After receiving the order of Marshal Bock, Guderian had to stop his eastward advance and had to transfer his main forces back to the area around Slonim and launch an attack on the eastern flank of the Soviet 4th and 10th armies. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, by the time Guderian's main forces arrived at the designated place and were about to attack, the main forces of the Soviet Third Army had successfully retreated to the vicinity of Gatlovo and Novogrudok, and filled the void between Lida and Slonim.

Under such circumstances, the German army's intention to encircle the Soviet army between Lida and Slonim was basically frustrated, because between Lida and Slonim was the main force of the Western Front of the Soviet Red Army, which was composed of three army groups

It was not an easy task for the two German armies to pass through this encirclement, which had been successfully encircled by three armies in the vicinity of Lida and Slonim.

Even though they launched several offensives and dealt a lot of blows to the main forces of the Soviet army, they failed to open half a gap in the Soviet front, and they could only watch as the main forces of the Soviet army retreated to the "Manturov Line" west of Minsk.

Soon after, after the Ukrainian government completed the withdrawal of industrial facilities in Western Ukraine, the Southwestern Front also began to retreat to the old border, retreating to the "Manturov Line" to defend itself.

By mid-July, the Soviet units had largely completed their retreat and were deployed on the "Manturov Line", while the Germans had also occupied the land west of the old Soviet border after the Soviet retreat and confronted the Soviets in front of the Manturov Line.

After the retreat, the situation of the Western Front improved, and with the arrival of the 13th, 16th, 19th, 20th, 21st, 22nd armies, the strength of the Western Front was greatly strengthened, exceeding 1.3 million men.

Even so, there is still a gap between this front army with more than one million troops and the German Army Group Center with 1.45 million troops, and considering that the Soviet army has more advanced aircraft and tanks, as well as the protection of strong fortresses, the combat strength of the two sides is quite close.

With the arrival of new tanks and replenishment, as well as improvements in supply and logistics, the combat strength of the Soviet Southwestern Front has been slightly improved during this period. Faced with the German Army Group South, which had fewer troops and the main force of 6 divisions was annihilated, the Southwestern Front even had the conditions for a counteroffensive.

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"Comrade Manturov, are you sure this is an anti-tank pillbox?"

The commander of the Southwestern Front of the Soviet Red Army, Colonel-General Kirponos, stood in front of a "country house" and did not look like a legendary anti-tank fortress in any way.

"Comrade Kirponos, why should I lie to you?" Manturov, who single-handedly upgraded this line of defense, pointed to the position of the gun hole, "This is the gun hole of the pillbox, which is right on the road ahead. ”

Kirponos looked at the legendary "cannon hole" and then looked at the road where the hole was pointed with his telescope, and said, "Yes, this bunker is in an ideal position, and when the enemy tanks or convoys pass by, they will surely be able to deal a fatal blow to them." ”

The commander of the 5th Army, Potapov, was also surprised by the camouflage technology of this pillbox, and no matter how he looked at it, he did not think that this "country house" in front of him was actually a strong anti-tank pillbox. "Comrade Manturov, this bunker is so much like a farmhouse that I can't tell the difference between the two, how did you do it?"

"Come with me." Manturov, with two generals, walked up to the bunker, disguised as a country farmhouse, and pointed: "Actually, it's very simple, on the outside of the concrete fortress, it is enough to build the outer walls of the country farmhouse out of wood." ”

Potapov stretched out his hand, touched the wooden façade of the "country farmhouse", then squatted down, put his hand into the running hole, touched the barrel of the ZIS-3 assault gun, and praised: "Not bad." Then, when the enemy tanks pass by, we will be able to catch him by surprise. ”

The Chief of Staff of the Front, Pulkaev, laughed rudely a few times, and had a good vision for the future of the war, "Hehe, when they found this fortress, it is estimated that this anti-tank gun has already eliminated a tank company!" ”

This fortress, both camouflage and assault capabilities, was relatively good by the standards of the time. But in the face of the German "fortress commando", I am afraid that it will be difficult to escape the doom of being occupied by the enemy, or even destroyed.

As a traverser, Manturov predicted the danger brought by the German fortress commando, he said: "Comrade Kirponos, Comrade Potapov, Comrade Pulkaev, although this fortress has a certain camouflage ability, and it should also have a good performance in terms of attack firepower and assault ability, but in front of the German 'fortress commando', I am afraid we may not be their opponents."

Speaking of this, the three generals present all showed puzzled expressions. Neither Kirponos, Potapov, nor Pulkaev understood the Germans' methods of dealing with the fortresses.

"Fortress commandos?" Potapov asked.

"Yes," Manturov said, referring to what he knew about the German fortified assault units, "there was a kind of commando in the German army that specialized in dealing with fortifications. Already during the last world war, they invented a tactic of breaking through the opposing side's fortifications with assault teams.

After so many years, this set of tactics should have been perfected, otherwise they would not have been able to easily break through the French and Polish defenses on the battlefields of France and Poland. ”

"I've heard of this tactic, but I don't know the details, only that these troops are made up of sappers and light artillery." Kirponos said.

Manturov knew that the Germans had such a set of tactics, but he did not know the details. "Comrade Kirponos, what would you do if you were German?"

Kirponos thought for a moment and analyzed: "If I were the commander of the German army, I would first blast open the front of the Red Army fortress with artillery or by burying a large amount of explosives.

Then, let the sappers and infantry approach the fortress, or even storm the fortress, to eliminate the defenders in the fortifications. ”

Kirponos's judgment is not much different from the historical approach of the German army, except that the Germans generally do not choose to storm the fortress, but will use flamethrowers outside the fortress to kill the enemy inside.

"If the enemy uses flamethrowers, it will cause great problems for the Red Army soldiers in the fortifications." Potapov accurately analyzed the tactics of the German fortress commandos.

Kilbonos began to frown and said, "It seems that we have to find a way to avoid the enemy from approaching the fortifications. ”

"Yes." Manturov further described the defense line that bears his name, "We took this into account when upgrading the defense, so we added several points of fire in different fortresses.

However, we have not studied whether these firepower points can cover the entire range, whether there are blind spots, etc. We don't know how effective it will be.

Moreover, from the battle on June 22, our soldiers performed very badly in the defensive battle of the fortress, and perhaps we can hold a defensive exercise in the fortress before the German army has been assembled.

This not only improves the defense of the fortress of the warriors, but also allows us to find blind spots that cannot be covered by firepower. ”

"Okay." Kilponos carefully analyzed the current situation and felt that the German Army Group South would not attack in a short time due to the lack of troops, and the Soviets still had time to conduct an exercise, so he agreed to Manturov's proposal. (To be continued.) )