Germany, Bavaria, Regensburg, South Bank of the Regen River, German positions

Tuesday, November 14, 1950, cloudy

Chi...boom! Chi...boom...boom...

The shells fell into the ruined city area. The bursting flames burned in vain with broken bricks and tiles, and the mushroom-shaped cloud columns of clouds mixed with dust and smoke rose unscrupulously. Various stains were floating on the river surface dozens of meters wide. From time to time, the sound of machine guns came from afar, setting off the unique coldness of the city. Between the collapsed buildings, the explosives formed many large and small craters, and soldiers wearing large earrings and light gray combat uniforms hid among them. A small number of them were responsible for looking and observing the movements in the direction of the river bank through their homemade periscopes. Most of them were like hibernating beetles, waiting for the next battle to come dormant.

Chi...boom...chi...boom...chi...boom...chi...chi...

As the sound of the explosion of cannons suddenly became dense, the trembling feeling of the earth became stronger, the air heated up under the scorching of gunpowder, and the tiny particles of floating objects made a large area of ​​urban area shrouded in fog. The soldiers in the craters lowered their heads, and under the destruction of the explosion energy, they all wanted to bury themselves deep in the sand.

Time is like a river. No matter whether people's subjective feeling is fast or slow, it is like this river in nature, flowing every minute and every second. The whistling sound of shells breaking through the air gradually weakens, and the loud noise that stings every nerve disappears. The bravest soldier resolutely drills out of the dust and looks ahead with his tired eyes. The impact of hearing decreases, and various sounds are also heard in his ears, whistles, slogans, engines, and metal friction. All of this reminds the defenders that another round of enemy attack has begun. In the situation where the enemy is strong and we are weak, the German soldiers have to fight all their strength in every battle.

"Be careful! The enemy landing ship has already come up, be prepared for combat and beware of the enemy's suppression firepower!"

The young sergeant wearing the double red line collar had a heavy expression that was inconsistent with his age. The faces along the helmets were angular, and the blood-covered eyes burst out sharp light. Under his alert, large earrings helmets were poked around. Some of them belonged to the early style of the National Wehrmacht, and some were fashionablely sprayed with tactical camouflage. The weapons in the hands of the soldiers also spanned several periods. Pure manual bolt rifles, semi-automatic rifles using magazines, old submachine guns using straight magazines, assault rifles with curved magazines, German, American, and various imitations. In this bloody arena without art, there is only the difference between victory and defeat, life and death. All the others can be ignored!

In front of the left is the three fork at the intersection of the two rivers. The handsome Regen River and the beautiful Danube River meet here. The Soviet army intending to capture Regensburg chose the shallow Regen River as the main attack direction. Dozens of ships upstream from the river turn west at the fork. At the same time, a large number of Soviet infantry using rubber boats appeared on the other side of the Regen River. Some strange-looking bridge-building equipment also sailed to the river bank under the cover of self-propelled artillery and anti-aircraft cannons.

The sound of gunfire gradually rose, and the helmets were ready to go. Suddenly, a missile with four-corner tail wing brushed their heads and flew towards the river bank, leaving a slightly bent smoke mark in the air. In a blink of an eye, the missile hit a Soviet landing ship. The explosion caused a white wave of water, and black smoke quickly emerged from the deck. Seeing that the river bank was close, most of the surviving Soviet soldiers abandoned the ship and entered the water. Some swam forward, while some raised their weapons with their hands and walked slowly and hard. A series of bullets attacked, and faces disappeared on the water surface, replaced by a dazzling red color.

If hundreds of missiles carry out saturation attacks in a short period of time, it is easy to block the enemy's attack. However, the defense obviously does not have such equipment. There are only more than ten missiles shot towards the river, sinking and injuring more than ten Soviet ships. This attack alone is far from enough to make the Soviet army retreat. When the remaining landing ships lean on the south bank, half of the rubber boats rowed by the infantry had crossed the center of the river, and the defenders were fully fired.

The attacking troops also poured out firepower without any weakness, especially those heavy assault guns equipped with large caliber howitzers. Each shelling fire made a thunderous sound. The gunners wearing leather hats carried shells next to the tanks with wide open cabin doors, without worrying about the opponent's counter-fire power. The cycling tanks with single- or double-mounted anti-aircraft guns also lowered the muzzle and ravaged the defending positions across the river with high-speed bullets.

With a close-knit attack level, Soviet tanks and infantry quickly formed an offensive scale on the south bank of the Regen River. The tanks poured out firepower while advancing. The combat infantry lowered their bodies and attacked forward. From time to time, one or a group of attack aircraft dived through the smoke and clouds, and used fierce machine gun strafing or high-explosive bombs to sweep the way forward for their troops. The battlefield situation seemed to be biased towards the attacking side. However, in the past week, the Soviet army's attack of this scale has been launched nine times, and it took a day.

