The Combined Tactical Group, commanded by Lieutenant General Arnold von Rentzky, was only a divisional group, but because it had a large number of Cougar series of armored vehicles, assault guns, tank destroyers, tank destroyers, tank No. 4 belonged to the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division and the Rhino tank destroyer, as well as to the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division and the Hessmann Organ rocket artillery vehicle.
Therefore, when viewed from the air, one can see a rather large marching procession, almost comparable to a Soviet tank army.
"It's a corps-level tank group" Golikov, commander of the Bryansk Front, put down the report sent by the 11th Army of the Air Force, spat lightly, and said to the military commissar Mekhlis and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Kazakov, "it seems that Comrade Lukin's petty scheme has succeeded." ” It turned out that the sound of tanks and car motors heard by the Ukrainian German troops at PF 13 last night was deliberately made by Lukin, who had a small number of tanks and cars circling around GR 13 as if a huge number of tanks and cars were coming.
"Comrade Commander, I think Comrade Lukin's 5th Tank Army can continue to attract German armored forces to the north."
Kazakov, chief of staff of the Front, suddenly thought of a plan to lure the enemy north.
"If Comrade Lukin can attract 2 or 3 more German Panzer Corps, then we can confidently break through from the Gomel region and advance all the way to the Dnieper."
Today is already May 8, and the Klintsy area, east of Gomel, where most of the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies are coming from Moscow and Kalinin, will be fully in place and deployed tomorrow.
According to the plan, on May 10 or 11, the 1st and 2nd Tank Armies were to launch an assault on the Dnieper in Gomel.
A powerful assault force consisting of 5 tank corps and 3 mechanized corps will rush like a tidal wave towards the Germans who have occupied Gomel.
If a part of the German armored forces can be drawn to the battlefield north of Klimovich before the attack of the two tank armies, then the probability of success of the Dnieper assault on Gomel is very high.
Once the Soviet army controls the territory between Gomel and the Dnieper, the logistics line of the German armored cluster on the southern road will be partially cut off, and it will not be possible to do it completely, because the German armored cluster on the middle road will soon advance to the territory of Mogilev Oblast, and a new logistics line can be established at that time, but after such a toss, the German army's southern road cluster will definitely have the problem of insufficient fuel and supplies, which will be conducive to the Bryansk Front to launch a further blow to the German southern road cluster.
However, the tank 5th Army, which was tasked with luring the enemy, was likely to suffer huge losses, and it was not a joke to compare the attack power of the 34 German Panzer Corps.
"It's worth it," Mekhlis, seeing Golikov's hesitation, encouraged him to say, "as long as we can complete the Dnieper assault on the Gomel, even at the expense of the 5th Tank Army" The words of the king of small reports made sense, as long as the southern road cluster of the German army could be severely damaged, then this wave of German onslaught would have failed by at least a third.
And after forcing back the German army in the south, the Bryansk Front could still be used in Smolensk.
If Smolensk hadn't fallen yet.
This would have a great chance of turning the battle of Smolensk into a tug-of-war, and the Soviet Union would survive 1943 unscathed, according to the estimates of the Soviet High Command, the Germans would have to spend several months saving up fuel in order to launch a large-scale offensive.
So as long as one of their major offensive was crushed, even if it did not inflict fatal losses on the Germans, it was unlikely that they would launch another offensive of the same magnitude in 1943.
By 1944, Germany's eastern ally, Japan, had largely been defeated by the Americans In the vicinity of Kibbutz No. 13 in Klimovich, Colonel-General Lukin had already established his command of the former enemy.
Although there were no thousands of tanks and cars coming last night, Lukin's forces around Collective Farm No. 13 had increased by more than half of the tank brigade, the 57th Tank Brigade had all arrived, and 2 assault gun battalions SU122 and 1 motorized rifle regiment belonged to the 5th Tank Army.
However, this amount of strength was completely insufficient for the previous German "Panzer Army", and even an armored division probably couldn't defeat it.
Therefore, the commander of the 109th Mechanized Brigade, Colonel Cheremisov, immediately after seeing the order issued by the Front Command, said to General Lukin: "Comrade commander, we should now retreat and lead the enemy to the Roslav region in the territory of the Smolensk region, where we will engage the enemy. ” "No," Colonel Lukin shook his head, "we must not think only about ourselves, but about the overall situationIf we retreat from Klimovich, then the Germans will not send 34 Panzer Corps, even if they follow Roslavl.
