The Rise of the Third Reich

"Hmph, they actually called me a traitor! They actually said that I betrayed the world revolution, betrayed Lenin's line... I am a traitor! Do these Germans think the Soviet people will believe their lies?" Stalin's laughter and curses rang out in the Kremlin. When he got up, the voice didn't sound like he was angry, but rather like he was saying something really ridiculous.

It is now the early morning of June 2, more than 24 hours have passed since the world revolution broke out. If you look at it from Stalin's perspective, the situation is still satisfactory.

Of course, the "Thunderstorm Plan" did not achieve 100% success, but facing an opponent like Germany, 60% success would be considered a success!

On the most critical battlefield between Poland and Western Ukraine, the Western Front of the Soviet Red Army has created a breakthrough with a width of 400 kilometers! Ten of the twenty armies had crossed or were in the process of crossing the river. The troops who crossed the Bug River all advanced 20-60 kilometers along the prescribed route. There are three main breakthrough directions - the northern route to Bialystok (the goal is to threaten East Prussia); the middle route to Warsaw (the goal is to encircle and capture Warsaw); the southern route to Lublin (the goal is to and southwest The front troops cooperated to encircle Lviv) - all of them successfully advanced about 50 kilometers.

In addition, as the ground troops advanced, the Red Army also defeated tens of thousands of German and Polish puppet troops, and surrounded 12 divisions (actually brigades) of the "German-Polish Army." Moreover, a military artillery director named Yakov Dzhugashvili also creatively invented a new tactic of rocket launcher + tank assault. He used this tactic to defeat several blocking German troops on the way to Warsaw!

Therefore, among the three main breakthrough directions, the Central Route Army has made the smoothest breakthrough and has advanced more than 60 kilometers to the west! In two days at most, we will be able to reach the gates of Warsaw!

To this end, the Political Commissar of the 9th Mechanized Army, the Political Commissar of the 3rd Group Army and the Military Commissar of the Western Front have jointly proposed the request to award Comrade Dzhugashvili the World Revolution Gold Medal and to be promoted to military rank... However, Comrade Stalin believes that Dzhugashvili Comrade Willy still needs to undergo further tests, so the medal will not be issued. He will be promoted to captain first.

All in all, the attack on the ground went very smoothly. Warsaw is likely to be liberated within half a month, and Lviv will be surrounded by then. As for Baltica, Lithuania and East Prussia, which are likely to be where heavy German troops are concentrated, according to the "Thunderstorm Plan", they will be cut off after the Battle of Warsaw.

If the main force of the German army wants to take advantage of the Red Army's attack on Warsaw to flank the Western Front, then the Western Front will dispatch a strong reserve team prepared in advance to join the Northern Front to launch a strategic decisive battle with the German army with absolutely superior strength!

The battle in the air was mixed, and the air strikes on the large oil fields in Kirkuk and Khuzestan were a huge success!

Although the price paid was also very high, at least 300 aircraft participating in the air strike did not return, and the loss rate was nearly one-third. However, the main ones that were shot down were American B-17 bombers. The Soviet Union's Pe-8 and MiG-5 suffered little losses, and they obviously withstood the test.

However, the Red Air Force suffered heavy losses in the skies of Poland, the Baltic States and Western Ukraine. On June 1st alone, the air forces under the jurisdiction of the three western fronts lost thousands of aircraft! Although it also destroyed thousands of aircraft at German airports in Poland and shot down 200-300 German aircraft, the Red Air Force was still at a disadvantage in terms of the exchange ratio of crew members.

Therefore, Stalin had given instructions in the early morning of June 2, asking the air force commanders of the three western fronts to attack cautiously to avoid excessive losses.

What dissatisfied Stalin the most was the harassing air raids by German high-altitude and high-speed bombers!

Last night, major cities in the Soviet Union, including Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkiv, and Minsk, reported being hit by air raids. In addition to dropping bombs, the Germans also dropped many "paper bombs" accusing Stalin of betraying the revolution. It is really ridiculous. The tactic...I don’t know who came up with it? We must conduct a thorough investigation after the victory of the world revolution! If the culprit is caught, he must be sent to Siberia to undergo labor reform for the rest of his life!

"Woo...Woo..."

Just when Stalin was thinking about arresting someone to be sent to labor reform, the sound of air raid sirens suddenly sounded!

German bombers actually came to Moscow in broad daylight to drop bombs and leaflets.

…

"Both Bialystok and Lublin are planned to be abandoned. The Soviet Red Army will occupy Bialystok today, and Lublin will be occupied by the Soviet army tomorrow. At the latest, the day after tomorrow, the Soviet army will The troops are approaching Warsaw!"

"The day after tomorrow? June 5th? Didn't it say it can be postponed to the 7th or 8th?"

