The Rise of the Third Reich

"14 group armies, 48 ​​infantry corps, mechanized corps or tank corps, with a total strength of more than 1.5 million (mechanized corps/tank corps are relatively small), more than 6,000 tanks/self-propelled artillery of various types invested, and more than 6,000 artillery pieces of various types. 15,000 doors…”

General Pavlov, commander of the Soviet Western Front, looked at the densely packed troop marks and numbers on a military map that covered half of the wall. He smiled and said to Deputy Chief of General Staff Vasilevsky: "How can we have such a powerful force?" Maybe we can’t conquer a small Warsaw? Comrade Vasilevskiy, just wait for the good news.”

"But Germany is not weak, as evidenced by the Legionovo-Wovomin battle, so the General Staff still hopes that the Western Front can proceed with caution." Vasilevsky, deputy chief of the general staff and chief of operations of the Red Army, wrinkled He frowned, he came to Minsk as a representative of the Supreme Command to assist in the command.

This means that Stalin does not believe in General Pavlov's military ability. This is not good news for Pavlov!

Moreover, Stalin may have doubted whether the Western Front could capture Warsaw. Vasilevskiy knew that after the Legionovo-Wovomin battle, Chief of General Staff Zhukov poured cold water on Stalin more than once, pointing out that the Western Front was likely to be unable to undertake the task of capturing Warsaw, but Stalin did not do so. express any opinions.

In addition, Zhukov further proposed that when the Western Front was unable to capture Warsaw, it should promptly switch to defense in an effort to prolong the war between the Soviet Union and Germany, and at the same time increase the intensity of strategic bombing. Strive to first use bombing to weaken Germany's war potential, and then slowly drag it down...

"There is no problem. The Western Front will definitely capture the city of Warsaw!" Pavlov's tone was extremely firm.

As the commander of the Western Front, General Pavlov was also a well-informed person. How could he not know that he might lose Stalin's trust?

For a front army commander, losing the trust of Comrade Stalin is not a good thing, and he may be ruined!

Moreover, once Pavlov admitted that he was unable to capture Warsaw, it was tantamount to declaring that the "Thunderstorm Plan" had completely failed. This "Thunderstorm Plan" was led by Pavlov.

Comrade Stalin was not a great leader who could tolerate losers...

“The attack will never fail!” he said to Vasilevsky. “The casualties may be relatively large, and the process of capturing Warsaw may be very difficult. But the final victory will definitely belong to the heroic Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.

In fact, what the failure of the Legionovo-Wovomin campaign exposed was not the overall shortcomings of the Red Army. Rather, there are shortcomings in certain aspects, such as the main guns of the T-34 tanks and KV-1 tanks being too weak. Another example is that the air combat capabilities of Yak-1 and MiG-3 fighter jets are not ideal. However, these two shortcomings have now been compensated. The Supreme Command has given us many independent artillery battalions equipped with ZIS-2 anti-tank guns. The Western Front Air Force has also received assistance from American internationalist fighters, with 20 squadrons of P-51 aircraft (some of them are fighter squadrons used to escort B-17 bombers to blow up oil fields in the Middle East, and some are from Britain and Iceland flew to the Soviet Union), which was enough to provide air cover. "

Pavlov paused and then said plausibly: "And protracted war also has advantages for Germany. Now neither France nor Italy has declared war on us, which shows that they are afraid of the Red Army and have doubts about the German Nazis. If we If they are blocked under the walls of Warsaw, then the concerns of Italy and France about the future of Germany's reaction will be resolved, and they will board Germany's tanks... This means that the reactionary camp led by Germany suddenly has a population of 100 million more people in the Soviet Union! The advantage will cease to exist.

Therefore, Comrade Vasilevsky, I suggest that the Supreme Command immediately approve the Warsaw campaign plan submitted by our Western Front! "

After listening to Pavlov's analysis, Huashalevsky also felt that it was very reasonable and very strategic. He thought for a while and nodded: "Okay, I will recommend that the Supreme Command approve the Western Front's campaign plan..."

…

"Yakov, how are you? It's been hard these days, right?"

Rokossovsky, who was returning from the army headquarters, got off a GAZ 61 car and immediately saw Yakov Dzhugashvii, who was supervising the artillery to mount a 57mm cannon on the T-34 tank. Captain Lee.

This eldest son of Comrade Stalin was a very hard-working and serious person, and he was not a playboy. He was completely different from his younger brother Vasily. In the ten days since the Legionovo-Wovomin battle, he has worked very seriously and devoted all his energy to the work of "mounting cannons on tanks" in accordance with the orders from above.

The so-called "tank-mounted cannon" work is actually a stopgap measure to make up for the lack of firepower of T-34 tanks and KV-1 tanks. It is to hang the ZIS-2 57mm anti-tank gun cannon on the back of the tank, and at the same time use a crawler tractor to pull up the 85mm anti-aircraft gun to follow. After encountering a group of German tanks, these three types of artillery can be quickly deployed to attack German tanks.

