At half past six in the afternoon, Manstein decided to attack.

In fact, Manstein does not need to be in such a hurry...... The Kerch Peninsula is located in the northern hemisphere, and the sunshine hours are particularly long in May and June, usually around 7:30 to 8 p.m. (Note: The latitude of the Kerch Peninsula is similar to that of Beijing, and the light conditions can be referred to the dark time of Beijing in May and June)

In other words, the Germans actually had time to make some more preparations.

But Manstein has clearly lost his patience, or perhaps Manstein is a little lacking in confidence.

"We can't guarantee that a single attack will be able to successfully break through the enemy's defenses!" Manstein said: "Also, I need to leave some time to attack Kerch, so now is the time!" ”

Qin Chuan can understand Manstein's mentality, he has the fate of the entire 11th Army on his shoulders, so he must be careful and careful.

What's more, the sappers have now converted six paving tanks and strung enough logs to pave five passages.

"Captain!" Manstein asked Qin Chuan: "In this case, you won't object to me letting the First Infantry carry out the task of attacking, right?" ”

"Of course not, General!" Qin Chuan replied.

This is not only because Qin Chuan can't refuse, but also because Qin Chuan has confidence in this battle...... If you know you can win, you might be able to relax, so why not?

Of course, Manstein didn't think so, he thought: if the paving tanks didn't work, then the First Infantry might be able to win the battle with its amazing firepower and combat effectiveness. To put it simply, it is to give this battle a double insurance.

What Manstein didn't expect was that the battle would be so easy that the 11th Army, especially its main arm, the 22nd Panzer Division, complained about it...... Because they thought that the First Advance Corps had not contributed much in the whole battle, but it was the First Tier Corps that reaped the fruits of victory in the end.

That's all for later.

The first battalion's offensive plan was as follows: the first battalion of the first battalion to advance with the paving tanks, advance to about 300 meters and cooperate with the tanks to suppress the Soviet firepower, and then the second battalion followed closely and charged the Soviet defense line. The third battalion was used as reinforcements for the invasion of Kerch.

The 28th Chasseur Division was also attacking at the same time as the 1st Corps.

Of course, the 28th Chasseur Division was not the main offensive force, they were only responding to and holding back the Soviets in other directions.

When he was ready, Manstein ordered the walkie-talkie: "Fire!" ”

"Rumble" is a dense burst of artillery fire.

The bombing target was divided into two parts, one part to bomb the Soviet line, but most of it was mortars.

The main force was aimed at the Soviet artillery positions that had been detected before, and this bombing was also guided by aerial reconnaissance planes, so the Soviet artillery was basically dumb after a round of artillery fire.

Ten minutes after the bombardment, with Manstein's order, the troops went on the offensive.

At one moment, gunfire and artillery rumbled, and the German soldiers of the 28th Chasseur Division pressed towards the Soviet lines from all sides without tank cover.

Of course, they did not charge, but leaped towards the Soviets in a skirmish formation to attract the attention and firepower of the Soviets.

Then, the paving tanks in front of the first corps began to advance.

It was converted from the "three" tank, and the engine "rumbled" slowly forward, while strings of logs were uploaded on the conveyor belt in front of the tank's tracks...... This allowed the tank to move smoothly through the mud.

"Forward!" Colonel Slain ordered: "Keep up with the tanks!" ”

The soldiers of the first step regiment followed one by one with MP43s in their hands.

Qin Chuan was of course one of them, but he still had a sniper rifle in his hand...... The task of snipers is even heavier for units that are generally equipped with MP43s, since long-range targets are outside the range of the MP43, and they can only be suppressed by machine guns and snipers.

However, there seems to be no such concern in this battle, as they are all following behind the tanks.

The Soviets did not expect the Germans to drive their tanks at all, of course, because of the mud in front of the position.

Therefore, almost all the equipment in the Soviet defense line was aimed at infantry, and if there was anything that could be used against tanks, it was the tanks arranged in the defense line, but these tanks were either blown up by German bombers or the rest were light tanks, which could not threaten the German "three" tanks at all.

The commander of the 46th Soviet Army, Lieutenant General Yefimovich, immediately called the command: "Comrade Kozlov, the tanks of the Germans have come up, ask for reinforcements, ask for reinforcements!" ”

"Tanks of the Germans?" Kozlov couldn't help but ask in confusion: "How can their tanks come up?" ”

"They paved the road, and they paved it with wood......"

"Comrade Yefimovich!" Mehris impatiently snatched the phone from Kozlov's hand and said: "Won't you fire at the Germans when they pave the way?" Won't you fight back against them? Do you allow the enemy to pave the way before you? ”

"No, Comrade Mehris!" Lieutenant General Yefimovich wanted to explain but didn't know how, so he was anxious for a while and had to say: "You should come here and see, they are paving the way with tanks!" ”

Mehris couldn't help but glance at Kozlov when he heard this, and the two of them climbed onto the roof of the house in disbelief and raised their binoculars to look down, and sure enough, they saw several tanks paving the road while advancing.

Although the tanks did not advance quickly, they paved the road wherever they went, and it seemed that they were about to be paved in front of the Soviet trenches.

"What's that?" Mehris asked in alarm.

"I don't know!" Kozlov replied with some helplessness: "I only know that the Germans are going to break through our last line of defense!" ”

At a distance of 300 meters from the Soviets, the first battalion was divided into two parts: one part continued to follow the tanks to pave the way, and the other part launched a fire suppression on the Soviets between the tanks.

The distance of 300 meters was carefully considered.

The first is that the MP43 in the hands of the Germans has a range of 350 meters, and the distance of 300 is completely within their range.

SECONDLY, QIN CHUAN KNEW THAT THE SOVIET ARMY WAS EQUIPPED WITH A LIGHT MORTAR SIMILAR TO THE GERMAN 50MM MOTAR...... The armies of this era were generally equipped with light mortars, which made them play the same role as Japanese grenadiers on the battlefield.

THIS LIGHT MORTAR OF THE SOVIET ARMY WAS 37MM CALIBER WITH A FIRING RANGE OF 300 METERS.

In other words, the Germans were at a distance of 300 meters at the longest range of this mortar, so they could suppress the Soviet army with confidence.

At the same time, the 2nd Infantry Battalion, under the cover of another group of tanks, followed from behind.