The Rise of the Third Reich

"Bombardment, concealment..."

As soon as the shouts started, a sharp and piercing whistling sound came through the air. Then came Boom! boom! Boom... the ensuing explosions began to pound the ground violently, and the powerful shock wave formed a deadly wave, sweeping everything with the high-speed rotating single piece. The earth was shaking violently, as if the magma underground was about to burst out of its shell and destroy everything in the world.

Major Yakov Dzhugashvili, the artillery director of the 9th Mechanized Army, was crouching at the bottom of the wet and muddy bomb shelter in a standard Red Army soldier's posture with his head in his hands and his knees on his chest, his eyelids and His lips were tightly closed and his body was trembling slightly - he really regretted his "willfulness" now. He should be sitting in a bright and spacious office in the comfortable and safe Minsk, waiting to hear the news from the front. Good news or bad news...

But now, he is huddled in a ball, hiding in a damn mud pit, and may be blown to pieces by the imperialist enemy's artillery shells at any time!

And this scene is a bit ridiculous. The Soviet Red Army, which has always prided itself on artillery doctrine, is now being suppressed and beaten by German (and French) artillery! This round of shelling started an hour, maybe two hours ago.

Before that, the Red Army caught the Germans off guard with T-34/57 tanks, ZIS-2 anti-tank guns and 85mm anti-aircraft guns, destroying more than 100 (mostly repairable) Panzer IV tanks. The Germans then began their artillery bombardment, first with tank guns and soon joined by their rear artillery batteries. Use 150mm (155mm) and 105mm howitzers, 130mm rocket launchers, or other cannons (actually there is also a 170mm heavy cannon) to bombard endlessly!

I don’t know how long it took, but the sound of shelling like a landslide and tsunami finally turned from dense to thin. After a few more minutes, the last dull roar finally brought an end to this long-lasting and maddening shelling.

Yakov's mind was dizzy and he struggled to stand up. Mud and rocks slid down his body. Only then did he realize that the bomb shelter he was hiding in had been half buried by the mud kicked up by German artillery fire.

He raised his head and looked around. The surrounding environment had undergone earth-shaking changes. The grove has completely disappeared, leaving only some burning tree roots. Although it can block the enemy tanks, it cannot provide enough cover for the ZIS-2 anti-tank gun.

Thinking of the anti-tank gun, Yakov quickly opened his eyes and searched around, but the result made him very frustrated. After enduring almost abnormal artillery fire for an unknown number of hours, most of the 16 ZIS-2 anti-tank guns under his command disappeared, with only three remaining leaning against thick and large tree stumps (originally The ZIS-2 anti-tank gun deployed by Dashu seems to be safe and sound.

Yakov thought to himself: As long as there is one cannon, the anti-tank artillery regiment must continue to fight!

"Members of the Bolshevik Party, members of the Youth League, brave soldiers of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army..."

The shouts of the political commissar of the anti-tank artillery regiment sounded from behind Yakov. Of course Yakov is not under his control and he can turn around and run away. But he was unwilling to be a deserter. He thought how angry his father (Stalin) would be if he escaped at a critical moment! Thinking of his "loving father" being angry (actually he was even more angry if he didn't escape from Stalin), Yakov gritted his teeth and took out his telescope in the half-buried bomb shelter to start observing the battlefield.

Now that the sky has darkened, there are German or French attack planes circling in the sky, dropping a string of bombs or firing bursts of artillery from time to time. The target of the attack is the exposed T-34/57 tank!

"Liberate all mankind!"

"Ula!"

"Defend the Soviet Motherland!"

"Ula!"

"Defend the great leader Stalin!"

"Ula!"

Yakov's thoughts were interrupted by the roaring cheers. He turned his head and saw a large group of soldiers and tanks coming up from behind. This should be another batch of cannon fodder sent by Vasilevsky! The commander of the Belarusian Front didn't know what he was thinking. He knew he couldn't defeat the German army, but he still wanted to fight with the Germans...

…

"SS, honor is loyalty, move forward!"

"Wehrmacht, for Germany, move forward!"

When the bombardment ended, the German armored group, which had also received reinforcements, began to launch another round of attacks. Vasilevsky refused to give up, and Manstein would not give up the Rakov-Zaslavl campaign even more. Although the Soviet army's tenacious defense and the sharp firepower of T-34/57 and ZIS-2 caused his armored group to lose more than 100 and 200 tanks. But the total number of tanks/assault artillery owned by his 11 armored divisions exceeds 4,000, and this loss is simply a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, another characteristic of tank battles is that most of the tanks lying on the battlefield can be repaired. In other words, the winning side can repair both the broken tanks on their own side and the broken tanks on the enemy's side. So destroying a few tanks is nothing. What is really valuable is the experienced tank crew. Because the Soviet Union's 57 gun was less powerful, and the front gearbox of the No. 4 tank could be used as a shell, the losses to the German tank crew were far less than the damage to the tanks.

