Chapter 836: Warming Up

“Report! It was fire support called in by the 3rd detachment of the special forces.” An officer walked over from the direction of the radio, still holding a completed record form. “During their secret infiltration, they discovered a Soviet battalion headquarters and directly called for a fire strike.”

“…” Rundstedt felt a little at a loss for words. For a long time, especially since the First World War, the annihilation of an enemy unit as a whole had become the pursuit of all commanders. Although the German army often managed to wipe out an enemy battalion while advancing in the open field, they had never so cleanly taken out a battalion command post in street fighting.

What was even more exaggerated was that the formal offensive had not yet begun. It was just a unit responsible for infiltration that had accomplished something that previously would have required heavy casualties. Rundstedt suddenly felt that his shells were well spent, a very good value! He turned his head, took the form, and saw the detailed statistical content on it, including which unit had called for the fire support, what the purpose was, and whether the effect had been achieved.

“The firepower requirement for the troops is still too great,” Rundstedt said with some resignation after finishing reading the form. This method of fighting was almost like compressing the firepower of a division or even a corps to support a single battalion. Then, of course, no matter what kind of opponent they faced, this battalion could wipe out an enemy battalion.

Of course, using the heavy firepower of a division to cover a battalion could certainly achieve unexpected results. But in terms of ammunition consumption and other issues, the current Rundstedt was more willing to lose some soldiers. In this era, the lives of soldiers were not as valuable as in the 21st century. But Germany’s steel and the production capacity for its weapons were very precious. The ammunition produced could not be wasted on such a large scale.

The street fighting tactics of later generations were built on the foundation of smooth communication, high-precision weapons, and improvements in firepower. To force their implementation at this stage would result in this kind of seemingly gorgeous but ultimately painful-to-abandon combat method.

However, Rundstedt still had the resources to fight like this once in Smolensk. And he desperately needed such a rapid assault to end the street fighting in Smolensk, to consolidate his defense line, and to give his troops time to rest and refit. So he felt that at least this time, the ammunition he had invested was worth the price. As for the next time—he was not yet sure.

But it had to be admitted that the street fighting method proposed by the Führer could indeed reduce personnel losses and had pointed out the direction for future urban warfare tactics. The solution to the street fighting problem that had stumped Rundstedt had been solved by simply reallocating firepower to form a fist for the assault.

In coordination with ten-man special forces squads, they would infiltrate and carry out pinpoint artillery strikes on the enemy’s important defensive nodes. Then, they would widely deploy snipers to cover the occupied areas and frontline positions, locking down the enemy’s deployment and infiltration in street fighting to the greatest extent possible. This had effectively solved the dilemma of conventional tactics being unable to completely clear a city.

“We don’t have time to waste ammunition like this, to waste our precious time,” Rundstedt said, looking at the special operations officer beside him. “Use your men, your methods, to cut this city into four pieces. I will fill in with the most elite grenadiers to prevent the enemy from fleeing and infiltrating.”

He pointed to a map spread out on the rubble and drew a cross over the entire city of Smolensk. The two intersecting lines were like two sharp knives, cutting into the center of the city. “Then I will have the new recruits begin to clear these areas one by one. As long as they can’t run rampant in the city, I plan to accelerate the capture of the entire city at the cost of five to ten thousand men.”

Zhukov was watching his front like a tiger. Rundstedt did not dare to delay for too long in an already encircled city. He was afraid that the weak side of the German army’s logistics would be seen through by the enemy. Once that happened, the problems the German army would face would be very serious.

He wasn’t afraid of Zhukov launching an immediate counter-attack. After all, the German army still had reserve fuel and sufficient ammunition in its hands. What he was afraid of was Zhukov using short, sharp assaults to probe the entire defense line, and then, after having consumed the German army’s limited supplies, concentrating his forces to launch an offensive. That would be the most fatal. According to the best estimates of Rundstedt and Brauchitsch, if that were to happen, the German army would have to at least hand over all of Belarus back to the Soviet Union.

In that case, if the Soviet Union did not choose to advance west, but chose to go south, Guderian and Manstein would be in considerable danger. Once the German army in the Caucasus region was caught in a dilemma, then the entire German plan to attack the Soviet Union would have completely failed. The German army would be bogged down in an endless war of attrition. Even if they ultimately won, they would lose the strength and opportunity to contend for world hegemony.

