The Rise of the Third Reich

September 14, 1942, Soviet Union, Belarus.

Although the autumnal equinox has not yet arrived, the wind and rain in Belarus, which is located in a cold zone, are already feeling bitingly cool. Amidst the falling wind and rain, a German armored convoy bearing the iron cross mark rumbled forward along a slightly muddy road and arrived at the Czech Republic, 378 kilometers southwest of Minsk. Erzhensk.

The battle of Rakov-Zaslavl is still going on, but the city of Rakov was captured by the Germans 5 days ago. The battlefield also gradually moved to Dzerzhinsk in the south - this city named after the late Soviet proletarian revolutionary Dzerzhinsky is located on the railway from Moscow to Warsaw. superior.

This is also the first important target that the German Northern Army is preparing to capture in Belarus. The German army will be able to cut off the main communication line from Warsaw to Moscow. While the German Army Group Northern launched an assault on Dzerzhinsk, the first part of Army Group South also attacked north from Lviv. It has now defeated the Soviet Southwest Front's blockade and is advancing towards Pinsk in Belarus.

According to the plan, after Army Group North and Army Group South occupy Dzerzhinsk and Pinsk respectively, they will also advance to Baranovichi in Brest Oblast. Once Baranovichi is captured, Western Belarus and Poland will be cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. At least one million people of the Soviet Union's Western Front Army and Belarusian Front Army will be surrounded!

If we also count the large number of Soviet troops lost or besieged in the Battle of Warsaw, the Battle of Lviv, the Battle of Leningrad (still continuing) and the Battle of Belarus, within just a few months after the outbreak of the world revolution, the Soviet Red Army More than 3 million troops were surrounded or annihilated by the German army.

Although for the Soviet Union, which has a strong recovery ability, such losses are nothing at all. But the fact that so many troops were surrounded and eliminated is enough to show that Stalin's world revolutionary line is completely wrong. This will shake Stalin's prestige within the Bolshevik Party of the Soviet Union, which will be very beneficial to Germany in winning a favorable peace on the Eastern Front...

Not only had he been sitting on a half-track armored command vehicle with mud and bullet holes all over the body, the sleepy Major Gustav Schwarzenegger was now in no mood to consider Stalin's prestige. , or how to win a favorable peace. He just wanted to take a good nap between battles. It would be great if when his tank destroyer battalion arrived in Dzerzhinsk, the Soviet troops guarding there had surrendered or been killed.

In this way, the 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion, which had been fighting hard for twenty days in a row, would have a chance to rest and recuperate. If his battalion could be stationed in Dzerzhinsk, live in a house with a roof, have hot baths, warm beds, and delicious food to eat, that would be the happiest thing in the world.

In the past twenty days, especially the ten days since the beginning of the Rakov-Zaslavl battle. The 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion and the other 10 tank destroyer battalions on the battlefield near Minsk are definitely the busiest troops. They fight almost every day. Each "Rhinoceros" tank destroyer fires 4-5 missiles every day. A base number of 88mm shells. Those poor loaders were so tired every day that their arms swelled.

As the commander of a battalion, Major Schwarzenegger does not have to carry artillery shells himself, but he leads his troops around the front line where the fighting is fiercest every day. It is understandable that the pressure is great.

Moreover, his 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion did not fight under the command of the 5th SS Armored Division these days, but kept wandering around various armored divisions on the front line. As a battalion commander, he also had to deal with different superiors and colleagues, handle logistics and various other chores, which was really troublesome.

However, there was something about these twenty days of fighting that made him very satisfied, that is, although the fighting was extremely fierce, there were not many casualties among his men. Because the "Rhinoceros" tank destroyer is regarded as a self-propelled artillery that can attack tanks, it has always been arranged to bombard various targets with an 88mm gun from a relatively safe position. Although it was hard enough, it was relatively safe and no major losses were suffered. After twenty days of fighting, his 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion still had 33 operational "Rhino" tank destroyers. Among the 9 vehicles under repair that could not be started, only 4 were damaged in combat, and the remaining 5 suffered from mechanical failures.

Boom boom boom...

The rumbling sound of artillery came over, and the drowsy Major Schwarzenegger suddenly woke up. He raised his head and looked towards the place where the sound of artillery came. The dim sky has been turned red by the flashes of hundreds or more cannons. The battle to attack Dzerzhinsk has obviously reached its climax!

…

"Comrade Stalin, the Belarusian Front Army Headquarters has forwarded the final telegram from the 9th Mechanized Army Headquarters stationed in Dzerzhinsk..."

General Golikov, deputy chief of staff of the Red Army, walked into the conference room of the Soviet Supreme Command in the Kremlin and reported the news he had just received in a slightly trembling tone.

