Not to mention the operation of the 38th Army of the Red Army, continue to watch the end of the German South Wind Operation. On March 2o, the lssah Division finally arrived at the periphery of Arad and began to contact the Red Army. A German armored soldier named Andreas recalled the battle in this way:

"A enemy plane rushed down with flames. After a row of bullets, the soldiers' heads were cut off like they were swept by sickles, and their bodies were still in a shooting posture. The machine guns even continued to scream for a while. After a while, the headless body slowly fell down with blood mist. Another armored vehicle not far away was also hit by an aviation rocket. The members rolled out in a fire, howled and struggled for a while, and then lay on the ground and stopped moving. It was at this moment that the grenadiers picked up the mg42 machine gun in the armored transport vehicle to shoot in the air, and the Black Death had already roared away!"

Andreas continued to recall: "Under the enemy's fierce air firepower, we were nailed to the south bank of the Munesh River, while the Ivans were guarding the north bank and constantly scattering with heavy machine guns and cannons. We suffered heavy casualties and only had the opportunity to jump on the armored vehicle to escape at night. After a bumpy period, we were sent to a small village far away from the river bank to spend the night, bathe, sleep, and get some hot food. While we were napping, a shell fell straight down and killed our three comrades!"

In other directions, the Germans' experience was similar to the LSSah Division. The officers and soldiers were blocked by the river and were helpless in front of the defensive positions carefully laid by the Red Army. It was not until the next morning that the Germans tried to force the crossing of the Munesh River again when the subsequent reinforcements followed.

The 46th Infantry Division and the Lssah Division took advantage of the hazy morning and sent some troops to the other side of the river. However, as yesterday, after dawn, the Red Army's shelling and attack aircraft's aviation bombs hit the attackers, forcing the Germans to move into defense again.

Lieutenant Lessell participated in a close-range armored encounter: "Col. Piper decided to launch a night raid because during the day we were constantly being bombarded by increasingly fierce shelling from the north bank of the river. The first company had five Black Panther tanks left to fight, which made our tank members very unusually equipped because Bright's tanks had been destroyed. But he wanted to fight side by side with us, and no one of our young men wanted to withdraw, so six people were stuffed into our tanks (the Black Panthers were usually five)."

"With the protection of the rolling hills, we carefully advanced towards the river bank. After passing a slope quickly, the river bank was already in front of us. During this period, the enemy's artillery only fired a few shots in a mess, which made us feel a little lucky, thinking that we had avoided Ivan's eyes and ears. However, we were a little too happy. Just as we covered the infantry and began to force the crossing, the large-scale Russian artillery bombardment began!"

"A curtain wall of blood and fire fell in front of us in an instant. Through the periscope, we could see dazzling flames. With an explosion, we were hit! I couldn't figure out what weapon I was hit. According to the previous report of the scouts, there was no enemy's large and medium-caliber anti-tank guns on this section of the river. They had no weapons to destroy the Black Panther, but the tanks quickly burned. This saved the captain a lot of effort, because there was no need to get the order to abandon the car. However, I had to turn the turret a little away because the long barrel blocked the driver's hatch. If I just ran away, the driver Rhode would burn alive. Finally, Rhode and I jumped out of the fire tank. I noticed that his butt was burned."

Maybe Lessel would not believe it, because the weapons that destroyed his tank were indeed inconspicuous, and even old-fashioned. The 45mm tank gun equipment in the Red Army that had basically withdrawn from the front line was given to the Romanian Second Front Army. The Romanian artillery in a hurry used this old-fashioned weapon that had been eliminated to teach the Black Panther a lesson.

What made the Germans even more dull was that the 45mm armor-piercing bomb was not a black panther that penetrated from the side or tail, but actually drilled a hole in the Black Panther turret anti-shield, and then ignited the hydraulic pipeline inside the tank.

Why did the Black Panther penetrate the front by the old 45mm armor-piercing bomb? Later research found that the Black Panther's shield armor was full of moisture, with almost no molybdenum elements, and the rush to work greatly reduced the quality of the armor. Of course, this bullet also has the component of luck, and just hit the worst-quality part of the shield armor. I have to say that Lessell's luck is really bad.

However, it was not only the Black Panther of Lessel that was destroyed that day. Heavy tanks, including the Tiger and the Tiger King, were repeatedly blasted by the Red Army's anti-tank guns on the other side of the river. Compared with the Red Army's increasingly better armor-piercing shells, Germany's armor was getting worse and worse, which made even the D8 series artillery easily knock them off. As for the 122mm and 1oomm artillery, it set a record of success at long distances.

For example, Su1oo's gunner Krevinsky recalled: "We were ambushed in a wood on the other side of the river, and it was open in front of me. I could clearly see the every move of the German devils on the other side of the river. In the early morning, they took advantage of the night to start acting sneakily and slowly approached the river bank. At this time, we often fired a few flares with mortars to expose these thieves to their sight, and then seized the precious time to fire quickly. D1ot is a good cannon, even if it was to use ordinary steel cores to penetrate armor.

