Xu Rui's armored assault troops broke through four German lines of defense in succession, heading towards Stepankovo, the last German line of defense in the west.
In previous battles, the Soviet artillery played a great role in supporting Xu Rui's armored assault troops. However, Stepankovo is far away from the Soviet controlled area, and the Soviet artillery cannot reach this level. area, which caused the armored assault troops to lose the cover of artillery fire and could only rely on their own capabilities to attack.
Without the restraint of artillery fire, the fleeing German troops finally took a breath after retreating to the rear of the position. They began to regroup and prepare to compete with the armored assault troops.
Xu Rui used his binoculars to look at the German position in front. There were about thousands of people defending it. The Germans had built a solid defense line here. There were at least twenty anti-tank guns and dozens of anti-tank rifles at the front of the position. If If you attack from the front, your troops will suffer heavy losses.
Xu Rui called Zyuganov to his side and said to him: "Zyuganov, you immediately lead your troops around from the left and attack the Germans from the flank."
"yes!"
Zyuganov's eyes flashed coldly, he jumped on the tank, and led nearly a hundred tanks around.
At the same time, Xu Rui led the rest of the troops to stop and prepare for the final blow.
They had been fighting for a day, it was already dark, and the soldiers were a little tired, but Xu Rui knew that it was not the time to rest yet. The so-called "strengthening, weakening, and exhausting" meant that the last German positions must be penetrated at one stroke, otherwise If the Germans launch a counterattack, they may fall short.
The last line of defense of the German army is guarded by Colonel Rudolf. Colonel Rudolf graduated from the German Military Academy in Berlin, which is the highest institution of the German army and has trained a large number of elites in the German army. Zhukov, the supreme commander of the Soviet army's defense of Moscow, was also there before the war. studied in this school.
Rudolf excelled in his studies while in school, and he was particularly good at positional defense. Therefore, the German army also handed over the last defensive position of the 330th Division to Rudolf to guard.
In previous battles, because the German army had been on the offensive, the Germans did not pay much attention to the rear defense. However, Rudolf still made some preparations. He placed some horse-repelling stakes in front of the position, hoping to use this to Although he was ridiculed by some colleagues who thought it was unnecessary to block the attack of German and Soviet tanks, Rudolf still insisted on doing so, and his approach brought difficulties to the Soviet armored assault troops.
At the same time, Rudolf also built machine gun nests and gun emplacements on the position. More importantly, Rudolf also received a rocket launcher allocated by the German army.
Speaking of which, the German army was the first country to use rocket launchers. However, in this era when combat anti-tank artillery is the main means of anti-tank, the role of rocket launchers is generally not favored by officers at all levels.
But Rudolf was different. He was keenly aware of the important role of the rocket launcher. If used properly, the infantry would no longer be unable to fight back when facing tanks.
Through his connections in the military, Rudolf obtained dozens of rocket launchers. With these dozens of rocket launchers, coupled with anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles, Rudolf's troops developed powerful anti-armor capabilities. Xu Rui also saw through the telescope that Rudolf's troops had a complete anti-tank system, so Xu Rui asked the troops to stop attacking.
"Why hasn't Zyuganov moved yet?" Serov said.
Xu Rui said: "The German defensive position is very long. It will take Zyuganov some time to get around it, but as soon as he launches an attack, we will attack immediately. With two flanking attacks, no matter how powerful the Germans are, It must not be our opponent.”
Serov added: "Comrade Xu Rui, this is the last line of defense for the German army in the north and west of Moskva. As long as this line of defense is defeated, the entire German army in the west of Moscow will completely collapse. Should we take advantage of the victory to pursue and divide the German army?" Surrounded?"
Xu Rui shook his head and said: "Even if we penetrate the German army's western front positions, the German army still has strong forces. They can launch a counterattack at any time. If we attack rashly, we are likely to be surrounded by heavy German troops, which will cause The war situation has reversed, and besides, we don’t have enough troops to divide and surround the German army.”
Just as the two people were talking, a burst of artillery fire suddenly came from the German flank, and the entire German formation began to explode.
"Comrade Xu Rui, I have launched an attack on the German army from the flank!" Zyuganov's voice came from the vehicle-mounted radio communication equipment.
"Comrade Zyuganov, well done, continue the attack!" Xu Rui shouted.
"yes!"
Zyuganov shouted: "Comrades, for the Soviet Union, for victory, attack!"
Xu Rui said to Serov: "Comrade Serov, immediately lead his troops into the attack!"
"yes!"
Serov responded. At that moment, Serov led more than a hundred tanks and launched an attack on the German frontal position.
