Rise of Australia

Chapter 917 Delivered to the Door

Although the angry Grubev was temporarily calmed down, Pavlov's mood was not relieved at all.

The biggest problem arose when the communication and command system was destroyed. Pavlov, commander-in-chief of the Western Front, had no idea of ​​the entire situation of the Western Front.

Without knowing the specific situation of the army, it is impossible to deploy corresponding combat strategies 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 the war.

After all, how could Pavlov deploy a battle plan if he didn't even know the specific situation of each army? If he issued orders at random, the final result would probably be not much different from Order No. 3 of the Supreme Command.

The Supreme Command was far away from the front battlefield, but Pavlov's headquarters was not far from the combat command posts of various army groups.

If you anger the commanders of these army groups and cause a military mutiny, you will be shooting yourself in the foot.

However, 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 prominent 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 that time, even if Russia had more troops, it would not be able to cope with the large-scale attack of the German army, because in terms of terrain, it was equivalent to having been breached by Germany.

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

The troops located in the salient area can move south at any time, which means that the German army attacking Brest-Litovsk may be hit by the Russian army at any time.

But what Pavlov did not expect was that although his mobilization of troops did protect Bialystok, it left a large area behind Grodno, including Baranovichi, vacant.

This would not have been fatal under normal circumstances, but what was fatal was that the German armored forces had broken through Brest and were advancing towards Baranovichi.

At 4 pm on April 15, the German 5nd Armored Group led by Guderian.

"General Guderian, we are approaching Baranovichi in Russia. According to our reconnaissance, there should be large-scale mobilization of Russian troops in Baranovichi." 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 and see if they know where this Russian army has gone."

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

After all, Baranovichi is equivalent to the gateway to Minsk. Within a few dozen kilometers northeast of Baranovichi, it is already in 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 troops stationed 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 about one division of troops was left to garrison the city, Guderian led an entire armored group, and the strength of the two was not equal at all.

More importantly, the purpose of Guderian's trip was not Baranovichi at all, but to encircle 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 a German encirclement?

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

Although he was somewhat suspicious of the Russians' movements, this was indeed a great opportunity to go around and encircle the Russian army.

More importantly, compared to World War I, the tank army's flanking and encirclement was significantly more lethal. If the Russian army was not prepared, they would face the German army's attack from the rear and would have no way to resist at all.

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

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

The entire Western Front is holding a military meeting to discuss the current war situation and countermeasures.

At the meeting, Pavlov, 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 far apart.

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

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

However, Pavlov was obviously dismissive of the Chief of General Staff's opinion. At the military meeting, Pavlov directly expressed his clear opposition: "Using tank troops to raid the enemy's rear will not win the war at all. Tanks can't run such a long distance, and they can't bypass our cities and threaten our rear."

Of course, the quarrels of the Western Front were not that important. Although Pavlov had the final say over the Western Front, the planning and layout of the entire campaign and the war plan obviously had the final say over all the armies.

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

This also led to Pavlov not daring to mention the retreat plan 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, there were people in the Western Front 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 1th Army had a mechanized army and a cavalry army, which was the last resort for the Russian Western Front to resist the German armored forces. Therefore, Bolkin ordered the 1th Mechanized Army and the 10th Cavalry Army of the 6th Army to deploy behind Brest and Grodno, and if they found German armored forces, they would delay their advance as much as possible.

In addition, Boldin ordered the 3th Mechanized Corps of the 11rd Army to attack the German position of Suwałki north of Bialystok.

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

One advantage of attacking here is that it can quickly attract the attention of the German army and reduce the pressure on the Russian army in the Bialystok area.

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

If the Russians really captured this city, the Russian army would not only be able to threaten Germany's East Prussia region, but also the three Baltic countries, and comprehensively alleviate the pressure faced by St. Petersburg.

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

In the following period, German and Russian troops launched fierce offensive and defensive battles around the Bialystok triangle position.

The German army attacked Bialystok several 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 5000.

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

At three o'clock in the morning of April 4, the Russian Tenth Army obviously could not hold on any longer and requested support from the reserve forces.

This is particularly critical. The reserve troops 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 be no troops behind this position.

Although Bolkin sent a tank army and a cavalry army, it obviously had no impact compared to the number of German armored groups.

But what could Pavlov do 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 currently faced by the Tenth Army alone forced him to order the reserve forces to support the Tenth Army.

If the 10th Army were to suffer a defeat due to massive casualties, resulting in a gap in the Bialystok position, all of Pavlov's efforts in this triangle area would be in vain.

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 is cruel, this is the fact. If we fail to achieve relatively excellent results in this war, even if we are the pioneers of armored forces that the Russian government has high hopes for, we will still face accountability from Russia.

In fact, the real problem that caused the Russian army to face heavy casualties was not that the Russian army’s equipment was too poor, but that the Russian army’s deployment 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 was basically based on the army group, which was not a good thing for the Russian army. In particular, some poorly equipped infantry regiments were really powerless when facing the attack of the German tank troops.

For the current Russian army, the most troublesome thing is not only that they have spread their business too wide, but also that they have to fill the gaps in the business.

This resulted in the reserve troops, which were originally intended to be used as an additional measure, being quickly utilized. The reserve troops even suffered heavy casualties and affected the defense of other cities.

Pavlov was somewhat worried because there had been no news about the German armored forces, but he was relieved that Baranovichi in the rear was still safe.

After all, in Pavlov's view, armored forces are simply incapable of fighting independently, and their greatest use is to assist infantry troops in attacking.

Since the German infantry could not break through the triangle position, even if the German tanks were able to gallop behind the Russian army, they could not pose a threat to the Russian army.

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

But what Pavlov didn't expect was that the slap in the face came so quickly.

On the morning of April 1937, 4, the German and Russian offensives unfolded normally.

Pavlov was personally commanding the war in Bialystok, which had become the most heavily guarded area of ​​the Western Front and the most heavily attacked area by the German army.

Pavlov looked through a telescope at the battlefield a few kilometers away. He sighed and looked at the commander of the 10th Army, Grubev, and asked, "How many troops have we lost so far?"

"The Tenth Army has lost 1.6 people, including 6257 killed in action, 5223 seriously injured, and the rest were slightly injured. It still has a certain degree of combat effectiveness." Grubev replied expressionlessly.

The current losses are close to a division, which is very painful for Grubev.

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

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

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(End of this chapter)