The Rise of the Third Reich

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Shaposhnikov, what do you think of Comrade Kulik's suggestion?"

In the Kremlin, the great leader Stalin stood next to the huge sand table with a pipe in his mouth. When he asked questions, his tone was gentle, as if he was in a good mood. The Germans' actions this time seemed to be expected by Stalin and the Red Army High Command. It seems that no matter how cunning the German fox is, he will ultimately be unable to defeat the communist hunters.

"Comrade General Secretary," said Marshal Pavlov, the First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, "Comrade Kulik's opinions must attract our attention. I suggest strengthening the defense of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River. We can mobilize the 9th and 12th The group army goes to Chernihiv to set up defenses. The defense line can be deployed along the Dnieper-Desna River (a tributary of the Dnieper River, running east-west) to cover the right wing of the Southwest Front..."

"Wait a minute," Stalin interrupted Pavlov, "can we only defend?"

Pavlov and Shaposhnikov looked at each other. Of course, they were already prepared for Stalin's question.

Pavlov said: "Comrade General Secretary, what I just said is just one plan, and we have also prepared another plan."

In fact, the German breakthrough on the Pripyat River had long been expected by the Red Army High Command. And long before the German offensive began, the response plan had been prepared.

"Another option is to engage in decisive battles with the Germans in the Bryansk and Chernihiv regions."

Shaposhnikov said: "The plan is to form the Bryansk-Chernigov Front, adopt the tactic of luring the enemy deep, and then carry out a head-on attack, and hit hard the German mechanized group that crossed the Dnieper River."

"Well, well, that's good." Stalin nodded repeatedly, "We now have weapons that can fight Tiger tanks, so we shouldn't be passively defensive everywhere."

"However, this plan will further weaken the Western Front and Reserve Front." Pavlov frowned and reminded.

The establishment of the Bryansk-Chernigov Front was of course based on the premise that the German army would outflank the Southwest Front from the north - that is, the main direction of the German attack was in Ukraine.

If the German army's goal is Moscow, then the German army that broke through from the Pripyat River is not the main force. And after the breakthrough, they will definitely go north to attack Smolensk. In this way, the Red Army should strengthen the Western Front, the Reserve Front and the Kalinin Front, and start a battle with the German army in the Smolensk and Pskov areas.

Stalin smoked his pipe and fell into deep thought. After a while, he said: "Then let's set up the Bryansk Front first... and at the same time, the 9th and 12th armies will go to Chernigov to deploy defenses."

What he adopted was a compromise. Bryansk Oblast is located south of Smolensk Oblast, more than 300 kilometers away from Minsk. If the German army takes a large-scale offensive in the center, the Bryansk Front can join the Western Front or Reserve Front at any time. If the German army's main attack is on the southern route, then the Bryansk Front can attack the German army that is detouring from the north of the Southwest Front.

However, Stalin ignored the fact that after air control was completely controlled by Germany, large-scale mobilization of the Soviet Red Army was already very inconvenient.

Stalin said: "The Bryansk Front should include the 38th, 40th, and 48th Army Groups and the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies. In addition, it will be equipped with an Air Force Group and some independent artillery and tank units."

He sent five armies to the Bryansk Front, two of which were powerful tank armies, drawn from the Reserve Front Army and the Kalinin Front Army respectively.

At this time, the Soviet Union had a total of 5 tank armies and 5 assault armies, all of which were the most elite mechanized/motorized units.

Among them, the 1st and 4th Tank Armies and the 5 Assault Groups all belonged to the Kalinin Front commanded by Zhukov and were the main force in relieving the siege of Leningrad.

The 2nd Tank Army belongs to the Reserve Front, the 5th Tank Army belongs to the Western Front, and the 3rd Tank Army belongs to the Southwest Front.

Now that Stalin has transferred the 1st Tank Army and the 2nd Tank Army to the Bryansk Front, the Reserve Front does not have a group-level armored corps, and the Kalinin Front has also been greatly weakened.

"Comrade General Secretary, the Kalinin Front needs a strong armored group..." Pavlov reminded in a low voice.

Stalin paused and said: "Isn't Zhukov preparing to raid Velikiy Luki through the forest area of ​​Kalinin State? I know the terrain there, there are woods everywhere, there are almost no existing roads, and it is impossible to let two tanks The group army passed quickly. Therefore, the key to successful combat is surprise. As long as the Germans are caught off guard, the Battle of Velikiy Luki can be won. As long as Velikiy Luki is captured, we can move the tank army from Smolensk or through the railway. Bryansk has been transferred to Zhukov. If you think it is not safe, then give Zhukov a few more tank destroyer brigades."

