On August 31, the tank battle on the battlefield near Minsk seemed to come to an end because of a heavy rain that fell in time. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

In the early morning of September 1, on the battlefield of Zaslavl, which was originally the most intense fighting, there was no tank motor roar, no "Ula!" Ulla! There was no more gunfire, cannon and bomb explosions, only the sound of the rain and the occasional flare of firing flares.

Under the night sky, these flares glow with blazing white, illuminating the rainy Belarusian land with a particularly desolate and solemn light.

Gustav. Major Schwarzenegger was sitting in a half-track armored command vehicle with a canopy at this time, and he did not sleep, but smoked a cigarette while watching a group of shirtless German Supermen sweating and digging trenches.

Not far behind him, outside a wooded field devastated by artillery fire and only a charred stump remained. Under the cover of darkness, 34 "Rhino" destroyer tanks belonging to the 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion (one less than in the morning) were lined up, their guns raised, ready to fire.

A low roar of the motor reached Major Schwarzenegger's ears, and he stuck his neck out of the carriage and looked out into the rainy night. A rhythmic flickering of lights was faintly seen, and it was a company of the 5th SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion returning from the enemy's front.

Major Schwarzenegger picked up the communicator and said to the commanders of the "Rhino" tank destroyers, who were ready to fire in the dark: "Everything is normal, keep on alert." ”

A half-track armored car drove past Major Schwarzenegger, and someone hit the car with a flashlight and asked for the password. Major Schwarzenegger recognized one of the captains in the car at this time, and casually asked: "Hey, Hank, what are those Bolsheviks doing?" ”

"Like us, they're digging trenches and arming defenses!" The man in the car replied.

"Also armed?" Major Schwarzenegger muttered, "Looks like it's time for us to attack!" ”

……

"This is Minsk, the stronghold of the Soviet Red Army in Belarus, this is Lake Zaslavskoye between Minsk and Zaslavl, and here is the Norabok Forest, which is 34 kilometers away from Zaslavl. Now the front of the Red Army, stretching from Minsk to the Norabok Forest, stretching for more than 60 kilometers, seems to be a line of defense that is taking shape......"

The next morning, at the headquarters of the German Army Group North in Riga, Tiperskich was updating Manstein on the situation at the front.

Over the past dozen hours, the situation on the Minsk front has changed a lot. The Soviet counterattack seemed to have gone on the defensive, and a line of defense of more than 60 kilometers was drawn between the forest area west of Minsk and between Minsk and Grodno regions.

"Their mechanized troops are on this line of defense?" Manstein asked.

"It seems that yes," said Tiperskishi, "according to aircraft reconnaissance, a large number of mechanized units are rushing to the area of the Zaslavl-Norabok forest from Dzerzhinsk, Smirovich and Chervin, south of Minsk, in the past two days." ”

"How many?"

"At least a couple of tank corps or mechanized corps." Tipersky said that "it is possible to concentrate 2000-3000 tanks / self-propelled guns." If it were all between the Zaslavl-Norabok forests, the density of mechanized troops would still be very high. Commander, we may be able to make a detour from their west or east. ”

"Why the detour?"

"Because we are going to surround them," said Tiperskich, "there are several mechanized corps!" ”

"But as soon as we make a detour, they may run to Minsk." "Actually, they only need to run to Zaslavl to connect with the defenders of Minsk, and it will be difficult for us to eat them." ”

"It can be besieged, even Minsk is fenced together."

"The siege can probably be contained," Manstein shook his head, "but the siege is better than destroyed." Now there is a big encirclement in Leningrad, Warsaw is mostly under siege, and Brest ......" he counted on his fingers, "If Minsk is encircled again, it will be 4 large encirclements, and 600,000 people in each encirclement will be 2.4 million people!" So how many mobile forces do we have on the Eastern Front? ”

"Not surrounded...... So how are we going to fight? Tiperskich asked.

Manstein still shook his head, "It's not that there is no encirclement, but that the mechanized forces of the Soviets cannot be driven into Minsk to encircle, but they must be surrounded west of Zaslavl!" ”

As he spoke, Manstein waved his hand and made a slashing gesture, "Cut the Soviets' front west of Zaslavl, cut it in two, and then eat the western part." ”

"That's going to ...... A frontal breakthrough from the defense of the Soviet mechanized forces? ”

"Yes!" Manstein nodded, "We now have 11 armored divisions plus 5 heavy tank battalions, which should be able to accomplish this task!" ”

"But the losses will be huge."

There will definitely be losses from a frontal assault, especially since the USSR now has quite a few T-34/57 tanks and ZIS-2 57mm anti-tank guns.

