The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 1158

Unlike Guderian, Bock was a traditional soldier. He had some knowledge of new tactics, but he was not good at them.

In essence, he was still a veteran general of the infantry doctrine.

For generals of the infantry doctrine, trench warfare, positional warfare and street fighting were things they had to learn.

The Eighth Army under Bock was formerly the 88th Infantry Division stationed in the suburbs of Brandenburg. After the army was expanded in 1925, this unit was expanded into the Eighth Army, and its first commander was Kuchler.

Because they were infantrymen, there was no problem for them to fight street battles.

Therefore, General Bock was not polite about the military exploit that Guderian brought to his lips.

“In this case, our army will take on the main attack mission, and your army will act as a barrier on the periphery to intercept the Soviet troops escaping from the city and the Soviet reinforcements rushing in from outside, and protect the periphery of our army!”

Guderian had no problem with General Bock’s arrangement, and this mission was not difficult for him!

“Our army has already started artillery preparations. General Bock, let’s check the time and open fire together at two o’clock in the afternoon to launch the most violent artillery attack on the defenders in the city to cover your army’s attack. What do you think?”

Bock smiled and said,”I have heard that the First Army has powerful firepower, including towed artillery, assault guns, self-propelled artillery and rockets. This time, our Northern Army Group will benefit from it!”

Guderian was amused by his words:”General Bock, don’t talk bad about me. Each of my things consumes a lot of oil. In order to meet the fuel consumption of these oil-consuming vehicles, you don’t know how difficult it has been for me along the way. Alas, it is a handful of bitter tears!”

After Guderian finished speaking, both of them laughed.

Bock envied Guderian’s powerful firepower and sophisticated equipment.

Guderian envied the other party’s simple and convenient logistics support system.

Both sides saw the advantages of each other, but if they were asked to exchange, I’m afraid neither would be happy.

Guderian’s things might not be used well by Bock.

Bock’s logistics were given to Guderian, and he couldn’t exert his strength without tanks and assault guns.

So the two people’s words were just for listening, not for taking them seriously.

After agreeing on the time and plan of action, Guderian returned to the south with his guard troops.

The two German armies quickly began to divide the work and cooperate.

The Soviet troops in the city watched the German army’s every move nervously. Because the outer positions were not built well, they were forced to shrink in the city to fight the enemy.

Mins City, as a white-haired The capital of the bear, the city is not small in size, but this city has a big problem, that is its geographical location!

The city of Mins, like many cities in Eastern Europe, is located on the East European Plain.

The terrain here is flat and almost indefensible.

And what’s worse is that the Svislach River runs through the center of the city, dividing the city into two areas, north and south.

The German army happened to be attacking from the north and south at this time, which means that once the fighting starts, the defenders in the city are likely to be divided into two and have to fight on their own!

This worry was confirmed at two o’clock in the afternoon!

At exactly two o’clock in the afternoon, the two German army groups launched a fierce artillery attack on the Soviet army in the city from the north and south.

The first to be bombarded by the German army were the 23 bridges on the Svislach River.

These bridges were destroyed by the previous German bombardment. Some of the bridges had already been destroyed during the bombing, and this time, with the help of reconnaissance aircraft, the German artillery carried out targeted clearing of these bridges.

In less than half an hour, almost all the bridges were destroyed, and the Soviet troops in the north and south were artificially divided.

The month of May was just the end of the rainy season. The melting of a large amount of snow in winter and the increase in rainfall in the rainy season caused the river water to generally surge.

The surface of the Svislach River was originally only one or two hundred meters wide, but at this time it increased to more than three hundred meters.

In this case, to cross the river, you must use a bridge or a ship.

But the bridge has been completely destroyed, and there are only some small boats with very small tonnage as ships. It is a joke to expect to rely on these boats to transport troops across the river!

As a result, the Soviet troops in the city were divided into Two parts!

After making sure that all the bridges in the city were destroyed and the Soviet army was divided into two, Bock’s Eighth Army began to attack!

There were only two Soviet armies in Mins, with a total strength of less than 70,000, and the Soviet army in the north had only about 30,000 troops. The German army had a strength of 350,000, plus Guderian’s First Army provided fire support.

In fact, the German army had a strength advantage of more than ten times!

With an inferior force of 30,000 against more than 300,000 wolf-like German troops, this battle lost suspense from the beginning!

Although the Soviet army in the northern city put up a heroic and tenacious resistance, their resistance did not win victory.

General Bock used the wheel tactics and continuously dispatched troops to attack. It took only three hours to wipe out all the Soviet troops in the northern city!

At around five o’clock in the afternoon, the German Iron Cross flag was hung in the northern city of Mins!

……

“General Bock’s troops are really good at fighting street battles!”

Guderian, who was watching the battle on the sidelines, witnessed the entire battle situation in the north with his own eyes, so he remembered Bock’s street fighting tactics clearly.

Bock mobilized a total of 12 divisions to participate in the battle. Except for five divisions that were not mobilized, almost all of his 17 divisions went into battle.

Under the repeated attacks of the German army, the defenders suffered heavy casualties, and the gap in the defense line was torn bigger and bigger.

In this situation, the defenders consciously wanted to shrink the defense line to save manpower.

But Bock didn’t let the other side get what they wanted. He suddenly launched a cold arrow and changed the previous tactics of taking turns to fight. He suddenly sent out seven or eight divisions to the battlefield, which widened the battle line to the extreme.

The German troops tried their best. The Soviets had no choice but to flank the Soviets and outflank them from behind.

Faced with this situation, the Soviets could not retreat. If they did, they would surely be attacked from both sides.

However, if they did not retreat, they would be surrounded and annihilated by the enemy if they held their ground.

This dilemma made the Soviet commanders unsure of how to choose.

Taking advantage of the enemy’s indecision, Bock dispatched his own armored divisions.

These armored divisions were like divine soldiers descending from the sky, rushing left and right in the city, breaking the already precarious Soviet defense line into pieces.