The city of Gomel is located on the banks of the Sozh River in the Gomel region in southeastern Belarus, near the border with Ukraine. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At 4:45 a.m. on August 23, 1942.

In the northwest corner of the city of Gomel, in an old Orthodox church, the headquarters of the 1st Panzer Army of Army Group Center.

General Kleist stood at the map table with his hands behind his back, staring at the huge military map on the wall.

On the map, the red and blue arrows marking the two warring sides are like sharp arrows, representing the red and blue lines that divide the battle line.

General Kleist's gaze fell on the city of Gomel, east and southeast of the city of Gomel, where he was located, and the number of the 2nd Panzer Army was indicated on the red line.

Since the transfer from the Northern Theater to the Central Army Group Theater, the main forces of the 1st Panzer Army have been hiding behind the defense line of the 2nd Panzer Army.

For the sake of secrecy, the First Panzer Army almost stopped using radio and mostly used wired telephones as a means of communication between the troops.

The heralds also ran between the two armoured corps.

General Kleist glanced at his watch, and fifteen minutes later, the battle to go south to Ukraine was about to begin.

One by one, phone calls came to Kleist's headquarters, and the subordinate units reported their preparations for the campaign for the last time.

"The 14th Armored Corps is ready, and the 503rd Heavy Armored Battalion has also arrived at the designated starting position."

With the report of the chief of staff, a smile appeared on the face of General Kleist Furui Mubo.

The 14th Panzer Corps consisted of the 9th Panzer Division, the 1st Waffen-SS "Adolf Hitler's Guard Banner" motorized division, and the 5th Viking motorized division.

This armored corps was originally subordinate to the 1st Panzer Army, but was later exchanged for vests for the 2nd Panzer Army.

In order to make up for the vacancy left by the transfer of the 46th Panzer Corps, this Panzer Corps was again assigned to the 1st Panzer Army, and the 1st Panzer Army was restored to the strength of three Panzer Corps.

"It's a matter of time, just wait another fifteen minutes."

General Kleist had just taken out a box of cosmic brand cigarettes when he suddenly saw a thin figure appear at the door out of the corner of his eye.

Stuffing his cigarette into his pocket, Admiral Kleist asked suspiciously, "General Rommel, welcome." ”

Rommel respectfully saluted the veteran General Kleist, and then said with a smile: "My troops are also ready, and tomorrow they will definitely attack on time to defend your left flank." ”

Admiral Kleist nodded coldly, not becoming enthusiastic by Rommel's words.

He had heard that Rommel had complained to Field Marshal Bock, commander of Army Group Center, because of the order to place the 14th Panzer Corps under his command.

"Since the 2nd Panzer Army has three Panzer Corps, it should be us who will attack the main attack and let the 1st Panzer Army cover our right flank. Instead of them playing the main attack, we will cover their left flank. ”

In the face of Rommel, a rising star in the German military circles, Field Marshal Bock did not give much accommodation and firmly asked Rommel to carry out the orders of the army group command.

Rommel had no choice but to carry out Marshal Bock's orders, but his complaints still reached Kleist's ears.

Admiral Kleist had a purely businesslike posture and asked politely, "Have you and General Weix completed the handover procedures?" ”

"It's done, that's why I'm here, the offensive is about to begin, and I'm here to wish you good luck, Mr. General." Rommel said.

"Thank you for your blessings, I will meet with General Guderian as soon as possible."

"From here to Krementyug and Dnepropetrovsk, the distance on the map is three hundred and fifty to five hundred kilometers in a straight line, I hope you can get there before General Guderian, and I will also keep up with you as quickly as possible, and strive to join General Guderian earlier, I am looking forward to the scene of the three of us getting together."

General Kleist sneered a few times, and then said: "General Rommel, after I meet General Guderian, I will wait patiently for your arrival."

The commanders of the two armored armies had a round of conversation, and a sword light flashed.

"I believe in your abilities, and once again good luck, and goodbye to us in Krementyug, Mr. General."

After Rommel finished speaking, he shook hands with Kleist and said goodbye.

