The "Red Guard" plan formulated by Zhukov and others was not complicated, that is, to concentrate as many troops as possible and JS-2 tanks and T-34/85 tanks to be used in the area of Rzhev, the junction of the two German army groups. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 With overwhelming superiority of forces and firepower, Info forced the German defense line to break through.

Then, light mechanized units (heavily equipped with BT-7 tanks), which could quickly maneuver in the muddy season and in forests, swampy areas, were thrown into the depths of the German army. At the same time, a large number of camouflaged infiltration troops were put in order to create even more confusion, threaten the German logistical supply lines, and force the German army on the northern front to retreat in stride during the muddy season.

If the advance of the light mechanized troops is relatively smooth, then it is not excluded to make a detour to the rear of the German army on the northern front, making the appearance of encircling the main force of the German army on the northern front, forcing the other side to maneuver and retreat on a larger scale.

At the same time that the German troops on the Northern Front began to retreat, the main forces of the Central Front of the Red Army would also launch a full-line pursuit from the Uglich-Rzhev line. In order to make the retreat of the German army hasty and chaotic, which will cause a lot of wear and tear and abandonment of equipment during the muddy season.

At the same time, the Red Army, which detoured and infiltrated behind enemy lines, would also carry out sufficient damage to roads and bridges in order to achieve the goal of delaying the German counterattack to the greatest extent.

And the troops that were used to carry out the most critical assault and interspersed detour tasks of this "Red Guard" plan were the 4 Guards Tank Army, which began to be formed after the muddy season in the autumn of 43, including the 1st Guards Tank Army, the 2nd Guards Tank Army, the 7th Guards Tank Army and the 8th Guards Tank Army!

The tank army with the title of "Guards" is now the main striking force of the Soviet Red Army. There were a total of 8 such armies, and the number was the 1st Guards - 8th Guards Tank Army.

Among them, the 1st to 6th Guards Tank Armies are all so-called "heavy tank armies", each of which has 2 tank armies, 1 mechanized corps, 4 infantry divisions and some auxiliary units, with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops.

In addition to the T-60/T-70 tanks used for reconnaissance, the T-34/85 with more than 30 tons, the JS-2 with more than 40 tons, and the SU-85 and SU-152 with their power should not be underestimated. And the number of tanks/assault guns in each "heavy tank army" is also as high as 700. I don't know how much more powerful the combat effectiveness is than the previous Soviet tank army!

The 7th Guards Tank Army and the 8th Guards Tank Army were sharp knife units formed specifically to carry out the interspersed and roundabout tasks of the "Red Guards" plan, and were the so-called light tank armies.

Each light tank army has 2 tank corps, 2 mechanized corps and 6 infantry divisions, and the total strength is more than that of the heavy tank army, reaching about 150,000. And the number of tanks/guns has also increased considerably, more than 1,000 units!

However, the tanks owned by the light tank army are all light, and the main models are BT-7 and SU-57 (modified from the territory of the BT-7), which naturally cannot be compared with the heavy tank army in terms of ability to fight the German tank group.

However, the anti-tank capabilities of the two light tank armies were not weak, because the infantry in them had undergone rigorous anti-tank warfare training and were equipped with a large number of ZIS-2 anti-tank guns (57mm anti-tank guns), Bazooka, red Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launchers, and PTRS and PTRD anti-tank rifles. These are two 14.5mm caliber anti-tank rifles, which can penetrate a vertically placed 50mm homogeneous steel plate within 100 meters and a 30mm vertically placed homogeneous steel plate within 300 meters, which is not enough to pose a threat to the Tiger H tank and E-5A tank, but it is also enough to deal with the side of the No. 4H tank.

Therefore, once the two light tank armies rushed into the German flank from the Rzhev breakthrough, as long as they did not confront the German panzer division, which was equipped with a large number of Tiger H tanks and E-50A tanks, they could still be "invincible".

Now let's see if the assault of the 1st Guards Tank Army and the 2nd Guards Tank Army can succeed?

……

21 years old and handsome Dmitry. Mofievich. Captain Yazov came from a collective farm in the Omsk region of Siberia and joined the army only in 1941, before the outbreak of the world revolution. Because of his bravery in battle, he was wounded many times, and he was given many opportunities for promotion, not only joined the Bolshevik Party, but also became an officer. After the muddy season arrived last fall, he entered a crash course at the tank academy and became the commander of a heavy tank company equipped with 10 JS-2 heavy tanks in early '44.

