Chapter 833 The Final Battle - Everything Is Under Control

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Shaposhnikov, what do you think of Comrade Kulik's suggestion?"

In the Kremlin, the great leader Stalin, holding a pipe in his mouth, stood beside the huge sand table. When he asked questions, his tone was gentle, as if he was in a good mood. The Germans' actions this time seemed to be expected by Stalin and the Red Army's Supreme Command. It seems that no matter how cunning the German fox is, it will eventually be defeated by the GCist hunter.

"Comrade General Secretary," said Marshal Pavlov, the First Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, "Comrade Kulik's opinions must be taken seriously. I suggest strengthening the defense of the middle reaches of the Dnieper River. The 9th and 12th Army Groups can be mobilized to Chernigov for defense. The defense line can be arranged along the Dnieper-Desna River (a tributary of the Dnieper River, running east-west) to cover the right wing of the Southwestern Front..."

"Wait," Stalin interrupted Pavlov, "Can we only defend?"

Pavlov and Shaposhnikov looked at each other. Of course, they were well prepared for the questions raised by Stalin.

Pavlov said: "Comrade General Secretary, what I just said is just one plan. We have also prepared another plan."

In fact, the breakthrough of the German army at the Pripyat River was already expected by the Red Army Supreme Command. And the response plan had been prepared long before the German offensive began.

"Another plan is to fight a decisive battle with the German army in Bryansk and Chernigov."

Shaposhnikov said: "The plan is to form the Bryansk-Chernigov Front, adopt the tactics of luring the enemy deep into the country, and then launch a head-on attack, and severely hit the German mechanized cluster crossing the Dnieper River."

"Well, well, that's good." Stalin nodded repeatedly, "We now have weapons that can fight Tiger tanks, so we shouldn't passively defend everywhere."

"But this plan will further weaken the Western Front and the Reserve Front." Pavlov frowned and reminded.

The establishment of the Bryansk-Chernigov Front is of course based on the premise that the German army wants to outflank the Southwestern Front from the north-that is, the main attack direction of the German army is in Ukraine.

If the Germans' goal was Moscow, then the Germans who broke through the Pripyat River would not be the main force. And after the breakthrough, they would definitely go north to attack Smolensk. In this way, the Red Army should strengthen the Western Front, the Reserve Front and the Kalinin Front, and fight with the Germans in the Smolensk and Pskov areas.

Stalin smoked his pipe and fell into deep thought. After a while, he said: "Then let's set up the Bryansk Front first... At the same time, the 9th and 12th armies will go to Chernigov to deploy defenses."

He adopted a compromise plan. Bryansk Oblast is located in the south of Smolensk Oblast, only more than 300 kilometers away from Minsk. If the Germans launched a large-scale offensive in the middle, the Bryansk Front could join the Western Front or the Reserve Front at any time. If the Germans' main attack was on the south, the Bryansk Front could attack the Germans who were making a detour from the north of the Southwestern Front.

However, Stalin overlooked the fact that after Germany completely mastered the air supremacy, the large-scale mobilization of the Soviet Red Army was already inconvenient.

Stalin said: "The Bryansk Front should include the 38th, 40th, 48th Army and the 1st and 2nd Tank Army. In addition, an air force army and some independent artillery and tank units should be assigned."

He sent 5 armies to the Bryansk Front, 2 of which were powerful tank armies, drawn from the Reserve Front and the Kalinin Front respectively.

At this time, the Soviet Union had a total of 5 tank armies and 5 assault armies, all of which were the most elite mechanized/motorized forces.

Among them, the 1st, 4th Tank Army and 5 assault armies all belonged to the Kalinin Front commanded by Zhukov, and were the main force to lift the siege of Leningrad.

The 2nd Tank Army belonged to the Reserve Front, the 5th Tank Army belonged to the Western Front, and the 3rd Tank Army belonged to the Southwestern Front.

Now that Stalin has assigned the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies to the Bryansk Front, the Reserve Front no longer has an army-level armored corps, and the Kalinin Front has also been greatly weakened.

"Comrade General Secretary, the Kalinin Front needs a strong armored group..." Pavlov reminded in a low voice.

Stalin paused and said, "Isn't Zhukov preparing to raid Velikiye Luki through the forest area of ​​Kalinin Province? I know the terrain there, there are woods everywhere, and there are almost no ready-made roads. It is impossible for two tank armies to pass quickly. So the key to a successful operation is suddenness. As long as we catch the Germans off guard, the Battle of Velikiye Luki can be won. As long as we capture Velikiye Luki, we can transfer the tank army from Smolensk or Bryansk to Zhukov by rail. If you think it's not safe, then give Zhukov a few more tank destroyer brigades."