Because as soon as we retreated, the Germans would not treat us as if we were some main force.
In this way, by May 10 and 11, the 1st and 2nd tank armies were likely to run headlong into the main force of the German armored cluster on the southern route. ” "But I'm afraid we can't deal with this armored corps in front of us," said Colonel Cheremisov with some humility.
Lukin's idea was right, it was very gigmatic to exchange the sacrifice of the 5th Tank Army for the overall advantage, but the Soviet Union had Article 58 of the Criminal Code, and if he was caught by the Nazis, he would be ruined and become a loyal servant of Her Majesty the Empress.
"No problem," Lukin shook his head, "we can deal with the past enemy before we can start the offensive in the afternoon, we only need to carry it for a few hours until evening, and then Roslavl will mobilize reinforcements from Roslavl." ” "Decisive battle with the Germans near PFG 13" "No, it's better not to fight here."
Lukin still shook his head, "But we must show a little prestige and then retreat, and at the same time use tank destroyer battalions and anti-tank gun battalions to set up ambushes along the way and hit the Nazi armored forces hard."
"What about the enemies in Collective Farm No. 13," said Colonel Cheremisov, "according to those who escaped from the farm, they were Ukrainian traitors, in the hundreds. ” Lukin sneered: "Wipe them all out" With the order of General Lukin, the battle for collective farm No. 13 immediately began.
The troops Lukin put in were 2 assault gun battalions with 15 capable SU122s and the 5th Motorized 18th Regiment, which was part of the 358th Tank Army, with more than 2,400 people.
Among them, 15 SU122 assault guns belonging to 2 assault artillery battalions were deployed to the edge of a forest near the No. 13 collective farm last night, because they lost air supremacy, so the Soviet army was relatively passive during the day, and did not dare to generously put such equipment as tank assault artillery in an open area, so they could only hide them, and even if they wanted to use them, they could only be deployed in areas that were easy to hide, and the most ideal was around the woods.
At this time, the establishment of Soviet infantry regiments was still very sufficient, after all, the Soviet-German war in this time and space only began in 1942, and the Soviet Union's personnel losses in the first year of the war were not as large as in history.
Therefore, the ordinary infantry regiment and the motorized infantry regiment of the Soviet army both have an establishment of about 2,400 people, but the number of personnel of the infantry division is still about 23 less than before the war, because the organs and units directly under the division have been greatly reduced, and the number of artillery and anti-tank units under the division has also been greatly reduced.
The 358th Motorized Infantry Regiment of the Soviet Red Army was such a well-equipped infantry regiment, so as soon as the regiment appeared on the battlefield near Collective Farm No. 13 on the afternoon of May 8, it put great pressure on the Ukrainian ethnic German troops stationed on the farm.
"Assault Gun No. 4 Quickly Conceals" Also at dusk on May 8, when Solzhenitsyn was calling the army artillery command for artillery support, a trembling exclamation sounded in his ears again.
The future great writer and his comrades-in-arms are still on the battlefield of the Katyn Forest, which has become a focal point in the Battle of Smolensk.
General Yeremov, who commanded the defense of Smolensk, had given a death order to hold on to the Katyn Forest at all costs Because as soon as this forest is lost, the Germans will tighten the siege of Smolensk.
Although the city of Smolensk itself is a fortified area, it is very well defended. and the 210-level heavy artillery, which is now attacking the positions of the Soviet army, and is called the "No. 4 assault gun" by the Soviets, is also a difficult weapon to deal with.
Its 150 guns can be said to be ruthless and accurate when approaching the bombardment.
The defense of right-angle armor, but also the use of nickel-chromium-manganese-molybdenum rolled steel with excellent ballistic properties.
Its frontal protection capability even exceeds that of the Tiger G tank, and even the Su85 tank destroyer, the strongest anti-tank weapon in the Soviet Union, cannot beat the "Grizzly Bear" assault gun.
And in this case, the 3rd Army of the Red Army, guarding the Katyn Forest, had to rely on the flesh and blood of the infantry and the Soviet version of the Red Iron Fist anti-tank grenade launcher to resist, fought very hard and suffered huge losses.
By the afternoon of 8 May, the army group had only one corps left, and its mechanized equipment was exhausted. t1706231537: