Renne let out a breath of white breath, stretched out his hand, watching a snowflake shaking and landing in his palm, and then because of the heat, it disappeared instantly and turned into a drop of water. The entire camp was extremely quiet, so you could clearly hear the rumbling cannons coming from afar.

The fire shone on the distant burning city, shining on the rolling smoke connected to the horizon, and the sound hit the earth deep in the horizon, as if the whimpering sound from hell. This is the grave of human civilization, and this is the place where all normal people become madmen, but Rennes is a little happy now, because he feels that only in such a place where humans cannot survive can he live better.

It was not because of the noisy gunfire that Rennes couldn't sleep. In fact, he rushed to bed every second after dinner in the evening, and even Bruce and others did not explain in detail the arrangements. This was the battlefield quality that a veteran should have - seize all the time to rest.

When he was marching in the afternoon, news came from the battalion that in the second half of the night, the entire 502 Heavy Tank Battalion had to move forward, reach the designated attack position before dawn, and then break through the enemy's defense line and launch an attack on the predetermined target. This time is the time to get up, and Renn was like carrying an alarm clock himself, only 10 minutes earlier than the specified time.

Someone was preparing to eat in the distance, and wisps of blue smoke floated out. With the light in the sky, it was clear that the German army's large-scale operations lasted for dozens of kilometers and could not be unaware of the Soviet Red Army. Therefore, the hidden work at night was not too strict. Moreover, they were at least 20 kilometers away from the combat area, which was not a place where battlefield discipline was strictly enforced.

As the war is fought, there are many veterans. These veterans have their own experiences and practices on the battlefield. They are not as dogmatic as recruits, but they are not loved by commanders. These veterans often like to follow their own ideas, which makes some recruits develop less good habits.

However, the officers were generally not too harsh on this night. After all, these soldiers would have to face the enemy's artillery fire in a few hours. They had already sacrificed their lives for this country and the head of state far away in Berlin. Then there was no reason not to let them enjoy their own life at the last moment.

"Bowman! Start the tank! Bruce! Finally check the ammunition position! Alice! Adjust the channel! Andre... see what's wrong with the sight!" Before leaving, Renn nagged again. After all, they were going to drive the world's most powerful steel monster weighing dozens of tons into the battlefield. If they didn't check it carefully, they would definitely be irresponsible to themselves.

In addition to the Tiger King tanks that have not been equipped with frontline troops, the Tiger tank can definitely be said to be the most sophisticated war machine on the entire battlefield. The powerful engine is equipped with an amazingly efficient gearbox, equipped with the most practical and reliable long-range radio equipment in the world, and is equipped with the most sophisticated optical aiming equipment to aim at an 88mm caliber cannon that can penetrate any opponent.

Such a complex machine requires very professional maintenance. Of course, with the efforts of German engineers, the reliability of this machine is already amazingly high - but it still requires careful care from drivers on weekdays, so that they can exert the maximum power it should have on the battlefield.

As one tank after another started, the report of the inspection of the tanks also came into Rennes' headphones. Some of the newly added 502 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion seemed very nervous, because for them, this was really the first battle in their lives.

Originally, the soldiers in the elite troops such as 502 were all elites in other tank troops, but this selection and supplement method finally came to an end because of the expansion of the German armored troops. On the one hand, it was because excellent tank crew members were also very precious "properties" in other troops. These troops tried their best to keep these elites in their own troops. On the other hand, such supplements did indeed make the senior commanders feel that the semi-independent armored units of the Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion seemed too "privileged", which made them reluctant to put them into battle.

Another important reason is the promotion issue. Rennes is already a captain company commander, which is unimaginable for ordinary tank troops. Among other ordinary defense force armored units, the company commander is only at the level of a second lieutenant. However, in the heavy tank destroyer battalion, a company commander may have destroyed 50 enemy tanks, so how can those elites who were originally various troops be promoted? Therefore, these people are often unwilling to serve in such elite troops because they are too unfulfilled.

