At eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, the soldiers of the 21st Armored Division were woken up one by one... They should have to use whistles, but the 21st Armored Division's operation tried to keep a low profile, although the sound of the tank engine could not be concealed.

After twenty minutes of preparation, the tank troops of the armored division set out under the guidance of the fluorescent lamp of the front engineer.

The troops first drove westward in the darkness, then went northward. After five hours of march, they arrived at the pre-determined area, the defense area of ​​the 297th Infantry Division, at 4 a.m.

Here, the 297th Infantry Division has made some preparations for the arrival of the 21st Armored Division in advance, such as paving a road that can be passed by tanks to directly reach their positions... The road that can be passed by tanks and the road that can be passed by cars is very different in terms of requirements, which is determined by how many times the tanks are heavier than cars.

Of course, there is more than that preparation work. The German army also made some strategic deceptions to the Soviet army before this.

The first is the shelling and attack on the Soviet front line of defense.

The main attack direction is of course the two armored divisions on the right wing.

When the Soviet army was responding nervously, gunfire suddenly broke out in the area of ​​the Don River defense line on the flank, and many fighter jets even used flares to bomb Karachi Port.

Lieutenant General Lopatin was shocked when he saw this situation, because he once suspected that the Germans would cross from the flank, that is, the Don River, because he had already reconnaissed that the main force of the German 6th Army was gathering on the other side of the Don River.

"The attack in the south is the enemy's strategic deception!" Lieutenant General Lopatin made this judgment immediately: "Their attack in the direction of the Don River is the real one!"

"Comrade Lopatin!" Political Commissar Schumiez looked at the time and expressed doubts: "It's four o'clock in the morning, and it's still an hour before dawn. It seems that the Germans launched a forced war at this time!"

Schumiez said rightly, the most suitable way to cross the river is at night. If it is during the day, the German ships used to cross the river will undoubtedly be visible on the wide river surface. On the other hand, the quality of German soldiers is generally high. They will mix through some small troops in advance through tactics such as armed swimming and other tactics to penetrate into the German coastal defense forces. The Soviet army with poor quality is prone to chaos under this tactic, which makes the German army have a clearance.

The Soviet army had already suffered losses in the battle to cross the river in the lower reaches of the Don River.

"They may think they can successfully cross the river in an hour!" Lopatin replied: "We cannot be negligent, and the Germans will always be unexpected!"

Lopatin is right about this. The German tactics are ever-changing, and compared with that of the Soviet tactics, the Soviet tactics seem dull and single.

But what Lopatin didn't expect was that he was once again deceived by the German army's "changing" tactics.

At the first time, Lopatin transferred the 169th Tank Brigade, which was originally deployed on the southern defense line, to the direction of Karachi... This was the only Soviet army that could block the 21st Armored Division of the German Army on the bank of the Don River.

At 4:45 a.m., the sun slowly rose from the east.

The sunrise time is calculated, which is why the Germans set the attack time at 5 a.m.

For the Germans, they had air supremacy, and if they attacked the enemy's defense line with the advantage of armored forces on the left, it would be more suitable for daytime.

On the other hand, the Soviet army could not find that the German army had a large number of armored troops transferred to the left wing and made them prepare.

Therefore, the most suitable attack time is when the dawn is bright.

With a few loud noises, a few red signal flares rose into the sky, and there was a loud noise of artillery. More than ten bombers and reconnaissance planes also flew over the 21st armor and roaring towards the Soviet army... Bombers were used to bomb artillery or tanks that might exist in the Soviet army. On the one hand, the reconnaissance planes were more correct for artillery trajectory, and on the other hand, they were also to reconnaissance the Soviet army's defense and report to the German army to become the basis for German commanders to control the situation of the war.

This is the benefit of having air supremacy. It can always learn more about the situation on the battlefield to make the army ready to deal with it or strike key targets first. They are like multipliers of the army's combat effectiveness, and the Soviet army that lost air supremacy will inevitably be a bit like a headless fly and can't figure it out. This is one of the reasons why the Soviet army is always defeated by the German army with fewer troops on the battlefield.

The artillery bombardment took ten minutes... The German army could not bomb for too long, because as mentioned before, the German army was not as good as the Soviet army in terms of supply and personnel replenishment from the beginning. This was determined by the German army's long logistics supply line and poor Soviet railways and road conditions, so the German army always needed to carefully plan every bit of its ammunition.

For example, now, the German army must consider the attack on Stalingrad in the near future.

General Strek waved his hand, and the German tank crew started the tank one after another, and then one after another drove out of the hidden woods, occasionally knocking down several birch trees with a calves, making a harsh clatter, and the camouflage net draped on the tank was also torn off by the soldiers at the fastest speed.

The Soviet army opposite was stunned when he saw this scene.

After receiving the report, a captain came out of the command center, lay in front of the trench and looked at the opposite side with a telescope, and then hurriedly said to the correspondent beside him: "Come to the command center now!"

"Yes, Comrade Captain!"

After the command center was connected, the captain reported to the commander of the 35th Infantry Division in the sound of cannons: "Comrade Grotov, I am a first regiment, and a large number of enemy tanks attacked our defense line, requesting reinforcements, requesting reinforcements!"

(Note: The regiment commander is usually the major, but the rank of the military will gradually decrease when the officers are injured and killed. When the Battle of Stalingrad is at its worst, it even occurs when soldiers can survive for a few days and become battalion commander)

"Tank?" Major General Grotov asked in confusion: "Why did enemy tanks appear on your defense line? How did they come over? Have the Germans built the road in front of your defense line?"

The captain realized that the mud in front of his position was indeed not suitable for tank charges, so he grabbed the microphone and slowly stretched out his head to check.

The scene he saw surprised the captain: "Comrade Grotov, they have a kind of tank, which lays steel plates on the ground while advancing, which is only more than 800 meters away from our defense line!"

Grotov couldn't help but open his mouth when he heard this. He had heard that the Germans used this method to attack, which was the situation when Kerch Port was captured not long ago, but he did not expect that the Germans would use this method to his troops.

"No matter what method is used!" Grotov shouted: "You must block them, and you will be willing to sacrifice your life, do you understand?"
Chapter completed!