Sarabada Village is located twenty-five kilometers northeast of Minsk, located on the south side of Highway 53. It is a small village with less than one hundred households.∈◆,

There was no one in the village at this time, and to be precise, there was no villager.

In the streets of the village and in the corners of houses, German soldiers were everywhere as they charged.

Captain Winter was hiding behind the earth wall of a warehouse with an assault rifle. He leaned slightly and saw that the Soviet army behind the corner of the warehouse had been suppressed by machine gun fire. Then he waved to the soldiers behind him.

Two soldiers rushed through the corner, trotted to the window of a street-facing house diagonally opposite, and threw an m24 grenade into it.

Amid the explosion, air waves and debris spewed out of the windows, dust filled the air, mixed with painful wails.

A German soldier stood up and shot several shots into the window, ending the pain of the Soviet wounded in the house, and then turned over and rushed into the house.

After clearing the house, Captain Winter waved to the street behind him. Two SD KFZ 250 armored vehicles slowly drove to him. The mg-42 machine gun on the front of the vehicle spewed out a fire tongue and shot the Soviet infantry who were fleeing from the distance of the street. Two Soviet soldiers were shot in the north and fell to the ground. More soldiers fled out of Sarabada Village in a panic and plunged into the cornfield outside the village.

After missing a few shuttles to the cornfield, interrupting countless corn poles, two armored vehicles retreated to the village.

In a gray-white wooden house near the road north of the village, Captain Winter waited for the battalion commander Major Koch.

"It seems that this battle is easier than I thought. I thought it would take at least half an hour to see you." Major Koch said.

"It was indeed an easy battle. The number of enemies was less than one platoon, and it seemed to be a logistics force, and the combat effectiveness was not very good. We killed seven of them, captured twenty ones alive, and some fled to the cornfield outside the village. Because it was dark, I didn't have someone to chase him." Captain Winter said.

Major Koch raised his hand and looked at his watch, then said, "It's already nine-thirty now. We're going to spend the night here, bring your people and set up alert positions around the village."

"Yes." Captain Winter stood at the right moment and was about to leave when Major Koch suddenly called him.

"The Twenty-Five Armored Regiment is advancing towards us. Remember not to be injured by accident."

Captain Winter had just arranged his subordinates around the village, and there was a rumbling and vibration sound from the west of the east road.

With the help of the starlight, Captain Winter saw a team of giants driving away from the road.

Although he knew that the other party might be a tank of the 25th Armored Regiment, Captain Winter cautiously sent someone to stop the other party.

Five minutes later, Colonel Rosenberg's tank command type stopped in front of the off-white wooden house.

Seeing the gloomy expression on Colonel Rosenberg's face, Major Koch asked, "College, it seems you are exhausted. Come on, let's have a cup of hot coffee and then a kilogram of dinner. I think you must be hungry."

Colonel Rosenberg said calmly: "Don't be busy with food, let's study the next combat plan first."

Major Koch then noticed the strangeness on Colonel Rosenberg's face and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong? Why is your face so ugly?"

Colonel Rosenberg waved his head to Major Schultz beside him.

"What did you tell Major Koch we saw?"

Major Koch talked about the battle of the 25th Armored Regiment near the town of Rados, and the Soviet army's murder of prisoners of war.

"What are you going to do? My suggestion is"

Colonel Rosenberg interrupted Major Koch and said hurriedly: "I have only one purpose, that is, to cut off the Soviet army and the rear of the Minsk region. Encircle them and then kill them."

"The road outside the door is Highway 52. ​​This road leads to Minsk to the west, Borisov to the east, then Orsha, Smolensk, and then Moscow. It is the most important main road leading to Minsk to the rear. Our occupation here is equivalent to completing half of the mission, and the other half of the mission requires the Second Armored Army to cooperate with us."

"I know the importance of this road, but this village is too small to accommodate so many of our troops. My plan is to continue to attack eastward, occupy Smolevic, fifteen kilometers away, and expand the depth of our encirclement."

"When will we do it?"

"Let's set off tonight and launch an attack as soon as the sky is dawn. We must complete the mission before the enemy detects our movements."

