Guderian was a person who couldn't sit still. He squatted in the command center and commanded against the map was not his style. Even after serving as the commander of the Armored Army, he maintained the good habit of often walking on the front line.

In the west of Kirovgrad City, in the convoy where Guderian was located, four SDKFZ251 armored vehicles lined up and parked about eight kilometers west of the city.

If Kirovgrad is a planet, the villages and towns scattered around the city are satellites. If you want to enter Kirovgrad, you must first take down those satellite cities occupied by the Soviet army.

Guderian stared at the village covered in the distance, but the adjutant beside him stared at the sky nervously.

In the sky, there were at least twenty planes directly in front of his sight. He turned his head to look at the sky on both sides. The number of planes had doubled.

Guderian noticed the adjutant's small movement and said without looking back: "You don't have to be nervous, the Russian plane won't be so easy to find ours."

"The Russians finally stopped retreating, we finally caught them." said the adjutant.

"Following the number of planes in the sky, it seems that the Russians are going to fight us on the Dnieper River, and our plan to encircle is mostly bankrupt. I have a premonition that millions of Russians will be waiting for us on the other side of the Dnieper River. The gentlemen of the Army Command must formulate new tactics, otherwise we may have to kick the iron plate." Guderian said.

"They succeeded." The adjutant shouted excitedly at the village that was trapped in war in the distance.

Guderian clearly saw that in the village ahead, several armed SS soldiers were escorting a team of prisoners of war out of the village, with a total of forty or fifty people.

Guderian jumped onto the armored vehicles, and four armored vehicles sprayed with white g letters drove towards the captives.

"Sergeant, is the battle in the village over?" Guderian shouted to a sergeant who was escorting the prisoners.

"The battle is over, general." said the sergeant.

Guderian's four armored vehicles rushed into the village with a strong wind. When passing by the entrance of the village, Guderian saw a wooden sign hanging on the wall of a broken house on the side of the road with a line of capital Russian letters written on it.

"Is it Lutsk?" Guderian asked the interpreter in the car.

"It's Lutsk, General."

Guderian quickly outlined a military map in his mind.

"If I remember correctly, Lutsk is eight kilometers away from Kirovgrad. If you take this place, the door to Kirovgrad will be completely opened. What we need to consider below is street fighting and killing the reinforcements of the Russians."

Among the four armored vehicles, one is the SDKFZ251-3 armored vehicle. This sub-model 3 armored vehicle has been transformed into a radio communication vehicle.

It is precisely because of this sub-model armored vehicle that Guderian ran around the battlefield without losing contact with the command in the rear.

"Commander, the telegram forwarded by the command, the troops on the left and right wings have completed their mission. The 15th Armored Division and the 21st Armored Division have just met in Edzaka Town east of Kirovgrad City." The adjutant received the telegram from the communications soldier and said.

Guderian looked at his watch and then said, "The battle started for four and a half hours, and their speed was quite fast. Where is the sixty-year-old marching master?"

"The Sixty-Moracau Division has arrived on the right wing of the Fifteenth Armored Division and is now continuing to advance towards the city of Alexandria."

"Well, hurry up and contact the Air Force and ask them what the Russians near Alexandria are doing?"

While waiting anxiously, Guderian saw that in the wilderness between Lutsk village and Kirovgrad city, countless SS soldiers sent a huge fan to rush to the western suburbs of the city.

More than 30 No. 3 assault guns were mixed in the infantry group, providing direct aiming fire support to the infantry.

In the sky, four fi-282 hummingbird helicopters were suspended at a height of fifty or sixty meters from the ground, like a general who was pressing a formation.

Large-caliber shells flew over Guderian's head and landed on the western suburbs of the city. The smoke from explosions shot out from the gunpowderian and the city blocked Guderian's city, and the whole city looked hazy.

After standing east of Lutsk Village and enjoying the offensive battle for another half an hour, Guderian finally waited for the long-awaited telegram.

"On the road near Alexandria, Soviet armored troops appeared, and they were heading towards Kirovgrad."

"Telecom," Guderian raised his right hand quickly, and the adjutant hurriedly took out his notebook and pen.

