Evgeny looked at the Germans who were fleeing in gray and laughed: "Company commander, the tin chimney you got from your fellow countryman really works!" ”

Why did Evgeny say this? The reason is simple, when the ZIS-3 finished the armor-piercing shells, the armored train realized that the situation was serious, and in order to frighten and mislead the enemy, he immediately ordered Evgeny to go to the houses of the surrounding villagers to get a few long iron chimneys. From a distance, these black iron pipes look a bit like the recoilless guns of the Red Army. So the Germans were fooled.

The company of the armored train withstood the onslaught of the German armored forces and miraculously held the position. Not only did he block the Germans, but in other blocking positions, the Red Army soldiers smashed the delusions of the Germans to break through quickly with their indomitable fighting spirit.

By 25 October, Hitler's desperate assault with a large number of armored forces was largely over, and although the Germans were still attacking, anyone could tell that they were just doing their best. And with the arrival of reinforcements from the 1st Belorussian Front, the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and the Voronezh Front and the Central Front, it was the turn of the Red Army to counterattack.

On October 26, the clouds cleared and the sun was shining brightly over the battlefield, and the temperature rose to 13 degrees Celsius. The ground that had experienced the first snow began to dry out. In the early morning, the 33rd Infantry Corps of the Red Army, under the cover of intensive artillery fire, launched several waves of counterattacks against the bridgehead positions of the 4th tank group, which had previously attacked the spearhead of the German army.

Of course, the Germans were still relatively strong at this time, and were able to withstand the ferocious counterattack of the Red Army. And after that, there is still room to go on the offensive. The two German panzer regiments moved forward together and opened Highway 109. And three kilometers to the north. But the attempt of the Germans to build a bridge over the Sudost River was crushed.

On the orders of Rokossovsky. The armored units of the Red Army, under the cover of artillery and air force, made a difficult counter-charge. They rushed to the banks of the Sudost-River, then covered the engineering battalion to board the bridge, loaded with a ton of high explosives and completely blew up the bridge. Later, after the Red Army retreated, the German sappers tried to erect a pontoon bridge, but the combined efforts of the Il-2 and Su-2 attack aircraft of the Red Air Force blew the pontoon bridge away, leaving the German heavy vehicles and tanks and armored vehicles still staring at each other on the other side of the river.

It wasn't until after dark that the German sappers rebuilt the new pontoon bridge, so that the tank troops, who had been waiting for so much, could finally cross the river. Not after the success of the transition river. The Germans were still not making good progress, and the Red Army put up stubborn resistance, and the two sides fought fiercely around Pochop, and after a fierce battle, the Germans barely squeezed into the city, but also exhausted all their vitality.

In order to cross the Sudost River as quickly as possible, the Germans had to erect as many pontoon bridges as possible and open up some new crossings. For example, the SS Youth Division attempted to smuggle from Pochop upstream. However, these Nazi bandits met with stubborn resistance from the 66th Infantry Division of the Red Army, which not only repelled the SS Youth Division, but also established a strong support point on the shore, on which it continued to hit the Germans fiercely.

However, the SS Youth Division did not give up. The soldiers of the 25th Panzergrenadier Regiment quickly launched a counterattack, compressing this troublesome riverbank support point to the extreme. On the right side of the Youth Division. The 1st Cavalry Corps also mustered up the last of their strength, poured out of the bridgehead, and pounced on the positions of the 104th Infantry Corps with all their might. The German cavalry had to repel no less than eight counterattacks from the 151st and 66th Divisions of the Red Army at least every day these days.

The 2nd SS Panzer Corps was still making futile efforts that day, first trying to open a hole south of Pochop, but the Reds continued to attack from the flanks and blocked the Germans' attempts to break through. Years later, Admiral Hoult still remembers Pochop's battle vividly: "Every meter of scramble costs blood!" ”

However, Hort was not distracted by the fierce fighting, and he found on the tactical map that the Red Army's actions increasingly revealed an intention to encircle and annihilate his tank cluster.

