In the midst of the grass, an inconspicuous green color began to move slowly. Then a pair of deep eyes were revealed, staring not far away.

German scouts in camouflage smocks are very difficult to spot in this season, when vegetation has begun to recover.

What's more, he is just a scout, and he doesn't need to expose himself and shoot at the enemy on the opposite side unless it is necessary.

It was already very close to the Soviet front, so he had to be very careful. Move your body carefully so that you don't get noticed by the other party's sentry.

Soviet troops are digging their own trenches here, and countless Belarusians have been forcibly recruited.

Apparently the Soviets were aware of the imminent arrival of German troops, but they just didn't expect it to be so soon.

The scout carefully observed the composition of the opposing defensive line, which was about to become the main direction of attack of the German armored forces.

Therefore, it became his most important task to find out every firing point and find out the anti-tank guns hidden in the shadows as much as possible.

Little by little, he imprinted in his mind the appearance of the enemy's position, and in a moment he had to sketch out the whole appearance of the Soviet defensive position on a blank piece of paper.

Behind a trench, there were two more anti-tank gun positions that were not well covered. And covering these positions was the crossfire of machine guns on both sides.

The Soviet Union also learned from the German troops in battle after battle. Drawing a cat and a tiger, although it still looks very clumsy, it already looks like it.

Having taken a clear look at the unfinished Soviet defensive positions here, the German scouts carefully let go of the grass they had pulled away and retreated to the other end of the hill.

He climbed not far in front of the armored reconnaissance vehicle driven by his comrades, and then stood up and ran quickly behind the armored vehicle.

There, the commander of the reconnaissance vehicle, who had been waiting for his results for a long time, and several soldiers on a crane motorcycle parked nearby, were already looking at it.

"A line of defense, behind which there are two heavy fire support points, here, here, and here, is the position of three machine guns!" The Scout also wore a camouflage made of straw on top of his head, which shook slightly as he spoke.

"Excellent! Very detailed! The radio message we got just now was that the tank unit was about 2 kilometers behind us......" and pointed to the place behind us, and the commander of the reconnaissance vehicle told everyone good news.

Everyone who heard the news rejoiced, after all, in 10 minutes, it was simply impossible for the Soviets to complete the line of defense in front of them.

"Rest in place for 10 minutes! Wait until the tanks behind come up and break through the defense, and then we move on! "After giving the order to rest, the commander of the reconnaissance vehicle arranged for two people to deploy a guard post in the direction of a possible attack by the enemy.

Everyone here is a battle-hardened scout, and their caution is innate, deep in their bones.

……

When the war returned to the frequency that Germany preferred, the Soviet Union began to be extremely passive.

Advancing in the field, although the German troops were plagued by mud, the Soviets were also plagued by mud.

The KV-1 tank's already poor suspension system, as well as the gearbox of the pit daddy, have now become the hardest hit by paralysis.

One after another, the tanks were parked halfway through, either unable to reach the front line or retreating to the rear.

Along the railway and highway routes, which spread from Krupki to Orsha, there were weapons and equipment discarded by Soviet troops everywhere.

Including artillery and tanks, and groups of infantry that could not retreat to a safe area. These became trophies for Germany and a hidden danger for the Orsha defense line of the Soviet army.

The lack of sufficient troops is the biggest problem that Budyonny is facing now, and his follow-up forces cannot be put in place, so the defense line cannot be secured.

The German troops were advancing very fast, and Budyonny knew about this, and he also attached great importance to the speed of the advance of the German armored forces.

But even so, he did not accurately estimate the actual speed of advance of the German armored forces.

While he was still fantasizing that his troops could strengthen the defensive line near Orsha before the Germans arrived, a large number of German scouts had already been spotted near Orsha.

The sides of Orsha's line immediately became precarious, and German soldiers broke through several Soviet strongholds, leaving Orsha surrounded on three sides.

Under these circumstances, Budyonny did not dare to throw his troops into the Orsha defense at all, and he had to retreat most of his troops to Smolensk.

"Mogilev must be defended, it is an important communication node, if the Germans go south, they will inevitably seize it as a transit point!" Looking at the map, Budyonny said with some depression.

His defensive front is simply too long, and his defense has more than doubled since losing Krupki.

In the north, he was to hold on to the important city of Vitebsk; To the south, he had to defend the important town of Mogilev.

There was room for error on both sides, and Stalin was already so annoyed by his defeat that he had to personally oversee the battle in the hope of preventing the Soviet rout.

Vitebsk was the barrier to Smolensk, and to lose it was to say that the northern gate of Smolensk was occupied by Germany.

And Mogilev is even more important, because the Soviet military top brass has always been worried that the German Army Group Center will move south, and the loss of Mogilev will infinitely magnify this fear.

If Mogilev is lost and the German army moves south, then the southern corps of the Soviet army, which is supported in Ukraine, will fall into annihilation.

At that time, it will not only be the grain plain of Ukraine that will be lost, but also many industrial cities will become direct targets for the German army.

Once the Germans entered the Caucasus, they could threaten Stalingrad to the west, and seize the Black Sea and Sevastopol to the south.

Together with the Baku oil fields, which could be destroyed by the German bomber group, the losses of the USSR can be said to be all-round.

So. In the eyes of the Soviet leadership, Mogilev was absolutely inmissible. Because of this, Budyonny threw all the forces he could find to Mogilev.

Frontally, he could only stop the German advance with some remnants of the defeat. Including the defense of important Smolensk, and Moscow behind Smolensk.

"The order of the great leader Stalin...... Take a step back and shoot immediately! "This is the order that Budyonny has received, and it is a task that he can only accomplish with his life.