At 6 a.m. on June 23, on the west bank of the Naref River, on the eastern outskirts of the city of Wape.

Before the adjutant could open the door for him, General Kleist, commander of the First Panzer Army, jumped out of the back seat of the car, stood beside the car, and raised the telescope hanging on his chest to look across the river.

On the other side of the river, the village of Uchowa had been reduced to purgatory, and all the less than 200 houses in the village were reduced to wreckage, and not a single house was intact.

Even so, the rain of shells continued to fall on the village, and the village was full of smoke and fire from the explosion of shells, and from time to time shells flew over the village and fell into the Narev River, and tall white water jets rose into the air like a fountain.

General Kleist clearly saw that the streets of the village were littered with the wreckage of seventeen or eighteen motor vehicles, straddle motorcycles, trucks, and two SDKFZ251 armored vehicles, with many corpses dotted among the wreckage of houses and vehicles.

Admiral Kleist's eyes were full of disdain, and he said contemptuously: "It seems that our enemy has come to his senses from the panic and wants to contain our attack in this way. It's a pity that their ideas are too dull and naïve. ”

The adjutant's expression was diametrically opposed to that of Admiral Kleist, and he saw several shells flying across the river and landing on the west bank of the Naref River, the nearest landing point only about one hundred and fifty meters from the high ground on which they stood.

The adjutant said nervously: "Commander, the Russians' shells are too close to us, for your safety, let's watch the battle from another location." ”

"We didn't have time to change places, the Russian offensive was already launched. You don't have to worry about my safety, the Russians haven't made the shells that can kill me yet. ”

Seeing Kleist so contemptuous of the Russians, the adjutant had to suppress the uneasiness in his heart and look at the battle on the other side of the river.

The Soviet attack on Germany had been prepared for a long time, after the panic on the day of the war. On 23 June, the Soviet units had come to their senses, and the entire war machine was running in an orderly manner according to the predetermined battle plan.

The Western Front has four armies, of which the third, fourth, and tenth armies are deployed along the border, and the thirteenth army serves as reserves.

The Tenth Army was responsible for the frontal defense of the Bialystok bulge.

After learning that the bridge near the city of Wape was lost. The commander of the 10th Army, Major General Golubev, was furious and hurriedly ordered a counterattack to wipe out the German troops crossing the river in one fell swoop.

The task of the counteroffensive fell on the 155 Infantry Division and the 13th Mechanized Army.

The Bialystok region originally belonged to Poland, but in September 1939, after the partition of Poland between Germany and the Soviet Union, the Bialystok region fell into Soviet hands for nearly three years, and the Soviet army knew every inch of land here.

The bridge outside Wape has long been the focus of the Soviet army as an important transportation hub, and the vicinity of the bridge has been included in the coverage of artillery fire.

As soon as the counteroffensive began, the Soviet "gods of war" showed their might. Nearly 200 large-caliber guns from six artillery regiments wiped the village of Uchowa off the ground almost instantly.

Under the powerful destructive power of 122-mm, 152-mm and even 203-mm howitzers, the river crossing operation of the 48th Panzer Corps under the 1st Panzer Army was forced to be interrupted, and the troops that had already crossed the river also stopped marching towards Bialystok and switched to a defensive state.

Through the reconnaissance planes of the Air Force, it was learned that a large number of Soviet tanks and infantry were rushing to the bridgehead, and that the 110th Infantry Regiment and the 15th Armored Regiment, which had crossed the river, had set up defensive lines against the woods on both sides of the road and the six occupied villages on the east bank of the river, quietly waiting for the start of the battle.

The town of Dolna is about six kilometres northeast of the city of Wape. It was in this town that the 11th Panzer Division occupied closest to the city of Bialystok. The 11th Panzer Division fired the first shot to resist the Soviet counterattack.

In the face of the Soviet tank column coming along the road, ambushed at the entrance of the town on the north side of the town, the two E-40 tanks on both sides of the road took the lead in firing, and in the crisp fire of the 88 guns, the KV-1 tank led by the group stopped moving, and billowing black smoke came out of the body.

The soaring black plume of smoke alerted the Soviet tanks behind. They twisted their bodies and stumbled toward the fields and meadows on both sides of the road, and the whole team was thrown into disarray.

The opening of two E-40 tanks opened the door to killing, and the first and second companies of the 503rd Heavy Armored Battalion, and twenty-eight E-40 tanks, which were ambushed in the town of Dorna, opened fire one after another. In an instant, the Soviet tankmen found shells coming from the bushes of the town, from the houses of the town, and from the pine forests on the edge of the town.

The whole town turned into an artillery position in an instant, and shells flew everywhere.

In the face of these rookie opponents who did not even send scouts and blindly rushed to their own positions, the tankmen of the 503rd Heavy Armored Battalion mercilessly harvested the lives of the other party, and the wreckage of more than 20 KV-1s was all over the fields and roads north of Dorna Town.

Farther to the north, the Soviet 155th Infantry Division was receiving a warm welcome from the Waffen-SS.

