The artillery regiment headquarters was captured by the Soviet army within a few minutes. It was Pukarev, not Shulka, who commanded the battle, because Shulka didn't think it was a headquarters at all...Rzhev had too many

This is just one of the buildings defended by the remaining German troops.

At this time, Shulka was commanding a platoon of troops to harass the German defense lines from the rear, which accelerated the collapse of the German army because they believed that they were being attacked from two sides by the enemy.

Then, a communications soldier ran up to Shulka...At this time, the Soviet army generally did not have a distribution station at the company level. Communication mainly relied on communications soldiers, signal flags or telephone lines. Of course, there was no telephone line at this time.

Line times and conditions.

"Comrade Captain!" the signal soldier reported: "Comrade Pukarev thinks you should go to his place and have a look. We have captured a building, which may be the artillery headquarters!"

"Artillery headquarters?" Shulka's eyes couldn't help but light up.

As the communications troops rushed to the three-story building, Shulka discovered that it was indeed an artillery headquarters as Pukarev said, which could be seen from the number of German officers among the corpses.

"I led the third platoon to attack here!" Pukarev reported: "I originally thought that many Germans gathered because the building was easy to defend and difficult to attack, but I didn't expect that this was a headquarters!"

It would have been unimaginable before for a platoon to take down a building guarded by a guard company. The platoon would be shot down by German machine guns in minutes.

However, with the bazooka, things are reversed.

The German machine gunners placed in the window were knocked down by rocket launchers one after another before they even saw the target... The machine gunner may not be obvious, but the window is too obvious, and the rocket launcher shooter only needs to aim at the window.

When we reached the second floor, there were corpses everywhere and documents scattered on the ground.

Shulka picked up one at random. Although he couldn't read German, he could understand the sketch on it.

"Organize and protect these documents!" Shulka immediately ordered: "Just like protecting your women!"

"Yes, Captain!" Pukarev stood up and immediately ordered to his subordinates: "Did you hear that? Protect these documents!"

The soldiers hurriedly bent down to pick up the documents. The Cossack said while picking up: "But Comrade Captain, I usually punch and kick my women!"

The people around him couldn't help but burst into laughter.

The next thing was simple. Shulka immediately found a translator who knew German to interpret the documents, and at the same time urgently mobilized the artillery.

The artillery had actually been prepared before this because it was expected that a batch of German artillery would be captured as a result of this battle.

The problem is that the Soviet army only prepared one artillery battalion. The fact is that the Soviet army captured a total of fifty-three howitzers in Rzhev. These artillery pieces were enough for an artillery regiment.

As a result, Katukov immediately ordered a Soviet artillery regiment to abandon its artillery and rush to Rzhev.

All the processes were not completed until an hour later...The movements and coordination of the Soviet army were just slow, and there was nothing we could do about it.

Then, batches of artillery shells poured towards the German fortifications on the coordinates.

The news soon reached the 9th Army headquarters. Before Model returned to the headquarters, his staff reported: "Rzhev has been lost. Our fortifications and warehouses near Rzhev were attacked by the Russians."

bombing!"

Model knew what this meant, which meant that the Russians not only occupied Rzhev, but also captured the artillery and documents he had deployed in Rzhev. This was the reason why the Russian army could bomb accurately in the dark.

After thinking about it, Model gave the order: "Order the reinforcements to stop advancing!"

"General..."

"Withdraw them!" Model said in an unquestionable tone: "We have already lost, don't have any more hope in Rzhev, it will only make our loss worse!"

Model is rational. With the terrain of Rzhev, plus the Soviet army's successful use of artillery, and the "Matilda" tanks that the German anti-tank guns are incapable of... the Soviet army can easily

Use tanks to build a steel defense line that the German army cannot break through, and then use artillery to ruthlessly bomb any enemy who tries to attack Rzhev, just like the German army did to the Soviet army before.

"If Rzhev falls into enemy hands..." Colonel Krebs asked Model.

Model knew what Colonel Krebs meant.

Rzhev is not only a small town problem, but also a problem of commanding heights and artillery superiority. Once it is lost, a hole will be ripped open in the German defense line that was finally closed...a circle with Rzhev as the center and a radius of ten kilometers

's mouth.

This would expose the flanks of the 23rd Army and the 27th Army on its left and right flanks to the Soviet front.

"Retreat!" Model ordered with a stern face: "Retreat fifteen kilometers!"

"Then those Russian troops who were surrounded..."

"Open a gap in the north!" Model ordered: "Let them break through!"

"Yes!" Colonel Krebs responded.

This was a helpless move. Otherwise, when the Soviet army reached the German defense line, the German army would face the dilemma of being attacked from both inside and outside. At that time, it would not be as simple as giving up fifteen kilometers.

However, the German army also had conditions to allow the besieged Russian army to break through.

On the one hand, this is because the German army is not willing to give in. On the other hand, if the Russian army is allowed to break through with heavy equipment, those tanks, cars, anti-tank guns, etc. will definitely pose a great threat to the German army and even get a batch of supplies.

After a U-turn, it can immediately become the main force for attacking or even counter-encircling the German army.

Therefore, before opening the gap, the German army destroyed the road and set up mines and roadblocks, so that the Soviet army could only break through lightly.

This was no problem for the Soviet army, because they were already surrounded and lacked supplies. Their tanks had insufficient fuel and artillery shells. Even if the Germans asked them to do so, they would not be able to drive back.

So with an order, the Soviet army blew up their heavy equipment and broke out.

"Congratulations to you, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov immediately called Shulka: "You succeeded again. I just received the news that our besieged troops have broken out.

!”

"Thank you, Comrade Katukov!" Shulka replied: "This is the honor of our 1st Guards Tank Brigade!"

"There is no need to say these kind words between us, Comrade Shulka!" Katukov said: "We all know that without your wisdom and bravery, it would be difficult for the 1st Guards Tank Brigade to win this battle.

, or even if you can win, you will have to pay a heavy price!"

"So..." Shulka replied: "This is the reason why I am desperately trying to find a way, because I may also be part of the 'heavy price'!"
Chapter completed!