In March, Belarus is still a snowy and white world, but if you look closely, you can see that there is a lot of inconspicuous movement under this snow-covered world.

For example, the armored train and Fat Ivan led their company through the dense forest, little by little towards the occupied territory of the German army. As the company commander and deputy company commander of the reconnaissance battalion of the 152nd Infantry Division of the 32nd Infantry Corps under the 16th Army of the Red Army, their task was to find out the deployment of local German troops and the deployment of firepower.

"Do you like the new commissar?" Fat Ivan asked in a low voice as he poked the armored train in the waist.

To this question, the armored train did not know how to answer, because he really lacked understanding of the new commissar, and since he didn't understand, what did he like and dislike?

The armored train was not too impressed with the new commissar, and there was nothing left except for the unspeakable youth and the bookish air of Svenwen. The new commissar spoke softly, but not a mother, anyway, the voice gave you a very fresh feeling. Anyway, the armored train felt that the new commissar was too suitable to be an announcer.

Not only is the voice very good, but the armored train also thinks that this new commissar is a little weird, he has also seen a lot of political commissars, and the other political commissars are either old-fashioned, eccentric, or obscene, all in all, the political commissar always gives people a feeling that it is difficult to deal with.

However, this new political commissar is not like this, he does not have the kind of performance that is unique to young grassroots political commissars, he does not talk about class struggle or the fighting situation at the beginning, and he does not have all kinds of slogans that are the same in large paragraphs. On the contrary, the new commissar was quiet. Don't give your opinion unless you have to. It's a little stuffy.

Even stranger. This political commissar is also too unenthusiastic about political struggles, and he has to convey the supreme instructions when other political commissars and superiors fart, and they have to hold meetings for a few days to talk about it. But this man has no interest in those notes, and just verbally conveys it and it's over.

To be honest, this maverick new political commissar made the whole company a little uncomfortable, and I don't know what this new political commissar wants to do. Especially the fat Ivan, who is the company commander, has no bottom in his heart, for fear that all this in front of him is a disguise for the new political commissar to paralyze them. In order to let them let their guard down, and then catch them all in one go.

"You're a snake shadow, aren't you?" said the armored train.

"This is called being careful to make a 10,000-year-old ship, I know too well the political commissar, they are the best at camouflage, the best at grabbing pigtails, and the most like to make small reports, they are all a group of despicable villains who eat people and don't spit out bones!" Fat Ivan said with an expression that he had been bitten by a snake for ten years and was afraid of the well rope, "You can't overtake any precautions against them, if you're not careful, you'll catch ......."

Before he could finish speaking, he could see the new commissar crawling over in the afterglow. He immediately closed his mouth and pretended to be sitting upright. It's like you're about to find an enemy and die together.

"Comrade company commander, is there any news in the platoon?"

Fat Ivan shook his head and replied in a low voice: "Comrade Political Commissar, there is no news for the time being. But it's not a platoon that doesn't work hard, it's the enemy's well-guarded ......"

Before he could finish speaking, the new political commissar interrupted him: "Comrade company commander, I don't want to hold a platoon responsible. I mean, are you thinking about taking a row? ”

Fat Ivan sighed in his heart, he really didn't believe that this political commissar was so reasonable, the previous political commissar encountered this situation, the first thing he shouted was to deal with the person responsible, and then he was to buckle his hat. Is this the conscience discovered?

"Comrade Company Commander? Comrade company commander? ”

Under the repeated calls of the new political commissar, Fat Ivan came back to his senses, and he replied: "Comrade Victor is ready to respond, there should be no problem." ”

"That's good!" The new commissar glanced at the armored train, nodded, and slowly crept back to his place.

"Do you think this kid will hold a grudge against you?" Fat Ivan asked with some concern.

"Not really, right?" The armored train is a little unconvinced, and this little thing can hold a grudge? What a small heart's eye!

Fat Ivan hated that iron could not become steel, and criticized: "My big brother, you are just too lacking in heart." The political commissar is not a good product, you blocked his opportunity to be in the limelight, how can you not be hated? ”

Then Fat Ivan began to instill all kinds of "struggle" experience in the armored train, but the armored train was in the left ear and out of the right ear, and his mind drifted far, far away, thinking about his father and the girl who saved him once......

When the battle was about to break out, the two main commanders of the first company were a little absent-minded, and it was the new commissar who really paid attention to the battle wholeheartedly. In fact, we are also familiar with this person, it is Yevgeny, the nephew of a certain immortal.

After a year and a half of studying at the Armored Forces Command Academy, as the shortage of officers created by the massive expansion of the Red Army grew, these future officers, who had not yet completed their studies, had to graduate early. Yevgeny, for example, was awarded the rank of second lieutenant and was sent to Fat Ivan's company as a commissar.

Why a commissar and not a platoon commander? The main reason is that the lack of professional ability and experience of officers who graduated early like Yevgeny is considered to be a hasty command of the troops. Therefore, all officers of this category are assigned to the post of political commissar, one can observe and study to improve their professional ability, and the other is not to directly command the troops, and there will be no serious consequences due to the lack of personal ability.

