When the 9th Panzer Division and the Guards Banner Division joined forces and engaged the troops of Krivoshin's 25th Mechanized Corps, the convoy of the 5th Waffen-SS Viking Division formed two long lines in the riverside town of Shklov further down the Dnieper, one after the other crossed two pontoon bridges over the river.

Between two pontoon bridges, on the bridge across the river that was blown up by Soviet troops, the sappers of the Viking division were busy trying to repair the bridge.

Unlike the vicinity of Dubrovno, which was inseparable from the main Soviet army, the Viking division encountered a little trouble in the street battle against Shklov, and the river crossing operation can be said to be surprisingly smooth.

The only minor trouble they faced was that the only bridge across the river in the city was blown up when the Soviet defenders in the city were defeated.

It was precisely because of the ferocious offensive of the 9th Panzer Division in the area of Dubrovno City, which attracted most of Yeremenko's attention there, and threw the only fresh force, the 25th Mechanized Corps, into the Dubrovne area, which greatly reduced the combat pressure of the Viking Division, which gave the Viking Division an opportunity to break through the Soviet defenses with almost no effort.

In the headquarters of the 14th Panzer Corps, Admiral Wietsheim received a battle report of the successful crossing of the river by the Viking Division, and immediately issued a new order according to the established plan.

Receiving the order, the Viking division troops crossed the river and marched north overnight, reaching the city of Orsha, 30 kilometers to the north.

Attacked from behind by the Viking Division, the Soviet troops in Orsha City could no longer hold on, and the 1st Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Guard Flag Division attacking the city frontally strengthened its offensive at the same time, attacking from both sides. The Soviet army in Orsha City collapsed and collapsed in an instant.

In the middle of summer in the high latitudes, the dawn is particularly early. At three o'clock in the morning, when the first rays of dawn covered the land, officers and soldiers of the 1st SS Banner Division and the 5th Viking Division waved to each other on both sides of the Dnieper River in the city of Orsha.

In the city of Gorky, the fleeing soldiers brought the bad news of the fall of Shklov and Orsha to Yeremenko, who had clearly not yet escaped the shadow of the Battle of Cannae.

In his vision, the Germans should have crossed the Dnieper with intensity. He was then driven down the river by the 25th Mechanized Corps, and the raging waters of the Dnieper River were filled with German corpses.

After repelling the Germans, the powerful 25th Mechanized Corps took advantage of the situation to attack the west bank of the Dnieper. Hunt down the Germans and turn the Dnieper defense line in one fell swoop.

However, Yeremenko only guessed the beginning of the story, but not the end of the story.

The Germans did force their way across the Dnieper as he had envisioned, and the place of the crossing was what he expected.

However, a modern-day version of the Battle of Cannae shattered all of Yeremenko's illusions.

Who exactly is to blame for the failure of this campaign?

Blame yourself for being too underestimated?

No. The fault is not on oneself. The Germans acted in full accordance with their own judgment, and it was certainly not themselves who were wrong.

Since we want to complain, we must complain that the combat effectiveness of the 25th Mechanized Army is too weak.

Yes, not only is it weak, but it is also very slow to act, delaying the fighter.

As the commander of the 25th Mechanized Corps, Krivoshin had an unshirkable responsibility.

The more Yeremenko thought about it, the more annoyed he became, and he couldn't help but ask the staff officer beside him in a loud voice: "The troops of the 25th Mechanized Army." Where was that late fifty-fifth tank division? ”

"We have asked the military headquarters of the 25th Mechanized Army, and the 55th Tank Division has completed unloading. Rushing to the battlefield, you can engage after dawn, it's just ・・・・・"

Yeremenko suddenly raised his voice and interrupted the staff officer's words.

