At eleven o'clock in the middle of the night, the soldiers of the 21st Panzer Division were woken up one by one...... It was supposed to be a whistle, but this operation of the 21st Panzer Division was kept as low-key as possible, although the sound of tank engines could not be disguised.

After twenty minutes of preparation, the tank units of the armored division set off under the guidance of the fluorescent lights of the sappers in front.

After a five-hour march in the dark, the troops marched west and then north, reaching the predetermined area, the 297th Infantry Division, at four o'clock in the morning.

Here, the 297th Infantry Division had made some preparations for the arrival of the 21st Panzer Division, such as laying a road that could be passed by tanks to their positions...... There is a big difference in the requirements between the road used by a tank and the road used by a car, which is determined by the fact that the tank is several times heavier than the car.

Of course, the preparations were not limited to this, the Germans had also made some strategic deception to the Soviet army before that.

The first was the artillery bombardment and offensive of the frontal line of Soviet troops.

The direction of the main attack, of course, was the two armored divisions on the right flank.

When the Soviets reacted nervously, the area of the Don River defense line on the flank suddenly burst into fire, and many warplanes even bombed the port of Karachi with flares.

Lieutenant General Lopatin of the Soviet 62nd Army could not help but be taken aback by this situation, because he suspected that the Germans would force their way across the Don River from the flank, because he had already detected that the main forces of the German 6th Army were gathering on the other side of the Don River.

"The attack from the south is a strategic deception of the enemy!" Lieutenant General Lopatin immediately made this judgment: "Their attack in the direction of the Don is real!" ”

"Comrade Lopatin!" Political commissar Shumiertz looked at the time and was skeptical: "It's four o'clock in the morning, and there is still an hour to go before dawn, and it doesn't seem appropriate for the Germans to launch a forced crossing operation at this time!" ”

Schumietz was right that the most suitable battle to cross the river should be at night, and if it was during the day, the German ships used to cross the river would have a clear view of the wide river. On the other hand, the quality of the German soldiers is generally high, and they will infiltrate the German coastal defense units through tactics such as armed swimming and other tactics in advance, mixing with some small units in advance, and the Soviet troops with poor quality are prone to confusion under this tactic, so that the German army can take advantage of the gap.

The Soviets had already suffered losses in the battle to cross the Don River in the lower reaches of the Don.

"They may think they can cross the river in an hour!" Lopatin replied: "We must not be negligent, the Germans have always been surprised!" ”

Lopatin was right about this, the tactics of the German army were ever-changing, and the tactics of the Soviet army were dull and monolithic compared to them.

It's just that what Lopatin didn't expect was that he was once again deceived by the "ever-changing" tactics of the German army.

Lopatin immediately transferred the 169th Tank Brigade, which had been deployed on the southern defensive line, to the direction of Karachi...... This was the only Soviet unit on the banks of the Don that could hold back the German 21st Panzer Division.

At 4:45 a.m., the sun slowly rises in the east.

The sunrise time was calculated, which is why the Germans set the time for the attack at five o'clock in the morning.

For the Germans, they had air supremacy, and it was better to attack the enemy's line of defense with superiority in armored forces on the left flank, then it was also better to do so during the day.

On the other hand, the Soviets could not be prepared by discovering that the Germans had a large number of armored forces transferred to the left flank.

Therefore, the most suitable time to attack is at the moment when the dawn is bright.

With a few sudden sounds, several red signal flares rose into the sky, and in an instant, there was a loud burst of artillery, and more than a dozen bombers and reconnaissance planes also flew over the 21st armor and flew in the direction of the Soviet army with a whistling sound...... Bombers are used to bomb artillery or tanks that may exist in the Soviet army, and reconnaissance planes are used to correct the trajectory of artillery on the one hand, and on the other hand, they are also used to reconnoiter the defense situation of the Soviet army and report to the German army, which becomes the basis for the German commander to control the war situation.

This is the advantage of having air supremacy, it can always learn more about the situation on the battlefield so that the army can prepare for the response or strike at key targets first, they are like a multiplier of the army's combat effectiveness, and the Soviet army, which has lost air supremacy, will inevitably be a little like a headless fly to figure out the situation. This is one of the reasons why the Soviet army was always defeated on the battlefield by the Germans, who were less powerful.

The shelling lasted ten minutes...... The Germans could not bomb for too long, because, as mentioned before, the Germans were inferior to the Soviets in terms of supply and replenishment from the beginning, which was due to the long logistical supply lines of the German army and the poor condition of the Soviet railways and roads, so the Germans always had to carefully plan every bit of their ammunition.

Now, for example, the Germans had to think about an offensive on Stalingrad in the near future.

With a wave of General Stryk's hand, the German tank crews started the tanks one after another, and then one by one the tanks drove out of the hidden woods, occasionally knocking down a few calf-thick birch trees, making a piercing clatter, and the camouflage net draped over the tanks was torn off by the soldiers as fast as they could.

The Soviet troops on the opposite side were stunned when they saw this scene.

A lieutenant got out of the command headquarters after receiving the report, lay down in front of the trench and looked at the opposite side with a telescope, and then hurriedly said to the messenger next to him: "Take over the command immediately!" ”

"Yes, Comrade Captain!"

As soon as the command was connected, the lieutenant reported to the commander of the 35th Soviet Infantry Division in the sound of artillery at the volume of a roar: "Comrade Grotov, I am a regiment, a large number of enemy tanks are attacking our line, ask for reinforcements, ask for reinforcements!" ”

(Note: The regiment commander is generally a major, but in the case of a large number of casualties among officers, the rank will be gradually reduced, and at the height of the Battle of Stalingrad, it even occurred that a soldier could survive for a few days and then be promoted to battalion commander)

"Tanks?" Major General Grotov asked suspiciously: "How can there be enemy tanks in your defensive line?" How did they get here? Have the Germans already built the road in front of your lines? ”

Only then did the captain realize that the mud in front of his position was indeed not suitable for a tank charge, so he grabbed the microphone and slowly stuck his head out to check it.

The captain was taken aback by what he saw: "Comrade Grotov, they have a tank that lays steel plates on the ground as they advance, and it is only more than eight hundred meters away from our line of defense!" ”

Grotov couldn't help but open his mouth when he heard this, he had heard that the Germans attacked in this way, that is, when the port of Kerch was captured not long ago, but he did not expect that the Germans would use this method on his troops.

"No matter what method you use!" Grotov shouted: "You must block them, even if you pay with your life, understand?" ”

"Yes, Comrade Grotov!" The captain answered, and then realized that for them...... The final moment has come.