According to the above, this type of officer, after being a political commissar for half a year or a year, will be transferred to the command profession, and then it will be a matter of course.

However, Yevgeny was not interested in the commissar at all, he only liked to fight, and naturally he was not interested in the twists and turns in political work, as Fat Ivan said, he did not look like a commissar at all.

Yevgeny was very excited to be able to go to the front, and he couldn't wait to fight the German devils, but what made him depressed was that as a reconnaissance unit, the most important thing for his company was to find out the enemy's troop deployment, that is, if he could not alarm the enemy, it was best not to alarm.

This depressed mood can be seen in Yevgeny's diary: "My troops have been hiding in the dense forests of the Belarusian front. I could see the Germans patrolling outside the forest from time to time, and I wanted to do it myself. But battlefield discipline does not allow it. The leadership at the corps and division levels sternly demanded that we enforce the 'Maskilovka' discipline. The so-called 'Muskelovka' discipline is strict concealment at the campaign level. ”

But Yevgeny didn't have to be depressed for long. Because the battle soon began. Three days later. Having figured out the disposition of forces on the German front, Rokossovsky decisively ordered the start of the offensive.

The first was further fire reconnaissance, and Yevgeny's company, along with other fraternal units, began to strike at the German lines, exposing the hidden firing points of the German troops.

Rokossovsky originally thought that fire reconnaissance would encounter relatively big obstacles, but what he did not expect was that the German defense line was like a "rag that can be torn at the slightest poke", and the German army suffered a lot just by fire reconnaissance.

And with the full-scale offensive of the Bryansk Front, the German army appeared extremely vulnerable. The 5th Mechanized Corps captured Perepisia without much effort. Note that this is the first place where Rokossovsky previously circled the map in red. And another point is to the west of Perepisia, and it's called Oneshnia.

Why did these two small cities fall in favor of Rokossovsky? The reason is very simple: the two cities are located halfway between Gomel and Chernikov, right on the border between Belarus and Ukraine, and most of the supplies for the German offensive cluster south of Chernikov have to be transported through the Gomel railway line. Occupying these two cities cut off the supply routes of the German army!

The hundreds of thousands of German troops attacking Nizhin had to rely on this railway line to ensure their food, drink, and Lazar, and breaking this railway was equivalent to breaking the backbone of the German attack. Unless the Germans are willing to obediently abandon Kiev and retreat westward. The railway must not be allowed to be cut off by the Red Army.

Rokossovsky's idea was simple, attacking Gomel he was not enough. There was a strong German army cluster entrenched near Gomel, and there were many rivers in this area, and the terrain was soft, so it was not easy to fight. If he really went to Gomel stupidly, he would probably run into a gray nose.

So Rokossovsky used his brains to think of a way, Gomel he couldn't move, but he didn't have to capture Gomel to choke the German army by seven inches, he just needed to cut off the railway line.

After the capture of Oneshnia, it was the Germans who should be in a hurry, and then it was his turn to defend against the German attack. Look at the terrain around Oneshnia, there are rivers and swamps, which are not suitable for mechanized troops at all, to put it bluntly, it is easy to defend and difficult to attack. As long as it can be held, then it will definitely make the Germans unable to eat and walk around.

On the afternoon of March 23, the 152nd Infantry Division, supported by 90 Su-1s and 180 Il-2s, launched a general assault on Oneshnia. In the words of Yevgeny: "The rivers and swamps near Oneshnya are dense, and the ground is unusually muddy, this ghost place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and the German devils stationed here have about two battalions, and the 2nd 'Reich' Division of the German Waffen-SS, which has been reinforced from the direction of Gomel, has also begun to move rapidly, and the pressure on our army is quite great!" ”

"In the first few days of fighting, our first company remained in the second line as a reserve, basically resting. But the situation on the battlefield changed rapidly, and on the third day, the division headquarters suddenly ordered our reconnaissance battalion to move quickly in the direction of Khoyniki, and it was said that the cavalry of Vlasov's puppet army (the so-called Russian Liberation Army) was approaching the main battlefield. The task of our battalion is to hold them back! ”

"I once saw the cavalry of the Red Army storming during exercises, and it was in 1932 that Uncle Andrei showed me to see it. It's just a cavalry company, and the impact is amazing! The momentum of the rolling iron flow is too terrifying. Although the puppet army is the scum of the nation, it is a Cossack after all, and its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated! ”

"In order to help our battalion resist the onslaught of the puppet cavalry, the division headquarters specially allocated a combat anti-aircraft artillery company to us. However, I doubt the power of the 45-mm anti-tank gun, which caliber anti-explosive shells are really limited in power and can crush the enemy's cavalry? ”

Anti-explosive shells mainly rely on fragments to hit soft targets, but the caliber of 45 mm anti-tank is too small, and the fragments that can be produced by artillery shells are really limited. And not all fragments are lethal, only those shrapnel that weigh more than 5 grams and fly at a speed of more than 200 meters per second can really effectively kill the enemy.

