At the same time as the fierce fighting between the Soviet and German armies, the atmosphere at the headquarters of the Southwestern Front in Ternopil was relatively calm. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

There, you will not hear gunfire, you will not hear the sound of artillery, and even less the roar of the "Stuka" dive bombers and the sound of tracks as the four tanks advance.

What was heard was the hurried footsteps of the Red Army soldiers, the conversation of the officers, and the "tick-tock" sound of the telegraph.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army, General Georgy Zhukov, pointed to the corresponding position of the military sand table and explained the current situation to Manturov, the military commissar of the Southwestern Front, "Vladimir Fedorovich, now the 1st tank group of the German army is gathering a large number of troops in the area of Bostaichiko and Radomiché.

In my judgment, they should have attacked the 8th and 22nd Mechanized Corps of our army from the western side of the encirclement, and relieved the encirclement of the 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps of the German army at Demytivka and Torgovizia.

I have informed the commander of the 8th Mechanized Corps, Comrade Ryabishev, and the commander of the 22nd Mechanized Corps, Comrade Tamluch, to prepare for the transfer of troops to cope with the actions of the German troops and prevent the Germans from breaking the siege from the western flank. ”

Manturov looked at the military sand table, thought for a while, and then said: "Georgi, then do you think the German Army Group South will draw troops from the 6th and 17th armies to reinforce the 1st tank group?" In this case, the 8th and 22nd Mechanized Corps will have to face more enemies, and we may need to mobilize more forces to stop them. ”

"Probably not." Military wizard Zhukov analyzed: "At present, the strength of the German 6th and 17th armies has been pinned down by the 5th and 6th armies of our army.

It will not be possible for them to draw excess forces from these two army groups, and even if they do, they will not be more than one division. Because they were unable to draw troops, they had to ask Army Group Center for help.

Army Group Center transferred the most elite German divisions of the Wehrmacht and the most elite Reich divisions of the SS to attack our northern flank, which should be to contain the strength of our 5th Army, reduce the pressure on the German 6th Army, and free them to move their troops, reinforce the Kleist cluster, and break our encirclement. ”

Manturov frowned and made a decision about the next situation, "If this is the case, we must speed up the progress of Operation Suvorov and destroy the enemy's 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps as soon as possible." In this way, we will be able to draw more forces and repel the reinforcements of the German Army Group Center. ”

Zhukov thought for a moment and said: "Volodya, just now I received a report from General Rokossovsky that he will concentrate his forces and command the 9th Mechanized Army to launch an offensive against the German 13th Panzer Division in half an hour, and strive to destroy the 13th Panzer Division before dawn."

Now that the enemy's 14th Panzer Division and the 25th Motorized Infantry Division have surrendered to us, as long as the 13th Panzer Division is also destroyed, we will be able to achieve the goal of destroying the German 3rd Panzer Corps.

The 9th Mechanized Corps would then be able to move north to support the 5th Army, which, together with the 19th Mechanized Corps, would be able to counter the German 46th Panzer Corps and relieve the pressure on Potapov's (commander of the 5th Army). ”

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By the morning of June 26, the remaining units of the German 48th Panzer Corps had been besieged by Soviet forces in the vicinity of Pochma, Kling and Vinica, occupying a narrow strip of land 13 kilometers long and 7 kilometers wide.

A few hours earlier, the 14th Panzer Division and the 25th Motorized Rifle Division of the 3rd Panzer Corps had been routed by the combined efforts of the Soviet 22nd Mechanized Corps and the 9th Mechanized Corps, and finally surrendered to the Soviets, leaving only the 13th Panzer Division and some stragglers who refused to surrender to resist.

In the early morning of June 26, in order to complete the task as soon as possible, the 9th Mechanized Corps, under the command of General Rokossovsky, the "hero of adversity", concentrated its forces and laid siege to the German 13th Panzer Division.

The 13th Panzer Division, which was inferior in strength and equipment, had no resistance in the face of the superior 9th Mechanized Corps, and they were defeated one after another, being divided, surrounded, and eliminated by Rokossovsky's troops, and finally at 5 a.m. on June 26, the 13th Panzer Division and the 3rd Panzer Corps surrendered to the Soviets.

After the 3rd Panzer Corps was wiped out, Operation Suvorov was almost half completed. The purpose of this operation was to eliminate the 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps, the core and main force of the German 1st Tank Group.

Historically, the first tank cluster of the German army once caused a lot of trouble for the Soviet army. In the Battle of Uman, this unit, together with the German 17th Army, surrounded and annihilated the Soviet 6th and 12th armies, resulting in 100,000 Soviet casualties and 100,000 prisoners.

However, the Battle of Uman was only the beginning, and soon after, the 1st Tank Group, under the command of General Kleist, advanced north in the area of Kremenchug, and on September 16, the 24th Panzer Corps with Heinz Guderian joined the division at Rokfetersha, 120 kilometers east of Kiev, and completed the encirclement of 600,000 Soviet troops, eliminating 43 divisions of the Soviet Southwestern Front, causing 160,000 Soviet casualties and capturing 450,000 Soviet troops, which was the largest encirclement battle in history - the Battle of Kiev.

However, Kyiv is not the end of the road to victory for the 1st tank cluster. By May 1942, this force had surrounded and eliminated 270,000 Soviet troops southeast of Kharkov for the Second Battle of Kharkiv.

In general, the 1st Tank Group inflicted heavy casualties on the Soviet Red Army in later battles. As a traverser, Manturov did not want to see the tragedy of Uman, Kyiv, and Kharkov, so after he took over as military commissar of the Southwestern Front, he did whatever it took to eliminate the main force of the 1st tank group in Western Ukraine - the 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps.

As long as these two armies are eliminated, the combat effectiveness of the 1st Tank Group will be greatly reduced. They will lose half of their troops, and 90% of their tanks, and will no longer be able to launch blitzkriegs.

After that, not to mention the Battle of Kyiv, it is also questionable whether Kleist can win the Battle of Uman.

As long as Manturov eliminated the 3rd and 48th Panzer Corps, the German army would no longer have the conditions to launch the Uman campaign, or even the Kiev and Kharkov battles, and Manturov would be able to avoid three battles, with a total of 1 million casualties and save the lives of 1 million Soviet youth!

The significance of this small operation, only "100,000 magnitude", can be compared with the "million-magnitude" Battle of Stalingrad and the Battle of Moscow, which can only be understood by Manturov and Katya, who are traversers. (To be continued.) )