1125_03: Breaking The Line At Belyi - PzC 09 Rzhev '42

Belyi, west side of the Rzhev Salient, November 25th 1942: The 41st Army's massed artillery began its preparation on time. It was snowing, making it difficult to observe the fire on the German line, but they had registered their guns with painstaking care. At 0900, as the sound of the explosions subsided, the assault infantry, with their supporting tanks, lumbered across the kilometer of cleared ground west of the Belyi-Demekhi road. Defensive fire from German strong points was light and as the advancing infantry passed through the first defensive line, they saw why, the artillery had blasted this line apart. This gave the infantry a clean break through the initial line of defense. Gen. Solomatin's 1st Mechanized Corps' units were keeping pace with the assaulting infantry, ready to assist, if required, but lethally poised ready to exploit the penetration. [Size, small]