Look at the 45-mm anti-explosive shell. The total weight is only 2.14 kg. How lethal can such a small point be? Not to mention when a grenade explodes. The distribution of fragments in all directions is uneven. The side of the projectile body can produce 60~70% fragments, the warhead is 15% to 20%, and the bottom of the ammunition is only 5% to 10%.

In other words, if you want to sweep the enemy's cavalry ranks with shrapnel, you must ensure that the shells fall in front of the enemy and cannot ricochet, which is too difficult for a 45-mm anti-tank gun with a high muzzle velocity!

In fact, there is a simple way, and that is the shrapnel. The body of this munition is filled with a large number of steel balls or steel columns, and when the ammunition is fired, with the help of the projectile bottom projectile, it will have a conical scattering surface in front of it. This is the weapon that reaps life. However, it is a pity that because the Bryansk Front did not have supply priorities before, there were many problems in terms of ammunition reserves, such as the distribution of life-harvesting shrapnel shells. At this time, the anti-aircraft artillery battery used to support Yevgeny basically did not have a few shrapnels.

However, for Yevgeny and other infantry, it is better to have artillery than no artillery, and after taking over the command of the battle defense artillery, the reconnaissance battalion immediately began to march. Prepare to take advantage of the terrain and build a position before the enemy cavalry arrives.

Soon, the reconnaissance battalion arrived at the designated position at the division headquarters. It was a small village, but there was a German army entrenched in the village. The task of the reconnaissance battalion was to drive away the Germans and build a blocking position in the village before the puppet cavalry arrived.

To tell the truth, it was easy to beat away the Germans, and the 3rd company of the reconnaissance battalion rushed in without much effort under the cover of mortars, and seeing that the Germans were about to run, the commander of the reconnaissance battalion, Alexey, decisively ordered the anti-aircraft artillery to start firing.

Yevgeny's company, which was in the vicinity of the anti-aircraft artillery company, witnessed the whole battle: "The 45-mm anti-tank guns began to shoot at the Germans who had fled to the open to prevent them from digging trenches on the spot. However, the German devils had a high fighting quality, and after the initial panic, they soon began to concentrate their fire on the anti-aircraft artillery company, and the bullets made the defense shield clang...... I could see that during the battle, veterans such as gun commanders, sighters, and loaders were very calm and carried out their duties in an orderly manner. But the performance of the recruits who were responsible for carrying ammunition in the back was uneven......"

Yevgeny continued: "The ammunition man, Chihin, was so frightened that he lay on the ground like a rabbit, digging up the pit with all his might, and wanted to go into the ground immediately. Later, I learned that this guy usually hates the work of the earth, and always uses all kinds of excuses to avoid labor, either that the soil is too hard, the shovel edge is too bad, or the stomach hurts. But in the rain of bullets, this guy didn't need to give orders, and in the blink of an eye, he dug himself a beautiful foxhole......"

"And Cherkaschenko and Balaski, who are also new recruits, have fared much better. I heard that Barasgene was almost sent to a correctional camp for his poor performance. However, after the battle broke out, the two men behaved particularly heroically. Cherkaschenko braved the rain of bullets to constantly transport ammunition back and forth between gun emplacements and ammunition trucks. As a groom, Balasky's original task was to bring the gun wagons and mules to safety after the artillery entered the position. But when Balasky had done his job, he did not stand on the sidelines, but raised his rifle and bravely fired at the enemy who was rounding from the side. ”

"At the moment when the battle was at a stalemate, with the muffled roar characteristic of diesel engines, one T-35 came out of the forest, and after a while two more T-35s also appeared. With the guns of the three tanks fired in unison, the German army soon collapsed. At this time, the battlefield was chaotic, full of fleeing Germans and comrades chasing after them with their butts. After a big slash, the muddy wilderness was littered with corpses......"

Yevgeny's first battle began and ended in such a hurry, and to be honest, he did not find it enjoyable at all. He felt that the Germans were too vegetable, and before he could fully exert himself, he was chopped and chopped vegetables. At that time, he was very ambitious, thinking that the battle was so simple and smooth, but soon he would find that this was too much to take for granted, the Great Patriotic War was not a contest of wills, and those who were not prepared enough would soon be ruthlessly eliminated.

Rokossovsky's troops cut off the link between Gomel and Chernikov with a single slash, a move that caught the Germans off guard. Because, according to the pre-war analysis of the German army, it was considered that the Bryansk Front was weak and completely incapable of attacking. But who would have thought that Rokossovsky would dare to take the initiative to attack, which made the German army a little unsure of how to respond.

The Germans seemed to have only one option, and that was to order Gomel's troops into battle, repel the Red Army in one fell swoop, and reestablish contact with Chernikov. But only Guderian and Kleist knew that it would not be easy. As Rokossovsky had analyzed before the war, the Germans were also faced with insufficient troops and unfavorable terrain.

In particular, the terrible terrain made the 1st and 2nd tank clusters, which were mainly armored units, very painful, and all kinds of complaints and complaints flew like snowflakes to the desks of Guderian and Kleist, making the two generals anxious...... (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank you to the glorious Charter, hzwangdd and Comrade Juventus!