With a loud bang, a German soldier of ethnic Ukrainian nationality kicked open the door of a house near the entrance to the collective farm. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The soldier who kicked the door was surnamed Tymoshenko (in fact, it was Timoshenko, a Ukrainian surname), and he was a sniper assistant. As soon as he kicked open the door, he rushed in with an MKB-42 automatic carbine with a bayonet on it, and shouted in Ukrainian: "Kneel, kneel, put your hands up, or shoot......"

After a while, Tymoshenko shouted again: "Now it's safe, Lyudmila, come in." ”

The female sniper who was waiting outside the door only then entered the house with her G43 sniper rifle. It was a most ordinary Soviet collective farm worker's house, with only a few simple pieces of furniture and no industrial products, and it looked very shabby. But Pavlyuchenko has long been surprised by this scene, and now the entire right-bank Ukrainian countryside is in a depression!

An elderly couple knelt with two children with red scarves around their necks, and Ukrainian soldiers surnamed Tymoshenko pointed their guns at them.

The two old men's eyes were numb, looking at the female sniper who came in from outside the door in a daze, while the two children looked at the intruder with hateful eyes.

"Vladimir (Tymoshenko's name), put the gun down and don't scare the child." As he spoke, Pavlyuchenko pulled out a box of Scarlett chocolates and handed it to the two children who were looking at him with angry eyes.

The child didn't reach out to pick it up - because it was against the law! Guilty of aiding international capitalism (helping the minions of capitalism to eat chocolate that is potentially harmful to health). And both children are Soviets who grow up in honey, and German chocolate is not rare.

"Are you the White Army?" It was about the old man of the house who suddenly asked--he could hear Pavlyuchenko's Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and Russian are very close, about the difference between Chinese Mandarin and a local dialect, and Klimovich is close to Ukraine, so many people can understand Ukrainian.

So he guessed that it was not the German army, but the White army of Her Majesty the Empress, who was ready to divide the fields for his family. If that's a good thing......

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

Tymoshenko is a Ukrainian from Odessa, full of hatred for both the USSR and the Russians. There were a great number of such people in the Ukrainian-German army, and even more so in units with SS numbers. Therefore, after they entered the territory of Belarus, they were a little corrupted in military discipline, and they did not do less to burn, kill, loot or something, which gave the German officers who led the troops a great headache.

"Pack up your things and get out of here!" Pavlyuchenko stuffed the chocolate to the old lady who was protecting her two children, and said in a gentle tone, "We're going to fight the Red Army here!" ”

It turned out that this house was a sniper fire point that Pavlyuchenko fancied - as an experienced old sniper, Pavlyuchenko would not choose a high ground to ambush, it would be too easy to detect, and it would be difficult to transfer, and sooner or later he would be killed by Soviet fire.

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

So the point of fire chosen by Pavlyuchenko and her other 2 snipers (there were originally 3, and one was killed by rocket artillery before) was a surprise to the opponent.

While the snipers were in ambush, the commander of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, Helmut. Major Zintz grimaced and dismounted from a wheeled armored command vehicle.

He was really unlucky today, he was ambushed by the Soviets, and he was ambushed by a Soviet tank unit, and now he can't even run away (in fact, he can run away, but he misjudged the situation, thinking that it was a regimental composite battle cluster that intercepted him), so he could only retract into this collective farm that looked a little sturdy and waited for help.

However, the strength in his hands is really limited, there are only more than 200 officers and soldiers left, and the guys who can be used for anti-tank are Puma armored vehicles and 11 vehicles, as well as more than a dozen 88mm recoilless guns nicknamed "Doll", in addition to Iron Fist 60 anti-tank grenade launchers, anti-tank mines, and grenades. Relying on these things, it's really hard to say whether you can hold on until the reinforcements arrive.

Entering the GR 13 (Major Zintz's headquarters and last stronghold), Major Zintz looked up at the dim sky. It's late afternoon, night is about to fall, and it looks like air support will have to wait until tomorrow. So tonight, it's going to be very, very tough!

……

"Comrade Commander, tonight we can destroy this group of Nazi brutes!"

When Cheremisov assured Lukin, he had just inspected a Cougar armored car 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 he was full of confidence.

