Rise of Australia

Chapter 918: Attacked from the Rear
"Where are those damn German armored forces? Are our rear positions safe?" Upon hearing the news about the German armored forces, Pavnov, commander-in-chief of the Western Front, quickly stood up and asked with a little nervousness and uneasiness.

Perhaps Guderian could not have imagined that the person most worried about in this risky flanking plan was not the German command, but their target this time, General Pavlov, commander-in-chief of the Russian Western Front.

"While on patrol, the garrison troops in Baranovichi discovered a large number of armored vehicle tracks west of Baranovichi. Judging from these tracks, the German armored forces were once very close to Baranovichi, but eventually chose to go west along the railway, which is where we are." The messenger reported truthfully.

At first, Pavlov nodded. The German armored forces approached Baranovichi but did not launch an attack, which also confirmed Pavlov's conjecture that the German armored forces did not have engineering capabilities at all, and they were just attracting attention.

But when Pavlov heard the messenger say that the armored unit had already moved westward and its destination was the Western Front's headquarters, he was stunned again.

"Where is the map? Give me that damn map!" Pavlov ordered hurriedly.

Hearing the general's order, his subordinates did not dare to hesitate at all and quickly brought all the garrison maps and maps of the Polish area.

"West of Baranovichi," Pavlov muttered to himself, but soon panicked. He found that although the Bialystok triangle position was very strong when facing the attack of the German army in the west, the rear position of Grodno and Brest was the most vulnerable in the triangle position.

This is actually normal. The rear is all Russian territory, and Pavlov certainly cannot use most of his troops to defend the rear.

But this did give the Germans an opportunity to exploit a loophole. If the Germans really discovered the gaps in the Russian troop deployment and took the opportunity to do something, then it is conceivable that the three army groups of the Western Front would suffer a great disaster.

"How many planes do we have left?" Pavlov asked immediately.

"The German bombing destroyed most of our aircraft. Currently, there are less than 100 aircraft that can take off," replied Deputy Commander Bolkin.

The Western Front had three armies with hundreds of thousands of troops, but in terms of aircraft, it had only more than 300 aircraft, and most of them were located in Bialystok.

Because it was at the forefront of the fight against Germany, many military bases including Bialystok were attacked before the war broke out, the airport was destroyed, and most of the aircraft parked in the warehouse were blown up.

This made the Western Front, which already had a limited number of aircraft, even worse. A front that was considered to be a strong military force in the whole of Russia had less than 100 aircraft to show for it, which proved that the Western Front was lagging behind in terms of armaments.

Of course, such scenes were not only seen on the Western Front. Apart from the performance of the German Army, the Air Force also made a big splash in the offensive over the past few days.

Although it was somewhat dishonorable to fight without declaration, the air force's sneak attack did play a crucial role. Compared with other powerful countries, Russia's industry itself was relatively backward.

Of course, the backwardness here refers to the backwardness of advanced industries and many military industries that require technological accumulation.

If we just look at the scale of basic industries, Russia is actually not bad, at least it has surpassed the island countries and Italy.

Russia deployed nearly 800 aircraft along the entire border, and nearly half of them were destroyed in just two days.

This also made Germany's concerns come to nothing, because the Russian Air Force no longer had the ability to counterattack Germany, and they were simply unable to threaten German territory.

"Order all aircraft to take off immediately and patrol the Grodno-Brest line 24 hours a day. Send a letter to Minsk, requesting Minsk to send troops for support.

I will never allow any tank to break through the line from Grodno to Brest, at least before I receive an order from the Supreme Command." Pavlov issued his own order without caring whether the Air Force could withstand the pressure of the Germans.

For Pavlov, if the safety of the Grodno-Brest line could not be guaranteed, his Western Front would likely be under great threat.

But the tricky thing is that without an order from the Supreme Command, no one, including Pavlov, dared to give the order to retreat.

This also made the situation faced by the Western Front very embarrassing. It was in a dilemma as it could not leave or not leave. It was like being caught between a rock and a hard place.

Then on the other side, after a long advance, Guderian finally approached the Bialystok triangle position built by Pavlov.

Looking at the Russian positions in the distance, Guderian smiled for the first time in a long time and ordered his men: "Rest here for ten minutes, and the armored group will check the ammunition loading of the tanks.

"I will attack in ten minutes, and I hope to cut through these Russian positions quickly and threaten Bialystok very quickly."

This outflanking move was planned in advance with the German troops in the front. As long as the armored group led by Guderian launched an attack in the rear, the German troops in the front would also launch a final round of frontal attack.

The Russian army, caught in a pincer attack from both sides, will face very severe pressure and also have to resist the bombing from the German Air Force.

Under such circumstances, the Russian army could not resist the attack of the German army at all, unless they had more aircraft and tank forces and no pressure on ammunition logistics.

But it is obvious that, let alone the current Russian army, even if they are given another two years, the Russian army will not be able to have sufficient ammunition and logistical supplies.

Ten minutes passed in a flash, and the German armored groups had already checked the condition of their respective tanks. After a short rest, they advanced towards the distant Russian positions in a mighty manner.

As the German army got closer, the Russian army also felt the unusual shaking of the earth and heard the rumbling sound getting closer and closer.

Because this place is dozens of kilometers away from the Bialystok position on the front line, the sound of artillery fire from the front line was already very weak when it reached here, and could not cover up the sound of the advance of the German armored forces.

But the problem is that even if the whereabouts of the German armored forces were exposed, the current Russian army had no way to deal with this armored cluster.

