The sun never sets.

But soon, the screams died down, leaving only the flames burning on the grease.

It was the self-propelled anti-tank gun of Army Group B that broke out from the burning village. This low-profile weapon was designed to deal with tanks. The 73-caliber 57mm anti-tank gun it was equipped with was based on the Soviet ZIS-2, which could penetrate 1000mm vertical armor at a distance of 90 meters and could deal a fatal blow to any existing German tank.

Even the heavy tanks that the Germans were still developing would only end up with the car destroyed and the crew killed if they were hit. The Alliance's 73-caliber 57mm tank gun has excellent performance, but its only drawback is that it is too expensive. The long barrel takes too many man-hours to process, and its service life is too short. The military likes this anti-tank gun very much, but in the eyes of the General Armament Department, the cost-effectiveness of this anti-tank gun is too low. Therefore, the plan for large-scale production was cancelled, and the 85mm caliber gun was prepared to be used on the next generation of tank chassis.

Although the Alliance's anti-tank gun had a low cost-effectiveness, it was undeniable that this type of artillery had high accuracy and strong armor-piercing capabilities, and it quickly destroyed seven German "Phase III tanks."

Seeing the tanks in front of them being blown up one after another, the remaining German tanks fired towards the village while retreating in a panic in the direction they came from. During the retreat, tanks were hit from time to time. As long as they were hit by a shell, the Type 3 tank would be finished.

The surrounding UN soldiers took the opportunity to pour fire on the German army, killing and wounding many German infantrymen.

Another German attack was repelled, but the defenders did not pursue the victory. Instead, they moved their positions after hastily cleaning up the battlefield. The same was true for the self-propelled anti-tank gun that had just been showing its power. It left the battlefield and moved to the woods in the distance.

Half an hour later, a series of artillery shells landed in the village, blowing it to pieces. In the later stages of the World War, the French Army was the best at infantry-artillery coordination, but the German Army was not bad either.

In Gerva, after the German attack was frustrated, they could quickly call for artillery fire support. The Germans' actions were already very fast, but the defenders had already moved elsewhere, and the artillery fire only made the land softer.

The arrival of the self-propelled anti-tank artillery regiment was very timely. If it were not for these war machines with strong firepower and armor-piercing ability that blocked the German tanks, the UN defense line in Gerva would have collapsed.

Although the blocking force was eventually defeated by wave after wave of attacks by the German army, the officers and soldiers bought time for friendly forces to annihilate the enemy's reorganized 1st Division and reorganized 2nd Division.

The self-propelled anti-tank artillery regiment played the role of a fire brigade in the blocking battle, destroying more than 24 German tanks, and suffering more than half of its own casualties. The firepower and mobility of the 500-type self-propelled anti-tank guns produced by the Alliance were first-class, but the defense was not strong enough. Except for the thickness of the front armor, the armor on the flanks and tail was very weak. If it was hit by a 37mm shell within meters, it would most likely be destroyed.

Only a small number of the lost self-propelled anti-tank guns were destroyed by German tanks, and more were killed by German infantry. The enemy's force advantage was too great, and under the continuous attack, the blocking troops would soon use up the ammunition they carried.

Without ammunition, the combat effectiveness of the troops dropped rapidly. Without the cover of infantry, the self-propelled anti-tank gun would be very vulnerable. This weapon was specially built to fight against enemy tanks and armored forces. In addition to a machine gun for self-defense, it had no other self-defense firepower.

The Gerwa front was in danger, and Guo Songling sent all his reserve troops there, but the troops were still stretched. Fortunately, the enemy's reorganized 1st and 2nd divisions finally couldn't hold on. Under the continuous attack of six divisions, the reorganized 20th division was the first to collapse, and the enemy's pincer movement was broken.

The soldiers pushed the 105mm howitzers to the hills where the reorganized 105nd Division had once held, and continued to fire at the remaining enemies. The coalition's mm howitzers were imitations of German artillery, and could directly use captured shells.

The artillery shells fired from friendly positions shocked the Reorganized 1st Division. The continuous bombardment destroyed many of their technical weapons and caused a large number of casualties, but the most important thing was to destroy their confidence.

Even with German officers as the backbone, this unit could not be compared with the real German Army. Moreover, they really couldn't fight any further. The shells had already hit the headquarters. How could they continue to fight?

