Chapter 1813 Biography of the 218th Battalion (3600 words long chapter)
"Battalion 218? What are these idiots doing here if they don't go to Warsaw? And shouldn't this be a company? How did it become a battalion?"
Malashenko, who still clearly remembers the memories he brought from the future, has a very clear impression of the 218th Assault Artillery Battalion. It is the impression of this unit in the existing history rather than the current timeline of change.
.
However, the reason why Malashenko was deeply impressed by this German army was not because of how capable these bastards were in fighting or what brilliant results they had achieved. It was because of the fact that these bastards were created not long after they were established in the existing history.
, went directly to Warsaw, the capital of Poland, to suppress the uprising, and participated in the battle with many well-known German big guns such as Sturm Tiger and Carl Mortar.
Those pitiful and hateful big rebels were blocked in the city of Warsaw and allowed to be blown up by grizzly bears.
With a 150mm large tube and an 8kg projectile warhead charge, one cannon blast can destroy a small residential building in an instant. It is no exaggeration.
How could the big wave of rebels, who had only light weapons at their disposal, be able to withstand this posture? A bunch of grizzly bears landed in the city and blasted all the strongholds clean.
Although the power of the Assault Tiger and Carl Mortar far exceeds that of the Grizzly, after all, the number of these two gadgets is too small. It is the newly formed Grizzly Assault Cannon that really serves as the main task of "building demolisher" in street fighting.
force.
It can be said that the reason why the large waves of rebels suffered so many casualties was that Grizzly Bear put in a lot of effort, which was a major contribution to the Germans. Of course, it also further confirmed that this kind of thick armor and powerful thing
It's really a first-class street fighting weapon.
The only thing that Malashenko remembered was that the Grizzly Assault Artillery Unit No. 218 was only a company in the existing history. And in terms of time, it should not have appeared on the Belarusian battlefield so early, but should have appeared on the Belarusian battlefield so early.
Poland, in short, all the key information is not correct, which made Comrade Ma feel a little confused for a while.
What Malashenko didn't know was that the mismatch of key information could actually be attributed to the "butterfly effect" he caused.
In the existing history, the 218th Assault Artillery Battery has been unable to obtain a sufficient amount of equipment due to the inability to increase the production of Grizzly Bears. It has been in a state of "human equipment" before going to the battlefield. In addition, the first battle after the Warsaw Uprising
The German army was in a tight war situation and was in urgent need of heavy siege weapon support. They had no choice but to send the "Youth Edition" of the 218th Battalion, which was still a company-level organization, to the battlefield.
But this time, in this different world timeline that has been changed beyond recognition due to the existence and tampering of "travelers".
The Panzer IV was extremely weak. Faced with the serious weakness and rudeness of the Soviet tanks, it was almost impossible to effectively deal with any Soviet medium tank, let alone the current situation of dealing with heavy tanks, forcing the German army to use the weapons that should have been used for the Panzer IV.
Production resources have been invested more in the research and development and production of new tanks.
Moreover, most of the new cars produced have not achieved the expected quality-crushing effect. The German front-line troops who have received the new cars have not had time to be happy for two days, but they always find in despair that the Russians on the opposite side have already used newer and more powerful ones.
The rear military industry was forced to develop and produce new and stronger vehicles, falling into an extremely bad vicious cycle.
When limited R&D and production resources are concentrated more on new tanks, the importance is not as great as in the existing history. At least there is a gap in the production of the No. 4 tank, and some corresponding changes will follow.
For example, more vacancies are available, and the pre-production car bodies and chassis that have not been queued into the tank production process have become idle.
The German armored forces on the front line are clamoring for a new vehicle that can at least beat the Russian T3485 medium tank. This is already the minimum requirement. If you give it to me on the 4th, I will want it, but I really don’t need too much. If you have this resource, you might as well give it to me.
I'd better make some panthers, or at least something new that can deal with t3485.
In order to meet the needs of the front line, the German military industry began to invest more resources in the production of new medium tanks. Those pre-produced No. 4 hull chassis no longer have so much actual demand, at least not as much as the demand in the existing history.
Yes, this can be confirmed.
In line with the truth that once it is built, it cannot be wasted. Some derivative and improved models based on the Panzer IV tank body and chassis have gradually been developed far beyond the existing history. They have made rapid progress and can be used as vehicles for transformation and production.
The number of body chassis has been guaranteed, and the Grizzly assault gun as the "strongest No. 4 modification" is a product that benefits from this.
The 218th Battalion, which was supposed to wait until the eve of the Warsaw Uprising, failed to gather enough equipment and was forced to go into battle as a company-level organization. This time, on the eve of Operation Bagration, it received a fully equipped battalion of 45 Grizzly Assault vehicles.
The guns are sent to the battlefield, and they are all the latest batch produced based on the new Type IV G tank body and chassis, which can be said to be extremely powerful.
One thing is the same as in the existing history. The 218th Battalion still received equipment and was formally established in Poland, and caught up with the outbreak of Operation Bagration as soon as it was established.
The war emergency did not wait for anyone. The newly formed 218th Battalion did not even have time to conduct the running-in training of its personnel and equipment before it was ordered to be deployed. It was transported directly from Poland to the front-line battlefield via railway transportation and went to the Belarusian front line to participate in the war.
While still on the railway train the day before yesterday, the officers and soldiers of the 218th Battalion heard the bad news from the front line: some of the forward troops of Army Group Center were detoured by the Soviet heavy armored troops and completed the encirclement. The less than 100,000 troops
It was too late to evacuate, and it was put into the pocket. If it was not rescued, it would be a disaster.
