The Rise of the Third Reich

On May 7, 1944, inside the Red Army General Staff Headquarters in Moscow, there was an extremely tense scene. Every staff officer looked panicked, as if the sky in Moscow was about to fall. However, they did not give up. They still stayed on the phone and carried out revolutionary work around the map. A large number of troops are to be reinforced from Moscow and Kalinin in the direction of the Volokolamsk-Mara River-Solnechnogorsk triangle. Fierce offensive and defensive operations are still going on in this triangular area, especially on the west bank of the Mara River.

Last night, the "Northern Tank Armored Group" belonging to the Soviet Kalinin Front's attack on Rodsnow-Osheikino was stubbornly blocked by the Marx Group with the German 1st Armored Division as the core, and suffered heavy losses. Although the Soviet army invested a large number of JS-2 tanks, T-34/85 tanks and infantry, it launched repeated and decisive attacks. However, they were all repulsed by the German E-50A tanks, Tiger H tanks, and "Cheetah" tank destroyers.

After dawn, on the Rod Snow-Osheikino battlefield, the offensive and defensive postures of both sides suddenly changed. The "Marx Group" (a very revolutionary name) received support from 4 armored battalions from Volokolamsk in the early morning of May 7th - these 4 battalions were previously left in Voloko to save fuel. Four of the six armored battalions at Ramsk equipped with Panzer IV H tanks.

Don't look at them just because they have the name "battalion". In fact, these German armored battalions have far more combat effectiveness than the Soviet tank brigades! Each battalion has 88 Type 4 H tanks at full strength (if equipped with E-50 and Tiger, the number of tanks will be only 66). Although the 4 tanks dispatched from Volokolamsk The battalion is not full, but on average each battalion has more than 70 tanks that can be driven. The four battalions dispatched a total of 282 No. 4 H tanks, which was more than a Soviet tank corps!

After receiving reinforcements from 282 No. 4 tanks, the number of tanks/assault guns that Major General Marx could operate increased to 612. Among them, there are 80 E-50A tanks, 78 "Cheetah" tank destroyers, 110 Tiger H tanks, 40 "Rhino" tank destroyers, and Stalker tank destroyers (attached to the 1st Armored Grenadier Regiment) has 12 vehicles, and "Little Leopard" (the legendary "Lori Leopard") has 10 vehicles.

In addition, during the daytime on May 7, a group of French and German attack aircraft also appeared in the sky above the Rod Snow-Osheikino battlefield. Br.720 and Hs-129 with artillery installed on the fuselage, and 6-8 "Doll" bazookas hung on the Fw-190F/G appeared in groups. Dozens of German troops intertwined with the Soviet front. Under the guidance of the defensive strongholds, Soviet targets on the ground were repeatedly struck. At the same time, the German army also launched violent artillery bombardments.

With the support of attack aircraft, fighter-bombers and artillery, hundreds of tanks of the German Marx Group launched an offensive against the Soviet army facing them with unprecedented ferocity. The west bank of the Mara River was originally where the Soviet army launched its main offensive. Although it suffered heavy losses in the previous night battle, it was still able to assemble a huge group of tanks and armored troops. As a result, more than a thousand tanks from both sides were just west of the Mara River. A decisive battle begins on the plain!

Once the Soviet army is defeated by the German army on the plain west of the Mara River, then this "last-ditch" counterattack will be over. Moscow and Kalinin will be surrounded, and the Soviet red flag will not be restored. How many days can I fight? Therefore, at this moment that is related to the life and death of the Soviet Union, Zhukov and Pavlov's choice seems to be to throw in the last capital at all costs! But this would be tantamount to moving the defense of Moscow outside the solid city defenses.

Once the Soviet army is defeated in the "Triangle Zone", Moscow's defense strength will probably be greatly weakened. So at this critical moment, everyone is waiting for Zhukov and Pavlov to make the final decision.

At this time, Zhukov was in an office filled with maps, thinking hard in front of a map full of marks. Marshal Pavlov, the First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, walked in quietly. Zhukov heard a noise at the door. Turning his head, his face was already full of exhaustion, and his eye circles looked blue due to excessive mental use and extreme lack of sleep. This fateful decisive battle was too heavy a burden even for a genius military strategist like Zhukov.

"Georgy Konstantinovich, haven't you made a decision yet? Comrade Stalin just called again to urge you. He asked to invest all his strength and defeat the imperialist invading army at all costs. Defend the cause of Comrade Lenin.”

