Regardless of whether the ambush over there would begin before seven o'clock, Balzen's large forces would begin shelling at seven o'clock sharp.

The scouts had already noticed that the enemy had taken the equipment, and the high-powered binoculars they were carrying even saw the German machine gunners lying on the roof, their steel helmets reflecting a noticeable sheen from the sun.

The next battle was the time for precision shooters and artillerymen.

The captured 45-mm guns were pushed to the edge of the forest, followed by recoilless guns. The firepower of the Soviet army was very luxurious, with up to twenty recoilless guns and five 45-mm field guns per battalion. Its reserve ammunition also gave the fighters confidence in the subsequent shelling.

Thousands of Soviet soldiers arrived at the front line, they formed a semi-circular encirclement formation, relying on the forest trend, surrounded Loyev, and the only exit from the city was the railway bridge to the east!

Like the vast number of ordinary soldiers, Natasha and her comrades also arrived at the front line.

"You work in pairs as you do in your daily training. We were assigned to the reconnaissance battalion, and when we arrived at the front line, you each found your own sniper position, and when the shelling was over, we started sniping! ”

After a short lecture, Natasha conveyed all the orders.

The children have settled their positions, and today, they will fight alongside the soldiers of the reconnaissance battalion.

Undoubtedly, the huge anti-tank robbery operated by Natasha has become the object of attention of the fighters.

People don't pay much attention to Natasha and Igor, the heroic sniper team, and their author's final preparations, aiming at suspicious targets one by one.

No sooner had the fighters arrived than a new exchange of fire was heard in the east. The explosions came and went quickly, which showed that the ambush in the paratrooper battalion was over quickly.

Hearing the voice, Vorohitin in the north immediately contacted the regimental headquarters: "It seems that the paratroopers have already started fighting!" We're going to be a little bit more rubbing than them. ”

"It's only a little bit of a moment." Balzen responded: "Can you all hear me? Prepare for battle at once, we've already checked our watches, and as soon as the second hand at seven o'clock arrives, fire at once. Ten rounds per cannon in a row! ”

The officers and men at the grassroots level quickly received the order, and the gunners skillfully loaded the barrels with pellets and waist bags, while the deputy gunners prepared the spare ammunition and placed them on the side of the gun emplacement.

Rechev had only made contact with Balzen in the last three minutes, and at this moment he had just arrived at the western edge of the forest with a large army.

He called out breathlessly: "Balzen, our paratroopers have killed a company of the enemy, and we have been informed that the actual strength of the enemy is a thousand men. ”

"A thousand?! Why didn't you tell this information earlier! Balzen was furious, but the appointed time was imminent, and he had to send it. Forget it, just a thousand people. You're ready, too, and in a hundred seconds, we'll act! ”

……

In the last hundred seconds, the paratrooper battalion quickly began to set up positions for rocket artillery firing. The launcher had been installed in advance, and two fighters worked together to carry it to the front line, followed by ten soldiers with huge rocket launchers.

There are only two rocket artillery tubes on the front line, and only ten spare ammunition.

As for how the paratrooper battalion will conduct the following operations, Rychev has prepared a careful plan. He looked nervously at his watch, and at the last moment he held his breath.

He had just seen that the five Germans who had been let go had run to the bridge, captured by the German defenders, and then taken straight back. Don't worry about these "messengers" being blown up again!

There are more than ten seconds left.

Rychev commanded loudly; "Rocket artillery ready! The last ten seconds! ”

Ten seconds passed quickly, and the rocket gunners tightened their grip on the bolt and pulled it hard after they heard the battalion commander's "fire".

With a crisp roar, violent clouds of smoke poured out frantically from the tail vent, and the two white dragons flew towards the bridgehead of the railway bridge at a speed of more than 170 meters in one second! Two violent explosions followed.

At the same time, Soviet troops launched artillery shelling from four directions!!

70mm grenades, 45mm high-explosive shells, they bombarded cities aimlessly with ground-level ammunition.

It has to be said that concrete buildings can withstand artillery bombardment, and only the ultra-high pressure created by thermobaric bombs can crush them.

The total energy of the hundreds of shells that the Soviet army planned to fire was not high, and the way to achieve damage mainly relied on fragments. Even this was enough, and the Soviets achieved good results in the first round of shelling.

The entire city of Loyev had a total population of 1,200 people, including 1,000 soldiers. Of the more than 100 people who left the city, there were only more than 800 defenders.

Among them, the German army was experienced in combat, and there were only more than 300 troops left. Those puppet troops were a group of weak guys, and the German officers did not believe that this group of people could fight against the regular Soviet army.

At the last moment, the Germans learned from the fleeing soldiers that the expedition had been wiped out at the wreckage of the train, and the Germans had no time to take further precautions, and the shells fell on their heads!

For a time, smoke billowed from the small city of Loyev.

The rising smoke did not interfere with the artillery, because the target of the artillery was one - the entire city of Loyev. They don't need to deliberately aim at anything, they just need to go in the direction of the city and shoot out the prepared shells.

Only a kilometer from the Soviet ambush to the edge of Loyev's city, the German machine gunners withheld the shelling. Most of the German soldiers lay in the trenches, while the puppet soldiers, during the attack, fled towards the center of the city.

The main casualties caused by the shelling came from this group of fleeing puppet troops, with more than 50 dead and more than 100 wounded on the spot.

Ten rounds of fire were fired from each gun, and the top floors of many buildings in the city collapsed, along with a group of German machine gunners lying on the rooftops. Whether they are dead or alive, their bodies must have been buried in rubble!

The most savage bombardment came not from the right bank of the river, but from those rocket artillery on the left bank!

Catfish rockets, with a power equivalent to two 152-mm howitzers, were ordered to be fired by Rychev, and the focus of his attack was only one - the German bridgehead.

After all, Rychev received a direct order from the command of the army group to blow up the railway bridge after the battle began. To carry out this plan, it is first necessary to take the bridgehead.

As a result, those two concrete pillboxes became the targets of the Soviet army's most powerful firepower.

Under the devastating bombardment of six rocket launchers, the German army's proud fortifications, together with the defenders and machine guns inside, accompanied by a huge cloud of smoke, were blown into the sky more than 100 meters into the sky, and then fell into the water in the form of huge fragments.

The Soviet artillery fire gradually stopped, and the smoke caused by the shelling became bigger and bigger, and the city seemed to be burning!

The most terrifying thing is the east exit of the railway bridge, where more than 20 defenders were wiped out in the first place. The smoke and dust created the fog of war for a while, and Rychev did not know the effect of the bombardment for a while, so he decided to stand still, take the smoke away a little, and start the bombing operation again.