In the direction of the newly rebuilt German 2nd Tank Group, when they tried to attack forward, the T-34-76, T-35 tank regiments, and SU-76 self-propelled artillery regiments under the 23rd Mechanized Corps of the Red Army had been deployed in place. After assisting the 78th and 163rd Infantry Divisions in blocking the attack of the 2nd Tank Group. The tank units of the Red Army launched a counter-assault on the second tank group from the front and from both flanks. This also announced that the German offensive was immediately terminated, and they had to retreat 3 to 5 kilometers back.

Of course, the tank units of the Red Army also suffered certain losses, mainly due to the rapid pace of the attack, the failure to conduct reconnaissance in time, and the failure of the infantry to keep up in time. But at least the Red Army withstood the onslaught of the Germans, recaptured the positions, and also strengthened the existing positions with the infantry units, and repelled all the follow-up attacks of the German infantry. From the afternoon of the same day, the 2nd Tank Group began to move to the defensive.

"We're still struggling in the mud!" Hort summed up the situation in his diary for the day: "In order to get a clearer picture of the situation at the front, I moved the command post forward to a small village on the west bank of the Sudost River. But the migration took a long time because everything was stuck in the mud and couldn't move. The 2nd Tank Group did not complete the task of cooperating with our troops, they could not move on the banks of the Sudost River, and they ran out of ammunition and food, and the unfathomable mud pond trapped all the supplies! ”

There was little progress on the side of the 4th Tank Group in the next few days, and Hort ordered his troops to expand the "space" as quickly as possible, but even with a large reinforcement of artillery, the Red Army 6th Army on the opposite side also repelled the German onslaught one by one with the cooperation of the 17th Air Army's attack aircraft.

On October 29, the temperature began to drop again, and the temperature during the day was only minus 3 degrees Celsius, but fortunately, there was no rain or snow recently, which eased the mud. The officers and men of the 4th Tank Group raised the last shred of spirit and continued to unyieldingly try to assault forward. By noon, they had advanced with difficulty by five hundred meters, supported by artillery and air force! And then I couldn't take even half a step forward.

By the end of that day, the 2nd Belorussian Front had withstood a full half a month of storms. In the end, they were worthy of the honor of the Red Army. Blocked the advance of the German troops. The reinforced 27th Army arrived on the battlefield. The 35th Infantry Corps, to which it belonged, with the support of the 23rd Mechanized Corps and two self-propelled artillery brigades, desperately nailed the German tanks that bypassed the broken lines. According to their report after the battle, in the battle, a total of 37 German tanks, assault guns and armored vehicles were destroyed and damaged, 67 machine guns, 26 artillery pieces and mortars were destroyed, and 3,000 enemy soldiers were killed.

By this time, Hitler's "Redbeard" program, on which Hitler had high hopes, had been declared bankrupt. The Germans were not able to approach Bryansk in all directions. The average distance from the city of Bryansk is more than 20 km. And during the half-month battle, the total number of German losses was 2,638 killed, 23,094 wounded, and 2,108 missing. In addition, 156 tanks, 124 assault guns and self-propelled guns, and 609 half-tracks were permanently lost. In addition, a considerable number of tanks and cars need to be repaired.

As for the Red Army, the 2nd Belorussian Front admitted that after being besieged by the Germans, it paid the price of 35,691 casualties, of which 9,251 were killed and missing. As for the losses of tanks. It's about 100 cars.

Although judging from the comparison of numbers, the losses on both sides are not particularly large. But. The losses of the Red Army could be replenished immediately, and by October 1942, the four major tank factories of the Red Army could produce 500 T-34s and 300 T-35s per month. On the German side, even with Speer's continuous enhancement of production efficiency, its tank production still has great problems. Moreover, with the counterattack of the Red Army immediately, the German army, which lost the initiative on the battlefield and was driven away, will once again lose a large number of tanks.