Continuing to hold out would only cause the UN forces to consume more ammunition. The commander of the reorganized 1st Division saw through the telescope the large trucks of the Alliance, dozens or even hundreds of them driving a large amount of supplies, including boxes of artillery shells.

Seeing the UN Army using such a luxurious method to supply, the entire First Division was shocked. Apart from anything else, this method of supply alone was enough to prove the strength of the UN Army. The German Army's current method of supply was still to pull the goods by horse, carry them by hand or on the shoulders.

They held out for half a day longer than the Reorganized Second Division, and then the Reorganized First Division also collapsed. Its commander, Major General Fedor von Bock, saw that the situation was hopeless and the only troops he could control were only a few dozen people in the command center. So he stopped struggling in vain and chose to surrender.

It was called surrender, but in reality it was no different from being defeated and captured. You couldn't ask Major General Bock and the staff officers to pick up their rifles and charge forward; that would have no effect.

Although the German tanks were less than ten miles away from the encirclement, the reorganized 1st Division could not hold on any longer and was defeated and perished. It was truly a last resort.

Chapter 798 Lament

"Finally got it. It wasn't easy."

Guo Songling nodded slightly, "Sun Chuanfang fought well."

chief of staff

He smiled and said, "More than good. I think they fought very well. The reorganized First Division is called a division, but in fact it has more than 4 people. Together with the reorganized Second Division, this is a huge enemy. Sun Chuanfang was able to annihilate the enemy in days with the strength of six divisions. It is a great achievement!"

Guo Songling said, "General Seckt is still too arrogant. If we had 40,000 or 50,000 genuine German troops, we might not be able to eat up the dumpling filling so quickly. We would have to spend more effort."

"He was reluctant to use the German army as bait. Haha, haven't you heard that you can't catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb?"

Someone said: "This is because General Seeckt has too little capital. If he had 200,000 German troops, the situation would not have turned out like this."

"If he had 200,000 German troops, we wouldn't fight like this. Well, the battle is only halfway through, it's not time to celebrate yet."

Guo Songling asked: "Where is the First Armored Division?"

"We have reached Kalota. As long as we build a pontoon bridge, we can cross the Goel River and attack the enemy."

The Goel River is a tributary of the Song River and runs from north to south. The UN forces lined up on the east side of the Goel River. The Madras Republic Army tried to cross the river to attack, but was beaten back. The performance of the Alliance aircraft was better than that of the German aircraft, and they had control of the air. The Madras Republic Army and the Indian Dominion Army could not gather troops under the surveillance of the UN aircraft.

The two sides faced each other across the Song and Goel rivers, and apart from some small-scale exchanges of fire, there was no major fighting. Guo Songling's plan was to have the 1st Armored Division take the lead in crossing the river from the northern section of the Goel River, attack westward, cut off the enemy's retreat, and at the same time press forward to annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop. This was the "Sickle Blitz" tactic that the People's Army was good at.

"Must be quick!"

Guo Songling said: "Two reorganized divisions were destroyed. General Setek must be shocked and frightened. He should now consider withdrawing his troops. Before the enemy can react, we should advance quickly and defeat them!"

As Guo Songling said, Hans von Seeckt was shocked to hear that the two reorganized divisions were destroyed in four days. The reorganized divisions of the Madras Republic Army were trained according to the standards of the National Army, and their weapons and equipment were the same as those of the German Army. They were also equipped with a large number of German officers. According to the German General Staff, they had 4% of the combat effectiveness of the German Army.

Moreover, the strength of the first reorganized division was close to 30,000 troops, and the strength of the second reorganized division was not that much, but it was also over 13,000. The two reorganized divisions had a total of 40,000 to 50,000 troops. Were they just wiped out like that?

At the beginning, Sekt did not want to "bloom from the center" or use "elastic defense". The reason why the front and rear forces were disconnected was purely because the supply line was too long and India's transportation system was too poor.

Although the Indian People's Army suffered a crushing defeat and lost 200,000 to 300,000 troops, it still destroyed railways, roads and bridges during its retreat.

When the battle started, Seeckt found an opportunity to defeat the UN forces in one fell swoop, so he ordered the two reorganized divisions to move closer to each other and then hold on for reinforcements. At this time, the Battle of Sri Lanka had just ended, and Germany had lost face in front of the world. It urgently needed a brilliant victory to restore the reputation of the German Empire.

Defeating the Indian People's Army of more than 400,000 was a great victory, but it was not a glorious victory. Can the Indian army be considered an army? Only by defeating the People's Army of another great power can it be called a glorious victory.

