Chapter 634 Heavy Thunderstorm 22

Mechanized troops are very vulnerable to ambushes when marching at night in a war zone. A 50mm anti-tank gun hidden on the roadside can cause great losses. Therefore, all mechanized armies in the world will avoid such dangers.

However, Lieutenant General Vlasov decided to let his 37th Army set out at night and march to Otwotsk, more than 20 kilometers away. Because in the past two or three days, the activities of the German Air Force have become more and more arrogant. If the mechanized troops marched in the daytime, they would definitely be hit by Stuka dive bombers and another unknown twin-engine attack aircraft. Compared with the losses caused by air strikes, the risks of marching at night are relatively small.

However, Vlasov has also considered the dangers of marching at night and made corresponding arrangements.

"There are still two kilometers to the next intersection. One of our infantry battalions has already controlled it, so there will be no danger. In addition, about 1 kilometer away on both sides of us, there is another infantry marching in on foot, so our flanks are also safe." Rokossovsky sat in a GAZ-61 off-road car, drinking the confiscated Spiatus vodka (a Polish liquor) in small sips while chatting with the artillery director Yakov.

"But the Germans will definitely not hand over Warsaw to us easily." Although Yakov is not a military expert, he can see that Germany intends to put the Red Army under the city of Warsaw. Since it is intentional, Warsaw is not so easy to take.

"But the Red Army will still liberate Warsaw. We have an absolute advantage in terms of manpower, and we are fighting on a single front and can concentrate our strength. The Germans are fighting on two fronts." Rokossovsky took a sip of vodka and seemed to be in a very good mood.

After a few days of fighting, he had also tested the depth of the Germans. Naturally, he knew that the German army's combat effectiveness was far superior to that of the Soviet Red Army. It would be difficult for the Red Army to liberate all of Europe alone. However, the problem of taking Warsaw and Lviv was not big. It was nothing more than sacrificing a few more comrades. Even if the number of deaths was three times more than that of Germany, as long as Warsaw and Lviv were taken, the situation would become very favorable to the Soviet Union.

He estimated that after the Soviet Red Army took Warsaw and Lviv, the war would fall into a protracted stalemate like in the last war. However, the Soviet Bolshevik Party was not a weak Tsarist government and was not afraid of a protracted war. Moreover, Britain and the United States would also assist the Soviet Union, so victory was expected.

Even if it was not a complete victory in the end, it could force Germany to abandon Poland and seek peace. In this way, Poland would become a country led by the Bolshevik Party, and he, Rokossovsky, was a loyal Polish Bolshevik fighter...

"Air raid! Air raid! Brake! Turn off the lights!"

When Rokossovsky was wondering if he had a chance to become a great Polish proletarian revolutionary, an alarm suddenly sounded in his ears. Then the vehicles driving slowly on the road braked, turned off the lights and stopped moving.

Almost at the same time, the roar of the huge aircraft engine came from the sky!

It turned out that the Soviet convoy driving along the road was moving with the lights on - the roads on the east bank of the Vistula River were destroyed by the Poles, the road surface was bumpy, and there were many mines buried. The Soviet engineers also caused some damage in the process of clearing the mines, causing the road conditions to be extremely poor. If the lights were turned off, it would probably cause many car accidents. And even if the lights were turned off, it did not mean that the planes in the sky could not find the target, because there were SS Polish volunteers and Polish guerrillas near the road. They only needed to use mortars to fire flares and signal flares to let the German planes in the sky find the target.

So Vlasov simply asked the troops to turn on the lights and move forward, and at the same time let the vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns be ready to fire at any time.

In addition, night and day are different after all. During the day, Ju87 dive bombers and Hs-129 attack aircraft that can fight at low altitudes can be deployed, but it is difficult for them to be deployed at night.

Therefore, only Do-217 medium bombers flew to bomb tonight. They first dropped a series of flares to determine the location of the Soviet convoy. These flares would naturally alert the enemy. Yakov and Rokossovsky, who had long been familiar with long-distance running, got out of the GAZ-61 car very quickly, ran to a big pit dug by someone on the side of the road, and jumped in together. There was still a little mud and water in it, but the two did not care, just lying in it waiting for the bombing to end.

At this time, in addition to the 12 Do-217s that came to drop bombs and leaflets, there was also an Fw-189 armed reconnaissance aircraft flying in the air. Then, with the flares and the lights of the security, they took a lot of photos with the onboard camera, and then went to Warsaw.

…

“The target is Otwock and… Legionowo?”

