The Rise of the Third Reich

Mechanized troops marching at night in a war zone are very vulnerable to ambushes. Just a 50mm anti-tank gun hidden on the roadside can cause great losses. Therefore, all mechanized armies in the world will avoid falling into such danger.

However, Lieutenant General Vlasov decided to let his 37th Army set off at night and march towards Otvodsk, more than 20 kilometers away. Because in the past two or three days, the activities of the German Air Force have become more and more aggressive. If the mechanized troops march struttingly during the day, they will definitely be hit by Stuka dive bombers and another unknown twin-engine attack aircraft, compared with the losses caused by air strikes. The risks involved in marching at night are relatively small.

However, Vlasov has also considered the dangers of marching at night and made corresponding arrangements.

"There are still two kilometers to reach the next intersection. One of our infantry battalions has already taken control there, so there will not be any danger. In addition, about 1 kilometer away on both sides of us, there are also infantrymen advancing on foot. So our flanks are also safe." Rokossovsky was sitting in a GAZ 61 off-road car while sipping confiscated Spiatus vodka (a Polish liquor). While chatting with Artillery Director Yakov.

"But the Germans will not hand over Warsaw to us easily." Although Yakov was not a military expert, he could see that Germany intended to put the Red Army under the walls of Warsaw. Since it was done intentionally, Warsaw is not so easy to win.

"But the Red Army will still liberate Warsaw. We have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength, and we are fighting on a single front and can concentrate our forces. The Germans are fighting on two fronts." Rokossovsky took a sip of vodka and seemed to be in a very good mood. .

The war had been going on for several days, and he had tried the depths of the Germans. Naturally, he knew that the German army's combat effectiveness was far superior to that of the Soviet Red Army. It would be difficult to liberate all of Europe by relying on the power of the Red Army alone. But the problem of taking Warsaw and Lviv is not big, it is nothing more than sacrificing a few more comrades. Even if three times more people died than Germany, as long as Warsaw and Lviv were captured, the situation would become very favorable to the Soviet Union.

He estimated that after the Soviet Red Army captured Warsaw and Lviv, the war would fall into a lasting stalemate like in the last war. However, the Soviet Bolshevik Party was not a weak tsarist government and was not afraid of a protracted war. Moreover, Britain and the United States will also assist the Soviet Union, so victory is expected.

Even if it is not a complete victory in the end, it can force Germany to abandon Poland and seek peace. In this way, Poland will become a country led by the Bolshevik Party, and Rokossovsky is a loyal Polish Bolshevik fighter...

"Air strike! Air strike! Brake quickly! Turn off the lights!"

When Rokossovsky was wondering whether he had a chance to become a great Polish proletarian revolutionary, he suddenly heard the sound of sirens in his ears. Then the slowly moving vehicles on the road braked and turned off their lights and stopped.

Almost at the same time, the roar of a huge aircraft motor came from the sky!

It turned out that the Soviet convoys traveling along the road were moving forward with lights on - the roads on the east bank of the Vistula River had been damaged by the Poles, with potholes and many mines buried in them. The Soviet engineers caused some damage in the process of clearing landmines, causing extremely poor road conditions. If you drive with the lights off, you will probably have many car accidents. And even if the lights are turned off, it doesn't mean that the planes in the sky can't find their targets, because there are SS Polish volunteers and Polish guerrilla activities near the highway. They only need to use mortars to light up flares and signal flares so that German aircraft in the sky can find their targets.

So Vlasov simply asked the troops to turn on the lights and move forward, while keeping the vehicle-mounted anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns ready to fire at any time.

In addition, night and day are different after all. Aircraft capable of low-altitude operations such as Ju87 dive bombers and Hs-129 attack aircraft can be dispatched during the day, but it is difficult for them to dispatch at night.

Therefore, the only ones flying in for bombing tonight were Do-217 medium bombers. They first dropped strings of flares to determine the location of the Soviet convoy. And when these flares are shot down, they will naturally alert the enemy. Yakov and Rokossovsky, who had long been skilled in long-distance running, got out of the GAZ 61 very quickly, ran wildly to a large hole dug by an unknown person on the side of the road, and jumped in together. There was still a little muddy water inside, but the two of them didn't care, they just lay down inside and waited for the bombing to end.

At this time, flying through the sky, in addition to the 12 Do-217s that came to drop bombs and leaflets, there was also an Fw-189 armed reconnaissance aircraft. Following the light of flares and support, the airborne camera was used for a while. We took some pictures and then headed to Warsaw.

…

"The targets are Otwotsk and...Legionovo?"