There are relatively high chances of destroying the enemy's tanks. If you use better tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs or armor-piercing bombs, your chances of success will be higher. However, that day was more interesting. In the previous battle, my car exhausted most of the armor-piercing bombs, and only three tungsten alloy armor-piercing bombs were left. However, these precious ammunition was prepared for the tiger and the tiger king, and it cannot be wasted on the fragile No. 4 tank. So after using the night to identify that the enemy is No. 4 tank, I could only use grenades to bomb them with depressed grenades!"

"The distance was about 2ooo meters at that time, and the distance was quite far at night. I could only see the enemy's approximation. The No. 4 tank slowly moved forward with the help of the terrain cover. The enemy's captain and driver were very smart and were exposed for very little time, which caused great trouble for my car's aim. However, I still trapped it as much as possible. Just when it exposed half of its body again, I chose to attack without hesitation!"

"The grenade flew out with a thud. I didn't bother to observe whether it hits. I quickly ordered the loader to reload again, because the destructive power of the grenade was too small, so I had to do a few more. In the next minute or two, I shot five times in a row until the No. 4 tank could no longer move!"

Krevinsky didn't know that the so-called No. 4 tank he shot was actually a tiger king. The heavy night color disturbed his judgment, but he did not lie in the story behind it. Because he did destroy the tiger king with grenades. According to the post-war count, the tiger king was hit at least three 1oomm grenades, which caused the armor of his vehicle to crack on a large area, the driver was killed, and the remaining crew members could only flee in a swarm.

During this night battle, some German tanks and armored vehicles successfully crossed the river and attacked the Red Army defenders on the other side of the river. A soldier from the 9th Company of the 26th Armored Grenadier Regiment recalled: "The village is full of enemy tanks and armored vehicles. Our tanks and armored vehicles launched an attack with the enemy. Almost all over the sky were tracer bombs flying. Many vehicles were hit with bullet holes and then ignited a raging fire. The number of T34s was large, forcing our armored transport vehicles to look for cover everywhere. Our driver, Gundoan, had been desperately reversing to avoid artillery fire.

, until it crashed into a house and rushed out from the other side of the house. Then, our car seemed to have hit something. I looked up from the car, and cold sweat came down. The rear of our car was hitting a t34. Its turret turned around in a crack. Soon the black muzzle was aimed at the brothers in our car and screamed immediately: 'Run!' As soon as the words fell, a flash of fire flashed, and a scorching and rapid airflow rushed through the car. I was blown away directly, but I was not injured, but everyone else was dead."

That night, the two sides fought fiercely around the small village. The German shelling almost flattened the village, and most of the houses no longer existed, leaving only a few broken bricks and tiles. SS soldiers carrying mp4o submachine guns trotted among piles of rubble, and from time to time raised their heads to shoot at the Red Army's assault riflemen. The two armies fought fiercely until late at night. Finally, under the threat of the Red Army's tanks and artillery fire, the Germans had to retreat dejectedly.

After the battle that night, Ditrich realized that the problem was serious. If he could not cross the Munesh River and occupy Arad, the subsequent battle plan would be impossible to implement. So he immediately stopped the small-scale crossing operation of each division to fight, and instead accumulated strength to prepare to cross the Munesh River in one go.

After two days of preparation, the German army attacked again according to Dietrich's order. The Germans hit the powerful forces of two armored divisions and three infantry divisions, and launched a fierce attack under the cover of overwhelming artillery fire.

But what Dietrich did not expect was that the Red Army also launched an attack on this day. The Lssah Division was attacked by the Red Army in the front. With the support of heavy artillery, the two sides collided near the river bank, and even engaged in a cruel and bloody hand-to-hand battle. However, in the end, the Germans were more prepared and attacked the Red Army that rushed towards the front and established a solid bridgehead.

Later war historians were puzzled by this battle because just the day before, the Second Romanian Army of the Second Front received a notice from the Military Commission, asking them to shrink appropriately and let the Germans go across the river. According to Konev's idea, letting the Germans go across the river is easier to trap them, so when Vasilevsky appears behind them, it will be difficult for the Germans to escape.

According to this idea, in the face of the German crossing operation, the Red Army in most areas shrank its positions in time, and only the LSSah Division was responsible for a problem. The Red Army and Romanian troops stationed inexplicably carried out resolute counterattacks. Is this simply disobeying, okay?

Later, after investigation, it was found that the regiment stationed in this section did not receive orders from their superiors. They thought they had to hold their positions. Faced with the German attack, the only way the regiment could think of was to fight for an inch of land, which led to misunderstandings.

