May 1, 1944. In the midst of www.biquge.info the rumbling roar in the distance, there was a tense and busy atmosphere everywhere around the small town of Klin on the Red October Railway Line. The Red Army infantry of the brigade, towed A-19 cannons, ZIS-2 anti-tank guns and ZIS-3 cannons, as well as low-profile SU-57 tank destroyers with slender barrels, rumbled from outside the city from somewhere at night.

Looking at the high morale and well-equipped appearance of these officers and men, we can see that they are not a reserve front army that has been fighting hard for many days, but a fresh force from Moscow.

By the time of April 30, the Reserve Front under the command of Marshal Konev had completed all the tasks of blocking the attack, and its strength had dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 250,000.

In the 10 days of hard fighting, at least 250,000 soldiers were killed and seriously wounded...... Or betrayed the cause of GCISM - as a prisoner!

Moreover, most of the heavy equipment of the reserve front army was also lost in 10 days of hard fighting. To this extent, the reserve front army can be regarded as disabled. So on the night of April 30, the Red Army High Command gave Marshal Konev an order to withdraw from the battlefield and go to the territory of the Vladimir region to recuperate.

Large numbers of recruits from the East and weapons and equipment produced in the Ural industrial zone or transported through the "lifeline" of the North Pacific are waiting in the old city of Vladimir to be received by the reserve front.

According to the plan, Konev's front had two months to expand, reorganize and train. It will change from the original heavy troops to relatively light troops.

The SU-57 tank destroyer, the American M1 57mm anti-tank gun, the ZIS-3 76.2mm cannon and the M1938 122mm howitzer will become heavy weapons in the hands of the units under the Reserve Front. At the same time, the number of trucks and automobiles will be greatly reduced, and they will be replaced by horse-drawn carts and horse-pulling horses -- that is, in the future, the three group armies to which the reserve front army belongs will regress from motorized units to "horse-pulling" units.

And such a regression, of course, is to adapt to the increasingly severe situation. As the Soviet Union's industrial strength had regressed due to the defeat in the war, it was no longer able to supply a large number of heavy troops.

Therefore, the comprehensive lightweight reform will be initiated after the victory in the First Battle of Moscow - although the Red Army High Command is more optimistic about the general battle ahead, they do not think that they can drive the European coalition forces far from Moscow.

So there will be a second, third, or even fourth battle of Moscow in the future......

In place of the Reserve Front, which was deployed along the Kling and Red October railways (the section from Kalinin to Moscow), it was Nikolai who drove out from Moscow. Ivanovich. The 62nd Army of the Soviet Red Army under the command of Colonel-General Krylov.

At this time, the 62nd Army was established to defend Moscow, and there was no command organ at the corps level under the group army, but it directly commanded 9 infantry divisions, including the 87th, 98th, 112th, 131st, 196th, 229th, 244th, 315th, and 399th Infantry, as well as the 23rd Separate Tank Destroyer Regiment (equipped with U.S.-aided M10 tank destroyers) and the 20th Tank Destroyer Brigade (equipped with Soviet-made SU-57 tank destroyers). With a total strength of 130,000 troops, it is a typical "heavy" infantry army.

However, because the main mission of the army group is to defend the city, it does not have many vehicles, so it has little mobility. The heavy artillery of the army group was dragged out of Moscow by the automobile regiment directly under the Central Front, and placed in the preset artillery fire base east of the Red October railway line -- the Red October railway line between Moscow and Kalinin was of course the focus of the Soviets' fortifications, and a large triangular heavy artillery pit and armored trenches were built on the east side of the Red October railway line, and there were also simple roads connecting the heavy artillery craters, which could be used to drag the artillery on horseback and transfer it in a relatively short time.

In addition, in order to protect against strikes from the air. In the vicinity of these heavy artillery pits, the Soviets also built a large number of semi-permanent anti-aircraft gun/anti-aircraft fire points. Skillfully deployed with anti-armoured trenches, these fires can be used against enemies from the air, as well as infantry and lightly armored targets, making them the patron saints of heavy artillery.

A defensive system consisting of barbed wire, anti-tank trenches, anti-tank mines, anti-infantry mines, infantry trenches, various well-dug fire strongholds, semi-permanent fortifications, and camouflaged roads (in which trees on both sides of the road were tied up with a large number of ropes or wires, and branches were placed on the ropes or wires to cover the road) were lined up along the western side of the Red October railway line, blocking the way of the German 48th Panzer Army.

