Chapter 990: Week Offensive

In the early morning of April 10, 1944, on the front line of the Soviet-German battlefield, Kozlovo.

Chuikov, who had just been promoted to general, set up his headquarters in this small town less than 10 kilometers away from the front line where the fierce battle was taking place. He is now the commander-in-chief of the roundabout group under the Central Front Army. Nearly 600,000 troops, including the 7th Guards Tank Army and the 8th Guards Tank Army, are under his unified command.

According to Marshal Zhukov's latest order: the mission of the detour group is to capture Andreapol and Toropec, while using an advantageous force to cross the swamps and forest areas to threaten the Red October Railway line. If possible, the Red October railway line should also be cut off.

To be honest, Marshal Zhukov's requirements are not high. Because the German army has not deployed heavy troops in the forests and swamps of western California, according to guerrilla reconnaissance, the German army now has a relatively powerful German mechanized infantry in Toropets, which was opened by the Soviets from the direction of Velikiy Luki. Driving through the "Forest Highway". There are a lot of heavy equipment, including No. 4 tanks, Rhino tank destroyers, Grizzly assault guns, Bumblebee self-propelled artillery, etc.

But now the mud season has officially entered in the western part of Kalinin Oblast, and much of the originally hard frozen soil has now become swampy land. Why is a heavily armored force just fighting defensive battles in such terrain, so Chuikov doesn't take this division seriously.

The worst thing is that Toropets cannot be defeated - capturing Toropets is a threat to Velikiy Luki, but Chuikov does not believe that the Red Army has the ability to launch a second Battle of Veliky Luki. This threat is actually false.

The key now is actually Andrea Bol!

This small town is stuck on the chokepoint of the Soviet roundabout group heading north and east. Although the Soviet army does not capture Andreapol, it can also move northeast to Valdai (in Novgorod Oblast, close to The Red October Railway, 1,780 kilometers away from Andreapol) and Verkhovny Volochok in the east-northeast direction are approaching, but Andreapov does not capture this choke point, the main transportation line All are blocked. There is no problem in letting some lightly-armed assault troops bypass Andreapol, but it will be difficult to transport supplies and heavy equipment.

In this way, even if the Soviet army's roundabout group could approach the Red October Railway line, it would be impossible to fight the German army there.

So such threats are false.

Zhukov's favorite general, Commander of the 7th Guards Tank Army, Fedyuninsky, walked into Chuikov's headquarters at this time. His military uniform was wet, and his big-brimmed hat looked as if it had been fished out of the water.

"Is it raining heavily on the front line?" Chuikov asked when he saw Fedyuninsky's appearance.

"It's very big!" Fedyuninsky said angrily, "Those people in the Meteorological Bureau should go to labor reform. They said it would be sunny today, but now it rains non-stop... I think it will still rain. The next few days!”

"The weather forecast," Chuikov shook his head, "is based on guesswork, how can we completely believe it? But the rain will not harm us, at least the German planes will not be able to dispatch."

"But the snowmelt is also accelerating," Fedyuninsky said. "If we don't bypass Andreapol now, even the BT-7 tank will not be able to get through in a few days."

The BT-7 also weighs more than ten tons and cannot walk in a mud swamp. Moreover, the infantry of the Red Army also has a lot of heavy equipment and baggage. Once the roads "melt", the artillery and trucks will not be able to move. What's the use of just relying on some light infantry to bypass it?

"If we take a roundabout way now..." Chuikov asked thoughtfully, "How many days can the troops fight with the supplies, fuel and ammunition on hand?"

"The BT-7 can travel more than 400 kilometers with a full tank of diesel," Fedyuninsky said, "so you don't have to worry about fuel. The big deal... treat these tanks as disposable!"

BT-7 and SU-57 modified with BT-7 are of little value. If they fight German armored forces on the grassland, they will definitely be living targets. Therefore, as long as we can complete the roundabout and force the German army to retreat in large strides, it would not be a pity to consume all the more than 2,000 BT-7 and SU-57 units of the 7th and 8th Guards Tank Armies.

"As for the cannons and shells," Fedyuninsky thought for a while and said, "As long as they can handle 5-7 days of fierce fighting, it will be enough."

"5-7 days?" Chuikov looked at Fedyuninsky.

"Yes!" Fedyuninski nodded, "Because the air supremacy has been controlled by the Germans, our troops can only rely on the ammunition and supplies they carry with them to fight. The limit can only be maintained for about a week. Once the depth of the troops' breakthrough is too deep, If the war lasts too long, there will be problems with ammunition, fuel and supplies. The Red Army encountered similar difficulties in the 1942 and 1943 wars, but now it is the most serious!"

