The Rise of the Third Reich

Lilya Litvyak was hanging on an open parachute, slowly falling. The German Fokker Zero did not take advantage of her misfortune and fire at her. However, Lilya soon found out that she was not out of danger, because she jumped in the middle of the battlefield. The front line of the Soviet 40th Army was a few kilometers south of her, and to her north... she found a large number of German tanks and infantry slowly advancing!

"Don't be captured!" Stalin's white rose (the German pilot mistook the lily for a rose) thought, "If I fall among the Germans, I will commit suicide, I must commit suicide, and I must not betray my motherland and the cause of GCism. Maybe after death, I will see Solomartin again in heaven..."

I don't know if Lilya's determination to devote herself to the cause of GCism moved God (to be honest, it's unlikely), when she fell from the sky, there was a not very strong north wind, so she was lucky to land in a place close to the Soviet position. But the German tanks and infantry were also approaching step by step.

Lilya didn't dare to stay here for long, and quickly pulled off the parachute on her back. Her hat was hooked by the rope of the parachute, revealing a head of curly blonde hair. Then this Soviet ace pilot, who looked very delicate and slender, like a little girl, ran in the middle of the battlefield full of craters.

At this moment, a G43 sniper rifle with a sight installed on the gun body was facing the Soviet heroine from a distance.

"Herbert, why don't you fire! Fire quickly!" Brandt, who was standing on a slowly moving "Grizzly" assault gun, heard the urging voice of the squad leader Sergeant Schmidt.

"That... that's a girl, I don't kill girls!" Brandt has now given up many bottom lines, but he really can't bear to shoot a GCist loli.

"Girl? How can there be a girl on the battlefield?" Sergeant Schmidt also climbed up the "Grizzly" assault gun where Brandt was, and then raised the telescope to look.

"Is it really a girl? What's going on? Isn't this a pilot? How could it be a girl?" Sergeant Schmidt shook his head and finally stopped forcing Brandt to shoot. Instead, he pulled Brandt down to the ground.

At this time, the German armored vehicles on the battlefield had stopped advancing 3,000 meters away from the front of the Soviet position - at this distance, the Soviet anti-tank weapons could not threaten the "Grizzly" assault gun at all, while the short-barreled 150mm gun of the "Grizzly" assault gun could accurately hit the Soviet Red Army's position!

...

"Air raid! Hide quickly!"

"Air defense! Air defense..."

When the German armored infantry cluster stopped advancing and the Soviet heroine Lilya rushed to her own position. Solzhenitsyn rushed to the bunker prepared for artillery observers amid the hasty shouting of the Red Army soldiers.

It turned out that the German Fokker Zero D fighters had already eliminated (shot down or expelled) all the Yak-1 fighters. The French Breguet aircraft that had been hiding before also returned to the battlefield, swooping down, first dropping 50 kg bombs, and then using the 20mm cannon and 13mm machine guns installed on the nose and wings to frantically strafed and killed the defenders on the position. The Fokker Zero D aircraft that defeated the Yak-1 fighter also joined the battle at this time, and a series of bullets whistled from the air, and a large amount of dust and mud was immediately stirred up on the trench and the surrounding ground.

In a hurry, Solzhenitsyn did not have time to get into the bunker, and could only curl up at the bottom of the trench like an ordinary infantryman. However, the German Fokker Zero D fighter and the latest model of the French Breguet attack aircraft are both "strike" models with reinforced armor, and can almost withstand the Soviet anti-aircraft machine guns and conduct low-altitude strafing along the trench!

Solzhenitsyn could only helplessly close his eyes, curl up his body, let the bullets whistle in his ears, and wait for the death that would appear at any time to end his glorious, fighting, and revolutionary life... If so, he would be a loyal GCist fighter!

The smell of blood began to spread in the narrow trench, and the screams of dying also replaced the hum of planes and the sound of gunfire.

Solzhenitsyn knew that the German and French planes had finally left, but the bloody battle had just begun.

"Bolshevik Party members, Youth League members, it's time to defend the Soviet motherland..."

The roars of political cadres rang out one after another in the trenches. Although these political workers could not control artillery observers like Solzhenitsyn, he did not dare to shrink in the trenches to avoid his responsibilities. If the artillery command above did not get the enemy position reported by him and his company, then the position would soon be broken through by the Germans, and he would wait to be imprisoned in the punishment camp.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Solzhenitsyn had just arrived at his command post when the earth-shattering explosion began to shake the Soviet position under his feet. This was the German "Grizzly" assault gun firing! However, the distance of 3,000 meters was too close for the "Grizzly", and it was almost impossible to miss, and the 150mm shells had enough lethality for field positions. It was really an ideal weapon for attacking field defense positions - according to the regulations of the German Wehrmacht Armored Forces Headquarters, the "Grizzly" was an infantry support assault gun mainly used to break through field fortifications.