"No, the Russians use rocket launchers to fight with tanks, and the cavalry can't stop them at all." Marshal Kesselin, who had not slept all night, shook his head, "Those Russians are smarter than we thought, and we didn't even think of this method... Rocket launchers can actually be used like this.”

The rocket launcher is indeed better for Maozi! Hessmann said that the Germans had too many self-propelled artillery and assault guns, so historically they did not want to make the rocket launchers mobile from the beginning, but instead made them towed. As a result, he always ran too slow and was easily counterattacked by artillery, and there was no way to enter the battle as quickly as Maozi's vehicle-mounted rocket launcher.

However, in the era when Hersmann was the Chief of General Staff, this problem had been solved. Now German rocket launchers (also called smoke launchers) are all self-propelled. But instead of being mounted on a tracked vehicle, it is mounted on a low-cost truck called the SWR40 self-propelled rocket launcher (or self-propelled smoke launcher).

And it's not just 12 tubes of 130mm. Although it's still not as powerful as the Soviet Katyusha's 1 (the Soviets installed it on an I-shaped rail), it can still handle fierce battles. Therefore, Hessman did not necessarily ask the engineering and technical personnel below to "copy" the Soviet design - in fact, there was no way to copy it. Hessman only knew the concept of "rail", and he did not have the specific design drawings.

"Isn't it just multiple rocket launchers?" Hessman smiled, "We have them too. There are three regiments in Warsaw and Lviv. There are four regiments directly under the Central Army Group, and there are also three regiments in the Northern and Southern Army Groups. 10 regiments. There are 30 regiments and 1,620 rocket launchers on the entire Eastern Front, no less than the Soviets.”

"But we cannot use rocket launchers as self-propelled artillery now." Kesselin shook his head and said, "Because our artillery is much smaller than the Soviets, so we can only rely on concentrated use of rocket launchers for counterattacks."

While the two were talking, the door of the office was pushed open by one of Kesselin's adjutants. The latter handed Kesselin a war briefing. Kesselin glanced at it and frowned slightly.

"The Soviets began to attack the Trespol Ring Fortress, and they also used large-caliber 203mm howitzers!"

…

"Boom!"

The earth is really shaking!

Even when he was hiding in the underground bunker of the Trespol Ring Fortress, Major General Carol Rommel felt like he would be blown to pieces by Soviet artillery in the next second.

Although he can be regarded as an old enemy of the Soviet people, he fought with the Soviet army twice in 1920 and 1939. But this was the first time he was bombarded at close range by more than 100 B4 howitzers!

The Soviets' method of fighting the offensive was indeed extremely brutal, completely beyond his expectation. They actually fired a 203mm-caliber cannon and mounted it on a tracked tractor, turning the cannon into a "semi-propelled gun" with a certain degree of mobility, so it could be moved closer to the front of the Trespol Ring Fortress. Take accurate shots.

What was even more frenzied was that the Soviets actually mobilized 30 B-4 artillery batteries at one time to besiege the Trespol Ring Fortress.

In addition, the 5 artillery regiments (2 for the corps and 3 for the division) belonging to the 4th Soviet Infantry Corps have more than 200 cannons of various calibers, and they are now dropping artillery shells on Trespol as if they are free of charge. On the position of the officers and soldiers of the Fortress Brigade, there was a strong intention to blow up the Trespol Fortress.

The Poles guarding this ring-shaped fortress are now truly cannon fodder!

"For the liberation of all mankind!"

"Ula!"

"For world revolution!"

"Ula!"

"For the victory of the communist cause!"

"Ula!"

"For the leader Stalin!"

"Ula!"

"Comrades! Follow me!"

"Ula! Ula! Ula!"

Second Lieutenant Solzhenitsyn, who was leading a platoon of soldiers to use a carriage to pull shells for the B-4 howitzer on the front line, heard the cheers of the crowd. He turned around and saw a large wheat field on the roadside that had long been trampled. At least 2,000 Red Army soldiers in uniform cheered. A young soldier who might be the political commissar of the regiment had just finished political mobilization. At this time, he waved his big hand vigorously and pointed at a dozen T-34 tanks that had been in formation not far ahead.

Bombarding with too many artillery, and then tanks leading the infantry charge is the standard tactic of the Soviet Red Army!

The kind of strategy in which political workers use machine guns to force infantrymen to death is usually used when there is no other way. What is needed now is not the high morale Red Army, but the Poles shivering in anti-gun bunkers - if it weren't for a few noble officers and non-commissioned officers who joined the Polish Solidarity Party who had no choice but to hold on, Trespo The Er Fortress fell in the first wave of Soviet charges at 10 o'clock this morning.

But how long can the Poles hold on like this? Solzhenitsyn shook his head in confusion. Why did these Poles desperately resist liberation? Don't they want to live a happy life like a Soviet?