As early as June 1940, after the end of the French campaign, Hitler could not contain the excitement in his heart, and excitedly told the commander-in-chief of Army Group A, Rundstead: "The truly great mission is to settle accounts with the Bolsheviks!" ”

On June 30 of the same year, Halder, the chief of the Army General Staff, who had insight into Hitler's intentions, wrote eloquently in his diary: "The main attention is in the East. ”

And a month later, on July 21, Hitler revealed to Army Commander-in-Chief Brauchitsch: "Today our armed forces are stronger than ever, but this level of armament cannot be maintained for long, and one day the Russians will surpass us, maybe eight or nine years later, maybe a year later, time will be in the enemy's favor, and the current balance of power will only develop in our favor, because the Bolsheviks are not sleeping!" ”

Indeed, the Soviet Union, with its land area of nearly 20 million ordinary kilometers and a population of nearly 200 million, was rich in minerals, industrial and agricultural raw materials, and gradually developing and growing industry.

On December 13, 1940, the Barbarossa Plan was distributed to the Army Groups. On 18 December, Hitler approved the plan in the name of preventive measures, which was issued in the form of Instruction No. 21 of the German High Command.

The strategic goal of the Barbarossa plan was to crush the Soviet army in one fell swoop with a blitzkrieg. At the beginning of the war, the main forces were resolutely invested, annihilating the main forces of the Soviet army in the western regions of the Soviet Union by means of surprise attacks, and then developing in strategic depth. Capture Leningrad, Moscow and Donbass, advance to Arkhangelsk, Volga, and Astrakhan, and strive to end the war by the winter of 1941.

To this end, the German army will concentrate 152 divisions and two brigades, 4,300 tanks, 47,000 artillery pieces, 5,000 aircraft, and 200 warships. A huge force of 5.5 million troops. Attack from three strategic directions.

Army Group North attacked the Baltic states from east of Szczecin along Gdansk and Königsberg. Take Leningrad directly; Army Group South attacked from Helm, Poland, in the direction of Kyiv and Donbass; Army Group Center, which had the strongest strength, attacked from Warsaw to the Minsk region, first annihilating the Soviet troops in the Belarusian region, and after reaching Smolensk, it divided its forces north to strengthen Army Group North. Of course, the General Headquarters of the German Army, which advocated the direct capture of Moscow, specifically stipulated in its supplementary order that if Army Group North progressed smoothly, Army Group Center would attack Moscow with all its strength instead of drawing troops.

On the whole, the Barbarossa in this time and space is not very different from history, except that Army Group North cannot advance from East Prussia to the three Baltic countries, which is almost a copy of the Barbarossa plan in history.

As historically, the implementation of the Barbarossa plan was interfered with by Yugoslavia. Unfortunately, Yugoslavia was a mess, and the Germans conquered it without much difficulty.

There are many similarities with history, such as Hitler's brutality, which made it difficult to effectively occupy the Soviet Union, where 5 million or more troops were thrown in, given the sheer size of the Soviet territory. Because the mustache pinned his hopes on high-pressure iron-blooded means to solve the problem. He declared that the German army would not be limited by the Hague International Convention and the Geneva Convention in the war against the Soviet Union (the Soviet Union did not sign these two conventions), saying: "The war against Russia cannot be waged in a gentle way, it is an ideological and ethnic struggle that requires unprecedented, cruel and unrelenting harsh means". To this end, the German High Command specially issued the "Special Measures for the Special Jurisdiction of the Barbarossa Region and the Army" for violating the Soviet civilian population without being punished by military law, and the "Order for the Treatment of Political Commissioners" for the execution of political commissars at all levels in the Soviet army.

Please always remember the day of June 10, 1941 (June 22 in history), in the early hours of this day. 1,000 warplanes taking off from airfields near Szczecin, Warsaw and Helm suddenly intruded into the airspace of East Prussia and East Poland, and some engaged in battles with East Prussian and East Polish fighters that were taking off urgently. The other part went straight to the military airfields of the two countries.

The fierce air battle lasted a full three hours, and the East Polish and East Prussian fighters that took off urgently were almost completely lost after the first round due to their poor performance and small numbers (mostly I-15s, I-16s, and only a few Yaks and MiGs).

Of course, the Germans also paid a certain price, about a quarter of the fighters involved in the first wave of attacks were shot down, another quarter were wounded. As for the bombers and attack aircraft responsible for air strikes on airfields, the losses were also considerable, some were shot down on the road, and the other were beaten into a sieve in the face of the tight anti-aircraft fire of the two countries.

Overall, on the morning of June 10, the Germans temporarily gained air supremacy, but this air supremacy was not stable, at least not comparable to historical achievements. East Poland and East Prussia were fully prepared before the war, and the fighters were dispersed, especially East Prussia also built a considerable number of fortified aircraft forts, and preserved a considerable amount of air power.

Comparatively speaking, the poorly prepared East Poland suffered more severe losses, more than half of its air power was destroyed, especially several key airfields, not only the Germans destroyed their fighters, but also the runway and other facilities. This directly led to the fact that the Red Army Air Force, which rushed to hear the news, was unable to use the local bases to fight the German army, which greatly affected the situation in East Poland.