And the weapon for attacking cities and fortresses was another "Sturmtiger" self-propelled assault mortar developed on the site of the Tiger tank!

…

At this time, Major General Ilya Oktyabryski was on a hilltop quite close to the forward position of the 40th Infantry Army, watching the battle with General Zhimachenko, commander of the 3rd Army.

Seeing the huge power of the German "Grizzly" assault gun ahead, Major General Oktyabryski put down his binoculars and glanced at the livid Zhimachenko next to him.

"Comrade Commander, the enemy's assault artillery is too powerful. It may be difficult for the soldiers of the 4th Infantry Corps to resist it." Major General Oktyabryski said, "Should the 11th Mechanized Corps be deployed?"

"It's not the time, it's not the time yet." Zhimachenko shook his head, "I haven't seen their Tiger tanks yet... There are only a small number of No. 4 tanks covering the assault guns with 150mm cannons, even the 'Rhino' tanks. No destroyers were seen. They must be lying in wait for our tanks to show up."

Zhimachenko's analysis was good. There were really 2 German heavy armor battalions and 2 German tank destroyer battalions nearby. There are 80 operational Tigers and 87 operational Rhinos. In addition, the troops currently attacking the 40th Army of the Red Army are a tactical group composed of one unit each of the German 3rd Armored Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division. The main forces of these two divisions (each equipped with a heavy armor battalion) also arrived near Demidov.

Therefore, in addition to the armored units that appeared in front of the Soviet 40th Army or were ambushing in the nearby woods (including 2 assault artillery battalions, 1 tank battalion, 2 heavy equipment battalions, 2 tank destroyer battalions, and 4 self-propelled artillery battalions ), there are up to 2 armored regiments (a total of 4 tank battalions) of tanks waiting at a place where they can quickly arrive outside Demidov. There are more than 700 operational tanks/self-propelled artillery in total!

Such armor strength is simply not something that the 11th Mechanized Corps and 2 Tank Destroyer Brigades owned by the 3rd Army can handle.

Moreover, the 3rd Armored Division and the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division are only a small part of the armored forces owned by the German 4th Tank Army.

Zhimachenko was silent for a while, and then said: "It is better to report the situation in Demidov... At the same time, we can recommend a decisive battle with the German armored forces in the Rudniya area south of Demidov and near the Katyn Forest. "

There are forest areas directly south and southeast of Demidov. Although there are railways and roads passing through it, the German armored groups will not pass there. They will most likely detour to the relatively flat Rudnia area, and then Then pass through the flat area north of the Katyn Forest and finally enter the vicinity of Smolensk.

For the Soviet army, whose armored forces clearly do not have the upper hand, it is obviously more advantageous to conduct battles in the Rudnia-Katyn Forest area using the more complex terrain and with the Smolensk fortification zone at their back.

Zhimachenko's proposal was quickly supported by Marshal Kulik and reported to the High Command in Moscow.

At the same time, a more ambitious idea of ​​a decisive battle was brewing in the mind of Stalin, the great leader of the Soviet Union.

Different from the small goal envisaged by Pavlov and Shaposhnikov to focus on attacking the Northern Lutheran Army (General Huth's 4th Armored Army) to force the German troops around Leningrad to break the siege and move south, Comrade Stalin had two goals: A big goal!

The first thing Stalin targeted was the German 1st Armored Army heading north from the southern front. In the early morning of May 3, it became clear that the offensive direction of the Southern Lutheran Army was not to detour the Soviet Southwest Front. , but went straight to Bryansk. The goal of this Lutheran army is obviously not Smolensk, but simply to penetrate into Moscow, which has a slightly empty military force!

Moreover, the Lutheran army advanced very quickly, displaying a devastating momentum along the way. It was like a three-pronged attack on the German army. (At this time, the German Army Group Center also sent another offensive group, which was from Nuerweis to Minsk and Smoleng. The strongest among SK.

If part of the strength of the Bryansk Front, the Western Front and the Southwest Front can be concentrated to defeat it, the other two Luther armies will definitely be shaken. In this way, the Red Army has the possibility to concentrate its forces again to annihilate or severely damage the German North Route Cluster!