The Rise of the Third Reich

Time passed bit by bit and finally came to the evening of May 6th. At this moment, in the northern part of Moscow region, around the triangle between Volokolamsk-Lama River-Solnechnogorsk. Hundreds of thousands of fully armed soldiers and thousands of operational tanks, assault artillery, self-propelled artillery and armored vehicles on both sides, as well as thousands of cannons and rocket launchers, have all entered a war-ready state.

The officers, soldiers and political workers of the Soviet Red Army had already listened to the speech of the great leader Stalin from the temporarily installed loudspeakers at noon. In his speech, Stalin declared that the fate of the Soviet motherland and the success or failure of the communist cause depended on this battle, and called on all Red Army officers and soldiers to fight with their best efforts.

It was not just the leader's speeches that were used to boost morale, real incentives - material and spiritual - were also used in the pre-war mobilization on May 6.

The door of the Bolshevik Party is open, and a bright red party flag is unfurled on every company position. All soldiers who have submitted applications now stand in front of the party flag and swear an oath. From this moment on, they are all probationary members of the Bolshevik Party!

In addition to joining the party, which ranks first among the three major events in life, indicators for promotion are also sprinkled out one by one. All comrades who have joined the party but have not yet been promoted will become a glorious revolutionary cadre on May 6. If...if the Bolshevik Party and the Soviet Union still have a future, they will undoubtedly survive until that moment. Will be the winner in life.

And those soldiers who have not had their turn to join the party or be promoted will not be left empty-handed on May 6. Various medals, revolutionary soldier status and precious Moscow residence registration are all distributed on demand to the soldiers who will participate in the counterattack.

If you need it, you can get it!

In addition, the officers and soldiers received the most tangible prize before going to the battlefield - a large glass of vodka and a delicious dinner.

On the evening of May 6, just as the soldiers had just spent the happiest day in their lives and began to enjoy a delicious dinner. Large numbers of blue hats that were a sight to behold had already appeared in front of the soldiers who were preparing to participate in the first wave of attacks. It seems to be telling everyone: what you are enjoying is probably the last supper!

Using "blue hats" to supervise operations is not a common method used by the Red Army. Because the commanders and political workers of the Red Army themselves have the responsibility to supervise the war, sending out "blue hats" is a bit unnecessary.

But now this battle is related to the survival of the communist cause, so Stalin had to use carrots and sticks. While giving a lot of "benefits" to the communist fighters, he also dispatched the most reliable internal security forces from Moscow. , dispersed to the various regiments on the front line.

In addition, it is not only the Red Army soldiers who defend Moscow who are getting "benefits" now. There are also farmers in Moscow, Kalinin, Tula, Kaluga, Ryazan, Vladimir and Yaroslavl regions that may fall or become battlefields in the short term.

According to Stalin's latest instructions, all collective farms in these states will be dissolved before the spring sowing begins in 1944, and the land of the collective farms will be divided equally among the peasants. Although Stalin is certainly a great contemporary Marxist-Leninist, this does not mean that he is Don't know how to adapt.

Now that the Soviet-German war has turned into a Soviet-Russian civil war, the Belarusian reactionary forces who are at odds with the Bolsheviks know how to use the "Agrarian Reform Order" to win over people's hearts. How could Stalin continue to insist on unpopular policies in states that are about to fall or become battlefields? Collectivization of agriculture?

As for whether dividing fields and working alone would have a negative impact on agricultural productivity, Stalin could not care less for the time being.

Just as the Red Army soldiers were enjoying what was probably their last meal in their lives with complicated emotions, orange-red fires of large and small sizes suddenly bloomed on the more than 100-kilometer-long southern front of the battlefield. It was an ear-piercing explosion that shook the earth.

These are 270 "Hersmann Organ" vehicle-mounted rocket launchers and 270 Type 41 box rocket launchers (this is a low-cost rocket launcher with a caliber of 300mm and 6 rounds per firing unit, installed on a rail-mounted Within the iron frame, set up on the position, which can be retrieved or abandoned after the launch is completed), there are thousands of self-propelled artillery, assault guns and anti-tank destroyers ("Cheetah" and "Rhinoceros") spitting fire. According to the coordinate range determined in advance by scouts and aircraft reconnaissance. Throw rockets and artillery shells. If you look down from the air, you will find that in the dim night below, thousands of flying fire dragons suddenly appeared, making a harsh whistling sound, rushing forward violently, and suddenly turned into huge balls of smoke and fireballs. In the end, the thick smoke from a distance engulfed all objects on the ground, as if the most powerful volcanic eruption had occurred.