The 14th Waffen-SS Air Artillery Division was assigned to the 1st Panzer Army and was responsible for providing air support to the army.

Summoned by the 11th Armored Division, escorted by eight ME-109 fighters, sixteen ME-110E fighters rushed to the battlefield, and the marching column of the 155th Infantry Division and the 27th Tank Division that cooperated with them was immediately bloodied.

Twenty-four fighters swooped down one after another, sliding over the heads of the disorganized Soviet soldiers, and the wind brought up by the fuselage almost blew off the brimmed hats of the Soviet officers on the ground.

In the eyes of the Soviet officers and soldiers, a series of giant bombs fell from the sky, disintegrated themselves in their horrified eyes, and countless balls ejected from the disintegrating bombs, and then spread their tiled wings and fell to the ground like bats.

In the continuous explosion like firecrackers, tens of thousands of shrapnel fell from the sky and shot quickly at the Soviet soldiers on the ground, whether it was a soldier hiding in a roadside drainage ditch, a soldier lying on his stomach in a rice field, and a gas truck exposed on the road, all of which were shot by shrapnel falling from the sky.

Dropping the bombs, twenty-four fighters, ignoring the Soviet anti-aircraft fire on the ground, launched another dive, sweeping trucks and armored vehicles on the road with machine guns and cannons.

Every German fighter plane dive caused a bloody storm on the road, and trucks, cars, and light armored vehicles were blown up one after another, igniting a raging fire, and the wreckage of the vehicles was scattered all over the road.

On the ground, the anti-aircraft fire of Soviet soldiers opened wild, 37mm anti-aircraft guns, 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns, Deggalev light machine guns, and even Bobosha submachine guns were used to strafe the sky.

On the battlefield, the roar of airplanes, the firing of all kinds of guns, and the shouts of personnel came one after another, which was deafening.

Only twenty-two of the twenty-four fighters left, and one each of the ME-109 fighters and the ME-110E were shot down.

Seeing the enemy plane leaving, the officers and men of the Soviet division left their hiding places one after another, rescued the wounded, and regrouped, but they did not find that a small hummingbird helicopter was crouching on the treetops of a pine forest east of the town of Dorna.

The smoke rising from the wreckage of the truck on the highway was the best indication that the artillery observation post behind the helicopter waited patiently for the Soviet soldiers to leave their hiding places and return to the road before shouting into the radio microphone to open fire.

On the west bank of the Narev River, the 119th Artillery Regiment under the 11th Panzer Division finally waited for the long-awaited signal, and 48 howitzers opened fire at the same time, and the rain of bullets instantly flew over the surface of the Narev River, flew over the bridgehead, and roared into the unsuspecting Soviet marching column.

Stumps and severed arms flew into the sky, the lives of Soviet soldiers were harvested piece by piece, and the corpses of Soviet soldiers lay near the explosion point of every shell.

On the road, when the troops of the 155 Infantry Division were slaughtered, four reconnaissance aircraft of the 14th Waffen-SS Air Artillery Division flew near the city of Bialystok to look for Soviet artillery positions.

Sensing the intentions of the German reconnaissance aircraft, the Soviet artillery positions had to stop firing and go into hiding.

A counteroffensive planned by the Soviets was thwarted by the combined forces of Waffen-SS aircraft and artillery of the 11th Panzer Division before it could officially begin.

A little more than an hour later, another catastrophe befell the head of the 155 Infantry Division.

The two bridges next to the city of Wape were only one of the most important places for the First Panzer Army to cross the river, but they were not the only ones.

As early as the first day of the war, German sappers erected four pontoon bridges upstream and downstream of the bridge over the city of Vapé, from which units of the 16th Panzer Division and the 16th Motorized Rifle Division crossed the Narev River and set up bridgeheads on the other side of the river.

Receiving an order from the headquarters of the 48th Armored Army, the 16th Armored Division sent its subordinate 2nd Armored Regiment to attack the right flank of the 155th Infantry Division with a beautiful left hook, and the 11th Armored Division, which was facing it head-on, also launched a counterattack at the same time.

The 155th Infantry Division, which could not withstand the two-sided attack of the two armored divisions and had not yet recovered from the chaos, together with an armored regiment of the 27th Tank Division that cooperated with them, suffered heavy losses and had to flee back to the starting point in disarray.

After a morning of fighting, the 11th Panzer Division thwarted the Soviet counteroffensive, and the road and railway bridges over the Narev River were re-passed.

The steel torrent of the 48th Panzer Corps, like the rushing waters of the Narev River, rushed towards the city of Bialystok, where they would encounter endless anti-tank trenches, countless barbed wire, and minefields.

On the way back to the headquarters of the army group, General Kleist's face changed back to his inherent stiffness.

Aerial reconnaissance showed that the fortifications outside Bialystok were not only complete, but also encircled almost the entire perimeter of the city, and there was no other road to bypass.

The next siege battle is clearly a vicious battle, a fierce battle that has never been fought before! (To be continued......)