Sokolov accepted the task assigned by Chu Sinan to him. ￣￣ The strategic point of seizing the October Farm and preventing the German tank troops from heading to the city of Volkhov. This was a difficult task, but Sokolov was full of confidence.

In order to win this victory as quickly as possible, Sokolov made careful inferences and careful arrangements. In his opinion, the biggest problem at present is not to seize this area, but how to block it. Today, although the German army deployed quite a few troops on the October Farm, their front was too weak in the face of its large-scale armored iron stream, especially now, his troops have also added a self-propelled artillery regiment and an elite infantry brigade, which means that the troops that his subordinates can mobilize have doubled. If such a battle cannot be won, he should die of shame without waiting for the command center to deal with it.

Sokolov is undoubtedly an experienced tank force commander, and his layout in the marching of the tank force is also completely in line with the elements of both offense and defense. What he personally led was the elite 287th Regiment in the Armored Brigade, which is the strongest breakthrough ability in his hands and the backbone, so he arranged it on the right wing. This direction is the direction that is most likely to encounter the German tank force. Although there is no news that the German tank force has appeared in this area, Sokolov decided to be cautious. The marching layout in the 287th Regiment is the right flank of the right flank, and they are defeated.

The responsibility for the protection of this direction is the mixed formation of Stuart and V-1 on the forward line, and the reserve support line. It is the main t-34. On the left wing line of the 287th Regiment, it is the location of the 285th Regiment. Sokolov gave them the task to be responsible for the rapid advancement of the south, that is, Volkhov, after breaking through the German October Farm Defense Line, to increase the strategic depth of the Soviet army, so as to build a position for the anti-tank artillery battalion and anti-aircraft artillery battalion that followed. On the back line of these two regiments is the 289th Regiment. Their main task is to serve as a reserve force and also protect the artillery units with the worst defense capabilities.

Sokolov now just wants to quickly rush into the German defense line of October Farm. If time is time-consuming, he can still have plenty of time to arrange the battlefield. He can even ambush the German tank troops who arrived later.

Sokolov never expected that a large German tank unit in the direction of October Farm at this time had already arrived one after another. Judging from the number of tanks it equipped and the number of troops on the tank turret, it should be two reorganized tank regiments.

As a brigade-level commander under the 56th Armored Army of the Empire, Major Stells has always commanded his troops to fight with a cautious style. The so-called "care is no big mistake" is also a famous saying he pursues.

Over the past period of time, Stells, like all the officers and soldiers on the front line, deeply realized the bad situation of the battle, but he believed that the fundamental reason for this bad situation was not the combat soldiers, nor the commander's tactical command, but the damn weather here. The weather here was so cold that it was so cold that the tank troops could not fight normally. After a few hours of docking, the tank's tracks would be frozen and hard on the ground and could not be moved, and at the same time, the wear of parts was increasing. Many tanks in his troops often had problems and eventually withdrew from the battle.

In addition to the troops' own problems, logistics supply also encountered huge difficulties in the severe cold. On the battlefield of the snow-covered Beloye Lake area, transport vehicles moving on mechanical wheels were far less effective than supply teams powered by horses. However, the transportation volume of animal power was too small and the speed was slow, which could not meet the needs of front-line combat at all.

From these aspects, Stells really envied those rude Russians. They seemed to be born suitable for survival and fighting in this environment. The soldiers' cold resistance alone was obviously better than the sacred imperial soldiers. In addition, their vehicles and tanks that were rough in work, surprisingly loud noise during their journey, and thick smoke covered the sun were also the most suitable for combat under such severe cold conditions. Not to mention anything else, just say that the four T-34 tanks seized from the Russian army in their tank formation have not had any problems for such a long time. Stells did not understand the deep knowledge of engineering machinery, so he was confused. Could it be that the rougher the workmanship and less technical content, the stronger and durable it was?

Strass is a pure soldier. He would not think too much about things. For him, obeying the orders of his superiors is the most important thing.

This time, he returned from the front battlefield of the Svery River and advanced rapidly along the way. His troops had no time to do anything to rest. After passing through the Volkhov Bridge, he received an order from the division headquarters: immediately lead his troops to garrison the October Farm, and at the same time he was responsible for the task of reconnaissance of the Soviet army in this area.

Although his troops were quite tired, after entering the protection position of the October Farm, Stells still carried out the orders of his superiors. He allocated two tank companies under the army to search for the southern passage. The task of his two search companies was to be alerted in the area three kilometers south of his main position, and to immediately repay the movements of the Russians once they were discovered. At the same time, try not to exchange fire with the enemy without receiving the order to avoid unnecessary losses.

In this way, two German tank companies that were the first to exchange fire with the Sokolov tank troops stopped on the October Farm and left the German main position and groped towards the road leading to the south.

When these two German tank companies were sailing out, Sokolov's vanguard had already marched less than four kilometers away from the outer area of ​​October Farm. If the German planes could detect this area at this time, they would find that the German tank troops of the two companies were like a weak raccoon, carefully marching towards the sharp fangs of a mammoth.

However, this little raccoon cat also caused some trouble to Sokolov's tank troops. A small weakness of the Soviet tank is that the target during the march is too obvious. The smoke caused by the power of the diesel engine is enough to be seized by the enemy at a distance, especially when large-scale tank troops advance, this weakness is exposed more obviously.

As Sokolov summarized after this battle, if it were not for the existence of this German reconnaissance force, the results of his raid would have been greater, and the price he paid for this would have been much smaller.
Chapter completed!