Chapter 987 Zhukov's Concerns
In the early morning of April 8, 1944, the third day of the "Red Guard" operation. The GCist fighters lurking in Andreapol, the "key point" of the Red Army's large-scale flanking operation, found that reactionary troops continued to arrive. What is even more disturbing is that these new troops are not the White Bandits who look a bit decadent and loose, and whose morale is not very high, nor are they the Polish troops whose discipline is very bad and the Russians hate them. They are all spirited German troops. Although they are lightly armed troops, they can be seen from their coal bucket-shaped helmets wrapped with camouflage nets, very rare camouflage uniforms and low-top combat boots that they are elite German paratroopers!
Andreapol is a small town hidden in the forest and swamp. The northwest and north sides of the town are endless forests, the south is a large swamp, and the east is a collective farm. There are several key roads passing through here, connecting Veliky Novgorod in the north, Toropets in the west, Sidwell in the southwest, and Nelidovo in the southeast. For the Red Army implementing the "Red Guard" plan, the road from Andreapol to the northeast through the Ostashkov area with a large number of lakes and swamps to Verkhovna Volochok and Bologoye is the most critical.
As long as the Red Army controls Andreapol and the roads leading to Verkhovna Volochok and Bologoye, they can quickly insert their huge light armored forces into the flanks of the German (Allied) Army and threaten the main logistics line of the German (Allied) Army on the Kalinin Front, the Moscow-Petrograd Railway (called the Red October Railway by the Soviet side). Even if Verkhovna Volochok and Bologoye (the Red October Railway passes through these two cities) are not occupied, it can seriously threaten the flanks of the German Army, forcing them to shrink or even completely withdraw from Kalinin Oblast.
At noon on April 7, after the troops of the Soviet 7th Guards Tank Army captured Nelidovo, which was only guarded by one White Army infantry division (Nelidovo is located in the forested western part of Kalinin Oblast and is not the focus of defense), the originally inconspicuous Andreapol came into Model's sight.
However, he did not send a strong armored force to Andreapol, because the terrain near Andreapol was not conducive to the deployment and operation of armored forces. Moreover, there have been Red Army guerrillas near the road from the Red October Railway Line (in order to save fuel, the armored forces of the Northern Army Group were transported through this railway) to Andreapol (according to German standards, it is a dirt road), and the armored forces are easy to be ambushed.
So Model sent the 2nd Parachute Division, which was directly under the Northern Army Group, to Andreapol for defense. And on April 8, it was the 2nd Parachute Regiment, the 2nd Parachute Anti-Tank Battalion, the 2nd Parachute Mortar Battalion and the 2nd Parachute Engineer Battalion of the 2nd Parachute Division that arrived. The leader of this vanguard was Lieutenant Colonel Otto Skorzeny, a legendary hero among German paratroopers, who is now the head of the 2nd Parachute Regiment.
At the same time when Lieutenant Colonel Skorzeny led his troops to Andreapol, the vanguard of the Soviet Red Army's 7th Guards Tank Army also arrived in Kozlovo, a small town about 9 kilometers south of Andreapol.
The vanguard of the 7th Guards Tank Army was a group composed of parts of the 8th Guards Infantry Division and the 18th Guards Tank Brigade, and Major General Panfilov, the commander of the 8th Guards Infantry Division, served as the general commander of the group.
The first batch of troops to enter Kozlovo was a battalion-level combat group commanded by Captain Klochkov. Diyev, the political deputy commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1075th Regiment under the 8th Guards Rifle Division. In addition to the two companies of the 1st Battalion of the 1075th Regiment, it also included the 4th Anti-Tank Company of the 1075th Regiment and the 3rd Tank Company of the 18th Guards Tank Brigade (the tank company where Captain Shura and Captain Valennikov were), with a total of more than 500 people and 12 BT-7 tanks that could be driven, and 6 horse-drawn 57mm caliber ZIS-2 anti-tank guns (1943 model).
Before they arrived in Kozlovo, the red flag embroidered with a sickle and hammer had replaced the tricolor flag of the Russian Empire and fluttered over the town - the guerrillas near the town took advantage of the White Army's retreat to Andreyapol to recapture the town.
So the troops led by Major Diyev took the town without firing a single shot, but they also received bad news.
The commander-in-chief of the Andreapol local guerrillas, the former Secretary W of Andreapol County, told Major Diyev: "There are at least 3,000 German infantrymen in Andreapol, who look very elite and are likely to be their paratroopers."
Among the German light infantry today, paratroopers are definitely elite troops. They have not only received rigorous training, but also participated in many fierce battles. Although their weapons and equipment are lightweight, they are all carefully designed and manufactured.
