Chapter 2177: Forward Assault

Chapter 2182 Attack forward

It was already late at night after dinner. Malashenko was discussing the combat situation with Lavrinenko, while Political Commissar Petrov had other things to do.

"Today's battle went very smoothly. We destroyed the key junction between the German 26th Army and the 41st Armored Army, and swallowed alive a main armored division of the 41st Armored Army, plus some auxiliary personnel transferred from the 26th Army. troops."

"The preliminary interrogation report combined with the intelligence we have and the latest aerial reconnaissance shows that after we complete today's battle, there are no organized German groups from our current position to the direction of Insterburg."

"Except for the German 26th Army on the northern front, which is strategically parallel to ours, and the 41st Armored Army on the southern front, we have now become a salient and have cut off the direct land connection between these two groups of fascists. Unless They retreated to reestablish their defenses, otherwise they would not be able to cross us to establish land contact."

This strategic counterattack by the Germans is quite desperate. Almost all the mobile forces that can be mobilized are put on the front line, trying to gather the most powerful offensive energy in a local direction, achieve decisive results, and then reverse the situation. situation.

But the consequences of doing so are naturally very tragic, and there must be a price for over-concentration of troops.

Once the forward cluster of German troops on the front line is defeated and the battle zone is penetrated, the weakness of the rear defense, which is empty and has no troops in the large territory, will be immediately exposed.

If you think about it carefully, you will realize that this is actually a matter of course. When the total number of your troops is fixed, it would be strange to hoard such a large force for the strategic attack on the front line for a decisive battle if the rear defense is not empty. Although the entire besieged East Prussian cluster has a lot of troops, it is far from being able to fill the rear and front lines with troops at the same time.

"Well, the fight was indeed very good, and even exceeded the preset tactical goal. Killing a German's main armored division in one day with consecutive killings, plus some miscellaneous people, nearly 20,000 people, and the Fache was able to kill those Si Zai was so frightened that he called his mother."

After all, Malashenko was indeed very satisfied.

The fully mechanized combined force of various arms bursts out with powerful combat energy. In addition, the Germans are still using old-fashioned troop structures and tactics to deal with the brand-new leader divisions whose strength has skyrocketed. It is not surprising that such a result can be achieved. .

This also allowed Malashenko, who had the intention of "testing the actual combat power limit of the troops" in this battle, to basically figure out what the current maximum single-day combat capability of the leadership division is.

To defeat a strengthened main armored division of the National Defense Forces head-on in just one day is already the limit of the leader division's full strength. This can only be achieved if the 267th Infantry Division also adds in the important infantry support.

If there were more Germans participating in the war, for example, one or two more regiments, it would be very difficult for Malashenko to kill them in one day.

Unless the enemy has no strong will to fight and surrenders voluntarily when seeing no hope of victory, otherwise if the Germans really intend to fight to the death, they will have to stop fighting all night and then continue fighting at dawn the next day, so as not to be dazzled by the night battle and allow the enemy to take advantage of the loopholes. Slip away.

As for the current extreme combat effectiveness that has been tested so far, if Malashenko feels that it is not strong enough and is not satisfied, then it is indeed a bit too Versailles.

To be fair, a Red Army tank division plus an infantry division could defeat a strengthened main armored division of the Wehrmacht in one day, completely wiping out the enemy's establishment, and either killing them directly or capturing them alive to surrender.

Such a battle is something that most Red Army division commanders would not dare to even think about, let alone do. However, Malashenko and the leading division not only dare to think about it, but also dare to do it, and can actually do it.

Thinking of this, Malashenko, who still had a smile on his face, looked at the map in front of him and continued to speak.

"Now it depends on how to fight next. The protrusion has been formed and the fire has burned the Germans' butts. It is the fascists who are anxious and uncomfortable, not us."

"I don't think the two military-level Germans in the north and south have the ability to withstand the Red Army's strategic offensive head-on, and then divide their forces to attack from the north and the south to remove our salient. Although our advance distance is not deep, today it is only Annihilating all the enemies in front of them is equivalent to taking over their defense areas and positions, and the actual distance to advance is only about eight kilometers. "

"But the eight kilometers of forward protrusion is enough to make the Germans feel very uncomfortable. The Germans in the north are always worried about being suddenly stabbed in the soles, and the Germans in the south are worried about being hit in the head. If the Red Army invests more troops in the salient to expand With the subsequent results, we can use this as a starting point for the attack to continue to detour behind the two corps-level German units. The available tactical options are quite diverse, and the tactical initiative is in our hands, provided that these Germans do not give up their current situation. In terms of positions and defense zones.”

"If they are willing to retreat, that's another matter. But from a side perspective, this can be regarded as another important victory: it means that it only took one day to disintegrate the enemy's offensive in the current direction, forcing them to retreat. So. In any case, today’s battle was fought very well both tactically and strategically, and I guess Comrade Commander must be very happy now.”

The order Vatutin gave to Malashenko was just to try a local counterattack. It did not require how many enemies to be annihilated or what kind of results must be achieved, but at least it was to disrupt the enemy's offensive and deployment rhythm, forcing the Germans to lose their tactical initiative and then be led by the Red Army. To put it in a more distant way, it was to make advance preparations for tomorrow's strategic offensive that was actually planned.

However, Malashenko, who always had a lot of autonomy, achieved such an unexpected result in accordance with the higher difficulty tactical goals set by himself under the premise of following Vatutin's major order.

This can no longer be regarded as a simple advance preparation for tomorrow's strategic offensive, but a new optional high-quality breakthrough for tomorrow's strategic offensive, an offensive springboard that can continue to expand the results and then surround the Germans' two army-level units in the north and south.

Malashenko, who has not received the next step of the combat order, does not know what Vatutin will do specifically.

But if you ask Comrade Lao Ma himself, he would definitely prefer to fight a roundabout encirclement battle against the two German army-level units in the north and south, using the current salient as a springboard. After all, it is a good thing to draw an encirclement and cut off the Germans' rear line.

And this requires Vatutin to send more troops into the salient to expand the subsequent results. The leader division alone cannot draw such a large encirclement. After the leader division leaves, this unmanned salient will become meaningless.