The Rise of the Third Reich

The atomic bomb could not be relied upon for the time being, and the Soviet Red Army's offensive capabilities were stronger than expected. So Hessmann could only discuss countermeasures with Chief of the General Staff Kesselring and First Quartermaster General Halder.

However, when Hessmann arrived in Zossen, Guderian, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front, had already come up with a solution, and he also explained his countermeasures in a telegram to the General Staff.

"Send 9 independent heavy armored battalions to Warsaw and Lviv respectively? Use Tiger and Panther tanks to fight B-4 howitzers?"

"Yes, Marshal Guderian concluded based on the report of Major General Carol Rommel before he lost contact that the real difficulty was not the B-4 howitzer, but the battle group with the B-4 howitzer as the core. Only by deploying a battle group with tanks as the core can we fight against the B-4 battle group with T-34 tanks or KV-1 tanks."

There are of course many ways to deal with the B-4 battle group, such as bombing with airplanes, bombing with artillery, attacking with anti-tank guns, and counterattacks with German superman infantry, etc. However, using tanks to counterattack is definitely the most effective and all-weather.

"Why a heavy armored battalion?" Hessman seemed a little reluctant. He originally planned to use the "Tiger" and "Panther" in the counterattack. "Can't we use the No. 4 tank?"

General Halder, the first quartermaster general, explained helplessly: "After a period of trial, Marshal Guderian believes that the mobility of the Tiger tank and the Panther tank is not ideal. There are too many mechanical failures of the two tanks, and too many auxiliary vehicles are required. Moreover, the Tiger tank is too heavy, and most bridges in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus can hardly bear its weight. Therefore, Marshal Guderian believes that the Tiger and Panther tanks are more suitable as defensive weapons rather than offensive weapons. The most suitable battlefields for them are Lviv and Warsaw."

"Tiger" and "Panther" were actually disliked! Guderian is really picky. However, Guderian's opinions are not completely unreasonable. The Tiger and Panther do have many problems. Although the results of various tests conducted in Germany were satisfactory, many problems were exposed when they reached the Eastern Front Command. Some of the problems are not with the vehicles themselves, but with road conditions and logistics.

The current Panther tank weighs 45 tons, several tons heavier than the Soviet KV-1 heavy tank. The Tiger tank weighs 56 tons. In Germany, where the infrastructure is relatively good, the passage of these two tanks is not difficult. In Poland and Western Ukraine, where the road conditions are relatively poor, they have to move carefully for fear of damaging bridges and roads.

In addition, the requirements for logistics support for the Tiger and Panther are much higher than that of the Type 4 tank. The nine heavy armored battalions have independent repair companies and logistics companies, and each heavy tank company is equipped with a repair team. In the organization of each heavy tank company, 22 Tiger and Panther tanks must be followed by 30 various wheeled vehicles. The entire heavy armored battalion has hundreds of vehicles when it is in motion, and can be pulled for several kilometers on the road.

In comparison, the Type 4 tank, which has long been mature and cannot be more mature, has much lower requirements for logistics support. And the traffic capacity is relatively strong, and it can go anywhere.

"Marshal Guderian also expected that the counterattack would be launched in the muddy season after October 1st," Halder continued, "and it would be more difficult for heavy tanks to pass by then. It would be better to use them in the operations before October 1st."

The so-called muddy season has two periods, one is late autumn and the other is early spring.

The former is due to dense rain and snow, but the temperature is not enough to form frozen soil, making the roads muddy and difficult to pass. The latter is due to rising temperatures and melting snow, causing floods and muddy roads.

Of course, the phenomenon of muddy roads caused by rain, snow or melting snow only exists in places with poor infrastructure. Germany and Western Europe do not have such problems, and the "mud problem" in Poland is not serious.

The senior German officers who have been in close contact with the Soviet Union for a long time all know that the Soviet Union has a muddy season. October 1st of each year is about the beginning of the autumn muddy season, which lasts for about 1 month until the weather freezes the road due to the sudden cold.

Guderian intends to take advantage of the unfavorable conditions caused by the muddy season to the logistics and transportation of the Soviet Red Army to launch a comprehensive counterattack. First, annihilate part of the Soviet army in Poland where the road conditions are relatively good, and then pursue and bring the war to the Soviet land, and force the Red Army to abandon a large number of weapons and equipment during the retreat.

The pursuit in the muddy season is not useful for the Tiger and Panther, which have poor mobility, many mechanical failures, and are particularly heavy. So Guderian planned to use these two expensive and powerful tanks to fight the city defense war, and maximize the killing of the Soviet army on the battlefield where there is little need for movement. The Soviet B-4 battle group is obviously the best target for the German heavy armored battalion, because the tanks covering the B-4 can never beat the powerful "Tiger and Panther", and the "Tiger and Panther" artillery has a long range and great power, which can completely destroy the B-4 howitzer at a long distance.

