Chapter 856: The Final Battle - The Great Counterattack
"Comrade General Secretary, I have great news to report to you. With the joint efforts of the Kalinin Front Army and the Leningrad Front Army, the Leningrad encirclement has been successfully broken! Now, the troops of the two front armies have been on the Neva River. The city of Kirovsk achieved a victorious reunion!”
"What?" Stalin was stunned for a moment when he heard Pavlov's beaming report, "Is it Kirovsk? Isn't it Tosno or Kopino?"
Tosno and Kopino are along the Red October Railway from Moscow to Leningrad, and are also the main attack direction of the left wing group of the Kalinin Front. Kirovsk is near Lake Ladoga and is not in the main attack direction of the Kalinin Front.
Pavlov and Shaposhnikov looked at each other, and Shaposhnikov said: "The fierce fighting along the Red October Railway continues... The German resistance is very tenacious, and they have many powerful weapons. Some of the anti-tank guns were self-propelled and armored. Therefore, the four assault groups of the Kalinin Front suffered heavy losses and had to make a detour to attack the German flank."
Stalin nodded without delving further, "It's good if we can break through. The Kalinin Front should be rewarded. Comrade Vlasov and Comrade Fedyuninsky should both be promoted or be honored as Heroes of the Soviet Union."
He paused, frowned, and asked, "So what about the battle at the junction? How was the fight?"
"Comrade General Secretary, the battle at the Joint Headquarters did not go very smoothly." Marshal Pavlov shook his head. "The 5th Tank Army was besieged for several days and suffered heavy losses. The 1st and 2nd Tank Armies were blocked again in the Gorge. The Meli-Sozhi River line. In addition, the Bryansk Front's rear route is not very stable. There are two German armored groups that are outflanking the city of Bryansk. We should probably..."
Pavlov wanted to suggest giving up the Battle of Junction, but before he could finish his words, Stalin interrupted him without hesitation.
"We cannot consider giving up the battle!" Stalin said sternly, "because now is the most critical moment. Comrade Molotov will go to Switzerland soon. At this time, we must not retreat on the battlefield, otherwise the peace conditions will be It’s unbearable for us!”
…
"Tiger tank!"
General Lu Jin, who was patrolling the outer positions of Collective Farm No. 13, suddenly heard someone shouting in his ears, and then the roar of a motor from far to near.
Another round of German offensive began - starting from the dusk of May 9, Lukin found that his tank army was about to be overwhelmed by the German "Tiger Ocean".
The "Tiger Tank", which was very rare in the 1942 war, now seems to be a commodity on the street. Every attack launched by the Germans was spearheaded by a Tiger and another big guy, probably a No. 4 assault gun (Grizzly Bear), followed by a group of No. 4s responsible for covering, and a little further away. Rhino tank destroyers specializing in black artillery dominate the formation - this tank destroyer is even more hateful than the Tiger. This guy can actually take down a T-34 tank 2000 meters or even 2500 meters away with one shot!
This kind of power is simply insane! Compared with the 88mm gun of the Rhino tank destroyer, the Soviets' own 85mm gun is really a piece of garbage!
Of course, relying on the No. 13 Collective Farm and the June 1st Forest, the 5th Tank Army commanded by Lukin can currently withstand the siege of at least two German armored armies (actually three armored armies). But it is unrealistic for the 5th Tank Army to stand out and fight. Under the threat of Tiger tanks and Rhino tank destroyers, Lukin's T-34/57, SU-85 and SU-122 can only huddle behind the fortifications. Resistance, not daring to show up at all.
However, what General Lukin is really worried about now is not his 5th Tank Army. The 5th Tank Army clearly wants to devote itself to the cause of communism. It is nothing more than delaying the annihilation of the entire army, just like sticking to Collective Farm No. 13. Just like those Ukrainian traitors in the field building, they fought until the last person was brought down.
The battle at the collective farm building No. 13 is not over yet! Even though the Red Army used "tank bulldozers" to bury the bottom of the building and fired at close range with S-122 assault guns, almost destroying half of the house, the reactionaries inside were still resisting... Although these people were reactionary, they were still It is an example for the 5th Tank Army to learn from!
What worries General Lukin is actually the 1st Tank Army and the 2nd Tank Army on the Gomel battlefield.
The war has been going on so far, how come General Lukin doesn’t know how powerful the German armored forces are? Tiger tanks and Rhino tank destroyers are so sharp in offense, and if used defensively, their power will only be even better.
Moreover, it has been almost four days since the siege of Collective Farm No. 13 started on May 9 (it is now the early morning of May 14). The German army is still attacking fiercely and has not sent troops south to rescue Gomel at all. mean.
