"Oh? The Germans began to evacuate the useless population of Warsaw? ”

On May 16, 1942, the day after the Royal Polish Government declared a state of emergency and issued the "Warsaw Compulsory Evacuation Order". Stalin www.biquge.info the father of the Soviet Union, Stalin, received the report that the forced evacuation of cities with a population of millions showed that the Germans were well aware that Poland was actively under the onslaught of the Soviet Red Army!

"Does that mean the Germans know we're going to attack?" Stalin asked Voroshilov and Zhukov.

"I think so," said Zhukov, "we also got information that two days earlier Reich Defense Minister Hersmann had inspected the positions of the Polish Wehrmacht on the west bank of the Bug River. After his departure, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Defense Forces, Nicholas Tholas. Feng. Admiral Falkenhorst immediately issued a first-class combat readiness order, and now the entire Polish defense force was already in a state of imminent combat. ”

"It seems that Comrade Molotov's activities in Berlin did not have the desired effect." As Stalin spoke, the shredded pipe was slowly poured into his carved pipe from an unscrewed tin can. Molotov's trip to Berlin was not in the "Thunderstorm Plan", but he came up with it on the spur of the head.

Stalin simply said lightly: "This is also normal, millions of Workers' and Peasants' Red Army are already assembled in the border areas, and if the Germans are unaware, it will be abnormal." ”

"But it's too late for them to evacuate the population," Voroshilov said to Stalin with a smile, "and it will take at least a month to evacuate millions of people, and according to reliable information, the Zhukov Germans did not build many fortifications outside Warsaw, which is just a large undefended city." Before the Germans turned it into a city fortress, millions of Workers' and Peasants' Red Army soldiers must have fought under Warsaw. ”

Although this space-time world war has been fought for almost three years, it has not fought a truly tragic urban battle. Therefore, although Voroshilov also knew that large cities with tall and sturdy buildings were not easy to fight, he did not take them too seriously.

Stalin turned his eyes to Zhukov again, and Zhukov nodded slightly, also agreeing with Voroshilov's statement. After all, it is already mid-May, and there is only half a month left before the thunderstorm starts on June 1 and 6. Even if the Germans realized that the Soviet Red Army was about to attack, they probably would not have had time to mobilize more troops for the war - according to the intelligence of the Main Directorate of Soviet Military Intelligence, the Germans focused their expansion on the navy and air force after the Battle of France. The size of the army has not increased significantly, and the armored forces have not been significantly expanded.

In terms of army strength, the Soviet Red Army was already able to overwhelm the German army, and the German army was still fighting on two fronts - before the Soviet Union launched a heavy thunderstorm assault, the British army would launch a counteroffensive on the island of Ireland first!

According to Zhukov's estimates, once the Red Army began to attack, it would only take three days to advance under the city of Warsaw.

In Zhukov's opinion, there was no need to storm the brigade-level circular defensive positions scattered all over the east of Warsaw and on the west bank of the Bug River, and it was enough to surround them with a tactical cluster of 10,000 men, and dozens of brigade-level circular defensive positions would be surrounded by 30 infantry divisions. According to the plan of the heavy thunderstorm, the ground forces of the Red Army for the attack on Warsaw had 162 divisions, and 30 and 132 divisions were used, which was enough to take Warsaw.

In addition, although those brigade-level ring positions were placed next to the main communication routes and railway lines, the Soviet Red Army would not be able to use the Polish railway network without removing them, and road transportation would also be affected.

But Warsaw is only 1560 kilometers east of the Bug River, and supplies are transported by truck, even if it is two or three hundred kilometers from the top of the road. This may still be a problem for the Red Army, which a year ago had only 140,000 cars of poor quality in the entire three western military districts. However, for the Red Army's Western Third Military District (Front), which has now doubled the number of trucks with US aid, this is not a problem at all.

Stalin had already set his pipe on fire, took two puffs, and finally said in a calm voice: "June 1 will be the day of the beginning of the world revolution, and every Bolshevik and Soviet, from this day onwards, will fulfill their sacred duty - to fight for the cause of human liberation!" ”

……

"Shelling! Take cover! ”

As soon as the shouts started, the sharp and piercing whistling sound was already cut through the air, even if the Nazi superman Otto. Captain Skorzny stuffed his ear holes with his fingers, and the annoying whistling sound was still able to pierce everything, shaking his brain and pounding his heart!

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble......

The ensuing explosions began to pound the ground violently, and the powerful shockwave formed a violent wave of air, and countless tiny shrapnel turned into the scythe of death, sweeping through everything. The earth shook violently, as if the whole world had been distorted. With his head in his hands and his knees on his chest, Skorzny, who had just been promoted, curled up at the bottom of the icy and muddy trench in a standard cannon-dodging posture, waiting for the end of this round of shelling with the mentality that I am Superman, not cannon fodder.