Manstein shrugged his shoulders and smiled: "Don't think about it so much, let go of the fight!" Didn't the Reich Marshal say that 1500-2000 tanks and assault guns could be produced per month? Isn't it enough to compensate us for this loss in Belarus? ”

He thought for a moment and said: "You can assign five heavy armored battalions to five armored divisions that serve as the main attack, and then concentrate the 'Rhinoceros' tank destroyer battalions of each armored division and put them all in the direction of the main attack." ”

……

At Manstein's order, Major Schwarzenegger of the 5th SS Tank Destroyer Battalion was once again put at the forefront.

On 2 September, he received an order to temporarily go to the 1st Panzer Division to help. Then he reported to the 1st Panzer Division with 37 of his (3 more than on 1 September, because 3 vehicles under repair had been repaired).

The commander of the 1st Panzer Division was Major General Val T. Kruger, and when Major Schwarzenegger arrived at the headquarters of Major General Kruger, he was listening carefully to the commander of the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion, Major Rudel, introduce the situation of the Soviet tank forces - although Major General Kruger was the division commander who fought all the way from the commander of the armored battalion, he had never fought the Soviet tank troops head-on.

Rudel of the 501st Heavy Armored Battalion recognized Major Schwarzenegger and pointed at him and told Kruger: "Major General, Major Schwarzenegger has more experience in this area than me, and his tank destroyer battalion has just fought against Soviet tanks. ”

"Really?" Kruger saw Major Schwarzenegger salute himself, and he also raised his hand to return the salute, "Major, tell me what you think." ”

"General, our enemy is getting stronger!" Major Schwarzenegger said, "They're learning and improving." At first, their T-34 tanks and KV-1 tanks could not deal with No. 4, but now there are T-37 with 57mm guns, and there are also 57mm anti-tank guns as anti-tank guns. I'm afraid they'll come up with even more powerful weapons next time! ”

In fact, both the T-34/85 and the KV-1/85 are being developed at the fastest pace and will soon appear on the battlefield.

"The Russians are good at learning," Major General Kruger nodded, "and they have been learning since Peter the Great." But in Belarus, they don't have much chance to advance, because we are about to launch an offensive and destroy the Soviet tank clusters! ”

"Going on the attack? Is it the 501 battalion that is leading the way? Major Rudell asked immediately.

"It's the 1st Panzer Division leading the way," said Major General Kruger, "and a divisional assault cluster will be formed!" The 501st Heavy Panzer Battalion and the 5th SS Tannihilation Battalion, together with the armored vehicles and Panzergrenadiers of the 1st Panzer Division, will form a super assault formation and force a breakthrough from 15 kilometers of woodland and plains between Rakov and Zaslavl! ”

……

"Comrade Dzhugashvili, the Chief of Staff of the Front, Major General Lyapin, would like you to go and work with him."

The current commander of the 9th Mechanized Corps of the Soviet Red Army is named Andrei. Antonovich. Grechko, originally a cavalry division commander, fought against the SS Polish Volunteer Cavalry Division in the Polish Campaign, and fought well. Therefore, after Rokossovsky was ordered to stay in Warsaw as the general adviser of the Polish People's Army, he was promoted to the commander of the 9th Mechanized Army.

However, the new commander did not seem to have any official authority, and at this moment he was very respectfully with his subordinate, the artillery chief Yakov. Major Dzhugashvili discussed the matter.

"You want me to go to the front headquarters as a staff officer?" Yakov was stunned, "But I won't be." ”

He really can't do it, he only went to a military academy for one year, and he learned all about artillery, and he didn't know how to do staff work at all.

"Comrade Dzhugashvili," Grechko smiled, "you better go to Minsk, there will soon be a big war here in Rakov, and then there will be danger." ”

"Comrade Commander, what do you mean?" Yakov. Dzhugashvili was upset on the spot when he heard this, "Do you think I'm a coward who is greedy for life and afraid of death? Please tell Comrade Lyapin that I will not go to Minsk, I will be in the 9th Mechanized Army! ”

The 9th Mechanized Corps, commanded by Grechko, was now stationed at Rakov and was at the forefront of the confrontation with the Germans. Yakov. It is likely that Dzhugashvili will be in danger of staying here, so the thoughtful Major General Liapin intends to transfer him to Minsk.

However, the chief of staff of the Western Front was not good at doing things, and he had to let Grechko, a rough man from cavalry, ask Yakov for his opinion. As a result, Grechko, who couldn't speak, told the truth in front of Yakov that he shouldn't have told the truth, and the consequences were of course very serious...... (To be continued.) )