall of the small station, threw it away, and said enviously to his comrades who were also doing this dirty work.

"Don't think about it, you're going to fight until next year, if you don't die...... I guess I can be a deputy company commander or something. A veteran who was about thirty or forty years old on the side glanced at this noisy comrade-in-arms and directly hit the other party's unrealistic illusions: "I have been in school for three years in total, I only know a few words, and I want to be the head of the regiment." ”

......

In the headquarters of the German Army Group M, a colonel officer walked up to Manstein, who was reading the documents, with news coming back from the front. He stood up and saluted, and opened his mouth to report: "Your Excellency, the vanguard of the 13th Panzer Corps, has captured Kiriyach and is advancing in the direction of Yashma. The Soviet defenders of the oil facilities along the route carried out sabotage, blowing up about two-thirds of the equipment. ”

The colonel-officer placed the document on Manstein's desk and added: "Also, Your Excellency, while fighting for a small town, they found a Soviet SU-122 self-propelled anti-tank gun. It destroyed one of our Leopard tanks...... For the first time, such weapons appeared in the Caucasian theater of operations, and several officers in charge of intelligence analyzed that it is possible that the USSR was strengthening the defense of the Caucasus. ”

Manstein put down the document in his hand, then smiled and tapped the battle report that had just been sent with his hand, and said to his men: "If sending a tank is considered to strengthen the defensive line, then I have received a supplement of 110 tanks from the beginning of the offensive to the present, doesn't it mean that Army Group M has been strengthened 110 times?"

After he finished speaking, he picked up his coffee from the corner of the table and took a sip of it. And then he continued: "As long as there is no problem with the brain, then strengthening the defenses around Baku is the most important thing the enemy should do." Isn't it natural that they have strengthened their defensive lines? Instead of analyzing whether the enemy will strengthen their defensive lines, it is better to think carefully about how to tear apart the enemy's reinforced defensive lines!"

Then he got up and walked towards the door, commanding as he went, "Take my cloak and hat, and let us go and urge our enemies to let them know that their time is running out." ”

On June 21, Manstein, commander-in-chief of the German Army Group M, personally inspected the front line, and half an hour later, German artillery began to bombard Sumgate with guns of more than 150 calibers.