Lieutenant General Funke gave Major Koch the order to cooperate with Colonel Rosenberg, who handed over the command to Colonel Rosenberg without reservation.

After discussing with Colonel Rosenberg for a while, he left the Second Company led by Captain Winter to stay in the village, and then led the troops to set out overnight.

With the illumination of the stars, Major Schultz and Major Koch's handsome reconnaissance battalion formed a battle group and rushed to the outside of Smolevic first.

The defenders in the city of Smolevich had only one battalion. Most of them were logistics troops, from the soldiers who escaped from Sarabada village and, they had learned that the German troops were only about fifteen kilometers away from them.

After careful inquiry, the defending commander heard the fugitive soldiers saying that the most powerful firepower of the German army was armored vehicles, with the largest number of one company.

Carefully report the enemy situation and request reinforcements, the defending commander ordered the troops to strengthen patrols and be vigilant.

However, what he never expected was that the German army had far exceeded his imagination in terms of quantity and weapons and equipment.

In the quiet night, the roar of the No. 4 tank and armored vehicle column awakened the Soviet army in the city early.

The flares shot into the air, illuminating the night and the German army covered by the night.

The scouts followed behind the armored vehicles and set off three or four scattered lines to rush towards the city. Tank No. 4 fell behind and turned into assault guns to provide firepower support to the scouts in front.

Although flares were illuminated, the tank hands' vision was still insufficient, which greatly reduced their combat effectiveness. This unconventional tactic had to be adopted to allow infantry with better vision to rush forward to lure the Soviet army to fire.

Flares are rising one after another, eclipsing the stars' brilliance.

On the side of the buildings and streets in the suburbs, the flames spewed by Soviet machine guns when they fired were so dazzling that the German tankers could detect and lock them from afar.

The guns of the No. 4 tank quickly pointed at the firepower point exposed by the Soviet army. A crisp sound of artillery bombardment rang out. Seventy-five-mm high-explosive bombs hit the firepower point of the Soviet army one by one, bombing the Soviet machine gunners and machine guns into pieces.

After each No. 4 tank fired two guns on average, the Soviet fire points on the outskirts of the city were swept away, and the machine guns on the sd dfz250 armored vehicles swept across the Soviet positions opposite. The Soviet infantry was so pressed that they could not raise their heads. The scouts quickly rushed over the armored vehicles and shouted and rushed into the building occupied by the Soviet army.

The long-handled grenade flew into the windows and the main door with white smoke, causing the Soviet army to howl inside.

The crisp sound of pistols and the sound of engineers cutting off bones followed. There were shouts of killing between soldiers on both sides.

Not long after the street fighting began, the situation quickly became one-sided.

The Soviet army was stunned by the powerful firepower and rapid attacks of the German army. The Soviet army, who was on the battlefield for the first time, was also shocked by the powerful combat power of the German veterans. When they saw the German soldiers rushing towards them like a god of killing, they turned around and fled. The slow escape was either a corpse on the spot or raised their hands to surrender.

When Colonel Rosenberg led the Second Tank Battalion and the Seventh Motorized Battalion to the battlefield, he instantly became the last straw that broke the Soviet army.

At twelve o'clock in the middle of the night, after more than an hour of fighting, Colonel Rosenberg became the conqueroter of the city of Smolevich.

"The troops are already very tired and have to rest," said Major Koch.

Colonel Rosenberg knew that Major Koch was telling the truth. Not only his subordinates, but also him, were unable to support him after several days of emergency marches and battles, let alone the wounded people who had to take care of him.

"You lead your subordinates. Depart at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, head south along Highway 69, and conduct reconnaissance to the southeast of Minsk. Pay attention to inquire about the movements of the Second Armored Army, and strive to meet with them as soon as possible and close the encirclement."

On the same night, in the city of Stolbuzi, 70 kilometers southwest of Minsk, a convoy of barrel cars and SD KFZ251 armored vehicles drove to the east of the city and stopped around a steeplechase in the east of the city.

Admiral Rommel, the commander of the Second Armored Army, jumped off the armored vehicle and moved his sore waist and back. Then he quickly walked into the church.

The hall on the first floor of the church has long been cleared, with tables placed on it, and maps are covered.

