The Rise of the Third Reich

With a loud "bang", a Ukrainian German soldier kicked open the door of a private house near the entrance of the collective farm.

The soldier who kicked the door was named Tymoshenko (actually Timoshenko, a popular Ukrainian surname), and he was a sniper assistant. After he kicked open the door, he immediately rushed in with a Mkb-42 automatic carbine with a bayonet, and then shouted in Ukrainian: "Kneel down, kneel down, raise your hands, otherwise we will shoot." …”

After a while, Tymoshenko shouted again: "It's safe now, Lyudmila, come in."

The female sniper waiting outside the door then entered the house with her G43 sniper rifle. This is the most ordinary Soviet collective farm member's house. It only has a few simple furniture and no industrial products, making it look very shabby. However, Pavlyuchenko has long been used to this scene, and now the entire right-bank Ukrainian countryside is in depression!

An elderly couple and two children with red scarves around their necks knelt together. A Ukrainian soldier named Tymoshenko pointed his gun at them.

The two old men looked numbly at the female sniper who came in from outside the door, while the two children looked at the intruder with hatred in their eyes.

"Vladimir (Tymoshenko's name), put down the gun, don't scare the children." As he spoke, Pavlyuchenko took out a box of Scarlett chocolates and greeted the two men with angry words. He looked at his child and handed it over.

The child didn’t reach for it – because that was illegal! Committed the crime of aiding international capitalism (helping the minions of capitalism to eat chocolate that may be harmful to health). Moreover, both children are Soviets who grew up in honey and do not care about German chocolate.

"Are you the White Army?" It was probably the old man who owned the house suddenly asked - he could hear Pavlyuchenko speaking Ukrainian. Ukrainian is very close to Russian, which is roughly the same as Chinese Mandarin and somewhere. There are language differences, and Klimovich is close to Ukraine, so many people can understand Ukrainian.

So he guessed that it was not the German army that came, but Her Majesty's White Army who were preparing to allocate land to his family. It would be a good thing if that were the case...

"No, we are the German SS!" Tymoshenko replied fiercely, "So you'd better be honest, Russian pigs!"

Tymoshenko was a Ukrainian from Odessa who was filled with hatred for both the Soviet Union and Russians. There are many such people in the Ukrainian German army, especially the troops with the SS designation. Therefore, after they entered Belarus, their military discipline was somewhat corrupted. They burned, killed, and looted a lot, which caused a lot of headaches for the German officers who led the troops.

"Pack your things and leave here!" Pavlyuchenko gave the chocolate to the old lady who was protecting the two children with her body, and then said in a gentle tone, "We are going to fight the Red Army here!"

It turns out that this house is Pavlyuchenko's favorite sniper firepower point. As an experienced sniper, Pavlyuchenko will not choose to ambush at a commanding height. It will be too easy to be discovered and difficult to move. Sooner or later, he will be attacked. Killed by Soviet artillery fire.

In the battles of Lviv and Kiev, many of Pavlyuchenko's comrades lost their lives.

Therefore, Pavlyuchenko and her other two snipers (there were originally three, one was killed by a rocket launcher before) chose firepower points that surprised their opponents.

While the snipers were ambushing, Major Helmut Zinz, commander of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, was getting out of a wheeled armored command vehicle with a livid face.

He was really unlucky today. He was ambushed by the Soviets and was ambushed by a Soviet tank unit. Now he can't even run away (actually he could run away, but he misjudged it) Due to the situation, it was thought that what was intercepting him was a regiment-level synthetic battle group), so he could only shrink into this collective farm, which seemed to be a somewhat solid building, and wait for reinforcements.

However, the power in his hands is really limited. There are only about 200 officers and soldiers left. The only ones that can be used for anti-tank are the Cougar armored vehicles. There are 11 more, and there are more than a dozen 88mm recoilless rifles nicknamed "Dolls". , in addition to the Tekken 60 anti-tank grenade launcher and anti-tank mines and grenades. With these things, it's hard to say whether we can hold on until reinforcements arrive.

When entering the No. 13 collective farm headquarters (Major Zintz's headquarters and the last stronghold), Major Zintz looked up at the dim sky. It was late afternoon and night was about to fall, so air support looked like it would have to wait until tomorrow. So tonight, it's going to be very, very difficult!

…

"Comrade Commander, we can destroy these Nazi beasts tonight!"

When Cheremisov assured Lukin, he had just inspected a Cougar armored vehicle that had been destroyed by the SU-85 and found that this vehicle was no match for the T-34 and SU-85 (the Cougar is a reconnaissance vehicle) ), so I feel confident.

