April 9, 1944, Bologoye, near the Red October railway line. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

A German SS convoy was parked on a muddy dirt road next to the railway, it seemed that the vehicle had broken down, the front cover of one of the Sdkfz.234 armored cars was opened, and two SS soldiers were bending over and fiddling with something.

The Sdkfz.234 armored car had been propped up with a rain shelter falling from the sky, and an SS officer with a brimmed hat was none other than GC fighter Otto Braun, who looked to the railroad next to him.

On the railway, a long troop train was passing by, each of which was flatbed, and on each board car was an armored vehicle wrapped in a rainproof cloth. From the analysis of the appearance of the vehicles wrapped in rainproof cloths, this train is loaded with heavy tanks, either Tiger tanks or E-50 tanks!

Watching these laden columns rumble north, Otto. Braun's brow tightened.

"Comrade Major," said a young man with the rank of SS second lieutenant next to Braun, "the enemy trains are too dense and there are many patrols, I am afraid ......"

I'm afraid there is no chance to blow up the railway!

Otto. Braun's squad was wreckaging along the way, setting fire to a warehouse where horse feed was stored, blowing up several bridges that were not very important, cutting down a lot of telephone poles, altering road signs along the way, planting time bombs everywhere, and the most serious "crime" was murder! They killed several White Russian or Polish officers and soldiers they met (both signal corps and sentinels), and executed several local traitors (local officials and policemen of Belarus) who had defected to Belarus on behalf of the people.

Although these petty sabotage activities have caused a lot of trouble to the enemy, they are not a heavy blow -- there is no way, although Comrade Braun has been in the army for many years, he has always served in military academies and regular troops, and he has studied positional warfare quite a bit, but he does not know how to fight guerrillas.

Therefore, the detachment he led did not achieve any great results in the past few days of infiltrating behind enemy lines.

However, it is precisely because Comrade Braun did not do anything earth-shattering that he has advanced very smoothly along the way. Several German checkpoints were bypassed or bypassed in quick succession (Braun and others were in possession of high-profile documents from Soviet intelligence) and had approached the Red October railway line a few hours earlier.

According to Braun's original plan, he was going to blow up the railroad, but when he got close to the railway, he found that it was too difficult to blow up the road. Because there were a lot of troops passing by on the railway, either military trains full of soldiers, or flatbed cars loaded with tanks and artillery. There were also frequent patrols by armored trains, and the German SS cavalry and the White Russian Cossack cavalry passed on both sides of the railway from time to time.

If Braun didn't want to become a revolutionary martyr right away, he might as well forget about the railroad bombing.

But Braun noticed a very strange situation: the German train seemed to be going in the wrong direction!

They did not go to the south, where fierce battles were being fought, but to the north.

Could it be that the German army has been defeated by the heroic Soviet Red Army and is ready to withdraw to Petrograd?

But looking at the train full of heavy tanks one after another, Braun dismissed this unrealistic idea.

The Germans are not retreating, they are ...... Turned in!

……

"Comrade commander, it seems that the Germans are retreating from Kalinin."

On the afternoon of April 9, the Soviet Central Front Command in Moscow was also informed of the massive transfer of German armored forces.

General Rokossovsky, who was also the deputy commander of the Front, told Zhukov: "Not only are there significant transfers of German armored forces to the north on the Red October railway line, but also the White, French and Polish armies on the lines of Kuvshinovo, Torzhok and Likuslavl are shrinking their lines. ”

Zhukov crossed his arms and looked at the sand table, and several staff officers were moving wooden models symbolizing the German, French, White, and Polish armies from the front lines of Kuvshinovo, Torzhok, and Likuslavl to the north.

Then his gaze turned again to the western part of Kalinin, where the Soviet troops were in some trouble in a roundabout group.

Toropec, the starting point of the "road in the woods" to Veliko Luki, and Andreapol, where several important roads were guarded, were now under German control.

"We seem to have achieved our goal of fighting back?" Zhukov withdrew his gaze and looked at Rokossovsky, "The Germans are beginning to retreat...... I think our counterattack was effective, dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the German and White armies, and bought time for the organization of the Moscow defensive war. ”

Rokossovsky understood what Zhukov meant, and he knew that Zhukov would not really think that the Germans would be defeated so easily - the current movement and contraction of the German army (coalition) must be a conspiracy.

And Zhukov already smelled the smell of danger, so he didn't want to play with the Germans anymore, so he simply took it when he saw it and ended this counterattack.

