The main force of the armored forces of Army Group A is the 2nd Armored Corps of the Wehrmacht, which is also the old foundation of the Wehrmacht, and its combat effectiveness is very strong. In addition, there were two SS Paner-Panzer Divisions, the 1st SS Panzer Division and the 13th SS Panzer Division. In addition, this group army also organized two heavy tank destroyer battalions, namely the 501 heavy tank destroyer battalion and the 503rd heavy tank destroyer battalion.

In Guderian's armored forces, the 502nd Battalion was the vanguard of the offensive, and in General Rundstedt's armored troops, the 501st Battalion was also an undefeated ace production plant -- the commander of the 1st Company of this battalion, Mitchell Wittmann, was the first ace of the German armored forces, with 41 more records than the Rennes crew.

And he is now the only super ace in the entire German armored forces with a record of more than 200 vehicles. What is the concept of this achievement? According to the calculation of the German army, a tank battalion has about 45 tanks at full strength, and it is estimated that Weitmann himself will be reimbursed for almost five armored battalions.

Of course, there is a lot of water in this achievement, after all, the German armored forces really met their opponents only for a short time on the Eastern Front. Almost half of Wittmann's record was achieved in Poland, France, and England, but no matter how much water he had, this record was absolutely terrifying.

Even more in Army A there is also a young ace Karjus who is a few records behind Rennes, and he is even more powerful than Marcus. The overall quality of the tanks was also slightly higher than that of Army Group A -- after all, most of the tanks in this unit were mounted in the rear column, which was much newer than Army Group G.

It is precisely because of this that, purely from the point of view of the combat capabilities of the armored forces, Army Group A is another well-deserved main force of the German army, and it is not inferior to Army Group G. And the fists of this force, Wittman and Karyus, are also much stronger than the combination of Wren and Marcus in tank warfare.

So, where are the German armored forces? At this moment, Wittmann put down the binoculars in his hand, and then moved his gaze back to the open-top car parked next to the tank: "Let the reconnaissance force stretch forward, I want to confirm the exact position of the opposing troops." ”

"Obey the order! Sir, the reconnaissance company has all the 1st platoon, start the engine, and let's go!" The non-commissioned officer in the car saluted and motioned to his driver to start the car. Behind this car, a light armored car with 4 wheels also started, followed by two motorcycles produced by BMW.

A German scout in a long trench coat carried his rifle and drove his motorcycle past Weitmann's tank. The stout antenna of the high-power radio station on the armored reconnaissance vehicle shook frequently as the car jolted back and forth.

Farther away, several armored personnel carriers were parked on the side of the road, and grenadiers were munching on biscuits and chow mein. Others leaned against armored vehicles and smoked. High up in the town are snipers on guard, and a few sappers are setting up a front-line radio headquarters next to a barn.

Wittman's tank company was docked around, and these heavy tank battalions had long since been reequipped with King Tiger tanks. After all, this new type of German tank is very convenient in production, and its output has surpassed the Tiger and Leopard in a short period of time, and it has become the easiest tank to replenish in Germany.

"Confirm where we are now! The map is very inaccurate......" The commander of the fighter battalion was next to an armored vehicle, holding the intercom in one hand and a headset in his ear with the other, loudly confirming his location with the friendly troops next door and revisiting the map of the Grad field.

"Find out which reservoir this is!Will!Take your men around, grab some locals, and ask which one this reservoir is!" Throwing away the intercom in his hand, he shouted loudly to the resting grenadier crowd as he walked towards Weitman's tank.

"Yes, sir!" the platoon commander named Will hurriedly stood up, then ordered a dozen of his men, carried his weapons and walked into the distance, on the other side of the road, a vast reservoir could be faintly seen, but there were several reservoirs in the north of Moscow in the Soviet Union, and the confusion on the map made it difficult for the Germans to distinguish where they had arrived.

The battalion commander walked to Weitman's tank, looked at the reservoir lake in the distance, squinted his eyes and pinched his waist and asked: "We seem to be advancing a little too fast, and it is estimated that we may have crossed Starica one day earlier than expected." ”

"You mean we've reached the west of Letkino, and a short distance north is Tver?" Wittmann was also taken aback by the speed of his advance, as if the German advance had not reached such an alarming rate since the Battle of France—after all, the opponent was getting stronger, and the Führer was deliberately limiting the speed of the advance of the armored forces, fearing losses.

