"'Heavy tanks of the Germans?' I screamed in surprise and looked back at my badly injured 'gray wolf'. ”

"'That's right. It was the new heavy tank of the Germans. I've seen pictures of it before, and if I'm not mistaken, it's codenamed Tiger. The intelligence officer said, pulling out his camera and starting to take pictures. Others were still a little incredulous, and someone examined the inside of the tank and dragged the dead bodies out of it, when we saw that they were indeed Germans, although they were wearing Soviet uniforms. ”

All the [***] officers present at this time did not know that in the future, they would encounter more and more German tanks.

On this morning, Dongfang Bai threw most of his tanks at the scattered Soviet strongholds around Sidi Rajeg, and when night came, the battlefield was illuminated by hundreds of burning tanks. In fact, every corps of the Soviet army was severely punished. The Soviet Union suffered its heaviest losses since the beginning of the war.

Dongfang Bai himself understands very well that he is undoubtedly the winner of the first stage of this "snowball" operation. In a letter to his wife that night, he wrote: "It seems that the crisis has passed. I'm fine, in a good mood and full of self-confidence. Although he was outnumbered and suffered heavy losses, he eventually taught the Soviets a tactical lesson, and Dongfang Bai lost a total of six senior officers and 75 tanks on this day. By concentrating tank forces, and working in tandem with the infantry, while bringing anti-tank guns, artillery and air power together, Dongfang Bai strengthened his forces and thus managed to overcome the disadvantage in strength. "If you don't concentrate your two tanks and let the only tank I have attack them separately, what's the difference between two and the same?" Later he said to a captured Soviet officer: "You gave me three armored divisions in a row as gifts. ”

At the command of the Soviet troops, the radiotelephone telegraph was damaged. Pavlov was anxiously awaiting a report. When he learned of the great disaster that had befallen the Soviet army, he collapsed at once. He considered that perhaps the Soviet counterattack had failed and that the Soviets should retreat. In this way, he could at least reorganize his forces in a relatively safe environment, and with a nervous breakdown and indecision, he urgently appealed to Zhukov for help, asking the chief of the General Staff to personally visit the front line. Zhukov immediately flew to the front and made a brief assessment of the battle situation. He later wrote: "I suspect that Dongfang Bai is probably not much better than us, so I order to continue the offensive." Zhukov's determination was strong, and he demanded that Pavlov "use all the forces in his hands to attack the enemy mercilessly, down to the last tank." ”

In fact, not all Soviet plans fell through. Just two days earlier, Pavlov had ordered the 23rd Army, consisting of three mechanized infantry divisions and a tank brigade, to move forward without waiting for the end of the armored fighting in the center. The 23rd Army crossed the Chinese line to the south and made a detour to the rear, where they captured two bridges and cut off the Chinese troops stationed there from the main forces. Motivated by the victory, Dongfang Bai is ready to go on another daring adventure to relieve the pressure on his troops. He told his senior officers: "Speed is crucial. We must inflict the maximum shock effect with the defeat of the enemy. "In the early morning of April 14, when the Soviet troops around Sverdlovsk were still in the dark, Dongfang Bai led two divisions of the armored teaching group to the east and swooped through the Soviet lines. His aim was to cross the Soviet lines, threaten the Soviet rear, force Pavlov to stop the offensive and turn to retreat. Dongfang Bai completely ignored the heavy losses he had already endured, as well as General Hu Lian's advice that before starting any other operation, the remnants of the surrounding Soviet troops should first be cleared.

Dongfang Bai's unexpected and rapid attack caused the rear echelon of the Soviet army to panic and scatter and flee.

The troops of both sides galloped eastward for a full six hours, and as a result, the two sides were mixed together, and the soldiers did not know where they were, nor knew whether they were friends or foes next to them. At dusk, a Soviet military policeman who was directing traffic suddenly realized that he was commanding a Chinese armored unit. Dongfang Bai himself, together with General Hu Lian, spent most of the night mixed with the Soviet troops. At the time, the two Chinese generals were sitting in a large, enclosed armored vehicle. The armored car was specially made, and the Chinese army emblem on the car was not easy to see in the dark.

In this daring adventure, Dongfang Bai correctly took advantage of the confusion of the Soviet troops. But he ignored Rokossovsky's role. If Pavlov had commanded the troops alone, he would probably have canceled the counterattack after the blow of the Chinese army. But Rokossovsky was different. He spent two days at the front, cheering up the depressed Pavlov and demoralized troops. He said that the enemy "is attacking from all sides in an attempt to force us to abandon our goal of destroying them completely." But we will never give up, and the enemy will definitely be destroyed! As for the squadron, he described it this way, they are "dying and struggling", but their words "can't grow". "Their armored unit doesn't get fuel." "I'm a firm believer in that." Rokossovsky finally said to his subordinates.

It turned out that he was right. After advancing 15 kilometers to the rear of the Soviet troops, on April 16 his armored units were not allowed to return to Sverdlovsk for refueling. Interestingly, his troops were advancing rapidly past two well-covered Soviet supply depots, which were filled with Soviet food, fuel, and water. This unexpected surprise can be said to be very important for the armor instructor who is short of ammunition and fuel.