"Comrade commander," Rokossovsky asked, "are we going to advance the front to the line of Toropets-Andreapol-Kuvshinovo-Tornok-Likuslavl?" ”

"Yes!" Zhukov thought for a while, nodded and said, "It's good to recover 5 medium-sized towns and push the front dozens of kilometers north." ”

"Yes, that's good." Rokossovsky also knew that this counterattack had hit the cotton with a punch so far, and he couldn't use it at all.

However, just because you don't have a punch doesn't mean you can do it again...... Rokossovsky knew too well the tactics of the Germans of the so-called "elastic defense" or "defense in depth".

One punch is cotton, and another punch is mostly cotton, but when the momentum of the Red Army's offensive is exhausted, it is time for the Germans to counterattack, and then the armored forces will be overwhelming.

However, even knowing the plans of the Germans, Rokossovsky considered it necessary to take Toropec, Andreapol, Kuvshinovo, Tornok and Likuslavl.

Because only in this way can we have an explanation in front of Comrade Stalin -- how can it be considered an inspiring victory after taking 5 cities and killing many enemies?

……

On the morning of April 10, Andrea Pol.

Thin lines of rain fluttered down from the lead-gray sky, like pearls with broken threads. The rain fell on the snow that had become a little muddy, accelerating the melting of the heavy snow and frozen land that had accumulated over the winter.

The temperature had also risen noticeably, and the spring breeze from the south was blowing on Lieutenant Colonel Skornez's scarred face, and there was no longer the feeling of pins and needles in the winter.

However, although Lieutenant Colonel Skones's face was comfortable, there was a cold and damp feeling inside his boots, as if there was a leak somewhere, and even the footwrap wrapped around his feet (in the Russian winter, no matter how thick the socks were, it is better to wrap the feet with a cloth) seemed to be soaked by the melting snow.

Skornez, who had been on the battlefield in the Soviet Union for almost two years, knew that his boots were not leaking, otherwise he would have frozen his feet a long time ago, and now he feels that his boots have been soaked in snow and water, and every muddy season is this uncomfortable feeling in his boots.

But Skornez can't go back to the warmth and comfort of his room now, he has to stay on the muddy and damp battlefield, and I'm afraid he'll have to stay in the mud for the whole season, and most likely in the trenches.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble......

The roar of the cannon rang out, and it completely drove away the cold, damp feeling on Skornez's feet.

However, he did not jump into the bomb crater that had been dug around him - the bottom of the crater was full of melted snow, and it was not pleasant to squat in it. Now that the Soviet shells landed far from where Skornez was standing, he wouldn't have jumped into the crater to find guilt.

Under shelling was the forward position of the 2nd Parachute Regiment, which was located in a wooded area on the east bank of the West Dvina River (which flows east of Andreapol) to the south of the small town of Andreapol. An important road north from Kozlovo passes through the woods. To the east of the woods was a large swamp - during the ice season, the swamp was a passable plain, but now it was full of deadly traps, and the infantry could barely pass through (at most drowning), and the armoured forces could not pass through.

So the experienced Skornez chose this place as a position to block the Soviet army!

However, the intensity of the Soviet offensive was greatly beyond Skornez's expectations, and from April 8, wave after wave of onslaught did not stop, and the Soviet mechanized troops not only attacked north from the southern road, but also a large number of infantry ventured through the swamps to attack the German 2nd Paratrooper Regiment entrenched in the woods to hold the road.

Therefore, the 2nd Paratrooper Regiment was in a bitter battle from the very beginning!

The 6th Wehrmacht Paratrooper Regiment (also belonging to the 2nd Paratrooper Division), which was only across the river from the 2nd Paratrooper Regiment, and the 7th Paratrooper Regiment (also belonging to the 2nd Paratrooper Division), which held the small town of Andreapol, were also subjected to an endless offensive by the overwhelmingly superior Soviet infantry and mechanized units from the night of April 8.

Skornez knew that Andrea Poel was now a key target for the Soviet Red Army. The Soviets must have wanted to move east or north from Andrea Pol and outflank the main German forces along the Red October Railway!

And he also knew that the 2nd Division of the Wehrmacht paratroopers in which he was located would soon be besieged. Although Andreapor is surrounded by swamps and woods, in 1943 large units of the Kalinin Front of the Soviet Army entered and exited the area, dozens of improvised roads were built through the woods and swamps. Even if the 2nd Paratrooper Division blocked some of the most important roads, the Soviets still managed to get around them.