Battle of the Third Reich

"I was on the left wing of the team at that time and I didn't notice where the Italians came from. When Lieutenant Dane in the second row ordered to fire, I found out that the Italian infantry was charging towards the tanks and armored vehicles on the right of our platoon. ." German armored sergeant Rudolf Kotzer recalled after the war.

"There is a small forest 300 meters on the right side of the road. There are some shrubs over one meter high outside the forest. I also judged that the Italians may have been ambushed in the woods. Of course, it was found that this was not the case. "Lieutenant Dorman, the three-row platoon leader, wrote in his diary.

"You asked me what I was thinking at the time? This question was difficult to answer. (Laughs). To be honest, my mind was completely blank at the time. I just wanted to block these Italian infantry and not let them break through the perimeter defense and rush into the company. In the array. Fortunately, we have enough mg machine guns and 20mm machine guns. After the war, we found the unburned [************* beside the bodies of many Italian infantry. *], do you know what that is? Well, it seems that I don’t need to explain it specifically." Sergeant Schoenberg replied in an interview with Berlin Television.

The German army has a very detailed record of this battle on the outskirts of Verona. It provides a wealth of information for scholars who study the [Nine-Day War] in the future. It is regrettable that there is a lack of testimony from the Italian side. In the first battalion of the battle, only a handful of people survived in the end, but everyone remained silent on the matter. No matter what they were, they were silent about the battle. People can only look from their fearful and painful eyes. Feel the misery of that [Blood Day].

Seven hundred and twenty people were grouped according to their respective platoons and pulled into six scattered lines. This was once the most popular infantry impact formation, but only in the last world war. This is also something that cannot be done. The Italians did not have the slightest preparation. At this time, they did not even have the most basic trenches. The troops lacked weapons and ammunition, not to mention any supplies and reinforcements.

In addition to rushing out to fight at this time, they only have to indent the city to fight street fights, no matter what choices are made, Verona will definitely fall.

Colonel Bernafini had not considered the issue of surrendering to the Germans from the beginning, which was related to the honor of a veteran Italian nobleman, and he could not bear the responsibility of destroying Verona. This is an ancient city that has stood at the foot of the Alps since the first century AD. It bears the history of Italy for two thousand years. It is the hometown of Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare. The love holy place in the hearts of Italians and all Europeans is countless people. Good wishes.

Bernafini knew that once the street fighting broke out, this ancient city would be destroyed. Once the Germans paid attention to the monuments, it did not mean that they would be soft on the resistance. Bernafini did not want to change the stigma of the "Verona Destroyer" after his death, so the army colonel decided to personally lead the team to attack, hoping to gloriously die in the battlefield at the beginning of the battle This not only preserved his reputation, but even if the whole city was destroyed by war, no one could blame him.

Bernafini didn’t get any useful information. He didn’t know what the German army was, and how much the other party’s strength was. The villagers who came to the report only said that the Germans had a lot of tanks, but they couldn’t explain clearly. Is the number. Bernafini initially estimated that this was only a German striker. It should be a battalion combat unit, with a small number of armored vehicles and tanks. From this, it can be seen that the colonel’s vision is still unique. The German forward is indeed the German army. A battalion unit. It was just that the enthusiastic villager hurried into the city to report the situation, and did not see the mighty German follow-up armored forces.

The four companies of the 33rd Panzer Regiment of the German Army had already gathered three outside Verona, and a medium-sized armored company was now guarding the 1st Battalion of Motorized Artillery of the 102nd Artillery Regiment. And the forty-seventh heavy machine gun battalion came to the front.

The mission of the 1st Armored Battalion is to occupy favorable terrain outside the city, block the city's external traffic, surround the city before the main force arrives, wait for the big troops to arrive, and then make a final decision.

Of course, the troops responsible for the siege can also initiate some feint attacks, in order to test the opponent's defense layout and the morale and combat determination of the guard troops. If it is found that the enemy's resistance is not strong, the feint attack can also immediately become a formal attack. This has already had countless successful cases in the German tactics in the past.

