On the morning of May 4, Comrade LevZakharovich Mehlisky, the former head of the General Political Department of the Red Army, the current military commissar of the Bryansk Front, who Stalin trusted very much, saw Colonel-General Golikov and Lieutenant General Kazakov with sad faces in the headquarters of the Bryansk Front.
"Something is wrong" The king of the little report also became nervous, now is a critical moment related to the survival of Soviet power, and there will be desperate bad news at any time and anywhere "Comrade Military Commissar, our Front now has one more tank army," replied Kazakov, chief of staff of the Bryansk Front, "and the 5th Tank Army, which originally belonged to the command of the Western Front, is now also under our Bryansk Front." ” Mehris breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile: "This is good news, it shows that Comrade Stalin trusts us very much. ” "The main thing is to trust me," said Mehris as he thought smugly, "and now that the Bryansk Front, which I lead, has become the main front of the Red Army, if we can win a few battles in the next war, then the status of a member of the Political Bureau is also possible."
"Comrade Military Commissar," Golikov is not the kind of general who has a stubborn temper and dares to defy the king of small reports, and he also understands Mehris's thoughts, "Comrade Stalin has high hopes for us, so Comrade Kazakov and I feel a great responsibility. ” "Yes, we do have a great responsibility."
Mellikhs asked, "How does the High Command want us to fight?"
Kazakov frowned and said: "The Supreme High Command ordered us to inflict heavy damage or annihilate the German armored clusters that broke through the Dnieper. ” "Is it difficult to do" Mellihes asked with some puzzlement when he saw the expression of the chief of staff of the front army, "We have three tank armies and three ordinary army groups, including the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies.
With a total strength of more than 500,000 troops and more than 3,000 tanks and artillery pieces, what reason is there not to be able to defeat a single armored cluster of the Germans" Judging by the strength on paper, the Bryansk Front really had no reason to lose.
"However, the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies have not yet been loaded and shipped, and they may not be able to reach the battlefield in 10 days."
Kazakov shook his head, "So the only ones we have at our disposal are the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Tank Armies."
Moreover, these three armies are not together, the 1st and 2nd tank armies are coming from Moscow and Kalinin, and if everything goes well, they will be able to reach the vicinity of Gomel in Belarus on May 7.
And the 5th Tank Army is still in Smolensk " "Smolensk is not far from here," interrupted Mehris, "just over 200 kilometers." ” "But Smolensk was a key area of bombing by the Germans, and the troops were simply unable to move during the day, and the build-up and movement could only be done at night."
Golikov explained that "if we were to mobilize the 5th Tank Army to Bryansk, then the 200-plus kilometer night road would take at least three nights, and then it would take two days to maneuver from Bryansk to Gomel." ” "May 9 was just 2 days late."
Mehris could not understand the significance of 2 days for an armored decisive battle.
Although the 1st and 2nd tank armies of the Bryansk Front had more than 2,100 tank attack guns on paper, Marx blessed them with more than 200 kilometers of maneuver and air strikes by German aircraft.
And the German armored group, which was crossing the Dnieper in a big way, had about 1,500 tanks and artillery pieces.
The quantity seems to be almost the same, but the quality is quite different.
Of the 1,500 tank assault guns of the Soviet army, a considerable part were light tanks such as the T60T70, which could only be used for reconnaissance.
And now there are no "reconnaissance tanks" in the sequence of the German armored forces, and instead they are wheeled armored vehicles of the SDKFZ234 series Cougar.
With 60 guns, the firepower far exceeds that of most light tanks, and its maximum speed of 85 kilometers per hour also exceeds that of all tanks, making it the most ideal armored reconnaissance vehicle.
Moreover, although in the past few months the Soviet Union has created a large number of tanks and assault guns of the T3457, KV85, SU85, SU122 series that can fight the Tiger tank.
But the superiority of German medium and heavy tanks in combat effectiveness remained.
In comparable numbers, the tank units of the Red Army had no hope of winning at all.
In addition, Germany now has great air superiority.
Both the Luftwaffe's own HS129 attack aircraft and the French Air Force's Breguet attack aircraft could act as tank killers.
And the Soviet Il-2 fighter aircraft could not function at all under the blow of the Fokker Zero D.
Therefore, without overwhelming numerical superiority, Golikov and Kazakov did not dare to go to a decisive battle with the German armored clusters.
But the Supreme High Command, in fact, Stalin, did not think so "What does the instructions of the High Command say" Mehris also felt a little troubled, but as the "king of the small report", he knew that it was the most important thing to always obey the will of the great leader "The Supreme High Command ordered our Bryansk Front to prevent the German armored cluster on the southern route from moving north and approaching the city of Smolensk."
