"14 group armies, 48 infantry corps, mechanized corps or tank corps, with a total strength of more than 1.5 million (mechanized corps/tank soldiers are relatively small), more than 6,000 tank/self-propelled guns of various types, and more than 15,000 artillery pieces of various types......"

General Pavlov, commander of the Western Front of the Soviet Union, looked at a military map covered with half a wall with dense troop markings and numbers, and said to Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasilevsky with a smile: "How can such a powerful force not be able to defeat a small Warsaw?" Comrade Vasilevsky, you just have to wait for the good news. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

"But the power of Germany was not weak either, as evidenced by the battle of Legiono-Vovo, so the General Staff still hoped that the Western Front would be cautious." Vasilevsky, deputy chief of the General Staff and chief of operations of the Red Army, who had come to Minsk as a representative of the Supreme High Command to assist in the command, frowned.

This means that Stalin did not believe in the military talents of General Pavlov a little, which is not good news for Pavlov!

And Stalin may also have had doubts about the possibility of the Western Front taking Warsaw. Vasilevsky knew that after the battle of Legionovo-Vovomin, the Chief of the General Staff Zhukov poured cold water on Stalin more than once, pointing out that the Western Front would most likely not be able to take on the task of capturing Warsaw, but Stalin did not express any opinion on this.

In addition, Zhukov further suggested that in the event that the Western Front could not capture Warsaw, it should be turned to the defensive in a timely manner, in an effort to drag the war between the Soviet Union and Germany into a protracted one, and at the same time to increase the intensity of strategic bombing. Strive to first weaken Germany's war potential with bombing, and then slowly drag it down......

"There is no problem, the Western Front will definitely be able to capture the city of Warsaw!" Pavlov's tone was unusually firm.

As the commander of the Western Front, General Pavlov was also a well-informed person, how could he not know that he was at risk of losing Stalin's trust?

For the commander of a front, losing the trust of Comrade Stalin is not a good thing, and if he does not do it, he will be ruined!

Moreover, as soon as Pavlov admitted that he was unable to take Warsaw, it would be tantamount to declaring the complete failure of the "Great Thunderstorm Plan". And this "thunderstorm plan" was formulated by Pavlov under the leadership of Pavlov.

Comrade Stalin was not a great leader who could tolerate losers......

"The offense will never fail!" He told Vasilevsky that "the casualties are likely to be large, and the process of capturing Warsaw may be very difficult." But the final victory certainly belonged to the heroic Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.

In fact, the defeat in the battle of Legiono-Vovomin revealed not the inadequacy of the Red Army as a whole. However, there are shortcomings in some aspects, such as the main guns of the T-34 tank and the KV-1 tank are too powerful. Another example is that the air combat capabilities of the Yak-1 and MiG-3 fighters are not ideal. However, these two shortcomings have now been compensated, and the Supreme Command has given us many independent artillery battalions equipped with ZIS-2 anti-tank guns. The Western Front Air Force was also aided by American internationalist fighters, with 20 squadrons of P-51s (some of them fighter squadrons used to escort B-17 bombers to blow up the oil fields of the Middle East, and some of them flew to the Soviet Union from Britain and Iceland) to provide more than enough air cover. ”

Pavlov paused, and then said in a stirring voice: "And there is also a good side to protracted war for Germany." Now neither France nor Italy has declared war on us, which speaks of their fear of the Red Army and their suspicion of the German Nazis. If we are held back under the city of Warsaw, then the fears of Italy and France about the future of German reaction will be allocated, and they will board the German chariots...... This means that the reactionary camp led by Germany has an additional population of 100 million people at once! The numerical superiority of the USSR would cease to exist.

So, Comrade Vasilevsky, I suggest that the Supreme High Command immediately approve the plan for the Warsaw campaign submitted by our Western Front! ”

After listening to Pavlov's analysis, Huaxialevsky also felt that it was very reasonable, and it was very strategic. He thought for a moment and nodded: "Well, I will advise the Supreme Command to approve the campaign plan of the Western Front......"

……

"Yakov, how's it going? It's been hard these days, right? ”

Rokossovsky, who had returned from the headquarters of the army group, got out of a gas 61 car and saw Yakov supervising the artillerymen hanging a 57mm cannon on the T-34 tank. Captain Dzhugashvili.

This eldest son of Comrade Stalin was a rather hard-working and serious man, and not a playboy at all, completely different from his younger brother Vasily. In the more than 10 days since the Battle of Legionovo-Vovomin, he has devoted all his energies to the work of "hanging tanks with artillery" in accordance with the orders from above.

The so-called "tank hanging cannon" work was actually an expedient measure to compensate for the lack of firepower of the T-34 tank and the KV-1 tank. That is, the ZIS-2 type 57mm anti-tank gun cannon was hung behind the tank, and at the same time, the 85mm anti-aircraft gun was pulled on by a tracked tractor to follow. After encountering a cluster of German tanks, these three guns can be quickly deployed and used against German tanks.

