Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

"Burned corpse?" The division commander who received the report twitched his mouth slightly and pointed at the carbon-like object not far away whose shape could no longer be seen. "That too?" Even he himself didn't notice that his voice was trembling slightly.

Several soldiers nodded. "Yes, Comrade Commander, those are also burnt corpses."

The faces of the people around him suddenly turned pale. It was really chilling to see that a strong man of over 100 kilograms was burned into such a small mummy curled up in a ball.

Looking at the mentally disturbed survivors, the division commander swallowed hard and immediately gave the order. "Order the troops to stop advancing and build air defense fortifications on the spot!! We have to continue advancing after nightfall." It is now noon. If they continue to advance, they may also encounter German air attacks and end up with the same end; although marching at night It will affect the original battle plan, but it is better than turning into this kind of burnt carbide.

The troops stopped and began to build air defense fortifications. The division commander ordered someone to send a report to Smolensk to explain the situation. The news gathered in the hands of Commander Shaposhnikov was even more serious. The Germans used quite terrifying incendiary bombs, which would explode in the air and rain fire all over the sky; The reinforcements in Skopje encountered this kind of incendiary bomb attack halfway, and the casualties were close to 100,000. This number is quite astonishing. You must know that there were nearly 10,000 troops gathered in Smolensk at this time. The Germans actually wiped out one-tenth of the defenders in just half a day.

In desperation, Commander Shaposhnikov could only send a telegram to Stalin, not to let subsequent reinforcements continue to lead to death. Relying on Bai Wan's army assembled in the city, he was confident that he would hold on for at least a year or even longer.

"..." Stalin's face in the underground office was extremely solemn. Not only Smolensk, but also the Germans launched combat operations in Leningrad and Stalingrad at the same time. It was obvious that the Germans wanted to capture this place in the shortest possible time. Three cities.

Leningrad's political status once declined after the capital was moved to Moscow, but no matter how it declined, it was still the holy land of revolution and the most important core city in the Soviet Union after Moscow. Especially after it was renamed Leningrad, because it was given the title of Master Mentor, the symbolic meaning of this city is self-evident.

And Stalingrad, the city named after him, must not be trampled by the enemy!

What's even more disgusting is that the Germans have already spoken out, threatening to change Stalingrad's name to Hohenzollengrad after they capture it; to change Leningrad's name to St. Frederik's Castle. This is what they are trying to do. His face! !

Stalin naturally could not tolerate such a thing happening, and once the Germans captured these three cities, they would target Moscow. Therefore, Stalin sent repeated messages to the defenders of Smolensk, Leningrad, and Stalingrad, strictly ordering them to defend to the end.

After all, the Soviet and American Air Forces were no match for the German Air Force, and the air battle came to an end after paying a heavy price.

In the face of fierce German air and ground attacks, the Soviet defense line could only retreat steadily. In just three days, the northeastern defense line of Smolensk was completely reduced, and a huge encirclement enveloped the entire Smolensk.

Near Smolensk, the German army had already assembled nearly 30,000 cannons of various calibers.

105mm, 150mm, 170mm, 210mm howitzers; 128mm, 150mm, 170mm cannons; 122mm, 227mm rocket launchers roared one after another and began to shell the defensive positions on the outskirts of Smolensk.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

The first to fire was the 210mm howitzer, which had the longest range and was also the most powerful. Although the number of 210mm howitzers is far less than that of cannons of other calibers, the power of 210mm shells is amazing. Often, a single artillery shell would leave a huge crater in the Soviet position.

"boom!"

A 210mm artillery shell happened to land in the Soviet trench. With a huge explosion, the trench was directly destroyed by dozens of meters. All the firepower points deployed in this section of trenches were also destroyed. Fortunately, the Soviet troops hid in the shell-proof caves when the bombardment began, so no casualties were caused.

But even if you hide in a bombproof cave, it's not 100% safe. At this moment, in a bomb-proof cave, a platoon of Soviet soldiers squeezed inside were disgraced by the sand that continued to fall from the ceiling. They watched with trepidation as the trembling and trembling weapons were accompanied by the explosions outside. The ceiling, for fear that it would suddenly collapse and bury them inside.

"Comrade squad leader, can this air-raid shelter withstand the German shelling?" A young soldier who looked childlike swallowed nervously and asked the squad leader next to him. Although this young soldier is wearing a Soviet military uniform, he is not a soldier of the regular army. A month ago, he was an ordinary civilian in Smolensk. In order to resist the German invasion, he voluntarily joined the Smolensk Guards; he only learned how to shoot for a few days, and spent the rest of his time It was building these fortifications.