Dongfang Bai realized that his attack was a costly roundabout. When he attacked, the balance of power tipped in his favor, but as time went on, his power waned, and the Soviets launched a new offensive. On the night when Dongfang Bai's tanks were refueled, two armored divisions under the 9th Army of the Soviet Army broke through the encirclement of the Chinese army and joined the Soviet troops in the outer defensive circle.

To the south, the Soviet 4th and 22nd Panzer Divisions took advantage of Dongfang Bai's negligence and attacked the tanks left by the Chinese army in Olsg to be repaired. On April 20, Dongfang Bai's tanks were refueled and went to reinforce the precarious infantry units. But it was blocked head-on by Soviet troops and was completely blocked. When the Soviets retreated to set up camp and rest at night, the Chinese army was able to break through the Soviet line to the west.

On April 25, after Zhukov returned to Moscow, he had already made two difficult decisions. In the eyes of him and all the personnel of the General Headquarters, Pavlov turned a blind eye to the heavy losses of the enemy after the "Martyrs' Week" and blindly tried to retreat, which was a sign of cowardice. Stalin also believed that "Pavlov has lost his mind, he is no longer the Pavlov he was." "To let him stay in office is to risk the lives of the front-line soldiers of the Soviet Army and the entire war situation of the Soviet Union. However, his dismissal at this time will undoubtedly be another blow to the already low morale of the Soviet army, and at the same time will boost the prestige of the Chinese. The Chinese will see Pavlov's departure as a tacit acquiescence to failure. After much deliberation, Stalin finally decided: "It must be done rightly or wrongly." On April 26, Pavlov was dismissed from his post as commander.

It was Rokossovsky who Stalin chose to succeed Pavlov. At the age of 48, Rokossovsky was one of the youngest generals in the Soviet army. He is handsome, enthusiastic, and calm. His greatest trait is that he is not alarmed and always remains optimistic even in the worst of circumstances.

Rokossovsky again set off for the front line to supervise the battle in person, and the Soviet officers and soldiers regained their spirits and continued the counterattack. Not to be outdone, Dongfang Bai managed to resume the attack on the Soviets, although by this time the number of his tanks had dropped to only a third of the Soviet troops. However, due to the inability to keep up with the logistical supply, especially the lack of spare parts for the damaged tanks and weapons, he was gradually unable to withstand the pressure of the Soviet army.

After Dongfangbai turned to the defensive, on May 1, Rokossovsky attacked the line from the east, and at the same time he sent an armored division to rush through the southern end of the line in an attempt to cut off the enemy's retreat from behind. Dongfang Bai sensed Rokossovsky's intentions and ordered to begin a retreat. Thus slipping out of this trap before the Soviets completed the encirclement. In the face of the desperation of the Soviets, the retreat queue, including the infantry, remained in order. In the process of retreating, Dongfang Bai minimized his losses, in fact, on May 3, he also seized a godsend, attacking a lone Soviet armored division nearby, destroying 37 Soviet tanks, while Dongfang Bai lost only 7 tanks.

For the first time, Dongfang Bai suffered a serious setback. The counterattack brought the Soviets a sensational victory. The Soviets lost far more tanks and personnel than the Chinese side, but they still considered it "a great victory." Molotov also wrote: "At this point we have finally been given a respite, and this time we really deserve to celebrate." Because of this victory, Stalin promoted Rokossovsky to the rank of general.

But in fact, another major event that took place thousands of miles away had a major impact on the war. China's all-out attack on the Soviet Union forced Yanjing to divert the manpower and material resources originally planned to be invested in the battlefield to Siberia, and the Chinese Air Force intensified its strategic bombing of the Soviet Union, which on the one hand worsened the logistical supply of the Soviet army and improved the supply situation of the Chinese army on the other.

On May 5, a Chinese airship unit sent Dongfang Bai the ammunition he urgently needed, tank spare parts, and a large amount of fuel. Now that Dongfang Bai has the strength to launch an attack on the Soviet positions at the front, he understands that these Soviet troops are vulnerable.

On May 11, the replenished Chinese army launched an attack to the south, and the Soviet army was about to collapse at the first touch, and Dongfang Bai quickly recaptured the previously lost position. Dongfang Shirahara intended to preemptively prevent the Soviets from advancing further, but by this time the entire operation had evolved into a full-scale offensive. Dongfang Bai seized a large amount of booty, including 1300 trucks. By May 16, Dongfang Bai had repeatedly forced the Soviet troops, who were desperately short of supplies, to retreat. In two weeks, the Soviets lost 122 tanks and 76 field battles saturated with about 14,000 officers and men.