Although this style of play is a bit stupid no matter how you look at it, it is still much better than the F-34 76.2mm tank gun with the T-34 and KV-1. The lesson of the battle of Legiononovo-Vovomin was too profound for this tank gun to be able to defeat the Germans' newest No. 4 tank, let alone the two heavy tanks that appeared on the battlefield for the first time.

"Comrade Commander," Yakov. Zhugashvili hurriedly stopped what he was doing and stepped forward to give Rokossovsky a military salute. "Are you here to check the work of the 'tank hanging cannon'? Do you want to show it to you, comrades? ”

"I'm not here to check the work, but I might as well take a look." Rokossovsky waved his hand and smiled, then stood next to the T-34 tank with a cannon pulled.

To be honest, this thing looks a little twisted, and a good tank will get an artillery tractor.

"The 2 artillery regiments of our 9th Mechanized Corps originally did not have ZIS-2 artillery."

Dzhugashvili said to Rokossovsky very carefully: "But now we have a separate anti-tank artillery battalion. This is a newly formed unit, with artillery and personnel transferred from the rear, with 16 ZIS-2 type 57mm anti-tank guns. In addition, each gun is accompanied by a dedicated ammunition cart, which can be towed by tanks or pulled by horses. ”

The most ideal tool for towing such a weapon as an anti-tank gun is definitely a half-track armored vehicle with strong cross-country ability. However, there were no such vehicles in the Soviet Red Army, and the Soviets had studied the half-track for many years, and the product was finalized (ZIS-42), but due to the limited strength of their machinery and automobile industry, they were not able to mass-produce it at all.

"After more than ten days of intensive training, this independent anti-tank artillery regiment can already cooperate with the Tan battalion in combat." Yakov. Dzhugashvili went on to say, "Although not very skilled yet, he can always go to war." ”

While Dzhugashvili was speaking, a member of the ZIS-2 artillery crew had already very skillfully separated the cannon from the tank, and then dragged it aside to complete the unfolding and placement.

"It seems that the problem is not big," Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction, "Comrade Dzhugashvili, your work is fruitful, if our 9th Mechanized Army can be the first to storm the city of Warsaw, you will be the first hero of the liberation of Warsaw." ”

"The first to storm Warsaw?" Yakov was stunned for a moment, then knew what was going to happen. "Comrade Army Commander, the battle to liberate Warsaw is about to begin?"

"Yes." Rokossovsky lowered his voice, "Starting in the early morning of the day after tomorrow, our 9th Mechanized Corps will begin to assault in the direction of Warsaw!" ”

"So fast?" Yakov looked a little surprised.

After the battle of Legiono-Vovomin, the Warsaw front was somewhat calm, only the fierce fighting in the Warsaw Forest continued in the center, and there was no movement on the northern and southern fronts.

In other words, the originally planned pincer offensive now has only one pincer, and it is impossible to launch a pincer offensive at all. Yakov thought that he would launch a new offensive on the northern front first, wait for the northern route cluster to occupy Legionovo, and then attack the northern, central and southern fronts together. I didn't expect the Western Front Command to launch an offensive right now.

Rokossovsky pulled Yakov into his car, and the two returned to the military headquarters together - Rokossovsky learned of the imminent start of the Battle of Warsaw at an operational meeting of the army group this morning. At the operational meeting of the 9th Mechanized Corps this evening, he also has to announce the news to the 9th Mechanized Corps and above (including the regimental commander) and the commanders of various departments of the military department, so it is better to tell Yakov first.

In the car, Rokossovsky said to Yakov with some excitement: "This time it is our South Road Cluster that is the main attacker." In addition to our 37th Army, the 13th Army and the 20th Army will join, and the commander-in-chief of the cluster will be Comrade Vlasov.

The Northern Route Cluster will serve as an auxiliary attacker, and the Northern Route will be in charge of Comrade Kuznetsov (not Kuznetsov in the Navy, but a lieutenant general in the Army), and will command the 3rd Army, the 10th Army, and the 11th Army. According to the plan, they would outflank Warsaw after the capture of Legionovo.

The middle road was the main attack like our southern road, and Comrade Chuikov commanded four group armies, including the 9th Army, the 29th Army, the 43rd Army, and the 50th Army, to storm the front of Warsaw!

In addition, the 4th Army, the 28th Army, the 30th Army, and the 31st Army will serve as the general reserve for the campaign. ”

"14 armies!" Yakov. Dzhugashvili took a breath and looked a little excited, "The total number of troops should be more than 1 million, right?" The Battle of Warsaw is a sure victory! (To be continued.) )