It seems that on the Eastern Front, after the initial scrambling, the Red Army quickly found a way to deal with the tiger and leopard. Thousands of kilometers away, the British were still suffering from the latest encounters with the new German Panthers and Tiger tanks, and compared with the Red Army's calmness, the British Empire looked unusually embarrassed.

In North Africa, Montgomery, who had just turned the tide of the war, found that the Germans were equipped with two new tanks on a small scale, and even though the new tanks were very small in number and not adapted to the desert climate of North Africa, the new German tanks still gave his troops a considerable shock.

Yes, it's shocking! Montgomery found that none of the tanks and anti-tank guns his troops were equipped with a real threat to the new German tanks, and that most of the armor-piercing shells that hit the Panthers and Tigers were mercilessly bounced off and could only be used to hear. The performance of the British Empire's armored forces in the face of the new German tanks can only be described as clumsy, and even the most heavily armored Churchill would be beaten from 1,000 meters away when he encountered the likes of tigers and leopards.

It has to be said that Churchill's quality was questionable. Because just from the data on paper, Churchill's armor defense should still be good, the front vertical part of the hull has 89 mm, the inclined armor above the nose is 38 mm (70 degree angle), the lower part of the nose is inclined armor 76 mm (20 degree angle), and the turret front has 102 mm armor and the side also has 89 mm armor, which is basically much stronger than the early model of the Black Panther.

In fact, the reason can be found in the report of the Germans on the Churchill tank. According to the Germans, the Churchill tank was completely unworthy of attention, both in design and technology, and was far behind the Soviet tanks encountered on the Eastern Front. The Germans said that the 76.2mm howitzer to the left of Churchill's driver was a product of painting. Not only is it inconvenient to use, but it also occupies a lot of body space. And in terms of the performance of the gun itself, it is also "seriously outdated".

As for the two-pounder (40 mm) and six-pounder (57 mm) guns on its turret. The two-pounder gun is garbage, a "toy gun" at all. As for the six-pounder gun, it was not as good as the Soviet ZIS-2 of the same caliber, and the ammunition performance was really average. As for Churchill's armor, the Germans ridiculed it, believing that the metallurgical capacity of the British Empire was inferior year by year, saying that although Churchill's armor was thick, the quality was very poor, far inferior to the German and Soviet tank armor. Even the Germans complained about Churchill's tracks. It is believed that the material is too hard and brittle, and will shatter if hit by shrapnel.

According to the results of the German live-fire test of Churchill, the 150mm grenade had a devastating effect on the Churchill tank, and generally fell apart after only one Churchill hit. Of course, 150 howitzers against tanks would have been too ferocious, and it was not surprising that Churchill was crushed. It's just that the British lost face that even the outdated 37 mm and 50 mm anti-tank guns could penetrate Churchill's armor.

As for the German 75 mm or 88 mm tank guns and anti-tank guns, when fired from ordinary hood armor-piercing shells (APCBC), they could easily pierce the front of Churchill from a distance of 1 kilometer. Even the Germans had a bad taste for humiliating the British with the ZIS-3 captured from the Eastern Front, which was a transitional product and a "shoddy" Russian product with average performance that could penetrate Churchill at a distance of 1,000 meters.

In fact. These shortcomings are understandable. After the First World War, the British were basically in a state of letting go of the Manan Mountain, and the development of ordnance fell into a period of stagnation. World War II broke out abruptly. Niuniu seemed to be caught off guard, and he could only deal with it temporarily.

For example, the problem of armor quality mentioned above, this is normal, because in peacetime, Armtron Vickers stopped producing armor steel, so much so that when building the George V-class battleships, it had to order thousands of tons of armor steel plates from the Czech company Skoda. Do you think that even your own son Royal Navy is in this state, what can the unpopular army look like?

Moreover, the British expeditionary force was quickly defeated in France, and most of its equipment was discarded before fleeing back to the island. In order to rearm the army as soon as possible, the British could only "cut corners" and rush to manufacture weapons and equipment. Naturally, the quality of the early Churchill was not very good.

Of course, even this very good performance of the Churchill is also the best design that the British have worked hard to come up with, and for a long time to come, they will have to use this slow tank to fight the German elite Haw Par. Anyway, the British tankmen will have a pain in the egg for a long time.

Let's ignore the resentment of the British for a moment, because the little armor problem they had was really nothing on the Eastern Front. If the British were to face the torrent of German steel on the Eastern Front, they would be scared in minutes.

The Eastern Front was still the most brutal part of World War II, and both the Soviet Union and Germany were racking their brains to find countermeasures in order to win. For example, after the launch of Operation "Redbeard", the Germans even came up with a special operation in order to open a breakthrough to Moscow as soon as possible.

The so-called special operation is actually a "decapitation" operation similar to that of the US imperialists in the later generations when they attacked Iraq. The German top brass believed that in order to succeed as in Barbarossa, it was necessary to paralyze the command center of the Red Army, and if the command center of the Second Belorussian Front could be defeated, the army group would be thrown into chaos, and the German armored assault group would be able to take advantage of the chaos and cut a big hole in one go.

