Steel Soviet Union

When Malashenko felt a sharp tingling sensation in his palm, he gently released his right hand that was full of loose soil, and metal fragments that were still warm and soaked with traces of smoke and flames appeared in front of him.

"One, two, three, four, five, five, there are five in a handful of soil."

The metal fragments that appeared in Malashenko's hands at this moment were none other than the shrapnel remains left behind after an hour-long violent shelling of the German second defensive position by the Soviet 24th Army.

Generally speaking, the amount of shrapnel debris left behind at the bombarded target location after a shelling can be used as a basis to roughly calculate how dense the firepower was when the shelling fell.

Before traveling through time and coming to the present-day Soviet-German battlefield, Lin Jie, who was Chinese in his previous life, once heard his father, a scout who had been on the battlefield and fought in the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam, talk about some monkeys in Vietnam. Actual combat experience in combat.

The story took place during the People's Liberation Army's attack on Lang Son, Vietnam.

The People's Liberation Army, which acted as the attacker in this battle, carried out corps-level artillery preparations against the Vietnamese troops entrenched in the city before launching the attack. The density of its firepower projection was unprecedented and huge at the time.

The People's Liberation Army artillery, which was inherited from the Soviet Red Army, assembled more than 300 military and divisional heavy artillery of various types, including 122 and 152 calibers. The ferocious artillery fire rained down almost continuously all day long, entrenched in the city. The Vietnamese army was suddenly shrouded in hell-like shelling along with this miserable city.

When the preparations for the bombardment were basically over, Lin Jie's father, who was serving as a scout, led his sharp knife platoon to attack and approached the edge of the city to detect the enemy's situation. He felt floating in the air under his feet, as if he were stepping on a pile of glass slag. Lin Jie's ordinary father immediately bent down and stretched out his hand to explore.

"A handful of soil, half a handful of shell skins. Vietnamese monkeys, not to mention humans, even the cattle raised by farmers were bombed and their bones were flying."

Recalling his father's words describing the scene after the shelling in his mind, Lin Jie couldn't help but sigh as the loose soil seeped through his fingers and he gently rubbed a few pieces of shell shrapnel in his hand.

"He is truly a disciple brought out by his master. He follows the same "artillery doctrine" line every time he fights. It's just that this handful of dirt is more than half a handful of cannonball skins. Dad, the shelling the Germans have suffered is comparable to that of Vietnamese monkeys. The beatings became more severe."

Throwing away the few warm shell fragments in his hand, he walked left and right on the captured position that was full of craters of different sizes like the surface of the moon.

Malashenko, who planned to replenish fuel and ammunition for his first heavy tank breakthrough battalion as soon as possible, soon saw Captain Karamov driving towards him with the logistics support troops in the cab of the gas truck. The waving figure.

In the headquarters of the Soviet Army Reserve Front, the commander General Zhukov, who had just won a staged victory in the battle outside Yelniya City, was discussing with a group of staff officers and headquarters personnel around him.

"The 24th Army under the command of Major General Rakutin is progressing smoothly. The two German infantry divisions in the northeastern offensive direction on the outskirts of Yelniya City have all been defeated and fled into the city."

"The field defense positions of the two German armies have all been occupied by the 24th Group Army. Some of the German rearguard units who resisted stubbornly chose to surrender after having no hope of breaking through. Major General Rakutin is commanding the troops to count the results of the battle, count the seized materials, count the number of prisoners, and Treatment of the injured is also being carried out simultaneously.”

"The losses of the 24th Group Army are still within the predicted and acceptable range, and the second phase of the surprise attack on the main city of Yelniya City can be launched at any time."

The simultaneous progress of the two main offensive forces of the 24th and 43rd Army was going smoothly, which undoubtedly gave Zhukov great confidence and encouragement.

After hearing this, Zhukov immediately rolled up his sleeves and raised his hand to glance at the time on his watch. Naturally, the remaining time that had not yet completely passed during the day would not be wasted by Zhukov.

"Those Germans have just been forced back into the city by us. It is foreseeable that they will not have much preparation time and energy to lay out deep defense lines in the city and make careful deployment arrangements for urban warfare."

"Continue to launch the second phase of the siege before the Germans completely gain a foothold in our city! Telegraph the headquarters of the two army groups to complete the roundabout rendezvous in accordance with the scheduled combat plan before evening and cut off the German Army Group Center To connect with the troops stationed in the Yelnya theater on land, we should try to eat up the German regiments in this salient if possible. "

Zhukov, who was showing off his skills in the Yelnya Bulge, a stage personally designated by Stalin, had great ambitions.

Stalin's order to Zhukov was to recapture the city of Yelnya and erase the salient that was occupied by the Germans facing Moscow. However, Zhukov himself had a much bigger plan than Stalin's order. .

If possible, Zhukov hoped that the reserve front army he personally commanded could completely eat up the entire German army in the Yelniya salient in one go - a total of 7 infantry divisions with a total of more than 80,000 people.

Judging from the Soviet army's steady retreat in the overall strategic situation in 1941, Zhukov's current plan is ambitious at best, and even overestimating its capabilities at worst.

After all, it is really difficult to surround and eat an entire German field regiment while the German army is singing triumphantly, even under the current situation of great offensive momentum.

But no matter how you say it, from the perspective of future generations, Zhukov, who has the aura of the Red Army God of War on his head, can definitely be regarded as a famous general whose vision matches his own ability, and he is not the kind of person who only talks about bragging.

Although there was little hope for this seemingly audacious and actually somewhat fanciful final combat goal, the Chief of Staff of the Front Army, who had fully experienced the fiery temper of Zhukov, Stalin's favorite general, did not say anything in return. , after all, when the current offensive situation is very good, if you talk against the wind, it may shake the morale of the army.

"I support your views and combat deployment, Comrade Commander. Previously, the siege troops of the Western Front once invaded the city of Yelniya in the first phase of the battle, but due to the German Wehrmacht's Grossdeutsche Infantry Regiment, The tenacious resistance ultimately failed to achieve the combat goal. I am worried that the German troops who have been driven into the city by us are likely to repeat their same tactics again. "