"Are there tanks?" Major Diyev asked.
Now Germany's airborne troops still have the organization of parachute armored battalions, each of which is equipped with 45 "Leopard" reconnaissance tanks.
"Nothing has been found," the guerrilla commander reported, "at least no reports have been received so far."
...
"Has the 7th Guards Tank Army reached Kozlovo?" On the afternoon of April 7, Zhukov was quite satisfied with the progress of the "Red Guards" operation. After learning that Kozlovo had been recaptured by the Red Army, he said to his deputy Rokossovsky: "In less than three days, the 7th Guards Army has advanced more than 120 kilometers. The progress is smoother than expected!"
The Soviet "Red Guards" offensive has been clearly divided into two large arrows from the map. One is the "circumvention cluster" with the 7th and 8th Guards Tank Armies as the blade. In addition to the two Guards Tank Armies, there are also three combined armies, including the 16th, 18th and 56th Armies (the tank brigades and tank destroyer brigades of these three armies are also equipped with BT-7 and SU-57), with a total force of up to 600,000!
The other large arrow is the "frontal cluster" composed of the 1st Guards and 2nd Guards Tank Armies, the 1st Assault Army and the 2nd Assault Army. Although the total force is only 400,000, because of the large number of heavy tanks, the attack power is stronger than the "circumvention cluster".
Although the "Olga" tank destroyer was unexpected and knocked over many "Stalin" tanks, the Soviet "frontal cluster" action was also smooth.
On April 5, the junction of the two German army groups (in the Rzhev area) was torn apart, covering the smooth entry of the flanking group. Then the frontal group took on the task of feinting to attract the attention of the German army and began to advance to Kuvshinov and Torzhok (Torzhok is also along the Red October Railway) just north of Rzhev.
As of noon on April 7, the vanguard of the Soviet frontal group, the 1st Guards Panzer Army, had already assaulted the small town of Barno, less than 50 kilometers away from Kuvshinov and Torzhok.
It can be said that the counterattack in the past two and a half days was so smooth that it was somewhat beyond Zhukov's expectations.
However, there are also bad aspects of the counterattack being too smooth, that is, the whereabouts of the powerful German armored group are unknown - it is precisely because the German armored group has not appeared in the past two and a half days that the Soviet army's actions have been unusually smooth.
But these German armored forces that have not appeared will definitely not disappear out of thin air, they must be waiting for the order to counterattack somewhere!
Zhukov placed his hands on the edge of the map table, stared for a moment, and asked Rokossovsky: "Have the troops infiltrating behind enemy lines encountered German armored forces?"
"No," Rokossovsky shook his head, "They only encountered French mechanized cavalry (actually mechanized infantry) and German armored grenadiers."
Now the German armored grenadiers and armored troops are easy to distinguish. The former do not have Tiger tanks and E-50 tanks, while the latter have a large number of Tigers and E-50s.
The German Red Brigade Commando and the Polish People's Army Commando that were making trouble behind the German (Allied) Army have not seen Tigers and E-50s so far.
This can only mean that the German armored forces are not on the front line, so where are they? When will they launch a counterattack?
Zhukov's concerns are not unreasonable, because the "Red Guard" operation he commanded is actually on the verge of a disastrous defeat. Model's previous action of shrinking the front-line armored forces was not actually to fight a deep defensive counterattack. He was just worried that those expensive heavy equipment would suffer unnecessary losses during the muddy season.
So he pulled the 10 German armored divisions that were originally deployed behind the front-line troops to the "Red October Railway", just in the line of Upper Volochok-Bologoye-Okulovka. The 10 armored divisions formed a 150-kilometer long snake formation (actually very densely arranged), just in the position where the Soviet Army's 7th Guards Tank Army was preparing to outflank.
In other words, Model and Paulus don't have to do anything now, just cover their heads and sleep, and their 10 armored divisions can also drive away a Soviet Guards Tank Army!
After all, the difference in strength between the two sides is too great. Now a German armored division has more than 470 Tiger H tanks, Type 4 H tanks, E-50A tanks, Rhino tank destroyers, and Hunter tank destroyers (assigned to the armored grenadiers under the armored division) (full strength). Ten armored divisions have more than 4,700 main tanks and tank destroyers that can fight a head-on decisive battle. Even if the Soviets' eight Guards Tank Armies come together, they will still be defeated.
But as Comrade Lenin taught: The enemy will not sleep!
So Model and Paulus, the two enemies of the Soviet Union, certainly cannot do nothing and sleep.