As can be seen from Rokossovsky's troop allocation, his tactics seem to be unremarkable, relying on cities and fortifications to weaken the offensive momentum of the German armored forces, successfully holding the enemy back, and then using small groups of elite armored forces to counterattack. Anyway, this set of tactics is nothing unusual, as if the people of the earth will use it.

However, the tactics that everyone can use do not mean that everyone can use them well, and the same moves, some people use them to be earth-shattering, while some people are equivalent to fart. Why? The connotations are different.

For example, Rokossovsky's defensive tactics for blocking and delaying the German army were completely different from the usual stubborn defense. He responded to the situation or came up with a solution when there was no way.

Yes, don't look at Rokossovsky, who mobilized a considerable number of Kalinkovich residents to participate in the rush to repair the fortifications, but the time was really limited, Guderian came too quickly. Although these hastily repaired fortifications have a depth of 40 kilometers, please note that the depth of these 40 kilometers does not mean that the area of these 40 kilometers is full of fortifications, because it is impossible to drop!

50,000 militiamen, it seems like a lot, but if they are spread over a radius of 40 kilometers for construction work, it is really nothing. Moreover, most of the militia lacked heavy machinery and could only work with shovels and pickaxes at hand, which was really not very efficient.

Let's put it this way, it is said that it is a defensive position of forty kilometers, but in fact the 6th Army does not even have a complete line of defense. All the positions were intermittent, one in the east and one in the west, and they looked like Lai Zitou.

It's a joke to want to use such fortifications to hard resist the second cluster of elite German tanks. But the harsh reality is that it's no joke. Rokossovsky had to rely on these unreliable fortifications to resist Guderian for twenty days!

Seems like an impossible task? But such a master of tactics as Rokossovsky. can make the impossible possible.

Rokossovsky understood. Hard resistance is absolutely impossible, so he adopts a mobile defense tactic, each position is to place a small number of troops, after being attacked by the Germans, do not resist hard, if you can bear it, then carry it for a while, when you can't bear it, then quickly withdraw.

Some comrades may want to say, what the hell is this guiding ideology, and according to this style of fighting, isn't it just to encourage the troops not to resist?

It's not that you don't resist, but that you choose a flexible strategy of resistance, obviously you can't bear it, what is the point of continuing to resist except for causing unnecessary casualties? Every soldier Rokossovsky had on hand was precious and could not be wasted.

So the strategy he adopted was to put the enemy in and boil it slowly, how to boil it slowly? Note the depth of defense for those forty kilometers. Although there was not a complete overall defensive line in this 40-kilometer depth, small defensive positions of various platoon and company levels were dotted around. In this forty kilometers in depth. Decent buildings, heights or woods and rivers were all exploited by Rokossovsky. Every kilometer or two of German advances, the Germans crashed into a Red Army position.

According to the operational intentions of the German army to capture Kalinkovich, it was certainly impossible not to fight, and bypassing these positions was tantamount to leaving a bunch of time bombs on the logistical line. Therefore, the German army must clear mines, as long as each blocking position can delay the German army for an hour, not to mention the depth of 40 kilometers, the delay of 40 hours is not a big problem, right?

Forty hours seems too short? It depends on how you calculate, there are very few night battles or night attacks on the European battlefield, from five o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the evening, which is about ten hours, and after deducting the time for the Germans to eat and rest a little, it is estimated that ten "mines" can be removed in a day, and it takes at least four days to remove forty mines.

Moreover, this is still estimated in the most optimistic way of calculation, in fact, in some of the more dangerous positions, it must be more than an hour, according to Rokossovsky's judgment, this depth of 40 kilometers should buy him at least five days. Moreover, Rokossovsky has never been a fool who simply takes a beating, how can he watch the Germans crush his defense line smoothly. For example, on the afternoon of the first day of the battle, the positions conquered by the Germans were recaptured by the sharp counterattack of the mobile forces he had reserved. This is tantamount to saying that the Germans have worked for nothing in the morning.

Note that this is just the beginning, and for a long time to come, Guderian will be tormented to death by Rokossovsky's sharp counter-attacks. For example, after the daytime battle on the first day, Guderian realized that his troops had advanced only 1.5 kilometers.

This shocked the tank monster, with the attack intensity and combat effectiveness of the second tank group, it is not a problem to advance ten kilometers in a day, and after this day's battle, it only advanced 1.5 kilometers, which shows that the battle on the front line is very fierce!

But what Guderian could not understand was that if the battle was so fierce, several division commanders and corps commanders at the front should have complained and complained loudly, but he did not hear anything like that all day, and even during the battle the attacking troops rarely called for reinforcements. Generally speaking, this is only the case when the battle is going relatively smoothly.

The problem arises, judging by the results of the battle, the battle did not go smoothly at all, and all the troops did not complete the scheduled tasks. But why didn't the troops complain bitterly?

This question bothered Guderian, and he immediately went to check on the situation of the 10th Division, which had advanced only one kilometer in the day's fighting, and belonged to the worst unit of the table.

