Chapter 837 The Decisive Battle - Stalin's Goal (Second Update, Please Subscribe, Please Vote)
Lilia Litvyak was hanging on an open parachute, slowly falling. The German Fokker Zero did not take advantage of her misfortune and fire at her. However, Lilia soon found out that she was not out of danger, because she jumped in the middle of the battlefield. The front line of the Soviet 40th Army was a few kilometers south of her, and to her north... she found a large number of German tanks and infantry slowly advancing!
"Don't be captured!" Stalin's white rose (the German pilot mistook the lily for a rose) thought, "If I fall among the Germans, I will commit suicide, I must commit suicide, and I must not betray my motherland and the cause of GCism. Maybe after death, I will see Solomartin again in heaven..."
I don't know if Lilia's determination to devote herself to the cause of GCism moved God (to be honest, it's unlikely). When she fell from the sky, there was a not very strong north wind, so she was lucky to land in a place closer to the Soviet position. But the German tanks and infantry were also approaching step by step.
Lilya didn't dare to stay here for long, and quickly pulled off the parachute on her back. Her hat was hooked by the rope of the parachute, revealing a head of curly blonde hair. Then this Soviet ace pilot, who looked very delicate and slender, like a little girl, ran in the middle of the battlefield full of craters.
At this moment, a G43 sniper rifle with a sight installed on the gun body was facing the Soviet heroine from a distance.
"Herbert, why don't you fire! Fire quickly!" Brandt, who was standing on a slowly moving "Grizzly" assault gun, heard the urging voice of the squad leader Sergeant Schmidt.
"That... that's a girl, I don't kill girls!" Brandt has now given up many bottom lines, but he really can't bear to shoot a GCist loli.
"Girl? How can there be a girl on the battlefield?" Sergeant Schmidt also climbed up the "Grizzly" assault gun where Brandt was, and then raised the telescope to look.
"Is it really a girl? What's going on? Isn't this a pilot? How could it be a girl?" Sergeant Schmidt shook his head and finally stopped forcing Brandt to shoot. Instead, he pulled Brandt down to the ground.
At this time, the German armored vehicles on the battlefield had stopped advancing 3,000 meters away from the front of the Soviet position - at this distance, the Soviet anti-tank weapons could not threaten the "Grizzly" assault gun at all, while the short-barreled 150mm gun of the "Grizzly" assault gun could accurately hit the Soviet Red Army's position!
...
"Air raid! Hide quickly!"
"Air defense! Air defense..."
When the German armored infantry cluster stopped advancing and the Soviet heroine Lilya rushed to her own position. Solzhenitsyn rushed to the bunker prepared for artillery observers amid the hasty shouting of the Red Army soldiers.
It turned out that the German Fokker Zero D fighters had already eliminated (shot down or expelled) all the Yak-1 fighters. The French Breguet aircraft that had been hiding before also returned to the battlefield, swooping down, first dropping 50 kg bombs, and then using the 20mm cannon and 13mm machine guns installed on the nose and wings to frantically strafed and killed the defenders on the position. The Fokker Zero D aircraft that defeated the Yak-1 fighter also joined the battle at this time, and a series of bullets whistled from the air, and a large amount of dust and mud was immediately stirred up on the trench and the surrounding ground.
In a hurry, Solzhenitsyn did not have time to get into the bunker, and could only curl up at the bottom of the trench like an ordinary infantryman. However, the German Fokker Zero D fighter and the latest model of the French Breguet attack aircraft are both "strike" models with reinforced armor, and can almost withstand the Soviet anti-aircraft machine guns and conduct low-altitude strafing along the trench!
Solzhenitsyn could only helplessly close his eyes, curl up his body, let the bullets whistle in his ears, and wait for the death that would appear at any time to end his glorious, fighting, and revolutionary life... If so, he would be a loyal GCist fighter!
The smell of blood began to spread in the narrow trench, and the screams of dying also replaced the hum of planes and the sound of gunfire.
Solzhenitsyn knew that the German and French planes had finally left, but the bloody battle had just begun.
"Bolshevik Party members, Youth League members, it's time to defend the Soviet motherland..."
The roars of political cadres rang out one after another in the trenches. Although these political workers could not control artillery observers like Solzhenitsyn, he did not dare to shrink in the trenches to avoid his responsibilities. If the artillery command above did not get the enemy position reported by him and his company, then the position would soon be broken through by the Germans, and he would wait to be imprisoned in the punishment camp.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Solzhenitsyn had just arrived at his command post when the earth-shattering explosion began to shake the Soviet position under his feet. This was the German "Grizzly" assault gun firing! However, the distance of 3,000 meters was too close for the "Grizzly", and it was almost impossible to miss, and the 150mm shells had enough lethality for field positions. It was really an ideal weapon for attacking field defense positions - according to the regulations of the German Wehrmacht Armored Forces Headquarters, the "Grizzly" was an infantry support assault gun mainly used to break through field fortifications.
