The Rise of the Third Reich

Northwest of Warsaw, Womianki.

This place is located on the west bank of the Vistula River, across the river from Legionovo. It is the farthest place from the smoke and sound of gunfire on the entire Warsaw battlefield.

Captain Gustav Schwarzenegger felt like he was in another world from the front line of Warsaw, where he could die at any time, to the peaceful and peaceful Warmianki. He is now standing in the commander's seat of the No. 4 H-tank, looking at the lush wheat fields and villages and towns beside the road, as if he has returned to the countryside of his hometown Austria in peacetime.

"When the war is over, I will go back to my hometown, buy a farm, and live a pastoral life for a few years. This is the best..." Captain Schwarzenegger seemed to be a little tired of the constant fighting on the battlefield, and thought A few years of quiet pastoral life.

"Captain, are we abandoning Warsaw?"

Gunner Oger's German with a Norwegian accent interrupted Captain Schwarzenegger's thoughts and brought him back to the cruel reality - it is not easy to go home and farm, because the war with the Soviet Red Army is unprecedentedly fierce and peaceful. cruel.

In more than a month of fighting, Captain Schwarzenegger's company has had 15 No. 4 H tanks destroyed and injured, and the personnel losses (sacrifice and serious injuries) reached 52 people. This is Captain Schwarzenegger's first The heaviest casualties seen since the war broke out!

And the infantry losses he saw were even more severe. Every minute of fighting in downtown Warsaw seemed to be accompanied by death. The city of Warsaw has become a flesh and blood mill. Every street, every building, and every ruin has to go through repeated battles to determine its temporary ownership. Every inch of land occupied by the Soviet Red Army was soaked in blood, the blood of the Soviets or the Germans!

However, after experiencing such huge losses, the strength of the Warsaw garrison did not weaken. Because Warsaw was not an isolated city, there were a large number of German troops stationed along the Vistula and Butzula rivers behind it. They protected Warsaw's back roads and ensured that reinforcements could continuously arrive in Warsaw.

Therefore, the losses of frontline troops can be quickly replenished, and the company led by Captain Schwarzenegger is now fully equipped. Years of battlefield experience told him that it was impossible for such a tank company with sufficient personnel and equipment to leave the front line.

"No, we will not give up Warsaw!" Captain Schwarzenegger said very firmly, "We are going to fight somewhere else. This time we may take the initiative to attack, and we will launch an attack soon!"

His judgment was completely justified, because after the 5th SS Tank Battalion was transferred from Warsaw, the defenders in Warsaw could only rely on the No. 3 assault gun to counterattack the Soviet B-4 assault group. Because the combat capability of the No. 3 assault gun is not as good as that of the No. 4 H tank, and once the No. 3 assault gun is on the front line, it cannot also serve as a self-propelled artillery to support frontline infantry operations.

Therefore, in the next few days, the defense pressure on Warsaw City will be very high. If the armored cluster does not fight back as soon as possible, Warsaw will be unable to withstand it.

…

Major General Rotmistrov, commander of the 7th Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army, walked quickly into his military headquarters. When he saw the military political commissar Oktyabryski, he smiled and said to him: "Comrade political commissar, on the Narew River The bridge is ready and we’re about to set off tonight!”

Nowadays, the mobilization of mechanized units of the Soviet Red Army is generally carried out at night, because after more than a month of competition, the Soviet Red Air Force finally realized that it could not defeat the German Air Force at all.

The Yak-1, which is famous for its maneuverability and flexibility, is naturally as stupid as a pig when it encounters the Fokker Zero. The MiG-3, which is famous for its high-altitude performance, cannot show any prestige when it encounters the He-219 and Fw-190B/C. At the mid-to-high altitude level, there is no Soviet aircraft that can compete with the Fw-190A-4.

From June 1 to the present, the exchange ratio in air combat has remained at the level of one German aircraft for 6-7 Soviet aircraft. And because the Poles were relatively accepting of the Germans between the Soviet Union and Germany, the rescue rate of German pilots who parachuted over Poland was much greater than that of Soviet pilots who parachuted - in a few areas that were already firmly controlled by the Polish Bolshevik Party , parachuting German pilots were difficult to rescue, but there was not a Bolshevik Party committee leading the masses to capture Nazi pilots below most of the combat airspace.

Therefore, the exchange ratio of pilots between Germany and the Soviet Union was as high as about 1:10. If the Germans lost one pilot, the Soviet Union would lose 10 pilots! Although the Soviet Union has far more civilian pilots than Germany (more fuel means more pilots), it cannot afford such consumption. Moreover, civilian pilots cannot fly fighter aircraft into the air without a certain period of training.

