Pavlov's luck was indeed very bad, only on the fourth day after the counterattack of the German Army Group Center. The Germans penetrated 200 kilometers into Belarus from both flanks of the Western Front, so that the main forces of the Western Front in the Bialystok salient completely fell into the pockets of the Germans.

In line with this, Field Marshal Bock's encirclement was also supported by Germany's largest air force.

The Second Air Force, commanded by Catherine with nearly 1,000 aircraft, would be responsible for clearing out all remaining Soviet air forces in Belarus and carrying out sustained and heavy bombardment of any Soviet ground activity inside and outside the pocket.

Such a pincer encirclement tactic, coupled with a combined attack of double pockets and air strikes, would not have been able to crack even if Pavlov was in his headquarters.

Senior General Pavlov, who was staying at the headquarters of the 13th Army, was indeed completely frightened by the rapid German offensive, and since he was no longer in the front headquarters, he did not have enough information on the whole front, did not know what the situation of his other two armies was, and did not know what actions the Germans were taking.

From the orders he ordered, he could clearly feel that this mediocre man had been completely overwhelmed by Marshal Bock's huge wave attack, and his spirit had begun to collapse.

Kuznetsov's 2nd Army was better, Pavlov knew that the other party was an assertive person, so on the evening of June 23, he only gave a life to the 10th Army from the headquarters of the 13th Army:

"Comrade Commander of the Tenth Army, why didn't your mechanized corps attack? Whose fault is this? Act immediately, do not panic, but command. You should strike at the enemy in an organized manner, not run around without a command. You should know where each division is, when it will take what action and what the result will be......."

As a result, when the commander of the 10th Army received such an incoherent order, he did not know what Pavlov was trying to express, nor did he understand what strategic goals the Daoist Front needed from their 10th Army.

It is only that Pavlov's order is issued and is meaningless.

And in his front headquarters, General Kuznetsov of the 2nd Army had to work part-time as the commander of the Front, leaving the original command of the 2nd Army to the chief of staff and coordinating the overall situation himself.

But Kuznetsov needed time to get used to it, and during this time, Bock's tank cluster was already dividing his forces to bypass the Bialystok salient.

If someone can immediately issue an order at this time to immediately withdraw the three armies of the Western Front from the danger zone, it may be too late to escape from the encirclement.

But Pavlov was not in the command at all, and Kuznetsov, who was temporarily in battle, did not understand the specific situation, so he could only reluctantly pack what he learned and send it to Pavlov.

Pavlov, who received Kuznetsov's news, even thought for a while that the German tank cluster was going deep alone and the supply line was elongated, and he misjudged that this was the time to return fire.

Perhaps the defeat suffered by the Western Front in the previous three days was too heavy, and Pavlov was convinced that he would hardly bear the blame for this defeat.

Of course, he guessed correctly. Stalin would not let him go, especially after he had already boasted about Haikou and slandered Zhukov. Once he can't fight on his own, the mistakes he made before will probably be liquidated together.

At the top of the Soviet Union, many people already knew the details of Pavlov's incompetence. Once he fails miserably, his mediocre nature is exposed, and basically no one will speak for him.

It is only on his own, if the situation is saved, it is fine, if it continues to deteriorate, Pavlov understands that his fate will not be better than Zhukov.

If it had been Zhukov, it is estimated that the troops would have been forced to retreat as they had done in the Southwestern Front.

Even a military commander should understand how foolish it is to continue to let troops stay in the territory that is about to be encircled.

But Pavlov is different, he thinks more about political influence, as well as his own personal interests.

Cowardly, he lost his sober reason in this moment of crisis. He fantasized that only by attacking boldly and desperately could he save the defeat and make up for the huge mistakes he had already made.

At this time, his mind was full of how to redeem his mistakes, but he couldn't think of the lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Western Front under him, and he couldn't think of the duty of guarding Belarus and guarding the gateway to Moscow.

This is the biggest difference between Pavlov and Zhukov, he only knows that he is responsible for himself, while Zhukov is responsible for the country.

Pavlov immediately ordered all the reserves of the army group and the front army to be transferred forward, in an attempt to remove the threat of the German frontal infantry divisions to the Stoke salient.

However, in this way, the Minsk region left a vacuum, and more troops were crammed into the front line, which made the German tactics of interspersing and encirclement more complete.

This order of Baryalov was tantamount to sending more troops into the pockets of the German troops, and at the same time handing the tethers of the pockets to Field Marshal Bock of the German Army Group Center.

At the same time, after Kuznetsov reported that there was no commander in the command of the Western Front, Marshal Shaposhnikov, who was urgently sent by Stalin to serve as a representative of the command of the Western Front, had already arrived in the command and discovered the dangerous situation of the Western Front.

Next, Kuznetsov returned to his 2nd Army headquarters on June 25, while Shaposhnikov, who remained at the General Headquarters of the Western Front, hastened to report to the Soviet High Command about the possible encirclement of the Western Front.

After the report, Shaposhnikov sent a telegram to Pavlov at the headquarters of the 13th Army, asking the other side to quickly withdraw its troops from the Bialystok salient and move to the old fortified line at the rear.

Pavlov, who was bent on redeeming his merits and driving the Germans back to the place of departure, could not listen to Marshal Shaposhnikov's request, and did not reply to Shaposhnikov's telegram at all, pretending not to see it.

"What the hell is that Pavlov guy doing!" At the Soviet high command, Stalin's anxious mouth had a little trembling pipe.

First of all, there was no one in the headquarters of the Front, and the representatives of the former high command were sent to command the troops that could not move and were transferred to the front line by Pavlov. If this continues, even Stalin, an amateur military commander, can see that the Western Front is estimated to be encircled.

It is not new that the German army is good at encirclement tactics, and what is new is that there are always generals who will be encircled.

"Send an order to the Western Front in my name," after thinking about it, Stalin had no choice but to personally transfer the troops of the Western Front: "Let the 3rd and 10th armies withdraw eastward to the Lida, Snonym, Pinsk line." Execute it now! ”u