Chapter 1007 Father, We Have Tried Our Best.

May 1, 1944. Amidst the distant rumbles, there was a tense and busy atmosphere everywhere around the small town of Klin on the Red October Railway. The brigade of Red Army infantry, the towed A-19 cannon, ZIS-2 anti-tank gun and ZIS-3 cannon, as well as the SU-57 tank destroyer with a low body and a slender barrel, when night fell, It rumbled from somewhere outside the city.

Looking at the high morale of these officers and soldiers and their well-equipped equipment, you can tell that they are not reserve front troops who have been fighting hard for many days, but new troops coming from Moscow.

By April 30, the Reserve Front Army commanded by Marshal Konev had completed all blocking tasks, and its troop strength had dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 250,000.

In the 10 days of hard fighting, at least 250,000 soldiers died or were seriously injured...or betrayed the communist cause and became prisoners!

Moreover, most of the heavy equipment of the reserve front army was lost in the 10 days of hard fighting. At this level of fighting, the reserve front army was considered disabled. So on the night of April 30, the Red Army High Command gave Marshal Konev an order to evacuate the battlefield and go to Vladimir Oblast to rest and recuperate.

A large number of new soldiers recruited from the East and weapons and equipment produced in the Ural Industrial Zone or shipped through the "lifeline" of the North Pacific are waiting to be received by the reserve front army in the ancient city of Vladimir.

According to the plan, Konev's front army has 2 months to expand, reorganize and train. It will transform from a heavy force to a relatively light force.

The SU-57 tank destroyer, the American M1 57mm anti-tank gun, and the ZIS-3 71 howitzer will become heavy weapons in the hands of the units of the Reserve Front Army. At the same time, the number of trucks and cars will be greatly reduced, and they will be replaced by carriages and draft horses. In other words, in the future, the three armies of the reserve front army will regress from motorized troops to "draft horse" troops.

Such retrogression is, of course, an attempt to adapt to the increasingly severe situation. As the Soviet Union's industrial strength declined due to the defeat of the war, it no longer had the ability to supply a large number of heavy-duty troops.

Therefore, the comprehensive lightweight reform will be launched after the victory of the first battle of Moscow. Although the Red Army High Command is relatively optimistic about the battle in front of them, they do not believe that they can drive the European coalition forces from the city of Moscow very far. Far.

Therefore, there will be a second, third, or even fourth Battle of Moscow in the future...

Instead of the Reserve Front Army deploying defenses along the Klini and Red October Railways (the section from Kalinin City to Moscow), the ones that came out of Moscow were commanded by General Nikolai Ivanovich Krylov. The 62nd Army of the Soviet Red Army.

In this time and space, the 62nd Army was a force established to defend Moscow. There was no corps-level command organization under the Army, but it directly controlled the 87th, 98th, 112th, 131st, 196th, 229th, 244th, 315th, and 399th Infantry units. Waiting for 9 divisions, as well as the 23rd Independent Tank Destroyer Regiment (equipped with US-aided M10 tank destroyers) and the 20th Tank Destroyer Brigade (equipped with Soviet-made SU-57 tank destroyers). With a total strength of 130,000, it is a typical "heavy" infantry group army.

However, because the main mission of this army group is to defend the city, it does not have many vehicles, so it has no mobility capabilities. The heavy artillery of the group army were all dragged out of Moscow by the automobile regiment directly under the Central Front Army and placed in preset artillery fire positions east of the Red October Railway line - along the Red October Railway between Moscow and Kalinin. Of course, it was the focus of the Soviets to build fortifications. They built large triangular heavy artillery pits and armor-proof trenches on the east side of the Red October Railway Line. There were also simple roads connecting each heavy artillery pit, which could be towed by draft horses. Pull the artillery and transfer in a short time.

In addition, in order to prevent attacks from the air. Near these heavy artillery pits, the Soviets also built a large number of semi-permanent anti-aircraft artillery/high-aircraft firepower points. These firepower, combined with the clever arrangement of anti-armor trenches, can not only deal with enemies from the air, but can also be used to attack infantry and lightly armored targets. They can be called the patron saint of heavy artillery.

It consists of barbed wire, anti-tank trenches, anti-tank mines, anti-infantry mines, infantry trenches, various carefully dug firepower positions, semi-permanent fortress defenses and camouflaged roads (that is, using a large number of ropes or wires to tie down the trees on both sides of the road) The defense system consisting of standing up and then placing branches on ropes or wires to cover the road) was lined up along the west side of the Red October Railway line, blocking the path of the German 48th Armored Corps.