"Ask the Army Command to forward it, one, inform the Sixty-year-old Infantry Division to be careful of the enemy's counterattack troops; two, let Balk launch an attack on Kafbath one and a half hours later."

After confirming that the telegram was correct, Guderian asked the adjutant to send a telegram.

The content of the telegram was converted into radio waves through a radio communication vehicle. First, it drilled into the Fifth Armored Army Command and then flew to other corners of the battlefield.

Two hours later, west of Kraftbath City, with the order of Lieutenant General Balk, the twenty-three and twenty-four armored divisions attacked in a clamp shape from the north and south sides of the city, and clamped towards Kraftbath City, which was blocking the way forward.

In the west of Kraftbath City, the infantrymen of the 65th Infantry Division under the German 12th Army launched an attack simultaneously.

This division was the first infantry division that arrived from the rear during the three-day rest period of the Fifth Armored Army.

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Among the four divisions under the 13th Infantry Army of the Soviet Army, the only complete 270th Division, the 270th Division, was responsible for the defense of Kirovgrad, and the other three broken infantry divisions were responsible for the defense of villages on the north and south wings of the city.

As Major General Galanin was worried, the scarce infantry could not fill the wide front, and the three broken infantry divisions could only be scattered in the villages around the city, but were defeated by the surging torrent of steel.

The Sixty-Moracau Division and the Fifteenth Armored Division advanced side by side, sweeping the villages along the way, and detouring to the east of Kirovgrad City.

According to the pre-formed plan, the 15th Armored Division and the 21st Armored Division continued to launch an attack in the direction of Kirovgrad, cooperating with the frontal attack of Hitler's Young Division to attack the city, while the 60th Infantry Division continued to advance towards Alexandria, responsible for intercepting the Soviet reinforcements that would definitely appear.

In the east of Kirov City, after receiving the warning telegram, the Sixty-Motor Division stopped advancing towards the east of Alexandria and turned to defense on both sides of the road.

243, 244 Two motorized infantry regiments defended on both sides of the road, and the 92nd Motor Infantry regiment acted as a reserve team in the rear. Facing the Russian army rushing towards it, the 60th Motor Infantry Division set out a standard defensive formation of two fronts and one back.

In the front, the infantry waving engineer shovels, and digging out a bunker as much as possible through the short pre-war time. Behind the infantry,

The artillery soldiers of the 160th Artillery Regiment also launched their formations. The four artillery battalions under them each looked for positions and turned into combat formations, with their muzzles raised high to point to the east.

To the east of the 60th Mofan Division, the 15th tank division under Major General Sokolov was also changing its formation.

Tanks left the road one after another, truck convoys stopped on the side of the road, infantry jumped out of the carriage, ran to both sides of the road in groups, and even further behind, division artillery soldiers also began to set up the God of War.

The decisive battle with the German army near the Dnieper River was a planned combat plan by the Soviet army, and the army and air force were serving this plan.

Major General Sokolov's request to protect the air force on his head was strongly implemented by the Soviet Air Force.

Most of the German fighter jets that appeared in the sky, whether bombers or fighters, were intercepted by the Soviet Air Force, and a few German fighter jets that launched attacks on the ground also returned ineffective under the anti-aircraft artillery of the 15th Tank Division.

After skillfully transforming into an offensive formation, three rows of tanks on both sides of the road guided groups of infantry toward the defense line where the 60th Mo Infantry Division was located.

Among the three tanks, the first and third tanks are T-34 tanks that the German army dubbed Mickey Mouse.

When the two circular hatches on the t-34 tank turret are opened and raised at the same time, they resemble the famous animation image of Mickey Mouse's two ears, hence the name.

Clipping between two rows of T-34 tanks is a huge kv-2 heavy tank known as a mobile public toilet.

More than 200 tanks rushed towards the position of the 60th Infantry Division, and the infantry trotted behind.

During the charge, a thunder suddenly sounded behind the Soviet infantry and tank cluster, and the gods of war roared.

The artillery position was instantly surrounded by thick smoke, and countless shells flew out of the muzzle, roaring over the heads of the Butan cluster and smashing towards the German positions.

Amid the continuous explosions, the German positions instantly shook.

