Chapter 635 Heavy Thunderstorm 23

When the explosions and gunfire gradually subsided, Stalin, who was immersed in a pile of documents, suddenly heard someone knocking on the door. Then there is the voice of his secretary Pavlov (another Pavlov).

"Comrade General Secretary and Comrade People's Comrade of National Defense request an audience."

It was Voroshilov who came, and Stalin thought to himself: There must be good news, very good news, otherwise Voroshilov would not have come to the Kremlin at night.

"Comrade General Secretary, the 37th Army under the command of Comrade Vlasov has arrived at the Vistula River, and the leading troops of the Army are crossing the river!"

It's really good news!

"Where is the 4th Army? Have they arrived at Legionovo?" Stalin asked about another army group.

"Not yet," Voroshilov said, "Legionovo is more than 50 kilometers away from Mazowiszeminsk in Poland. And there are still a small number of German troops and Polish puppet troops stationed in Legionovo, Kolob Comrade Kov's 4th Army will not be able to liberate Legionovo until noon tomorrow at the earliest."

Because of the curvature of the Vistula River, the 4th Army, which was preparing to cross the river from the northern route Legionovo to outflank Warsaw, had to walk more than 50 kilometers. The 37th Group Army taking the southern route only needs to walk 20 kilometers. Therefore, the 37th Army on the southern front was basically attacked by air attacks, and it was possible to climb to the Vistula River in one night. The 4th Army on the northern front was much slower and was not expected to be in place until the early morning of June 10.

Moreover, Legionovo is relatively close to the city of Warsaw, and the railway from Warsaw to Danzi also passes through Legionovo. Therefore, it is very easy for the German 6th Army to transfer troops from Warsaw to Legionovo. It only takes 30 minutes to get on the train from Warsaw Railway Station.

As for night air raids, with the "mosquito killer" He-219 here, there is no need to worry about Soviet planes coming to Warsaw at night to cause trouble.

So when Lieutenant General Alexander Korobkov was sitting in GAZ-61, he was going on a painful march despite the bombs dropped by the Do-217 that flew over his head from time to time. His opponent, SS General Steiner, had already arrived at his destination early in a very comfortable sleeping car.

Also arriving with General Steiner were the 501st Heavy Armor Battalion and the 5th SS Tank Battalion led by Major Rudel.

Rudolf von Ribbentrop's old superior, Gustav Schwarzenegger, also followed the 5th SS Tank Battalion to Legionovo. He is now a member of the 4th Company of the 5th SS Tank Battalion. Captain, company commander, commanded 22 Type 4 H tanks.

According to General Steiner's plan, the 501st, 502nd, 503rd, 504th and 505th formidable heavy armor battalions will be the main force in the defensive battle. 220 "Tiger" and "Panther" tanks will use powerful firepower and solid defense to repel the attack of the Soviet armored group.

The 88 No. 4 H tanks of the 5th SS Tank Battalion and the 18 No. 3 assault guns of the 5th SS Assault Gun Battalion have to undertake more complex tasks. They will first form a counterattack group with the 3rd SS Panzergrenadier Regiment, the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Smoke Launcher Regiment, under the personal command of General Steiner, and go forward to the Wovoming line to attack The vanguard of the Soviet Northern Front Group carried out a sudden attack - using 162 SWR40 self-propelled rocket launchers from 3 smoke generator regiments to conduct 2 rounds of salvo strikes, and then 88 No. 4 and 30 No. 3 assault guns (2 The SS Panzergrenadier Regiment also had 12 No. 3 assault guns) to guide the Panzergrenadiers in the counterattack.

After severely damaging the leading Soviet troops, this "counterattack group" immediately retracted to Legionovo, and five heavy armored battalions blocked the following Soviet tank group. After the interception is successful, the 5th SS Tank Battalion will once again engage in pursuit, striving to inflict an annihilating blow on the invading Soviet tank group!

…

It is very comfortable for the tanks to ride on the train and march, but it is a bit troublesome to get on and off the train. After getting off the train, you have to drive the tanks out of the station to a designated location outside Legionovo to assemble secretly, which makes it even more confusing.

The whole process took three or four hours. It was not until dawn that Captain Gustav Schwarzenegger had all 22 No. 4 tanks drive behind a forest. When he was directing his men to hang camouflage nets on these precious tanks, the roar of the motors came. This was a more shocking sound than the sound of 22 No. 4 tanks while driving. It sounded as if hundreds of tanks were coming. tank.

"Tank! Heavy tank!"

"What kind of tank is this?"

"Oh my god, look at its cannon. Is it an 88mm cannon?"

