Chapter 397: Dai Ying, we’d better not contact you again, I’m afraid

Chapter 397: Dai Ying, we’d better not contact you again, I’m afraid

 At the beginning of 1942, Desan was very busy.

 First of all, their Northern Army Group must capture the enemy's ports in the Far North, thereby completely cutting off the opponent's channel for receiving international assistance from the outside world.

Since the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, seven large-scale material transport fleets have set off from the northern part of the Belt and traveled more than 2,000 kilometers through the Arctic Ocean to the Murmansk area.

 This maritime route is continuously providing blood to the old men.

 According to statistics from frontline troops, in just a few months, the enemy received at least 750 tanks, 800 fighter jets, and 100,000 tons of other equipment.

These weapons seriously hindered the pace of the offensive of Army Group North.

Secondly, LN Grad must be captured as soon as possible.

The siege has been unable to be resolved for so long, which has a huge impact on the morale of the troops at all levels. The enemy even wants to get stronger as they fight. If we can't get rid of this thorny household, what else can we talk about conquering?

 Finally, there is the problem of Crimea. Medium bombers taking off from there can directly bomb the oil fields in Romania.

 For Desan, oil is their lifeblood. After finally owning an oil-producing area, Mustache will naturally not let Big Beard threaten his economic lifeline.

Of course, the most important thing is the central theater.

Although the enemy was very tenacious, he showed amazing combat effectiveness and mobilization capabilities during the war. But his own logistical problems have been solved, and he only needs a good and auspicious day to launch the general offensive.

 The battle strength is 1.8 million versus 1.25 million. The advantage is mine!

  ·······

 Tula, an infantry division of the 50th Army.

“Division Commander, the newly added soldiers have arrived at the front line. Comrade Political Commissar is mobilizing the new soldiers and they are expected to return to the division headquarters in half an hour.”

“Our biggest problem now is the lack of anti-tank weapons and anti-aircraft guns. The current anti-aircraft artillery battalions and anti-tank battalions directly under the division are seriously short of strength, and their combat effectiveness is less than half of what they were at their peak.”

“Even if we can build a large number of anti-tank trenches and temporary firepower points on the defense line in time, it will be difficult to withstand the joint attack of the enemy’s Second Armored Group Army and aviation.”

As soon as these words came out, Makarov immediately turned bitter, and even the joy of the arrival of reinforcements disappeared without a trace.

 That's right, the commander of the infantry division is Lao Ma, who has a very good relationship with Huang He. Everyone who sees his service record calls him a lucky man.

　　While performing an intercontinental transportation mission, he was ambushed by the Japanese and survived.

Fighted against the Finns, and was even surrounded by Simon Haye to support him, but he still didn't die in battle.

In the Battle of Smolensk, his own troops suffered heavy losses from Germany, and 400,000 people were captured in this battle alone.

But he managed to lead a group of new recruits to successfully break through, and even participated in a daring ambush near Mtsensk.

It is precisely because of the above experience that Makarov was able to be appointed to become an infantry division-level commander in this special period.

Of course, Lao Ma is also unfortunate.

  After all, the day before Desan started Operation Barbarossa, he completed the retirement ceremony in the presence of family and friends.

If the enemy army had not pressed down on the border, maybe Makarov would have driven the tractor he bought in advance and become a farmer in his hometown with his face to the land and his back to the sky.

 After a while, Lao Ma began to observe the situation on the position with a telescope in the temporary command post.

The outermost fighting has lasted all night, and the soldiers have suffered heavy blows both physically and psychologically.

 Looking around, the trenches plowed by artillery fire and aerial bombs were devastated, and injured soldiers were hiding in the almost destroyed fortifications waiting for treatment.

“Our position can only withstand one more enemy attack at most.”

“Come on, come with me for a walk. The political commissar is not on the front line, so the two of us have to carry the banner of mobilization.”

