The Rise of the Third Reich

"I am Qiu Xin. I have been surrounded by enemies. Please shoot at me! Shoot at me!"

This was the last roar of the glorious Colonel Qiuxin, commander of the 1st Tank Brigade of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, using the radio on the T-34 command tank he was riding in after being surrounded by German tanks.

The rocket launcher battalion attached to the 16th Mechanized Army then fired a massive volley at the location of Colonel Qiu Xin!

“Where are the Soviets bombarding them with rockets?”

Model, who was watching the battle upstairs in a tall Catholic church in the center of Legionovo, was startled by the sudden salvo of Soviet rocket launchers and quickly asked the adjutant beside him.

"Admiral, they seem to be... bombarding the battlefield northeast of Legionovo!"

"Northeast of Legionovo? Did our Tiger repel the Soviet T-34?" Model asked.

"It seems not yet..."

At this moment, a staff officer ran to Model and reported: "Admiral, General Steiner reported that the Rudel heavy armored group was inexorably hit by Soviet rocket launchers during the massed battle with Soviet T-34 tanks. Differential coverage!”

"No difference!?" Model was stunned again and again.

Indiscriminate coverage is to use rocket launchers to cover German tanks and Soviet tanks when they are fighting, regardless of whether they are German tanks or Soviet tanks, killing them all together! This is too cruel!

"Do you know the damage?" Model asked quickly.

"It's still being counted," the staff officer replied.

After hearing the news, Model could no longer sit still. Although the Tiger and Panther tanks had many problems, Guderian did not like them very much. But they are the patron saints of Warsaw, and even losing one of them is heartbreaking.

Thinking of this, Model quickly went downstairs, got into his armored command vehicle and arrived at Steiner's forward headquarters. When he arrived, Steiner was giving orders for a full-scale counterattack.

"All tank companies and assault gun companies must participate and push as far as possible to Wowomin!"

"Send power to the Eastern Air Force Command and apply for large-scale air support. Request to obtain air superiority over the battlefield northeast of Warsaw tomorrow morning, and at the same time launch suppressive air strikes on transportation hubs, troop assembly areas, and artillery positions behind enemy lines!"

"Order three smoke launcher regiments to launch a salvo immediately and cover the Soviet starting position with rocket launchers!"

As soon as his order was given, he saw most of Model walking in.

"Commander." Although Stanayin was on the same level as Model, they were both generals. But Model was the army commander and Steiner was just the division commander.

"How is the situation? Are the losses of the 501st and 505th Battalions significant?"

When Steiner heard Model's question, he quickly took a damage report he had just received from an adjutant, and then handed it to Model with both hands.

He said: "The losses of the Tiger tanks were not large. Only 5 vehicles were damaged, but they can be repaired. There are also 4 vehicles with mechanical failures. The remaining 46 vehicles can still be driven. 2 No. 3 assault guns were damaged. However, the party The Finnish Guards Battalion suffered a lot of losses when it was attacked by rocket artillery. Now it has 161 dead and 58 seriously injured. However, the Soviets' losses must be more serious, and the casualties should be around 1,000!"

Rocket launchers pose little threat to heavy and medium tanks, but they are very brutal weapons to infantry. All infantry within its strike range, whether German or Soviet, suffered heavy losses.

However, Qiu Xin's call of "shoot at me" before he died (he was not killed by a rocket launcher, but by the 88mm cannon of a Tiger tank) still had an effect. After being bombarded blindly by rocket launchers, Major Rudel, the commander of the Rudel Group, was a little confused, and the Finnish infantry also suffered heavy losses, so he did not immediately order a pursuit. This decision allowed the remnants of the Soviet 1st Tank Brigade to evacuate the battlefield, preserving some strength.

However, Major General Sokarov, commander of the 16th Mechanized Army, and Major General Korobkov, commander of the 4th Army, still have a feeling of impending disaster.

Because the glorious 1st Tank Brigade not only suffered heavy losses, but also had a brigade commander who "shoot at me".

Now the 1st Tank Brigade will definitely have to continue its glory. There is no doubt that Qiu Xin is a loyal communist fighter and a martyr of the world revolution, and he does not need to be responsible for today's defeat.

So who will be the sinner who single-handedly caused the heavy casualties of the 1st Tank Brigade and the sacrifice of Comrade Qiu Xin?

Major General Korobkov, who was deploying defenses in Wovomin, believed that Sokarov was a sinner and should be reformed through labor.

