Chapter 811: Just the Beginning

In a foxhole at the bridgehead of the “Lid” railway bridge, Borol rested against the wall, cradling his rifle. Beside him, Donner and the radio operator were also snoring softly, oblivious to the cold wind blowing over their heads.

It was an ordinary moment. That afternoon, they had ambushed a Soviet battalion attempting to seize the railway bridge. After a battle that wasn’t particularly arduous, they had successfully repelled the hastily assembled mob. The attack planes circling overhead had completely crushed any Soviet thoughts of a full-scale assault, forcing them to send only small units to their deaths.

But it was clear that the Soviets had no intention of waiting until the next morning to retake their railway bridge. Just as Borol and his men were drifting off to sleep, a heavy artillery shell landed not far in front of the German-held bridgehead.

The massive explosion and the towering black pillar of smoke, dozens of stories high, jolted all the drowsy German soldiers awake. They flattened themselves in their foxholes and trenches, staring at the location of the huge shell’s impact. A second shell landed nearby, its massive blast wave mixing with the cold wind, cutting at everyone’s faces like a knife.

The vibration, a shudder that made one’s bones rattle, seemed to come from afar. It was like an earthquake. These large-caliber shells tore at the nearby earth and shook the hearts of all the German soldiers. These were 203mm heavy guns. For the German army, this caliber was already considered super-heavy artillery. But for the Soviet army opposite them, they were now being used as common weapons in a siege, thrown into the battle for the bridgehead.

“Bigger than the American 155mm howitzers. These are 203mm Soviet heavy guns,” Donner said, his bare wrist holding his helmet as he squinted at the huge pillar of smoke rising in the distance. He had never personally witnessed the Soviets’ sky-blotting artillery fire. Now he finally knew that his opponent, at least in terms of artillery power, was a world-class adversary.

Borol also squinted his eyes against the oncoming shockwave. Sand rattled against his helmet, but he seemed unafraid of the exploding large-caliber shells. “I hear this is the unit that turned and ran near Malyn, commanded by Rokossovsky… General List said he’s a tough opponent.”

As he spoke, he raised the binoculars to his chest. On the side of the road in the distance, Soviet soldiers were climbing over obstacles like fences under the fading light of the sun. Some tanks he had never seen before were driving onto the road, looking much thicker and more solid than the ones they had fought before.

“Are you sure General List wasn’t just making excuses for his own troops’ poor performance?” Donner asked, looking at Borol beside him with a joking tone.

“Yes! I’m sure! And very sure. This is definitely a tough bunch of opponents!” Borol lowered his binoculars and said with some frustration, “Go and notify the forward machine gun positions not to open fire easily! They’re already preparing to attack before their artillery preparation is even over! Their infantry-artillery coordination is quite good. They’re not pushovers!”

“My God!” Hearing his battalion commander say this, Donner quickly rolled over, retreated into the communication trench behind him, and ran off, crouched low. An opponent that even Borol took so seriously must not be an ordinary character. It was very likely that the less than one hour before sunset would be the real test for them.

“Damn it! They really know how to pick their time… It seems the battle in the central region wasn’t for nothing,” Borol said, looking up at the sky in the distance. The German planes, due to the gradually darkening sky, had already returned to base. Now, the German army’s most deadly air strike had lost its proper function.

Rokossovsky was no half-baked military commander like Khrushchev. He was a regular military command professional with very high combat command qualities. In the central region, because he was the main force of the offensive, his troops had suffered greatly from German air strikes, so he had also accumulated the most abundant air defense experience.

Therefore, his troops had only launched their real attack as night approached, intending to completely crush the German troops defending the bridge in one charge. Although this was also risky, it was much better than facing the German planes that filled the sky, suffering losses with no effect.

Before Borol could think too much, the Soviet Red Army’s artillery fire began to extend its attack. One shell after another landed on the German positions, pinning everyone down. Shrapnel flew everywhere, and casualties began to appear among the unlucky soldiers. Borol pressed his face as close to the dirt as possible, closing his eyes and listening to the whistling sound of the shells as they flew over.