Zhukov smiled bitterly: "Actually, I would like to suggest that Comrade Lenin be sent to Chelyabinsk immediately..."

Comrade Lenin's immortal remains are still under the Lenin Cemetery in Red Square - there is also a bunker under Lenin's tomb, which was used to protect the remains from imperialist bombers during wartime.

However, Stalin had already given instructions before. Once Moscow was likely to be besieged, Lenin's body must be moved immediately!

Now that Zhukov brought this up, Pavlov would naturally not understand what it meant.

But Pavlov shook his head, "No, now is not the time. Although the situation is unfavorable, we should still try our best. If we give up now, it will be nothing more than a long siege of Moscow... Moscow should not become another Leningrad or Warsaw it should become Paris, with a bang!”

The "Paris" Pavlov mentioned was, of course, the Paris Commune. In his view, failure is not terrible; what is terrible is losing faith. The soldiers in Moscow should be martyred for their communist beliefs, so that they can inspire future generations of communist successors.

If in the end they were defeated by hunger and surrendered to the Russian Empress due to the long siege, that would be a truly terrible defeat!

After Zhukov heard Pavlov's words, he suddenly felt enlightened. He had always been thinking about how to save the fate of Moscow and the Soviet Union. He had never thought of fighting a vigorous battle and using it to inspire generations of successors to communism.

Thinking of this, he slapped his hand heavily on the Ruza River south of Volokolamsk - the Ruza River is a roughly north-south river west of Moscow and a tributary of the Moskva River. Now part of the Moscow Western Front Group is stationed there (not the entire Ruza River, just the middle and lower reaches) and is facing off against the German troops on the opposite bank. The Soviet army's southern assault group is now deployed on the Ruza River and southern Solnechnogorsk (the city of Solnechnogorsk is currently controlled by the German army). It has a front line of about 100 kilometers, with the German army. An armored corps (actually 2 panzergrenadier divisions and 2 paratrooper divisions, as well as some tank destroyer battalions and heavy armored battalions) faced off.

According to the original plan, the Soviet southern front group should have launched an attack together with the northern front group last night, and the main attack direction was to go north along the Ruza River to hit Volokolamsk.

However, due to the German army's preemptive artillery attack and the subsequent night air attack, which delayed several hours, the attack of the southern front group last night was ineffective. Therefore, there was no fierce tank battle along the Ruza River.

However, the Soviet army still managed to figure out the German troop deployment along the Ruza River south of Volokolamsk through a limited-scale night battle.

The German defense there seemed not to be as strong as at Rodsnow-Osheichino. Although the attacking Soviet army was also repelled, the losses were not too great. It seems that as long as we work harder, it is still possible to succeed.

During the day on May 7, the German army did not launch a counterattack in the areas along the upper reaches of the Ruza River.

Zhukov said: "We can let Katuzov's Northern Front Group withdraw north along the Mara River and attract the German armored group that is fighting them as far north as possible. Tonight, the Southern Front Group will move towards the upper reaches of the Ruza River. Create favorable conditions for regional assault!

Tonight, we will try our best to fight... for the Soviet Union! For the cause of GCism! "

…

The roaring rockets passed over the west bank of the Mara River, and the front of the battle line once again became a fire dragon. Looking from this desolate land where the tanks were assembled to the Soviet front line a few kilometers away, it was already covered in fire and smoke, as if the gates of hell had suddenly opened.

Captain Ribbentrop, who has been fighting hard since last night, is still full of energy. His company now still has 18 operational E-50A tanks. In the fierce fighting from last night to now, only one tank of his company was completely destroyed (hit in the side by a JS-2 tank with a 122mm cannon), and another tank was seriously damaged (hit by a JS-2 tank The 122mm gun penetrated the lower front of the vehicle body). In addition, two tanks suffered mechanical failures and were being repaired.

However, because 2 vehicles under repair have been repaired and returned to construction, Ribbentrop's company now still has 18 E-50A tanks that can be used - obviously, the E-50A tank is a very reliable one. The vehicle is an excellent tank created after absorbing the achievements of the "Tiger" and "Panther" and also integrating many achievements of Britain and France in tank and internal combustion engine technology.

Not only powerful, but also extremely reliable, allowing maximum effectiveness on the battlefield.

"All forward, long live victory!" The order from the group commander, Major General Marx, came from Ribbentrop's earphones.

The climax of the tank battle is coming!