However, after some visits, Guderian still did not understand what went wrong, because according to the accounts of the officers and men of the 10th Mobu Division, the battle of the day went relatively smoothly today, and the enemy's resistance was not fierce, and if it were not for the powerful counterattack launched by the Soviets in the evening to repel them, the result would have been completely different.

"How much better is it different?" Guderian did not accept this conclusion, and asked: "How many enemies have you destroyed?" ”

Regarding this question, the commander of the division spread his hands helplessly: "The enemy's resistance is relatively fragile, and it is often the case that our main forces have just pressed up, and they run ......away."

"And then?" Guderian continued.

"And then?" The commander of the division recalled. Honestly replied. "Then follow the established combat procedure. We continued our attack on the enemy's deep positions, and after fire reconnaissance our first offensive was repulsed, after which we immediately began to adjust, and with the addition of firepower and more troops, we repelled the enemy ......"

Guderian listened carefully, asking questions on every crucial point, but the answers he received did not solve the doubts in his mind. With the exception of two counterattacks at noon and in the evening, the Soviet army did not seem to be doing well. But why did these two counterattacks make a day's hard work of his troops go to waste?

Is it careless?

After thinking about it for a long time, Guderian did not come to a definite conclusion, and in desperation, he could only continue to observe to see if there would be similar accidents in the battle on the new day. However, what Guderian did not expect was that in the early morning of the new day, the Soviet army suddenly launched a counterattack, and a short but very rapid artillery attack caught him by surprise, and then the armored forces of the Red Army rushed forward wildly, crushing his defense line in minutes. He drove his troops away like sheep.

"Could it be that enemy reinforcements have arrived on the battlefield?"

Guderian was impressed by the two previous large-scale counterattacks of the Red Army, although both of them failed. And at a great price. But to tell the truth, the German army was also choked enough, if it was not for the timely adjustment of the allocation of troops, not for the air force is strong enough, it may really not be able to stop the offensive of the Soviet army.

So after entering Belarus, Guderian has been carefully observing the movements of the Soviet troops, and he is very suspicious that the other side will launch a third similar counterattack. At that time, they lacked air force cover, and I am afraid that they were more than lucky.

At this time, when the 10th Mobu Division was attacked by a large number of armored forces of the Red Army, crushed and driven sheep, he immediately suspected that this was the beginning of the enemy's third large-scale counterattack.

He nervously asked: "How many tanks are there?" ”

The commander of the division replied with some nervousness: "No less than two hundred!" At the end, he added: "Most of them are T-34 and T-35, and there is basically no shadow of BT tanks." ”

Two hundred T-34s and T-35s are no joke, when the war broke out, it was difficult for the Soviet army to launch an attack with two hundred T-34s and T-35s in one go, which fully shows that this was a long-planned counterattack!

Guderian immediately attracted great attention, and on the one hand ordered all armies to strengthen their vigilance to consolidate their positions and beware of a larger wave of counterattacks by the Red Army. On the other hand, he hurriedly called Bock to alert him to the new movements of the Soviet troops.

"The enemy is capable of launching a new offensive?"

Bock was also shocked by this information, and to be honest, he was much less timid than Guderian, and was very worried that his two tank groups were too deep into the enemy line, and he was very worried that the Soviets would encircle the second and third tank groups from both flanks and encircle them. On more than one occasion he tried to persuade Guderian and others to take a steady step. It is a pity that Guderian did not accept and the Führer was not happy. And now seems like an opportunity to correct the wrong?

Bock immediately telegraphed to the Wolf's Lair, describing Guderian's report in a rather exaggerated and apprehensive tone, proposing to suspend a new round of advance on the construction of the first and steady front.

When Hitler received this urgent telegram, he thought that something was wrong with Army Group Center, and when he opened the telegram and saw that it was Bock's request to rest, he was furious: "Fools, a bunch of old stubbornness! How can we stop the pace of the offensive at this time, this is to let the tiger return to the mountain, it is to let the Bolsheviks take a breath, this is a crime against the Empire! ”

Enraged, Hitler immediately sent a telegram to Bock in the most severe tone, demanding that Bock not be allowed to stay and immediately launch a new offensive to take Belarus and Ukraine in early October, in Hitler's words: "The Russians are exhausted, and if we win a big victory in Minsk and Kiev, they will collapse immediately, so that it is entirely possible that we will capture Moscow and Leningrad in early November and force the Bolsheviks to surrender!" ”

It should be said that Hitler's judgment on the battlefield was quite correct, and if he could indeed fight a war of annihilation in Minsk and Kiev and once again destroy a large number of the Red Army's living forces, then the Red Army would really be broken, and unless the main forces of the Far East could be transferred back to Europe to fill the hole, it would really have to kneel.

Therefore, Hitler's assertion of continuing the offensive was correct, and there was really no need for the German army to stop and regroup or recuperate. But the same. Hitler also had errors of judgment. There are problems with the two offensive cores he circled.