…

“Air raid! Take cover!”

Yakov Dzhugashvili, who was eating Russian fried rice on a road west of Minsk, Poland (not Minsk in Belarus, but Minsk near Warsaw in Poland), heard someone shouting, and skillfully picked up the delicious fried rice and ran to a forest - he didn't want to waste the rare delicacy because of the German air raid.

Today, because the 9th Mechanized Army has successfully arrived at the gates of Warsaw (actually still 30 kilometers away), the entire army has improved its food to celebrate. It no longer eats unpalatable field rations, but uses food shipped from the East Asian continent to support the world. Russian fried rice was cooked with revolutionary rice and Polish sheep brought from nearby villages. Because he was an officer, Yakov also received a large Polish sausage and a piece of salted cod.

I have to admit that Polish farmers who are in dire straits are still very particular about food and drink. You can find a lot of livestock and poultry in any village. Some of the richer farmers can also find Baltic salted cod in their homes. Eating is so reactionary, I can’t do it without liberation!

What flew over were eight very ugly twin-engine attack aircraft. This was not the first time that such aircraft had appeared. Ever since the Soviet 9th Mechanized Army approached Warsaw, they had been attacking from time to time. But before that, Yakov had never seen such a powerful ground attack weapon in any Soviet army's own situation report.

In Yakov's view, this weapon is probably the German version of the Il-2. It is not very large, the armor should be relatively strong, and it can fly at low altitudes under the threat of ground artillery. And its firepower is very powerful. It is equipped with at least two 20mm cannons, several aviation machine guns, and a 37mm or 50mm cannon installed on the belly of the fuselage! Yakov once saw with his own eyes that this kind of aircraft used the cannon on the belly to set a T34 tank on fire.

However, the number of the German version of the Il-2 attack aircraft seems to be small. Each dispatch is 8, often accompanied by 8 Fokker Zero escorts. Although it caused certain losses to the 9th Mechanized Army, the losses were still Within the acceptable range.

"Tu tu tu tu..."

The firefight on the ground and in the air soon began. Eight Hs-129 attack aircraft shuttled fearlessly through the fire net composed of the Soviet 25mm anti-aircraft guns (truck-mounted), 37mm anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns. These planes fired a series of tracer bullets, hitting several vehicles belonging to the artillery column of the 9th Mechanized Army with holes all over them. There was also an ammunition truck that was exploded and turned into a huge fireball. The huge explosion also affected people. The two surrounding trucks towing 122mm howitzers were all overturned to the ground, including the trucks and cannons.

But the good luck of these eight Hs-129 aircraft ended here. Yakov, who was holding a large lunch box of Russian fried rice, suddenly heard someone shouting "Ula! Ula!". He knew that this was a Soviet plane coming to expel German attack planes.

He looked up into the sky and saw 16 Yak-1 fighter jets roaring down from the sky. The 8 Fokker Zeros that were escorting the German attack planes immediately rushed to block them, while the 8 German attack planes that were attacking ground targets Then it immediately turned around and flew towards Warsaw. One of them was still trailing black smoke behind its butt, as if it had been injured by ground fire.

"Captain Dzhugashvili, is the artillery director Captain Dzhugashvili here?" At this time, Yakov saw a military messenger riding a horse in the wheat field and running all the way.

"I'm here!" Yakov shouted.

"Comrade Chief of Staff, please go to the military headquarters for a meeting right away!" The messenger drove his horse to Yakov and handed him a handwritten notice signed by the Chief of Staff of the 9th Mechanized Army.

The Battle of Warsaw must be arranged! Yakov received the notice and already guessed the general content of the meeting. The first phase of the Thunderstorm Plan is now basically completed. Now it was time to begin the second phase, the capture of Warsaw and the siege of Lviv.

According to intelligence before the start of Operation Thunderstorm, there were not many German defenders in Warsaw, between 100,000 and 200,000, and there were no large-scale armored units. In addition, the German Nazi government could not believe the people of Warsaw and began to evacuate the population before the Soviet attack. Losing the support of the people meant that the German army of up to 200,000 people in Warsaw could only fight alone, so they were unable to resist the attack of the Soviet Red Army, which was several times the number.

While eating Russian fried rice with a lot of Polish sheep meat, Yakov thought: "Warsaw, this heroic city, will definitely return to the hands of the Polish people in the near future!"