The effect of the air raid was not generally ideal, almost blowing up the German material reserve warehouse, and even brought a large number of collateral damage, according to the results of aerial reconnaissance the next day, the air raid also destroyed about 50 tanks, 120 half-track vehicles, and more than 500 cars and motorcycles.

Let's put it this way, the 14th Panzer Division, located in the core area of the bombing, not only paid more than 2,000 personnel losses, but also paid a considerable part of the equipment losses, to put it mildly, nearly a third of the equipment of this armored division was destroyed. So much so that after the end of the air raid, the Germans had to immediately withdraw the division and reorganize it.

Of course, the losses of the 14th Panzer Division were only small heads, and even Rokossovsky did not particularly care, what really interested him was the loss of German material warehouses. Truth be told, these losses will never be counted, because not only the warehouses and the materials in the warehouses were destroyed, but almost all the documents were burned, and even the Germans themselves could not figure out how big the losses were.

Guderian looked at the smoke-filled storage area, and said to Admiral Kleist, who was stunned next to him, with a blank face: "Let's go, there's nothing to see, there is only one way for us to go......"

Guderian did not say which way, but Kleist was clear that there was only one way to retreat. Without supplies, it is impossible for their soldiers to withstand the onslaught of the Russian army in the ice and snow, what, you ask Guderian how did he know that Rokossovsky was preparing a counteroffensive?

If Guderian couldn't even foresee this, then he really wasn't a tank freak, and he didn't deserve to sit in his current position.

After returning to his headquarters. The first thing Guderian did was to give the chief of staff an order: "Immediately make all preparations for the retreat of the whole army." I'm going to see a detailed retreat plan tonight! ”

And the second order he issued was: "Inform the command of the army group." Tell Marshal Bock that our supplies here have been completely destroyed, and it is no longer possible to continue the offensive, and even to maintain the current situation is in fact impossible, and ask him to approve the immediate retreat of our troops! ”

Bock had just gotten up when he received Guderian's request, and the marshal had not slept at all last night, and from 8 p.m. to 12 p.m., bad news had been coming from the Bryansk direction. The massive bombardment of the Red Army also caught him by surprise. He knew quite well that once Guderian's only few reserves of supplies were destroyed, what awaited the German army would be a catastrophe!

Since the early hours of the morning, Bock has been waiting for Guderian's report, but there is no response from Guderian's side, so that Bock has a bit of luck and thinks that Guderian's side has escaped.

At half past three in the morning, the marshal, who really couldn't bear it, went to stare at it, who would have thought that the bad news would come just after opening his eyes.

This stuffy stick made Bock very depressed, and he carried the telegraph for half the weather. He said sullenly, "Forward it to the wolf's den." ”

It stands to reason that Bock was qualified to order Guderian to retreat. But Bock did not dare to give this order casually, for the simple reason that Hitler had great hopes for this breakthrough, and at one time thought that the Bolsheviks would be defeated with great strength, and had already been dissatisfied with the procrastination of Guderian and Kleist more than once. Now if he orders a retreat without asking the Führer, I am afraid that he will be furious.

How crazy and terrible the thunderous Führer will be, Bock feels his calves spin just thinking about it, so he simply sends Guderian's request to the wolf's den, which means it's up to you to deal with it.

When Hitler received this telegram, he was not surprisingly furious, and the furious Führer almost wanted to destroy everything in front of him, and when his study was in shambles, the madman was slightly furious.

"Tell Bock, tell Guderian and Kleist that I approve their request to retreat temporarily......"

Could it be that the mustache has changed his temper and is finally able to listen to the advice of the generals? Of course, this is impossible, the mustache weighed again and again before agreeing to retreat, objectively Hitler still has a certain level in military affairs, at least the most basic changes in the situation he can understand. He also understands the practical difficulties faced by Guderian and Kleist.

Two precious armoured clusters could not be put in extreme danger, and Hitler felt that the halt of the offensive was only temporary, and that if the lines of communication were cleared and the first and second tank clusters were adequately supplied, it was not impossible to launch a grand offensive to crush the Russians.

While it would be a shame to abandon the plan to end the war by Christmas, it is better than risking two main tank clusters. Moreover, Hitler felt that there was still a great advantage on this side, and it was not impossible for the troops to take a breath and accumulate strength, and to launch a new offensive in February and March of the following year to destroy the Bolsheviks in one fell swoop.

It was only a matter of three months, and Germany had waited twenty years to win the war, so what if it had to wait another three months, anyway, Hitler was sure that he was the only one who could win the war!

Moreover, the mustache could also sense that his relationship with the military generals had been a little tense in the last month or two, and although he was not worried that these elm heads would rebel, it was necessary to appease them for the sake of the Empire.

All this determined Hitler's attitude, and also determined that the next test that Rokossovsky would face would be severe.