In the early morning of May 1, just as the Soviet 62nd Army had just completed its takeover of the Western Front positions of the Red October Railway, the bombs and rockets dropped by the Luftwaffe passed over their defensive positions like wind. In an instant, high and low plumes of smoke shot straight into the sky above the Soviet front line. The intensity of this air strike was greater than any air strike the Soviet army had ever experienced. Not only did it dispatch a large number of Fw-190F/G, Hs-129 and French Br.720 attacks that can accurately hit ground targets aircraft and fighter-bombers, as well as hundreds of Do217 and Ju188 sorties, dropping thousands of tons of bombs and white phosphorus incendiary bombs. Suddenly the Soviet position turned into a sea of ​​fire!

The Soviet army also responded promptly. Antiaircraft guns and antiaircraft machine guns of various calibers reacted almost immediately and began to fire fiercely into the air. However, the German air raid was so fierce, and the Hs-129 attack aircraft and Br.720 attack aircraft (a derivative of the French Br.690) were so sturdy that they could shuttle through the fire net fired by the 12.7mm DShK antiaircraft machine gun and 25mm antiaircraft gun, while also firing a string of rockets and even 50mm shells. Blood and flesh flew all over the exposed antiaircraft gun/antiaircraft machine positions of the Soviet army. The officers and soldiers of the Soviet 62nd Army were surprised to find that under the overwhelming air superiority of Germany, not only the mobilization and attack of the troops during the day became very dangerous, but even the defense of the positions during the day became extremely difficult.

The Soviet front line was constantly trembling! The German self-propelled artillery and self-propelled rocket launchers also joined the chorus of ground-to-air firepower. However, their targets were not the Soviet trenches and firing points, but the minefields, barbed wire, and various traps and obstacles at the front of the anti-tank trenches - this shows that the German armored cluster assault will soon begin!

The Soviet artillery counterattack began soon. Although their artillery reconnaissance units could not observe by aircraft, they still calculated the approximate position of the German artillery group through sound measurement. The 122mm, 152mm howitzers and Katyusha rocket launchers deployed on the east side of the Red October Railway began to roar back.

However, the position of the German artillery group calculated by sound measurement alone was not accurate, and most of the German artillery/rocket launchers that were firing now were "hard targets" with armor, and they could maneuver quickly, which could not be effectively destroyed by howitzers.

Therefore, the Soviet artillery counterattack could only lead to the bombardment of German aircraft, and the threat to the German artillery group was almost non-existent.

Amid the hail of bullets, Soviet infantry and artillery observers hiding in several observation posts on the Vysokovsk front suddenly discovered that smoke and dust were rising in front of them.

This was undoubtedly the armored group gathering and forming a formation, and the position they were defending was about to be attacked by the German armored group!

Just over ten minutes later, the conjecture was confirmed. Hundreds of armored vehicles with camouflage paint with a yellowish-brown base suddenly appeared in their sight.

From the appearance of these vehicles, they were the "Grizzly" assault guns and Tiger tanks specially used to break through the Soviet positions!

"In front of the Vysokovsk Front, in front of the 229th Infantry Division, a German armored assault group appeared in Area 3, with more than 100 Tiger tanks and Grizzly assault guns, and is attacking our positions!"

The headquarters of the Soviet 62nd Army quickly responded to the report from the front line, and the SU-57 tank destroyers hidden in the bunkers immediately went out along the camouflaged road to reinforce the positions of the 229th Infantry Division that were about to be attacked by the Germans.

Major Schwarzenegger's half-track armored command vehicle also drove out of the starting position with more than 40 Cheetah tank destroyers under his command. These "Cheetahs" are the most dangerous armored killers in the world today, no doubt about it!

Because their 105mmL/68 artillery can easily destroy any known armored vehicle at a safe distance of 2000-3000 meters - including themselves!

Therefore, the heavy tank destroyer battalions equipped with "Cheetahs" (all with numbers starting with 600) are the trump cards that hold the line in the current German camp, and are usually affiliated with the army group. In armored assault operations, they will not lead the way, but hide in the rear and use "black guns" to deal with opponents 2,000 meters away.

However, in today's operations, no one thinks that the "Cheetahs" will encounter Soviet JS-2 tanks that need their 105mm cannons to deal with. Therefore, Major Schwarzenegger's 605th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion was used as a self-propelled artillery unit. All the "Cheetahs" only carried 10 armor-piercing shells, and the remaining 35 shells (the "Cheetahs" in this time and space are 10 tons heavier than the "Cheetahs" in another time and space, but they only carry 45 rounds) are all powerful high-explosive and anti-tank shells (used to attack bunkers)!