At the same time that Zhuoya gathered the surviving civilians everywhere, an armored unit of the German Army Group North was desperately rushing forward to kill, and had left its main force far behind, even if it encountered the resistance of the Soviet army, it did not dwell too much, but quickly defeated the Soviet army and then continued to move forward.

The powerful tank columns marched along the Soviet road, rolling up a cloud of dust, and an armored car emerged from the dust and rushed from the rear of the column to the front, and the commander of the unit, the commander of the German 56th Panzer Corps, Fritz Erich von Manstein, was seated.

He knew that if the German army wanted to complete the blitzkrieg mission stipulated in the Barbarossa plan, it must seize those bridges and ferries with the speed of a god and before the opponent could react, such as a bridge he had just captured completely, which laid a persistent foundation for a further attack on Leningrad, otherwise every big river would become a terrible obstacle, and the complete capture of the bridge over the river would be directly related to the speed of the armored forces.

"Boom Boom~"

"Assemble assemble~! It's time to rest, all back to your tanks and vehicles, and let's go, let's go! ”

The armored mobile team, which had been rushing for a day and a night, stopped and asked the soldiers to solve their personal problems, and this time was only five minutes.

When the commander's angry leather whip and leather boots smashed on his head, Pete could only lift his pants and let the filth on his ass rub against his underwear, and did not dare to delay the march of the entire army.

He got into the tank, looked at Lusaku and said, "Hell, my ass hasn't been wiped clean yet, brethren, you're going to have it for the rest of the journey." ”

In the tank, several soldiers all wrinkled their noses and pushed him into a corner.

"Hell Pete! You stink, I want to put you in the barrel and shoot you! ”

While the other comrades patted Pete on the head to keep him from getting closer, Lusaku saw something through the outward observation window.

"Be quiet! There's someone ahead! ”

"What? Someone? Is it an enemy or a friend? ”

"Idiot, we are a force rushing to the front, how can there be friendly troops? As long as you see enemies, be vigilant! ”

Several soldiers in the tank car, operating the cannon and the machine gun, all entered the combat state.

But when they got closer, they realized that there were indeed enemies here, but only the corpses of the enemies.

Lusaku's tank stopped, and they got out of the compartment, where one person reported to the car behind them, and the other two began patrolling the front with guns.

"What's going on here?"

Lusaku looked at the Russian soldiers lying on the ground with his gun, and couldn't imagine what had taken their lives.

At this time, the comrades-in-arms on the other side sneered and said: "It is very likely that the troops mutinied, and someone shot at their boss and teammates, robbed them of their money and then slipped away." ”

"Is this really going to happen?"

Lusaku was a little unthinkable, and the discovery of the dead body had been reported to their supreme commander, Manstein.

The big man got out of the car and watched around for a while, and suddenly he had an idea.

"Some people took off all the uniforms of those Soviet soldiers and decorated our armored vehicles again."

The Soviet soldiers guarding the bridge at the Vila River crossing had already received the news of the German attack, and one by one they looked nervously at the distance with their rifles.

"Don't be so nervous, take it easy, our bridge is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if those German tanks are powerful, they can't drive in vain."

A non-commissioned officer encouraged his soldiers so much, but his words didn't seem to have much effect.

"Look, sir, there's a couple of cars there."

Just then, a soldier spotted a not-so-long convoy approaching the road in the distance, which appeared to be filled with soldiers, who were their allies in their attire, and whose logos were painted on the vehicle.

"Don't be nervous, it's your own people, it's likely that they were sent from above to support us, open the barricades and ask which unit they are."

The truck at the front came to a slow stop when the sentry stopped it, and a soldier went around to the side of the car and asked, "Comrade, where are you from?" ”

The man in the car looked at him and saluted first, then said, "This is a wounded soldier who has been withdrawn from the front line." ”

As he spoke, several of the men in the car showed their bandaged arms, and the sentry let out an "oh" and waved his hand away.

But as soon as the trucks passed through the bridge checkpoint, the wounded soldiers, who were wrapped in bandages, suddenly jumped out of the carriages, raised their guns and put them against the chests of the Soviet soldiers.

Only then did they realize that these were not wounded soldiers of friendly forces at all, but Germans in disguise.

"Surrender all their guns! Occupy Command! Fast! ”

A commander commanded Lusaku, Pete and others to quickly occupy the entire bridgehead, and took the bridge without blood, but this was also the result of Manstein's blatant disregard for international conventions, allowing his soldiers to use captured Soviet vehicles and clothing to disguise themselves as Soviet retreating troops.

And it was his avant-garde troops who dressed up as these Soviet soldiers, who were specially trained in the Russian language and what habits the Russians had.

Later, this incident reached the ears of the Führer, and Hitler greatly appreciated it, and ordered other troops to follow this method and form some camouflage units, which became the famous "shadow troops" of the German army in the early days of the war.

After successfully taking the bridge over the Villa River crossing, Manstein and his troops took the road bridge near the city of Finks, and the railway bridge was only slightly damaged and could be used after minor repairs.

Thanks to the outstanding performance of the vanguard, the German troops continued to pour into the city of Finks and on the other side of the Vila River, and engaged in fierce battles with the Soviet troops.

Flying artillery fire and sporadic gunfire continued to sound from inside the city of Finx, and outside the city, Pete, who was nibbling on dry hard bread, scratched his ass and muttered: "The city should be almost fighting, but why is this fire getting bigger and bigger?" ”

Lusaku came from the other side and threw a kettle at him, and whispered: "I heard from the soldiers who came back from the front that those Soviet troops set fire to most of the city themselves before fleeing and retreating, as if to stop us from moving forward, I wonder if our commander will be stopped by this fire?" ”

Pete took a sip of water, forcibly swallowed the hard bread that was difficult to swallow into his stomach, and exhaled: "Don't worry, our commander is notoriously desperate for fighting, otherwise we wouldn't be at the forefront of all the troops, but there is a lot of credit for following him." ”

Pete's assessment of Manstein is quite accurate, after the capture of the city of Finx, Manstein ordered an armored army to continue to advance while ensuring the safety of Vera and the ferry, and as for the remnants of the enemy forces left south of the Vera River, they were handed over to the follow-up infantry units to sweep up, and they had to venture deep into the Soviet hinterland.

Because Manstein knew that the deeper they went into the enemy's hinterland, the more dangerous it became, and on the contrary, their greatest dependence on their safety was their ability to move continuously, and once their troops stopped, they would be attacked by enemy troops from all sides, so it was not a question of whether he wanted to stop or not, but whether he could stop.

However, the commander of the 4th Panzer Corps, Admiral Kruger, sent an urgent telegram strictly forbidding Manstein to continue his high-speed advance, and asked him to wait for the troops on both flanks to be in position to avoid going deep alone.

"Hell! We missed the best fighter! ”

Manstein roared in his combat command vehicle, but strict orders had been issued from above, and if he persisted in disobeying military orders, he would be tried by a court-martial.

In desperation, Manstein had no choice but to order his troops to stay where they were, while widening the bridgehead around Finks and keeping the ferry port open.

By the time the 41st Panzer Army and the left flank of the 16th Army rushed to the meeting point, it was already five days later, and just like that, the best chance to quickly crush the main Soviet forces and capture Leningrad slipped through Manstein's eyes.