Iron Cross

"Report, the 50th Army is under fierce attack by the enemy!"

"Report the enemy's strength and number quickly..."

"The 3rd Army is also under fierce attack!"

"Please ask Comrade Batov to explain the situation immediately..."

Early in the morning, General Leiter, commander of the Bryansk Front, felt overwhelmed. A bunch of bad news rushed to him. The rumbling artillery and the wanton flying of German bombers all revealed that a large-scale battle had begun. Any experienced commander could judge that an attack of this scale was definitely not a feint or a diversionary attack. But God, why is it me? Didn't the headquarters report say that the Germans were going to attack Moscow or Stalingrad? What exactly did they want to do by fighting Tambov?

He felt aggrieved that the Bryansk Front became the primary target of the German army without warning. But he never expected that the reason why the front was attacked first was because of his name.

When selecting the offensive target, the main attack direction was determined by the Army General Staff according to the intention of the Führer's plan, but the specific combat target was personally reviewed by Hoffman. Of the two available targets for attack, the Central Front and the Bryansk Front, he let the former go and chose the latter directly.

In addition to various military reasons, the reason Hoffman did not say was the commander's name: in his opinion, the commander of the Central Front, Baghramyan, was much more famous than Leyter. Combining the status of the two after the war and their performance in the war, he believed that the former's command ability was obviously better than the latter, so he did not hesitate to choose the Bryansk Front as the priority target.

After the target of the previous Spring Awakening Campaign was determined, Hoffman was also happy to see Manstein's big move against the Caucasus Front aimed at Chulenev. In his mind, at least Rokossovsky, Vatutin and Yeremenko were better known than Chulenev, and the result also confirmed this. Poor Chulenev was kicked out of the command sequence because of the failure of the war.

Although he wanted to find out the specific situation on the front line, under the fierce artillery and bombing combined attack, Leyter was unable to make an effective judgment at all. He could not even contact individual armies or divisions. In the end, he could only hastily integrate the enemy situation reported by the front line and report it to the General Staff. In his eyes, he had eliminated the most absurd and obviously exaggerated intelligence.

Vasilevsky and Zhukov also felt surprised by the news that the Tambov direction encountered a fierce attack by the enemy. What made them even more angry was the enemy situation reported by the Bryansk Front.

"Listen... The enemy's 4th Panzer Army is the main force on the northern wing of Tambov, with about 200,000 troops and more than 1,000 tanks, half of which are Tiger tanks... The southern wing is the 4th Panzer Army of the Hoth Group, with about 160,000-180,000 troops, nearly 1,000 tanks, at least 300-400 Tiger tanks..." Vasilevsky angrily threw the telegram on the table and said to Zhukov, "According to this battle report, the enemy has 2,000 tanks and nearly 1,000 Tiger tanks at once. How exaggerated is this? As far as I know, the Germans have at most 1,000 Tiger tanks on the Eastern Front. Did they transfer all of them to the troops attacking the Bryansk Front? Who does he think he is? Does he think Tambov is a core place?" Zhukov was also amused. If this force was used to attack Moscow or Stalingrad, he thought it was normal, but if Tambov was facing such a force, it would be incredible. However, he scanned the battle report again with great grace, and said slowly as he read: "The frontline soldiers may indeed make misjudgments in panic, and commanders at all levels may not be able to find out the actual situation due to various factors. Comrade Leyter must have been attacked fiercely, but whether there are so many troops and technical weapons is questionable. Of course, he is also anxious..."

"Let them find out the situation quickly." Vasilevsky called the staff and gave an order in a bad tone, "Tell Comrade Leyter that even if the Germans really have 2,000 tanks, he has almost 800 tanks in his hands. It's not that he can't hold on all of a sudden and ask for reinforcements immediately, right?"

"What exactly do the Germans want to do?" After the explanation, Vasilevsky thought hard in front of the map, "Didn't the intelligence say that they would attack the Tula line the day after tomorrow? Why is the attack time advanced? Is this a feint or a real move? Even if they get what they want, Even if they occupied Tambov, it would not have a major change in the current situation and the front line. What exactly do they want to do next? "

Zhukov was puzzled, but thinking of the high exchange ratio tactics, he asked hesitantly: "Could the Germans' target be the Bryansk Front itself?"

"Sending 2,000 planes and 2,000 tanks just to fight the more than 500,000 people in Bryansk?" Vasilevsky shook his head and said, "Who planned this battle? I don't believe it, the pattern is too small! Summer is very precious to the Germans. Their summer offensive last year was very fierce!"

