by Arnold. Feng. The Combined Tactical Cluster commanded by Lieutenant General Lentsky, although only divisional, had a large number of Cougar armored vehicles/assault guns/tank destroyers, Tank No. 4 (belonging to the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division) and Rhino tank destroyers (also belonging to the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division), as well as the Hersmann Organ rocket artillery vehicles. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Therefore, when viewed from the air, one can see a rather large marching procession, almost comparable to a Soviet tank army.

"It's a corps of military-grade tanks!" The commander of the Bryansk Front, Golikov, put down the report sent by the 11th Army of the Air Force, exhaled lightly, and said to the military commissar Mekhlis and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Kazakov, "It seems that Comrade Lukin's petty scheme has been successful. ”

It turned out that the sound of tanks and car motors heard by the Ukrainian German troops at PF 13 last night was deliberately made by Lukin, who had a small number of tanks and cars circling around GR 13 as if a huge number of tanks and cars were coming.

"Comrade Commander, I think Comrade Lukin's 5th Tank Army can continue to attract German armored forces to the north." Kazakov, chief of staff of the Front, suddenly thought of a plan to lure the enemy north. "If Comrade Lukin can attract 2 or 3 more German Panzer Corps, then we can confidently break through from the Gomel region and advance all the way to the Dnieper."

Today is already May 8, and the Klintsy area, east of Gomel, where most of the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies are coming from Moscow and Kalinin, will be fully in place and deployed tomorrow.

According to the plan, on May 10 or 11, the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies were to launch an assault on the Gomel-Dnieper. A powerful assault force consisting of 5 tank corps and 3 mechanized corps will rush like a tidal wave towards the Germans who have occupied Gomel.

If a part of the German armored forces can be drawn to the battlefield north of Klimovich before the attack of the two tank armies, then the Gomel-Dnieper assault has a high probability of success.

And once the Soviet army controls the territory between Gomel and the Dnieper, the logistics line of the German southern armored cluster will be partially cut off (it will not be possible to cut it all, because the German central armored group will soon advance to the territory of Mogilev Oblast, and a new logistics line can be established at that time, but after such a toss, the German southern road cluster will definitely have the problem of insufficient fuel and supplies), which will be conducive to the Bryansk Front to launch a further blow to the German southern road cluster.

However, the 5th Tank Army, which was tasked with luring the enemy, was likely to suffer huge losses! Comparing the attack power of 3-4 German Panzer Corps is also not a joke.

"It's worth it!" Seeing Golikov's hesitation, Mehris encouraged him, saying, "As long as we can complete the Gomel-Dnieper assault, even the sacrifice of the 5th Tank Army will be worth it!" ”

The words of the king of small reports made sense, as long as the southern road cluster of the German army could be severely damaged, then this wave of German onslaught would have failed by at least a third. And after forcing back the German army in the south, the Bryansk Front could still be used in Smolensk.

If Smolensk hadn't fallen yet. This would have a great chance of turning the battle of Smolensk into a tug-of-war, and the Soviets would survive 1943 - according to the estimates of the Soviet High Command, the Germans would have to spend several months refueling in order to launch a large-scale offensive.

So as long as one of their major offensive was crushed, even if it did not inflict fatal losses on the Germans, it was unlikely that they would launch another offensive of the same magnitude in 1943.

By 1944, Germany's eastern ally, Japan, had largely been defeated by the Americans......

……

In the vicinity of Kibbutz No. 13 in Klimovich, Colonel-General Lukin had already established his command of the former enemy.

Although there were no thousands of tanks and cars coming over last night, Lukin's forces around Collective Farm No. 13 increased by more than half a tank brigade (the 57th Tank Brigade had all arrived), two assault gun battalions (Su-122) and one motorized rifle regiment (belonging to the 5th Tank Army). However, this amount of strength was completely insufficient for the previous German "Panzer Army", and even an armored division probably couldn't defeat it.

Therefore, the commander of the 109th Mechanized Brigade, Colonel Cheremisov, immediately after seeing the order issued by the Front Command, said to General Lukin: "Comrade commander, we should now retreat and lead the enemy to the Roslav region in the territory of the Smolensk region, where we will engage the enemy. ”

"No," Admiral Lukin shook his head, "we must think not only about ourselves, but about the big picture...... If we had retreated from Klimovich, then the Germans, even if they would have followed Roslavl, would not have sent 3-4 Panzer Corps. Because as soon as we retreated, the Germans would not treat us as if we were some main force. In this way, by May 10 and 11, the 1st and 2nd tank armies were likely to run headlong into the main force of the German armored cluster on the southern route. ”

"But the armored army in front of you ...... I'm afraid we won't be able to deal with it! Colonel Cheremisov said with some humility.