The task entrusted to Silian is to carry out some pretexts on the west side of the city, to investigate the defensive arrangements outside the city, and to enter part of the urban area if conditions permit. The key is to do this, and block access to and from the city against the map.

This light armored company is equipped with a total of 22 tanks, four subordinate armor platoons, each with four No. 3 and one No. 2 tanks. At present, there are many armored units in this configuration in the German army. It is said that this is only a transitional establishment, which leads to the German armored soldiers looking forward to the future.

The second tank was placed on the fields on both sides of the road because of its low requirements on the road. It was responsible for the reconnaissance and security tasks of the two wings of the marching column. Together with these two tanks, there were six vehicles belonging to the ninth reconnaissance battalion. Six-wheeled medium armored reconnaissance vehicle. This reinforced armored reconnaissance platoon happened to have received no new missions, so it was pulled by the armored regiment.

Bernafini did not expect to encounter the German tanks. His original goal was the German infantry on the other side of the road. The two infantry companies of the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment of the 9th Brigade were waving shovel to build a defensive position there. . The Italian colonel was ready to take advantage of these German instability and launch a raid to teach the Germans a profound lesson. Perhaps the Italian infantry battalion will suffer heavy losses, but it is also an expected thing. He did not expect to rely on these light infantry to defeat the powerful. enemy.

The Italian colonel's tactics should have been successful in the early days. They maneuvered to a distance of less than one kilometer from the German position, and the Germans knew nothing about it at this time.

The Italians lined up the scattered lines and strode through the woods, but after the soldiers walked out of the bushes, they found that the road not far away was full of German tanks, and the horizontal ones in the wild. The wheeled armored vehicles are less than two hundred meters from themselves. They can clearly distinguish the vehicle number and the iron cross emblem.

At this time, the Italians had exposed their whereabouts, and the German vigilants, who kept a high degree of vigilance, hurriedly turned the machine gun tower on the reconnaissance vehicle, and made several short bursts to fire warning shots to the big troops.

An over-the-top No. 2 tank also began to turn its body and aimed the frontal armor at the woods. Who knows whether these unidentified enemy troops are carrying anti-tank weapons. The armor of the No. 2 tank is too thin to barely withstand heavy loads. Machine gun shooting.

At this time, the Italian officers and soldiers by the jungle, including Colonel Bernafini standing in the first row, were all stunned by the sudden situation in front of them. They were like wooden stakes and pestle beside the bushes. They didn’t know whether they should retreat or advance now. . As a result, the Germans were not sure what was happening, so the two sides did not react in the first few seconds, so they confronted each other with big eyes.

It was Bernafini who broke this stalemate. He now regrets that he did not send the soldiers, and he has fallen into this embarrassing situation. These are real tanks, not streetcars. The angular armor reflects the cold light in the sun. He can even see the face of the German soldier on the machine gun tower of the armored reconnaissance vehicle. And with a particularly greasy face, Bernafini estimated that his present expression would not be much better than the other.

"Charge! Long live Italy!" Bernafini raised his command knife and pointed forward, then rushed toward the German armored group.

"This is the ending I want!" The old colonel sprinted forward with his saber, striking forward. He saw the German machine gun that was facing him continuously spitting flames, and the bullets passed through his ears and issued a sharp howl Cries, death is approaching, but his heart is incomparably quiet at the moment. Isn't this the time he was expecting, just like those heroes in tragedy, died vigorously on the battlefield.

The Italian infantry first watched dumbly as their commander launched a man's charge, and then watched the brave old man shot by the German machine gun on the lawn. The scattered blood was as bright as flame.

"Go forward! Long live Italy!"

The German tank No. 2 began to shoot at the Italian infantry. As the comrades in arms fell down under the German bullet rain, the inescapable despair and the anger of death occupied the soldiers’ thoughts, and the tyrannical flame filled them. The Italian infantry roared wildly, and they danced the Carcano rifle in their hands, holding tightly the ************** that was just made before departure, and launched towards the Germans. The final charge.

ps: Sorry for being late today, thank you for your support.

Thank you. (To be continued.)

...