Chapter 694: The Great Siege - War Thunder

"Rocket launcher! Take cover!"

Someone suddenly shouted. Major Gustav Schwarzenegger, who was standing next to a half-track armored command vehicle, reacted quickly. He fell to the ground and rolled over again, moving his body next to the tracks of the half-track vehicle, protecting his head with both hands. At this moment, a sharp "whoosh" and a violent roar came one after another. Schwarzenegger, who was lying next to the half-track vehicle, felt a hot storm passing over his back.

He knew that a Soviet rocket had just exploded near him. If he had not lied down next to a sturdy half-track vehicle in time, he would probably have gone to see God now.

The bombardment of the Soviet rocket launcher came quickly and went quickly. After a loud noise that was so fierce that people thought it was the end of the world, the battlefield filled with choking smoke and hot air suddenly became unusually quiet.

Major Schwarzenegger, who had seen rocket salvos many times on the battlefield in Warsaw, ignored the buzzing in his ears, pushed the ground with both hands, and climbed up from the grass.

He looked around, and the first thing he saw was six huge "Rhino" tank destroyers, all intact. Because the "Rhino" in this time and space has a top armor plate, which is only 10mm thick, but it is enough to defend against rocket fragments. Unless it is directly hit or the rocket explodes at a very close distance and overturns the vehicle, it will not cause much damage.

Then he saw that the 19 Type 4H tanks covered with camouflage nets on both wings were also safe and sound. His battle group originally had 22 Type 4H tanks, but now 3 are under repair, and only 19 can be driven. If the 6 intact "Rhino" coolie guns are counted, the intact rate of the main combat vehicles is close to 90%. Such a high equipment integrity rate, on the one hand, shows that the technology of Germany's Type 4 series tanks is mature and of good quality; on the other hand, it also shows that the intensity of the battle in the past few days is extremely low - this shows that the Soviet Red Army deliberately placed the German army near Minsk.

Perhaps the real battle has just begun!

"Check the equipment and prepare for battle!" Major Schwarzenegger shouted immediately. He knew that after the bombardment, there must be an attack by tanks and infantry.

But at this moment, the shrill and gentle whimper of the hand-cranked air defense alarm sounded!

Although the Soviet Red Air Force lost most of its air superiority, they did not disappear. In fact, the Soviets replenished fighter pilots much faster than their opponents - after all, in the past many years, the Soviet Union has always attached great importance to the construction of air force reserve forces, and they also have enough fuel for Soviet citizens who love flying and are politically reliable to learn to fly airplanes.

In order to save fuel, the German side trained far fewer reserve pilots than the Soviet Union. And the overly serious and rigorous temperament made the training of air force and naval aviation pilots slower. So now the German Air Force and Naval Aviation are still at a disadvantage compared to the Soviet Union in terms of quantity, but they have an overwhelming advantage in quality.

A team of dark green fighters flying at low altitude appeared in sight. Major Schwarzenegger raised his binoculars and tried to identify whether they were Il-2 attack aircraft or other types of fighters. At this moment, someone beside him suddenly cheered loudly. Schwarzenegger turned his head and saw 12 light green painted aircraft flying from the north. They looked light and agile, flying very fast at low altitude, and in a blink of an eye they passed over the position of Schwarzenegger's battle group.

Gustav Schwarzenegger recognized at a glance that these aircraft were Fokker Zeros, a type of fighter that has been very reliable in the air to cover the German ground forces since the outbreak of the war.

Any experienced German army officer knows that as long as the Fokker Zero appears at low altitude, the enemy's attack aircraft and bombers will have little chance to drop bombs on their heads.

Amid the cheers of the SS soldiers, the 12 Fokker Zeros were divided into 6 double-plane formations and rushed towards the Soviet fleet, and the first to make the sound of "da da da" machine guns. The Soviet planes that were originally flying in formation seemed to be stunned by the sudden attack, and two fighter planes that seemed to be Il-2s fell headfirst with thick smoke. It was not known whether it was intentional or accidental, but one of the two Soviet planes actually rushed towards the position of the Schwarzenegger group, and in the blink of an eye it fell next to a 38t self-propelled anti-aircraft gun that was firing, and exploded. The anti-aircraft gun that was transformed from the chassis of the obsolete 38t tank was immediately submerged in the sea of ​​fire.

"Another Bolshevik madman!" Gustav Schwarzenegger knew that the collision was mostly intentional, and he had seen many such things on the battlefield in Warsaw. There were many fighters in the Bolshevik Air Force who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the ideals of GCism.

