"Report, the 50th Army has encountered a fierce attack by enemy troops!"

"Quickly report the strength of the enemy forces and the number ......"

"The 3rd Army is also under heavy attack!"

"Comrade Batov, please, immediately explain the situation......"

Early in the morning, the commander of the Bryansk Front, Colonel-General Leitel, was overwhelmed, and a bunch of bad news rushed at him, and the rumbling artillery and the wanton flight of German bombers all revealed that a large-scale battle had begun, and any experienced commander could judge that an attack of this magnitude was by no means a feint or a diversionary attack. Pen %Fun %Pavilion www.biquge.info God, why am I here? Didn't the base camp report say that the Germans were going to fight Moscow or Stalingrad? What exactly are they trying to do with Tambov?

When the Bryansk Front was caught off guard and became the primary target of the German army, he only felt that he was full of grievances. But he never expected that the reason why the front army was attacked first was because of his name.

In the selection of offensive targets, the main direction of attack was determined by the General Staff of the Army in accordance with the intentions of the Führer's plan, but the specific operational objectives were personally examined and approved by Hoffman, and among the two options for attacking the Central Front and the Bryansk Front, he spared the former and chose the latter.

In addition to various military reasons, Hoffmann's unspoken reason was the name of the commander: in his opinion, the commander of the Central Front, Bagramyan, was far more famous than Leitel, and judging by the status of the two after the war and their performance in the war, he believed that the former's command ability was significantly stronger than the latter, so he did not hesitate to choose the Bryansk Front as a priority target.

After the objectives of the previous spring awakening campaign were determined, Manstein made a big move against the Caucasian Front against Tyulenev, which was also very popular with Hoffman, and in his mind at least Rokossovsky, Vatutin, and Yeremenko were stronger than Tyulenev, and the results also confirmed this, and poor Tyulenev was kicked out of command because of the defeat in the battle.

Although he was very interested in ascertaining the specific situation at the front, under the combined attack of heavy shelling and bombing, Leitel was unable to make an effective judgment at all, and individual corps or divisions could not even be contacted, and in the end he could only hastily integrate the enemy situation reported from the front and report it to the General Staff.

Vasilevsky and Zhukov also felt suddenness at the news of a fierce attack by enemy troops in the Tambov direction, and what made them even more angry was the hostile situation reported by the Bryansk Front.

"Listen...... The northern flank of Tambov was the main attack of the enemy's 4th Panzer Army, with about 200,000 troops and more than 1,000 tanks, half of which were Tiger tanks...... On the southern flank is the 4th Panzer Army of the Hult cluster, with about 16-180,000 troops, nearly 1,000 tanks, and at least 300-400 Tiger ......" Vasilevsky angrily threw the telegram on the table and said to Zhukov, "How exaggerated is this report that the enemy has 2,000 tanks and nearly 1,000 Tigers at once?" As far as I know, the Germans broke the ground on the Eastern Front with 1,000 Tiger vehicles, could it be that all of them were transferred to the troops attacking the Bryansk Front? Who does he think he is? What do you think is the core place of Tambov? ”

Zhukov couldn't laugh or cry, he thought it was normal if this force was aimed at Moscow or Stalingrad, but it would be incredible to say that Tambov was facing such a force. However, he scanned the battle report again with great generosity, and said slowly while reading it: "It is true that the front-line soldiers may make miscalculations in a panic, and commanders at all levels will not be able to ascertain the actual situation due to a variety of factors. Of course, he was also in a hurry......"

"Let them find out quickly." Vasilevsky called the staff officer and gave the order in an unkind tone, "Tell Comrade Leitel that even if the Germans really have 2,000 tanks, he has almost more than 800 tanks in his hands, so he won't be unable to resist it all at once and immediately ask for reinforcements, right?" ”

"What the hell do the Germans want to do?" After the explanation, Vasilevsky thought hard in front of the map, "Didn't the intelligence say that they were going to attack the day after tomorrow to hit the front line of Tula?" Why is the attack time advanced? Is this a feint or a real move? Even if they take Tambov as they wish, they will not significantly change the current situation and the front, so what do they want to do next? ”

Zhukov was puzzled, but thinking of the tactics of high exchange ratio, he asked hesitantly: "Could it be that the target of the Germans is the Bryansk Front itself?" ”

"2,000 planes, 2,000 tanks were dispatched just to fight more than 500,000 people in Bryansk?" Vasilevsky shook his head and said, "Who planned this campaign?" I don't believe it, the pattern is too small! Summer was precious to the Germans, and last year their summer offensive was fierce! ”

Zhukov couldn't speak, and finally sighed: "Let Comrade Bagramyan prepare to reinforce the Bryansk Front, judging by Comrade Leitel's report, the state of the front seems to be not ideal, and there may be targeted adjustments." ”

"Wait another 2 days, and if after 2 days there is no movement of the enemy troops in the Orel direction or other circumstances, I will go with you to Tambov ......"