At this time, Lukin was looking through the copy of the telegram he had just received, which showed the situation of air force reconnaissance transferred by the headquarters of the group army -- although the current air supremacy is controlled by German planes, there was no absolute air supremacy in the 40s, and Soviet planes could still take off for reconnaissance.

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

"Air Force reconnaissance did not find any trace of German armored clusters in the area of the junction today, nor did it ...... the other day," Lukin handed a copy of the telegram to Cheremisov, "what does this mean?" ”

"Are they hiding?" Cheremisov said.

"Maybe it's hidden," Lukin nodded slightly, then shook his head again, "Maybe it's not here at all." Most likely, they went to Ukraine, and in the Chernihiv direction they found a number of German tanks. ”

After a pause, he said, "So we should test it, and use the Germans in PF 13 to test it." ”

"Comrade commander, what do you mean...... Take them as bait and lure out the main forces of the Germans? ”

"Yes!" Lukin said, "It doesn't matter whether a dozen or twenty armored vehicles are defeated or not, what matters now is to find out what the Germans are doing!" Before the Battle of the Junction begins, we should always find out if the Germans' armored clusters are not there, right? Otherwise, what would happen if hundreds of thousands of troops pounced on the empty calculation? ”

In fact, the purpose of this ambush organized by Admiral Lukin was to test the situation of the German armored group and provide sufficient information for the upcoming battle of the joint.

And the task of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion, which he surrounded at Collective Farm No. 13, was also to search for Soviet tank units - the current senior German commanders also wanted to know where the Soviet tanks had gone.

So the report of the 17th SS Cavalry Reconnaissance Battalion encountering a Soviet tank cluster was immediately sent to Field Marshal Manstein's desk.

"A reconnaissance battalion surrounded?" After reading the report, Manstein frowned slightly, "The Soviets have at least one divisional Panzergrenadier cluster of troops, but they did not attack immediately, they want to ......"

Lieutenant General Weller, chief of staff of Army Group Center, who was on the side, took over and said, "They are most likely trying to lure our reinforcements into showing up. ”

Manstein nodded, then looked at Lieutenant General Weller, "Do you think it's possible that the Soviets will use the 1st Panzer Army as the main target?" ”

His original estimate was that the Soviet tank cluster could be in Kalinin, ready to break the siege of Leningrad with overwhelming force.

However, unexpectedly, a large number of Soviet tanks were found in the south of Smolensk Oblast, and these tanks were obviously not good. Because the 4th Panzer Army has now completed the outflanking of Smolensk, there is no need to attack Smolensk with the 1st Panzer Army at all. Therefore, this Soviet tank force could not have been used to block the 1st Panzer Army from moving north, and it was likely that they had come to seek a decisive battle.

"This possibility exists, and it is not small," said Lieutenant General Weller, with a smile, "but the 1st Panzer Army has enough strength to deal with it, and 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?" ”

"Looked." Lieutenant General Weller understood what Manstein was trying to say, "The Soviets had a powerful assault gun, probably an 85mm anti-aircraft gun installed on the territory of the T-34 tank. ”

"I'm afraid the Tiger G is a bit difficult to deal with," Manstein said, "and the Type 4H is even worse." ”

"We also have the Rhino tank destroyers, all of which are now equipped with 71 times the caliber of 88mm guns, which is enough to destroy the T-34 tank at a distance of 2,000 meters. In addition, assault guns do not have turrets, which are easy to be attacked from the side by opponents, and it is difficult to exert combat effectiveness without the cooperation of high-performance tanks or enough infantry cover. Moreover, we also have overwhelming air superiority! ”

Manstein looked at Weller and asked, "Then you think the 1st Panzer Army should fight the Soviets in the Klimovich area?" ”

Weller nodded.

Manstein thought for a while and said with a smile: "Let's find out the situation first, maybe a few separate tank brigades and tank destroyer brigades and other units." ”

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

"Would you like to remind Admiral Mackenson?" Weller asked, "Prepare him for a decisive battle?" ”

"Of course," Manstein said, "but General Mackensen has a lot of experience and he knows how to deal with the situation." ”

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

"Your Excellency Marshal, Your Excellency Lieutenant General," he said, with a military salute, "the report of the 4th Panzer Army, the 3rd Panzergrenadier Division has found something strange in the Katyn Forest!" (To be continued.) )