The squad leader who was older than him patted him on the shoulder and comforted him in a very positive tone. "Don't worry, the German shelling looks fierce, but it can't destroy our shell holes."

The platoon leader with the highest rank in the bombhole was sitting near the entrance of the bombhole. Although this position was more dangerous during shelling, he would rather sit here than sit inside. Although Smolensk has nearly 10,000 troops, most of the elites are deployed on the outer defense lines and in the city. Most of the defense lines in the middle zone like theirs are armed by civilians.

The same goes for various building materials. Peripheral defense lines and urban street fighting fortifications must be supplied first. Due to the serious lack of materials in these suburban defense lines, many of the defense fortifications of their positions are cut corners. The construction standard of this kind of anti-blast hole is steel and cement, which is used to withstand the bombardment of the enemy's large-caliber artillery shells; but this anti-gun hole is a civil structure, and its ability to withstand bombardment is greatly reduced compared to the original standard. Maybe you can't see anything in normal times, but in wartime, these fatal flaws will naturally be exposed. Once it is directly hit by an enemy's large-caliber artillery shell, there will be a danger of collapse, and then all of them will be buried alive inside. He would rather be killed by a cannonball than buried alive.

Rockets fired by the German 122mm rocket launchers and 227mm rocket launchers fell like raindrops on the Soviet positions.

In terms of caliber, the 227mm rocket launcher is significantly more powerful than the 122mm rocket launcher, but the number of 227mm rocket launchers is far less than that of the 122mm rocket launcher.

Because the rocket launcher is an area-killing weapon, it needs to effectively cover and damage targets in a certain area. The German 122mm rocket launcher can fire 36 rockets at a time, while the 227mm rocket launcher can only fire 12 rockets at a time. The former can achieve the target using an integral warhead anti-personnel explosive grenade, while the latter requires the use of dual-purpose submunitions. In terms of projection efficiency, there is not much difference between the two. In terms of mobility, a 36-unit 122mm rocket launcher can achieve a weight of less than 20 tons, while a 227mm rocket launcher must reduce the number of launch tubes if it is to be less than 20 tons.

Therefore, the German army prefers 122mm rocket launchers, and 227mm rocket launchers are only equipped with a few battalions.

A dense barrage of rockets fell on the Soviet position, flooding everything there. Several of the 227mm rockets landed near the artillery-proof hole. The Soviet soldiers in the artillery-proof hole watched in horror as tiny cracks appeared in the ceiling, and large chunks of soil fell down.

"Run! It's going to collapse!!" The Soviet platoon leader sitting at the entrance of the cave roared and fled out first. Unfortunately, before others could get up, the entire anti-gun cave collapsed, and all the dozens of Soviet soldiers hiding inside were buried alive.

The German rockets continued to fall, and the Soviet platoon leader who escaped from the artillery hole was instantly torn into pieces by the raging fragments.

This shell-proof cave is not an exception, but one of many bomb-proof caves that have been destroyed by bombardment. Facing the continuous bombardment by the German army, these poor Soviet soldiers had only two choices, either to huddle in the shell-proof hole that would collapse without knowing when, or to escape from the gun-proof hole and be killed by German artillery fire.

It is not that the Soviet army has never tried to fight back with artillery. After all, the Soviet army has always attached great importance to artillery construction and also has a powerful artillery force. But rashly launching an artillery battle while the Germans had air supremacy was simply asking for death. Once the Soviet artillery fires, there is no need to wait for the next round. German attack planes will fly over and drop bombs on them, sending the entire artillery position into the sky.

The heavy shelling continued until nightfall.

The next day, the sky brightened, and the German artillery bombardment struck again; today, the German Army Aviation also came to join in the fun, and the sky-blocking attack fleet hovered over the Soviet positions, targeting those who seemed to be the hiding places of the Soviet troops. Various bombs were dropped on the place.

"These damn Germans, do they want to blow us all up with artillery shells?" The Soviet soldiers hiding in the artillery holes cursed depressedly, but they could only endure the endless shelling silently.

"I didn't expect the German artillery fire to be so fierce." Commander Shaposhnikov frowned deeply at the headquarters in Smolensk. The purpose of building the suburban defense line was to inflict as many casualties on the German troops as possible before the German army invaded the city. Unexpectedly, the Germans used so many artillery pieces. The fierce shelling actually cost the Soviet troops in the suburban defense line. The price was heavy, with more than 10,000 casualties in just one day. Although most of the soldiers in this line of defense are temporarily formed "guards", it would be better if they were deployed in the city than dying in vain under German artillery fire like now. (In today’s chapter, I almost rolled on the floor with toothache)

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