The rolling ground was covered with bullet craters of all sizes, and the flesh and blood and gun parts were scattered in the flying soil.

Under the fierce artillery fire of the Soviet army, most of the German soldiers crawled on the ground, opened their mouths wide, balanced the air pressure, and prevented the air waves caused by the explosion from shaking the eardrums.

The death of comrades and the wailing of the wounded could not touch them. They were already used to the battlefield of blood and fire.

Some veterans skillfully used the gap between the shells to jump into the craters that were closer to them, and regarded the craters as foxgloves sent by the Soviet army.

Another wave of thunder sounded quickly on the battlefield, and the revenge of German artillery followed one after another, and the Soviet army's infighting and tank cluster was immediately covered by a flame storm.

Wherever the fire and smoke passed, the Soviet infantry in the charge fell down instantly, and no longer had the momentum it had before.

The formation of the three tanks became chaotic, and every round of German shells fell to the ground, the tanks broke down.

Either the walking device was damaged or the engine was shut down, or a T-34 was even hit on the top of the turret by shells. The turret, together with the tanker inside, exploded into pieces.

As time passed, a strange and tragic scene appeared in the Soviet army's infantry and tank cluster advancing against artillery fire.

Only tanks that were shipped by the company commander and above of the company commander were equipped with radio. Soviet officers could only risk their lives to open the turret hatch and convey orders in flags.

On the chaotic battlefield and in the tense atmosphere, the flag language could not effectively convey the orders, and the Soviet tank clusters quickly became a mess.

The first row of T-34 tanks accelerated and rushed towards the German positions, while the third row of T-34 tanks also accelerated and passed through the gap between the KV-2 tanks in front.

Seeing the tanks in front of them charging, the infantry officers shouted to urge their subordinates to speed up and keep up with the t-34 in front at full speed.

During the assault training they received before, the order they received was to follow behind the T-34 tank to protect the safety of the tank and ignore the bulky kv-2.

The T-34 tanks and infantry of the third row rushed past the KV-2 tanks, throwing the bulky KV-2 tank queue to the end of the offensive formation. The Soviet offensive formation seemed to be in chaos.

Facing the charge of Soviet tanks, on the German positions, the pak4075mm anti-tank artillery fire flashed a cold light.

Behind them, further away, the 88mm anti-aircraft gunners also turned their muzzles to lock the target.

In the lush grass, the No. 3 assault gun's low body was hidden in the defense line, shaking its muzzle, looking for a target for firing.

When the Soviet tank vanguard rushed to about five hundred meters ahead of the German position, the sound of artillery sounded instantly on the battlefield.

The 75mm armor-piercing bomb and the 88mm armor-piercing bomb flew out in an instant, hitting the body of the T-34 tank. A few were bounced away, while the more they tore the steel plates of the tank and drilled into the inside of the car body, causing a bloody storm in the car body.

In the first round of shooting, at least twenty T-34 tanks crossed the battlefield.

The free shooting of German anti-tank guns curbed the Soviet offensive momentum, but also exposed its position.

The T-34 tank ended its charge and turned into a stop-and-go, fully exerting its guerrilla spirit of changing places with one shot, and instead launching a target with the German tank guns.

The flexible positioning of the t-34 tank seriously affected the aim of the German gunners, and the damage speed of the t-34 tank decreased accordingly.

During the rounds of Soviet tank guns, the German anti-tank gun positions were hit by high-explosive bombs from time to time. The gunners without armored cover were killed and injured, and the battle situation immediately fell into a stalemate.

The passionate shots of the two sides of the firefighting were hit. Behind the Soviet infantry and tank cluster, a team that determined the direction of the battlefield was pressing towards the German position, and it was the KV-2 tank queue left behind.

The kv-2 tank queue was thrown to the end of the offensive queue, not an accident, but a result of careful design.

In previous wars, when KV-2 appeared in field battles, they were often regarded as the attacking spearhead of tank clusters. It was expected that their strong and thick armor could block shells for the T-34 or BT series light tanks behind them.

However, facing the German 75mm series tank guns and anti-tank guns, the e-40 88mm tank guns, and the 88mm anti-aircraft guns that often come to play anti-tank guns, the kv-2's solid armor became a joke.
To be continued...