Therefore, starting from mid-July, the Polish sky was gradually controlled by the German Air Force. The Soviet Red Air Force could only concentrate its efforts to ensure the security of key areas, such as the Warsaw battlefield and main logistics lines. The advance and mobilization of mechanized troops was placed at night as much as possible.

"Departure tonight? Going to Legionovo?" Oktyabryski asked. Although he is a high-ranking military and political commissar, his access to military secrets is limited. For example, he did not know in advance the plan for a roundabout decisive battle formulated by the front army headquarters.

In fact, even the commander of the group army, Zhimachenko, only received the text of the combat plan from the chief of staff of the front army, Major General Rimoschik, before attending the combat meeting in Minsk last night. The commander of the 7th Tank Army, Rotmistrov, only knew the offensive direction of the 7th Tank Army at the group army combat meeting an hour ago.

He told Oktyabrysky: "Not to Legionovo, but to Serotsk, cross the Renav River from there, and catch the Nazis by surprise."

"What? Are we going to cross the Renav River?" Oktyabryski was surprised. "Are we going to make a roundabout move behind enemy lines? But German planes will come to bomb us."

"There will be American planes to cover us this time," Rotmistrov said with a smile. "It's American internationalist fighters flying P-51 planes. In fact, they have already arrived in Minsk. It's just this time There is no such dispatch, but this time they will show off their skills, and there will be an English-speaking Air Force liaison officer arriving this afternoon. "

At Stalin's request, more than 20 American fighter squadrons have now been deployed to the Soviet Union. These fighter wings are equipped with P-51 series fighters, most of which are high-altitude models, and some are low-altitude models. However, these American aircraft cannot be used openly, otherwise they will be quickly consumed by the huge number of German fighter jets, so they can only be used in the most critical places.

…

"I am Captain Gustav Schwarzenegger, commander of the 2nd Company of the 5th SS Tank Battalion. I have been ordered to lead my troops to report to you."

Just as the 7th Tank Corps of the Soviet Red Army embarked on the journey under the cover of night, Captain Schwarzenegger also met his temporary commander, Major Baker, in a hidden camp in the armored section of Warmianki.

"Welcome to you and your comrades, I am Major Franz Beck of the Army Reserve of the Wehrmacht, and I have been ordered to serve as the commander of the Beck Heavy Armor Regiment."

Unlike most of the school-level officers in the Wehrmacht armored forces, Major Franz Beck is a "reserve major", which means that he is not a professional officer. In fact, he is a dentist, and he has a doctorate in dentistry. He did not formally attend a military school. In the last world war he received the rank of Technical Sergeant (Artillery) and the Iron Cross Second Class. Later, he enlisted in the army again in 1937 and served in the 6th Armored Division. He successively served as battalion adjutant, anti-tank platoon leader, tank company commander, tank regiment chief of staff and tank battalion commander. He was an armored trooper with rich combat experience. commander. Therefore, he was brought to Warsaw by General Reinhardt and appointed as the commander of a temporarily formed heavy armored regiment.

The so-called heavy armored regiment is actually a temporarily synthesized regiment-level battle group. Composed of 1 heavy armored battalion (504th or 505th Battalion) equipped with Panther tanks, 2 tank companies equipped with Panzer IV H tanks (drawn from the 5th SS Tank Battalion), 1 self-propelled armored artillery battalion Or it consists of 1 assault gun battalion (drawn from the 5th SS Division), 1 panzergrenadier battalion (Finnish Battalion or 1st Battalion of the Walloon Brigade) and 1 armored engineer battalion.

A total of two were organized, namely the "Baker Heavy Armor Regiment" and the "Rudel Heavy Armor Regiment", and Captain Schwarzenegger's tank company was organized into the Baker Heavy Armor Regiment.

According to the plan formulated by General Reinhardt and Major General Hube, three heavy armored battalions equipped with Tiger tanks will be responsible for the "Legionovo Short Assault Operation" starting tomorrow, July 20. Taking the lead, with the cooperation of armored grenadiers, they stormed the front of the Soviet army. Taking advantage of the powerful power of 132 Tiger tanks, they dealt a crushing blow to the front of the Soviet army.

The "Baker Heavy Armored Regiment" and "Rudel Heavy Armored Regiment" were responsible for breaking in through the gap made by the Tiger tanks and attacking along the line of Razimin-Wovomin-Suleovik. Strive to rush behind the Soviet army attacking Warsaw in the shortest time. It does not mean to surround the more than a dozen Soviet army groups under the city of Warsaw. There are more than one million people in the more than a dozen group armies. Model does not have that big appetite.

His idea was just a short offensive, which would hit the Soviet northern group hard and force them to abandon the attack on Legionovo. This allowed the Soviet army's main attack direction to once again return to the flesh-and-blood mill of Warsaw, and at the same time attracted more Soviet reserve troops to the front line of Warsaw, creating favorable conditions for the assault on the northern line.