After speaking, Makarov staggered out of the command post with the support of his third deputy division commander, leaning on a Mosin Nagant.

 In the last period of their lives, they still remembered the responsibility of soldiers.

 After entering the position, Lao Ma stopped a soldier who was about to salute him. Looking at the slightly immature faces in the trench, his heart seemed to be crushed.

“Davari, thank you for your hard work!”

"In such a short period of time, we not only dug trenches, but even built parapets, which is a remarkable thing. Maybe our deeds will not be recorded in the history books of future generations, but the people of Tula will definitely not forget it! "

 “I am proud of you!”

Although the trenches on the position were not dug deep, the height in some locations was not even one meter. But now the entire division is almost entirely wounded, and being able to do this is already our limit.

As a division commander who personally trains new recruits, Lao Ma knows that the soldiers have tried their best.

 When he heard the word parapet, the soldier who was about to salute suddenly collapsed emotionally, and tears mixed with blood flowed down uncontrollably.

This situation immediately aroused Makarov's suspicion. He took a closer look and discovered that the branch-like things in the parapet were actually pale and stiff arms.

This act of desecrating Leshi's body made anger quickly well up in his heart.

"Who asked you to use the corpses of soldiers to build bunkers! Didn't I send someone to send the comrades to the city behind? What on earth is going on?"

After being reprimanded by the division commander, the young soldier cried even harder. He pointed to the parapet in front and said painfully:

"This is my brother, this is my instructor, and this is the health worker who has saved everyone countless times! We have made an agreement a long time ago. Even if we turn into corpses, we will continue to protect the surviving people and stay here. Fight together on the battlefield.”

At the same time, the helpless and haggard voice of the political commissar sounded from the rear.

“I gave the order. The battle line collapsed too quickly last night. There is a farmland nearby, and there is really no usable material.”

“Let’s go, follow me to the headquarters for a meeting. Someone from the 4th Tank Brigade is here, and the other party’s commander wants to discuss the next tactics with us.”

Hearing this, Lao Ma straightened his helmet and saluted the parapet in front of him before leaving silently.

On the way to the command post, the two also encountered a soldier holding explosives. According to the other party, he was preparing to find an opportunity to get under the chassis of the enemy tank.

 The cold wind stirred up the snow and fog, making a shrill whistling sound. Lao Ma suddenly stopped, looked at the position behind him and said:

"Comrade Political Commissar, if I fall before you, please build me into the parapet. For a soldier, it is indeed a good place to end up there."

“Okay, but we won’t be apart for too long. And according to our tradition, I will most likely be ahead of you.”

  ·······

 After the two arrived at the headquarters, the colonel commander of the 4th Tank Brigade had been waiting for a long time. He looked at Makarov's arrangement and said with great heartache:

“You infantrymen are so far forward! What’s the difference between you and seeking death?”

Facing the doubts from the friendly troops, Lao Ma shook his head helplessly. He pointed to the military map on the table and said:

“The vanguard of the enemy is the Third Armored Division of the Second Armored Group. Don’t you still know what kind of firepower Guderian has? Only by attacking first can we give the Fourth Tank Brigade a chance.”

“Only by leading them into the trap we have set, can we have any chance of holding on to the front.”

"The enemy is outnumbered and we have no chance of annihilating them. It's just about the order, there's nothing to argue about. Trenches or mass graves, you have to choose one."

 The task of Makarov and the 4th Tank Brigade is to guard the railway in the rear.

Once the position is lost, their army group will become completely alone without supplies and reinforcements, and the enemy will also open the passage from Tula to Cold Wind City.

Judging from the current overall situation, the fall of any transportation hub may become the straw that breaks the camel's back.

 This is also the reason why the 50th Group Army, where Lao Ma belongs, fights to the death and refuses to retreat.