So I don’t know when or which unit to start. The new tank crews that supplemented the Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion also began to use brand new supplementary troops. These crews are all "campus factions" trained from the rear. They have no practical experience but are more disciplined.

The benefits are obvious. The expansion of the German armored forces has been several times the size of the original one. Now, the 10th Panzer Army under Model's D Army has been incorporated into the latest 14th Panzer Division of the SS Panzer Division. The number of the Panzer Army in Manstein's M Army has been ranked as the 13th Panzer Army, and the entire armored force of the German army has been unprecedentedly strengthened.

According to the basic configuration of two armored divisions under an armored army, the German army already has 26 armored divisions. Including some independent armored divisions strengthened to the group army, the number of German armored divisions exceeded 35. Although the elite level has decreased, the number is enough to be described as astonishing.

A large number of new recruits were added to the armored division, so that the rear production line, which significantly accelerated industrial production speed, did not waste its production capacity. Now the average tank ownership of the German armored division is even higher than when it was initially expanded, and most of them can guarantee a base of about 300 vehicles. Generally speaking, as long as there are tanks, there will be qualified crew members. As for the combat level, it can only be described in the four words "well-trained".

Rennes' tank company has been in a state of dissatisfaction. The first row of five tanks are still intact, and the second row of only three tanks are recharged in most cases. Before this battle came, they were all replenished, so he had 2 new tanks and 2 groups of new recruits under his command, which was considered an additional combat power.

At 4 o'clock in the morning, the 502nd Battalion finally entered the combat range. The sky was still dark, and the rumbling cannons on the battlefield were no longer far away. At this time, the entire battalion's speed suddenly slowed down. It was not that the road was rugged, but because the road was crowded with soldiers.

Yes, the soldiers were filled with soldiers, and the places they could see were covered with captured Soviet soldiers. The frustrated infantry watched with horror as the tanks of the 502nd Battalion slowly sailed through their crowds. They had no weapons in their hands, wore shabby military coats, and were escorted by Germans holding rifles around them, walking back along the road.

"What's going on? These troops are so vulnerable? There are too many surrendering, right?" Looking at these prisoners, Marcus was shocked by his huge number. It seemed that there was no end, and it could be described as crowded.

"Hey! Hello! May I ask, where are so many prisoners coming from?" Rennes was also a little depressed by the slow speed of traveling, so he had to ask a German officer passing by the tank. The other party was carrying a Mauser rifle, and the military rank should be an infantry company commander.

Official Nade raised his head, saw Renn's rank of captain, saluted and pointed to the distance: "This part is the junction of the two Soviet fronts. A tank regiment of the 10th Armored Army cut open here, and the two nearby Ukrainian locals immediately surrendered. They heard that we treated Ukrainian prisoners well, so they cooperated very much. We counted for one night, but we have not yet counted how many people surrendered with these two divisions... there were about 20,000 people, or maybe 30,000."

As if he had opened up the conversation, the infantry company commander told Rennes about everything he knew: "These troops do not have much combat power, their rifles are only equipped with very few bullets. Some people have not eaten for almost 10 hours due to supply chaos. In addition, they do not have many heavy weapons and have weak fighting will."

The results of the German army's radical division in Ukraine finally showed up on this day. Ukrainian officers had no fighting spirit, and Ukrainian soldiers also hostile to the Russian soldiers who monitored them. So as soon as the German attack began, the local Ukrainian troops began to reverse the situation. The two poorly equipped Ukrainian divisions surrendered very simply, allowing the German army to successfully capture their first strategic goal: the small village code-named n182.

Therefore, the combat mission of the 502 Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion changed from occupying n182 to directly inserting into Pavlograd, occupying and controlling this small city with bridges. Once Pavlograd is captured, the German army can easily take the initiative in the battlefield. Whether it is to attack Kharkov from the north or sweeping Donetsk from the south, it is a very fatal problem for the Soviet Union.
Chapter completed!