And the weapon for attacking cities and fortresses was another "Sturmtiger" self-propelled assault mortar developed on the site of the Tiger tank!
…
At this time, Major General Ilya Oktyabrsky was on a hilltop quite close to the front line of the 40th Infantry Army, watching the battle with General Zhimachenko, commander of the 3rd Army.
Seeing the huge power of the German "Grizzly" assault gun in front, Major General Oktyabrsky put down the telescope and glanced at Zhimachenko, who was livid beside him.
"Comrade Commander, the enemy's assault guns are too powerful. The soldiers of the 4th Infantry Army may find it difficult to resist." Major General Oktyabrsky said, "Should we deploy the 11th Mechanized Army?"
"Not the time, not yet." Zhimachenko shook his head, "I haven't seen their Tiger tanks yet... Now there are only a small number of Type 4 tanks covering those assault guns with 150mm cannons, and even the "Rhino" tank destroyers have not been seen. They must be ambushed somewhere, waiting for our tanks to show up."
Zhmachenko's analysis was good. There were indeed 2 German heavy armored battalions and 2 German tank destroyer battalions nearby. There are 80 Tigers and 87 Rhinos that can be driven. In addition, the troops that are now attacking the 40th Army of the Red Army are tactical groups composed of parts of the 3rd Armored Division and the 3rd Armored Grenadier Division of the German Army. The main forces of these two divisions (each with a heavy armored battalion) have also arrived near Demidov.
So in addition to the armored forces (including 2 assault gun battalions, 1 tank battalion, 2 heavy armored battalions, 2 tank destroyer battalions, and 4 self-propelled artillery battalions) that appeared in front of the Soviet 40th Army or were ambushed in the nearby woods, there are up to 2 armored regiments (4 tank battalions in total) waiting in places where they can quickly arrive outside Demidov. The total number of tanks/self-propelled artillery that can be driven is more than 700!
Such armored forces are simply not something that the 11th Mechanized Army and 2 Tank Destroyer Brigades owned by the 3rd Army can deal with.
Moreover, the 3rd Armored Division and the 3rd Armored Grenadier Division are only a small part of the armored forces owned by the German 4th Tank Army.
Zhimachenko was silent for a while, and then said: "Let's report the situation in Demidov... At the same time, we can suggest a decisive battle with the German armored forces in the Rudnya area south of Demidov and near the Katyn Forest."
Demidov is surrounded by forests to the south and southeast. Although there are railways and roads passing through, the German armored cluster will not pass through there. They will most likely take a detour to the relatively flat Rudnya area, and then pass through the flat area north of the Katyn Forest, and finally enter the vicinity of Smolensk.
For the Soviet army, whose armored forces are obviously not superior, it is obviously more advantageous to fight a battle in the Rudnya-Katyn Forest area, taking advantage of the more complex terrain and the Smolensk fortification area behind.
Zhimachenko's suggestion was quickly supported by Marshal Kulik and reported to the Supreme Command in Moscow.
At the same time, a more ambitious idea of a decisive battle was brewing in the mind of the great Soviet leader Stalin.
Unlike the small goal envisioned by Pavlov and Shaposhnikov, which was to focus on attacking the German army in the north (General Hoth's 4th Panzer Army) to force the German army around Leningrad to break the siege and move south, Comrade Stalin had two big goals!
The first target that Stalin targeted was the German 1st Panzer Army that was moving north from the south line. In the early morning of May 3, the attack direction of the German army in the south had gradually become clear. It was not to bypass the Soviet Southwest Front, but to go straight to Bryansk. The goal of this German army was obviously not Smolensk, but to go straight to Moscow, which had a little vacancy in troops!
Moreover, this German army advanced rapidly, and it had a crushing momentum along the way. It was like a strong one among the three German offensives (at this time, the German Central Army Group also sent another offensive group, which was from Neuwis directly to Minsk and Smolensk).
If the Bryansk Front, the Western Front and part of the Southwest Front's forces could be concentrated to defeat it, the other two German armies would definitely be greatly shaken. In this way, the Red Army will have the possibility to concentrate its forces again to annihilate or severely damage the German Army's northern cluster!