Iron Cross

Primakov, his face covered in gunpowder, stood in front of Baghramyan: "Report to the commander, I have completed the mission, the troops have rushed over, but... but the losses are a bit heavy."

"How heavy?"

"Unfortunately, most of the two rocket artillery battalions you gave me were destroyed by enemy artillery fire. In addition... a total of more than 5,000 comrades may have been lost... The artillery accuracy was not good in the dark, and some comrades were accidentally injured by our army's firepower." Primakov lowered his head, not daring to speak directly about the "indiscriminate attack".

In fact, someone had already informed Baghramyan of this matter. Political Commissar Major General Terekin privately expressed his dissatisfaction and asked Baghramyan to punish the daring commander, but was stopped by the latter: "Winning the battle is the most important thing, and the rest can be discussed later." Now seeing Primakov find such a "smart" excuse, and thinking about the fact that he did not rush to attack but first understood the enemy situation and prepared an overall plan, Baghramyan could not help but nod secretly: In such a severe situation, only a smart commander can survive. The pedantic and stupid Ivanov has already reported to meet Comrade Lenin in advance.

"How many people are left in the 9th Mechanized Army?"

"Maybe... there are probably more than 7,000."

"Good! Very good! You did a great job!" Baghramyan patted Primakov on the shoulder, "What's the big loss? The most important thing is to complete the mission! The remaining troops of the 9th Mechanized Army are all given to you. You can choose to appoint officers below the division commander and report to the political department of the group army. Go down now to reinforce. Your army will have to make great efforts in the Karachi offensive. If you fight well, I will report your contribution to the headquarters after the battle. In the future, you will have the opportunity to serve as the commander of the group army!"

Hearing this, Primakov, who was originally uneasy, suddenly opened his eyes wide, nodded heavily, and even his footsteps of leaving were much lighter.

While Primakov was attacking Highway 7, the troops of the Kirchner Armored Group were advancing rapidly to the northeast, preparing to attack the flank of the Tula defenders and test the depth of the Red Army's defense line south of Moscow. The first to lead was the 6th Armored Division that had completed the reorganization.

Kirchner's appointment was quite unfair. When the army was reduced and the division was expanded, he was already the commander of the armored army, while Erhard Rauss was only the commander of the 6th Armored Division. However, during a large number of personnel adjustments, Rauss seized the opportunity to become the commander of the army group, while he fell to become the commander of the division - one of the few armored division commanders in the Wehrmacht who held the rank of general.

Many people felt sorry for him, but he was at ease and did his job well. He neither expressed dissatisfaction with the General Staff or the Führer nor showed jealousy towards Rauss. Even when Rauss became his immediate superior, he still maintained a humble and respectful attitude and respected Rauss very much. This not only won the affirmation of Hoffman, but also won the favor of Zeitzler, the Chief of the Army General Staff - Kirchner's qualifications were older than his.

In the process of determining the first batch of armored divisions to be upgraded to reorganized divisions, the 6th Armored Division was not on the list. It was selected as a candidate because the 7th Armored Division was still fighting in Africa and had no time to participate. In order to compete for this candidate qualification, all parties tried their best, but in the end, the 6th Armored Division was listed first on the recommendation list submitted by Zeitzler. Not only that, Zeitzler also went to Berlin in person, and on the grounds that the 6th Armored Division had made outstanding contributions in the Dieppe anti-landing campaign (he personally commanded the campaign), he begged Hoffman to approve it, and Routh also went to Marshal Keitel many times to appeal. In the end, the 6th Armored Division caught the last train and became the first batch of reorganized troops.

Before departure, General Model, commander of the Central Army Group, talked to Kirchner again, hoping that he would seize the opportunity to perform well, because the Führer had considered forming a new armored army for the Eastern Army Group, and there were many candidates for the commander. He recommended Kirchner and said that Zeitzler also agreed to the recommendation, which surprised Kirchner and also inspired his fighting spirit.

He not only made detailed plans for the marching route, combat plan and possible encounters, but also personally checked the equipment and supply of each unit. Since it was a temporary armored group, he even met with officers at the division level one by one to familiarize himself with their characteristics and command style in order to maximize combat effectiveness. Among these officers, the one he trusted the most was Colonel Beck, the commander of the 11th Armored Regiment of the 6th Armored Division and the famous armored dentist.

Colonel Franz Beck was a dentist who participated in World War I. After retiring, he studied medicine and dentistry and became a doctor of dentistry in 1923. After the start of the war, he had been serving in the 6th Armored Division and participated in the Battle of Poland and the Battle of France. His military rank was promoted all the way. After the reorganization was completed, he officially served as the commander of the 11th Armored Regiment with the rank of colonel.