The moment Rommel turned to leave, a common thought popped up in their hearts.

I'm sure I got there before you.

After Rommel left, Kleist turned to the chief of staff, adjutants, and a group of staff officers around him and said, "Have you seen that?" General Rommel had come to make a war with us, and the criterion for victory was who would first join the Fifth Panzer Army under the command of General Guderian. ”

"It will be our 1st Panzer Army that will win." This was stated by the Chief of Staff, Major General Kurt Zeitzler.

"Considering that General Rommel's troops set off a day later than we did, and that their troops were on our left flank, and had traveled a farther way than we were going to, I decided that if his troops could arrive on the third day after we joined forces with General Guderian, then this contest would be counted as a draw. If it is less than three days, he is considered victorious. That is, if we want to win, we have to be at least four days ahead of them, you remember that. ”

General Kleist's will to win was instantly poured into the hearts of every officer in the headquarters, making their eyes even brighter.

At 4:59, General Kleist picked up the phone, stared at the watch in his left hand, and when the second hand turned its last turn, General Kleist shouted into the phone: "Fire." ”

An order from Admiral Kleist opened the gates of hell.

To the south of Gomel, cannons of various calibers spewed out tongues of fire, and the rumbling sound of cannons swept over the heads of the 14th Panzer Corps like a road steamroller, and the smoke from the muzzles of the artillery positions shot straight into the sky, dyeing the sky with a layer of gray and black.

"Armor, attack."

With an order from the battalion headquarters, on the starting position of the 503rd Heavy Armored Battalion, the roar of the engine instantly increased to a level, and the forty-five E-40 tanks that were originally parked in place, their huge bodies moved slowly, drilled out of their respective hidden woods, and quickly rushed to the south, behind them, the No. 4G tank of the Ninth Armored Division of the Fourteenth Armored Army followed.

Accompanied by the whistling of shells in the sky, the steel wolves crushed the ground and launched an attack on the first important target, Chernihiv, eighty kilometers away.

It was also five o'clock, thousands of miles away on the southwestern border of Ukraine, on the Prut River on the border between Romania and the Soviet Union.

The commander of the German Fifth Panzer Army, General Guderian, also gave the order to attack.

More than a thousand rocket artillery and howitzers rained shells on Soviet positions on the east bank of the Prut River.

In the city of Cahur on the eastern side of the Romanian border, the bridgehead of the Fifth Panzer Army on the east bank of the Prut River, the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion of the Panzer Army, as the sharp knife of the Panzer Army, rushed to the forefront of the whole army as usual, and launched an attack on the Soviet Southern Front.

I had been patient for a long time, and Guderian felt his hands tremble with excitement.

Although the battle in Romania was won, Guderian was not at all happy, even depressed.

Fighting on the territory of Romania took place between the Carpathians in the north and the Black Sea in the south. On this plain, barely 150 kilometers wide, both sides were heavily armed.

The density of forces was sufficient that there was no room for both sides to flank each other, and the battle was purely fought in a head-to-head manner, and the Germans eventually won the wrestling victory and expelled the Soviets from Romania.

Heinz Guderian, the former famous "Scud Heinz", has successfully earned a new nickname, "Heinz the Bull".

Compared with the two armored armies in the Central Army Group, which marched dozens of kilometers or even hundreds of kilometers a day, Guderian felt that this tactic of topping the bull was a great insult to himself, and he became a layman in tank warfare.

Tanks should not be used as heavy war hammers, but as sharp swords.

And the vast Ukraine is the best place to give full play to the mobile combat of tanks.

"The Prut River is only three hundred and fifty kilometers from Krementyug, and it takes seven days to arrive, just in time for the first day of September."

Just when Guderian was full of ambition and wanted to justify his nickname "Scud Heinz", the Fifth Panzer Army was in the north, on the eastern border of Hungary, in the eastern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.

The Luftwaffe Reichsmarshal Panzer Division, the vanguard of the Eleventh Army commanded by Manstein, was the first to fire the first shots of the offensive.

