The Rise of Australia

Chapter 917: Delivered to the door

Although the angry Grubev was temporarily persuaded, Pavlov's mood did not ease at all.

The biggest problem of the destruction of the communication command system appeared. Pavlov, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, had no idea of ​​the entire situation of the entire Western Front.

Without knowing the specific situation of the army, it is impossible to deploy the corresponding combat strategy according to the specific situation. For Pavlov, the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, this is equivalent to depriving him of his command over this war.

After all, if he doesn't even know the specific situation of each army, how can Pavlov deploy a combat plan? If he issues orders randomly, I am afraid that the final result will not be much different from Order No. 3 of the Supreme Command.

The Supreme Command is far away from the front battlefield, but Pavlov's headquarters is not far from the combat command of each army group.

If the commanders of these army groups are angered and a military mutiny is caused, it will really be a self-inflicted blow.

But in order to play his role as the commander-in-chief of the Western Front, Pavlov issued his first response order in the war when he returned to Grodno, which was to order the army groups to move closer to the Bialystok salient and order the reserve troops to support Bialystok at any time.

Bialystok is not only a salient area on the German-Russian border, but also a protective umbrella for Brest. If Bialystok is lost, Brest will really face a large-scale attack by the German army.

By then, even if Russia has more troops, it will not be able to cope with the large-scale attack of the German army. Because in terms of terrain, it is equivalent to having been broken by Germany.

But if Bialystok can be defended, this salient area will still have great strategic significance for Russia now.

The army in the salient area can move south at any time, which is equivalent to being hit by the Russian army at any time for the German army attacking Brest.

But what Pavlov did not expect was that although he mobilized the army to protect Bialystok, it left a large area behind Grodno, including Baranovichi, vacant.

It was not fatal in normal times, but the fatal thing was that the German armored forces had broken through Brest and were heading towards Baranovichi.

At 5 pm on April 15, the German 2nd Panzer Group led by Guderian.

"General Guderian, the front is close to Baranovichi in Russia. According to our reconnaissance, the Russian army in Baranovichi should have a large-scale mobilization." The reconnaissance tank at the front reported truthfully.

"Oh? Large-scale mobilization?" Guderian was a little curious, because the mobilization of the Russian army at this time was a little unusual: "Ask the rear to see if they know where this Russian army has gone."

Although it is unknown which Russian army is stationed in Baranovichi, according to the specific deployment of the Russian Western Front, it is not surprising to station an army in a city like Baranovichi.

After all, Baranovichi is equivalent to the gateway to Minsk. Within a few dozen kilometers northeast of Baranovichi, it has reached the territory of Minsk.

About ten minutes later, the signalman reported: "According to the reconnaissance of the Air Force an hour ago, this army group is likely to head west to the vicinity of Bialystok."

"To Bialystok?" Guderian was stunned: "Don't they know that we have successfully broken out of Brest? Which army is stationed in Baranovichi now?"

"According to the reconnaissance of the Air Force, the Russian army in Baranovichi has been reduced by more than half, and the number of garrisons is expected to be no more than one division." At this point, the signalman's tone became a little strange.

Guderian wanted to laugh. Did the Russians look down on him and his armored forces so much?

Although there were still about one division of troops stationed in the city, Guderian led an entire armored group, and the strength between the two was not equal at all.

More importantly, the purpose of Guderian's trip was not Baranovichi at all, but to outflank the three armies of the Western Front.

The Russians took the initiative to mobilize their troops in Bialystok. Didn't this create a better opportunity for the formation of the German encirclement?

"Oh, God, have our spies reached the enemy's top level?" Thinking of this, Guderian even thought that German spies had climbed to the top of the Russian military, and couldn't help but sigh at the strength of German intelligence personnel.

Although he was a little confused about the Russians' movements, this was indeed a great opportunity to bypass and encircle the Russian army.

More importantly, compared with World War I, the bypass and encirclement of the tank army were obviously more lethal. If the Russian army was not prepared, they would face the impact of the German army from the rear and would have no way to resist at all.

"In this case, let's give up Baranovichi for the time being." Guderian smiled, and his smile was so innocent: "We will also go to Bialystok to join in the fun. I believe that General Pavlov of Russia should welcome us very much."

On the other side, what was Pavlov doing at this time?

The entire Western Front was holding a military meeting to discuss the current situation of the war and how to deal with it.

During the meeting, Pavlov, the commander-in-chief of the Western Burmese Army, advocated firmly defending Bialystok, and building a relatively solid triangular position based on the geographical location of the three cities of Bialystok, Grodno and Brest, which are not much different from each other.

But the chief of staff of the front had other opinions. He believed that the three armies of the Western Front were located in the triangular position area mentioned by Pavlov, which was obviously too risky.

This area is located in a prominent area as a whole. Once it is attacked by the German armored forces from behind, it is very likely that the three armies will be wiped out.

But Pavlov obviously disdained the views of the chief of staff. At the military meeting, Pavlov directly expressed a clear opposition: "The method of using tank troops to raid the enemy's rear cannot win the war at all. The tank troops cannot run such a long distance, and they cannot bypass our cities and pose a threat to our rear."

Of course, the quarrel of the Western Front is not that important. Although Pavlov had the final say in the Western Front, it was clear that the Supreme Command had the final say in the planning and layout of the entire battle and the war plan for all the armies.