"Read it," Stalin said.

"All the commanders, fighters, and political workers of the 9th Mechanized Army of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army are loyal to their oaths and realize the great mission they shoulder. For the victory of the communist cause and the liberation of mankind, we will stick to our posts and fight to the last soldier. ! Now Comrade Glichko has died heroically, and the entire army is under the command of Political Commissar Guselev. The enemy has advanced to the vicinity of the military headquarters, and the final battle is about to begin! Long live the Soviet motherland! The station will stop transmitting now.”

After listening to General Golikov's report, Stalin had no expression on his face. He just nodded stiffly and said, "I understand." Then he glanced at everyone in the conference room with a gloomy look, "Comrades, Jeremy The fall of Zhensk is only a matter of time! And Pinsk will fall soon because there are no troops to defend it. Now only Baranovich is left. If the Germans capture it, Brest and Warsaw will soon fall. surrounded."

The capture of Baranovichi by the German army is certain, because the Belorussian Front suffered heavy losses in the Rakov-Zaslavl battle, losing more than 3,000 tanks/assault artillery, and 1 of the 19 tank brigades was wiped out (belonging to The brigade of the 9th Mechanized Army), 12 completely lost their combat capabilities, and only 6 tank brigades still had certain combat effectiveness, but they were all transferred to the Kalinin Front.

As for the mechanized troops of the Western Front, they were transferred in large numbers to the Belarusian Front and Moscow after the Battle of Warsaw. The mechanized troops going to Moscow will be used to form a new reserve front directly under the headquarters.

Therefore, the Belarusian Front and the Western Front have no ability to stop the Battle of Baranovichi.

Moreover, Baranovich will also be attacked by two German army groups! The Southern Army Group, like the Northern Army Group, also has a large number of armored divisions and heavy armored battalions. The difference is that this army group easily defeated the Soviet Southwest Front and did not experience the same hard battle and exhaustion as the Northern Army Group, so it was able to go all out to attack Baranovichi.

Therefore, Baranovich neither had the strength to defend nor could he hold it at all. It was only a matter of time before Brest and Warsaw were surrounded by German troops.

Since it is unrealistic to stick to Baranovichi, naturally what needs to be considered now is Warsaw and Brest?

To keep or not to keep?

Who will keep it?

How many troops should be used to defend it?

How to solve the problem in the future?

There are a lot of problems, and a solution will be found at today's meeting of the Supreme Command.

"Comrades, in view of the strong fighting power displayed by the German Nazi troops on the Leningrad and Minsk fronts, we must reconsider the issue of holding on to Warsaw and Brest."

Stalin took a puff of his pipe and said solemnly: "Therefore I propose to abandon Brest and then transfer part of the Brest garrison to Minsk (before the fall of Baranovichi, the Brest garrison The army can still be transferred out), and the other part will be transferred to Warsaw together with the supplies we stored in Brest. "

It is obviously a wise move to abandon Brest and keep only Warsaw. Because the Brest Fortress has no special political significance, there is no need to put hundreds of thousands of troops there to defend it when the military strength is not sufficient.

However, there is also a disadvantage to abandoning Brest, that is, the city of Warsaw is too far away from the main front controlled by the Soviet army. The straight-line distance from Warsaw to Minsk is nearly 470 kilometers! Brest is right in the middle. Once it is abandoned, Warsaw will become an isolated city.

The lonely city is difficult to defend!

The Germans don't even need to attack violently, they only need to use a long encirclement method. If it doesn't work in 12 months, it will be 18 months. If 18 months doesn't work, it will be 24 months. The garrison of Warsaw was forced to surrender by starvation.

"Moreover, holding Warsaw with one front is too much." Stalin added, "The Western Front should be reorganized into a group army, which can be called the Red Flag Warsaw Group Army."

Stalin's intention was not to reduce the number of troops in Warsaw, but to change the designation of the front army into a group army. In this way, even if Warsaw fails to defend in the end, the Soviet army's losses will seem smaller.

After all, the annihilation of a group army looks better than the annihilation of a front army.

"Then Comrade Pavlov and Comrade Bulganin are no longer suitable to stay in Warsaw." Stalin continued, "I suggest that Comrade Vasilevsky, Comrade Kruglov and Comrade Liapin be transferred to Warsaw. Comrade Kulik (Deputy People's Commissar of Defense) was transferred to Minsk, and Comrade Ponomarenko was appointed as Military Commissar of the Belarusian Front. Comrade Kulik's current position as Deputy People's Commissar of Defense was replaced by Comrade Pavlov at the same time. Comrade Pavlov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to Marshal.”