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"Report to the commander, the 17th Army is under heavy attack by the Soviet ground forces, various units have been subjected to large-scale air strikes, several warehouses, command posts, and many tanks have been heavily bombarded, and heavy losses have been suffered! Call for air support! ”

On the morning of June 24, the Soviet 6th Army launched a feint attack on four infantry divisions and one armored division under the 17th Army, and the Southwestern Front dispatched three aviation divisions and more than 400 aircraft to form a huge air group and launched a fierce air attack on the German 6th and 17th armies. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ??

News of the air raid soon reached the headquarters of the Wehrmacht's Army Group South, where the commander-in-chief of Army Group South, Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, was still enjoying a delicious breakfast.

Rundstedt took a bite of the omelette and, unhurriedly, asked his adjutant, Major Thomas Wiesel, "Well, what about the situation with the 1st Tank Cluster?" ”

Wisser, pulling out another telegram, said: "According to General Kleist's report, the 1st Tank Group has been progressing very well so far, and has been moving closer to the east since they opened a gap in the Sokal area.

Now the 3rd, 48th Panzer Corps of the 1st Tank Group have advanced 1oo kilometers to the Stel River basin south of Lutsk and are currently moving in the direction of Dubno and Lutsk.

However, the progress of the 6th and 17th armies was not satisfactory, and they were stubbornly blocked by the Soviet 5th and 6th armies respectively, and now the enemy is counterattacking them. ”

"Good, it looks like we're deploying correctly." Rundstedt was quite satisfied with the progress of the 1st Tank Group, and the slow progress of the 6th and 17th armies did not seem to affect his mood either.

Because the task of these two armies was to contain the strength of the Soviet army, protect the left and right flanks of the first tank group, so that the first tank group could successfully open the gap and penetrate into the depth of the Soviet army.

However, this strategic intention had long been seen through by Manturov, the military commissar of the Soviet Southwestern Front, so he put forward the operational plan of "Operation Suvorov", which was perfected by the General Staff and Operations Department of the Front, so that Kleist's Tanji stepped into the trap he had laid.

"Your Excellency, now our strategic plan has indeed been implemented, and the 1st Tank Group has successfully penetrated into the depth of the enemy's forces, but the intelligence from the reconnaissance aircraft just now shows that the Soviet army has made a big move in the direction of Dubno-Rivne, the 5th and 9th Mechanized Divisions are rushing in the direction of Rivne, and the 8th and 22nd Mechanized Corps are also advancing towards Dubno.

In this way, the 1st Tank Group could be attacked by these forces, or even encircled. Do you want to let Yitanji pause its march and wait for the other troops to make progress before continuing to advance? "Major Wiesel was very accurate in his analysis, and predicted the danger of a Tan rally being surrounded by Soviet troops.

"I've thought about that, too," Rundstedt said, taking a sip of his fragrant hot coffee, "but so far, the first tank cluster is fairly safe." We need to capture as much land as we can before the enemy closes the holes in our defenses.

In addition, judging by all indications, the enemy's forces have been pinned down by our 6th and 17th armies, and their main forces are all dealing with the offensive of the 6th and 17th armies, and they are unable to draw up enough troops to pose a threat to the 1st tank group. ”

Rundstedt was right that the main forces of the 5th and 6th armies of the Southwestern Front were indeed pinned down by the two German armies on the north and south flanks of Kleist Tanji, but this did not mean that the Southwestern Front had no additional troops to deploy.

On the afternoon of June 24, the German 3rd Panzer Corps had crossed the Stri River and advanced towards Rivne, almost unimpeded.

Captain Holger Schiller was the company commander of the 1st Mixed Medium Tank Company of the 36th Panzer Regiment, which was part of the 14th Panzer Division of the German 3rd Panzer Corps and consisted of 1o Tank No. 4 and five No. 3 tanks, and was the best-equipped tank company in the entire Panzer Division, if not the entire Kleist cluster.

From the morning, Schiller had been driving his tank four, leading his troops, all the way in the direction of Rivne.

On the way, they encountered almost no resistance, and occasionally encountered small groups of Red Army, but they were easily wiped out with almost no losses.

Along the way, wherever the Germans went, they were welcomed by the people of Western Ukraine. In the early days of the war, the people of Western Ukraine generally regarded the German invading army as a "national liberator" and had too many illusions about the German army, and even some nationalists formed armed forces to engage in sabotage activities in Soviet-controlled areas and support the German army in the war.

On the way, Syller saw the demeanor of Ukrainian beauties with his own eyes. They have sexy figures, delicate facial features, and their sweet smiles, which Schiller will never forget, and he would like to marry one back.

However, as a military man, he had to obey the task, he had to push forward, occupy more territory.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, the 36th Tank Regiment, led by Schiller's No. 4 tank, had advanced to the Marilian area. It was less than 3o kilometers from Lutsk, the base of the Fifth Army, and 4o kilometers further east was their destination, Rivne, a city with a population of more than 1o thousand.

"Captain Schiller, just now we received a warning of an air raid, a huge group of Soviet bombers is flying in our direction, please pay attention to concealment! In addition, our reconnaissance aircraft have a large mechanized cluster in the north-west of Rivne, so please be ready for battle! But at this seemingly calm moment, Schiller received an alert that a fierce battle was about to begin.

A few minutes later, a large group of Soviet bombers appeared at Schiller's head. This fleet consists of three flight divisions and more than 300 aircraft.

Viewed from the ground, almost the entire sky was covered by this huge group of aircraft, and the already dim, cloud-obscured sunlight was blocked by the planes and could barely reach the ground.

"Boom!" There was a sound of thunder in the sky, but this terrifying thunder was the roar of the enemy's aircraft engine.

Seeing such a large group of planes passing over his head, a cold sweat broke out on Schiller's head, as long as any PE-2 bomber swooped down and dropped two bombs, this No. 4 tank would become its own grave.

Fortunately, these conditions did not survive for the time being, and his tank company was not attacked, and the tanks were undamaged and continued to advance in the direction of Rivne.

However, after another two minutes, the nightmare still befell him. A kilometer ahead of him, a medium tank appeared. Subsequently, a second, a third, appeared...... The seventh. 8