The Rise of the Third Reich

After listening to Pavlov's seemingly confident words, Major General Rimosik still shook his head: "Comrade Commander, the 4th Army, 28th Army, 30th Army and 31st Army are still on the west bank of the Bug River. The average distance to Warsaw is more than 100 kilometers, and they have other tasks to be responsible for..."

The Soviet Union's Western Front has a total of 20 armies, 10 of which have already reached the vicinity of Warsaw. A powerful tank army and a regular army remained in Minsk to prevent a German breakthrough from the direction of Ukraine. One group army is cooperating with the Southwest Front to besiege Lviv, and three other group armies are deployed in front-line positions facing the Baltic-Lithuanian direction.

There are also 4 armies, namely the 4th Army, 28th Army, 30th Army and 31st Army as Pavlov said, which are deployed in the liberated area on the west bank of the Bug River. They are not only the general reserves of the Warsaw Battle Group , is also responsible for defending the retreat of the Warsaw Battle Cluster, and is also the backing for the construction of people's power in the liberated areas of Poland.

If all four armies move to the Warsaw front, not only will the rear of the Warsaw battle group become very empty, but the Polish local people's political power that was finally established may also be overthrown by reactionary forces because of the loss of strong backing.

Therefore, all four armies cannot be transferred to the front line in Warsaw unless absolutely necessary. If Pavlov wanted to mobilize them all, he would have to mobilize other troops to fill the gaps. The only troops that the Western Front Command can mobilize now are the two armies in Minsk. If Pavlov didn't want the area around Minsk to become empty, he would have had no choice but to ask Moscow for more troops.

"Comrade Commander," Major General Rimoschik suggested, "it's better to ask for help from the Supreme Command..."

"It's not necessary at the moment," Pavlov thought for a while and then shook his head. "At most, it's just a military-level armored cluster, which we can deal with."

Although Tiger tanks and Panther tanks are very powerful, they are not many in number. The Western Front has a strong strength of 20 armies. If it asks the Supreme Command for help because of a German army-level armored group equipped with heavy tanks, then the great leader of the world revolution will definitely think that General Pavlov is useless. Fool.

"Order the 3rd Army to continue its roundabout mission," Pavlov thought for a moment, then added, "and be ready for a decisive battle with the German armored group at any time!"

Major General Rimoschik, Chief of Staff of the Western Front, changed his expression slightly, looked at Pavlov and asked: "Comrade Commander, do you think the German army has sent a large number of troops to Warsaw?"

The Battle of Warsaw has been going on for more than a month, and the Western Front Command has generally known how many troops the Germans have in Warsaw. Rimoschik knew that the German army had only one armored division (actually 6 tank battalions) in Warsaw, and the German armored group currently breaking through the 100th Army's defense line should be this armored division.

If the 3rd Army encountered a German armored group on the north bank of the Renaf River, most of the armored group would be new.

"This is very possible!" General Pavlov frowned, "Currently the progress made by the Northwest Front Army and the Southwest Front Army is very limited, and the Southwest Front Army's encirclement of Lviv has not yet been completed.

The Northwest Front's attacks on the Baltic and Finland have also been repeatedly frustrated... I am worried that the northwest and southwest directions will have limited containment effect on the German army. As for the British attack on the island of Ireland, although some progress has been made, the British army's combat effectiveness is limited, and the number of German reinforcements it can attract will not be large. Therefore, the German high command must now have sufficient troops to support Warsaw! "

He was silent for a while and said solemnly: "If the 3rd Army encounters another German armored group on the north bank of the Reinav River, then it is basically certain that the German army has massively reinforced Warsaw, and there will be no need to ask the High Command for reinforcements by then. Late."

Major General Rimosik already understood Pavlov's thoughts. This comrade general cared very much about the great leader's trust. And Stalin's trust was not much left after the disastrous defeat in the last Legionovo-Wovomin battle. If he opens his mouth to ask for help from the Supreme Command again, I'm afraid Comrade Pavlov is in danger of becoming a reactionary... Unless Germany also sends a large number of troops to Warsaw, then the Western Front will have reason to ask Moscow for more troops. .

However, Pavlov's judgment that the 3rd Army might encounter a German armored group on the north bank of the Renav River-Vistula River was correct. The 3rd Army of the Red Army would soon be with the 3rd Army coming from the direction of Posen. The German 48th Panzer Corps encountered.

"Your Majesty Commander, do you have anything to ask me about?"

While Pavlov and Rimoschik were discussing the frontline situation, Lieutenant General Hermann Bakker, commander of the German 48th Armored Corps, also walked into the room of Marshal Rundstedt, commander of the German Army Group Center. office.

Marshal Rundstadter, who is 67 years old this year, seems a little out of mind and has obviously not slept all night. Although he is not the commander of the front line in Warsaw, he is the commander of Army Group Center after all. He launched the 6th Army Group When the counterattack was about to begin, he naturally couldn't sleep.