"What, the units of the fifty-fifth tank division have not even joined the battle? Are they possessed by snails? Or was they frightened by the Germans, panicked and passively avoided the battle, and immediately sent a report to the military headquarters of the 25th Mechanized Army, asking them to urge the 55th Tank Division to speed up its actions. ”

Perceiving the anger of their immediate superiors, the staff officers hurriedly followed Yeremenko's instructions and sent a telegram to the headquarters of the 25th Mechanized Army.

After rolling his eyes and calming the anger in his heart, Yeremenko turned to the communications staff officer beside him and said: "Send a telegram to Comrade Zhukov, remember to forward a copy to Moscow." ”

After quickly jotting down Yelyomenko's dictated orders, the telegram was quickly delivered to Zhukov.

Seeing the contents of the telegram in his hand, the smile on Zhukov's face gradually disappeared.

Before receiving this telegram, Zhukov was in a rather happy mood.

On the Dnieper line of the Western Front, to the north, the Western Front dispatched two mechanized corps in the Vitebsk region to meet the 3rd Panzer Army under the command of General Hoth.

In the Mogilev region to the south, another mechanized corps, in cooperation with infantry, was taking advantage of the urban terrain of Mogilev to engage the Second Panzer Army under Rommel's command.

Although there was a stalemate on both fronts, in Zhukov's view, this stalemate was almost equivalent to victory.

The battlefield was on the territory of the Soviet Union, and the Western Front was fighting on the inner line, so it had all kinds of conveniences in terms of logistical replenishment, and as the former chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Red Army, he clearly knew how powerful the forces mobilized in the rear were, and the longer it dragged on, the more beneficial it would be to the Western Front.

The longer the time drags on, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of troops on the railway lines in the rear will rush to the front, driving the Germans out of Soviet territory and then into Germany.

But the contents of this telegram dispelled all optimism from Zhukov.

The telegram was to the effect that the central part of the Dnieper defense line, in the area of the city of Orsha, which Yeremenko was under control, was under heavy attack by the German 1st Panzer Army.

The various units in the Orsha area resisted valiantly, relying on the strong terrain to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans, but the 25th Mechanized Corps, which served as the counterattack force, was slow to move, delayed the fighters, and failed to launch a counterattack in time, so that the Germans successfully crossed the Dnieper River on a front nearly 50 kilometers wide from Dubrovne in the north to the city of Shklov in the south.

The situation in the Orsha region is critical, and reinforcements are urgently needed, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

Zhukov quickly simplified the content of this telegram and summed it up in one sentence: Comrade Zhukov, I can't stand it, old classmate, and the next battle depends on you.

Zhukov looked at the telegram several times, then looked at the map, and always felt that something seemed to be wrong.

After calling the intelligence staff officer, Zhukov inquired about it, and learned that the German 1st and 2nd Panzer armies were each composed of three Panzer Corps.

However, among the numbers of the German units marked on the operational map, the German armies that fought against the Soviets in the Mogilev area were two Panzer Corps.

There was only one Ninth Panzer Division and two motorized infantry divisions in the Orsha region, and only one armored corps could be formed.

Zhukov was first indignant at Yeremenko's shirking of responsibility, and then he was overwhelmed by fearful thoughts.

Calling around, the Germans mysteriously disappeared with units of three Panzer Corps.

Three armored armies, just enough to be organized into an armored army, where did this army go?

Was it to lose a lot of money in previous battles and stay in the rear to recuperate?

Zhukov immediately shook his head, ruling out this impossible idea, and after thinking about it, a fine layer of oil appeared on Zhukov's forehead.

"Send a message to Moscow at once," Zhukov shouted angrily: "First, the Germans have broken through the Dnieper defensive line, and the Western Front has requested to retreat to the Smolensk line to build a new defensive line; Second, the whereabouts of the three German Panzer Corps are unknown, so friendly forces are requested to be on strict alert in case the Germans move south or north. ”

After sending away the communications staff, Zhukov's eyes swept between Ukraine and Leningrad on the map.

"Where the hell are you? South? Or the North? (To be continued.) )