Compared to the near-one-sided battles in the air, the Germans did not progress as smoothly as they did in history. Especially in East Prussia, in order to achieve the suddenness of the offensive, the German army, which had adopted armored divisions and motorized infantry to play the front, ran headlong into the Jewish copper wall, and the armored forces that swept through France encountered great difficulties.

Tanks No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 were extremely vulnerable to East Prussian anti-tank fire, and they were largely unable to nibble at the reinforced concrete fortifications of the Jews. Army Group North was immobilized several kilometers after breaking through to the East Prussian border and was in a dilemma of constantly pulling nails. So much so that the army group strongly demanded that additional heavy artillery that could smash the fortifications open the way.

The Germans in the middle were in slightly better shape, and the footcloths were poorly repaired, and there were not as many Jews as they were. As for the firepower, it is even worse. And the superiority of Army Group Center in strength is too great. On the first day, the Germans' progress was fairly smooth. The troops carried out a pincer attack on Minsk from the north and south in two directions, and it took only one day to run over Bialystok and rumble in the direction of Brest, Belarus.

The German units of Army Group South were not so unlucky, and at first they proceeded fairly smoothly, and it took little effort to storm outside Lublin. But in Lublin, the Germans had a challenge. As mentioned earlier, the 100th separate heavy tank battalion of the old Hemstra was deployed in Lublin in advance. When the Germans drove the East Polish infantry away like sheep in tanks No. 3 and No. 4, and when they thought they could take Lublin without much difficulty, the 100th Separate Tank Battalion played the role of a pinnacle!

Lucas was the commander of a No. 3 50mm tank of the 17th Panzer Division. Having participated in the Polish and French campaigns, he was also well-informed, having competed with Polish, French and British tanks, and took it for granted that Soviet tanks were like that.

At three o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, he arrived at the city of Lublin, and drove towards the city with the other tanks in the company. Lucas, who was half out of the conning tower, leisurely looked at the city in the distance, wondering if he could spend the night in Lublin tonight. Spending the night in the city was much better than outside the city, and the restrictions were released from above, which meant that he could punish Poland for wiping his feet to his heart's content.

Six No. 3 tanks advanced along the road in a column, not a single enemy could be seen along the way, not even a single shot could be heard. Lucas was suspicious that the Polish soldiers had run out. Of course, it's better to finish the run. Only those who have been on the battlefield know the brutality of battle, and it is best not to fire.

Just when Lucas felt a little sleepy, raised his chin and yawned, with a loud bang, the platoon leader turned into a big fireball. Suddenly, Lucas struck a spirit, and immediately shouted loudly: "Enemy attack! Get ready for battle! ”

But before Lucas could finish speaking, there was another roar of explosions behind him, and the most pitiful tank No. 1 at the end of the convoy was also turned into a large flare, and the driver who was covered in fire struggled to climb out, and after a futile roll and struggle on the mud floor, he fell into a miserable breath.

The screams of his comrades brought Lucas back into combat mode, and he poked his head out to scan his surroundings, hoping to spot the enemy's traces as soon as possible.

"Two o'clock, at the back of the farmhouse!"

Lucas's gunner, Paul, quickly shook the handwheel and turned the muzzle of the gun towards the target, which was only a small corner exposed, and soon a lightning-fast armor-piercing bullet flew out as the tank slammed.

This shot was quite accurate, Lucas wanted to applaud Paul, worthy of being a veteran with 5 destruction records, no accident This shot can destroy the enemy and avenge the dead comrades.

Even Lucas wanted to order Paul to turn his gun and aim at another enemy, but fortunately he restrained this idea well, because there have been examples on the battlefield where it is not possible to destroy the enemy if you hit it.

It didn't take long for Lucas to realize how correct this decision was, and when the smoke cleared, he could clearly see through his binoculars that the enemy was unharmed, and in amazement, he shouted, "One more shot!" Fast! ”

The loader hurriedly removed a shell from the rack and thrust it into the chamber, and just as Paul was about to fire again, Lucas saw through the telescope a puff of flame from the muzzle of the enemy gun on the opposite side, and almost at the same time, a cloud of dirt was splashed about three meters in front of Lucas's car.

Lucas didn't care that his little heart was still in his throat, and roared loudly: "Fire!" ”

Rumble!

The 50-mm tank gun erupted another cloud of flames, and the armor-piercing shells effortlessly broke free from the breech and plunged headlong into the enemy's turret. At that moment Lucas shouted: "Oye! ”

But before this word fell, Lucas saw an amazing scene, his cannonball was blown away with a loud bang, and there was no other damage except for scraping off a small piece of patent leather on the opponent's turret.

Even more terrifying was still to come, and the other comrades who attacked the enemy with Lucas also hit one after another, one hit the enemy's artillery shield, and the other hit the enemy's car, but these two shells only had the effect of tickling without exception.

There was another boom, and after the turret of the company commander's command vehicle flew into the sky, the order to retreat was given.