At the headquarters of the German 6th Army in Warsaw, the photos taken by the Fw-189 had been developed and sent to Model. The photos not only include scenes illuminated by flares and bombing scenes, but also scenes in which the Soviet army marched with lights on before noticing the arrival of the bomber group.

Chief of Staff Major General Artur Schmidt said: "The convoy is no more than 20 kilometers away. It is estimated that when the front vehicle arrives, the rearmost vehicle may not even leave."

"At least... 3 Soviet mechanized armies on each route!" Model estimated with his eyes closed. "That's 6 mechanized armies... There are probably 3-4 infantry armies in front of the Warsaw Forest. That's the most. If there are more, we won't be able to get there in a few days."

Model's analysis was based on the traffic capacity of the roads west of Warsaw. The main highway and railway from Brest to Warsaw have not yet been opened. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Soviet army will move more than 10 armies to the vicinity of Warsaw within 7-8 days.

"Their goal should be to outflank our rear," Schmidt analyzed.

"No," Model shook his head, "it's to build a bridgehead for crossing the river."

"A bridgehead requires three armies?"

Model smiled: "How can six armies be enough to encircle our rear? The Soviets must know how powerful our German armored forces are."

"That's true. The combat effectiveness of the Soviet mechanized army is definitely not as good as our armored divisions. Six mechanized armies can only fight four armored divisions at most." Schmidt thought for a while, "But once the Soviets build bridgeheads in Otwock and Legionovo, they can use more troops to encircle us in the next step. . "

Schmidt suggested: "Commander, should we send the 5th SS Division and the heavy armored battalion to deal with the Soviet troops crossing the river?"

"Of course," Model nodded, "Let the 5th SS Division, 5 heavy armored battalions, and the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th smoke launcher regiments form a battle group, commanded by General Steiner, to deal with the Soviet army in the north."

General Steiner is the general of the Waffen SS and the current commander of the 5th SS "Viking" Division. The fact that a general is the commander of the "Viking" Division also shows the weight of this division in the German Wehrmacht and the SS.

"What about the south route?" Schmidt asked, "Who will resist the south route?"

"Don't care about the south route," Model said, "open the door and welcome the Russians to march to Warsaw from the south!"

...

Boom! Boom! Boom...

At 10:30 p.m., Nazi Germany's bombs fell on the heads of the people of Moscow on time. At the same time, thousands of anti-aircraft guns deployed in various parts of Moscow also fired, bringing an incomparable sense of security to the proletariat of the whole city.

However, Stalin, who was working in a basement in the Kremlin, knew that his anti-aircraft guns were completely wasting shells, and they could not be shot down by a single plane. Because these attacking German planes were all above 10,000 meters, most of the anti-aircraft guns could not reach them at all, and the few 130mm anti-aircraft guns that could reach them seemed to have no accuracy, and they did not shoot down a single plane for seven or eight days.

However, Stalin did not get angry with the director of the Red Air Force and the commander of the Moscow Air Defense Force, because there were only a dozen German planes attacking every night, and apart from dropping a few tons of leaflets that no one believed (unless Stalin was defeated, Russians would support Stalin no matter what they said), there were only 20 to 30 tons of bombs, which did not cause too many casualties.

What really made Stalin a little distressed was the Germans' bombing of the Batumi refinery and the Baku oil field for several days. The most important refineries and oil fields of the Soviet Union have now suffered considerable losses. The Batumi refinery has basically stopped production. The situation of the oil fields is better, but the production has also been reduced by about 30%.

However, the Germans' own Kirkuk and Khuzestan oil fields have also suffered heavy losses. According to the analysis of the photos taken by the bombers, the two oil fields will reduce production by at least 70%.

Of course, the cost of bombing the two major oil fields in Kirkuk and Khuzestan is also staggering. The Soviet Union and the United States organized a total of three major bombings, and the total number of aircraft lost accumulated exceeded 900! Among them, the loss rate of the two long-range bombing aviation divisions of the Soviet Union was as high as 65%, and more than 300 Pe-8, Ye-2 and MiG-5 were lost.

Therefore, the large-scale bombing of Kirkuk and Khuzestan was only carried out three times, and there was no strength to carry out the fourth time.

Moreover, the huge advantage Germany demonstrated in the air defense battle over the Kirkuk and Khuzestan oil fields also frightened the leaders of the United States and Britain. They used this as an excuse to reject the Soviet Union's request to continue bombing the two large oil fields. More than 600 B-17s and P51s were lost in three major bombings, and more than 5,000 crew members were lost. Even the powerful United States could not bear it!