Zhukov couldn't say it, and finally sighed: "Let Comrade Baghramyan prepare to reinforce the Bryansk Front. Judging from Comrade Leyter's report, the frontline situation seems not ideal, and targeted adjustments may be required."

"Wait for another two days. If there is no unusual movement or other situation in the Orel direction after two days, I will go to Tambov with you..."

Vasilevsky and Zhukov never expected that although the situation reported by Leitel was not the result of real observations, the results were inaccurate. Most of the situations were actually true, except that the number of Tigers was slightly exaggerated.

Outflanking Tambov from the northern flank was the 2nd Armored Army of Army Group Center, with the 3rd, 5th, 8th, and 17th Armored Divisions. Attacking from the southern flank was the 4th Armored Army of the Hoth Group, with the SS The Skeleton Armored Division and the 14th, 18th, and 22nd Armored Divisions are also 4 armored divisions.

After readjustment and reorganization during the spring break, each armored group army has achieved standardized equipment: the backbone force is usually 4 armored divisions, 2 panzergrenadier divisions, 3 infantry divisions and 1 headquarters guard division, and then They are the attached independent artillery headquarters, air force anti-aircraft artillery units, independent heavy armor battalions (one for each armored group army, and two for each armored group), and finally the group army headquarters and logistics support personnel. Their total strength exceeds 200,000, which can be used on the front line. The fighting force was no less than 170,000.

The calculation of the number of tanks needs to be differentiated. If we only refer to tanks in a narrow sense, each group army can have up to 1,558 tanks (330 tanks in armored divisions, 92 tanks in armored grenadier divisions, and 54 tanks in attached independent heavy armor battalions). Because tank production is still insufficient and additional personnel training will take time, most armored divisions have not completed reorganization and have only made up for most of the gaps in the original establishment. Therefore, the total number of tanks in each group army is currently only a little over 1,000.

If the number of tank destroyers currently owned is also included, the number will not be 1,000 but 1,500 or even 1,600. Not only the armored divisions and armored grenadier divisions have tank destroyer battalions, but the infantry divisions are also equipped with anti-tank destroyer battalions. During the attack , there are all kinds of things that look like "tanks" that add up to more than 1,000, but the number of Tiger tanks is not that many. Generally, a single armored army has Tigers in the early 200s. Rommel's army has the most Tiger tanks, but It’s also more than 300 but not 500.

Because the Tiger tanks put too much psychological pressure on the Red Army, and many recruits had no discerning ability, they would call them Tigers whenever they encountered a German tank or even a tank destroyer...

While the two were discussing, Stalin's phone call suddenly came in unexpectedly.

"Comrade Leytel reported that the German army launched a fierce attack on his defense area? The front line suffered heavy losses?"

"Yes! We are verifying the battle situation and speculating on the enemy's next action plan." Vasilevsky's brows couldn't help but wrinkled. He was another front commander who "reached the heavens to listen".

"Is this a signal for a full-scale enemy attack?" The voice on the phone was still unhurried.

"It's very possible, but for now we still have to look at the situation of the enemy forces in the direction of Orel."

"You still think it's a feint?"

Vasilevsky did not dare to say this, and only said: "It is impossible to judge at the moment. Even according to Comrade Letel's report, the enemy's troops committed to the attack are only 350,000 - I think this number may be too exaggerated."

"Then what kind of troops do you plan to send to strengthen the defense line near Tambov?"

Vasilevsky was just about to say to ask Comrade Leuter to hold on to the spot, but Zhukov had already snatched the microphone and said loudly: "Report to the General Secretary that I have asked Comrade Bagramyan's Central Front Army to prepare for reinforcements. As for I personally plan to go to the front line to take direct command tomorrow. Of course, I will ask the Bryansk Front troops to hold on to their positions and not to mess up their positions."

"Very good. I'm relieved to hear that you have made arrangements. I will warn Comrade Leutil not to mess up. The situation is not as bad as he said..." The voice on the phone pondered for a moment, "You need me. What are we coordinating for you?”

"There are not enough aircraft on the front line and we have lost air superiority. I want to transfer some fighter units from here in Moscow."

There was silence on the phone for a long time, and then he said after half a minute: "You can dispatch two fighter divisions, but once the situation improves, they should return quickly."

Putting down the microphone, Vasilevsky had a wry smile on his face: Comrade Stalin just said at the meeting yesterday that he would decentralize power and trust front-line commanders. Today he couldn't help but call. Although his tone was very euphemistic, his meaning was obvious.

Zhukov comforted his old partner: "At least the General Secretary still trusts us. I decided to go to Tambov in the afternoon and go with the two fighter divisions!"