Chapter 844 The Final Battle - Pavlyuchenko (First Update)

Boo hoo hoo...

Just when Pavlyuchenko and her comrades were thinking about how to arrange their post-war life, suddenly, a sharp and ear-piercing whistling sound came from the sky. This sound sounds like a ghost roar from hell, and it also sounds like dozens of huge pipe organs being blown at the same time. The harsh sound pierces people's eardrums and goes straight into the heart and lungs!

"Bazooka! Hurry and take cover!"

Immediately, someone screamed in fear. People who have been fighting on the battlefields of Lviv and Ukraine for nearly a year are all too familiar with this Soviet rocket launcher, known as "Stalin's Organ".

Due to the disadvantages of the Red Air Force, towed artillery that takes a lot of time to deploy is difficult to survive on the battlefield and can only be used very carefully. Therefore, the Soviet Red Army is extremely fond of rocket launchers that can drop a large amount of ammunition instantly and can be fired immediately. The number of equipment is increasing and the frequency of use is getting higher and higher. It is likely to replace towed artillery as the main force of the Red Army's artillery. .

Therefore, this kind of rocket launcher, which was launched with great momentum, caused great losses to the attacking "Ukrainian" German troops on the battlefield in Western Ukraine in the autumn and winter of 1942. It has naturally become the most hated weapon by Ukrainians.

By the way, the Germans are no worse at playing a hated weapon like rocket launchers than the Soviets, and are even better at it.

However, the Germans' use of rocket launchers is still different from that of the Soviets. Now, German rocket launchers are divided into reserve rocket launchers directly under the director of artillery (Germany does not have a rocket artillery branch at this time) according to different uses. The main equipment is 280 /300/320mm heavy rocket launchers. This kind of rocket launcher units are generally attached to army groups or army headquarters and are mainly used for offensive operations. Therefore, the maneuverability of rocket launchers is not emphasized, and all equipment are towed rocket launchers.

The other type is a rocket launcher belonging to combat engineers, which is also equipped with a large-caliber rocket launcher, but is installed on a half-track vehicle. This rocket launcher is used to clear obstacles, clear mines and blow up enemy fortresses.

The third type of rocket launcher belongs to the divisional artillery. Each division belonging to the Wehrmacht Army and the SS has a rocket launcher battalion. The equipment is medium and light rocket launchers installed on cheap 2-ton trucks. Among them, infantry units It is equipped with 10-barreled 150mm rocket launchers, while the armored troops and armored grenadiers are equipped with 48-rail (guide rail) 80mm light rocket launchers.

These two classes of rocket launchers are now the most widely used, and they were heavily equipped under the supervision of Hersmann himself, so they are both called "Hersmann's Organ."

Pavlyuchenko, who had been bombarded by rocket launchers countless times on the Ukrainian battlefield, reacted very quickly. When the ghostly cry of "whoosh!" came out, she fell off the horse - the sound of the rockets was too loud, and it was easy to It scared Ma crazy - before she could stand firm on the ground, the sound of rocket explosions followed.

boom! boom! boom……

The explosion pounded the ground violently, and the powerful shock wave turned into violent waves. The broken shrapnel was like the scythe of death, mercilessly sweeping through the ranks of the 14th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion.

Pavlyuchenko was relatively lucky. She happened to be following a Cougar armored vehicle. When the rocket struck, the driver of the Cougar immediately stepped on the brakes. The armored car stopped right in front of Pavlyuchenko who had rolled off his horse. She immediately crawled forward desperately and got under the chassis of the Cougar - although the Cougar's armor was thin and the body was not heavy, it was enough. It resists rocket fragments and will not be destroyed unless it is hit directly or the rocket explodes at a very close distance.

So Pavlyuchenko found himself a very safe place, but the officers and soldiers who were exposed to the power of the rockets were miserable. Many of them were beaten to death by shrapnel before they even had time to jump off their horses. Some people's horses were frightened and ran around uncontrollably, carrying their owners and galloping through the hail of bullets!

Less than a minute later, the SS cavalry reconnaissance battalion suffered heavy losses. Nearly 80 of the more than 300 people were killed or injured. The horses suffered even greater losses, either being killed or running away without a trace.

Those who escaped did not have time to grieve, because they knew that the battle had just begun!

Those who can bombard them with rocket launchers are definitely not Soviet guerrillas, but the real main force! Judging from the momentum of the rocket bombardment just now, it was at least a rocket battalion firing a salvo (actually, it was not very accurate, otherwise the losses would not be the only ones). And the troops that can be assigned to a rocket launcher battalion are at least one division. This Soviet division will not be knocked down after a burst of rocket launchers without thinking. The hard battle has just begun!

"Attention, attention, prepare to fight!"