By the next day, when the officers and soldiers of the 218th Battalion, who did not know the dangers of the front line, were laughing and annoyed that they could not join the rescue force in time, they were unloading trucks on the platform and making noises. The Grossdeutschland Division and several other units came from the front line again.
The troops fell into an ambush circle set by the Soviet army in advance, and encountered the bad news that the Soviet army's powerful heavy armored group was encircling it from all sides. Instead of being rescued, the friendly forces trapped themselves in it.
When things developed to this point, some smart people in the 218th Battalion could already sense that something was seriously wrong with the situation.
The battlefield we are about to go to is not a place for children to play, but a "hell's arena" where hundreds of thousands of German troops were besieged and wiped out in just a few days. The Russians who charged in this arena were filled with the smell of blood.
The main vanguard must be difficult to deal with. The sword in his hand is already stained with the blood of the German army and has a strong smell. It doesn't matter if the blood of the 218th Battalion is stained on the edge of the sword.
Unable to disobey the overwhelming military orders, the 218th Battalion, which had just arrived as a fresh force and had finished unloading its trucks, had not even had time to take a breath. It was immediately sent non-stop to the direction of the battle where the Grossdeutschland Division had the incident yesterday. It was also the deepest advance of the Soviet assault group. The battle situation
The worst breaking point is to put out the fire.
After arriving at the front line, the officers and soldiers of the 218th Battalion saw quite a few remnants of the Panzer Division that had successfully broken through and withdrawn, but they were not from the Grossdeutschland Division.
According to these remnants of the German army, who all had their heads drooped and wilted like eggplants struck by frost, the Russians knew which troops they were surrounding and whose designation was the Grossdeutschland Division.
The butcher knife in the hands of the Russians was for this purpose. Killing the Grossdeutschland Division was the priority. As for the troops that cooperated with the Grossdeutschland Division, it didn't seem to matter if some of them were let go.
That night, many officers and soldiers of the 218th Battalion lost sleep after seeing how dangerous the frontline battle situation was, and they were worried about the battle that was about to start tomorrow.
"Have you heard? The group of Russians who rampaged in front of us and ate up the Grossdeutschland Division seemed to be the "Iron Butcher" unit that was blown to the sky before. Among the people of the armored division who retreated,
Someone saw that the Russian heavy tank that defeated them had the team emblem of a bear’s head biting an iron cross printed on it, and as far as I know, there is only one Russian unit with this emblem printed on it.”
Sitting in the tent holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee, Captain Bockman, the battalion deputy of the 218th Battalion, was speaking to his partner and superior: Major Schennauer.
The heat slowly evaporating from the cup looked like the smoke of a battlefield, with an ominous aura. Major Schennauer, who was also feeling uneasy, couldn't help but think of some bad situations. Even if it hadn't happened yet, it was already so difficult to stand.
install.
"Although I don't want to admit it, I really pray that these Russians have been transferred to fight in other directions. I really don't want to meet these monsters on the frontal battlefield."
"Hey, we are just a group of assault artillery troops responsible for fire support. Anti-tank should be done by specialized armored troops and anti-tank troops. I don't understand why we know that such a powerful Russian heavy assault group is deployed in the front, but we still
We have moved to such a forward position, and even the defense lines and field fortifications here need to be built overnight, and the work is rushed."
"Is the situation really that bad? Do we have to resist the Russians here instead of building a more solid defense line further back? Obviously this way has a greater chance of winning, but why does it have to...
..."
The words suddenly stopped before he finished speaking. Major Schennauer, who looked really unhappy, stopped his hand in mid-air in embarrassment, and then waved it casually as if to relieve his embarrassment. The next words were purely because he could no longer say anything.
Find a stairway to go down by yourself.
"Forget it, let's not talk about these useless things. I don't want to comment on the orders from my superiors. I just need to execute them."
I have to admit that by now in 1944, all the German front-line troops on the Eastern Front were familiar with the name of the "infamous" and "bloodthirsty" "Iron Butcher" unit.
After many elite German troops were lost one after another, and after Prokhorovka's frenzied siege by the three giants of the Waffen-SS came to naught, this terrifying "myth of hell" became even more popular among front-line German officers and soldiers.
They are becoming more and more evil, even miraculous, and almost none of the new recruits are not afraid of this special group of Russians.
Even if you don't want to admit it, this is reality.
For the newly formed 218th Battalion, which has few veterans and mostly new recruits, this is an especially annoying problem, as you can tell by just looking at Major Schennauer's worried expression on his hair.
"We can only do what we have to do. You know what I've always thought, old man. We were in the army together for six years. We enlisted in the same year and served together for six years. You know every thought I have.
.I have long felt that there may be no hope for this war. Of course, this does not mean that I want to give up. My thoughts and my actual actions are two different things that do not interfere with each other, but..."
The right hand holding the metal coffee cup couldn't help but tremble. Captain Bockman never thought that what he said casually next, almost half-joking, would actually happen less than 24 hours later.
Tomorrow will become reality, and he needs to face it personally under unexpected circumstances, and must make a choice.
"If the situation really reaches an irreversible point, we and many people should also think about whether we should be buried with the current Germany or insist on living into the future to rebuild a better Germany tomorrow.
"
If this had been said in the past, even just last year in 1943, Major Schennauer would have rushed up to grab Bockman by the collar without hesitation and asked loudly, "Are you crazy, bastard!?"
What nonsense are you talking about!?".
But, things are different now, not only the difference between 1944 and 1943, there are too many things that are different.
At the very end, before falling asleep tonight.
There was no substantive answer left for Captain Bockman. All that was left was Major Schennauer's long sigh, his departing back that stretched longer and longer under the light, and the two cups that were cooked at the same time.