Although this style of play seems a bit stupid, it is still much better than using the F-34 76.2mm tank gun of the T-34 and KV-1. The lessons of the Legionovo-Wovomin battle were too profound. This kind of tank gun was simply incapable of defeating the Germans' latest No. 4 tank, let alone the two heavy tanks that appeared on the battlefield for the first time.

"Comrade Commander," Yakov Dzhugashvili quickly stopped what he was doing and stepped forward to give Rokossovsky a military salute. "Are you here to inspect the work of 'tank-mounted cannons'? Do you want comrades to demonstrate it to you?"

"I'm not here to inspect the work, but you might as well take a look." Rokossovsky waved his hands and smiled, then stood next to the T-34 tank with a cannon.

To be honest, this thing seems a bit twisted. A good tank has been replaced by an artillery tractor.

"The two artillery regiments of our 9th Mechanized Corps originally did not have ZIS-2 artillery."

Dzhugashvili said to Rokossovsky very carefully: "But now we have an independent anti-tank artillery battalion. This is a newly formed unit. The artillery and personnel are all transferred from the rear. It has 16 "ZIS-2 57mm anti-tank gun. In addition, each gun will be followed by a dedicated ammunition cart, which can be towed by tanks or horses."

The most ideal tool for towing weapons such as anti-tank guns is definitely a half-track armored vehicle with strong off-road capabilities. However, there is no such vehicle in the Soviet Red Army. The Soviets have been researching half-track vehicles for many years, and the product has been finalized (ZIS-42). However, due to the limited strength of their machinery and automobile industries, they are simply unable to do so now. Will be mass produced.

"After more than ten days of intensive training, this independent anti-tank artillery regiment is now able to cooperate with tank battalion operations." Yakov Dzhugashvili continued, "Although it is not very skilled yet, it can always go to the battlefield. "

While Dzhugashvili was speaking, a crew member of the ZIS-2 artillery was already very skilled in separating the cannon from the tank, and then dragged it aside to complete the deployment.

"It seems that the problem is not big anymore," Rokossovsky nodded with satisfaction, "Comrade Dzhugashvili, your work is very effective. If our 9th Mechanized Army can be the first to rush into Warsaw, you He was the number one contributor to the liberation of Warsaw.”

"The first one to rush into Warsaw?" Yakov was stunned for a moment, and then he knew what was going to happen. "Comrade Commander, the battle to liberate Warsaw is about to begin?"

"Yes." Rokossovsky lowered his voice, "Starting from the early morning of the day after tomorrow, our 9th Mechanized Army will begin an assault in the direction of Warsaw!"

"So fast?" Yakov looked a little surprised.

After the Battle of Legionovo-Wovomin, the Warsaw front seemed a little calm. Only the fierce fighting in the Warsaw Forest in the middle continued, and there was no action on the northern and southern fronts.

In other words, the originally planned pincer offensive now only has one pincer, and it is impossible to launch a pincer offensive at all. Yakov originally thought that he would launch a new offensive on the northern front first, wait for the northern cluster to occupy Legionovo, and then launch the northern, central and southern routes together. Unexpectedly, the Western Front Command would definitely launch an attack now.

Rokossovsky pulled Yakov into his car, and the two returned to the military headquarters together - Rokossovsky learned the news that the Battle of Warsaw was about to begin at the group army combat meeting this morning. At the 9th Mechanized Corps combat meeting tonight, he will also announce the news to the 9th Mechanized Corps and above (including the regiment commander) and the chief officers of various military departments, so he might as well tell Yakov first.

In the car, Rokossovsky said to Yakov excitedly: "This time, our South Road Group is responsible for the main attack. In addition to our 37th Group Army, the 13th Group Army and the 20th Group Army will also join. The cluster general The conductor will be Comrade Vlasov.

The North Route Cluster will serve as an auxiliary attack, with Comrade Kuznetsov (not Kuznetsov of the Navy, but a lieutenant general of the Army) in charge of the North Route, who will uniformly command the 3rd Army, 10th Army, and 11th Army. According to the plan, they would outflank Warsaw's retreat after capturing Legionovo.

The middle road is the main attack like our south road. Comrade Chuikov is under the unified command of four armies including the 9th Army, the 29th Army, the 43rd Army and the 50th Army to attack the front of Warsaw!

In addition, the 4th Group Army, 28th Group Army, 30th Group Army, and 31st Group Army will serve as the general reserve for the campaign. "

"Fourteen armies!" Yakov Dzhugashvili took a breath and looked a little excited, "The total strength should be more than 1 million, right? Now the Battle of Warsaw is certain to be won!"