 Half an hour later, the three of them discussed the battle plan together. In fact, the specific steps are very simple. They rely on infantry to lure the enemy deeper and drag the decisive battle location to the area set by our side in advance. Not long after the colonel commander of the 4th Tank Brigade left, the enemy's offensive troops began a new round of attack in the early morning. The unreasonable artillery fire instantly covered the defense line deployed by Lao Ma.

 “Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The current military thinking of Germany III is not complicated. Both the SS and the Wehrmacht firmly believe that only an attack, especially an unexpected attack, can win the battle.

 As Gu Bushuai's subordinate, the Third Armored Division took advantage of its superior firepower and mobile encirclement to the extreme this time.

At the beginning of the attack, their vanguard relied on their powerful firepower and rapid maneuverability to ensure their own initiative.

 Due to insufficient bunkers and fortifications, the vast majority of soldiers on the position simply could not withstand the artillery attack stage. Coupled with the horns of Jericho that sounded from time to time, the first line of defense became precarious in an instant.

 “Division Headquarters! This is the forward observation post!”

“The enemy’s armored units are approaching at high speed, with only five kilometers left to the defense line! Within my visual range, there are 47 Panzer III tanks and 11 Panzer IV tanks!”

“Please immediately have all surviving friendly forces in the area gather at the first line of defense and prepare to engage the enemy.”

 In a sense, Guderian’s second set can truly be regarded as his biological son.

 Before the start of Operation Barbarossa, while other armored armies were still using 35t, 38t and Panzer II tanks to replenish their numbers, his armored divisions already had 105 Panzer III tanks.

Different from the original timeline, after being severely beaten by the T-34 and KV series, Desan accelerated the update plan of active equipment, allowing the Chang 3 and Chang 4 to begin installation in the winter.

 The Second Equipment Group was the first batch of troops to replace tanks.

Only half an hour passed before the 3rd Armored Division broke through the first line of defense. The infantry at the rear quickly followed up, trying to consolidate their position in the shortest possible time.

 Happiness never comes in pairs, and misfortunes never come alone.

As the enemy tanks continued to advance, Makarov received a call from the artillery position.

“Division Commander! The enemy’s aviation is approaching! It’s only a matter of time before the position is discovered. We decided to open fire immediately to share the pressure on the infantry on the frontal battlefield.”

 “Davari! I wish you good luck! Kill the enemy for me!”

 “Fire!”

With the artillery commander’s order, the howitzers and field artillery on standby in the rear staged their final swan song.

 More than a dozen barrel-barreled cannons of various types and calibers were fired simultaneously, and the not-so-dense shells hit the enemy's charging path hard.

 But the enemy's reaction was not slow either, and counterattacks came one after another.

 It is different from the Maozi who rely on observation posts to determine the parameters of shelling.

 Desan firmly controls the air at this time. The presence of reconnaissance planes, artillery shooting planes and Stukas allows them to carry out counterattacks in the shortest possible time.

The artillery position, which was originally considered concealed, was clearly exposed to the high-altitude view.

Although it is cruel, this is a battlefield of life and death, and the side that loses air supremacy is so powerless.

 The artillerymen also understood this truth, so they were prepared to sacrifice before attacking. From the beginning, they planned to use themselves as bait to give the anti-aircraft artillery battalion a chance to counterattack.

Desan's ferocious firepower far exceeded Makarov's imagination. The two infantry regiments only lasted three hours before evaporating on the defense line.

Of course, the soldiers' fearless fighting style also caused considerable losses to the Germans.

Those scrapped tanks and armored vehicles are the best proof.

Seeing the enemy's 3rd Armored Division enter the decisive battle site, the colonel commander of the 4th Tank Brigade shouted to the surroundings:

“Comrades! The friendly forces successfully completed their goal and led the enemy to the scheduled decisive battle area. Now, it’s time for our brigade to dispatch!”

"As the only armored force in the entire Tula area! Although our numbers are not as good as the Germans, even if we die, we must bring the enemy's tanks with me! Do you understand?"

