The former head of the General Political Department of the Red Army, the current military commissar of the Bryansk Front, whom Stalin trusted very much, was nicknamed the king of the small reports. Zakharovich. On the morning of May 4, Comrade Mekhlisky saw Colonel-General Golikov and Lieutenant General Kazakov with sad faces in the headquarters of the Front in the city of Bryansk. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"What's wrong?" The king of the little reports was also nervous, now was a critical moment for the survival of Soviet power, and there would be desperate bad news at any time and anywhere......

"Comrade Military Commissar, our Front now has one more tank army," replied Kazakov, chief of staff of the Bryansk Front, "and the 5th Tank Army, which originally belonged to the command of the Western Front, is now also under our Bryansk Front." ”

Mehris breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "This is good news, it shows that Comrade Stalin trusts us very much. ”

"The main thing is to trust me!" "Now the Bryansk Front, which I lead, has been organized into the main front of the Red Army......," said Mekhlis, " If we can win a few battles in the next war, then the status of a member of the Political Bureau is also possible! ”

"Comrade Military Commissar," Golikov is not the kind of general who has a stubborn temper and dares to defy the king of small reports, and he also understands Mehris's thoughts, "Comrade Stalin has high hopes for us, so Comrade Kazakov and I feel a great responsibility. ”

"Yes, we do have a great responsibility." "How does the High Command want us to fight?" ”

Kazakov frowned and said: "The Supreme High Command ordered us to inflict heavy damage or annihilate the German armored clusters that broke through the Dnieper. ”

"Is it hard to do?" Seeing the expression of the chief of staff of the front army, Mellihes asked with some puzzlement, "We have three tank armies and three ordinary armies, including the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies. With a total strength of more than 500,000 troops and more than 3,000 tanks/guns, what reason could there be that the Germans could not defeat a single group of armor? ”

Judging by the strength on paper, the Bryansk Front really had no reason to lose.

"However, the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies have not yet been loaded and shipped, and they may not be able to reach the battlefield in 10 days." Kazakov shook his head, "So the only ones we have at our disposal are the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Tank Armies." Moreover, these three armies are not together, the 1st and 2nd tank armies are coming from Moscow and Kalinin, and if everything goes well, they will be able to reach the vicinity of Gomel in Belarus on May 7. And the 5th Tank Army is still ...... in Smolensk"

"Smolensk is not far from here," interrupted Mehris, "just over 200 kilometers." ”

"But Smolensk was a key area of bombing by the Germans, and the troops were simply unable to move during the day, and the build-up and movement could only be done at night." Golikov explained that "if we were to mobilize the 5th Tank Army to Bryansk, then the 200-plus kilometer night road would take at least three nights, and then it would take two days to maneuver from Bryansk to Gomel." ”

"May 9...... It's just 2 days late. "Mehris couldn't understand the significance of two days for an armored duel.

Although the 1st and 2nd tank armies of the Bryansk Front had more than 2,100 tanks/assault guns on paper, it was Marx's blessing that more than 200 kilometers of maneuver combined with air strikes by German aircraft allowed 1,500 tanks/assault guns to be ready to go on the battlefield.

And the German armored group, which is crossing the Dnieper River, has about 1,500 tanks/assault guns. The quantity seems to be almost the same, but the quality is quite different.

Of the 1,500 tanks/assault guns of the Soviet Army, a significant number were light tanks such as the T60/T70, which could only be used for reconnaissance.

And now there are no "reconnaissance tanks" in the sequence of the German armored forces, and instead they are armored vehicles of the wheeled series (Puma). Equipped with a 50mm/L60 gun, the Type 2 of this wheeled armored vehicle series far outperforms most light tanks and has a top speed of 85 kilometers per hour, making it the ideal armored reconnaissance vehicle.

Moreover, although in the past few months the Soviet Union has created a large number of tanks and high-strike guns of the T-34/57, KV-85, Su-85, Su-122 series that can fight the Tiger tank. But the superiority of German medium and heavy tanks in combat effectiveness remained. In comparable numbers, the tank units of the Red Army had no hope of winning at all.

In addition, Germany now has great air superiority. Both the Luftwaffe's own HS.129 attack aircraft and the French Air Force's Breguet attack aircraft could act as tank killers. And the Soviet Il-2 fighter aircraft could not function at all under the blow of the Fokker Zero-D.

Therefore, without overwhelming numerical superiority, Golikov and Kazakov did not dare to go to a decisive battle with the German armored clusters.

But the Supreme High Command (in fact, Stalin) did not think so!

"What does the instructions of the High Command say?" Mehris also felt that the problem was a little unscrupulous, but as the "king of the little report", he knew that he should always obey the will of the great leader, and this is the most important thing!