In the early morning of May 1, just as the Soviet 62nd Army had just completed its takeover of the positions on the western line of the Red October Railway, bombs and rockets dropped by the Luftwaffe swept over their positions like a wind. In an instant, high and low plumes of smoke soared into the sky at the same time above the Soviet front. The intensity of this air attack was greater than any previous air attack by the Soviet army, not only a large number of Fw-190F/G, Hs-129 and French Br.720 attack aircraft and fighter-bombers capable of accurately striking ground targets, but also hundreds of sorties of Do217 and Ju188, dropping thousands of tons of bombs and white phosphorus incendiary bombs. Suddenly turned the Soviet positions into a sea of fire!

The reaction of the Soviet troops was also timely. Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns of various calibers reacted almost immediately and began to fire fiercely into the air. But the German air raids were so fierce, and the Hs-129 attack aircraft and Br.720 attack aircraft (a derivative of the French Br.690) were so strong that they could weave through the fire nets fired by 12.7mm Deshka anti-aircraft machine guns and 25mm anti-aircraft guns, while also firing a string of rockets and even 50mm shells. On the exposed anti-aircraft artillery/anti-aircraft positions of the Soviet army, flesh and blood were suddenly flying. The officers and men of the 62nd Army of the Soviet Army were surprised to find that under the overwhelming air superiority of Germany, not only did the daytime troop movement and attack become very dangerous, but even the daytime positional defense became extremely difficult.

The battle lines of the Soviet army are constantly trembling! German self-propelled guns and self-propelled rocket artillery also joined this chorus of ground-to-air firepower. However, they did not shoot at Soviet trenches and firing points, but at minefields, barbed wire, and all sorts of traps and obstacles at the front of anti-tank trenches - which means that the German armored cluster assault will soon begin!

The Soviet artillery counterattack soon began, and their artillery reconnaissance units, although unable to observe them by aircraft, calculated the approximate location of the German artillery group by means of sound measurements. The 122mm and 152mm howitzers and Katyusha rockets deployed on the eastern side of the Red October railway line began a roaring return fire.

However, the position of the German artillery group calculated by sound measurement alone is not accurate, and most of the German artillery/rocket artillery that is firing now are armored "hard targets", and they can quickly maneuver, which cannot be effectively destroyed by howitzers at all.

Therefore, the Soviet artillery counterattack could only attract indiscriminate bombardment by German aircraft, and the threat to the German artillery group was almost non-existent.

In the midst of a hail of bullets, Soviet infantry and artillery observers, who were hiding in several observation posts on the Vysokovsk front, suddenly noticed that the skyrocketing smoke and dust were appearing directly in front of them.

There is no doubt that the armored group is assembling and forming, and the position they are holding is about to be attacked by the German armored group!

Only ten minutes later, the conjecture was confirmed, and hundreds of armored vehicles with camouflage paint with an earthy yellow background suddenly appeared in their sight.

From the analysis of the appearance of these vehicles, the "Grizzly" assault guns and Tiger tanks, which were officially designed specifically to break through the positions of the Soviet troops!

"In front of the Vysokovsk Front, in front of the headquarters of the 229th Infantry Division, there was a German armored assault cluster in the No. 3 area, numbering more than 100, with Tiger tanks and Grizzly assault guns, which were attacking our positions!"

The command of the Soviet 62nd Army quickly reacted to the reports from the front, and SU-57 tank destroyers hidden in bunkers immediately went out along the camouflaged road to reinforce the positions of the 229th Infantry Division, which was about to be attacked by the Germans.

Major Schwarzenegger's half-track armored command vehicle also drove out of the starting position with more than 40 Cheetah tank destroyers under his command at this time. These "Cheetahs" are the most dangerous armored killers in the world today, there is no one!

Because they have a 105mm L/68 gun that can effortlessly destroy any known armored vehicle - including themselves - at a safe distance of 2000-3000 meters!

Therefore, the heavy tank destroyer battalion equipped with the "Cheetah" (the number starts with 600) is a trump card in today's German camp, and it is usually subordinate to the army group. In armored assault operations, they will not take the lead, but hide in the rear and use "black artillery" to solve the opponent 2000 meters away.

However, in today's operations, no one thinks that the "Cheetah" will meet the Soviet JS-2 tanks that need their 105mm cannons. Therefore, Major Schwarzenegger's 605th Heavy Tank Destroyer Battalion was used as a self-propelled artillery unit, and all the "Cheetahs" carried only 10 armor-piercing shells, and the remaining 35 shells (the "Cheetah" in this time and space was 10 tons heavier than the "Cheetah" in another plane, but only 45 rounds of ammunition) were all powerful high-explosive anti-personnel shells and armor-piercing shells (used to hit pillboxes)!