 “Stay in formation! Charge!”

Different from some straw-level troops, this is not the first time that the 4th Tank Brigade has fought against the armored division under the Second Armored Group. It even had such a good record before.

These T-34s that suddenly came out, under the cover of the last infantry regiment, immediately plunged the leading troops of the rampaging 3rd Armored Division into a bitter battle.

 The early model T-34 was superior to the early No. 3 and No. 4 in terms of single vehicle performance, which meant that it was completely at a disadvantage in terms of radio command.

However, if you fight against Chang San and Chang Si, it will be a different situation.

 Theoretically, the two warring parties can destroy each other with firepower.

What's more, the performance of tanks is not the only factor that affects victory or defeat. Tactical ideas and systems are also crucial.

 Fourth Tank Brigade's casualties were not optimistic, surrounded by many elite vehicle crews of the Third German Army. If there are no other reinforcements, it will only be a matter of time before they are completely wiped out.

Seeing the friendly forces showing signs of decline, Makarov suddenly couldn't hold himself any longer. He stood up from the ammunition box with his rifle in hand and said to the correspondent on standby:

 “Notify the guard camp! Prepare to fight! Come with me to the battle to kill the enemy!”

 The second before going to the battlefield, Lao Ma suddenly thought of his friends far away in the Republic of China. The Slavic man showed a wry smile and said to himself in a voice that only he could hear:

“Huang, it seems I’m going to break the appointment. Let’s go to Lake Baikal and the mountain city together in the next life.”

 But at this moment, the correspondent who had just gone out suddenly ran back. Looking at the division commander who was preparing to die, he pointed in the direction of Cold Wind City and said excitedly:

 “Reinforcements! Our reinforcements!”

“There are fighter jets! There are hundreds of tanks that we have never seen before! Division Commander! We are saved!”

As soon as these words came out, Lao Ma rushed out of the command center, picked up the telescope in his hand, and started to check the patterns in the sky.

At a low altitude of about one thousand meters, there were more than 300 fighter jets hunting down Desan's dive bombers. For a moment, it felt like there were more wolves than meat.

In the past, the Bf109, which could be used against its own I-16, was also forced into a desperate situation by another fighter.

Through the field of view provided by the telescope, Lao Ma also saw the red star identification mark on the fuselage. However, it is a little different from our own aircraft emblem, because there are golden wings on both sides of those red five-stars.

"Hurricane? And Spitfire! Where did these fighter jets come from? Why did they appear on the Tula battlefield? Aren't they in the North Caucasus Military District?"

 Since the end of 1941, the veterans have received nearly 500 Hurricanes.

However, many of those fighter jets are second-hand goods that lack maintenance, and some even wear desert camouflage.

As for the aid sent by the British through the Lend-Lease Act, the northern pilots just made do with it with the attitude that it would be good if they had it. After all, even if the performance of the Hurricane is not as good as the BF109, it is still better than the **** Yi-16.

 After observing for a few minutes, Lao Ma once again discovered the blind spot of the matter.

 The air force supporting from the direction of Cold Wind City is not only exaggerated in number, but even the performance of individual aircraft seems to have been significantly improved.

 After killing those disgusting Stukas, they actually used machine guns and rockets to attack the enemy's ground troops, and the efficiency was not even low.

 It seems that those hurricanes are better than the original ones with English.

 At this situation, a bold and crazy idea emerged from his heart. Could it be that these fighter jets come from the distant Republic of China!

  Soon, Lao Ma’s conjecture was verified. Because an infantry squad armed with French rifles and submachine guns came to the command post with a health worker. The medicine packages in the hands of the military doctors were all covered with square Chinese characters.

“Comrade Commander, we will take over the next battle.”

"There is an order from the rear. You need to return to Lengfeng City immediately to meet with the Chief of General Staff! Someone will explain the specific situation to you later. If you have any problems, we will talk about it on the way!" (End of this chapter)