The Rise of the Third Reich

Brutal fighting took place around the May Day Town on the Red October Railway Line, and the area where the Diyev battle group was located was the most intense place.

With the support of tanks and assault artillery, the German army launched two waves of infantry charges in succession. They wanted to use infantry to seize the Soviet front line, but the Soviet infantry, mainly Kazakhs, was unexpectedly tenacious. Although they suffered considerable casualties, they still repelled the attacking German army twice with the artillery support of the 8th Guards Infantry Division.

Feeling a little bit prickly, the German commander finally couldn't hold back and ordered the tanks and assault artillery to continue to move forward and crush the Soviet army. The anti-tank guns that had been holding back before suddenly showed their power!

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

Some deafening anti-tank rifle gunshots rang out one after another on the position held by the Diyev group. The tracks of several "Grizzly" assault guns that rushed to the front were suddenly broken. The huge vehicle body slid forward for a short distance under the action of inertia, and then stopped abruptly in the mud.

At this moment, a dozen figures covered in mud suddenly jumped out of the mud in front of these "Grizzlies" and rushed towards several "Grizzlies" with broken tracks, as fast as a gust of wind.

These people had no guns in their hands, only a "Red Iron Fist" that was exactly the same as the German "Iron Fist" 60 anti-tank rocket launcher. As long as they rushed to within 20 meters of the "Grizzlies", they could use the weapons in their hands to destroy the 100mm thick and 40-degree inclined front armor of the "Grizzlies" fighting compartment!

The German soldiers on the "Grizzlies" assault guns also reacted quickly. The parallel machine guns on the front of the vehicle body and the machine guns on the top of the vehicle body fired at the same time. The German infantry responsible for covering the assault guns also picked up the Mkb42 and fired wildly, turning most of the "mud men" into "blood men". However, Diyev still saw two Kazakh warriors rushing to within 20 meters of the "Grizzly" assault gun (the Soviet-made Panzerfaust 60 was not accurate at 60 meters, and was only really useful within 20 meters, and the armor-piercing thickness did not reach 200mm, and could only barely destroy 130mm right-angle uniform steel).

One of them knelt on one knee, put the "Red Iron Fist" on his shoulder, and pressed the launch button without hesitation, regardless of the machine guns and carbines shooting at him. In an instant, a small bullet dragged a flame and slammed into a 30-ton Grizzly assault gun. And at the same time as the huge and dazzling fireball rose, a bullet fired by a Mkb42 carbine also hit the Kazakh warrior. This Oriental man, who did not leave any name in later history, knelt there, staring at the assault gun he destroyed with his eyes, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and then he fell down suddenly.

At the same time, another Kazakh warrior also completed the attack, and he completed the launch while standing. When the rocket was fired, he lay down with extremely fast movements and dodged the bullets fired at him.

When the huge fireball rose from the front of the Grizzli assault gun that he destroyed, he climbed up with extremely agile movements, turned around and ran towards the trench where Diyev was, and finally survived miraculously.

However, Diyev had no time to praise the Kazakh warrior, because the German armored group and infantry were not blocked by several anti-tank guns. When the Kazakh warrior ran back, the German infantry and tanks had already rushed to the first trench of the Soviet army.

However, several of the Grizzli and Type 4H tanks ran over mines, and several vehicles were hit by Soviet anti-tank guns again, and all lost the ability to move forward.

At this time, the three ZIS-3 76mm cannons and two SU-57 tank destroyers that had been waiting for the opportunity opened fire at the same time. The three immobile Grizzli and Type 4 were hit and turned into fireballs.

The other Grizzlies and No. 4 tanks also stopped advancing as if frightened. Among them, No. 4 H tanks turned their guns and aimed at the hiding places of Soviet cannons and tank destroyers!

"Comrades! For the motherland, for the cause of GCism, charge!" Jiyev knew that now was the most critical moment, so he gave the order to charge without any hesitation, and jumped out of the trench with an RPG-43 anti-tank grenade with strong armor-piercing ability.

The grenade he used was also the Soviet infantry's first anti-tank weapon. It weighed 1.2 kilograms, used shaped charge, and had an effective armor-piercing thickness of 75mm. There was also a special canvas stabilizer parachute device to ensure that the warhead touched the target first, which was used to attack the top of the tank.

Under Jiyev's order and leading role, the Kazakh soldiers in the trenches also raised grenades or PPSh submachine guns to attack. RPG-43 anti-tank grenades with fire or a "tail" (the kind of canvas stabilizer parachute that pops out with a spring) flew towards the German tanks and assault guns one after another. Instantly, several Type 4 and Grizzlies were turned into fireballs.