“Forgive my cold-bloodedness, Colonel,” Rundstedt said with a sigh to the officer in charge of special operations with regret. “I am a Field Marshal. Sometimes I have to make difficult choices. To ensure victory, I can only regretfully push tens of thousands of soldiers to the front lines to their deaths. This is war, a helpless war.”

The officer nodded and said to the Marshal before him, “I completely understand your feelings. My unit was formed to reduce casualties, but when time and other elements are higher than the requirement for casualty control, then there is no need for us to stubbornly execute the tactics.”

On the front lines, a German infantryman poked his head out from behind a corner and looked at the quiet street opposite. A few small flames were still burning on the roof there. The glass windows were all shattered, and the window frames were dark, empty holes, looking like mouths that eat people.

He pulled his head back, then made a few hand signals to the infantry behind him. From his weapon, it could be seen that this unit was not the German experimental battalion, nor was it any main force unit, but just an infantry unit to be consumed in urban warfare. The weapons in their hands were mostly Mauser rifles, and most of them were not even equipped with the white smocks for winter combat.

Some of the German soldiers behind were struggling to push up a heavy piece of equipment. The thing they were pushing looked a bit like a large cannon, but compared to the German 75mm field gun, this fellow was taller and looked much clumsier.

Two German soldiers were working hard, turning the wheels with their hands. The other soldiers were either pushing hard or pulling hard. They finally got this not-so-small weapon to a corner. At this time, the canvas covering it was pulled off, revealing the weapon’s true face.

This was a mass-produced version of the “Infantry Friedrich,” customized according to the needs of the front line, which was the official factory-produced version of the multi-barreled Panzerfaust rocket launcher that the infantrymen had modified themselves. Its weapon designation was “Marx,” but the soldiers still liked to call this thing the “Building Destroyer.” They had been using this name for almost a year, so it was more familiar and easier to remember.

“Ready!” With the platoon leader in command at the front shouting the slogan, a group of German soldiers suddenly put their strength into it and pushed this multi-barreled rocket launcher past the corner, setting it up on the wide street. The bullets of the Soviets opposite rained down on this rocket launcher, making a clanging sound.

A soldier was hit in the knee and fell to the ground, screaming. He was dragged back to the corner by two of his comrades, who pulled on the straps of his tactical vest. With a command, the sapper pressed the firing mechanism, and this rocket launcher, with a violent shake, began to spew one rocket after another.

“Careful! Stay safe!” With a command, everyone did their best to keep their bodies low. With a whooshing sound, the rockets that were fired, along with the slight shaking of the entire rocket launcher frame, spread out towards the front of the building at the end of the street, like a heavy hammer, striking the building’s wall again and again.

The smoke and dust began to spread. The wall of the building, with the continuous increase in the number of holes, and with the collapse of the load-bearing structure after the rocket explosions, began to slowly collapse. Finally, it fell with a crash in the white smoke, bringing with it the dozens of Soviet soldiers inside, and crashing to the ground in a pile of rubble.

A German soldier, using the smoke as cover, charged out from behind the corner, ran past the still-smoking rocket launcher, and reached the other side of the street. He raised his assault rifle and covered another soldier who was running after him.

This soldier, after crossing the street, lay prone on the side of the road and nimbly set up a machine gun, pointing its dark muzzle in the direction of the enemy. Beside him, a third German soldier who had run over dropped an ammunition box by his side and then held up the machine gun’s ammunition belt.

Then more German soldiers began to feel their way forward along the wall towards the end of the street. They advanced very quickly, crouching low to reduce their chances of being hit. Soon these soldiers had completely occupied this main street, and the follow-up troops began to enter the corridors of the buildings, clearing out any hidden Soviet soldiers one by one.

The sound of gunfire went from sparse to dense. The German and counter-attacking Soviet forces exchanged fierce fire across several buildings. Casualties began to gradually increase. The German field hospital, which had been almost empty, was filled with a full 400 wounded soldiers in just one hour.

Smolensk, which was originally planned to be defended for a month, was now, under the divided environment created by the new German tactics, unable to form an effective support and deployment. In just one day, a quarter of the city had been lost. The German army was systematically clearing the streets, enduring casualties to fight the Soviets in turns, which made the Soviet defenders pay a heavy price.

On March 25, 1939, the street fighting in Smolensk was still raging, but the Soviet weather had already changed from cold to slightly warmer.

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