That’s why Admiral Seeckt put all his chips on the line. However, the German Army suffered heavy casualties in the face of the tenacious resistance of the UN forces. The proud armored forces lost more than one-third of their tanks, half of which were grounded on the road and only half of which reached the front line.

That is to say, within two days, the tank losses on the German front exceeded 65%. According to the description of the frontline officers, the UN forces deployed a self-propelled anti-tank gun that moved quickly and had extremely fierce firepower. Its effective range and shooting accuracy exceeded any anti-tank gun equipped by the German army.

In the Battle of Bhopal, the German army discovered that the performance and firepower of their own "Type III Tank" were inferior to the Allied "Type 24 Tank", and now they were being beaten badly by the Allied self-propelled anti-tank guns.

Seckt couldn't help but lament in his heart: the German Empire had fallen behind in all aspects of armaments, and its military technology level and production capacity were far behind the Alliance.

Not only did the army's armored forces lag behind the Alliance, the air force's fighters and bombers also had a certain gap in performance with the Alliance; as for the navy, Germany's battleship design was as unoriginal as ever. The new super-dreadnought battleship was just an enlarged version of the original model, and the drawings of the aircraft carrier had been revised over and over again for several years without being finalized.

Admiral Hans von Seeckt sighed in his heart, his expression still grim. The situation was not favorable for the German army and the Madras Republic Army. Two reorganized divisions were annihilated. The army of the Royal State Alliance had to send a large number of troops to the West Bay of the Bay of Bengal because of the loss of Sri Lanka. As for the army of the Indian Dominion, it was also stagnant because the Afghans rushed down from the high ground.

For Sekt, what he had to do now was not to defeat the enemy, but to find a way to withdraw hundreds of thousands of troops back to Madhya Pradesh. After annihilating two reorganized divisions, the United Nations forces would definitely not watch the German and Madras Republic troops withdraw, and would inevitably launch a counterattack.

The order of retreat must be arranged, with alternating cover.

Only by protecting and gradually withdrawing can casualties be reduced.

Retreating from the enemy is always a very difficult task. Organizing a retreat is more difficult than organizing an attack. The troops left at the back will definitely be attacked fiercely, and if they are not careful, they may be completely wiped out. Everyone knows this.

Or, fight the UN forces first and then retreat?

A staff officer proposed this idea, but it was quickly rejected by others. Intelligence showed that the 1st Armored Division in the UN's combat sequence left Ranchi three days ago and its whereabouts were unknown, but it was obvious that the ace unit of the Alliance was not traveling. Perhaps the 1st Armored Division of the Alliance had already arrived at Gelwa by hiding during the day and traveling at night - just like the German armored division - and could rush out to launch an attack at any time.

An armored division of the Allies had nearly 330 tanks, while the German front had only about tanks left. If the battle continued, it would probably result in a major defeat.

Admiral Seeckt and his staff officers quickly reached a consensus that they must retreat, and worked out a retreat plan overnight. The German staff had already prepared to lose another 50,000 troops during the retreat, but the 1st Armored Division moved faster than they expected.

Chapter 799 Greyhound

The 1st Armored Division's engineer battalion built a pontoon bridge in one night with the help of the engineer corps sent by Army Group B. Because of the use of prefabricated parts and many drills, the engineer battalion was very efficient and built another pontoon bridge the next morning.

The Goel River is not very wide, with the narrowest part in the north only a hundred meters. After the pontoon bridge was built, the tanks of the 1st Armored Division continued to drive to the other side. In order to prevent accidents, the front and rear tanks on the pontoon bridge maintained a distance of at least thirty meters.

After the second pontoon bridge was built, the speed of crossing the river doubled. When crossing the river, tanks and vehicles equipped with various equipment were very vulnerable. If the enemy fired several salvos at the temporary bridge at this time, it would inevitably cause heavy casualties to the First Armored Division.

However, that did not happen. The night before, the infantry took the rubber boat to the other side of the Goel River. The full name of the 1st Armored Division is "Guards 1st Armored Division". Even without tanks, the Guards infantry has strong combat effectiveness.

The infantry established defensive positions across the river, placed road signs and markers to guide tanks and vehicles to quickly enter designated positions after crossing the river. When a small number of tanks appeared on the west bank of the Goel River, the pontoon bridge was considered safe.