The plan was approved by Hitler, and in fact the Führer was interested in all unconventional solutions to problems, and he particularly appreciated the unconventional thinking. Look at the Führer's good friend, Dr. Porsche, the automotive genius who came up with countless brain-wrenching designs during World War II, and the only one who admired them at the time was his good friend Führer.

Without further ado, how were the Germans ready to carry out the "decapitation" operation? You must know that there were no tomahawks back then, and it was impossible to achieve precise and targeted killing. So the Germans chose paratroopers to perform this task. The plan was to send elite paratroopers to infiltrate Bryansk and raid Rokossovsky's headquarters.

And the paratrooper unit that carried out this "suicidal" mission was a very special presence in the German sequence - the 500th SS paratrooper battalion. A brief introduction to them, the German paratroopers in World War II were basically subordinate to the Air Force, but judging by the SS lettering that the battalion has. Everyone knows. The battalion was part of the SS sequence. It was the only paratrooper unit of the SS.

And this is not the most special thing about the battalion, the most special thing is that the soldiers of the battalion are made up of those who have "committed crimes". It turned out that the 500th SS paratrooper battalion, with the exception of the core of officers and non-commissioned officers who were recruited from the Air Force Stendall Paratrooper School, the other main members were Waffen-SS personnel who had violated military regulations, that is, those who had been sentenced by a military court to serve in "special units" to atone for their crimes.

It should be noted, however, that the circumstances of the mistakes of these alleged violators of military regulations were not particularly serious. For example, some people did not have all the weapons required when they stood guard, some people killed themselves on the front line to avoid fighting, and some people contradicted their superiors while carrying out orders.

One of the most typical examples is Private Paul. Laborious. He was once a brave soldier in the 6th SS "Northern" Mountain Division, but was sent to a correctional center because he missed a duty on the battlefield. However, the German reforming camps were not the same as some of the suicide "punishment camps" in the Red Army, and could be regarded as "probation camps" at best.

Although these "probationer" personnel were removed from the frontline because of violations of military discipline and sent to various surprise detention camps for reform, after all, most of them had experience in fighting on the front line for a long time. There are also some veterans who are proficient in various weapons, and their combat effectiveness is still quite strong.

Of course, this battalion is not completely without problems, that is, most of these probationers are from the army. The vast majority have no experience of parachuting. So much so that the battalion commander Herbert. Major Kirkhofe had to intensify training by surprise, pulling the entire battalion to the central region of Poland for parachute training.

At the time of the decapitation operation. The battalion has a battalion headquarters company, three paratrooper companies, a heavy armed company and a training reserve company, with a total of 1,140 personnel. After the battalion was prepared, Hitler himself read in detail the operational plan for the decapitation operation, and he instructed: "The destruction of the command center of the 2nd Belorussian Front is an extremely important operation, and all guarantees for the 500th battalion must be given the highest priority!" ”

Under Hitler's strict orders, the staff officers of the Wolf's Den naturally did not dare to slack off, and immediately drew up a more detailed combat plan: with the cooperation of the Air Force, the 500th SS Paratroop Battalion carried out an airborne raid on Rokossovsky's headquarters. At the same time, agents who had been lurking in Russia before the war also assembled in Bryansk to act as guides for the 500th SS paratrooper battalion.

The entire operation was planned to be completed in early October, and the operation was immediately given the code name "Obstacle Clearance". And by October 10, the 500th SS paratrooper battalion was ready for battle.

It is clear from the importance attached to this operation by the Germans that they were determined to "wipe out" Rokossovsky and his command, which was what Hitler called "seeing people alive and corpses dead." ”

Late at night on October 10, with Hitler's order, all the members of the 500SS battalion boarded the plane, and in the final preparations, the battalion commander, Major Kirkhoff, took out a high-resolution black and white photograph and pointed: "Paratroopers, remember this face!" ”

Rokossovsky sneezed, he turned his head to look at the charcoal fire in the brazier, it was still quite vigorous, but why did he feel so cold?

Tightening his collar, Rokossovsky walked to the combat map, stared at Klinzy for a moment, and then shook his head. For the time being, he did not have any ability to relieve the troops encircled in Klinzi, and he had built two lines of defense from Unecha to Pochop. In accordance with the requirements of the Military Commissar, he must hold on to Bryansk until the main forces of the 1st Belorussian Front, the 2nd Ukrainian Front and the Voronezh Front arrive on the battlefield.

The task was still heavy, because Rokossovsky had so few troops at his disposal. According to his predictions, Unecha and Pochop would definitely not be able to hold on, and the only role of these two node cities was to delay the advance of the German armored forces as much as possible in order to buy time for the main force.