The guards at the door saw Rommel and shouted loudly: "Standing at attention."

Everyone in the hall stopped their work and stood attentively.

"After a moment," said Rommel.

Walking quickly to an officer with the rank of major general, Rommel asked, "General Ellin, when will we arrive in Minsk?"

"Arrival tomorrow, commander." Major General Ellin, commander of the 17th Armored Division.

Rommel's fingers drew a circle on the map in northeastern Minsk.

"I received a telegram from General Hot on the way here, saying that his troops had arrived here, the city of Smolevich. They had cut off the most important Highway 53 in Minsk to the rear. If we were fast enough, we would be able to join their vanguard troops tomorrow, but from the map, we would have to run at least a hundred kilometers to march tomorrow. Do you have the confidence to complete the mission?"

"I have confidence to ensure that the task is completed," Ellin said.

"Okay, I will act with your division tomorrow." Rommel said.

Major General Ellin's eyebrows were beating unvoluntarily for a few times. It seemed that the commander was still worried about his ability.

After forwarding Rommel's decision to his direct superior, the Forty-Seventh Armored Army headquarters, Major General Ellin secretly made up his mind to set off two hours earlier than the scheduled time tomorrow.

On June 28, the eighth day of the launch of Operation Barbarossa is destined to be a day to be remembered by history.

At exactly four o'clock in the morning, in a hotel south of the church, Rommel walked out of his temporary residence in high spirits, and saw a bucket cart in front of the church opposite from afar. Major General Ellin jumped onto the bucket cart in depth.

Rommel nodded with satisfaction, expressing satisfaction with Major General Ellin's move to set out in advance.

It was heard that Rommel was going to act with the 17th Armored Division and strictly ordered the task of encircling Minsk on the 28th. The headquarters of the 47th Armored Army adjusted its combat deployment overnight and changed the 17th Armored Division's march route.

The mission to rush straight to Minsk City was handed over to the 18th Panzer Division, and the troops of the 17th Panzer Division turned eastward and turned northward, turning around toward Minsk.

It was just dawn at this time, Major General Ellin and Rommel's convoy drove out of Storbuzi City and drove east along Highway 68.

Major General Ellin's barrel car mixed in the convoy of the division guards, looking for the main 39th Armored Regiment of the entire division along the way, while watching the cruel scenes brought by the war on both sides of the road.

On both sides of Highway 68, there were wreckage of vehicles everywhere, including trucks, tanks and carriages used by civilians. These vehicles were abandoned on the roadside, and most motor vehicles were given opportunities. The bodies of the vehicles were burned to a charred darkness. Next to the wreckage of vehicles, there were no exception that there were corpses of Soviet troops of different numbers, and some of them were even burned to mummies.

More corpses were already swollen, with flies crawling on them, and the air was filled with a stench of rotting corpses.

Major General Ellin knew very well that the Thirty-Nine Armored Regiment had fought a tank battle here, and the wreckage of tanks spread all over the grass on both sides of the road was the best proof.

While watching the masterpieces of his subordinates, Major General Ellin compared the road signs and maps in his hand to check his marching speed.

After passing a group of Soviet prisoners escorted to the rear, Major General Ellin's convoy was a small town called Luka, where Highway 68 was forked, and the convoy would turn north and turn to Highway 69 to detour southeast of Minsk.

Half an hour after driving on Highway 69, a large area of ​​woods appeared next to the highway.

Five or six minutes later, Major General Ellin saw the convoy drive out of the forest, and the vast grassland and crop fields reappeared in front of him.

At this moment, behind him, there was no warning that a dense sound of gunfire came.

Major General Ellin was stunned at first, then burst into a cold sweat.

The convoy of Rommel, the commander of the army, was behind him. He heard the sound of gunfire. There was no doubt that Rommel's convoy was attacked and was exchanging fire with the enemy.

Jumping out of the car, Major General Ellin took out the pistol from his waist and shouted, "Let's turn around and protect the commander."

The soldiers of the guard company jumped out of the trucks and armored vehicles, carried weapons, and rushed to the woods behind Ellin. The armored vehicles also turned around urgently and rushed into the forest.
To be continued...