In fact, there was no danger during the crossing. The main force of the German army was tied down near Gelva, and the Madras Republic Army deployed at the confluence of the Song River and the Goel River did not notice the 1st Armored Division's forced crossing at first. When all the tanks of the 1st Armored Division of the Guards reached the west of the Goel River, the Madras Republic Army woke up from the dream and launched an attack in a hurry.

The Madras Republic Army used German equipment. Their anti-tank guns and PAK37 anti-tank guns had no effect on the "Type 24 tanks". In the field battle, the Madras Republic Army was quickly defeated.

Zhu Yujie, commander of the 1st Armored Division, ignored the defeated Indians and led his troops westward to capture Wuerdiha, and then rushed to Nagarvinderi, which was the enemy's logistics supply center. As long as Nagarvinderi was occupied, the 100,000 German troops and 300,000 Madras Republic troops on the front line would collapse without a fight.

From the moment he discovered that the 1st Armored Division had crossed the Goel River, General Hans von Seeckt knew that something was wrong. He immediately ordered the troops near the river crossing point to attack the enemy. However, using an infantry division - an unreorganized Indian infantry division at that - to attack the armored division did not have an advantage in terms of manpower, so the outcome was obvious.

Sure enough, the Madras Republic Army that rushed to the ferry collapsed in less than half a day, and did not even play a role in containment. After the 1st Armored Division defeated the invading enemy, it left the Madras Republic Army to the infantry division that followed the crossing of the river, and then rushed to Nagarvinderi, which made General Seckt break out in a cold sweat. His chief of staff had originally wanted to fight and retreat, but when he found that the retreat was in danger of being cut off, the original battle plan was scrapped. Seckt immediately ordered the German army to turn to the rear.

In order to bring the main force back from the encirclement, General Hans von Seeckt had to leave behind a few elite troops, including several meritorious German troops.

The "Grey Hound" Infantry Company was one of the units selected for the interruption. This unit made outstanding achievements in the siege of Bhopal and received many commendations from the military. The company commander William was awarded the First Class Iron Cross and several soldiers were awarded the Second Class Iron Cross.

The Iron Cross First Class was considered a high honor, but the Iron Cross Second Class was of little use. During the World War, more than 500 million people received the Iron Cross Second Class, which was simply everywhere.

No matter what it is, once it is overused, its value will inevitably decrease. The Second Class Iron Cross Medal sounds good, but it is useless. After retirement, it can only be left at home to collect dust. When you are short of money, you can't exchange it for much money.

"Why do you want us to stay behind to cover our retreat?"

Friedham was very dissatisfied with the order from above, "We lost half of our troops in the regiment, and we should have retreated to rest!

I heard that the enemy’s armored division…”

William Ham's face turned green as he shouted, "Shut up! Fredham, are you trying to shake the morale of the army?"

"Come on, William, everyone knows about this!"

When the 1st Armored Division launched a blitzkrieg like a sickle, Guo Songling commanded his troops to launch an attack on the front and dispatched planes to drop a large number of leaflets, pointing out the fact that the German army was surrounded.

The leaflets contained various propaganda messages in German, English and some Hindi languages, which effectively undermined the morale of the German and Madras Republic Army.

"Shut up, Fred!"

William Ham's face was so gloomy that it seemed like water was about to drip. "Hurry up and dig the trench! The People's Army is not an Indian native!"

Big Mark set up the heavy machine gun on the firing position, fiddled with it for a few times, turned around and asked, "Do we have artillery support?"

William Ham shook his head, "No."

"What about anti-tank guns? There should be some, right? The Alliance has a lot of tanks."

The German infantry company had a total of nearly 3 people, with light mortars and light machine guns, and only three anti-tank guns to fight against armored forces, but the anti-tank guns were very ineffective and failed to penetrate the self-propelled anti-tank guns of the Allies. The armor of the tanks was much thicker than that of the self-propelled anti-tank guns, so the anti-tank guns were basically useless.

"The regiment sent two PAK37 anti-tank guns and a basic amount of artillery shells."

The PAK anti-tank gun could not penetrate the front armor of the Alliance "Type 500 Tank" at a distance of 24 meters, and in many cases it could not even penetrate the side armor. The "Greyhound" company was not aware of this, but it was better to have it than not.

If you can't penetrate the Alliance tank at a distance of 500 meters, then move it closer to 400 meters or 300 meters. It is better than letting the infantry fight with cluster grenades.