Now, the armored dentist is thinking about the next combat strategy in the shaking No. 4 tank command vehicle. Some time ago, their division completed the reorganization in France and their strength is at its peak. For him, the Britannia coast washed by the rumbling Atlantic waves, the Verdun grassland reflecting the autumn sun, the golden church and the towering castle have become the past. Now it is time to think about iron and blood, life and killing.

"Sir, we are about to enter the Soviet defense line." While thinking, the report of the reconnaissance unit suddenly came from the headset.

"Is there anything unusual?"

"No abnormality, the Soviet position is silent, but I think they have noticed our arrival."

"Keep moving forward, don't fire without authorization, and wait for orders." The armored dentist looked at the dark surroundings and suddenly issued a shockingly bold order.

The commander of the reconnaissance company was obviously hesitant, but he still agreed to comply.

More than ten minutes later, Baker saw the scene in his dream under the light of the rising moon: many companies of soldiers stood up on the heavily defended positions of the Soviet army, picked up their weapons, and quietly They stared at the suspicious column of tanks heading towards them, but no one fired or made any appearance of firing.

What's going on?

Baker himself was stunned. At this moment, his palms were tense and full of sweat. He looked at his location. This was on a highway bridge. It could easily be blocked by the enemy in the event of a firefight. It was not suitable for tank operations. place.

Although it was very risky, he still lowered his voice and said: "Attention everyone, don't open fire yet!"

The first tank arrived on the other side, followed by the second, third, and fourth... At this time, the Soviet army finally discovered that something was wrong: not only were there too many tanks, but some of them were extremely large. It looks too much like a Russian tank - it's a Tiger mixed in with the No. 4 tank. The armored dentist didn't know that he had picked up a huge advantage - his superiors informed the Red Army troops stationed here that troops would pass by and change defenses tonight. The ignorant defenders actually regarded the German troops as their own. By the time they wake up, it's too late.

"Password..."

"beat!"

"Da da da!"

"Tu tu tu tu!"

The pitch-black bridgehead suddenly erupted into intense fire. Most of it was the sound of machine guns and artillery fire from German tanks. A small part was the Soviet counterattack and the desperate struggle of anti-tank guns. I heard fire from the front and armored grenades from behind. The soldiers quickly moved forward to attack and assisted the tank troops in seizing the bridge. After 30 minutes of fierce fighting, the entire bridge was completely captured and the road to Tula was opened.

In the early morning of June 4, Vasilevsky, who was in charge of the central government, received three pieces of bad news in a row:

The first bad news came from the direction of Tula. The German offensive troops reached a place only 35 kilometers away from Tula. On the front line of Ryazan, more than 40,000 people were lost - many people were not wiped out, but scattered in the dark;

The second bad news came from the direction of the central battlefield. Two German armored armies suddenly appeared and attacked the right wing of the central front. The Red Army, which had only 150,000 people, poor equipment and low training levels, could not stop more than 300,000 well-equipped elite German troops. Part of the position was broken through, and the remaining Red Army retreated towards Borisoglebsk, leaving mourning everywhere;

The third bad news came from the direction of Karachi. Although the Central Front launched a fierce attack on Karachi at all costs, Bagramyan launched the main attack with all three armies under his command. Two of the armies attacked the left and right wings respectively, killing the German infantry divisions on both wings. The army in the center attacked the Italian troops in Karachi. Although there were only the Ram Armored Division and one infantry division guarding Karachi, the Italians, who were heavily surrounded, actually fought to the death and firmly withstood the Red Army's attack.

"Asshole!" Vasilevsky was furious and shouted, "What is Bagramyan doing? He can't stop the Germans on the flanks and can't eat the Italians from the front. How can he command?"

Zhukov couldn't help but frowned. Although Bagramyan had a good relationship with him, the current situation could not be worse. Once Borisoglebsk was occupied by the German army, the Central Front Army's retreat would be It is completely cut off, even if Karachi can be captured by then, it will not help.

“What adjustments has he made to the wings?”

"Commander Bagramyan sent the reserve army up, hoping to withstand the Germans on the Borisoglebsk front line, but he also said that the situation was not optimistic and hoped that Commander Vatutin would send strong troops to cover it. His retreat." The confidential staff officer next to him handed the telegram to Zhukov, "He also asked the base camp to send him another air force group."

"Let Vatutin cover him? He can tell!" Vasilevsky became even more angry. "If the Southwest Front moves, wouldn't it give Manstein an opportunity to take advantage of it? What about Stalingrad's flank cover?" "