The Rise of the Third Reich

"Six regiment-level armored clusters are currently advancing together along the roads from Vilnius to Minsk. They have destroyed sixteen of our company-level strongholds...the attack is quite sharp!"

On the night of August 26, Major General Lyapin also believed that six regiment-level armored groups were advancing towards Minsk.

Because in the daytime battle on the 26th, these six "regiment-level armored clusters" could be said to be overwhelming. It was very easy to clear the strongholds guarded by 16 infantry companies of the 254th and 256th Divisions of the Red Army, and advance 25-30 kilometers. Two of the regiment-level clusters also broke through from both sides of the city of Oshmyany where the 256th Division Division Headquarters and an infantry regiment were stationed to help the following infantry (Panzergrenadiers of the 5th SS Armored Division) surrounded the city.

"Comrade Commander," Major General Liapin said to his immediate superior Vasilevsky, "these 6 regiment-level armored groups should belong to 2 armored divisions. They are probably the sharp knives of the German Army Group North! If we don't find a way to severely damage them , the Germans will soon advance to the city of Minsk."

"Severe damage to them?" Vasilevsky frowned as he looked at the six big black arrows on the map, "They may just be the vanguard of six armored divisions."

Since the Soviet Air Force had now lost much of the air superiority over the battlefield, it was difficult to detect what was happening behind the German forces. And the reports from reconnaissance troops and guerrillas were varied.

Some said that German vehicles were lined up in long lines on the roads and in the wilderness, and they could not be seen at a glance.

Some said that the troops behind these six armored groups were all infantry advancing on foot. The numbers were also staggering, and the queues stretched to the horizon.

"Now is definitely not the time to counterattack," Vasilevsky thought for a while and smiled. "The Germans have only advanced 30 kilometers. They are not far away from their rear. We can still bring them closer. Put them in Mo It’s not too late for Lodechino or Zaslavl to fight.”

Molodechno is more than 100 kilometers away from the Libai border, while Zaslavl is more than ten kilometers outside Minsk and even further away from the Libai border, more than 150 kilometers. Since the Soviets had long made up their mind to launch a deep defense on the Belarusian battlefield, they destroyed roads and bridges as much as possible (the problem of road damage is not big, because Belarus is a great plain, and it is difficult to bypass the damaged areas. Difficult, but it is still troublesome if the bridge is blown up), this 150 kilometers of road is not easy to walk.

Moreover, the Red Army would also set up strongholds on the path of the German advance, arrange ambushes, and weaken the Germans along the way in order to create more favorable conditions for the final decisive battle.

"Comrade Commander, we can imitate the short assault tactics adopted by the Germans in the Battle of Warsaw." Major General Liapin then suggested, "We do not have to pursue a annihilating blow to the enemy. The six of them are advancing simultaneously, and they are not far apart from each other. It is difficult to annihilate the distant German regiment-level armored groups. However, we can use Lieutenant General Vatutin's 1st Assault Army to give them a head-on attack, striving to annihilate 5,000 German troops and destroy more than 300 tanks and various armored vehicles. "

"It's not enough to assault the 1st Army, there are too few infantry." Vasilevsky thought for a while and said, "Add the 52nd Army of Comrade Rakutin's 24th Army. Let the 52nd Army go to Raszav first. Set up defenses to the north of Seoul to fully exhaust the enemy's armored groups, and then let Comrade Vatutin command the 1st Assault Army to attack the enemy's flank!"

…

On the afternoon of the next day after Vasilevsky and Liapin planned their counterattack, at the Army Group Northern headquarters in Riga, Manstein and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tipelskich were studying the battle reports sent back from the front line.

The progress was unexpectedly smooth, especially for the 4th Armored Group, which was responsible for the main attack. The 5th SS Armored Division, the vanguard of the army, advanced 30 kilometers on the first day and another 10-15 kilometers on the morning of the 27th.

"General, it went very well. It seems that the Soviets don't want to fight us in the border area."

"Of course." Manstein smiled. "After fighting us for more than two months, the Russians must have known that their armored forces could not defeat us. In this case, they chose the tactic of trading space for defense. That’s absolutely correct. And what’s on the Libai border? It’s just a bunch of collective farms, so it doesn’t matter if they’re lost.”

"But the Russians must be preparing for a counterattack." Lieutenant General Tipelskich said. "During the Battle of Warsaw, the Soviets already had T-34/57 tanks that could fight Tiger tanks. Now more than a month has passed. , with the Soviets’ shoddy manufacturing skills, there must be more T-34/57 tanks.”

The current comparison between Germany (European Community) and the Soviet Union in terms of mechanized equipment production is roughly as follows: the Soviet Union has a great advantage in tank production; the production of aircraft is basically the same; the production of automobiles Germany (European Community) has a great advantage Advantages: Germany (European Community) also has a huge advantage in ship production.

