Chapter 766: The Battle for the Periphery

Attack, attack! This was what most of the German forces on the Eastern Front were doing. The soldiers charged through the woods, across trenches and open, desolate countryside, and over the flat, vast plains of withered grass. They surrounded cities and bombarded them relentlessly, planting the swastika flag, which represented Germany, on one node after another on the map.

A German grenadier leaped out of a trench. He ran forward, and after a few steps, he quickly hit the dirt. Bullets flew over his head with a whistling sound as they cut through the air. The closest bullet was only a few centimeters from his steel helmet.

Before this soldier could adjust his position, a Panzer III assault gun drove past him. This assault gun stopped at a position and opened fire on a bunker in the distance that was constantly spitting fire.

BOOM! With a loud bang, a cloud of thick smoke rose from the sturdy, reinforced concrete bunker. The shell had accurately hit its target from a distance of several hundred meters, clearing an obstacle in the path of the infantry.

The ducking German soldier got up and followed beside this Panzer III assault gun, which had begun to move forward slowly again. Bullets sparked against its solid armor, and the soldiers around the assault gun, braving the enemy’s dense fire, advanced with difficulty.

“For the Empire! Forward!” a group of German soldiers shouted, holding their weapons and charging towards the enemy’s position. Under the cover of machine guns, the sappers began to use their tools to cut through the obstacles, such as barbed wire, that the Soviet army had set up. The German soldiers behind them crossed over the destroyed barbed wire and then quickly jumped into the Soviet troops’ trenches.

The sound of gunfire came in dense bursts, and explosions could be heard everywhere. Some were the sound of soldiers from both sides throwing hand grenades at each other, and some were caused by artillery fire landing nearby. The originally strong and complete trenches had now been mostly destroyed by shells and other things. Many places were left with huge craters, and in them, the Soviet Red Army and the German soldiers who wanted to capture these places were engaged in a fierce struggle.

A German soldier who had just shot and killed a Soviet soldier with his gun was soon hit by bullets fired by other Soviet soldiers. He grunted and fell to the ground, silent. Behind him, more German soldiers were firing fiercely, and on the other side, more Soviet soldiers were falling with the sound of gunfire.

Hundreds of Soviet soldiers on the position rose up to fight back. But after they had leaped out of their own trenches and had charged forward for a certain distance, they discovered that in front of them was a hail of bullets from the Germans, as well as steel behemoths like the Panzer III assault gun.

With only rifles, they had no way to deal with the German offensive. They were helpless against the German assault guns and could only rely on their infantry to carry a dozen or so hand grenades and get close to these tanks or assault guns by force, in order to destroy these heavy pieces of equipment that posed the greatest threat to their positions.

“Abramovich! Go! Take out that enemy tank!” a company commander ordered his subordinate, pointing at the German Panzer III assault gun in the distance that was constantly firing. His unit had been scattered by that assault gun. If they didn’t take out this big fellow, then soon there would be no organized Soviet forces left here.

“Which tank are you talking about? Sir?” the Soviet soldier named Abramovich asked, his head bowed, one hand on his steel helmet, shouting to his company commander. “How should I attack to ensure I complete the mission?”

“That tank! See it? The one without a turret, with the Iron Cross on the side. Do you see it clearly?” the Soviet company commander shouted, pointing at the target in the distance to his subordinate. “You, take a dozen hand grenades and get close to that tank! Yes, from the side…”

Crack! Before the company commander could finish waving his arms and giving his soldier the mission, to explain the order he was about to give, a bullet struck the arm he had extended from the trench to point at the tank. The huge impact directly blew his hand away, leaving only a bare wrist.

“Ah!” the unlucky Soviet company commander, who had been hit by a stray bullet, screamed and then collapsed onto the position. Stray bullets were flying everywhere on the battlefield. If one’s luck was extremely bad, a soldier could easily be hit by a randomly fired bullet. It could be a bullet fired by the enemy, or, of course, it could be one fired by his own side.

The soldier who had just been ordered to blow up the German tank quickly stepped forward and supported his falling company commander. “Medic! Medic! The company commander’s been hit! He’s been hit! Someone, help!”