German soldier Gentl, who had experienced this battle, recalled: "We had a muddy road with uneven heights and snow. While cursing the mud, we were exhausted and staggering in a dark mood. The people in front of the team disappeared from time to time. I don't know how long it took, but the order to stop moving forward came from the front. I immediately fell weakly on the riverside beside the river and took a rest for a moment. After more than ten minutes, I was woken up by the company commander, and my comrades were already preparing for the final battle. Soon the order came down, and the stg44 assault rifle team rushed to the riverside first, and we followed closely behind."

"What was presented to us was a vast grassland. The farmhouses in the village on the other side of the river were visible from afar. The Ivans were guarding the village. Just as we were ready for the assault boats and rubber boats to start crossing the river, gunshots suddenly burst out. The enemy's fire was very fierce, and several flames swept through the people who had already been on the boat. Mortar shells fell down, blowing up large pieces of soil into the air. We knew that time was urgent. We quickly picked up the oars and rowed hard, and the shells almost chased our assault boats and exploded. In less than a minute, we all turned into chickens."

"It's getting closer and closer to the river bank, just when we thought it was about to be safe. A shell exploded at the stern of the boat. I only felt a wave of air mixed with cold river water overturning me from behind. I almost fell into the bottom of the river, struggled for a few times before I recovered from waking up, and then climbed up the river bank with my hands and feet. When I looked over the river bank, I not only took a breath of cold air, but our assault boat had been completely blown up, leaving only a few pieces of wood floating on the water surface, and there was blood red around the wood chips. Later I realized that everyone on the same boat was dead."

"My whole body is soaked. When the cold wind blows, I don't tremble freely. At this time, I really want to find a shelter to light a bonfire to warm up, or even change into dry clothes! Just as I was thinking about how to act next, a head appeared on the water. The company commander wiped his face, hands and feet and climbed up the river bank. He glanced at me and asked loudly: 'Hank, where is your rifle?'. I realized that the rifle was gone. Maybe it fell into the river when I fell into the water. The company commander was very dissatisfied with my explanation: 'Hank. What's the matter with a soldier without a gun? I ordered you to get a gun immediately. Soon, the battle is about to begin!"

"I was naturally stunned. I can still fight with my trembling look now? I could freeze to death without waiting for Ivan to come. But the company commander didn't care about so much. He ordered me to get a weapon. In desperation, I could only climb the river and touch the missing damn gun in the mud. The river was very cold, or it was getting colder, and I had thought of giving up. But the company commander kept ordering me to continue looking for guns, and I could only execute the orders like a real German soldier. I don't know how long I searched, but I felt that my whole body was frozen. Finally, I found the 98k rifle that was dead between a ball of water plants. My only thought at that time was that I could finally get ashore and finally I didn't have to get frozen."

"I trembled with my rifle and climbed up to the shore again, but the company commander and other brothers in the company were no longer on the shore. There were fierce shouts from the other side of the river bank. Some spoke German and some spoke Russian. When I climbed over the river bank, a tragic scene hit my eyes!"

"The company commander is dead. He was cut open by an Ivan's stomach, his internal organs flowed all over the ground, and the heat was still steaming. A Ivan next to him was shoveled off his head by an engineer. Not far away, several comrades were fighting with Ivans. Anyway, there were corpses everywhere on the ground and blood everywhere. I didn't care that it was almost frozen, so I hurriedly inserted a bayonet and joined the battle group. Soon Ivans retreated, and there were only twenty people in our company, including me, who had almost never caught up with the battle. "

"Most of my comrades died in the hand-to-hand battle after crossing the river. If I hadn't carried out the commander's order and went to find that gun, I would have almost frozen. I would have been cut open like the company commander and died tragically on the spot. Thanks to the company commander, and thanks to the 98k. It was you who made me lucky to have survived this battle. Although the Russian prisoner-of-war camp was bad, it was better than losing my life."

Ditrich breathed a sigh of relief by successfully crossing the river. He immediately ordered the engineers to build a floating bridge and send the armored troops across the river as soon as possible. Next, according to Hitler's idea, the armored troops would continue to penetrate and penetrate deeper until they were divided and surrounded by the Romanian First Front Army.

But Ditrich didn't know that even if his armored troops successfully crossed the river, it would not mean that they could easily take Arad. During the period when he entered Romania, the Romanian Second Front had been consolidating this position. Around Arad, the Romanian Second Front had built solid fortifications and stockpiled strong defensive forces, waiting for him to rush up and hit a wall.

On the other side, Huasilevsky's 38th Army was also progressing quite smoothly. Taking advantage of the Germans' busy attracting the attention of Konev's troops, he quickly attacked and rushed to the preset battlefield almost unimpededly, while his actions did not attract the attention of the Germans at all (to be continued.)

PS: Bow to thank SV, Admiral Hood, glorious charter, the King of the Finale and Comrade Juventus!

I want to visit it on my phone.
Chapter completed!