Steel Soviet Union

Although it is necessary to be ready for battle at all times, Vatutin still leaves a lot of room for maneuver for Malashenko.

Knowing that the current situation of the Leader's Division is not suitable for a head-on confrontation with the enemy, Vatutin, as a qualified commander, does not want the Leader's Division to rush to the front now and face the German counterattack vanguard directly.

Doing this will only cause the leader division who is not strong enough to waste more strength in vain. If not, it may even affect the leader division's subsequent main attack mission, which is not good.

As a result, Vatutin issued a rare order that was rarely given to Malashenko in the past: stay behind the friendly defense line and wait for follow-up orders. As a mobile reserve, he is ready to rush to help fill the gap. This time, there is no need for the leading division to come. Take the lead.

Once the battle situation changes, the leader division needs to go up and fight with any German who dares to block the way at any time until it is driven back. This must be done regardless of the status of the leader division at that time.

The mobile reserve of the entire army, Malashenko remembers the last time he took on such a task, which was during the Battle of Kursk. He remembers that it was not promoted to a division but was organized at the brigade level. It was also his first time. The first time I worked together under Vatu Jing's command, it's really a lot of memories when I think about it now.

"Comrade Commander has bought us some time. I hope this will allow us to gather more troops, but it would be great if the development of the war situation does not require us to participate in the war."

Comrade Political Commissar's meaning behind the scenes is very simple. Once the leader division receives the order to go into battle, it means that the friendly defense line in a certain direction in front must be penetrated by the Germans, and there must also be a high-speed maneuvering German army. The armored forces were advancing rapidly as if they were entering uninhabited territory.

After tearing open the gap in the Red Army's defense line, the Germans like to do this no matter what time. The premise is that if they can really tear open the Red Army's defense line, this kind of thing seems to be a luxury at a glance, but it is still impossible. Take it lightly.

"Maybe the Germans' main attack direction is not our side. Maybe they want to break out to the west, where is their real strategic depth. Even if they break out if they attack eastward, they are just jumping from one encirclement to another. . The entire eastern and southern directions are now full of Red Army troops. They are seeking death. "

It’s not that Malashenko underestimates the enemy, it’s just that Malashenko simply thinks that “jumping from one encirclement to a larger encirclement” is simply stupid. People who can come up with such a combat plan and deployment must have little brains. They all have a bit, and it is recommended that you never think of your opponent as too stupid. Malashenko has always been aware of this, so he says this now.

"Of course it makes sense for you to think so, but the premise is that the Germans' combat plan is a breakout plan rather than an annihilation plan."

"What if the Germans want to rely on East Prussia to come back from adversity? Gather and annihilate the entire 2nd and 3rd Belarusian Fronts under the East Prussian city. Even if they don't annihilate us, at least they will severely damage and destroy most of us, forcing us to strategically retreat. Evacuate, just like we did to them under Moscow in 1941."

"If this is the case, then the entire front will be fundamentally reversed. If the Germans succeed, then there will be no more strategic corps of the Red Army in central and northern Poland that can fight against the German Fascists. The First Ukrainian Front on the southern front will It will also become precarious, with the entire northern flank completely exposed, and the German troops of the East Prussia Group can move south to attack the 1st Ukrainian Front. "

"At this time, the best situation is that the Ukrainian First Front can hold the front and form a protrusion that penetrates deep into Poland to prepare for our future counterattack. And most of the Polish territory that has been liberated will will fall into the hands of the Fascists again, and the strategic situation can be said to have basically returned to the state after Operation Bagration, which means that the Red Army's strategic offensive this time will do nothing but leave a protrusion in southern Poland. Didn’t get it.”

He held a drawing pencil and simply drew a circle on the map. After listening to this analysis, Malashenko pondered the truth while pondering.

"What do you think is the possibility? How likely is it that the Germans would dare to think and do this?"

Malashenko's words were smooth and calm, and correspondingly, Comrade Political Commissar continued to speak in the same tone.

"None of them are accurate enough to be worth saying, but what I want to say is what our division headquarters can think of. There is no reason why the German general staff can't think of it. We cannot underestimate our opponents."

"Judging from the comparison of the enemy's and our own forces, this battle was 900,000 versus 1.3 million. The total force difference is about 400,000, not to mention the technical equipment and air force. We have the upper hand in everything. But I think the more The enemy may become even crazier at the last moment, after all, the battle line has been pushed to their doorstep, and East Prussia is of special significance to these German fascists. "

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It cannot be said that the situation imagined by Comrade Political Commissar will definitely not happen, but such a battlefield situation has another meaning to Malashenko.

This sounds very much like the Eastern Front version of the Ardennes Counterattack. The possible fruits of victory are very tempting to the Germans, and in a sense, the Germans really have the capital to do this: it is better than the existing history. The total strength of the additional troops in the battle was quite large. Most of them were front-line field troops on the northern and central fronts in the direction of Warsaw and retreated to East Prussia. They had considerable combat effectiveness.

Moreover, the group of Germans who escaped in the direction of Warsaw in the middle had not suffered much damage from the battle. The original Warsaw city defense force and subsequent reinforcements did not compete with the Red Army at all.

After just beating up the Polish ghosts who were causing trouble in the city of Warsaw, the battle on the northern and central fronts completely collapsed, the Grossdeutschland Division was completely annihilated, and the leading division of the Red Army's vanguard had entered Warsaw overnight. The multiple bad news about the city scared them away.

But perhaps it was the addition of these front-line field troops, which carried a large amount of heavy weapons and technical equipment, had a relatively complete organization and suffered almost no losses, that gave the East Prussian Kraut group, which was stronger than ever in history, the opportunity to take the initiative. Confidence in the matter, the so-called "900,000 vs. 1.3 million, the advantage is mine" may not be empty talk.

So if you want to say it seriously, Comrade Ma is still to blame for the current war situation. It was the subsequent chain reaction of the various strange and unexpected butterfly effects that led to the current situation.

Dealing with the troubles caused by oneself is the most real situation Malashenko faces after realizing the root cause of the problem.