In Minsk and Kiev there were indeed a large number of Red Army. It would be a great thing if it could be eliminated, but note that the Red Army has changed considerably from before, and the offensive against offensive advocated by Tukhachevsky has been declared bankrupt, and there is only one way for the Red Army to be found, and that is to defend the front firmly.

When the Red Army was freed from a blind counterattack. The Germans' attempt to take advantage of the gap in the Red Army's counterattack to boldly penetrate and encircle and fight a war of annihilation as before was basically out of play, and they had to fight a war of attrition around the Red Army's fortified positions. It is difficult to quickly annihilate the living forces of the Red Army!

In particular, it should be noted that both Kiev and Minsk were the key fortified areas of the Red Army before the war, and this area had a large number of strong permanent fortifications, and the German army's offensive firepower was really not very strong, and it was difficult to eat the Red Army in one go.

The two key targets set by Hitler are very difficult to fight and belong to the hard bones. A good tooth that can break a German if he is not careful. And such battles are generally protracted, let alone the end of the battle in early October. I'm afraid there will be no drama in early November. After the Soviet Union entered October, the weather was getting colder and colder day by day, and the German army's supply lines were quite long, which was probably going to be tragic at that time.

Therefore, Hitler's two priorities were clearly problematic and contrary to his original intention of quickly defeating the Soviet Union and forcing the Soviet Union to surrender. If he really wanted to attack the city of Moscow quickly, the focus of the attack should be in the direction that Guderian was attacking.

Both Rokossovsky's 6th Army and Lukin's 16th Army are weak, and it will be a piece of cake to take Kalinkovich and cross the Dnieper River in one fell swoop, and then break into the territory of Russia, and once such a breakthrough is completed, it is tantamount to cutting off the connection between the Belarusian Front and the Ukrainian Front.

When the time comes, the armies of these two fronts will really have to fight separately. And in order to block Guderian and prevent Guderian from continuing to penetrate deep into the Russian hinterland, both the Politburo and the Military Commission had to once again draw troops from other directions to block the gap, and at this time, how can there be so many troops on the battlefield that can be drawn?

From the principle of proximity, either the Ukrainian Front or the Belarusian Front must have blood transfusions in this direction, which can indirectly reduce the pressure on the German troops attacking Kiev and Minsk, and maybe cause a domino effect again.

It's a pity that Hitler didn't see this, his eyes were always on the big cities of the Soviet Union, and he could only take Kiev and Minsk as much as he could, missing a good opportunity.

Of course, missing this opportunity does not mean that the Germans have no chance at all, and there are some military geniuses who can do miracles, such as Guderian, who almost got it back for Hitler again.

Back in Kalinkovich, when the 10th Infantry Division was caught off guard by the armored forces of the Sixth Army and hastily retreated, Guderian adjusted his deployment and prepared for the imaginary third counterattack of the Soviet army.

But in fact, there were only two tank companies and one mechanized infantry company that put into the counterattack in the early morning of the same day, and there were no 200 T-34 and T-35, most of them were BT-5 and T-26, but there were quite a few MB-LT armored transport vehicles.

Come to think of it, Rokossovsky's use of both the T-34 and the T-35 as sharp knives is simply unreasonable to rush them into the offensive on the first day of the battle. Soon Guderian also discovered this shameful mistake, because after waiting for a morning, he did not see a large-scale counterattack by the Soviet troops, in fact, there was not even a small-scale counterattack.

Guderian knew immediately that he had misjudged the shape of the shì, or that he had been taken into the ditch by the 10th Mobu Division. He immediately adjusted his deployment again at noon and ordered the SS Reich Division to replace the 10th Infantry Division, which shows how annoyed he was with the 10th Division.

According to Guderian's thoughts, the Nazi bandits of the Imperial Division should be much stronger than the 10th Mobu Division, at least they will not continue to be embarrassed. But when the sun went down that day, he was stunned again.

The answer sheet handed over by the Imperial Division was simply blinding, and it only advanced 1 kilometer in the whole afternoon, the only difference with the 10th Mobu Division was that at dusk, the Imperial Division was not counterattacked by the Red Army, and this was the key reason why they were able to keep the results of this kilometer.

Guderian couldn't help but wonder if the Red Army counterattacked again, would the Imperial divisions also be driven back?

So why didn't Rokossovsky fight back? In fact, he was originally going to follow the routine of the previous day, that is, he still had to counterattack, but when he carefully observed the defense line of the Imperial Division, he gave up counterattacking.

The Imperial Division had obviously learned the lessons of the 10th Mobu Division, the positions were very strong, and the vigilance of the soldiers was very high, it was clear that this was to guard against the counterattack of the Red Army. Isn't it a hard fight to counterattack when the enemy is fully prepared?

Rokossovsky was not interested in letting his young men die senselessly, and after two days of hard fighting, especially for the raid before dawn, the soldiers did not sleep well at night, it is better to rest early and recharge their energy to fight again in the future!

So on this day, there was no counterattack, and Guderian, who had been carefully preparing all night and preparing to make the Red Army suffer a lot, waited in vain...... (To be continued......)

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