Of course, this Comrade Yazov is undoubtedly a loyal GCIST fighter! No matter how difficult the Soviet Motherland was, he was determined to defend it at all costs!

At 10 o'clock in the morning on April 5, 1944, Yazov, a loyal GC fighter, leaned out of a formidable JS-2 tank and looked out at the enemy positions that were being heavily shelled a few kilometers away.

At this time, the sky was falling with rain and snow, and the ground was still covered with snow, but the temperature had risen above freezing, so the snow had begun to melt, and the tank tracks pressed against it, and deep marks appeared.

Yazov, who lives in Siberia all year round, knows that if the current temperature, rain and snow continue for a while, the whole land will "melt", everywhere will be muddy, the water level of all rivers will skyrocket, and in some areas it will flood. In some places, the ground "melts" so violently that even the hard pavement will crumble, as if an earthquake had just been experienced. This is not often the case near Moscow, but it often happens in the Siberian tundra, so the cost of developing the Siberian tundra is very high, and the cost of road maintenance alone is astronomical!

Just as Yazov was waiting a little anxiously, several red flares were suddenly fired into the light gray sky - a signal for the start of the assault.

Yazov half-turned, looked at the JS-1 tanks, T-34/85 tanks and the dense assault infantry belonging to the 15th Guards Infantry Division in the snow behind him, and then picked up the communicator and gave the order: "Comrades of the 4th company of heavy tanks, start attacking now!" Long live the Bolshevik Party! Long live the USSR! Father Leader Stalin...... Banzai! ”

As Yazov and the other tank company commanders gave the order, the tanks that had already been started began to roar forward, spewing out thick black smoke.

"Ulla! Ulla! Ula ......"

The sound of cheers suddenly resounded through the snowfield, even drowning out the roar of tank motors. This is the cheers of 15,000 Red Army infantrymen!

Although equipped with powerful JS-2 and T-34/85, the assault tactics of the Red Army remained unchanged, it was still a sea of tanks + a sea of people.

In the first assault alone, the Red Army threw more than 300 JS-2s, T-34/85, SU-152 and more than 15,000 infantry from Siberia.

……

On April 5, the 1st Guards Tank Army of the Red Army was not confronted by the Germans, but by the 8th Panzergrenadier Division of the Imperial Russian Army, with Major General Voskoponico and Colonel Kaminsky as division commander and deputy commander.

This division was mainly composed of the Red Army that surrendered in the Petrograd Reconquest operation, and the mechanized equipment used was mostly sponsored by France (the French armored forces were upgraded like the Germans, but they did not have the Tiger H, but directly on the combination of the E-50A and the No. 4H, in the process eliminated a number of French-made No. 4 H tanks, all of which were given to the Russians), and had an armored battalion equipped with 33 No. 4 tanks, Each Panzergrenadier Regiment also has an assault gun company with six No. 3 assault guns (also made in France).

In addition, in this Panzergrenadier Division of the Imperial Russian Army, there were a number of T-50 light tanks and the "Olga" tank destroyer, which was assembled from the territory of the T-50 tank. The former is a reconnaissance tank, while the latter is equipped with a tank destroyer battalion (full strength of 45 vehicles).

The T-50 tanks in the Belarusian army were produced by the original Leningrad Kirov and Voroshilov plants. After the "liberation" of Petrograd by Belarus, the Wehrmacht Army Armament Agency sent specialists to test various tanks and assault guns produced by the Kirov and Voroshilov factories (now renamed the Petrograd Arsenal). In the end, it was determined that the 14-ton T-50 tank was technologically advanced and had excellent performance, and could continue to be produced.

At the same time, at Hersmann's suggestion, engineers at the Petrograd plant also attached a 57mm gun (a British 6-pounder gun of 50 times the calibre) to the body of the T-50 tank, turning it into a tank destroyer, and named it after the Empress of Russia. Later, this chariot was also called "Olga's Little Hammer" by the soldiers on both sides of the Soviet-German battlefield.

Because of the low body and easy concealment, and the 6-pounder gun was equipped with British-produced shell-piercing shells, the "Olga's Little Hammer" soon became the "Queen of Black Cannons" on the Soviet-German battlefield and the Soviet-Russian battlefield.

The huge Stalin tank (JS-2) was often overturned by this small and agile "Olga" tank destroyer......

The Rzhev front on April 5, 1945 was the first fierce collision between the "Olga" tank destroyer and the "Stalin" tank!