Lukin's idea was right, to exchange the sacrifice of the 5th tank army for an overall advantage - this is very gircule, but the USSR had Article 58 of the Criminal Code! If he was caught by the Nazis, he would have been ruined and made a loyal servant of Her Majesty.

"No problem," Lukin shook his head, "we can deal with the past...... The enemy will not be able to attack until the afternoon at the earliest, and we will only have to carry it for a few hours until evening, when Roslavl will mobilize reinforcements from Roslavl. ”

"A decisive battle with the Germans near PF 13?"

"No, it's better not to fight here." Lukin still shook his head, "But we must show a little prestige before retreating, and at the same time use tank destroyer battalions and anti-tank artillery battalions to set up ambushes along the way and hit the Nazi armored forces hard!" ”

"And what about the enemies in PF 13?" Colonel Cheremisov said, "According to the people who escaped from the farm, those people were Ukrainian traitors, there were hundreds. ”

Lukin sneered: "Destroy them all!" ”

With the order of General Lukin, the battle for collective farm No. 13 immediately began. Lukin committed 2 assault gun battalions (with 15 capable Su-122s) and the 358th Regiment (about 2,400 men) of the 18th Motorized Brigade, which was part of the 5th Tank Army.

Among them, 15 Su-122 assault guns belonging to two assault gun battalions were deployed to the edge of a forest near Collective Farm No. 13 last night - because they lost air supremacy, the Soviets were relatively passive during the day, and did not dare to put such equipment as tanks/assault artillery in an open area, so they could only hide them, and even if they wanted to use them, they could only be deployed in areas that were easy to hide, ideally around the woods.

At this time, the establishment of Soviet infantry regiments was still very sufficient, after all, the Soviet-German war in this time and space only began in 1942, and the Soviet Union's personnel losses in the first year of the war were not as large as in history. As a result, the Soviet Army's ordinary infantry regiments and motorized infantry regiments both had an establishment of about 2,400 men - but the number of infantry divisions was still about 23% lower than before the war, because the organs and units directly under the divisions were greatly reduced, and the number of divisional artillery and anti-tank units was also greatly reduced (the strength of the artillery and anti-tank units of the Red Army as a whole was not reduced, but many independent units were formed).

The 358th Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Soviet Red Army was such a well-equipped infantry regiment, so as soon as the regiment appeared on the battlefield near Collective Farm No. 13 on the afternoon of May 8, it put great pressure on the Ukrainian ethnic German troops stationed on the farm.

……

"Assault gun No. 4! Hide! ”

Also at dusk on May 8, when Solzhenitsyn was calling the army artillery command for artillery support, a trembling exclamation sounded in his ears again.

The future great writer and his comrades-in-arms are still on the battlefield of the Katyn Forest, which has become a focal point in the Battle of Smolensk.

Admiral Yeremov, who commanded the defense of Smolensk, has given a death order to hold the Katyn Forest at all costs!

Because as soon as this forest is lost, the Germans will tighten the siege of Smolensk. Although the city of Smolensk itself is a fortified area, it is very well defended. However, the German army's current offensive capability is also strong, not to mention those 170mm, 194mm and 210mm heavy guns, which are now attacking Soviet positions, and the "Grizzly Bear" assault gun, which is called "No. 4 assault gun" by the Soviets, is also a difficult weapon to deal with.

Its 150mm gun can be said to be ruthless and accurate when it comes to close bombardment. The 100mm 40-degree armor in the frontal gun bay is equivalent to the defense capability of 130mm right-angle armor, and it also uses nickel-chromium-manganese-molybdenum rolled steel with excellent ballistic performance. Its frontal protection capability even surpassed that of the Tiger G tank, and even the Su-85 tank destroyer, the strongest anti-tank weapon in the Soviet Union, could not beat the Grizzly assault gun.

And in this case, the 3rd Army of the Red Army, which was guarding the Katyn Forest, had to rely on the flesh and blood of the infantry and the Red Iron Fist (the Soviet version of the Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launcher) to resist, fighting very hard and with huge losses. By the afternoon of 8 May, the army group had only one corps left, and its mechanized equipment was exhausted. (To be continued.) )