Within three consecutive attacks, the old and new cities of Regensburg had been razed to the ground by artillery fire, but the German battle flags still floated on the southern banks of the Regen and Danube. In fact, the bombardment of heavy artillery shells and bombs could destroy the entire line of defense, but could not remove the fox pits in the ruins one by one. When the Soviet troops crossed the river approached the notorious "death area", the defenders suddenly burst out with horrifying combat power - guided or unguided rockets flew out from every corner,

The machine guns played the symphony of the Death God. The on-board rocket launchers deployed behind the defense zone also opened fire violently on the river bank. The densely projected rockets caused heavy rain on the river surface. Many landing ships were hit before they could evacuate. Many people caught fire and even capsized. The two pontoon bridges that the Soviet siege troops were about to be built were also damaged one after another. The Soviet army's crossing rhythm was once again strongly disturbed, and although there were many tanks and infantry landing on the south bank, they were at the steady and powerful blocking surface of the German officers and soldiers.

Before, the combat force decreased rapidly, and the offensive continued to move into defense within less than half an hour. After turning the battlefield situation, the defenders did not invest in counterattacks. Although this cautious defense was not conducive to expanding the results, it also made it difficult for the Soviet army's advantageous aviation troops to achieve great results. The subsequent battle inevitably fell into the old routines of the past. If the Soviet army could not make new progress before dark, it would inevitably withdraw the landing troops after nightfall, so as not to become the opponent's spoils in the night battle.

The fierce and lasting battle in Regensburg was not accidental. As an important town in northern Bavaria, it has convenient transportation by land and water. From Regensburg to Nuremberg north and Passau east, they are all continuous mountains (branches of the Alps). The terrain is not only easy to defend and difficult to attack, but also not conducive to the passage of the Soviet mechanized corps and baggage vehicles. However, Regensburg, at the intersection of the river, is not a good bone. It is after Munich, Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Würzburg.

The fifth largest city in Bavaria is the vast city and densely packed, which is very suitable for urban defense warfare. In addition, Venzenbach in the east of the city, Regenstof in the north, and Nitendorf in the west are also very ideal peripheral fulcrums. The Soviet army forcibly attacked the city of Regensburg without capturing these fulcrums, so that they would double their guard against the German infiltration attack forces every time they entered a nightclub. These passive vigilance defenses reversed to restrain the Soviet army's offensive forces.

The German team, which was fighting at home, not only had terrain advantages in Regensburg. In order to ensure the victory of the Battle of Munich, the German Joint Staff had invested 5 German Army divisions, 2 American Defense Line Garage Divisions and a considerable number of Emperors teams in the Regensburg area, and later sent several reserve troops. For more than a week, as the Soviet army firmly grasped air supremacy, armored soldiers and artillery had obvious advantages, the German team's loss rate on the battlefield was not optimistic, but the continuous investment of troops and steady defensive deployment made them grit their teeth and persevere.

On the fifth day after the Soviet army launched an attack on Regensburg, the Battle of Würzburg began. As another strategic location in northwestern Bavaria, it is quite similar to Regensburg in terms of terrain and scale. As long as it is occupied, the Soviet army will be able to pass through the flat basin in western Bavaria and threaten Munich. However, the German team ordered to defend Würzburg is not a soft persimmon. More than 100,000 troops faced twice as many Soviet troops under the command of the mighty general Joseph Halpe - Advance

Before arriving in Würzburg, the Soviet army had to pass through the Thuringian region with a very complex terrain. The long transportation supply line was always attacked by German rebels. The relatively narrow terrain of Würzburg was not conducive to the development of the offensive forces. Even though it was restricted by various objective factors, the Soviet army corps quickly launched a siege under the command of Andre Antonovich Grechko. Like the friendly forces fighting in Regensburg, the Grechko corps occupied the city area on the east bank of the Main River alone. That night, it forced the Main River with extraordinary courage, but the war was still in trouble.

The Soviets were unwilling to see the stalemate. The German team stubbornly resisted the Soviet offensive and launched a large-scale battle in the Thuringian Forest, which made the Grechko Corps once in a difficult situation of interruption of supply. The situation on the sand table even allowed the German generals to see the bright prospect of encircling and annihilation of this Soviet Corps. However, the Joint Staff rejected the suggestion of the Halpe Command and still concentrated its main forces to implement the Battle of Munich. The Soviet army's powerful rear guard troops quickly restored the traffic line in the Thuringian area and sent nearly 100,000 troops to the Würzburg front.

Faced with the Soviet army's determination to win, the German Joint Staff sent all the newly arrived troops to the two key battlefields of Regensburg and Würzburg. Using the time he gained great sacrifices from the defending troops, more than 700,000 German officers and soldiers rushed to southeastern Bavaria, and carried out the German troops that had originally resisted the Soviet attack in the Munich area. The total German troops who had invested in the Battle of Munich were nearly one million. This will be the largest counterattack launched by the German army since the outbreak of the Second Soviet-German War.
Chapter completed!