Guderian's movements were not ordinarily fast, he gave the order to prepare to retreat before receiving the order, and after the official order from the wolf's den, his preparations for running away were even faster. At that time, Guderian wrote in a letter to his wife: "...... This air raid is by no means ordinary, and the Russians may have amassed a force that will strike at our troops first. After several months of fierce fighting, especially the recent period of torture, my troops have suffered serious setbacks in terms of combat effectiveness and morale. Once it is counterattacked by the Russian army, it is difficult to guarantee that it will not collapse...... I will not allow this to happen, and the only way is to retreat before the Russian counterattack is in full swing! ”

Guderian said so and did so, and on the third day of the air raid, the 14th Panzer Division and the 10th Motorized Infantry Division immediately retreated. Guderian confessed to the two divisions: "It is necessary to retreat back at the pace of the offensive." I want you guys to retreat quickly to Pochop. Be sure to make sure the bridge over the Sudost River is safe! ”

Guderian's foresight came into play, as he was well aware of the importance of the Sudost, and once the bridge over the river was destroyed, it would be almost impossible for him and Kleist's armored forces to escape Rokossovsky's heavy blows. Only by quickly crossing the Sudosti River and retreating in the direction of Gomel could he and Kleist's troops avoid being encircled.

Yes, Guderian had already found his troops dangerous, although aerial reconnaissance did not fully detect the existence of such a danger. But he had already foreseen: "The counterattack does not necessarily come only from our front, although after the arrival of the enemy's 21st Army on the battlefield, the enemy army has the initial strength to counterattack." However, according to my observations, the number of frontal enemies is not enough and the battle is limited, and it is difficult to achieve good results by relying only on frontal counterattacks. If I were the commander of Russia, then I would definitely take advantage of the disadvantage of our army being alone in the depths, and send troops to counterattack from the flanks and rear, so that we could defeat our army in one fell swoop. ”

Rokossovsky's arrangement was largely consistent with Guderian's guesses, and the highlight of his counterattack was not the three armies in front, but the other two armies that cut in from the direction of Smolensk and Belarus.

By this time the 12th Army had moved to the area around Krichev. The 20th Army, on the other hand, reached between the Besheti and Ipti rivers, not particularly far from Pochop and Unechia. If these two armies can cut in quickly. It is not impossible to cut off the retreat of the enemy army and fight a battle of annihilation in Bryansk.

Success depended on two things, the speed of the 12th and 20th armies, and the reaction of the Germans. At first, Rokossovsky was more worried about the front, after all, the two army groups were relatively tired along the way, and no one could guarantee whether they could continue to fight with great efforts.

As for the reaction of the German army, Rokossovsky was relatively optimistic, and the Germans had put on a posture of attacking to the end before, which fully demonstrated that the enemy's determination to attack was still to attack, and judging from the information obtained by the intelligence agencies, the wolf's den side had also repeatedly ordered to strengthen the offensive, and the possibility of the enemy retreating was not impossible, but it was very small.

At least Rokossovsky judged that the German army would not retreat easily, believing that the Red Army still had time to complete the campaign configuration for a war of annihilation. It has to be said here that when commanding a large army group in battle, Rokossovsky was still inexperienced, and at this critical moment, he miscalculated, or was played by the more experienced Guderian.

How? It's very simple, Guderian has decided to retreat quickly at this time, according to the idea of ordinary people, since you want to retreat quickly, then don't wait, the big guy quickly packed up the soft girl and ran away!

But Guderian was not an ordinary man, but a master tactician, and at this critical moment, he kept a clear head and calculated Rokossovsky. At the same time as ordering the 14th Panzer Division and the 10th Motorized Division to retreat quickly, Guderian also gave another order: "Concentrate the 14th, 48th, 46th and 47th Motorized Corps to launch a large-scale offensive operation lasting 48 hours!" ”

Yes, at this juncture of imminent retreat, Guderian actually ordered the troops to go on the offensive! This is completely unconventional, even completely contrary to military common sense. But it was this clever stroke that completely misled Rokossovsky and made him make a wrong judgment.

When he was attacked by the German army, Rokossovsky was secretly happy, but he didn't expect that Guderian was attacking while actively preparing for retreat, and after the 48-hour attack came to an end, the tank monster decisively ordered the wind to pull tightly!

At that time, Rokossovsky's 6th, 16th and 21st armies were still preparing to resist the enemy's attack, and all the troops were on the defensive, and only after discovering that the Germans were already running at high speed did they hurriedly change their posture and turn to pursuit. Truth be told, it's too late!

Rokossovsky let out a long sigh: "He is worthy of being a tank monster, he has the courage and timing to grasp it too well!" ”

Of course, this does not mean that Rokossovsky is ready to give up his hands and let the enemy escape, even if he is so generous, Li Xiaofeng is not so generous. Rokossovsky immediately took out the armored forces that had long been gaining momentum. In one fell swoop, all two mechanized corps were thrown into pursuit operations. And his order was: "Leave the flanks alone." Rush forward and catch up with the enemy's main force at all costs! ”

The roaring armored army immediately poured out like a flood that opened the floodgates, and it has to be mentioned here that the armored assault of the Red Army is still very different from that of the German army, the armored assault of the Red Army is more rapid, and there is an indomitable castration, and the cavalry generals trained in the civil war are particularly good at this kind of hurricane advance without a complete front.