"Reverse! Fast! Reverse now! ”

It's only a few minutes of work. Lucas's company lost three tanks. And the enemy didn't have any. This situation frightened the tankers, but fortunately it was not the first time they had encountered a similar situation, some tanks of the French last year were also very resistant to beating, so they couldn't fight hard at this time, retreat and change to the 88 can opener!

Lucas believes that the 88 cannon can solve this small problem, the only question is when the 88 cannon will be transferred, if it comes too slowly, it will be a pity that the enemy runs away.

The Germans began to release smoke and turned around and retreated. They were confident in the mobility of their tanks, and from the experience of fighting in France, the off-road performance of heavy tanks with thick skin and durability was not ideal, as long as they played the advantage of being light and fast, it was not a big problem to escape.

And this time, Lucas was surprised to find that after they retreated, the Soviet tanks hiding behind farmhouses and fences finally got out, and they skimmed over the ridges and picked up without difficulty. What's stupid about this. It's even easier than them, isn't it?

Just when Lucas was shocked, the enemy on the opposite side suddenly stepped on the brakes. After the turret adjusted its direction slightly, it opened fire. As soon as the shelling stopped, the enemy driver released the brakes, and the tank continued briskly until the next opportunity to shoot, and then applied the brakes.

This set of short-stop shooting was played very smoothly, and judging from the opponent's movements, their tanks still had the strength to complete such a maneuver, and even continuously shortened the distance between the two sides!

Lucas was stunned, he really couldn't figure out what kind of tank this was, even if the defense was fierce enough, the mobility was so good, and the other side was very compact and low, how the did it?

Just when Lucas wanted to scold his mother, the order of the deputy company commander came from the earphone: "Lucas, Julian, you are attracting the enemy's attention from the front, and I will outflank you from the side!" ”

Lucas agreed with the deputy company commander's order, and judging from the current situation, they didn't want to run away at all, but could only find a way to go around the enemy's flank to fight.

"Fire! Hit hard! ”

With Lucas's order, Paul fired another shell, and it has to be said that Paul was very lucky today, he hit the enemy again, but still in vain.

Lucas could only urge: "Quick! Reload, one more shot! ”

At this moment, the enemy on the opposite side stopped and fired again, with a whoosh, the shell quickly hit Julian on the right side of Lucas, this time Lucas saw clearly, with an explosion, Julian's car was full of fire, and soon smoke erupted from the tank, unlike before, this time Yurian's car did not explode, and even continued to maneuver.

A few seconds later, Julian's angry voice came from the headphones: "Maximi is dead!" ”

Maximilian was Julian's artillery commander, a veteran of the Polish campaign, and a friend of Lucas, when he angrily shouted: "Avenge Maximilian!" ”

As if enraged by the death of his comrades, Lucas's crew erupted into a small universe, and Tong Guò dodged the enemy's fire twice in a row with a series of beautiful maneuvers, and even hit the enemy again, but it didn't work.

At the same time, Lucas's platoon commander also managed to go around the enemy's flank, and after careful aiming, he launched a fatal blow. Lucas really saw it, the enemy's half-egg-shaped turret side hit a guy, and even he panicked for the opponent's pain, if nothing else, this blow would completely kill everyone in the turret, anyway, Lucas cheered for their deputy company commander!

But the joy came and went quickly, and the enemy's turret slowly turned, as if it had only been bitten by a mosquito, and soon it fired a shot, blowing up the deputy company commander and his tank, who had just been cheering victory!

Soon, another monster opened fire again, this time unlucky for Julian, who had escaped before, and the poor creature was hit again, and the turret blew off the hull like a dirt plane.

This blow was so deadly that Lucas instantly lost the courage to continue fighting, and if he couldn't even penetrate the enemy's flank, then how could he fight? Soon Lucas drove his tank into a grove of woods, then ordered to abandon the car and flee.

That night, covered in mud, they found their large unit like stray dogs and told the battalion commander about the day's battle, and when he talked about the two heavy tanks, Lucas was so excited that he chattered about how terrible the enemy was, so much so that his battalion commander thought he was crazy.

In the words of the battalion commander: "There is no such tank in this world as you mentioned, and even if there is, it is not something that can be made by vulgar Russians." Lucas, you're probably too tired, too nervous, you need to rest! ”

The next morning, the battalion commander, who did not believe in evil at all, attacked Lublin again, and threw in a whole company, and unlike yesterday, he personally went to supervise the battle, and temporarily borrowed two 88 guns.

And this qiē Hemstra did not know that he did not participate in the battle yesterday, but he heard the young man who participated in the battle say: "The Germans are vulnerable, their tanks are all papier-mâché, and the cannons are filled with air, which can only tickle us......"

This pleased Hemstra, who had been waiting for this moment for many years, and who could not wait to give the Germans a taste of the power of his cannon...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to llkkjjllkkjj, 1st Guards Tank Brigade, Schistosoma parasite, armored train, hzwangdd, Kamen Angel 555, Ryoko 913 and Comrade Juventus!