In such a defensive war, if Pavlov dared to retreat without the order of the Supreme Command, his fate could be imagined.

This also led to Pavlov not daring to mention the plan of retreat at all. Even if all the troops were concentrated in the Bialystok triangle salient, Bialystok had to be defended.

Although Pavlov's performance was somewhat poor, the Western Front was not without people who could see the situation clearly.

After the military meeting, the deputy commander of the Western Front, Bolkin, found the commander of the Tenth Army, Grubev, and the commander of the Third Army, and proposed his own response plan.

The Tenth Army has a mechanized army and a cavalry army. For the current Russian Western Front, this is already the last resort to resist the German armored forces. Therefore, Bolkin ordered the 6th Mechanized Army and the 6th Cavalry Army of the 10th Army to deploy behind Brest and Grodno. If German armored forces were found, their advance should be delayed as much as possible.

In addition, Bolkin also ordered the 11th Mechanized Army of the 3rd Army to attack the German position of Suwałki in the north of Białystok.

Suwałki is located on the original border between Poland and Lithuania, and further west is Königsberg in East Prussia.

There is an advantage to attacking here, which can quickly attract the attention of the German army and reduce the pressure on the Russian army in the Białystok area.

After all, Suwałki is only more than 100 kilometers away from Königsberg, and even more than 100 kilometers away from the Baltic Sea.

If the Russians really capture this city, the Russian army will not only threaten the East Prussia region of Germany, but also threaten the three Baltic countries, and fully alleviate the pressure faced by St. Petersburg.

If there were no three Baltic countries, the pressure on the three Nordic countries would also drop sharply, which is not a good thing for Germany now.

In the following time, the German and Russian armies launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle around the Bialystok triangle position.

The German army attacked Bialystok many times, but was repeatedly repelled by the Russian army. However, the German army still caused a large number of casualties to the Russian army, especially the 10th Army at the forefront. In just a few hours, the number of casualties exceeded 5,000.

Although the number of a group army is as high as more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands, the Russians obviously cannot bear such a large-scale consumption.

At three o'clock in the morning on April 16, the Russian Tenth Army obviously couldn't hold on and requested support from the reserve forces.

This is particularly critical. The reserve forces are located in the middle and rear of the triangle. They can not only support any city of Bialystok, Grodno and Brest at any time, but also protect the rear of this position to prevent sudden attacks by the German army.

But if this reserve force is mobilized, although it will strengthen the defense of Bialystok, there will really be no troops behind this position.

Although Bolkin sent a tank army and a cavalry army, compared with the number of German armored groups, it obviously did not cause much impact.

But did Pavlov have any solution at this time? He had no solution at all.

Not to mention that the Supreme Command had not yet issued an order to retreat, the casualties faced by the Tenth Army alone forced him to order the reserve troops to support the Tenth Army.

Once the Tenth Army was defeated due to large-scale casualties, resulting in a gap in the position of Bialystok, all of Pavlov's operations in this triangle area would be wiped out.

This not only negated all of Pavlov's efforts after the outbreak of the war, but also negated all of Pavlov's achievements before the outbreak of the war.

Although it was cruel, this was the fact. If it was not possible to achieve relatively excellent results in this war, even the pioneers of the armored forces that the Russian government had high hopes for would still face accountability from Russia.

In fact, the real problem that caused the Russian army to face a large number of casualties was not that the Russian army's equipment was too poor, but that the Russian army was too dispersed.

Although the entire Western Front was deployed in the triangle area, Pavlov mistakenly dispersed his troops at regimental level throughout the position.

The German army's offensive scale is basically based on the army group, which is not a good thing for the Russian army. In particular, some poorly equipped infantry regiments are really powerless when facing the attack of German tank troops.

For the current Russian army, the most troublesome thing is not only to spread the stall too large, but also to fill the gaps in the stall.

This led to the reserve troops that could be used as additional means being quickly used, and even the reserve troops suffered a large number of casualties, and affected the defense of other cities.

There has been no news about the German armored forces, which made Pavlov a little uneasy. But Baranovichi in the rear is still safe, which makes Pavlov feel relieved.

After all, in Pavlov's view, armored forces cannot fight independently at all, and their greatest use is to assist the infantry army in attacking.

Since the German infantry cannot break through the triangular position, even if the German tanks can gallop behind the Russian army, they cannot pose a threat to the Russian army.

The best explanation is that Baranovichi is still safe, because the German armored forces know that their combat effectiveness is poor, so they dare not attack Baranovichi.

But what Pavlov did not expect was that the slap in the face came so quickly.

On the morning of April 17, 1937, the offensive of the German and Russian armies was launched normally.

Pavlov was personally commanding the war in Bialystok, which has become the most important area guarded by the Western Front and the most important area attacked by the German army.

Looking at the battlefield a few kilometers away with a telescope, Pavlov sighed and looked at the commander of the Tenth Army next to him, Grubev, and asked: "How many troops have we lost so far?"

"The Tenth Army has lost 16,000 people, including 6,257 killed in battle, 5,223 seriously injured, and the rest are considered lightly injured, and still have a certain combat effectiveness." Grubev replied expressionlessly.

The current loss is close to a division, which is also very painful for Grubev.

"If we hold on for a few more days, the Supreme Command should have news." Pavlov nodded and said in a relaxed manner.

"Commander, there is news about the German armored forces!" At this moment, the messenger suddenly reported.

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