Admiral Hoth also wrote worriedly in his diary at the time: "The intention of the Russians to counterattack is already very clear, and they have not only strengthened the defense of the important points again, but also established a well-coherent defensive line." And in the rear of this line of defense, this huge number of armored troops are active! ”

By 1 November, the treacherous situation had become clearer, and the 4th Tank Group recorded in its journal: "An attempt by the enemy to launch a counteroffensive has been detected. We previously thought that the enemy was only a partial reinforcement, which is inaccurate. Judging from the results of today's aerial reconnaissance, the enemy army has at least 3,000 vehicles transporting personnel and equipment, and more than 100 trains have been added to the railway, and a large number of tanks, armored vehicles, and artillery are being assembled......"

The limited number of Luftwaffe reconnaissance of Red Army activity north of Pochop later proved to be quite accurate, and in fact three days earlier began to move interested Red Army units to the Pochop front.

Marshal Bock also sensed the precarious situation of the 4th Tank Group at this time, and he decided that there was no point in continuing the "Redbeard" plan, and demanded that the entire Army Group immediately go on the defensive.

Hitler's answer to Bock's warning was that there was no need to be so nervous at all, that all this was nothing more than the "death throes" of the Russians, and he advocated continuing the offensive until the Russians collapsed.

Bock responded worriedly: "I'm afraid the Russians won't collapse, it's likely that the 4th tank cluster will collapse before they collapse!" ”

Not only was Bock nervous, but Hort also repeatedly reported to his superiors that he wanted to immediately stop the "Red Beard", pull the 2nd and 4th tank clusters out of the enemy's pocket, and immediately prepare for the Red Army's counteroffensive. But both of these suggestions were ruthlessly rejected by the wolf's den. However, it was too late for Hort to warn at this time, because at this time, the Red Army's full-scale counteroffensive was only three days at most, and in such a short period of time, the German army could not make effective adjustments at all.

At this moment, the Red Army's three fronts were ready for a full-scale counterattack. According to the counterattack plan drawn up by the General Staff, the 2nd Belorussian Front was still tasked with attracting the attention of the Germans head-on, while the 1st Belorussian Front was driven from the right flank directly behind the Germans. The Ukrainian 2nd Front also launched a fierce attack from the left flank, and the two flanks were quickly interspersed, cutting off the path of the German retreat. Then the 2nd Belorussian Front, together with the 37th and 38th armies of the Voronezh side and part of the Central Front, stormed from the front, trying to completely crush the Germans like a stone mill.

In order to paralyze and deceive the Germans, the Red Army made a lot of preparations: "All vehicles going to the front were forbidden to turn on their headlights, and at the same time, the convoys that withdrew to the rear were to be organized into enlarged action groups. And drive with the lights on. In addition, a special convoy of vehicles was organized. Carrying a small number of troops pretending to retreat north.

As always. The Red Army paid special attention to the concentrated use of artillery in this operation, and they assembled 5,425 artillery and rocket artillery on a 31-kilometer-long offensive front, compared to only 14 guns per kilometer against the opposing Axis defenders, and the Red Army had an absolute superiority of 12.5:1 in the number of artillery.

The Germans not only did not have an advantage in artillery, but most importantly, they were also very demoralized, and the onslaught in the previous half month had exhausted almost all the morale and energy of the troops participating in the battle. Worse still, there was the problem of supply, which had always plagued the combat operations of the German army on the Eastern Front. After every large-scale offensive operation. The Germans needed a considerable amount of time to recover, and this time, apparently, the Red Army would not give them much time to recover.