Moreover, the Polish SS cavalry operating on the north bank of the Renav River last night also reported that a very large Soviet armored group had crossed the Renav River from Serotsk. Aircraft reconnaissance conducted later also discovered a Soviet convoy marching with its car lights on, thus confirming what the Polish cavalry had discovered.

Then the old Marshal Rundstedt could no longer sleep at all, and spent the whole night in the headquarters discussing the enemy's situation with Model or Guderian on the phone. The result of the discussion was that the 6th Army continued to carry out short assault operations, and at the same time the 48th Armored Corps was sent by Army Group Center to first take a train from Posen to Boulogne on the Buchula River, and then take the road to Vis. Zakrochim on the north bank of the Wa River.

"Marshal, we have to go more than 300 kilometers," Lieutenant General Hermann Bakker frowned after learning about his mission from Lundstedt. "And the Soviets only need to advance 30 kilometers." How many kilometers...do you think we might arrive first?"

"Of the more than 300 kilometers you have to travel, more than 270 kilometers are driven by railways, and less than 30 kilometers require roads." Rundstedt smiled lightly and said, "And the areas we passed along the way were all visited by me. The Soviet Union has firm control, and there will be no enemy obstruction, and there will not even be any Soviet aircraft in the sky to disturb it. The more than 30 kilometers of road for the Soviets are not easy to walk. Our two cavalry divisions, the 8th SS Division and the Wehrmacht. The 1st Cavalry Division, plus a Hungarian tank brigade, will form a temporary battle group under the unified command of Major General Manteuffel, commander of the 1st Cavalry Division. I think they will be very capable of blocking the Soviets on the north bank of the Vistula River. Successfully completed the blocking mission.”

Use 2 German cavalry divisions to block a Soviet mechanized army! Lundstedt's words may sound like fantasy, but it is not surprising in the current German army. Because the 1st Cavalry Division of the Wehrmacht and the 8th SS Cavalry Division are both elite units, they are different from the 20th SS Cavalry Division composed of Polish volunteers.

These two cavalry divisions are actually semi-cavalry and semi-mechanized troops. Except for the three regiments that march on horseback (they do not ride horses during combat), all divisional units, like the Panzergrenadier division, also have motorized anti-tank battalions. , assault gun battalion, motorized anti-aircraft gun battalion, motorized engineering battalion and armored reconnaissance battalion such units.

Although it is not equipped with tanks, there are many weapons such as No. 3 assault gun, 75mm anti-tank gun, half-track armored vehicles, and wheeled armored vehicles.

The six cavalry regiments under these two cavalry divisions, like the Panzergrenadier Regiment, have a No. 3 assault gun battery and a 75mm anti-tank gun battery towed by Sd.kfz.251 half-track light armored vehicles. Therefore, The anti-tank combat capability is very outstanding. Although it will not be able to repel the Soviet mechanized army, it can delay their actions without any problem.

Moreover, at the same time as the "Manteuffel Cavalry Group" and the 48th Armored Corps were dispatched. The counterattack of the "Reinhardt Army Group" of the German 6th Army is also continuing. If their counterattack goes smoothly, the Soviet 3rd Army's own retreat will soon be threatened. At that time, they will have to turn around and go east to compete with the German Tiger tanks and Panther tanks that have broken through.

While Lieutenant General Hermann Bakker was busy commanding the 48th Armored Corps to set off, Major General Popov, commander of the 10th Soviet Army Group responsible for the defense of the Razimin area, was busy arranging his 22nd Tank Corps and The remnants of the 100th Infantry Corps faced the German armored group.

The "Reinhardt Group", with 132 Tiger heavy tanks as the main force, has now crushed the resistance of the Soviet 328th Division, defeated the 331st Reserve Division of the 100th Army, and forced the 331st Division, also belonging to the Soviet Army, to The 330th Division of the 100th Army abandoned its defense line and retreated. It even defeated the headquarters of the 100th Army during the assault and killed its commander, Major General Barons.

So when the "Reinhardt Group" temporarily stopped attacking at about 10 noon on July 20, 1942 (because the Tiger tanks needed refueling and emergency repairs), the Soviet 100th Army was already severely weakened, and only the remaining A 330th Division was barely able to fight (the division discarded a large number of artillery and baggage during the retreat and became riflemen).

"Comrade Commander, we may not be able to withstand it. The attack power of the German heavy tanks is beyond imagination..." Major General Baharov, commander of the 22nd Tank Army, immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

Major General Popov also nodded and agreed with Baharov. He smiled bitterly and said: "The road to the victory of communism needs to be paved with the blood of martyrs. Comrade Barons has fulfilled his oath, and now It’s our turn!”