"The Supreme High Command ordered our Bryansk Front to prevent the German armored cluster on the southern route from moving north and approaching the city of Smolensk." Kazakov reported that "at the same time, it is necessary to concentrate forces at the junction of the Mogilev, Bryansk and Smolensk regions to defeat the German armored clusters on the southern route." ”

"Then we should resolutely carry out this instruction!" Mehris said solemnly, "I don't think you two are questioning the High Command, are you?" ”

"No, absolutely not! We will resolutely carry out the instructions of the Supreme High Command! ”

"We resolutely support all the decisions of the Supreme High Command!"

Golikov and Kazakov were taken aback by Mekhlis, and hurriedly expressed their support for the Supreme High Command - standing in front of them was the king of the small reports! And they were not strong commanders like Timoshenko and Zhukov. Golikov was a little weak, and when he was the head of the intelligence department, he picked up Stalin's favorite words. And Kazakov is just a lieutenant general chief of staff, and the king of small reports is not like a joke to clean him up!

"That's good!" Mehris was satisfied, "So how are we going to carry out the instructions?" ”

"There was already an idea," Kazakov said, "to use the 5th Tank Army to block the attack at Mstislav, 80 kilometers south of Smolensk, in an attempt to delay the Germans for a few days." Then the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies flanked the German armored cluster from Gomel. At the same time, the 9th and 12th armies of the Southwestern Front were requested to counterattack Lechtsa from Chernihiv to the north and block the rear of the German armored clusters on the southern route. ”

"That's good! That's good! Mehris slapped his face, "There is a front seal, there is a back block, and there is a side attack...... Throw in 8 armies (including the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies that will not necessarily reach in 10 days), more than 3000 tanks, and this is very certain! Comrade Golikov, Comrade Kazakov, let's immediately report this plan to the Supreme High Command! ”

……

When Golikov, Kazakov and Mehris jointly submitted the battle plan to the High Command. They wanted to defeat their opponent, the commander of the German 1st Panzer Army, Eberhard. Feng. The command of General Mackensen had just arrived in Lechitsa on the west bank of the Dnieper.

Although the strength of the army group under his command was far inferior to the 4th Panzer Army under the command of General Holt on the Northern Front, it was still a very powerful army group and one of the four main German armies on the Eastern Front. The other three are the 2nd Panzer Army, the 3rd Panzer Army and the 4th Panzer Army, of which the 2nd Panzer Army is part of Army Group South and is deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The 1st Panzer Army now has the 3rd Panzer Corps (consisting of the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions, the 1st Wehrmacht Panzergrenadier Division and the 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division), the 11th Panzer Army (including the 6th Panzer Division, the 10th Panzer Division, and the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division), the 14th Panzer Corps (consisting of the 11th Panzer Division, the 2nd Wehrmacht Panzergrenadier Division, the 4th Wehrmacht Panzergrenadier Division), the 52nd Motorized Rifle Corps (including the 102nd, 111th, 127th, and 128th Infantry Divisions), The 64th Motorized Rifle Corps (60th, 88th, 89th, and 105th Infantry Divisions), the 1st Cavalry Division, the 14th SS Ukrainian Cavalry Division, the 20th SS Polish Cavalry Division, the 29th SS Polish Cavalry Division, the 10th Motorized Anti-aircraft Artillery Division of the Air Defense, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Rocket Artillery Brigades, and the 5th and 10th Separate Motorized Chemical Battalions. In total, there were 23 divisions and 3 brigades plus 2 battalions. In addition, the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 6th and 11th Panzer Divisions each have one heavy armoured battalion.

It was precisely because of the strength of the troops under his command that General Mackensen did not worry at all about "going deep alone", nor was he afraid that his army group would be beaten by the outnumbered Soviet troops.

However, there are still things that give His Excellency the general a headache, the main thing is the huge fuel consumption of the 1st Panzer Army! Behind the 1st Panzer Army, there was no line to support. All the oil was hoarded last winter, and the quantity was not very sufficient, and there were more than 200 kilometers from Korosjian to Lechitsa during this period, during which there was no railway, and the oil could only be transported by road in poor condition, and it was attacked by partisans from time to time. Now, the reason why Mackensen's army stayed at Lechitsa was not to build bridges to cross the river (because the Soviets had retreated hastily, and the troops of the 5th SS Panzer Division had captured two road bridges, enough for the army to cross the river), but to wait for the oil convoy from Koroscan.

Another thing that annoyed General Mackensen was that his powerful Panzer Army would soon reach the meeting place of the three Panzer armies stipulated in the "Purple Plan", and the 3rd Panzer Army and the 4th Panzer Army were entangled in the stubbornly resisting Soviet army, and it seemed that it would take some time to break through.

Could it be that the 1st Panzer Army, which did not have enough fuel, could only stop on the battlefield and do nothing, waiting for friendly forces to defeat the enemy? (To be continued.) )