USSR 1941

Lieutenant General Ludwig Kubiler hid in a house full of farm tools and civilians while stomping his feet while looking at the map.

Since von Bock was dismissed and was replaced by Field Marshal Luge, commander of the Fourth Army, Kubiler took over as commander of the German Fourth Army.

Kubile, however, is not at all pleased that he has landed the coveted job.

If it was at any other time, Kubil might have celebrated because of it, but right now he stared at the map in front of him with a heavy expression and said nothing.

Kubil knew very well in his heart that it was not a good thing to be promoted to the commander of the Fourth Army at this time... because the German army was about to face a defeat, which was obvious.

If the head of state agrees to let the troops retreat at this time, then perhaps the situation will not be so bad, because the German army can retreat like the Soviets while laying landmines on a large area and building a fortification line in the rear.

The problem is that the Führer does not allow this, the German army is still attacking at this time, yes...it is still attacking when the enemy is about to counterattack!

This will inevitably lead to failure, and as the commander, he is undoubtedly responsible for this failure, and the irony is that he has no right to command his own troops at all.

A gust of cold wind blew, and the adjutant opened the door and came in. There were snowflakes on his head and shoulders. After entering the door, he rubbed his hands that were about to become numb from freezing a few times before he could stretch them out to salute Lieutenant General Kubil.

"The situation is very bad, General!" the adjutant reported: "The tanks can hardly move. We spend a lot of time starting them every day. Once activated, we dare not turn them off, because they will be frozen again soon... It was a waste of gasoline, and countless soldiers died of frostbite!"

"I know this, Frank!" Kubiler interrupted the adjutant and asked, "What's the situation with the Russians?"

"They suddenly lost their voice!" The adjutant replied, "It seems that they were also frozen by this damn weather, minus thirty-eight degrees... No one would want to fight in such a situation, would they?"

Kubiler thought for a while, then shook his head and said, "No, Frank, maybe we won't, but they will!"

"You mean..."

"They are people who live in this land, Frank!" Kubile raised his head and said, "They experience cold like this every year, not to mention that many of them come from the colder Siberia!"

"They will counterattack?" The adjutant's eyes widened when he heard this.

"I think so!" Kubil replied, "It's time for a counterattack!"

"But what else can we do?" The adjutant said anxiously, "The head of state forbids us to retreat!"

Kubiler was silent for a while,

He ordered: "Remove the armored troops, Frank!"

"But the head of state..."

"We have to do this!" Kubil said. "Otherwise, the enemy will rush in front of our tanks before they start!"

"Yes, General!" The adjutant replied, turned around and went to make arrangements.

Kubil's approach is indeed very advanced, and this is not considered a retreat, because he only transferred the armored troops to the second line to rest.

On the other side, before the sky was bright, the Soviet army had already started its final mobilization:

"Comrades, the day of the counterattack has finally arrived!" Commissar Fuming stood on a tank and shouted to the soldiers below with a loudspeaker: "Load your rifles and sharpen your bayonets. We have endured for a long time. Anger is about to explode in this winter!"

The soldiers responded in a few voices:

"Kill them!"

"Get these damned fascists out!"

...

"From the beginning of the war to the present!" Commissar Fuming continued: "The Germans have always taken the initiative, but how can the sacred Soviet land tolerate the trampling of these fascist invaders? After all, they are no match for this snowstorm. !Although we have suffered heavy losses, this also makes our anger even stronger. We want to avenge our comrades-in-arms and the thousands of Soviet people who died under the knives of the fascists!"

"Ugh!" The soldiers raised their weapons and responded loudly.

The troops then moved into their respective staging areas.

Although it is only a staging area, there are still trenches and fortifications... Trenches are never lacking in the Soviet defense line. When the Soviet army resisted the German army on the second line of defense for a period of time, the Soviet people almost dug the trenches repeatedly. to Moscow.

Shulka led his men into the trenches, and beside them were tanks... These tanks were painted white as before, and a gap was dug in front of the trench to build a slope so that the tanks could quickly drive out of the trench.

Colonel Katukov nervously watched the pointer on the pocket watch jump up and down, then turned his head and ordered: "Tank start!"

"The tank starts!"

"The tank starts!"

...

With a sound of "long", the tanks started to fire one after another.

But of course, because the 1st Guards Tank Brigade used British and American gasoline engine tanks, these tanks also had the problem of not adapting to the extremely cold climate, so some tanks failed to start.

This is why Colonel Katukov gave the order fifteen minutes earlier.

Then, the infantry rushed to build fires in the tank's engine to roast it.

Shulka ignored these, he held up his binoculars and looked in the direction of the German army positions in the distance, but there was no movement.

This is not normal.

Because Shulka knew that it would take time for the German tanks to launch, and at this time... when the tank engines of the Soviet camp were "rumbling", even a fool knew that the Soviet army was about to launch an attack.

Therefore, the German army should also get busy like the Soviet army, that is, start the tanks with fire.

But they did not.

There are two possibilities: either the Germans were too slow to react, or their tanks were not on the front lines.

Shulka believed it was the latter, that is, the German army first sensed that the Soviet army was about to attack, so they pulled the tanks back to the second line to give them time to react.

"Colonel!" Shulka shouted to Katukov, who was more than ten meters away: "Germany may be prepared, their tanks are not on the front line!"

Katukov raised his binoculars and looked into the distance, then replied: "You are right!"

But that's all, and then there is no more text.

The correct approach should be... When you realize that the German army has withdrawn the tanks from the front line, you should immediately report to your superior, Rokossovsky.

Then Rokossovsky would contact the 2nd Guards Tank Brigade to tell them to be careful, as well as artillery and air force, to let them save ammunition when bombing so that they could play a role in subsequent battles.

But Katukov didn't do that.