Vasilevsky and Zhukov never expected that although the situation reported by Leityr was not the result of real observations, the results were crooked, and most of the cases were actually true, except that the number of tigers was slightly exaggerated.

Outflanking Tambov from the northern flank was the 2nd Panzer Army of Army Group Center, with the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 17th Panzer Divisions, and from the southern flank was the 4th Panzer Army in the Hoth group, with the SS Skull Panzer Division and the 14th, 18th, and 22nd Panzer Divisions, again 4 Panzer Divisions.

After the readjustment, replenishment, and reorganization during the spring break, all armored group armies have achieved standardized allocation: the backbone strength is usually 4 armored divisions, 2 armored grenadier divisions, 3 infantry divisions, and 1 headquarters guard division, followed by the attached independent artillery command, air force antiaircraft artillery units, independent heavy armored battalions (1 for each armored group army, and 2 for each individually), and finally the group army headquarters organs and logistics support personnel, which add up to more than 200,000 troops, and the number of troops that can be used for front-line warfare is not less than 170,000.

The calculation of the number of tanks needs to be distinguished, if we only refer to tanks in the narrow sense, the maximum number of each group army can reach 1,558 (330 armored divisions, 92 armored grenadier divisions, and 54 independent heavy armored battalions), but because the tank production is still insufficient, and it takes time to increase personnel training, most of the armored divisions have not completed the reorganization, and only supplemented most of the shortages in the original establishment, so the total number of tanks in each group army is basically only more than 1,000 at present.

If you also count the tank destroyers you currently have, it will not be 1000 but 1500 or even 1600, not only the Panzer Division and the Panzergrenadier Division have tank destroyer battalions, but the infantry divisions are also equipped with anti-tank destroyer battalions, when attacking, all kinds of things that look like "tanks" add up to more than 1000, but the number of Tiger tanks is not so much, generally a single armored army has a Tiger in the early 200s, and Rommel's army has the most Tiger tanks, But also more than 300 and not 500.

Because the psychological pressure of the Tiger tank on the Red Army was too great, and many recruits had little ability to discriminate, they called the Tiger as soon as they encountered a German tank or even a tank destroyer......

The two were discussing when Stalin's phone suddenly came in.

"Listen to Comrade Leittel's report that the Germans launched a fierce assault on his defense area? Great losses at the front? ”

"Yes! We are verifying the situation of the battle and speculating on the enemy's next course of action. Vasilevsky's brows couldn't help but furrow, and he was another commander of the front army who "went up to heaven".

"Is this a signal of an all-out attack by the enemy?" The voice on the phone was still unhurried.

"It is quite possible, but for now it will depend on the situation of enemy forces in the Orel direction."

"You're still judging it as a feint?"

Vasilevsky did not dare to say this, but said: "It is impossible to judge at the moment, even according to the report of Comrade Leitel, the number of troops that the enemy has put into the offensive is only 350,000 - I think this figure may be too exaggerated." ”

"And what kind of troops are you going to send to strengthen the line of defense near Tambov?"

As soon as Vasilevsky wanted to say that Comrade Leitel should hold on to the spot, Zhukov had already grabbed the microphone and said loudly: "Report to the General Secretary, I have asked Comrade Bagramyan's Central Front to prepare for the rush, and as for myself, I initially plan to go to the front tomorrow to take direct command." Of course, I will ask the Bryansk Front to stubbornly hold its ground and not to mess up. ”

"Very good, I am relieved to hear that you have made arrangements, I will warn Comrade Leitel not to mess up, the situation is not as bad as he said......" The voice on the phone muttered for a moment, "What do you need me to coordinate for you?" ”

"There are not enough front-line aircraft, we have lost air supremacy, and I want to transfer some fighter units from Moscow."

There was silence on the phone for a while, and only after half a minute did he say, "You can send 2 fighter divisions, but once the situation improves, they should return quickly." ”

Putting down the microphone, Vasilevsky smiled bitterly: Comrade Stalin just said at the meeting yesterday that he would delegate power and trust the front-line commanders, but today he couldn't help but call, and although his tone was very tactful, the meaning was obvious.

Zhukov comforted his old partner: "At least the general secretary still trusts us, and I decided to go to Tambov in the afternoon and go with those two destroyer divisions!" (To be continued.) )