Rubbing his face, Rokossovsky pulled out a roasted potato from a charcoal brazier, tore off the skin, and ate it in a big gulp. After eating a few potatoes, he suddenly seemed to remember something, quickly stood up, walked to the desk, grabbed the phone and dialed out.

"Is Comrade Lenin still in Unechia?" Rokossovsky asked a little anxiously.

From August. Lenin had been inspecting the front. After a round and round in Ukraine. He went straight to Bryansk and stayed near Unecha.

With the resumption of the German offensive, it became dangerous for Lenin to remain in Unecha and Bryansk. Rokossovsky had urged the mentor several times to leave Unecha as soon as possible, but the mentor was obviously not so obedient, and he still stayed in Unechia. This made Rokossovsky anxious.

Rokossovsky was well aware of what Lenin meant to the Soviet Union. To put it mildly, Lenin was the god in the hearts of the majority of the Soviet people and Bolshevik members. Once Lenin made a mistake, then he really couldn't redeem himself.

That's why Rokossovsky hurriedly called again to urge Lenin to leave Unechia, and even sent a telegram directly to the Military Commission, asking the Military Commission to quickly persuade the tutor: "In any case, Comrade Lenin must be allowed to leave Unecha and at least return to Bryansk!" ”

So did Lenin listen? To be honest, Lenin was quite stubborn, he thought that Trotsky could go to the most dangerous front to do propaganda work during the revolutionary war in the country, so he could not do worse than Trotsky, right? Therefore, the tutor stubbornly refused to leave until the Politburo was alarmed, and he strongly demanded that Lenin not interfere with Rokossovsky's "normal command of the battle". The Mentor reluctantly left Unechia.

But what left Rokossovsky and the Politburo speechless was that Lenin left Unecha. But he didn't go far, and when his train arrived in Pochop, the mentor ordered it to stop again, and in his words: "I have respected the opinion of the Politburo and left Unechia." Pochop is far enough away from the front, and I have no problem cheering on my comrades here, right? ”

Lenin refused to leave Pochop anyway, and he chose to live on a hill on the banks of the Sudost River outside the city. The small hill, which came to be known as Lenin Hill, was not particularly tall, only three hundred meters above sea level. At the top of the hill and on the mountainside there were two holiday villas of the aristocrats of the Tsarist era, and Lenin set up his office in Villa No. 1 on the top of the hill.

As for why Lenin chose here, the reason is also very simple. First of all, Mount Lenin is a rare vantage point around Pochop. From the top of the hill you can see the city of Pochop and the other side of the river. Moreover, the environment of Lenin Mountain is very good, the green mountains and green waters make Lenin feel very comfortable, which reminds him of the time when he was exiled.

Villa No. 1 has a narrow stone staircase road leading to Villa No. 2 on the mountainside, where Lenin usually worked and "sightseeing" during the day. In the evening, leave the top of the hill and go to Villa 2 on the mountainside to rest. The reason is that the No. 1 villa on the top of the mountain is relatively windy and the temperature is relatively low, and the body of the tutor is indeed not very good, and the low temperature is a great enemy for the elderly.

Both Villa No. 1 and Villa No. 2 were guarded by ten guards, and on the road down the hill, two sentry posts were set up to ensure Lenin's safety. Later, Lenin's secretary Verkaya recalled: "This was the commanding height outside Pochop, guarded by comrades from the Central Security Department on and below the hill, and the security was ideal...... In the room opposite Belarus from Villa No. 1, Comrade Lenin worked there. After reading the documents for a while, he will come out of the balcony and look in the direction of Belarus in a daze. I think Comrade Lenin probably wondered when he would be able to recover Belarus at that time......"

Although there is no doubt about the ability of the Central Security Department, Rokossovsky has always been worried about letting the tutor live in Pochop like this. In particular, he strengthened security and ordered a squadron of the NKVD Internal Guard Forces to be stationed at the foot of the mountain, in addition to sending five T-70 tanks and three MT-LB36 transport vehicles. Ensure that in case of danger, the tank can cover Lenin's breakthrough.

Of course, some comrades may say, what danger can this be? And even if it is really dangerous, the T-70 tank is not of much use. It's not that Rokossovsky was stingy and didn't send better tanks to the mentor, in fact, he was only going to send a T-54 tank company to protect the mentor. But Lenin was furious when he found out and reprimanded Rokossovsky harshly, saying: "There will be no problems with my personal security, and I am not so important to the Soviet Union." I am retired, no longer the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and I should not be treated specially. In the most difficult moments of war, how can I use my precious heavy tanks to protect me? ”

Rokossovsky was a good man of words to get Lenin to agree to use the T-70 to protect him. Of course, Rokossovsky also felt that Lenin was not likely to encounter risks, and he was just trying to do his job as well as possible. So after Lenin settled down, Rokossovsky didn't pay much attention to his mentor, there was still a hard defensive battle waiting for him, and he really didn't have much energy to waste.

It's just that what Rokossovsky didn't expect was that this relaxation of vigilance would really go wrong...... (To be continued.) )