On 5 November, the Red Army's 1st Belorussian Front was the first to launch a wave of thunderous and rapid offensives, in the words of the commanders of the German 2nd Tank Group: "The Russians smashed division after division at us, and finally succeeded in breaking through our lines." Aerial reconnaissance reported that the Russians had between 1,500 and 2,000 tanks. This amount of steel torrent is simply suffocating us! ”

What Hote feared finally happened, and after fierce and lengthy artillery preparations, the 1st Belorussian Front and the 2nd Ukrainian Front broke through his left and right flanks in one fell swoop, his staff officer, Colonel Scheer, recalled:

"I got my report early in the morning. It was learned that the enemy had broken through several lines of defense of our troops. And the Russians had no idea of resting, and soon with the support of the Air Force attack aircraft. Continue to launch waves of attacks. The defensive line of the 2nd Tank Group is said to be in tatters, and the southwest is no better, with Russian tanks rumbling over them. The 20th Panzer Division was flanked and asked for permission to retreat if possible. At the same time, the 18th Motorized Division in the southern section of the line reported that it had partially repelled the Russian attack after a tragic white-knuckle battle, but the Russians clearly did not intend to give up and asked for reinforcements...... By noon, the situation was getting worse...... Everywhere there were requests for reinforcements, or artillery support, but the reserves had long since been exhausted, even the headquarters had lost contact with some of the troops, the heralds and signal corps were often gone, and those who had escaped failed to complete their missions...... The situation is getting more and more chaotic, and the general orders us to prepare for a retreat at once......"

It has to be said that Hult was still relatively lucky, he only evacuated the headquarters on the front foot, and the bombers of the Red Army on the back foot patronized here, and a Su-2 attack plane accurately dropped four 250-kilogram aerial bombs in Hort's headquarters, blowing up some of the headquarters staff officers who had not yet evacuated into the sky.

Panicked commanders, inconsistent intelligence, and constant attacks by Red Army fighters had a disastrous effect on the already exhausted German army. Countless troops were caught in the scene of solitary combat, and countless motor vehicles were either stuck in the mud and unable to move, or were reduced to nothing by the bombardment and artillery shelling of the Red Army. Large numbers of tanks and vehicles that had run out of fuel or ammunition were abandoned by German soldiers, and everyone fled backwards at all costs.

Over the next few days, the command of each German unit changed rapidly, and either the commander was killed, missing, or simply captured. So much so that some soldiers faced such an embarrassment, an hour ago, his company commander was still a captain so-and-so, but an hour later he was replaced by a so-and-so lieutenant or so-and-so second lieutenant, or simply a sergeant or sergeant.

On the side of the Red Army, despite the fact that a breakthrough had been achieved in the front-line forces, Ubolevich was not satisfied with the progress on the battlefield. The pace of the advance of the Red Army, especially the advance of the 1st Belorussian Front, did not reach the expected speed, and some areas were still in the midst of a tug-of-war, so that a large number of reserves had to be invested in advance, which still had a relatively large impact on future battles.

The performance of the Red Army in the Second Battle of Bryansk attracted the attention of not only Ubolevich, but also the British and Americans outside the Soviet Union. For example, Churchill, who had just touched a gray nose in North Africa, wrote in a memo:

"In the event of a victory for the Red Army at Bryansk, this will be an unprecedented blow to the Germans, Germany will lose all initiative on the battlefield and may even trigger an avalanche effect...... I have to pay attention to this possibility, once Germany collapses in 1943, then it will be a bolt from the blue for the Reich. The bear's paw of the polar bear will drive straight into Western Europe and completely change the pattern of Europe and even the world! ”

In fact, Churchill also had some words that were not written in the memo, such as his instructions to MI6 to make trouble for the Soviet Union as much as possible, to help the Germans as much as possible, so that they would not collapse too quickly.

For Churchill's request, Learvin was very speechless, because the old smoker also looked up to her too much, the intelligence agency was not omnipotent, and in the face of such a pure strength competition on the Eastern Front, the role of intrigue and intrigue was not great. And considering someone's unscrupulousness, even if MI6 can cause trouble for the Soviet Union, it will inevitably face ten times or even a hundred times more retaliation, which is not worth it at all...... (To be continued.) )

PS: Bow and thank you to Orpheum, Admiral Hood, Yankee Station, Drunken Wufeng and Comrade Juventus!