His Moonlight Squadron was an improvised company-sized tactical unit that was disbanded a few days after the airborne operation in Dublin. And Otto. Skorzny was decorated and promoted, and is now a captain company commander of the 19th Company of the 11th Parachute Regiment of the 7th Airborne Division. His 19th Paratrooper Regiment was deployed on May 5 to the small town of Trim, located 41 kilometres northwest of Dublin, on a key road. Through this road, the British armoured units were able to make a detour to the right flank of Dublin.

And Otto. The 11th Company, led by Skorzny, was sent to the bend of the Boyne River, dug trenches according to the standards of field positional warfare, and planted a number of anti-tank mines in the direction where tanks could pass.

The British were in Otto. The day after Skorzny arrived in Triem, he also rushed north of the town of Trim. Because the number of troops that drove over was significantly greater than that of the 19th Parachute Regiment, and there were tank units following, the 19th Parachute Regiment did not dare to take the initiative to attack, but chose to dig trenches to defend it.

However, the British army did not attack immediately, but began to make slow preparations - digging trenches, repairing roads, laying artillery positions and anti-aircraft positions, and working in a hurry, step by step, for several days, until May 15, when artillery bombardment and a coordinated attack of infantry and tanks began.

And as soon as the British opened fire, the battle-hardened Otto. Captain Skorzny knew he and his men had a tough battle to fight this time.

Because the British artillery fire was unexpectedly fierce, it was obviously not an artillery group attached to a division-level combat unit that could be fired, but the combined force of several divisional or army-affiliated artillery clusters.

Every time an artillery bombardment was carried out, dozens of scattered 18-pounder, 25-pounder, 4.5-inch (115-mm) guns, and 5.5-inch (140mm) guns were fired at the same time, and after 10 to 15 minutes of bombardment, they were replaced by dozens of other identical cannons to open fire in order to avoid German air raids. A complete artillery bombardment is often carried out by three or four artillery groups, alternating between one and four artillery groups, for one hour and a half hours, before infantry and tanks are dispatched to launch a round of attacks along the Boyne River (the Boyen River does not run east-west in this area, but from north to south, so not all sections can be defended by the river).

Although one hour or one and a half hours is not a long time, every minute is so long for the people who are shelled, even for German Superman. So much so that Otto. Captain Skorzny was a little anxious that the British tanks and infantry would come up soon.

After a long time, the sound of the landslide and tsunami of shelling finally changed from dense to dense, and after a while, the last dull roar brought the endless round of shelling to an end.

"Attention, attention, prepare for battle!"

Otto. With a shout, Skorzny picked up his FG42 paratrooper rifle and stood up from the anti-artillery trench, and ran along the trench to the forward position. As for the rest of the supermen in the trenches (the paratroopers are all elites), they all got up and ran to the front without the supervision of the platoon commander and squad leader. Guns, steel helmets, water bottles, mortars, and recoilless gun barrels collided with each other, converging in the trenches into a pre-battle sound, and tension quickly spread.

Otto. Skorzny reached the front line at the point where the Boyne River bends and flows north, so on the left is a river thirty or forty meters wide, and 2,000 meters away on the right is an ancient castle, which I don't know what great nobles left behind. It was now an important support point for the entire defensive line, where the 1st Paratrooper Company of the 19th Parachute Regiment was guarded, and further to the right were the positions of the 4th and 5th Companies of the 19th Parachute Regiment.

In addition, the 3rd Company of the 7th Anti-Tank Battalion of the 7th Airborne Division, with 12 PAK38 50mm anti-tank guns, was scattered and deployed dozens of meters behind the rear of the 4 paratroopers and parachute anti-tank companies. The 12 PLAK30 20mm anti-aircraft guns belonging to the 1st Company of the 7th Battalion of the parachute anti-aircraft artillery were also dispersed and deployed in the same way.

About 1.5 kilometres behind the defensive line formed by these six companies is a road to Dublin. The raised roadbed became another line of defense, where the main forces of the 19th Parachute Regiment were located. In the farmland south of the road, two tank batteries belonging to the Marine Corps were deployed, with 30 mobile No. 3 tanks and four Crusader cruiser tanks captured from the town of Sworth. Further south, there is an artillery battalion of the 7th Parachute Artillery Regiment armed with 105mm LG40 recoilless guns and 150mm LG42 recoilless guns.

The roar of a motor suddenly came from far and near. A nervous expression suddenly appeared on Skorzny's otherwise relaxed face. He hurriedly raised his binoculars and searched the flat farmland to the north, and hundreds of steel monsters staggered out of the horizon.

Otto. Skorzny shouted: "Tank! It's a cluster of tanks, hundreds of tanks, and the Brits are really back! Hurry up and rack up the recoilless gun! ”

This time, the British army invested hundreds of Churchill tanks, Crusader cruiser tanks, M3 Grant/Lee tanks and some other auxiliary armored combat vehicles to lead the dense infantry to launch a surging offensive! (To be continued.) )