Iron Cross

Chapter 127 Castle (10) At 4:35 am on May 25, 1943, at the command post in Smolensk, Hoffman confidently issued the order to officially launch the "Castle" campaign, which was of course symbolic. Prior to this, detailed orders had already been conveyed to every commander of the troops carrying out the mission. This is a sunny day, and the frontline airports are experiencing the most crowded and busy moments. Amidst the thunderous roar, bombers take off first and form formations, then wait for escort fighters to depart together. In order to increase their strike power, the Bf-219 and Fw-190A, which have become the backbone fighters of the Eastern Front, have both dropped bombs. At 5:17, under the bright light of dawn, the first batch of aviation units dropped bombs around the target. The carefully arranged anti tank positions, permanent or semi permanent defense works, places with numerous antennas that looked like command centers, artillery positions, especially anti-aircraft gun positions, were all covered and hit, with the most important being all the field airfields deployed by the enemy within 200 kilometers of Tambov. To achieve a good offensive effect, the air raids mainly used two types of bombers, Ju-188 and He-218. The former mainly used to drop incendiary bombs, while the latter mainly used to drop 250 kilogram bombs. The once popular and dominant Stuka was almost never seen again, replaced by the lightweight swan He-218. The newly commissioned Ju-188 also had better performance than the original Ju-88. With the guarantee of Middle Eastern oil, the German army can finally indulge in the tactic of incendiary bombs. Their destructive effect on soft targets is better, and they can also use their arson characteristics to form secondary damage. More importantly, the burning flames and smoke can also indicate the direction of subsequent shelling, which can be said to be a win-win situation. Although the Red Army's ground air defense firepower tried its best to counterattack, it was still to no avail. Except for a few unlucky planes that were shot down by ground air defense firepower, most of the positions that were prepared to be destroyed based on recent aerial photography were hit. The poor Red Army Air Force's 15th Group Army had not enough planes in the past, and under the fierce German air raids, nearly 200 planes were destroyed in airports and warehouses. At 5:30, the German army began shelling, and large caliber artillery landed on the enemy's position with overwhelming force. The dust and smoke it stirred up covered the entire sky, so that although the sky was brightening, it seemed to be getting darker and darker. Only the continuous flashes and rumbling sounds that pierced the sky made people realize that they were originally on the battlefield. The fierce firepower of simultaneous explosions in the air and on the ground almost melted the Red Army positions into a steel storm. To ensure the suddenness of the attack, Model made many adjustments and feints: firstly, he insisted on setting the command center in Smolensk - the telegraph signals in the command center could not be concealed and would definitely be very dense, but placing them in the west of Moscow instead of near Voronezh had a clear confusing effect;The second is to have Weix's Eastern Army Group launch an attack, and the combat order given to them was on May 27th. Except for a very small number of people, all the troops of the Eastern Army Group thought this was a real order - planned, supplied, scheduled, and assigned combat areas. However, they were unaware that they would receive a supplementary order to "postpone the plan" later on May 26th. Model believed that the spies lurking here would try their best to send out the "intelligence";The third is to keep the Voronezh direction on hold and refrain from any actions that may cause misunderstandings or alertness, including mine clearance and pre war surveys. In order to prevent the German armored cluster from attacking, the Red Army planted a large number of anti tank mines on the front lines, with varying densities. Once German tanks accidentally entered the minefield and were trapped, precise strikes could be carried out in conjunction with the anti tank positions. Therefore, in previous battles, engineers were usually sent to clear the mines in advance in order to provide a passage for the attacking troops as much as possible and reduce tank losses. This type of mine clearance operation is difficult to achieve complete concealment, and the Red Army on the opposite side often checks the burial of landmines and determines where the German attack direction is. But this time, Model decided to break through with his equipment and not carry out mine clearance before the war. His confidence came from the hundreds of mine clearing vehicles. The German military industry has been pondering the use of machines for mine clearance to improve efficiency. At first, they created the Goliath - a small miniature tank with high explosive charges inside. Once it hits a mine, it will explode, causing all landmines within 50 meters to be detonated. The suicide weapon Goliath initially used a wire controlled and electric motor, but due to the difficulty of control technology, it was later changed to a gasoline engine. Although the whole thing looks quite fun and the price is not expensive, only about 1000 marks per vehicle, which can still give soldiers some fun during leisure time, Hoffman thinks its efficiency is too low and its speed is slow, and demands the development of better equipment. Then, the military department greatly improved the Sdkfz301 B IVa/b heavy-duty remote-controlled blasting vehicle - Graben Wolf. Although the mine clearance efficiency of this thing has doubled compared to Goliath, it is still very troublesome - because it still relies on dropping explosives to detonate landmines. Finally, Hoffman issued clear instructions that