At this time, Lu Jin was looking through the copy of the telegram he had just received. It contained the air force reconnaissance situation transferred from the Army Group Headquarters - although the air supremacy is now controlled by German aircraft, the air supremacy in the 1940s was not absolute. Soviet aircraft You can still take off for reconnaissance.

And because the German side had air superiority, it usually marched during the day, so the reconnaissance effect of Soviet aircraft was still very good.

"Today's air force reconnaissance found no trace of the German armored group in the junction area, nor in the past few days..." Lukin handed a copy of the telegram to Cheremisov, "What does this mean?"

"Are they hiding?" Cheremisov said.

"Maybe they are hiding," Lukin nodded slightly, then shook his head, "Maybe they are not here at all. They probably went to Ukraine, and many German tanks were found in the direction of Chernihiv."

He paused and then said: "So we should test it with the Germans in Collective Farm No. 13."

"Comrade Commander, what do you mean...use them as bait to draw out the main German troops?"

"Yes!" Lu Jin said, "It doesn't matter whether the dozens or twenty armored vehicles are destroyed or not. What is important now is to find out whether the German army is real or not! Before the battle at the junction begins, we should always find out whether the German armored clusters are there or not. Right? Otherwise, what would happen if hundreds of thousands of troops were defeated?"

In fact, the purpose of this ambush organized by General Lukin was to test, to find out the situation of the German armored group, and to provide sufficient intelligence for the upcoming battle at the junction.

The task of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, which he surrounded in Collective Farm No. 13, was also to search for Soviet tank units. Today's senior German commanders also want to know where all the Soviet tanks have gone. ?

Therefore, the report that the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion encountered a Soviet tank cluster was sent to Marshal Manstein's desk as soon as possible.

"A reconnaissance battalion was surrounded?" Manstein frowned slightly after reading the report, "The Soviets have at least one division-level armored grenadier group, but they did not attack immediately. They wanted..."

Lieutenant General Weiler, the chief of staff of Army Group Center on the side, took over and said: "They are probably trying to lure our reinforcements to show up."

Manstein nodded, then looked at Lieutenant General Weller, "Do you think the Soviets may have regarded the 1st Armored Group as the main target?"

His original estimate was that the Soviet tank cluster might be in Kalinin Oblast, preparing to use overwhelming force to break the siege of Leningrad.

But unexpectedly, a large number of Soviet tanks were discovered in the southern part of Smolensk Oblast. These tanks were obviously coming with bad intentions. Because the 4th Armored Army has now completed the outflank of Smolensk, there is no need to attack Smolensk with the 1st Armored Army. Therefore, this Soviet tank force cannot be used to stop the 1st Armored Group from moving north. They are probably here to seek a decisive battle.

"This possibility exists, and it is not small," Lieutenant General Weller said with a smile, "but the 1st Armored Group has enough strength to cope with it, so there is no need to worry."

"Really?" Manstein shook his head and asked, "Otto, have you carefully read the battle summary report sent by telegram?"

"Look." Lieutenant General Weller understood what Manstein wanted to say, "The Soviets have a powerful assault gun, probably an 85mm anti-aircraft gun installed on the site of the T-34 tank. "

"I'm afraid the Tiger G model is a bit difficult to deal with," Manstein said, "the No. 4 H model is even more difficult."

"We also have the 'Rhino' tank destroyer, which is now equipped with an 88mm gun with a caliber of 71 times, which is enough to destroy a T-34 tank at a distance of 2,000 meters. In addition, the assault gun does not have a turret and is easily attacked from the side by the opponent. If there is no It is difficult to exert combat effectiveness with high-performance tanks or enough infantry cover. Moreover, we also have overwhelming air superiority!”

Manstein looked at Weller and asked: "Then do you think the 1st Armored Army should fight the Soviets in the Klimovich area?"

Weller nodded.

Manstein thought for a while and smiled: "Let's find out the situation first. Maybe it's a few independent tank brigades and tank destroyer brigades."

The current intelligence is indeed insufficient, or it may be a false alarm, not enough to support Manstein's decision to conduct a main battle.

"Then do you want to remind General Mackensen?" Weller asked again, "ask him to prepare for a decisive battle?"

"Of course it should be reminded," Manstein said, "but General Mackensen is experienced and he knows how to deal with the current situation."

Before the discussion between Manstein and Weller ended, there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and then Manstein's adjutant walked in, holding a copy of the telegram in his hand.

"Your Excellency, Marshal, Your Excellency, Lieutenant General," he gave a military salute, and then said, "Report from the 4th Armored Army, the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division discovered something strange in the Katyn Forest!"