In fact, Guderian was taken aback, and the little time he had bought by means of confusion. It was not enough to completely counteract the speed of the advance of the Red Army's armored forces, and he did not expect that the enemy, who had looked dying, would hide such a powerful armored unit.

This fully shows that the enemy has been preparing a full-scale counterattack in an organized and premeditated manner from the beginning of the air strike. One can imagine how terrible the consequences would have been if our army had remained in place! ”

At this time, Guderian was also in a cold sweat, and he couldn't help but think, if Rokossovsky had seen through his trick of attacking openly and secretly before, what would have happened if he had used this powerful armored force to attack at the beginning?

Tank Monster admits in his diary: "I'm a little too trusted, but fortunately the enemy didn't see through my little tricks, otherwise." I'm going to bury the first and second tank clusters ......"

Fortunately, there were no ifs on the battlefield, and Guderian, who succeeded in his plan, escaped. However, he also knew that the enemy's armored troops must not be allowed to pursue so desperately, compared with the enemy, who was well recharged and well stocked, his troops were tired and hungry, and the loss of equipment was quite large, and if the enemy continued to pursue and fight like this, the troops would collapse sooner or later.

Under extremely difficult circumstances, Guderian ordered the 24th Motorized Corps to cooperate with the 25th Panzer Division of Kleist's 3rd Motorized Army to stay behind the palace, and be sure to buy some time for the main force to cross the river.

At the end of the road, the German army also broke out with great combat effectiveness, three armored divisions, one motorized division and one cavalry division blocked the two mechanized corps of the Red Army, and the tragic tank tearing battle went on in the dark. According to post-war statistics, both sides lost more than 600 tanks in this tearing battle.

A considerable part of the Red Army's obsolete T-26s were depleted, and the Germans suffered even more heavy losses, and under the joint air-ground assault of the Red Army, two armored divisions were scrapped, and motorized divisions and cavalry divisions had to dismount and dismount, almost turning into pure infantry.

Of course, for the Germans, such sacrifices were not meaningless, which bought time for the main forces of the 1st and 2nd tank clusters, and now time is the difference between life and death.

The poor progress of the mechanized corps soon attracted Rokossovsky's attention, but he did not have much to do with the stubborn and desperate German army, and in addition to strengthening air support, he could only cheer up the two army commanders.

"It's useless to just cheer up," Li Xiaofeng shook his head and said, "If we want to annihilate the enemy, we must take practical action." Judging from the current situation, the enemy has also realized that this is a moment of life and death, and has jumped over the wall in a hurry. In the face of these mad dog-like enemies, we must draw from the bottom of the pot! ”

Draw a salary from the bottom of the kettle?

Rokossovsky did not understand how else to draw his salary, because there were no cards to play at hand, and he had no other way to do it than to urge the mechanized army to intensify its offensive, and to give death orders to the 12th and 20th armies.

"We still have a way," Li Xiaofeng said solemnly, "in addition to ordering the troops to speed up, we can also try to make trouble for the enemy, let the air force strengthen air strikes, and destroy key nodes on the enemy's escape route, such as bridges and ......."

Rokossovsky smiled bitterly, he also thought of this trick, but the effect was not good, in order to avoid air raids, the German army was day and night, and a large number of anti-aircraft firepower was deployed at key communication nodes. More critically, according to the reaction of the Air Force, their German counterparts are also starting to go crazy these days, simply covering the ground forces at any cost, and the fierce fighting in the air is not at all easier than on the ground.

"This fully shows that our air power is not strong enough!" Li Xiaofeng stood up and said very seriously: "Send a telegram to the Military Commission, inform us of our practical difficulties, and ask the Military Commission to send more fighters to support us......

Li Xiaofeng's request made the Military Commission and the General Staff very difficult, as mentioned earlier, the Air Force is in the process of large-scale rearmament, no matter which direction is very tight, in order to support the Bryansk side of the rolling mine operation, the other front armies have already hemorrhaged, and now someone wants more planes, how can this be done?

Anyway, Tukhachevsky didn't have much to do, but this time even Trotsky was on the side of a certain immortal, and after Lao Tuo learned the news, he personally called Tu Shuai: "Comrade Mikhail, the war in Bryansk is a major turning point, this is the first step for our army to switch from passive defense to offense, and it is a key battle to get rid of the previous passivity. We must win this battle at all costs, and if we can completely annihilate the enemy, then the situation on the battlefield will be completely rewritten. Even if you can't completely annihilate the enemy, as long as you can inflict heavy damage on the enemy, it is a major victory. For the sake of this major victory, no matter what difficulties must be eliminated, the problem of aircraft must be solved, this is a political task, there are no conditions to talk about! (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to remonslm, drunken maple, traveler with the wind, Fei Xin and Comrade Juventus!