"Company commander, when can we change to this kind of tank!"

Hearing the roar of the motors of 22 Tiger tanks, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look around. After seeing the mighty body and thick barrel of the Tiger tank, every tank soldier has a desire to drive it.

This is the king of land battles that tank soldiers dream of! Compared with it, the No. 4 tank is simply insignificant and not worth mentioning.

"This is a Tiger tank! The most powerful tank in the world!" Gustav Schwarzenegger said loudly.

He knew about the existence of the Tiger tanks, and he had learned about the Tiger and Panther tanks at a meeting yesterday afternoon with the tank/assault gun battery commanders. And he was also told that the "Tiger" and "Panther" tanks would no longer be "secret weapons" starting on June 10.

"But our 5th SS Tank Battalion will not be equipped with Tiger tanks for the time being," said Gustav Schwarzenegger, "because our Type 4 tank is the real master on the land battlefield! The Type 4 tank is very excellent and reliable. It can defeat all tanks in the world, except the Tiger tank and another new tank of our Germany, the Panther tank.

Okay, comrades (comrades in the Nazi Party), do your job now and camouflage our Type 4 tanks. This afternoon, at the latest tomorrow, they will show their skills and teach the Russians a lesson they will never forget!"

...

"Comrade Commander, the Air Force has discovered a German mechanized unit heading south from Legionovo!"

Major General Alexander Korobkov, commander of the 4th Army, who was riding in a GAZ-61 car and slowly heading north along the bumpy road, was startled by the sudden news.

Major General Korobkov, whose face was a little gloomy, looked at each other with his old partner, Colonel Sandalov, the chief of staff of the army, who was sitting next to him.

The German mechanized troops are still moving south from Legionovo. Needless to say, they must be coming to fight with their 4th Army!

Colonel Sandalov took the report dropped from an Il-2 attack aircraft that was acting as a reconnaissance aircraft (in a tin can) from the staff officer, read it carefully, and his originally twisted brows were loosened.

"It is a brigade-level column with about a hundred tanks. The 16th Mechanized Army should be able to deal with them."

"Well, let the 16th Mechanized Army defeat this enemy moving south." Major General Korobkov did not expect how bad the enemy moving south would bring him, and decided to let the powerful 16th Mechanized Army deal with it without much thought.

The 16th Mechanized Army is one of the six mechanized armies of the Soviet Union. Its organization is the same as that of the 9th Mechanized Army, with one tank brigade and three motorized infantry brigades. The commander of the army is Major General Alexander Dmitrievich Sokalov, who has a long history and participated in the First World War and attended the Tsarist Russian Military Academy.

"What? A brigade-level armored group?" Major General Sokalov had an ominous premonition when he learned of the order from his superiors.

"Comrade Commander, we should deploy the troops immediately." Sokalov's chief of staff is a lieutenant colonel named Kurbsky, who is very young and was promoted after the Great Purge. The revolutionary enthusiasm is high, but he has never experienced the power of the Germans.

Sokalov is experienced and has fought against the Germans in the First World War. He knows that they rarely show flaws on the battlefield. The person who can now be the commander of the German army in Warsaw must have made great achievements in the past three years of war and will not be an easy character to deal with. How could a brigade-level group be sent to deal with a Soviet army group?

But the idea of ​​deployment is also good. No matter whether the opponent is a brigade or an army, the 16th Mechanized Army cannot turn around and run away.

"Okay, we will deploy on the spot and compete with the Germans in Wovomin." Major General Sokalov thought for a while and began to make cautious mistakes. "But we should not take the initiative to attack, but deploy defense, build positions around Wovomin, and let the Germans hit their heads and bleed."

"Comrade Commander, are we really going to deploy defense in Wovomin?" Lieutenant Colonel Kurbsky felt that his immediate superior was a little timid. He obviously had superior forces and should attack.

"Of course," said Major General Sokalov, "the enemy must be more than one brigade, it is likely to be an armored division. We must first ensure that we are not defeated. There is no reason to lose until the main force of the army comes up."

The 4th Army has 1 tank army, 1 infantry army and 1 mechanized army, with a total of 100,000 people, hundreds of tanks and thousands of artillery. If they really want to fight, General Steiner's group is probably not an opponent.

But Admiral Steiner's German Superman would not give the 4th Army a chance to gather all its troops. When the Soviet 16th Army arrived near the town of Wowomin and was about to start a defensive battle, the armored group commanded by Admiral Steiner was already in formation on the plain less than 6 kilometers away from Wowomin, preparing to attack.

And this attack will first be launched by the German rocket launchers!