"I guess that's it. Pointing to a huge reservoir on the map, the battalion commander said with some pride: "Now it depends on the marshal's order, whether we want to attack Tver, or let us fight sideways to Retkino." ”

Wittman nodded, then thought for a while and said: "I've seen the approximate map location countless times, there is a railway bridge near Letkino, whether we want to protect our butts when attacking Tver, or if we want to directly cut off the road for the Soviet army to go south, we must occupy that bridge first......"

"That's exactly what I want to do. The battalion commander laughed, and it was undoubtedly a blessing for a commander to have a group of men who understood his tactical intentions. He nodded and said, "Once we have found our way, we will go full speed towards Letkino, trying to occupy it and cut off all traffic before the Soviets strengthen the defenses there." ”

"I see!" Wittmann grabbed the headset and put it back on top of his head, then he contacted the tank behind him on guard duty, and asked, "Hey, Hans...... Is the refueling truck here? We don't have a lot of time, so we need to fill up the fuel as soon as possible and keep going. ”

"Boss, you're in luck, I just saw them...... 4 cars, and probably some cans. In the headset, the tank commander behind his palace replied with a smile. Now everyone is generally in a very good mood, and the reason is, of course, that the battle is extremely easy.

Because of the emptiness of the force, the Soviet Union deployed a pitiful number of troops on the periphery of Moscow. There was simply no ability to stop the German advance, and even less the ability to counterattack the German forces that threatened the flanks of the German army. After a little resistance, these units quickly collapsed and withdrew to Moscow, which was the tactic planned for the German armored assault at the beginning.

So after the infantry broke through several defensive nodes on the flanks of Moscow, which barely numbered people, the German armored forces began their long-distance rush. The tanks, under the cover of Panzergrenadiers and mechanized infantry, advanced rapidly and at incredible speed, cut north of the Ivankov reservoir north of Moscow.

The task of this armored force going north was very simple, it was to cut the road to Moscow in the northern region, and cooperate with the pursuing Army Group E and the Finnish group to encircle the 570,000 Soviet infantry moving south. These Soviet infantrymen were slow, and again bitten by the tail of Liszt, and advanced very slowly every day.

I will take the opportunity from God. This is what Rundstedt thinks - at this stage of the war, the opportunity to annihilate the enemy's forces in the field on a large scale is very rare...... Since the Soviets themselves sent one to the door, the Germans had no choice but to eat it "disrespectfully and deservedly".

In conjunction with the reservoir and the surrounding terrain, the Germans prepared to take the lead in capturing Tver with an assault force, annihilating the entire Soviet southward corps on the outskirts of the field, and cutting off Moscow's last formed rescue hope. It would be much more cost-effective for the Germans to take out this unit in the field than to let it into Moscow.

The Germans were in a no-man's land north of Moscow, rapidly advancing to capture one small town after another, barely defended. Sometimes, when the Germans enter a village, they find that there is not even a decent man left. A group of old women and women held their children in horror and watched the German soldiers in gray uniforms and M35 steel helmets, watching them carefully climb over the fence and set up machine guns behind the low wall.

"There are no soldiers here...... Mr...... Not even men anymore. An old woman walked down the road with a basket on her shoulder, looking at the German soldiers on both sides of the roadbed who were bent over and did not dare to show their heads easily, and muttered a little sadly. Unfortunately, no one understood her words, so the Germans still surrounded the entire village according to the battlefield habits they had developed.

Leopard tanks that had been paralyzed by breakdowns or mechanical failures were finally seen on the road again, a sight that seems to have been rare since France. Such rapid advances put both personnel and equipment to the test, but the reliability of German equipment was trustworthy, and this was also due to the Führer.

Soon everyone found out that the Soviet war potential was exhausted, and in the villages around Moscow it was rare to see men between the ages of 18 and 40, and even women of this age were too rare. As if entering one kindergarten after another or a village for the elderly, the Germans could only see traditional Russian women and children staring at them with big curious eyes.

At the end of May, the German army launched the Battle of Tver against the Soviet Union's southward corps with a classic large-depth raid that had not been seen for a long time, with a rare advance speed.