due to the poor effectiveness of the blasting vehicle, the front line would send the combat engineers mine clearing vehicles modified from service tanks - vehicles modified from the captured and poorly performing T-34s. Inspired by the talent of "universal transformation", the T-34, which had its turret removed, was transformed into a roaring mine clearing vehicle. The front of the vehicle usually has 2-3 minesweepers moving slowly forward, and a steel plate resembling a crane arm is erected in the middle where the turret was originally placed. Under the control of engineers, it continuously hits the land on both sides of the tank to detonate various landmines. A mine clearing vehicle can usually extend a path of 8-10 meters around it, with a clearance speed twice that of Goliath, at least 12 kilometers per hour. When the front wheels are almost destroyed, these tanks will directly use their bodies to wade through landmines until both tracks are completely destroyed and unable to move, and then the engineers can abandon the vehicles and prepare to retreat. If the T-34 specialized mine clearing vehicles are not enough, the captured Shermans, who have been converted into service tanks, will continue to charge forward and use their bodies to continue the mine clearing business. In addition to the T-34 being able to enjoy this honor, those captured tanks, such as the M3 tank known for its Six Brothers Coffin, the Stuart tank captured from the Soviet Union, and light tanks such as the BT/T-26, have all tried to modify them. In the end, it was found that the T-34 was the most useful - it has strong carrying capacity, good maneuverability, and acceptable levels of malfunctions. Its defense is not bad, and even if it encounters anti tank mines, it will not pose a danger to the fleet, at most it will be unable to move. Sherman's performance was equally impressive, but where could their seizures match the large quantity of T-34? In order to quickly open the attack channel, Model arranged a total of 200 mine clearing tanks for the front line and told the combat engineers below not to worry about these things. Even if they hit a landmine, they won't explode. As long as they can control the battlefield, clean it up and recover it for repair, they can still be used. Such a spectacular mine clearing method is unheard of. As the minesweepers line up and rumble forward, Colonel Fritz Beck, the commander of the 6th Tank Regiment of the 3rd Armored Division, who was observing from a distance, couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect us to be so wealthy now and use tanks to clear mines Yeah, what's even harder to imagine is building infantry fighting vehicles instead of tanks or anti tank destroyers. Oh, isn't that a dream? "Lieutenant Colonel Otto Zorenkov, the commander of the 1st Battalion next to him, was also deeply moved. After the successful development and mass production of the assault tank destroyer equipped with an 88mm gun, the production of the Hunter tank destroyer modified with a 38T chassis gradually stopped. In addition to continuing to use this chassis to transform into cricket self-propelled artillery, the military industry also began to build the Rhinoceros infantry fighting vehicle under the direct intervention of the F ü hrer. This is a draft drawn by Hoffman based on the BMP infantry fighting vehicle, which was modified to adapt to the 38T chassis when it became a reality. The modified infantry fighting vehicle is 4. 9 meters long, 2. 2 meters wide, and weighs approximately 11 tons. When equipped with an improved 140 horsepower engine, it can reach a maximum speed of 45 kilometers per hour. A standard infantry fighting vehicle can accommodate 10 people (2+8), and there are 8 fully armed soldiers in the passenger compartment, with 4 people on each side, sitting back-to-back. There are 4 hatch covers on the top of the passenger compartment, and 4 perforations on each side of the vehicle. Personnel can enter and exit through the double doors at the back of the vehicle, and can quickly deploy when encountering enemy situations. According to the application concept, this tank will be assigned to the Armored Grenadier Corps in the armored division, with exactly one tank per shift. Although the number of personnel in the organization is 2 fewer than the standard 12, its power is much stronger than that of the Sdk251 or 250 semi tracked infantry transport vehicles. Not only is it designed with full tracks for better off-road performance, but its firepower has also been greatly increased. In addition to a 7. 92mm MG42 general-purpose machine gun, it is also equipped with a 20mm machine gun. In some designated fire support units (1 per row), this 20mm machine gun has been replaced with a 75mm recoilless gun - fixed to the vehicle body when moving, and can be easily removed once entering the position. Equipped with infantry weapons, there is no spare capacity. The newly renovated 10 person team consists of a combination of 4 STG43 and 6 G43 rifles, which have vastly different firepower compared to the previous K98 rifle. However, due to time constraints and production capacity limitations, the number of new infantry fighting vehicles was limited, with only over 600 completed in time. Only elite units such as the 3rd Armored Division, which were among the first to complete the reorganization, were eligible for this honor. Even so, only two infantry fighting vehicle battalions were equipped in each of the two grenadier battalions, while the other battalions still carried the 12 person Sdk251 squad. For the sake of distinction, the armored assault grenadier was forcibly given the eerie name of armored assault grenadier in the armored grenadier sequence - they will be the first infantry to cooperate with armored battalions in combat. Sir, the minefield has been cleared Baker nodded at the school and directed the command at the communicator, "Strike the whole team