This kind of terrifying-looking bombardment was mainly fired by rocket launchers, in order to allow the 48th Armored Corps to have the firepower to confront the Soviet artillery group. After the roads in northern Moscow Region became dry and hard, Manstein and Hott immediately dispatched 5 rocket launcher regiments and 5 artillery regiments to reinforce the 48th Armored Corps.

The five artillery regiments are nothing but 270 towed 150mm howitzers, which can't produce much momentum at all. But those five rocket launcher regiments are powerful. The latest model of the "Hersmann's Organ" vehicle-mounted rocket launcher system is a 12-unit rocket launcher. A single salvo of 270 rocket launchers is 3,240 130mm rockets. Although the Type 41 rocket launch boxes are equipped with 6 units, they all fire large 300mm rockets. A salvo of 270 launch boxes can fire 1,620 rockets. Adding the two together, one salvo equals 4,860 rockets. All of them hit the forward departure position of the Soviet southern attack group.

It was the decision of Commander Balke of the 48th Armored Corps to concentrate firepower on one side, because the Soviet troops on the northern front were all north or west of the Lama River, and the contact point with the German army was Lama north of Volokolamsk. Although a small section on the west bank of the Ma River might be the focus of the Soviet assault, it did not pose a big problem to Balk (the risk of Volokolamsk being captured), so he focused on the sudden artillery attack. Southern Line.

"What's going on? The shelling started early?"

Marshal Rotmistrov of the Soviet Armored Tank Corps, who was having a meal in the headquarters in Istria, was stunned when he heard the explosion like rolling thunder coming from outside. He did not think for a moment that his troops were being bombarded, and he was also stunned. I thought it was the Red Army's artillery that had started in advance.

"No, it's not our people shooting guns, it's the Germans!"

Bilyuzov, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Southern Front Assault Group who was dining with Rotmistrov, reacted faster and immediately understood that it was the Germans who were firing. Two minutes later, his judgment was confirmed.

The frontier of the Soviet assault group on the southern front was suddenly hit by fierce German artillery fire! All the troops preparing to attack suffered varying degrees of losses.

"Damn it! They launched the attack first!" He then made another wrong judgment, "The Germans want to strike first!"

Is it to strike first? Rotmistrov was also a little confused. He looked at his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Ivanov. The latter also agreed with Biruzov's opinion. He told his superiors: "Now we should launch an artillery counterattack immediately, and at the same time order the forward troops to launch defense immediately."

The defensive posture and offensive posture of the troops are different, especially the offensive and defensive postures of the infantry units are very different, and it is very troublesome to convert. Once Rotmistrov orders the troops to adjust their posture, it will be impossible to launch another attack in the first half of the night!

However, Rotmistrov did not dare to ignore the possibility of the German attack - that was a god-like opponent!

"The forward troops immediately launched defenses," Rotmistrov immediately ordered, "the artillery group launched a counterattack to suppress the German artillery."

This was another decision that was later considered a "big mistake" because nearly 2,000 artillery pieces and hundreds of rocket launchers of the Soviet assault group on the southern front had long been aimed at the German frontline. Now using some of the artillery and rocket launchers to suppress the enemy's artillery group will not waste any time - this is not done by shaking the gun barrel. In order to prevent the artillery group from being counterattacked by enemy artillery or air strikes, the artillery is usually fired It will be transferred in a few minutes or ten minutes!

"What? The Germans struck first?"

Zhukov, who was sitting in the bunker of the Red Army Staff Headquarters, also immediately received the news that the assault group on the southern front had been subjected to heavy German artillery fire.

He and Pavlov, who was also sitting in the general staff bunker, looked at each other, and their brows furrowed at the same time.

Kokopev, who serves as the Chief of Staff of the Central Front, continued: "Comrade Chief of General Staff, Comrade Rotmistrov has ordered an artillery counterattack and also ordered the forward troops to launch defenses."

"Where is Katukov's Northern Front Cluster?" Zhukov asked, "Has the Northern Front been bombarded?"

Zhukov did not immediately raise objections to Rotmistrov's handling, but asked about the situation of the northern cluster.

"No." Kokopev replied, "The Northern Front Command just reported that everything is normal there.

General Katukov also asked for instructions, should the Northern Front Group launch an attack along the Rama River as planned? "

Zhukov thought for a moment, nodded, and said to Marshal Pavlov, the First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense who came to sit on behalf of Stalin: "I think the northern cluster should launch artillery attacks and attacks as planned! The southern cluster... can defend first Let’s talk later.”

"Okay, let's do it!" Pavlov nodded heavily and frowned: "It won't hurt us if the Germans take the initiative to attack, because the southern front group commanded by Comrade Rotmistrov is very powerful, they will definitely We will severely attack the German invaders!”