The deputy division commander, Mandolfel, shouted to the communications staff officer: "Make sure with Colonel Schumacher one more time, he has only seven days to reach Cherkasy, and must not fall behind the Greater German division." Otherwise, when the division commander comes back, he will definitely invite him to drink coffee and chat alone. ”

In northern Hungary, on the west bank of the Bug and San rivers, Field Marshal Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South, listened to the faint roar of artillery and said pleasantly: "The offensive has finally begun, and I thought it would wait until the day of retirement." ”

As the last army group to participate in the battle, Army Group South did not sit idle while watching the war, and made clear the defense of the Central Front of the Soviet Army on the opposite side.

As soon as the shelling began, accurate artillery fire covered the positions of the Soviet troops.

In the Cheum region, and north of Przemyśl, the vanguard of the Sixth and Seventeenth Armies forced their way across the Bug and San rivers, respectively, and then quickly advanced into Soviet territory.

・・・・・・

Stalin rushed into the operational command room of the General Staff with a sense of violence.

"The Germans attacked Ukraine? In what location? How big is it? ”

Vasilevsky quickly explained to Stalin: "Here, in the Gomel region, the armored units of the German Army Group Center are beginning to move south, and General Yeremenko's Bryansk Front is fighting fiercely with them, one panzer army, at least two panzer corps, and this is only the forces that we have discovered at the moment. ”

"And here, Romania, Guderian's Fifth Panzer Army also attacked, and the Hungarian Manstein XI Army, further north, Rendstedt's Army Group South, all attacked, as we expected." Marshal Timoshenko said.

"Hitler really underestimated us and really took us for fools. He thought we were going to sit there and wait for him to come and surround us? Stalin said with a sneer.

"Fortunately, we were prepared, otherwise we would have fallen into an unprecedented crisis." Timoshenko said.

"Where have the Central Front, the Southwestern Front, and the Southern Front withdrawn now?" Stalin asked.

"It varies from eighty to one hundred kilometers from the state border." Vasilevsky said.

"Huh? So slow? It took two days to walk so far? Stalin frowned.

"There is no way, there are many infantry divisions in these three armies, and they can only march on their legs, and they also have to destroy bridges and roads along the way."

"Arrange as many trains as possible, pick them up and withdraw to the east bank of the Dnieper, remember to leave two bridgeheads in Kiev and Kavbass as starting positions for the counteroffensive. Our great stride back is to prepare for the big stride. Also, give orders to those troops who are responsible for breaking off and blocking the attack, not to take a step back, and the country and the people will remember their contributions. Stalin said.

"I understand, Comrade General Secretary, it's just that there is another situation, what about the troops in the Pripyat swamp? They were now entangled by German units moving south from Belarus. Vasilevsky asked.

"Since we can't retreat, hold where we are, and let them join the ranks of the rearguard troops." Stalin said without hesitation.

Marshal Shaposhnikov, who had not spoken, glanced at Vasilevsky, and both of them saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

Stalin's words doomed the fate of this army.

"What happened to Leningrad?" Stalin asked suddenly.

"Marshal Voroshilov is in a very bad state, he is said to be suicidal, and I think that in order to keep Leningrad, someone needs to replace him."

A trace of impatience flashed on Stalin's face, and after a few puffs of his pipe, Stalin said: "Since the German Army Group Center has put the focus of operations in the south, let Zhukov leave and let him go to Leningrad to replace Voroshilov." ”

"And who will take over from the Western Front?" Timoshenko asked.

"There you go." Stalin said.

"Tell Marshal Budyonny that since we have decided to give up half of Ukraine, we must fight this battle well along the Dnieper, we need a victory too much." Stalin said.

・・・・・・

In the city of Pinsk, Chen Dao and Spudent stood next to the map, pointed to the Dnieper River and said: "The Ukrainian campaign has been fully launched, and the purpose of all our troops is the Dnieper, and I personally believe that this battle should be given a more appropriate name." ”

"What's the name?" Student asked.

"Dnieper River Run, what do you think of the name?" (To be continued.) )