"Prepare for battle!" Schwarzenegger no longer paid attention to the battle in the sky. He knew that the Fokker Zero was very reliable at low altitude, and even the American P51 was no match for it. At mid- and high-altitude altitudes, there must be Fw-190s lying in ambush. The sky above the battlefield today must belong to the German Air Force!

"Rhino, fire at 2,000 meters!" Major Schwarzenegger continued to give orders, "No. 4, fire at 1,000 meters!"

The gun equipped on the "Rhino" tank destroyer is the same as that on the Tiger tank. When using high-speed armor-piercing projectiles (tungsten alloy core), it can penetrate a 110mm homogeneous steel plate placed at a 30-degree angle at a distance of 2,000 meters. Theoretically, it can penetrate the frontal armor of the current T-34 and KV-1! Moreover, the hit rate of this gun is extremely high. A well-trained crew can hit 80% of the time at a distance of 2,000 meters (hit rate during training), so for the "Rhino", 2,000 meters is a suitable firing distance.

The 75mm L/48 tank gun used by the No. 4 H type is much less powerful. Using high-speed armor-piercing projectiles at a distance of 1,000 meters is not a big problem for the opponent's T-34, but it is a bit difficult to hit the KV tank.

When giving the order, Major Schwarzenegger's palms were sweating. He was commanding a reinforced battalion-level battle group, and he could only use 19 Type 4 and 6 "Rhinos". If he really encountered the Soviet tank sea, he would be in danger!

The dangerous battle was staged as scheduled! The first wave of the rush was a cluster of dozens of T-34/57 and large KV-1 tanks, followed by countless infantry.

Because the Schwarzenegger group was on the right wing of the German army's six armored battle groups, it was the first to be attacked by the Soviet army commanded by Vatutin. Although only a tank brigade, two cavalry brigades and a rocket artillery battalion of the Soviet Army's 1st Assault Army arrived at the battlefield, and they were bombed several times by the French Breguet aircraft on the way, the intact rate of the vehicles was less than 60%. But it was still much stronger than the Schwarzenegger group!

Lieutenant General Vatutin also knew that the German follow-up troops were coming in an endless stream, and the counterattack must be short and powerful. Therefore, he invested half of his tanks and 3,000 dismounted cavalrymen in the first wave of attack.

Seeing the Soviet tanks and soldiers approaching step by step, Major Schwarzenegger also became a little nervous. Just looking at the scale of the Soviet army's first wave of attack, he knew that this was likely to be the beginning of a decisive battle.

There should be many more tanks and Soviet soldiers behind, right? Major Gustav Schwarzenegger suddenly felt an inexplicable sorrow: such a battle might continue for a long time...even for many years.

Having fought hard with the Soviet army in Warsaw, he knew very well that the Soviet Red Army was not an enemy that could be easily defeated!

"Boom! Boom! Boom..."

At this moment, the 88mm guns of 6 Rhino anti-tank destroyers began to roar, and the collision of the Soviet and German tank seas had begun!

...

"Sir, the vanguard of the 5th SS Panzer Division and the vanguard of the Soviet tank cluster have engaged in a fierce battle." Tippelskirch, commander of the Northern Army Group, reported the news he had just received to Manstein.

"The vanguard troops fought very fiercely?"

"Yes, it seems that the Soviet army is very determined to fight back." Tipelskirch said, "As long as we can achieve an overwhelming victory in this tank cluster battle, it is not impossible to capture Minsk."

"It can't be captured," Manstein shook his head, "various intelligence shows that the Soviet army is preparing to hold Minsk for a long time. Even if they are defeated in the tank battle, they still have enough strength to retreat to Minsk. After all, the battle area is very close to Minsk, and the defeated Soviet army can quickly run into Minsk."

Because of the experience of the Battle of Warsaw and the Battle of Lviv, both sides now know that it is difficult to conquer a strong city. So Manstein believes that the probability of the Soviet army abandoning the strong city of Minsk is almost zero.

"But I don't want Minsk either. What's so good about Minsk? It's just a medium-sized industrial city, and it's not worth our casualties of hundreds of thousands to hundreds of thousands of people to attack it."

Strongly attacking a strong city was an unsolvable problem during World War II. Even with the B-4 demolition gun, a strong attack would still result in heavy casualties. Therefore, there is almost no plan to storm the city in the "Blue Plan". For the large cities heavily defended by the Red Army, the Red Army basically adopts siege tactics and uses starvation to force the defenders to surrender.

Therefore, in the plan that Manstein is currently implementing, the first thing to seek is a field battle outside Minsk. After defeating the Soviet tank cluster, if the Soviet army is unwilling to abandon Minsk, then the German Army Group North will adopt encirclement tactics to besiege the Minsk defenders and cut off the main transportation lines between the defenders of Warsaw and Brest and the rear.