At this time, the German army was suddenly attacked on the flank and was already in chaos. Coupled with Serov's charge, the German army suddenly fell into chaos.
Rudolf felt very regretful at this time. If he had known this, he would have built a ring position. If the ring position was built, it would be impossible for the Soviets to deal with such a density of anti-tank firepower. But now it is too late to say anything. Rudolf had no choice but to organize his troops to fight on both sides. However, the result was that the troops fell into greater chaos.
After being defeated like a mountain, Rudolf watched the fortifications he built continue to collapse under the attack of the Soviets. He was determined to kill the enemy but was unable to recover.
In the distance, Soviet tanks and trucks were attacking in overwhelming numbers. Ludendorff took a rocket launcher and pulled the trigger on the tanks coming from a distance.
"Hey~"
A rocket dragged a long trail of smoke towards the Soviet tanks ahead.
"boom!"
The tank approaching from the opposite side was directly exploded by the rocket and turned into a burning fireball.
Rudolf quickly reloaded and prepared to fire at the second tank. However, at this time Rudolf's movement attracted the attention of the Soviet tank. A Soviet tank gunfire came over, directly blowing Rudolf up and covered in blood. On the ground, the rocket launcher in his hand flew into the sky, and then hit the ground heavily.
Rudolf's body was shaking constantly, his intestines were dripping out, and he could no longer speak. Two guards ran over in a hurry. One of the guards saw Rudolf like this and knew that he would not survive, so he said: "Rudolf Colonel Dolf, do you have anything to say?"
Rudolf pointed with trembling fingers at his coat pocket.
The guard took out a photo from Rudolf's pocket. It was a family portrait. Rudolf was sitting in the center. An elegant and intellectual woman was sitting next to Rudolf. Behind them, a teenager A boy, an eighty-nine-year-old girl, and a one- or two-year-old baby were held in the arms of a woman.
In the photo, Rudolf is dressed in a straight military officer's uniform, looking heroic. It is obvious that this is Rudolf's family portrait. Rudolf holds the family portrait tightly with his blood-stained hands and will not let go no matter what. The photo was covered in his blood.
Rudolf's eyes were full of reluctance. The guard nodded. He already understood Rudolf's wish. The guard said: "Colonel, if I can return to Berlin alive, I will definitely give this family portrait to your family." .”
After hearing what the guard said, Rudolph took a breath, slowly closed his eyes, and stopped breathing.
The guard took the bloody family portrait, put it in his pocket, and said, "Colonel, I will definitely give it to your family..."
After the guard finished speaking, he saluted Rudolph's body, then gritted his teeth and ran wildly into the distance...
"Forward for victory!"
The armored troops under Xu Rui's command were like two torrents, and they rushed into the German formation in an instant, disrupting the German army. Then, the Soviet infantry in trucks also rushed over, cooperating with the tanks to harvest the lives of the German soldiers. .
Under the continuous attacks of the armored assault troops, the German army lost effective command and finally collapsed completely. More than 3,000 German troops collapsed in all directions like a tide. Xu Rui's troops ignored them and pushed forward with the armored troops. The German army The tanks were frightened and scattered. Half an hour later, the Soviet armored assault force finally completely captured the last German line of defense in western Moscow and liberated Stepankovo.
At this point, Xu Rui's armored assault force successfully drove the German troops west of Moss and divided the German troops besieging Moscow into two isolated and disconnected parts in the north and south. Strategically speaking, Xu Rui's operation achieved It was a huge success. From this moment on, the Soviet army reversed the passive situation at the beginning of the war and launched a local counterattack against the German army in Moscow.
The battle west of Moscow was not over, but the German army was not willing to fail. After learning that the Soviet army had occupied western Moscow, the northern and southern German armies immediately launched a powerful offensive against the Soviet army's new battle area. Kuznetsov The 1st Assault Army was once in danger, but Rokossovsky of the 16th Army promptly mobilized troops for reinforcements, allowing the 1st Assault Army to consolidate the areas it had captured. After the German army suffered setbacks in successive attacks, it had to reduce its strength again. go back.
At this point, the battle to capture the area west of Moscow was finally completely over. The Soviet army, under the command of Xu Rui, captured a vast area from Odintsovo to Stepankovo, completely driving the German army out of the western area of Moscow. Xu Rui's command The major counterattack against the German troops in the Moscow area led by Rui achieved a major victory.
In Stepankovo, the German army's position was in a mess, with smoke billowing. There were German corpses everywhere on the position, and bombed weapons and equipment could be seen everywhere. Xu Rui jumped off the tank and stood in this smoke-filled area. On land…