The current Soviet tank destroyer brigades, like the SU-122 assault guns and SU-85 tank destroyers they possess, are all products of emergency situations. There are two tank destroyer battalions under a tank destroyer brigade. Each battalion has a light tank company (15 T-60 tanks, used to cover assault guns and tank destroyers), a tank destroyer company (10 TU -85 tank destroyer), an assault gun battery (6 TU-122 assault guns).

Although such a tank destroyer brigade also has a lot of armored forces, it is not a unit used for the main attack because it does not have tanks such as T-34 or KV-1 that can withstand enemy anti-tank fire. It can only be used to cooperate with tank troops in attacking, or simply for defense. Therefore, after Stalin transferred the 1st Tank Army from Smolensk, the assault capability of the Kalinin Front was severely discounted.

At the same time, Stalin's decision also made the 1st Tank Army and the 2nd Tank Army, two powerful mechanized clusters with a total of 10 tanks/mechanized armies, become bystanders in the decisive battle for a long time.

At the same time that Stalin made this decision, which was later considered to be a very wrong decision, some guerrillas operating in Pskov Oblast had already discovered the symbol of the main force of the German armored cluster-the Tiger tank!

After filling her stomach with German chocolate, French baguettes (given by French artillerymen) and a small piece of delicious Russian sausage (given by an old white man), Zoya finally found the team in a dense forest at around 10 o'clock in the evening on April 30.

"What?" Lieutenant Sprosky, the leader of the guerrillas, was obviously a little surprised by what Zoya reported. "There are two heavy tank battalions? Zoya, are you sure?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Zoya said very confidently, "I am 100% sure that those are Tiger tanks, a total of 88. There are also 44 Type 4 tanks, the kind with short barrels.

In addition, I also saw many trucks, half-track vehicles or horse-drawn artillery, as well as many White Army cavalry, all moving south from Bolshaya Luki. I think they are going to attack Smolensk."

"Okay," Lieutenant Sprosky nodded, "I will report your findings immediately if your findings are finally confirmed. Now you can rest early and continue to scout (beg for food) on the highway tomorrow."

Although Lieutenant Sprosky said to report "immediately", there was no horse to ride, so he could only send two guerrillas to walk through the forest to find the superior organization - the superior had a radio station. Although the American tycoons rented many radio stations to the Soviet Union, radio stations were still very rare in the guerrillas behind enemy lines. Therefore, this important discovery was not passed on to the Red Army Supreme Command in time.

The Soviet Red Army units fighting the Germans on the Velikaya River did not find Tiger tanks in the battle on April 30. In fact, they did not even see a few ordinary Type 4H tanks.

Because the Germans did not use armored divisions to break through the Soviet defense, but concentrated on using a large number of artillery to cover the armored grenadiers and infantry to break through.

Captain Solzhenitsyn, the artillery reconnaissance company commander who had been in the German artillery rain on the Velikaya River front for most of the day and witnessed the Germans breaking through the defense line, had retreated to the rear of the front line at this time and was reporting what he saw on the front line to Colonel Zakharov, the director of the artillery of the 4th Infantry Army.

"The German artillery fire was very fierce. They should have deployed a large number of 170mm-210mm heavy cannons and howitzers, and a large number of rocket launchers, with very fierce firepower."

Solzhenitsyn, who had smelled the smell of gunpowder for most of the day, looked a little depressed. Today, 20 to 30 of his subordinates were bombarded by German/French artillery and became revolutionary martyrs, and he himself almost died for the cause of GCism (of course he was a member of the Bolshevik Party). He still felt a wave of fear about the German artillery fire.

The anti-artillery bunker where he hid today could only withstand 150mm-level shells at most, and the Germans directly pulled out many 170-210mm heavy artillery. As long as one shot, the bunker would become a grave!

"Tell me about the German tanks. Did you see anything new?" Colonel Zakharov, the director of the artillery, asked about the situation of the German tanks again. In fact, the current mission of the 4th Infantry Army is not to defend the Velikaya River line, but to delay the German attack and explore the German army's strengths and weaknesses, and it would be best to find out what powerful new tanks the Germans have.

"A new type of assault gun was discovered," Solzhenitsyn smoked while recounting the terrible weapons he encountered on the front line, "It has a short-barreled 150mm cannon, which is a big threat to our front-line positions, really big..."