This shows that...their defense in Gomel is solid and reliable!
While walking towards his former enemy headquarters bunker, General Lu Jin thought about the prospects of the Junction Battle, and the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became.
When he returned to the headquarters, Major General Dubkov, chief of staff of the group army, told him that commandos from the 110th Motorized Rifle Brigade of the Red Army had once again captured the No. 13 collective farm building.
"Very good!" General Lu Jin nodded, "This time I must find out all the Ukrainian traitors inside. I really want to see, what kind of people are they?"
……
The commander of the Bryansk Front of the Red Army, Golikov, and the political commissar Mekhlis had already gone to the Gomel front to supervise the battle. Both of them looked extremely miserable now, because their two tank armies had repeatedly attacked the German army on the Gomel-Sozh River line since May 10, but they could never achieve a breakthrough!
Two tank armies, more than 1,500 tanks/assault guns and more than 100,000 brave Red Army officers and soldiers were blocked by the Germans to the east of Gomel City and Sozh River (a tributary of the Dnieper River). They could not break the city at all, and suffered heavy losses. In less than 5 days of fighting, the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies lost more than 500 tanks and assault guns. Most of them were destroyed by various anti-tank guns and tanks/tank destroyers of the Germans, and a small part was destroyed by air strikes.
By the night of May 13, Stalin's patience was finally exhausted-Molotov had taken a plane of Rome Airlines (Italy) to fly to Switzerland via a detour. Peace talks with the highest level of Germany were about to begin, and at this time, Stalin was eager to let his troops play some bargaining chips.
If the Bryansk Front could push the front to the bank of the Dnieper River, or even cross the Dnieper River... then for Stalin, it would be a very decent peace, and it might come soon.
So late at night on the 13th, Stalin issued an order to the Bryansk Front Command in the name of the Supreme Command, requiring them to push the front to the Dnieper River as soon as possible at all costs!
After receiving the order, Golikov and Mekhlis immediately adjusted their deployment and gave up the plan to break through the German defense line of the Gomel-Sozh River from the front. Instead, they took a detour from the south, bypassed the Sozh River, and crossed the Dnieper River directly from Loyev, where the Sozh River merges into the Dnieper River.
Loyev is downstream of Lechitsa. According to reconnaissance, there are no heavy German troops deployed, so it should not be difficult to break through. Once the Soviet tanks crossed the Dnieper River at Loyev, the logistics line of the German southern armored group with Rechitsa as the logistics hub would be threatened. Although they would not be surrounded, it was very likely that they would retreat from the east of the Dnieper River.
In order to achieve this goal, Golikov deployed troops overnight, gathered the elite troops of the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies, and assembled a group of 500 tanks/assault artillery to General Vatutin, commander of the 1st Tank Army, and commanded him to attack Loyev by detour.
At dusk on May 14, Golikov and Mekhlis watched Vatutin's group leave the Dobrush Forest and rush to Loyev, more than 60 kilometers away.
However, the two of them would never have thought that the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions assigned to the German 3rd Armored Army, as well as part of the 6th and 10th Armored Divisions transferred back from the battlefield of Collective Farm No. 13, had also assembled on the plain east of the Sozh River and were about to launch a large-scale counterattack. According to General Mackensen's original plan, these armored divisions were ready to fight a decisive battle after the Soviet army broke through the Gomel-Sozh River defense line.
But unexpectedly, the Soviet army could not break through the defense line composed of three divisions, including the 1st Armored Grenadier Division of the Wehrmacht (reinforced with the 1st Tank Destroyer Battalion), the 5th "Viking" Division of the SS (reinforced with the 2nd Tank Destroyer Battalion) and the 128th Infantry Division (belonging to the 52nd Motorized Infantry Army) after fighting for several days. Instead, they were beaten to a pulp by 4 tank destroyer battalions (more than 150 Rhinos) and 4 heavy anti-tank gun battalions (72 PAK43 88mm anti-tank guns).
So General Mackensen simply decided to launch a major counterattack in the early morning of May 15 and cross the Sozh River.
At the same time, a greater disaster for the Soviet Union occurred at the junction of Smolensk Oblast, Kaluga Oblast and Bryansk Oblast. The German Heinrich Group (composed of the 2nd Panzer Army and the 60th Panzer Army) had just gotten rid of the entanglement of a Soviet army group (sent by the Central Front) and was now rushing towards the city of Bryansk, which was defended by only one army group!
The German 14th Panzer Army, which was heading north from Gorninov in the south, also fought fiercely with the Soviet 38th Army and 40th Army near Trubchevsk (these two armies were attracted by the 14th Panzer Army, and the defense near Bryansk was therefore empty).