However, many German tanks successfully fired indestructible armor-piercing shells. A SU-57 that was being transferred was blown up on the spot, and three ZIS-3 cannons were completely destroyed.

At the same time, all the machine guns on the Type 4 tanks and Grizzlies roared, killing the Soviet troops who rushed out of the trenches.

The German infantry who charged with the tanks and assault guns also followed, firing strings of flames with the powerful Mkb-42 carbines. Soon, Diyev and his comrades were pushed back into the trenches.

However, Tiev did not order a retreat, but once again shouted the slogan: "Although Russia is big, it has nowhere to retreat: Moscow is behind it!"

A fierce battle immediately began in the trenches held by the Tiev cluster. Grenades and bombs flew out from every corner of the trenches, and the warheads of the "Red Iron Fist" also dragged fireworks towards the German steel chariots from time to time. There were even some of the most loyal communist fighters holding cluster grenades. Hide in the trench, wait for the German tanks to run over you, fire the grenade, and die together with the German tanks!

However, the strength gap between the two sides is very different. The German army lost mainly vehicles, and not all the personnel in the vehicles may be killed (most of the vehicles can be repaired), while the Red Army lost real personnel sacrifices. As the Red Army soldiers fell to the muzzles of German artillery and guns, they could no longer prevent German tanks and infantry from breaking through their first and second trenches.

The infantry close combat that ensued was extremely detrimental to the Soviet army. Because most of the German infantry are equipped with the powerful Mkb42 carbine, which is an automatic musket that fires intermediate bullets, similar to the famous AK-47 in history. However, the Soviet infantry still uses Mosin-Nagant rifles and Bobosha submachine guns.

When the battle progressed to nearly noon on April 23, the troops commanded by Captain Tiev were down to the last 28 men, and they were squeezed into a forest on the edge of the defense line. After rejecting the persuasion of the traitors (White Army personnel who fought with the German army) to surrender, these 28 communist fighters made a final resistance and all died heroically that afternoon!

On April 23, similarly brutal battles continued around Wuyi Town, where the 8th Guards Infantry Division held firm. Lieutenant Fierstov, the company commander from the 1076th Infantry Regiment, and Captain Pavlov, the political deputy battalion commander from the 1077th Infantry Regiment, also led hundreds of Kazakh GCs like Tiev in the bloody battle that day. The communist warriors fulfilled their oath to the red flag and all died heroically in the battle outside Wuyi Town!

The heroic sacrifices of Tiev, Felstov, Pavlov and other Soviet heroes (all three were posthumously awarded Heroes of the Soviet Union soon after) are not meaningless.

Their heroic fighting caused the 8th and 9th Panzergrenadier Divisions of the German Wehrmacht responsible for the offensive to lose 122 armored vehicles in one day of fighting, 38 of which were completely destroyed. The number of casualties and missing officers and soldiers was even higher. More than 1,500 people!

When the German Army Group Northern Headquarters and the General Staff received the casualty and loss figures reported by the two grenadier divisions, they were all surprised - although the German army "let the water go" in the attack on Wuyi Town, But this kind of loss was completely beyond their expectations!

However, the Germans were not the only ones who were surprised on the night of April 23. The Soviet Red Army High Command was also surprised.

They were not surprised by the bravery and tenacity displayed by their Red Army soldiers. They were surprised by the indiscriminate bombing of the German Air Force on April 22 and 23.

Of course, it is not that the Soviet Red Army has never been bombed by German aircraft. In fact, since the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, German aircraft have dropped countless bombs on the heads of the Soviet people, and the Soviets have long been accustomed to bombing them.

However, this time the German Air Force's bombing intensity on the Kalinin-Tver battlefield and the northern area of ​​Moscow Region surprised Stalin, Zhukov, Pavlov and others.

Starting during the day on April 22, the German Air Force suddenly launched unprecedented air strikes on roads and transportation hubs controlled by the Soviet army on the Kalinin-Tver battlefield.

The Do-217M bomber with a bomb load of up to 4 tons and the Ju188 (a reduced version of the Ju288) bomber with a bomb load of 3 tons went out like crazy. In two days, they made at least 3,000 sorties and dropped tens of thousands of tons of bombs. , many of which are delayed-detonation butterfly bombs.

As a result, the roads leading to Moscow from Kuvshinovo, Torzhok, Likuslavl and Andreapol were all blown up to look like the surface of the moon.

In addition, more than a dozen very important bridges were destroyed by the Germans using remotely controlled bombs.

Therefore, the withdrawal of mechanized troops planned by the Soviet high command is now difficult to carry out.

The large Soviet troops on the northern front could not be withdrawn!