The machine gun on the front of the Panzer III was constantly spitting fire, sweeping down all the Soviet soldiers in a trench ahead. After all, the Soviet soldiers here had no decent anti-tank weapons, so the German assault guns opposite them were running rampant, like a wolf among sheep.

At the other end of the battlefield, another Panzer III assault gun was not so lucky. On the position opposite, the Soviet soldiers had a 45mm anti-tank gun. This cannon was concealed in a trench with top camouflage. When the Panzer III got close enough, this Soviet anti-tank gun opened fire.

The shell pierced the lower front armor of the German assault gun, leaving a hole about 3 centimeters in diameter. The shell and armor fragments swept through the interior of the assault gun, riddling the four crew members inside with holes. Fortunately, this assault gun did not cook off, so the 20-plus German soldiers following behind were not in any danger.

“We have to retreat! If we don’t leave now, we’ll all die here,” a Soviet soldier said loudly to his comrades. But the order to retreat was never given. Everyone could only stay in their trenches, waiting for their end to come.

On this side of the position, the company commander whose hand had been blown off was being hastily bandaged by a medic. And two young Soviet soldiers had already strapped themselves with hand grenades, preparing to go and stop the German Panzer III, which was advancing as if in an uninhabited land. They moved through the trenches and soon reached the side of the German assault gun.

From time to time, the sound of gunfire rang out from the surrounding trenches. Everywhere were the shouts of the Germans and the screams of the Soviet soldiers after being hit. They scrambled over the top of the trench, preparing to approach their target from the flank. Unfortunately, the first Soviet demolition man had just poked his head out when he was spotted by the Germans. A dense volley of bullets swept over, hitting the Soviet soldier in the head and instantly taking his young life.

“…” This Soviet soldier was splattered with his comrade’s blood and was so scared he couldn’t even speak. He didn’t know what would happen to him if he went out. His legs were trembling so badly he couldn’t even take a step. He felt he should get out of this damn place immediately, but he still remembered that his purpose in coming here was to destroy the enemy’s war machine. But now, for him, both advancing and retreating were extremely difficult things.

A hand grenade rolled into the trench and landed right at his feet. He looked down at the iron lump, and his mind was filled with a fleeting image of cursing his mother. The huge explosion kicked up all the dust in the trench, and even the Germans were startled by the deafening blast.

But after the explosion, the nearby Panzer III was still rampaging on the battlefield. The Germans, under the cover of their armored cars and assault guns, were still advancing slowly. They captured and cleared one trench after another, driving the Soviets from this land bit by bit.

Several German soldiers found a gathering of Soviet Red Army soldiers in a trench. Several hand grenades were thrown in at the same time. After a series of explosions, the German soldiers charged in with their guns raised and fired a few rounds at any moving target they encountered.

Soon there was no more sound in the entire trench. The German soldiers kicked the fallen Soviet soldiers with their feet. There was a heavy machine gun here that had not dared to open fire for fear of being taken out by the distant assault gun. A little further away, a dozen or so Soviet soldiers lay scattered. They were all the poor souls who had been killed by the hand grenades and the subsequent strafing.

A Soviet in an officer’s uniform lay on his back on the ground, his open eyes still filled with an expression of unwillingness. This Soviet company commander’s entire hand was gone, and his wrist was still wrapped in a bandage that was heavily stained with blood. Around this corpse were scattered some empty ammunition boxes. It seemed they had been using these things as chairs.

Not far away, German soldiers were gathered together, spreading a huge national flag in the center of a bunker complex. They had occupied this place and had to leave an air-to-ground identification marker according to regulations. Now, right at this spot, looking up at the mountaintop, the German army could already see the core of the Sevastopol fortress.

“My Führer.” At the door of Akado’s office, an officer knocked. In the room, Anna and Fanny were accompanying Akado, chatting about the topic of media control and utilization. After Anna gave the order to enter, the officer pushed the door open, walked into the room, and placed a report on Akado’s desk.

He stood beside Akado and reported softly, “General Manstein’s M Army Group has encircled Sevastopol an hour ago. He said he wants to use this attack to express his loyalty to you, Führer.”

“I know. Send a reply to him. Tell him that I am very much looking forward to his every subsequent performance. The Caucasus is the stage I have given him. I hope he can put on an outstanding performance that I will not forget!” Akado nodded. After saying this, he signaled for the man to withdraw.

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