Compared to the Soviet main force that was preparing to attack, the German paratroopers were super-aces who had been through many battles. To them, the sound of shells landing was no different from listening to rock music in bed. They felt the trembling of the earth as if they were enjoying a massage.

These soldiers had survived the cruelest of battlefields. Every one of them had the ability to survive until the end. They were not intimidated by the dense artillery fire but instead waited quietly, waiting for the moment the enemy would deliver themselves to be slaughtered.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! At the very front, a probing machine gun position suddenly opened fire. The bullets instantly cut down the Soviet soldiers who had already approached to within a few hundred meters. This machine gun position opened fire suddenly and then just as suddenly stopped, as if it had never been there at all.

Subsequently, the Soviet soldiers began to return fire fiercely in the direction of that position. Some tanks even accelerated and charged up, using their massive bodies to block the machine gun position’s firing angle. But unfortunately, the German machine gunner had already moved his position and had long since returned to another fire point, quietly waiting for the moment to open fire in full.

“The machine gun positions on the flanks, let the enemy tanks pass. Concentrate on the infantry behind them… leave the enemy’s heavy tanks to us on the main position,” Borol gave the combat order and then signaled the anti-tank teams to get into position.

Rat-tat! Rat-tat! When the Soviet tanks had already approached the bridgehead, the machine gun positions on the German flanks finally opened fire. The two sides exchanged fire at extremely close range. The German army had an absolute advantage in the density of fire they could pour out. For a moment, long and short arms all opened fire at once, sending the Soviet infantry following behind the tanks into a daze.

This time, the German army had gone all out with their firepower. The German paratroopers, whose weapons were more advanced than those of the regular German army, also let the Soviets see what their opponents were made of. One after another, the Soviet soldiers fell screaming. Even the few Soviet tanks that had been let through finally realized that something was not quite right.

Bang! A Panzerfaust rocket flew out of a foxhole in a corner and directly hit the rear of a rampaging T-34 tank. The rocket pierced the T-34’s rear armor and ignited the engine inside, causing the tank to quickly burst into flames. It soon exploded and became a burning wreck on the position.

The German anti-tank team on the other side was not so lucky. They had fired a rocket at the frontal armor of a Stalin tank, but it had only made the behemoth shake a little, without even stopping. The Panzerfaust, an individual anti-tank weapon developed before World War II, had finally shown its weakness in the face of the Stalin tank.

“Damn it! That new tank is really sturdy! It’s worthy of being the new equipment the Soviets are using to counter our Tiger tanks!” Borol said anxiously, holding his binoculars and watching as his troops on the outer positions were engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy. His unit was suffering casualties, and the battle had been a brutal, life-or-death struggle from the very beginning.

“Return fire with the mortars! Delay for as long as possible! The paratrooper fighting vehicles behind our lines cannot be easily exposed. We’ll buy as much time as we can!” he said after a moment’s thought, then had Donner withdraw the 1st Company, which had suffered the heaviest losses, and use the battalion’s mortars to block the enemy’s attack.

The other side was clearly unwilling to let Borol withdraw his troops so easily. Some of the Soviet infantry, under the cover of their tanks, were frantically biting at the Germans. Although the enemy’s losses were heavier, they had also inflicted a large number of casualties on the German paratroopers. The battle had only been going on for less than 20 minutes, and Borol’s unit had already lost 35 men.

Bang! Another hidden Panzerfaust anti-tank team launched an attack. With the lesson they had just learned, they now prioritized attacking the more thinly armored T-34 tanks. The heavy Stalin tanks were now being completely ignored on the German paratrooper positions.

The machine gun on a Stalin tank opened fire fiercely, and two of the retreating German anti-tank soldiers were hit and fell to the ground. A Soviet anti-aircraft gun not far away suddenly opened fire. Shells rained down on this Stalin tank. Because it was the tank’s vulnerable side, this dense barrage of anti-aircraft shells finally achieved its objective, successfully breaking the tank’s track and destroying the idler and drive wheels.

An anti-tank team that had been preparing for a long time finally found its opportunity. They fired a rocket that accurately hit this paralyzed Stalin tank, blowing this tank, which had been rampaging on the German positions for a long time, into a pile of scrap iron.

Borol frowned, because this battle was just the beginning.

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