In the headquarters of the German 6th Army in Warsaw, the photos taken by the Fw-189 had been developed and sent to Model. The photos not only showed the scene illuminated by flares and the bombing, but also the scene of the Soviet army marching with lights on before they discovered the arrival of the bomber group.

Major General Artur Schmidt, Chief of Staff, said: “The convoy is no less than 20 kilometers. It is estimated that when the front vehicle arrives, the rear vehicle may not have set off yet.”

"At least... three Soviet mechanized troops on each route!" Model estimated with his eyes closed. "That's 6 mechanized corps... It is estimated that there are 3-4 infantry corps in front of the Warsaw Forest. This is the most. If we want more, we will not be able to open it in the past few days."

Model's analysis is based on the capacity of roads west of Warsaw. The main roads and railways from Brest to Warsaw have not yet been opened. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Soviet army will move more than 10 armies to the vicinity of Warsaw within 7-8 days.

"Their goal should be to outflank our rear." Schmidt analyzed.

"No," Model shook his head, "It's to build a bridgehead across the river."

"A bridgehead requires three armies?"

Model smiled: "How can it be enough to use six armies to outflank our rear route? The Soviets don't know how powerful our German armored forces are."

"That's true. The combat effectiveness of the Soviet mechanized army is definitely not as good as our armored divisions. Six mechanized armies can fight up to four armored divisions." Schmidt thought for a while, "But once the Soviets are allowed to attack Otworth, If we establish bridgeheads in Kremlin and Legionovo, they will be able to use more troops to outflank us in the next step.”

Schmidt suggested: "Commander, should we send the 5th SS Division and the heavy armor battalion to deal with the Soviet troops crossing the river?"

"Of course," Model nodded, "Let the 5th SS Division, 5 heavy armor battalions, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Smoke Launcher Regiments form a battle group, commanded by General Steiner, To deal with the Soviet Union's Northern Route Army."

General Steiner is a general of the Armed SS and the current commander of the 5th "Wiking" Division of the SS. A general serves as the commander of the "Wiking" Division, which also shows that this division is in the German Wehrmacht and the SS. Medium portion.

"What about the southern route?" Schmidt asked, "Who is going to resist the southern route?"

"We don't care about the southern route," Model said. "Open the door and welcome the Russians to march towards Warsaw from the south!"

…

boom! boom! boom……

At 10:30 in the evening, Nazi Germany's bombs fell on the heads of the people of Moscow on time. At the same time, thousands of anti-aircraft guns deployed throughout Moscow were also fired, bringing an incomparable sense of security to the proletariat in the city.

However, Stalin, who worked in a basement of the Kremlin, knew that his anti-aircraft guns were a complete waste of shells. They could not be shot down by a single plane. Because these incoming German aircraft were all at an altitude of 10,000 meters, most of the anti-aircraft guns were simply out of reach. The few 130mm anti-aircraft guns that could be reached seemed to have poor accuracy, and none was shot down for seven or eight days in a row.

But Stalin did not get angry at the director of the Red Air Force and the commander of the Moscow Air Defense Force, because there were more than a dozen German planes attacking every night, except for dropping a few tons of leaflets that no one believed (unless Stalin was defeated, no matter what Russia said, (Everyone supports Stalin), there are twenty to thirty tons of bombs, which cannot cause too many casualties at all.

What really made Stalin feel a little distressed was the Germans' continuous bombing of the Batumi Refinery and the Baku Oil Fields. The most important refineries and oil fields in the Soviet Union have now suffered considerable losses. The Batumi refinery has basically stopped production. The situation in the oil fields is better, and production has been reduced by about 30%.

However, the Germans' own large oil fields in Kirkuk and Khuzestan also suffered heavy losses. According to the analysis of the photos taken by the bombers, the production of these two oil fields will be reduced by at least 70%.

Of course, the cost of bombing the two major oil fields in Kirkuk and Khuzestan is also staggering. The Soviet Union and the United States organized a total of 3 major bombings, and the total number of aircraft lost exceeded 900! Among them, the Soviet Union's two long-range bombing aviation divisions had a damage rate as high as 65%, losing more than 300 Pe-8s, Ye-2s and MiG-5s.

Therefore, the major bombing of Kirkuk and Khuzestan was carried out only three times, and there was no strength to carry out the fourth time.

Moreover, Germany's huge advantage in the air defense battle over the large oil fields of Kirkuk and Khuzestan also frightened the leaders of the United States and Britain, and they used this as a reason to reject the Soviet Union's request to continue bombing these two large oil fields. ——More than 600 B-17s and P51s were lost in three major bombings, and more than 5,000 crew members were lost. Even the powerful American emperor couldn't stand it!