Chapter 103 Street Fighting
Berlin, Imperial Palace.
At this time, Yannick was holding a secret report from the Soviet Union.
There were two pieces of news in it, one of which was about the gold train. The relevant departments in Moscow have confirmed that the gold train fell under a cliff 20 kilometers away from the town of Alexei. Although the cause of the accident is not yet known, the train can only fall there, otherwise there is nowhere to go. This news finally calmed down the furious Stalin. Although he learned that the cliff where the gold train fell was not only deep, but also a mudslide broke out afterwards, and countless muds and rocks washed in, it would take a lot of effort just to clean up these muds and rocks, but anyway, the gold is still in the Soviet Union, isn't it? Therefore, he only issued an order to dig out the train as soon as possible, and did not investigate whether there were other conspiracy behind the scenes.
The second news was that Khrushchev, the first secretary of the Moscow State Committee, also fell into the cliff and was buried by the mudslide. This news made Yannick couldn't help but be shocked. I didn't expect that the butterfly effect after my time travel would be so widespread. You know, Khrushchev in the original time and space died in 1971, and now it's 35 years earlier.
However, this person didn't seem to have any outstanding deeds in World War II. His main job was to check the combat readiness and morale of the troops, personally interrogate German prisoners, recruit some of the prisoners for propaganda work, etc., so Yannick didn't take it to heart.
What excited him most was that his plan was a complete success. In the near future, the 560 tons of gold will be collected in the German treasury. I'm excited just thinking about it!
While whistling happily, Anne walked into the office. "Your Highness, General Rundstedt and others are here."
"Please ask them in and take this document to destroy it."
After a while, Rundstedt, Kesselring, Richthofen and others walked into the office. They brought a report on the situation of the Spanish Civil War.
Picking up the document, Yannick asked casually. "Are there any casualties in the air force?" You should know that the original air force of the Spanish government army was all old-fashioned aircraft. The only thing that could pose a threat to the German Bf109 was the I-16 fighter jets assisted by the Soviet Union.
Report from Air Force Chief of Staff Kesselring. "There are three casualties. One died, one was seriously injured, and one was slightly injured."
"Shot down by enemy aircraft?" So far, there have been only three casualties, which is already very good.
Kesselring looked a little embarrassed, and hesitated for a while before continuing. "Well, no, it was an accident when the pilot landed."
"..." Yannick sighed slightly. Of course, the structural strength brought by the single wing beam of the Bf109 is not enough, and the landing gear can only be installed at the root of the wing. As a result, the spacing between the landing gears is too small, making take-off and landing difficult, which is very unfriendly to novices, and accidents will happen if you are not careful.
But to improve this problem, it will affect the whole body, so it is better to redesign a new aircraft. "This is also something that can't be helped. We can only emphasize the safety of take-off and landing to the pilots." After saying that, he focused on reading the report document.
The Franco, German and Italian coalition forces are retaking Madrid with overwhelming superiority. The government forces without backup are just fighting desperately. It is only a matter of time before they are completely defeated.
On the other side, the "Battle of Barcelona", one of the most important battles in the Spanish Civil War, is also in full swing.
The coalition forces are winning victory after victory, and have firmly grasped the northern part of Spain. They are frantically attacking eastward with the goal of cutting off the border connection between the Spanish government forces and France.
In actual combat, the German armored divisions were very effective in the field attack. They took down Salamanca, one of the main cities in central Spain, and wiped out the two main columns of the Republican Army surrounded near Salamanca, successfully dividing the area controlled by the government forces into two. The coalition forces then expanded this victory and took down León, a major city in northern Spain, in the second month, opening up the supply line on the road to La Coruña.
"So far, a total of 16 tanks have been lost?"
Rundstedt showed a heartbroken expression on his face. "Nine of them were destroyed in street fighting. Your Highness, I think tanks should not be easily deployed in street fighting."
Yannick tapped his fingers lightly on the table, thought for a while, and asked. "How were our tanks destroyed? They should not have individual rocket weapons such as "Iron Fist", right?"
Rundstedt nodded. "They don't have similar weapons. Some of the destroyed tanks were ambushed by enemy tanks, some lost power after the engine was hit by anti-tank rifles, some were destroyed by Molotov cocktails, and some were cluster grenades... In short, they have a variety of ways to deal with tanks. Street fighting is simply a nightmare for tank troops."
A nightmare for tank troops? Yannick shook his head without comment. You must know that whether it is the urban offensive and defensive battles in World War II or the US-Iraq War in later generations, they have confirmed a conclusion that is contrary to the public: tanks have always been a powerful weapon for urban street fighting.
The US military even concluded in the actual combat of the Iraq War that the principle of excluding tanks from urban combat is wrong. In the large-scale attack on the city of Fallujah, the U.S. military, with tanks and armored vehicles as the core, killed and captured more than 3,000 enemy armed personnel at the slight cost of more than 50 Marines killed or wounded, thus proving that tanks are the best equipment for urban warfare.
Due to the good protection, precise, powerful and efficient firepower, and flexible mobility of tanks, they are all indispensable conditions and advantages in urban street fighting offensive operations. When tank troops are equipped with infantry cover, they will inevitably achieve the goal of destroying the entrenched enemy and reducing casualties in street fighting.
The main purpose of tanks in urban combat is to provide heavy firepower that infantry cannot carry, cover infantry for high-speed assaults, and serve as a strong support point for infantry to fight with it. Without armored forces, infantry will inevitably suffer greater casualties in the city.
What's more, there is no RPG in the hands of people in the future, so the survivability of tank troops is still quite strong.
"General Rundstedt, you have to consider how many more casualties would be needed to win if we only rely on infantry to fight street battles without the assistance and cover of heavy armor such as tanks? I think tanks are still a powerful weapon for urban warfare. If they fail to fight well, it is a tactical problem and has nothing to do with the tanks themselves. Of course, we cannot use pure tank troops to assault city streets, that would definitely be courting death." A typical example is the tragic street fighting in Grozny. In the absence of effective coordination with the infantry, the armored forces rashly attacked the city without infantry support. As a result, 20 of the 26 T-80 tanks were destroyed and only 18 of the 120 infantry fighting vehicles were evacuated from the city; in the three days of the attack that followed, 250 T-80 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and armored transport vehicles were destroyed. How tragic.
"But tanks conducting street fighting assaults with the cooperation of infantry will be much more effective than pure infantry troops. We need to train a street fighting force that coordinates infantry and tanks." He actually forgot such an important link. You should know that the turning point of World War II was the German army's loss of the Battle of Stalingrad, and the reason for the loss was that they were not able to defeat the enemy in street fighting.