Due to heavy losses, Rokossovsky's subordinates began to lose confidence in him. There were officers who felt that Rokossovsky was not much better than Pavlov. Major General Medevilov, who commanded the 17th Panzer Division, recalled: "At that time Rokossovsky was really going crazy. He is going to counterattack in one direction with all his might today, and tomorrow he will switch to the other. He was also optimistic, convinced himself not to believe that he had been hit by the enemy, and once when he was thinking about the plan for a counteroffensive, I reported to him about the situation of the 17th Panzer Division. He flew to see me and almost thought I was a subversive. ”

Stalin, who was far away in Moscow, noticed that something was wrong. He sent his old friend, his trusted adviser, Shaposhnikov, to investigate the situation at the front. He came to the conclusion that "Rokossovsky lacked sufficient imagination." And suggested to Stalin that he be replaced. Stalin, distraught by this report, did not agree. His reply was: "I have removed a commander. If the second place is replaced within three months, it will affect the morale of the troops. In this way, Rokossovsky remained in his original position.

The exhausted sides temporarily stopped fighting. The two sides stayed on both sides of the line and were at peace. The chain of defense here was built by the Soviet army. The defensive line went around a huge "V" shape tens of kilometers long in a southeasterly direction, and then turned northeast and stretched. The defense line was densely covered with mines. At intervals, a fortress was built. Each fort covers an area of about one to two square miles, and others were hastily built on wasteland.

Each fort was surrounded by mines, barbed wire, long narrow trenches and pillboxes. There were enough supplies in each fort to hold out for a week while surrounded. Between these forts, Soviet tanks were free to move back and forth. Their mission was to intercept Chinese tanks trying to cross the line and to provide mobile support in the event of an attack on any of the forts.

In late May, Dongfang Bai was ready and decided to resume the offensive. Since infantry units and some tanks had already been used in the offensive on the northern section of the Soviet line, Dongfang Bai planned to lead an armored division and a mechanized infantry division south to bypass the Soviet fortresses, which were at the bend of the line. Then he could pounce to the north, destroy the Soviet tank clusters, and attack the rest of the line from behind.

On May 22, the Chinese troops began to attack the northern end of the defensive line. Dongfang Bai led more than 300 chariots of various types to return to the Soviet army from the south. He left part of his infantry to besiege the fortress, and he himself fanned out his troops to the north and east. About 5 km northeast of the defensive line, the first exchange of fire with the Soviets was made, two Soviet motorized rifle divisions were quickly routed, and by noon at least three armored and motorized divisions of the Soviets were eaten.

However, in the afternoon, Dongfang Bai encountered unexpected trouble. The Soviets had just acquired a large number of German-made tanks – the new 55-ton Tiger tank. This new tank is equipped with an 88 mm caliber cannon, which can fire high-explosive shells, which is a great threat to the "Walker" tanks and various armored vehicles of the Chinese army.

By the evening of the next day, thanks to the stubborn resistance of the Soviet troops, coupled with the might of the new "Tiger" tanks, the two armored divisions of the Chinese army lost one of the tanks of one of the three and were forced to stagnate on the perimeter of the "Gorky" fortress. It was located 10 km behind the main line of defense of the Soviet troops. The Chinese troops retreated into a small semicircular area of about 100 square miles, surrounded by Soviet forts and mines.

Dongfang Bai tried to regroup, and the Chinese engineering units opened a road from the west through the minefield in time, but then they were blocked by Soviet artillery fire. The Chinese troops had become Rokossovsky's possession at this time. Now he can concentrate his tanks to crush Dongfang Bai. Zhukov in Moscow also saw this opportunity, and he telegraphed Rokossovsky to immediately launch an offensive, stressing: "We cannot sit on the opposition, we must act immediately." ”

But Rokossovsky was not ready, he was busy holding a secret meeting to develop various courses of action. For two whole days, these Soviet generals were strategizing. And Dongfang Bai has reorganized his forces. On June 1, he tore a huge hole in the Soviet line, thus ensuring his logistical supply. At the same time, he destroyed more than 100 Soviet tanks, captured more than 3,000 Soviet troops, eliminated the 125th Infantry Division, and destroyed the fortresses they were holding. At this time, Rokossovsky's unquenchable optimism was still in vogue, and he reported to Zhukov: "It was a spectacular battle. I deeply regret the matter of the 125th Division. But I still think that our situation is getting better day by day. ”

While constantly repelling a number of innocuous attacks from the north, Dongfang Bai began to turn around and head south to attack the "Lenin" fortress at the southernmost point of the Soviet line, which was most critical to the overall defense of the Soviet army. Therefore, it is also stronger than Dongfang Bai imagined. The vast majority of the 3,600 soldiers guarding the fortress belonged to the NKVD, commanded by Major General Konich. Dongfang Baiyuan hoped to take the Bilhashem Fort in 24 hours, but in fact it took him more than a week to get his wish, but he wrote in his chronicles: "I have rarely encountered such a vicious battle in Russia. ”

From June 2 to June 10, the Chinese Air Force dispatched more than 1,300 bomber sorties to bomb the Soviet defense line, and at the same time, Dongfang Bai's ground forces also carried out artillery bombardment day and night. On 10 June, the fort's food reserves had been depleted. Rokossovsky ordered to abandon the fortress. Koenic led the remaining 300 of his 3,600 men to fight their way out of the siege overnight. In the early hours of the next morning, when the Chinese stormed the fort, all that remained was the wounded and some discarded equipment.

(To be continued)