The reason for this is related to the fact that Germany did not have a huge tractor manufacturing industry before the war. On the one hand, Germany was restricted by the Treaty of Versailles during the interwar period and could not develop a large-scale tractor industry; on the other hand, Germany did not have such demand. The agricultural tractor industry was based on large-scale agriculture. At that time, small family farms in Western Europe did not need many tractors.

Both the Soviet Union and the United States had large tracts of land that needed to be cultivated. The Soviet Union also developed agricultural collectivization and had a huge demand for agricultural machinery. Therefore, the Soviet Union was able to develop four major tractor manufacturing bases and accumulate a large number of skilled workers capable of producing tractors.

Therefore, the Soviet tank production capacity is not a problem at all, the problem now is only quality.

In addition, although the 57mm gun is difficult to process, the Soviet Union also built nearly 10,000 guns in history!

In terms of artillery, the Soviets also had a production capacity advantage over Germany. But now France, a country rich in artillery, has turned to Germany, so the European Community has an advantage in artillery production.

Of course, this is all comparing the Soviet Union to the European Community, and does not include the United States, the arsenal of democracy.

For the United States, output is not a problem, quality is not a problem, and the dollar is not a problem. The problem was just how to transport the continuously produced aircraft, artillery and tanks to the Soviet Union.

In the original history, Americans had four routes to aid the Soviet Union: the North Atlantic route, the North Pacific route, the Mediterranean route and the Indian Ocean-Iran route.

Now the Indian Ocean-Iran route is definitely out of the question. The Suez-Red Sea-Persian Gulf route has been opened, the European Combined Fleet has also added an Indian Ocean squadron, and the Japanese Navy has also entered the Indian Ocean. All external traffic in the British territory of India was blocked!

In addition, Iran in the Indian Ocean-Iran route is now protected by Germany, and Rommel's troops are still stationed in Iran.

In the original history, the United States transported more than four million tons of supplies to the Soviet Union through the Indian Ocean-Iran route, but now this is completely gone.

As for the Mediterranean route, don't even expect it. American ships can't even cross the Strait of Gibraltar. In history, a total of 680,000 tons of materials were transported to the Soviet Union along this route. For the Soviet-German war, this was almost negligible.

The North Atlantic route was historically second only to the Indian Ocean-Iran route in terms of transportation volume, with a total of less than 4 million tons transported to the Soviet Union. Now this road has been cut off since the beginning of the Soviet-German War because the control of the North Atlantic sea is temporarily controlled by Germany. Now Molotov is working between London and Washington to restore this lifeline as soon as possible.

The North Pacific route was historically the most important lifeline of the Soviet Union!

Historically, the giant ship of capitalism under the red flag of communism transported a total of nearly 8.7 million tons of materials to the Soviet Union - the Japanese did not cut off this lifeline when the Soviet Union was in the most difficult time! You can imagine how afraid these Japanese devils were of the Soviet Red Army. They must have suffered a lot in Nomenkan and Zhang Gufeng.

In this time and space, the invincible Imperial Japanese Army did not dare to cut off the Soviet Union's lifeline in the North Pacific.

Even if the Germans transferred the Tiger tank production drawings to Japan, provided prototypes, granted production licenses, and even agreed to provide key parts, the Japanese would not dare to provoke the terrifying Soviet Far East Front.

"Ambassador Oshima, it is understandable that you are afraid of the Soviets..."

Hirschmann, who had been at odds with Hiroma Oshima for some time because of the Tiger tank export issue, certainly knew the importance of the lifeline in the North Pacific. Therefore, the issue of cutting off the North Pacific route was discussed with the Japanese.

Today he got the final answer - the Japanese would rather not have the technology of the Tiger tank than cut off the Soviet Union's North Pacific lifeline.

"Then how about we send a submarine force to the Pacific? As long as you agree, we can still provide you with Tiger tank technology."

Of course, Hersman will not just let the North Pacific route go - more than 8.7 million tons in 4 years! And behind this number are the lives of German Nazis!

He said to Oshima Hiro: "We now have many submarines doing nothing but rusting in the port. If you can allow our submarines to use the ports you control. These submarines can go to the Pacific to fight, not only It can cut off the North Pacific route and deal with the US-Australia route, which is also beneficial to your entry into Australia. "

After Hawaii was occupied by Japan, the war in the Pacific centered on the US-Australia route. The Americans desperately sent troops and supplies to Australia, even allowing several large fleet aircraft carriers to serve as escort ships. The Japanese, bent on cutting off the US-Australia route, also dispatched aircraft carriers to break diplomatic ties.

However, no great results were achieved, because the South Pacific is too vast, and the Japanese aircraft carriers are too precious to take risks. Even if the American transport convoy is discovered, as long as the escorting carrier is not destroyed or the opponent's aircraft carrier is not discovered, , dare not let go and blow up merchant ships. So opportunities are often missed!