Kazakov reported that "at the same time, it is necessary to concentrate forces at the junction of the Mogilev, Bryansk and Smolensk regions to defeat the German armored clusters on the southern route." ” "Then we should resolutely carry out this instruction," said Mehris solemnly, "I don't think you two are questioning the High Command."
"No, absolutely not, we will resolutely carry out the instructions of the Supreme High Command" "We resolutely support all the decisions of the Supreme High Command" Golikov and Kazakov were taken aback by Mekhlis, and hurriedly expressed their support for the Supreme Command, but the king of small reports stood in front of them, and they were not strong commanders like Timoshenko and Zhukov.
Golikov was a little weak, and when he was the head of the intelligence department, he picked up Stalin's favorite words.
And Kazakov is just a lieutenant general chief of staff, and the king of small reports is not like a joke to clean him up "That's good," Mehris was very satisfied, "and how are we going to carry out the instructions?"
"There was already an idea," Kazakov said, "to use the 5th Tank Army to block the attack at Mstislav, 80 kilometers south of Smolensk, in an attempt to delay the Germans for a few days."
Then the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies flanked the German armored cluster from Gomel.
At the same time, the 9th and 12th armies of the Southwestern Front were requested to counterattack Lechtsa from Chernihiv to the north and block the rear of the German armored clusters on the southern route. ” "Very good, this is very good" Mehris slapped his face, "There is a front seal, there is a rear block, there is a flank attack into the 8 armies, including the 38th, 40th, and 48th armies that may not be able to reach in 10 days, more than 3,000 tanks, this is very sure Comrade Golikov, Comrade Kazakov, let's immediately report this plan to the Supreme Command."
When Golikov, Kazakov and Mehris jointly submitted the battle plan to the High Command.
The command of the opponent they wanted to defeat, the commander of the German 1st Panzer Army, General Eberhard von Mackensen, had just arrived in Lechtsa on the west bank of the Dnieper.
Although the strength of the army group under his command was far inferior to the 4th Panzer Army under the command of General Holt on the Northern Front, it was still a very powerful army group and one of the four main German armies on the Eastern Front.
The other three are the 2nd Panzer Army, the 3rd Panzer Army and the 4th Panzer Army, of which the 2nd Panzer Army is part of Army Group South and is deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The 1st Panzer Army now has the 3rd Panzer Corps consisting of the 1st and 2nd Panzer Divisions, the Wehrmacht 1st Panzergrenadier Division and the 5th SS Panzergrenadier Division, the 11th Panzer Corps with the 6th Panzer Division, the 10th Panzer Division, the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division, the 14th Panzer Corps, the 52nd Motorized Rifle Corps with the 102nd, 111th, 127th, and 128th Infantry Divisions, the 64th Motorized Rifle Corps with the 60th, 88th, 89th, 105th Infantry Divisions, and the 1st Cavalry Division.
The 14th Ukrainian Cavalry Division of the SS, the 20th Polish Cavalry Division of the SS, the 29th Polish Cavalry Division of the SS, the 10th Motorized Anti-aircraft Artillery Division of the Air Defense Forces, the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Rocket Artillery Brigades, the 5th and 10th Separate Motorized Chemical Battalions.
In total, there were 23 divisions and 3 brigades plus 2 battalions.
In addition, the 1st, 2nd, 10th, 6th and 11th Panzer Divisions each have one heavy armoured battalion.
It was precisely because of the strength of the troops under his command that General Mackensen did not worry at all about "going deep alone", nor was he afraid that his army group would be beaten by the outnumbered Soviet troops.
However, there are still things that give His Excellency the general a headache, mainly because the huge fuel consumption of the 1st Panzer Army is not supported by any line behind the 1st Panzer Army.
All the oil was hoarded last winter, and the quantity was not very sufficient, and there were more than 200 kilometers from Korosjian to Lechitsa during this period, during which there was no railway, and the oil could only be transported by road in poor condition, and it was attacked by partisans from time to time.
Now, the reason for Mackensen's army to stay in Lechtsa was not to build bridges to cross the river, because the Soviets had retreated hastily, and the troops of the 5th SS Panzer Division had seized two road bridges, enough for the army to cross the river, but to wait for the oil convoy from Koroscan.
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Another thing that bothered General Mackensen was that his powerful Panzer Army would soon reach the meeting place of the three Panzer armies specified in the purple plan, and the 3rd Panzer Army and the 4th Panzer Army were entangled in the stubborn resistance of the Soviet army, and it seemed that it would take some time to break through.
Could it be that the 1st Panzer Army, which did not have much fuel, could only stop on the battlefield and do nothing, waiting for the friendly forces to defeat the enemy t1706231537: