Chapter 2212 The Will of the Famous General

Chapter 2217 The Will of the Famous General

The combat order that Vatutin gave to Malashenko was very simple: not to annihilate this group of German troops immediately, but to completely cut off the escape route of this group of German troops before the subsequent reinforcements arrived. Google Search Reading

There are two reasons for letting the Leader Division to perform this combat mission. One is that the Leader Division is the most forward-looking corps-level unit in the strategic position of the Third Belarusian Front and has complete independent combat capabilities. The more forward the starting point, the shorter the interception envelope can be. This is a well-understood mileage problem. It is most appropriate to let Malashenko's Leader Division perform it.

Another point is that the Leader Division has achieved a fully mechanized upgrade and adaptation. This is unique among the field troops of the same combat strength in the entire Red Army. It has extremely strong mechanized assault capabilities. Whether in terms of offensive energy or assault speed, it is incomparable with ordinary Red Army troops.

"The only way to defeat martial arts is to be fast" is indeed true. The fully mechanized strength of the Leader Division makes it more fierce and deadly than any Red Army field troops of the same organization, and it can efficiently and quickly slaughter any German fascists who dare to stand in its way. And the interception, encirclement and rear-end cutting missions that require very strict attack speed are completely professional forte for the Leader Division.

Combining the two and comprehensively analyzing, objectively speaking, if Vatutin did not assign this combat mission to Malashenko to execute, it would be a little bit of a problem in the deployment and execution of campaign and tactical tasks. Vatutin, who was born as a staff officer and was good at taking care of everything, obviously would not make such a low-level mistake.

In terms of theoretical practice and actual combat level, it is much higher than the commander of a German army group who was also born as a staff officer.

After such a combat mission was issued, Vatutin also emphasized one thing, that is, Malashenko did not need to put the main combat troops into the annihilation of the German army's manpower. It was not an easy task to completely eat up the remaining half of the German armored army. Even if the leader division was involved and other supporting troops were included, it would take at least three days to get it done.

It should be noted that this was no longer a tentative attack by the German army. They never expected to be ambushed and bitten back by the leader division, which caused great damage to their strength. It was not a one-sided massacre in which Malashenko could command the main vanguard of the division, take advantage of the residual power of the air strike, and take advantage of the German army's retreat and failure to deploy formation defense.

Once the German army realized that it was completely surrounded and trapped, the next battle would inevitably turn into a battle for positional strife between the Red Army's attack and the German defense. From yesterday to today, it is difficult for Malashenko to repeat the two tactical victories of ambushes and rapid mobile raids in front of the battlefield. After all, the Germans have retreated to their positions and will not come out. How can you play those tricky tactics?

There is indeed a possibility that the besieged German army will surrender to the Red Army after losing their fighting spirit and morale and realizing that they cannot escape, but objectively speaking, you cannot use this probabilistic event as the basis for your next campaign action plan and troop deployment.

What if the besieged German army does not surrender? What if they fight you to the death? Then will you have no work? Are you lame? The account is blocked for a month and the payment is deducted by more than 700?

To put it bluntly, this is to pin the key point of victory on the enemy's lameness and incompetence, and hand the initiative to the enemy instead of yourself. Once those Nazis fight to the death and resist to the end, the entire combat plan will be completely disrupted, or at least passively delayed, which is indeed a taboo for senior commanders.

Malashenko has always understood this truth. As a leader and a close friend of Comrade Ma, Vatutin certainly understands this, so he has a completely different combat plan, which allows the Leader Division to continue to fight where it should be, play a greater role, and firmly grasp the initiative in the hands of the Red Army.

The task of Malashenko and the Leader Division is limited to cutting off the German retreat, making the German stick escape plan bankrupt, and persisting until the left and right roads are advancing forward at the same time, but the attack speed is not as fast as the Leader Division, and it will take some time to arrive at the tactical node until the subsequent reinforcements deployed on the battlefield arrive.

Once the main force of the follow-up reinforcements of the front arrives, it is equivalent to the completion of the replacement of the Leader Division, and Malashenko has completed his task. He can transfer the combat missions and the entire combat area of ​​the Leader Division to friendly forces, and hand over the subsequent annihilation operations to friendly brother forces, and then withdraw to rest and replenish and continue to set off.

The next stage of the goal will be to target the hinterland of East Prussia, which is seriously depleted of troops in the rear due to the previous concentration of troops and attempts at strategic counterattacks. The Leader Division will seize more critical battle and tactical nodes, complete a larger penetration and encirclement of the main German army group on the entire front line, and then sound the death knell for the complete destruction of the main German army corps on the southeastern front of East Prussia.

To put it bluntly, pulling a quick encirclement and then eating up this main German armored army is just an appetizer that Vatutin designated for Malashenko.

Once the 41st Armored Corps is surrounded and loses its strategic mobility, there will be no German armored group of comparable strength in the combat area of ​​the Leader Division in the southeast of East Prussia, which has the ability to maneuver back in time and block the Leader Division from attacking and penetrating in depth.

In the nearby war zone, there are indeed several independent German armored divisions that are relatively complete and have certain strategic mobility capabilities. From the map alone, it seems that they have the ability to intercept and prevent Malashenko from breaking through to East Prussia.

But you can't just look at the deployment lines on the map, you have to look at it in combination with the actual battlefield situation.

These independent German armored divisions, not to mention that each of them has heavy combat tasks, basically play the leading role in various fronts and war zones. They can't cope with the frontal assault of the Red Army in their own defense zone, and they have to fight and retreat. They can't protect themselves when crossing the river. How can they get out of it and go all the way to fight with the leader division?

What? Are they really going to give up the entire southeastern front just to stop the leader division? Will they not defend other defense zones?

Not to mention that the German high-level officials would never dare to do this as long as they have no problem with their brains. Even if the German army really does this, it will be a great thing for Vatutin that "he can laugh in his dreams".

Without the support of the armored forces, the German front defense is nothing. All the German infantry and fortifications will be broken through one by one under the frontal attack of the Red Army Air Force, field heavy artillery, and the steel torrent. The speed of destruction is not the fastest, but faster.

This is also a great victory for the Red Army, but the way of victory was replaced by a breakthrough in the front battlefield from the rear of the leader division.

What changed is only the process, and the result remains unchanged. The final answer is the same.

So no matter how the German army responds to the next stage of the leader division's actions, Vatutin, as the commander of the front, is already full of confidence, victory is in hand, and he is determined to win. No matter how the Germans respond, Vatutin has a corresponding response plan. There is no need to say who has the strategic initiative, and this is the most vivid manifestation.

This time, Vatutin vowed to give the Germans a good lesson on their own territory, so that these Nazis know what the unstoppable Red Army steel torrent is.

??I drank too much last night, brothers, I didn't have time to ask for leave and didn't update, I just went to sleep, sorry.

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