Mark said dissatisfiedly: "So few shells?"

William Ham had a strange look on his face. "The deputy commander said that when facing an enemy tank, an anti-tank gun can only fire five shells before it is destroyed, so there is no need to prepare too many shells."

Mark's eyes widened, and then he cursed a few words. William Ham frowned, "Insulting your superior is against military law! Mark, I don't want to see you sent to the disciplinary camp!"

The German Empire was a militaristic country with a clear class division within the army, and superiors had absolute power over subordinates. Mark's cursing of the regimental officers was not a big deal, but if the deputy regimental commander was petty, Mark would be sent to the disciplinary camp to do the hardest and most dangerous work.

Chapter 800 Warning

Although William Ham always had a gloomy face and looked like a perfect German soldier template, he was not the same as those militarists. Deep down, he hated war, but as a German, he could not avoid military service. The conscription office came to his home and declared that William Ham's family must contribute to the country. Then he and his brother Friedham crossed the ocean to India and served the emperor in a foreign country.

Although William Ham did not like war, his command level was very high, and the "Greyhound" infantry company made many achievements under his leadership.

"Deploy the two PAK37 anti-tank guns into the woods."

After carefully observing the surrounding environment, Williamham redistributed the heavy firepower in the company. The PAK37 anti-tank gun had a weak armor-piercing capability. During the attack on Bhopal, the shells were often bounced off by the Allied tanks, so that the German soldiers nicknamed this anti-tank gun "stepping stone".

The PAK37 anti-tank gun was not powerful enough, and the anti-tank gun was even less likely to be counted on. Williamham could only deploy the few anti-tank weapons he had in the woods nearby. If a tank really rushed forward, the two anti-tank guns could attack from the side.

Anti-tank weapons were placed in the woods, and the main position was built on high ground more than 100 meters away from the road. This is the highest place within a few miles and the most suitable place for defense. To the south is a forest where heavy equipment is difficult to pass, and to the north is a river, and the road is right next to the river.

The "Greyhound" infantry company defended the road on the south side of the river, and there was also an infantry company defending the north side of the river. Williamham could see the friendly troops on the other side of the river with a telescope, but he could not communicate with them in real time.

You can communicate with the enemy by using flag language, but it is too troublesome and can only be used in non-combat situations. After the fight starts, no one wants to wave flags foolishly to convey information.

Besides, what is there to communicate with the other side? Do you expect them to send reinforcements? Or send troops to support them?

The "Greyhound" company had 201 people at full strength. It suffered many casualties in the continuous fighting, so many new recruits were replenished. Then it continued to fight, continued to suffer casualties, and continued to replenish, and this cycle continued until the company was beaten to a bloody pulp on the Gelva Line.

This time, the battalion headquarters did not provide any new recruits for the Greyhound Company. When William Ham and his men were left behind, the entire company had only 115 men, and they were short of food, ammunition, and medicine.

The superiors gave two anti-tank guns to the Greyhound Infantry Company, which made William Ham feel relieved. At least there was some anti-tank firepower. But then, he became more worried. Why did the superiors give the anti-tank guns to the Greyhound Infantry Company?

Are they going to reinforce their infantry company with artillery? Is it possible that a UN tank unit will pass by here?

Williamham looked at his younger brother, Friedham, and then at the soldiers around him, and his heart became heavier.

Many things were concealed from above, but William Ham had a way to get some information. He had a very sharp sense of touch and could analyze the current situation from the ambiguous orders and rumors.

It was said that all the troops in the front were destroyed, and their main force was retreating. These people were treated as abandoned pawns by General Seckt.

No, how could General Seckt know about these little people? He probably hadn't even heard of the name of the Greyhound Company.

William Ham knew that the company was in danger, and so did the others. Without saying anything, the soldiers worked very hard to build fortifications, first digging foxholes, then digging horizontally, connecting the foxholes to form a trench.

Digging trenches is just the beginning. Next, we have to dig machine gun positions and mortar firing positions. If we can finish the machine gun positions today, we will have to dig anti-artillery holes and communication trenches tomorrow morning.

The "Greyhound" company dug the pit for half a day and were exhausted by the evening. After a quick dinner, William Ham arranged for the men to keep watch, while the others wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep in the trenches.

The climate in southern India is very warm, and there is little snow in winter, but the north is still affected by cold air currents, and the temperature at night can drop to very low. In order to keep warm, the soldiers huddled together, like shivering quails.