1549 Crossing the Dnieper 2
Everything is destined after the tank's tracks stepped onto the river bank. The Russians still don't learn anything. They only arranged minefields on the outer positions, but there were no anti-tank barriers arranged in pieces (such as small concrete cones similar to pyramids). Even the barbed wire is just the most ordinary, not a special viper barbed wire. Even if the latter is blown up, the tracks may still be stuck when the tank walks over. Although it is impossible to truly block the advance of the armored forces, it can delay time after all.
The troops and artillery arranged in the early stages of the frontier positions were destroyed. Following the passage opened by the artillery, teams of soldiers rushed towards the depths under the cover of tanks.
However, there are always some bunkers stuck in a position that makes the Germans very uncomfortable. The artillery in the distance cannot be fired, and the 75mm artillery in the near area is not powerful enough. At this time, a temporary modified tank came to the front desk. This variant of the cricket tank called the Fire Beast is specially used to deal with solid bunkers and clean up into sections of trenches.
After removing the turret, a flamethrower was installed on the front of the tank, and the ammunition was replaced with a fuel tank and compressed air bottle. In order to ensure survival, this tank used the weight saved to increase the defense power on the front and side fronts. After losing a large number of flat-fired artillery, the Russians could only watch these fire-breathing beasts walk comfortably less than 100 meters away from the target, and then use a fire dragon to take away all the lives in the entire bunker!
Although there is a division of about 16,000 Russian troops on the other side, and although it has obtained the best equipment that the Russians can gather at this stage, after a series of losses, the Russian army has obviously been exhausted, and they can't hold on for 2 hours even under the attack of the Bavarian Legion!
Within 2 hours, the landed troops had already broken through 5 kilometers of the opponent's deep position under the tank's pilot. At 10 a.m., 4 hours after the attack began, a pontoon bridge that could be equipped with heavy equipment had almost been established. Assault boats were used as bridge piers, and prefabricated bridge panels prepared in advance were used as bridge decks. The entire bridge deck thought about spreading across the river. However, the Russians had no choice for this pontoon bridge that looked like a noose on the neck of the Russian army.
And by twelve o'clock noon, there were already tens of thousands of German soldiers on the other side eating their lunch. In front, the armored troops had already penetrated the Russians' defense line and began to cut off their positions, and then ate them a little with the cooperation of the infantry!
Other landing sites also launched operations at the same time. Multiple attacks made the Russians, who had already had few troops, feel unable to deal with it. The few reserves were quickly filled on the riddled front line. However, before they arrived at the position, they had to pass the Bavarian Air Force level first!
Hundreds of bombers and attack aircraft were as deadly as the sword of Damocles hanging high above the Russian heads. They searched for all the Russian legions moving in the wilderness, and then used hot bullets and powerful bombs torn the Russians' marching formations to pieces. A large number of carriages were thrown directly on the road, and then became an excellent target for machine gun strafing and bomb attacks. A series of high-explosive bombs and incendiary bombs mixed with attacks, a transport team that was hundreds of meters or even thousands of meters long turned into a pile of ashes in a burst of loud bangs and explosions.
The large-scale cavalry units that the Russians are proud of appear more fragile in the face of threats whistling from the air. Even specialized military horses may be calm when facing machine guns that spit bullets wildly, but when bombers descending from the sky send piles of bombs and flames over their heads, these livestock are far less strong! According to the previous description of Air Force pilots, several single-shot fighters carrying machine guns and anti-infantry fragmented bombs can easily break a regiment of cavalry. Even after the bombing is over, these scared livestock will take a considerable time to calm down. In case of bad luck, perhaps after several controls, these cavalry will become infantry... (The horses are all running away, or they are dead...) So, when the air force air strikes began, the first reaction for the Russian cavalry was to get on the horse.
"The Russians have very few troops, even less than we expected. Among the five landing sites we set up in the first batch, there were actually two of them with almost no defensive power. We can now take a bigger step. It would be better to transport all the troops as soon as possible and then try to penetrate deeper." On the night after the attack began, after reading the battle report, Prince Leopold made a new request.
Just three days after the Bavarian Legion began the battle of crossing the river, the Austrian Legion in central Ukraine also began to cross the river. Although they faced a strong resistance, when the German army on the northern front drew some of its forces and quickly marched southward to the south, the enemy of the Austrian Legion was finally shaken. In the case of insufficient troops, the Russian army, who had previously exploited the potential to force the attack on the southern front, eventually suffered the consequences. They no longer had enough strength to block the attack of the German and Austrian armies on the vast Ukrainian plains.
Just as the German and Austrian army was advancing in Northern Ukraine, Borusinov, located in Southern Ukraine, also received a war report from the Northern Line. According to the staff around Borusinov at that time, when he heard that the entire Northern Dnieper River defense line was broken, this Russian general who had always maintained a high fighting spirit and never gave up at any time, and was always trying to turn the situation around the war seemed to have suddenly become a teenager. He kept muttering to himself. We even suspected that he could no longer hold his position.
What Borusinov has always been most worried about finally happened. The German and Austrian army did not save the Hungarian army, which was on the verge of collapse, as he imagined, but still launched an attack on the most vulnerable and deadly parts of Russia. It is expected that in another month, the main grain-producing areas in northeastern Ukraine will fall into the hands of the Germans, and then they will divide their troops to cut off the railway transportation lines between the north and the south of Russia, and the other will launch an attack on Donetsk and even the Transcaucasus region. The most important industrial base in southern Russia will face a catastrophe!
At this moment, Borusinov knew that he had lost everything! Even if he immediately mobilized troops east of the Dnieper River, it might not be too late. Even if some troops returned to the east coast, in the field environment without a fortification, he would definitely not be able to stop the German and Austrian soldiers!
Chapter completed!