The officers' calls and the screams of the wounded rang in Pavlyuchenko's ringing ears almost simultaneously. She immediately rolled and got out from under the chassis of the Cougar armored vehicle. Then he looked around and found that his horse was lying on the ground with blood and flesh, still breathing rapidly. She quickly ran over and took off her backpack and G43 semi-automatic rifle from the dying horse. There were traces of flames on the backpack, but it was not damaged, and the brand new G43 semi-automatic rifle was also intact.

Just when Pavlyuchenko wanted to check the injury of his big Polish horse, someone shouted again: "Tank! Soviet tank!"

Pavlyuchenko looked up at the sky, and it was almost evening, which meant that the German Air Force could not help much... It seemed that the Soviet commander was an experienced general, and he chose a very good time to start.

The Soviet commander who commanded this ambush was named Mikhail Fedorovich Lukin, with the rank of general and the position of commander of the 5th Tank Army of the Red Army.

His 5th Tank Army arrived in Roslavl in the south of Smolensk Oblast on the evening of May 5. As soon as he got off the train, he learned from the commander of the militia division stationed in Roslavl that the German armored forces (actually armored cavalry) had occupied Klimovich, 70 kilometers away!

Lukin took this news very seriously. He thought that the troops arriving in Klimovich were the main force of the German southern armored group (in fact, the 1st Panzer Army was the main force and was still on standby near Lechitsa), and their target must be Smolensk, 130 kilometers (north of Klimovich).

So Admiral Lukin decided at that time to place the main force of the German southern armored group in the southern part of Smolensk Oblast at all costs - this is also the northern part of the battlefield of the "junction battle" being prepared.

When Lukin personally led a mechanized army (the 5th Mechanized Army) to maneuver overnight (there was bombing during the day and it was impossible to move) to the border area between Smolensk Oblast and Mogilev Oblast, he received information from the guerrillas in Mogilev Oblast that a regimental-level combat group composed of cavalry and tanks (the Soviet guerrillas mistook cougars for tanks) was heading north from Klimovich.

Lukin judged that it was the vanguard of the German armored forces, so he planned the ambush on the afternoon of May 7, mobilizing a total of a mechanized infantry brigade, a tank battalion, a heavy artillery battalion and a rocket artillery battalion. Moreover, Lukin himself went to the front line in person, he wanted to see the power of the German armored forces with his own eyes.

The ambush plan was formulated by Lukin and Colonel Cheremisov, commander of the 109th Mechanized Infantry Brigade. They planned to cover with rocket launchers first, then use four battalions of the 109th Mechanized Infantry Brigade to make dumplings, and then use a tank battalion belonging to the 57th Tank Brigade and a tank destroyer battalion directly under the 5th Mechanized Army to attack or chase and destroy.

The plan was very good, but during the execution, a situation that Lieutenant General Lukin did not expect occurred - the Germans (actually Ukrainians) had a "wheeled tank" that ran very fast, and their reaction was also very fast. Lukin's T-34 had just rushed out of the ambush woods, and the German infantry (cavalry) climbed onto the "wheeled tank" and "wheeled armored vehicle" and turned around and ran away. The T-34, which is known for its speed, couldn't catch up with the opponent!

"What kind of tank is this? How can it run so fast?" Lukin, standing on the roof of an armored command vehicle, put down the telescope and asked Colonel Cheremisov, commander of the 109th Mechanized Brigade, who is an expert in tank and mechanized warfare.

"It's just a heavy armored vehicle with a turret installed, which looks like a 50mm cannon, probably the one on the Type 3 tank." Colonel Cheremisov replied, "But the Germans can't escape, the 5th Independent Tank Destroyer Battalion will take care of them!"

The 5th Independent Tank Destroyer Battalion belongs to the 5th Mechanized Army and is equipped with 15 SU-85 tank destroyers, of which 12 are still operational. This is a mobile anti-tank artillery modified from the T-34 chassis. It has an S-18 tank gun improved from an 85mm anti-aircraft gun, which is said to be able to penetrate the frontal armor of a Tiger tank (Tiger E, not the shrunken Tiger G) at a distance of 500 meters.

However, because it has no turret, it is not very suitable for tank group fighting. The best use is to ambush (the accuracy of Soviet tanks and assault guns is not high, so it is not possible to use them at long distances like the "Rhino" tank destroyer), so Lukin and Cheremisov ambushed these 12 SU-85s on the retreat route of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion. However, these 12 SU-85s still failed to annihilate the Ukrainian cavalry reconnaissance battalion, but only blocked them into a collective farm.

"Comrade Commander," Cheremisov reported to Lieutenant General Lukin about 45 minutes later, "This German army is very cunning. They stretched their troops very far during the retreat. Our SU-85 destroyed only 6 vehicles, and the rest retreated to the 13th collective farm in the Kremovichi area."

"The 13th collective farm?" Lukin looked at the map sent by the staff, which had the location of the collective farm marked on it. It was on the road from Kremovichi to Smolensk, about 20 kilometers away from Kremovichi.

"Let's surround them," Lukin thought for a while and said, "and then see if we can attack their reinforcements."