Bock set the date for the great counteroffensive June 22, which was quite a bit of a brainstorm. First of all, on this day, his Army Group Center had just received the last Spanish German division, and the total strength had reached the best saturation state. Secondly, this day happened to be the first day after the summer solstice, which was the longest day and the shortest night of the year, so that in the first critical days of the counteroffensive, the German army and its allies could fight for almost 18 hours a day, making great use of the sharpness of the initial counterattack.

At 4 o'clock in the morning of 22 June, all the armies, divisions, regiments, and battalions of the Central Army Group had already launched a solemn mobilization speech.

"Warriors of the Third Reich, now, the largest frontier in the history of time, has turned from defense to advance. This is not just to provide the means to end this great war forever, and not only to defend those countries that are currently at war, but to save our civilization throughout Europe!

German soldiers! In this way, you have entered into a serious and demanding battle, for the fate of Europe, the future of the German Empire, the survival of our nation, and the justice of the Central Powers fall on your shoulders.

At this moment, on the eastern front, a huge force unprecedented in the world has been deployed!

To the north, the heroes of Finland's freedom, led by their Marshal Mannerheim, are pointing with our soldiers to Leningrad!

To the south, on the banks of the Prut River and along the beaches of the Danube to the Black Sea, were the Romanian and German troops united around the Romanian head of state, Antonescu.

In the center, the two main armies sent by Italy and Spain were fighting in conjunction with the German Army Group, our most powerful Army Group Center.

In our rear, Bulgaria, Greece, Yugoslavia, these long-oppressed Balkan countries, have also organized an expeditionary force from the East.

It's a great crusade!

May God bless us all in this struggle!

This time, the Third Reich will bring justice to the whole world! ”

Although the counterattack mobilization of Army Group Center came later than Army Group North and Army Group South, it was more weighty and imposing.

Because at this time, the Finnish army in the north, together with the German and Norwegian armies, had recaptured the strategic town of Vyborg, and conquered Hanko in a coordinated manner.

In the south, Romania also completed the initial stage of the counterattack, effectively supporting the southern offensive of Rundstead with troops with strong enough combat effectiveness, and pinning down all Soviet troops in the direction of non-German operations.

The operations on other fronts have already achieved the desired results, and on the entire Soviet-German battlefield, in a pincer posture, the main forces of the Soviet army on the central line have been semi-encircled.

At this time, Bock's counterattack, both from the state of Army Group Center itself and from the external strategic situation, was extremely favorable.

What's more, by this time, the Soviet troops in the center were still trying to maintain a local offensive and respond to the call of their superiors.

Invisibly, the front-line Soviet army is still accelerating its own demise.

"Order Guderian's 2nd Panzer Group to be the vanguard, cross the Desna River west of Tubitivsk and advance southward to Romney in the rear of Kiev. The 2nd Army moved south from Gomel to cover Guderian's right flank. In his large headquarters in Warsaw, Bock clenched his fists and eagerly gave orders.

Bock, who had been waiting for this day for too long, did not need to think about it, and could throw out a complete series of tactical instructions that had been conceived long ago: "The armored forces of the Italians and Spaniards, together with Kleist's 1st Panzer Corps, will attack north from Klimechorg on the Dnieper bend and join Guderian near Romney." ”

"Army Group South and Army Group North have cleared the Soviet forces at the junction, that is, our armored forces will soon be able to outflank both flanks."

Bock walked quickly to the Soviet map of the Eastern Front on the wall of the headquarters, picked up the telescopic pole and pointed to the intricate red and blue arrows on it, and said: "According to the Barbarossa plan, Rundstede's Army Group South will be responsible for pinning down the Soviet army in the Dnieper bend north of Cherkassai, and at the same time covering the left flank of the 1st Armored Corps of Kleist. Moder's SS would take over Paulus's position, and the liberated 6th Army would move eastward, crossing the Dnieper and attacking Kiev. ”

Turning around, Bock looked around at his commanders and staff officers, and raised his voice: "Don't say that the Soviet army is still trying to reshape the offensive now, even if they immediately stop the offensive and stay on the spot, it is impossible to stop our general attack." ”

In the command headquarters, all the generals nodded one after another after hearing this.

Even inexperienced generals, even officers who have just graduated from military academies, can see that this suicidal attack of the Soviet army is simply a maneuver of their strength, providing an opportunity for a major counterattack by the German Army Group Center.

Bock's analysis is very reasonable, and the brains of the Soviet commanders are indeed in water, and they are allowed to give their blind command in a convulsive manner.

It seems that an easy battle of annihilation has been sent to the mouth of Army Group Center.

"Soldiers, our army has been planning for a long time, and the far-reaching frontal assault and subsequent flank assault of our Allied forces will quickly split the Soviet Front in front of it into several isolated groups."

Bock put away the telescopic rod, stood up solemnly, and gave instructions: "It's time to teach the Soviets who invaded us a lesson." And the lesson I prepared for them was to eat at least 500,000 Soviet troops in one go! ”

At least 500,000 people!

The generals gasped after hearing this. If they could eat a force of this size in one go, it would be the biggest battle of annihilation they had ever encountered since they joined the army.

In addition to the great success of the tactical encirclement and annihilation of a large number of Soviet troops, such a combat operation would also give the Allies access to the rich Ukraine and the Donets Basin.

From a strategic point of view, this would also make the southern flank no longer threaten with the Soviet offensive or counteroffensive as it had been at the beginning of the war, which would also have great auxiliary significance for the Allied forces to attack Moscow in the future.

Of course, there is more meaning than the military, which is not something that the soldiers present can think of for a while.

The occupation of Ukraine is indispensable for the establishment of a Ukrainian regime friendly to the Allies. As a result, the strength of the Central Powers on the Eastern Front will be greatly increased. And such a successful encirclement and annihilation war can also greatly add points to the camp of the allies and increase the enthusiasm of the allies in the international arena.

Such a victory would have had a lot of intangible encouragement for the scale of the future Vichy France and the three pro-German British governments......