After receiving a large number of reinforcements, a sea of ​​German tanks once again appeared on the battlefield, and the number was greater than before. Taking advantage of the previous shelling, countless Tiger, No. 4, Rhino tank destroyers and No. 3 tanks had already formed five wedge-shaped offensive formations on the battlefield.

When the bombardment ended, thousands of tanks, assault guns and other armored vehicles had been launched, and the battlefield was filled with the roar of motors.

The tank sea of ​​the German Empire once again set off a huge wave!

…

Boom boom boom...

The artillery and tanks on the Red Army position opened fire, and the sound of the artillery was loud. The German tanks on the opposite side were immediately overwhelmed by rows of rising fireballs. The scene looked very spectacular. But Yakov, who was lying in the mud puddle, shook his head slightly. Because he knew that if the 57 gun penetrated the frontal armor of the German tank, it would be unlikely to cause such a scene. Because if the 57-gun shell exploded inside the tank, it would probably be a cloud of fireworks coming out of the hatch on the top of the tank. The scene of exploding ammunition or hitting the fuel tank (the power of the 57 gun has a low probability of producing such an effect) is much more violent. The neat rows of fireballs in front of me were probably artillery shells that exploded on the front armor steel plate of the German Tiger tank or hit the open space.

The reason for this is mainly because the firing distance is too far! The distance at which the ZIS-2 57mm anti-tank gun can penetrate the front of a Tiger tank may be only 500 meters, or it may be 300 meters. But facing the surging German tank sea offensive, how could the Soviet commander dare to put the enemy at such a close distance? Behind those Tiger tanks there are countless No. 4 tanks! Therefore, they would rather attack the tank tracks that are difficult to hit, but also try to resist the enemy from a longer distance.

But after a burst of artillery fire, the German tank group still moved forward steadily! The distance between the two sides was getting closer and closer, and the artillery fire from the Soviet side became more and more intense. Occasionally, some German tanks were hit. After moving forward a short distance with inertia, they lay motionless like dead pigs.

"It's too little, it won't work!"

Yakov was watching from behind and was anxious before he hit these tanks. For the huge sea of ​​German tanks, he barely scratched his skin.

At this moment, the German armored group suddenly experienced some confusion, and its advance slowed down. It turned out that the Tiger tanks rushing at the front and the Rhino tank destroyers behind them stopped advancing - just 1,000 meters away from the Soviet front line. They will act as forts, bombarding them with 88mm guns, covering the Type 4 H tanks and Panzer Grenadier attacks.

The brutal battle went on as scheduled. Anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns, tanks, red iron fists, cluster grenades, explosive packs and R flasks. All weapons that could be used to resist tanks were used by GC communist fighters to block the Nazi tank clusters. Got it.

However, there was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides. Even when the Red Army soldiers sacrificed their lives, they still could not prevent the German tanks from breaking through their first and second trenches. The firepower of the German Panzergrenadiers that followed was equally overwhelming. . Most of them are equipped with Mkb-42 automatic carbines, and their individual firepower is comparable to that of a Soviet infantry squad! It was simply not something that the Red Army soldiers holding Mosin-Nagant rifles with bayonets could resist.

The last three ZIS-2 anti-tank guns in the hands of Yakov Dzhugashvili, the artillery director, had also been destroyed by German tanks at this time. Seeing several No. 4 tanks roaring forward while spitting flames (machine guns), leading a group of German soldiers wearing large-ear helmets to rush towards the scene.

Everyone started to run away, and Yakov became confused and followed everyone to run away from the gun. He lowered his head and bowed his waist, and ran forward closely behind several soldiers of the 9th Motorized Anti-Tank Artillery Regiment. Occasionally, I turned around and saw several No. 4 tanks still chasing after me. Several brave Red Army soldiers rushed out from nowhere with grenades, but were quickly killed by German infantrymen with automatic carbines and became glorious revolutionary martyrs.

"I should also devote myself to the cause of communism like them!" Yakov Dzhugashvili thought in his heart, but the pace of escape never slowed down, but the German tanks ran faster, and the tanks on both sides ran faster. The distance is getting closer...

Yakov, for the cause of human liberation and Comrade Stalin’s Moscow residence permit, run quickly!