Now the Soviet tank destroyer brigades, like the SU-122 assault guns and SU-85 tank destroyers they have, are products of emergency situations. A tank destroyer brigade has two tank destroyer battalions. Each battalion has a light tank company (15 T-60 tanks, used to cover assault guns and tank destroyers), a tank destroyer company (10 TU-85 tank destroyers), and an assault gun company (6 TU-122 assault guns).

Although such a tank destroyer brigade also has a lot of armored forces, it is not a unit used for the main attack because it does not have tanks such as T-34 or KV-1 that can withstand enemy anti-tank fire. It can only be used to cooperate with tank troops in attacking, or simply for defense. Therefore, after Stalin transferred the 1st Tank Army from Smolensk, the assault capability of the Kalinin Front was severely discounted.

At the same time, Stalin's decision also made the 1st Tank Army and the 2nd Tank Army, two powerful mechanized clusters with a total of 10 tanks/mechanized armies, become bystanders in the decisive battle for a long time.

At the same time that Stalin made this decision, which was later considered to be a very wrong decision, some guerrillas operating in Pskov Oblast had already discovered the symbol of the main force of the German armored cluster-the Tiger tank!

After filling her stomach with German chocolate, French baguettes (given by French artillerymen) and a small piece of delicious Russian sausage (given by an old white man), Zoya finally found the team in a dense forest at around 10 o'clock in the evening on April 30.

"What?" Lieutenant Sprosky, the leader of the guerrillas, was obviously a little surprised by what Zoya reported. "There are two heavy tank battalions? Zoya, are you sure?"

"Comrade Lieutenant," Zoya said very confidently, "I am 100% sure that those are Tiger tanks, a total of 88. There are also 44 Type 4 tanks, the kind with short barrels.

In addition, I also saw many trucks, half-track vehicles or horse-drawn artillery, as well as many White Army cavalry, all moving south from Bolshaya Luki. I think they are going to attack Smolensk."

"Okay," Lieutenant Sprosky nodded, "I will report your findings immediately if your findings are finally confirmed. Now you can rest early and continue to scout (beg for food) on the highway tomorrow."

Although Lieutenant Sprosky said to report "immediately", there was no horse to ride, so he could only send two guerrillas to walk through the forest to find the superior organization - the superior had a radio station. Although the American tycoons rented many radio stations to the Soviet Union, radio stations were still very rare in the guerrillas behind enemy lines. Therefore, this important discovery was not passed on to the Red Army Supreme Command in time.

The Soviet Red Army units fighting the Germans on the Velikaya River did not find Tiger tanks in the battle on April 30. In fact, they did not even see a few ordinary Type 4H tanks.

Because the Germans did not use armored divisions to break through the Soviet defense, but concentrated on using a large number of artillery to cover the armored grenadiers and infantry to break through.

Captain Solzhenitsyn, the artillery reconnaissance company commander who had been in the German artillery rain on the Velikaya River front for most of the day and witnessed the Germans breaking through the defense line, had retreated to the rear of the front line at this time and was reporting what he saw on the front line to Colonel Zakharov, the director of the artillery of the 4th Infantry Army.

"The German artillery fire was very fierce. They should have deployed a large number of 170mm-210mm heavy cannons and howitzers, and a large number of rocket launchers, with very fierce firepower."

Solzhenitsyn, who had smelled the smell of gunpowder for most of the day, looked a little depressed. Today, 20 to 30 of his subordinates were bombarded by German/French artillery and became revolutionary martyrs, and he himself almost died for the cause of GCism (of course he was a member of the Bolshevik Party). He still felt a wave of fear about the German artillery fire.

The anti-artillery bunker where he hid today could only withstand 150mm-level shells at most, and the Germans directly pulled out many 170-210mm heavy artillery. As long as one shot, the bunker would become a grave!

"Tell me about the German tanks. Did you see anything new?" Colonel Zakharov, the director of the artillery, asked about the situation of the German tanks again. In fact, the current mission of the 4th Infantry Army is not to defend the Velikaya River line, but to delay the German attack and explore the German army's strengths and weaknesses, and it would be best to find out what powerful new tanks the Germans have.

"A new type of assault gun was discovered," Solzhenitsyn smoked while recounting the terrible weapons he encountered on the front line, "It has a short-barreled 150mm cannon, which is a big threat to our front-line positions, really big..."