If the Western Front still had nearly 300 aircraft, it would not be a problem to deal with these tanks. At least it could threaten these tanks and force them to withdraw.

But now, the entire Western Front had less than 100 aircraft, and most of them were at the military airport in Bialystok.

Although Pavlov had given the order, it was very difficult for these planes to rush to the rear in the midst of gunfire and hail on the front battlefield.

What's more, the German armored forces' attack was supported by the German army in the front. A large number of German planes had already taken off, and the Germans would not let these planes run to the rear and threaten their armored forces.

"Oh my God, those are German tanks!" A sudden cry was very obvious in the Russian position. Many Russian soldiers looked in the direction of the sound and saw a large number of gray-black German tanks approaching in a mighty manner on the horizon not far away.

"Enemy attack! Meet the enemy! Prepare anti-tank weapons!"

The commanders of the Russian army also responded quickly and ordered their soldiers to make various preparations for response.

Obviously, the Russian army also has corresponding anti-tank weapons. The so-called anti-tank weapons are actually artillery that has been modified to a certain extent and is equipped with armor-piercing shells.

But the problem is that the design of Russia's anti-tank guns was based on the development of Russian tanks, and it is somewhat effective against Russian tanks.

But if the enemy is replaced by a tank like the German one with thick skin and fast speed, the effect will not be so obvious.

In addition, the German tanks were in a surprise attack mode, and because of their very high speed, many anti-tank weapons had no time to be deployed.

In about a few dozen seconds, the overall outline of the German tanks could be seen. The Germans would not hesitate. After entering the firing range, a large number of tanks did not hesitate to pour a large number of shells from the main gun muzzle.

Rushing in the front were the German heavy and medium tank units, and the Russian anti-tank weapons had little effect against these big guys.

Because of this, it took only more than ten minutes for the Russian positions to be completely defeated, and even the German tanks in the front had entered the Russian positions.

After entering the position, the raid gradually turned into a massacre of the Russian army by the German army.

Most of the Russian troops in the rear were infantry, and the tanks and artillery had long been transferred to the front line. When these infantry faced the German iron guys, it was really a kind of despair.

The most advanced Russian positions were quickly occupied by German troops. Guderian left behind a part of the army for follow-up, most of which were light tanks and mechanized troops, and the remaining armored forces continued to advance westward.

The Russian positions encountered along the way were just like the one at the beginning, and were quickly defeated by the German armored forces like chopping melons and vegetables.

This is indeed the suppression power of tank troops on infantry troops. Without the assistance of other arms, the infantry has absolutely no way to deal with the attack of tank troops.

No matter how well-equipped they were, they could not break through the defense of the German armored forces. After advancing for several kilometers, the number of tanks lost by Germany remained in the single digit, which also proved the exaggerated combat effectiveness of the German armored forces.

When Guderian was leading the armored group with great momentum, Pavlov naturally also received reports of attacks in the rear.

Without any hesitation, Guderian ordered all the motorized units of the Third and Fourth Armies in the rear to go to the place where they were attacked and block the German attack as much as possible.

According to the Western Front's military organization, each army group has a mechanized army and a cavalry army. Although there is only one tank division in the mechanized army, and the rest are a motorized infantry division and a motorized division, this is almost the most powerful motorized force that Pavlov can produce in a short period of time.

But the bad news is that these mechanized troops are a certain distance away from the German armored group troops. Even the mechanized troops of the nearest Third and Fourth Armies need at least half an hour to reach the place where they were attacked.

Half an hour was enough for the German army to advance the front line by several kilometers.

The strategy of using heavy tanks to break through, medium tanks to encircle, and light tanks to kill was adopted. The Russian army was destroyed with great ease, just like cutting melons and vegetables.

By the time the Russian armored forces encountered the German armored forces, it was indeed half an hour later.

The clash between the two armored forces lasted less than an hour and ended with the complete defeat of the Russian mechanized forces.

There is no way. Russian tanks have a huge gap with German tanks both in quantity and specific performance.

Because of its late start, Russian tanks are now almost completely backward. The iron sheet of Russian tanks is relatively thin, the firepower is relatively weak, and the power is not very good.

This resulted in Russian tanks becoming almost sitting ducks on the battlefield when facing German tanks, and being bombed one by one by the German tanks.

As for the motorized infantry and motorcycle troops, it was even more impossible for them to stop the advance of the German armored forces.

As a result, although the Russian army encountered the German army, they were still unable to stop the German army's attack.

The Russian front in the rear was shattered by this armored group, and the remaining infantry was unable to organize an effective resistance.

Although dozens of aircraft of the Air Force, which Pavlov had high hopes for, successfully took off, they were soon intercepted by the German Air Force.

In a small-scale air battle, the Russian Air Force was almost wiped out and fell on the way to support the rear.

More than three hours after launching the attack, the armored group led by Guderian had completely broken through the first line of defense of the Russian army in the rear and moved deeper into the defense line.

On the front battlefield, the German army also launched a fierce attack on Bialystok. Even the other two cities of Grodno and Brest that formed the triangle position were attacked and bombed by the German army, which caught the Russian army off guard for a while.

Pavlov wanted the Russian troops on the front line to return to the rear for support, but the German troops on the front line successfully delayed the Russian troops.

Once Pavlov mobilized the Russian troops on the front line, the German army would launch a fierce attack on the vacant gap.

With the sky full of German planes, it was impossible for the Germans to conceal the movement of Russian troops, and it was impossible for the Germans to remain indifferent to the flaws revealed by Russia.

　Take a break today and update once.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)