Chapter 108 The Gate of Moscow (Part 1)

When Guderian, who had an inexplicable liking for classical artifacts, watched the sexton leave and began to command a small group of German soldiers as he wished, carefully moving these historic Russian classical artifacts onto several lightning Opel trucks specially prepared outside the church, the adjutant who had just left the church came hurriedly with a telegram paper that still smelled of ink in his hand.

"Sir, this is the latest battle situation summarized by the front-line divisions. You have to take a look immediately."

After hearing this, he immediately took the brand new telegram paper from his adjutant's hand. Standing under the church without saying a word, Guderian quickly read the full text at a rapid speed.

"How is the progress of the siege troops in the Smolensk city area?"

Hearing Guderian's sudden question, the young adjutant, who had long been accustomed to Guderian's unpredictable way of asking questions, immediately turned his brain.

"The siege operations of the 17th and 18th Armored Divisions are going smoothly. The Soviet troops that launched counterattacks in the direction of the Smolensk city have been repelled many times. Except for a few Soviet strong firepower points in the city that are still resisting, the entire Smolensk city can be said to have fallen into our hands, sir."

"That means that the 29th Motorized Infantry Division and their reinforced artillery units have completed the scheduled task of supporting the siege operations. In this case, it is acceptable for the 29th Motorized Infantry Division to be driven out of the position by the Russians."

After handing the telegram in his hand to the communicator beside him for safekeeping, Guderian thought for a while and spoke again after a moment, having already decided on his next move.

"Order the 10th Armored Division and the Imperial Division to hold Yelnya and its surrounding areas! The battle in the direction of Smolensk city has come to an end, which means that the area we actually control is now connected to the Yelnya salient."

"No matter what, Yelnya must not be lost! This is not only the end of the entire Smolensk Battle, but also our ticket to Moscow in the future! Tell that guy Hausser that now is the time to show his loyalty to the Führer and his personal command art! The stage of Yelnya has been provided to him, and I am waiting for his good news!"

Just as Guderian, who was strategizing on the front line, was preparing to use his most elite ace troops to defend Yelnya, a battleground for military strategists, Rokossovsky, who was far away in Yartsevo commanding the 16th Army of the Soviet Western Front to participate in the Smolensk Battle, also received a call from his superior, Marshal Timoshenko, the commander of the Western Front.

"Yes, I understand, Comrade Marshal. I repeat, Yelnya must not be lost! The gate to Moscow must be in the hands of our Red Army! The counterattack in the direction of Yelnya will soon begin, and the 16th Army will definitely cooperate with friendly forces to capture this key place!"

Just like the order Guderian gave to his elite troops, Marshal Timoshenko, the commander of the Soviet Western Front, who received Comrade Stalin's violent order from the rear Moscow, also began to mobilize troops and mobilized a huge force including four armies to prepare for another counterattack in the direction of Smolensk. The first strategic location that must be recovered is the important salient in the direction of the Smolensk theater - Yelnya.

As the salient of the Smolensk theater facing the entire Moscow direction, the important strategic value of Yelnya to the Soviet and German armies on both sides of the attack and defense is self-evident.

If the German army that has occupied this area successfully resists the subsequent counterattack of the Soviet army, the subsequent large forces of the entire German Army Group Center can use Yelnya as a strategic springboard after crossing the Dnieper River, and then launch the next offensive action towards Moscow.

On the contrary, if the Soviet army that launched a counterattack on the Smolensk front recaptured Yelnya, the subsequent large forces of the Soviet army that continued to reinforce from Moscow and the Far East could continue to pour into the Smolensk theater with this salient, and then stabilize the front line while launching subsequent battles around Yelnya as the center.

When the gray whirlwind and the crimson iron stream coincidentally focused their attention on this small city, the climax of the entire Smolensk battle, the Yelnya offensive and defensive battle, began.

After yesterday's brutal battle of positional attack and defense, Malashenko, who had a short rest for a night, continued to lead his First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion, which had just experienced a brutal baptism of fire, into another wave of offensive that the Soviet army was about to launch.

After yesterday's battle, the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion led by Malashenko lost a total of 8 T3476 medium tanks and 9 KV1 heavy tanks.

The 17 Soviet tanks that have been included in the loss list are all irreparable and completely lost. After a battlefield rescue and confirmation, the field maintenance company led by Captain Karamov towed 8 KV1 heavy tanks and 3 T34 medium tanks with different degrees of damage back to the camp for overnight repairs.

After a busy night of hammering, welding, repairing and cleaning blood stains, the 11 "zombie" tanks were basically restored to a usable state. Some crews who were drawn from various defeated troops quickly took over these revived tanks. In addition, the spare tanks in stock were drawn to fill the gap. With the support of the Soviet army's strong military-industrial blood transfusion capacity, Malashenko's 1st Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion was basically fully staffed just one night later.

With the golden sunrise rising slowly from below the horizon at dawn on July 23, another group of Soviet attack echelons, which had urgently mobilized troops overnight, had advanced to the outskirts of Yelnya and were ready.

The tug-of-war battles around Yelnya for many days had long made the German army on the defensive understand the basic offensive routines of the Soviet army. The fierce artillery bombardment accompanied by the rising sun was like a rooster crowing, day after day, and it was extremely punctual.

Just as the German troops deployed on the suburban defense line outside the city of Yelnya began to prepare for an opportunity to avoid the Soviet army's "timely bombardment" of a new day, a Soviet "secret weapon" that had just rolled off the production line from the rear direction of Moscow and delivered to the Rokossovsky Army was already assembled and ready to give a crazy surprise to the defending German army in front of them.