The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 1120

Although Guderian obeyed the order of the head of state and did not march directly to Budapest, he did not stay in his place and chose to cross the Danube to the east and enter the city of Bratislava, the capital of Snofak.

This move attracted the attention of the Soviet army.

Zhukov had already decided to destroy the most powerful field army of the German army.

At this time, taking advantage of the opportunity that the other German troops had not arrived yet, seizing the opportunity to attack the First Army was their only chance to win.

Zhukov did not give up this opportunity.

He immediately ordered the mobilization of the Third and Fourth Guards Tank Armies to advance westward, intending to defeat the German army in one fell swoop.

However, Snofak is not Hungary, and the Soviet army’s actions encountered trouble at the beginning.

The defenders stationed in Snofak carried out large-scale destruction of the roads and bridges that the Soviet army had to pass along the way. A large number of key bridges were blown up, and the defenders also buried a lot of anti-tank mines on the road.

These mines caused great trouble to the Soviet army. The Soviet tank troops, who served as the vanguard, had more than a dozen tanks blown up and damaged halfway, which forced them to slow down and dare not continue to advance at high speed.

Zhukov had long expected that this operation would not be so smooth, but he never expected that the German troops stationed here would actually fight a guerrilla war with them!

The German army did not choose to fight them hard on the front battlefield, but chose sparrow warfare and harassment warfare.

Relying on their familiarity with the local terrain, they hid in the houses, hills and forests on both sides of the road, and attacked the Soviet army when the Soviet army approached.

The German army was equipped with an anti-tank gun with a caliber of 57 mm. The caliber of this anti-tank gun was not large. Under normal circumstances, they would not be able to penetrate the armor of the T-34 at a distance of 1,000 meters.

However, when the German army attacked, they were within 500 meters of the Soviet troops most of the time. At this distance, the power of the German anti-tank gun was enough to destroy the Soviet tank armor.

As a result, the Soviet army was almost stunned by the sudden artillery sound from both sides of the road!

The enemy’s combat group was not large, often a group of 20 to 30 people or even a dozen people.

These German soldiers had clear division of labor, some were responsible for observation, some were responsible for correction, some were responsible for operating the artillery, and some were responsible for disassembling and transferring the artillery.

The weight of the 57mm anti-tank gun was originally very light, and its own weight was less than 600 kilograms. After removing the baffle, the weight was further reduced to less than 500 kilograms.

With this weight, two horses can be used to pull it all over the mountains and plains.

On the other hand, the Soviet army on the opposite side, their tanks could not run around in the rugged mountain roads and dense woods.

Although there was a group of cavalry in the Soviet army, it was not a wise choice to use cavalry to pursue such a small unit, because the German army was very familiar with the local terrain, and they would cover each other when they retreated. If the Soviet army pursued, they would often fall into the German ambush circle and be attacked by other groups.

After suffering several losses, the Soviet cavalry was determined not to pursue these small units.

Because every time they pursued, they would be beaten black and blue, suffered heavy losses, and the most important thing was that they almost never caught up with the target.

Such a battle was simply sending them to their deaths.

However, if the cavalry did not pursue, the Soviet army would have to leave these German troops alone.

Although the number of these German troops was small, they could only harass and delay them, and could not hurt their vitality.

However, the army was dragged by the other side, which had a very bad impact on both the fighter plane and the morale of the army.

So when the Soviet army arrived in Bratis, they had long lost their previous spirit and became exhausted one by one.

After seeing this scene, Zhukov was also a little worried. He was very worried that the German army would take the opportunity to attack his troops.

At this time, the Soviet army could be said to be the most vulnerable. They had traveled a long distance, crossed the border, and entered the area controlled by the enemy, which was already a bit risky.

At this time, their division was tired, but the enemy was nowhere to be found. In this case, the situation of the Soviet army became even more dangerous!

……

Just when Zhukov was hitting a wall everywhere in Snofak, Guderian’s army bypassed the main force of the Soviet army. They crossed the Danube again and appeared on the south bank of the Danube. Then, with a left hook, they attacked the Hungarian city of Gyor on the south bank of the Danube.

This city was just captured by the Soviet army not long ago. There were not many Soviet troops stationed here, and they did not realize that the German army might attack here.

Therefore, the Soviet army, which neglected defense, was naturally defeated without any suspense in the face of the attack of hundreds of thousands of German troops!

After the German army captured Gyor, the situation on the battlefield changed immediately.

Zhukov, who was seeking a decisive battle with Guderian, was already at the gates of Bratis.

However, Guderian, who was their combat target, ran to his side and rear, and could cut off their retreat at any time.

At this time, there were two choices before the Soviet army: first, taking advantage of the absence of the main force of the German army, attack Bratis, which was almost an empty city, to the west.

After the city is taken, the Soviet army will open up the passage to Vienna, and then threaten the Third Reich.

However, this option is very risky, because Guderian will definitely not sit idly by. They are very likely to send troops directly to the north, cross the Danube again, and cut off the Soviet army’s retreat.

Once the retreat is cut off, Zhukov’s troops will become an isolated army.

At that time, Guderian only needs to delay them, and wait for the German Seventh and Twelfth Armies to appear, and then they can be surrounded and annihilated!

Therefore, this option is not desirable!

The second option is to retreat immediately, return along the original route, and withdraw to their starting point before the German army goes north to prevent being surrounded by the German army.

However, in this case, not only did they fail to achieve their expected combat goals, but they also wasted a lot of time. When they retreated to the starting point, the other two German armies must have arrived at the battlefield. At that time, the Soviet army will face more than one million strong German troops!