At this time, Sokarov was fighting to be able to go to Siberia for labor reform. For him now, reform through labor is no longer a nightmare but an ideal that needs to be worked hard for. Because the rearguard of the 16th Mechanized Corps led by him was about to be completely annihilated by the pursuing Germans.

When the time comes, he will either be captured in disgrace - this is betrayal of the motherland!

Either make a heroic sacrifice - that is a revolutionary martyr!

Sokarov didn't want to betray his motherland, but he was reluctant to die, so he had made up his mind to either go to Siberia to be reformed, or to die in Poland... If he really couldn't break out, he would commit suicide with a pistol.

"Comrades! Now is the time for us to accept the test. For the cause of human liberation and for the glory of the Soviet motherland, no one is allowed to take a step back!"

"Retreating is a betrayal of the Soviet motherland and a betrayal of the world revolution! Comrades, take up your weapons and continue to fight against the brutal imperialism!"

Just when Sokalov made up his mind, the voice of Political Commissar Fegulov suddenly rang in his ears.

He looked over and saw Fegulov standing on a damaged T-34 tank with a tin trumpet, speaking encouraging words to a group of empty-handed infantrymen who had just retreated from the front line.

Those infantrymen were motorized infantrymen of the 16th Mechanized Army. After the 46th Tank Brigade of the 16th Mechanized Army and the 1st Tank Brigade temporarily assigned to the 16th Mechanized Army were defeated by the German armored group, Sokalov could only lead more than 3,000 infantrymen in person to save his mechanized army. But how could these infantrymen stop the tracks of German tanks? After barely resisting for thirty or forty minutes, they all retreated. But before they could retreat much, they were blocked by more than a dozen cadres from the Political Department of the Army led by Political Commissar Fegulov.

Yes, there were only a dozen political cadres holding pistols, and the machine gun supervision team did not exist. It was 1942, and it was only a few years before the Great Purge. The prestige of political commissars and political cadres was high. With just one word, they could send people to Siberia for labor reform, and with just one word, they could make people join the party and live a happy life from then on.

"Comrade Political Commissar, it's dangerous here, you should retreat first!" Sokalov ran to the wreckage of the T-34 tank where Figulov was standing with a few staff officers, "The German tanks will be coming up soon!"

"Comrade Army Commander, you should retreat first!" Figulov jumped off the car, but he did not agree to escape. He was not stupid. Now that the Army Commander did not run away, how could he, the political commissar, run away first? What if Comrade Army Commander died gloriously, and he, the political commissar, would be responsible for the defeat! At that time, the political commissar would not be able to do anything, and he would have to go to jail.

"I am the Army Commander, and I have the responsibility to cover everyone and leave first." How dare Sokalov leave. Now that the war has come to this, if the political commissar does not withdraw and the army commander runs away first, it will not be a matter of going to Siberia for a few years of reform, but will be subject to the highest security measures - that is, shooting and deportation, but usually shooting.

When the two were being humble, someone suddenly shouted: "Rockets! Hide quickly!"

Then Sokalov and Fegulov were thrown down by the people around them to avoid the wreckage of the T-34 tank.

As soon as the two lay down, they felt the ground shaking, and at the same time, a strange "whoosh whoosh" sounded in their ears, and then there were continuous explosions! Almost in an instant, these Soviet soldiers who were congested on the road to Wowomin and on both sides of the road were submerged in a forest of smoke columns. The shrapnel representing death flew around, causing the Soviet infantry to scream and be swept down in a variety of strange ways. These are all 130mm large-caliber rockets, falling like raindrops, with an incredible density. The Soviet officers and soldiers who encountered this unprecedented and rapid attack had almost no time to turn around and were killed!

However, the rocket attack came and went quickly. Before everyone could react, the rocket attack was over.

Sokalov and Fegulov escaped because they hid next to a destroyed T-34 tank, but the two GCist fighters were also mortals, and now they were a little dizzy and had symptoms of shock. Sokalov regained some consciousness, and the sound of tank tracks rolling on the ground came from his buzzing ears.

Is it a Soviet tank? Sokalov thought vaguely that he would probably go to Siberia for labor reform, but his life should be saved. At this moment, he suddenly heard a conversation in German.

"So many bodies!"

"Maybe there are still some alive, let's look for them."

"I found a living person, he seems to be an officer, is this... a general?"

Sokalov felt someone dragging him, it is very likely that the Germans wanted to capture him! This is betrayal! He quickly reached for his pistol and wanted to shoot himself. But as soon as he moved his arm, someone twisted it hard. Then he heard the shouts of the political commissar of the army, Fegulov: "Long live the world revolution! Long live the Bolshevik Party! Long live the great leader Stalin... Bang!"