There was also a process for the Soviet Army to lose air supremacy. At the beginning, with its huge numerical advantage and the P51s supported by the United States, the Soviet Red Air Force still had fighting strength.

However, as Germany obtained more and more fuel and British aviation technology, it was difficult to see Soviet aircraft in the air on the Eastern Front battlefield.

Therefore, starting from the second half of 1943, the Red Army's frontline commanders had to count the ammunition, fuel and supplies on hand to fight.

If it is not a defensive war, the supply will be guaranteed for 5-7 days, and then nothing will happen.

Feijuninsky, who has been leading troops on the front line, is deeply touched by this.

“If we can capture Andreapol within 5-7 days,” Fedyuninsky added, “then we can switch to defense in the forest area west of the Red October railway line, relying on favorable terrain and German At least until the mud season is over, there’s no problem.”

"We should be able to capture Andrea Bol in 5-7 days!" Chuikov smiled, "It's just tens of thousands of German paratroopers."

He said to Fedyuninsky: "Comrade Fedyuninsky, let's make a suggestion together, let the 7th Guards Tank Army advance... towards Valdai. At the same time, use the first part of the 16th Army to cross Andrey. Forests and swamps around Bol, approaching Kuvshinovo and Verkhny Volochok."

…

"Only 5-7 days?"

Joseph Stalin, who was holding a pipe in his mouth, frowned after listening to Zhukov's report.

Since the Central Front of the Soviet Union was already fighting at the door of Moscow, Zhukov, as the Chief of General Staff, became the commander of the front, and Stalin, who also served as the People's Commissar of Defense, was actually the political commissar of the front (the nominal political commissar was Moscow State W The first S is Shcherbakov). Therefore, Zhukov had to report the latest progress to Stalin face to face every day.

"Yes," Zhukov said, "The weather forecast shows that the rain will end on the 11th at the latest. At the same time, the temperature will rise rapidly and the roads will become very muddy. Considering the threat of the German Air Force, logistics transportation will start on the 12th. It will become very difficult. The troops on the front line can only rely on the ammunition and supplies stored in their hands to fight, so 5-7 days will be the limit. "

"What happens next?" Stalin asked.

"Retreat...or switch to defense on the spot." Zhukov paused and added, "In addition, the intelligence department also reported that a large number of German armored vehicles were discovered heading south through the Leningrad-Smolensk railway."

"Have the Germans transferred part of the armored troops on the northern route to the central route?" Stalin took a puff of cigarette, "Will the central German army be the main force attacking Moscow?"

"The General Staff believes that the German army may still encircle it from the southern route of Moscow," Zhukov said. "Now that our troops are concentrated in the Kalinin Oblast battlefield, and the south of Moscow is relatively empty, the German command department may have the strength to attack the enemy." Luka made a detour, outflanking Moscow’s south and rear, thus pocketing Moscow as a whole!”

Due to the restoration of the Russian Empire and the large investment of the French army (the French army's large investment is also related to the restoration of the Russian Empire, because the French are willing to see a powerful Russia appear in the European Community to contain Germany), the Soviet Red Army is in a state of quality and quantity. double disadvantage. The German side now has the strength to attack from all directions at the same time to surround Moscow.

Once Moscow is besieged, the Red Army in the encirclement of Warsaw, Crimea and Minsk is likely to collapse. And Moscow itself will become another Warsaw... Relying on the strength of the Central Front Army, there is absolutely no way to break the German siege. At that time, the most valuable troops in Moscow and the Soviet Union will slowly die in the long siege!

Zhukov then said to Stalin: "Comrade General Secretary, now we have achieved a successful counterattack on the northern front, which will effectively delay the German attack... As long as we can advance the northern front to Andrei Bol- The Kuvshinovo-Torzhok-Likuslavl line will have enough space to buy time for the decisive battle in the middle and south.”

Zhukov had quietly removed any attempt to capture Toropets, because after confirming that a powerful mechanized infantry unit had entered Toropets, he realized that capturing it was no longer realistic.

However, Zhukov was still unwilling to give up his efforts to push the northern line northward - this was not meaningless on the Soviet-German battlefield, because the large-depth tactic of exchanging space for defense was popular on the Soviet-German battlefield. If we can create a depth of tens of kilometers in the city of Kalinin and north of the Volga River, we can deploy several "cannon fodder armies". As long as there are enough anti-tank guns and fortifications, these "cannon fodder armies" can also destroy the German army. The armored swarm held off for at least a few weeks.

In this way, the Soviet army would have the opportunity to concentrate all the Guards Tank Army to break the German attack force in the middle or south. In fact, there was no need to defeat it. As long as they were beaten until they had no strength to encircle Moscow, it would be considered a victory.