Chapter 2213 Collapse (Part 1)

Chapter 2218 Collapse (Part 1)

In fact, there is another very important factor that Vatutin boldly allowed Malashenko to advance deep into the territory.

First of all, the German army had more troops available before the Battle of East Prussia than in the existing history. Once they had more troops, they would inevitably have other ideas.

For example, some people who were micro-managing in Berlin might think, "Hey! I still have a million soldiers, and the Russians on the other side only have about a million. The difference is not big. My German soldiers are so elite, one against three Russians is not too much, right? Well, this is obviously my advantage."

Under the command of this upper brain, the lower-level German front-line troops concentrated a large number of troops on the front line to confront the Red Army. There is nothing much to say about the confrontation. The problem is that he also intends to regain the strategic initiative through a strategic counterattack and turn the entire strategic situation from defense to offense.

Whether this fight can succeed or not is not discussed for the moment. First of all, you have to gather as many troops as possible to try to win this battle. Under the premise that the overall force is not small, but the numbers are still not as good as those of the Red Army on the opposite side, this forces the German army to pull almost all the main combat troops to the front line and prepare to participate in the war.

In theory, it is right to do so.

You want to turn the tide in adversity and bet big to turn defeat into victory. At this time, if you are still hesitant and afraid of failure and dare not invest decisive forces, and you are already inferior to others in momentum and preparation before the battle. Then, in theory, you basically don’t need to fight this battle. There is no difference between fighting and not fighting. If you are afraid to fight and dare not invest, you will give the opponent a free victory and you will not win at all.

So even if there is a problem with the strategic order issued by the top leadership, there is still no problem with the military deployment made by the German senior command. Following the highest strategic order issued by the top leaders, they made military deployments with sufficient determination, and put all the decisive forces at hand into the front line in one breath to prepare for the war, so as to maximize the odds of winning.

But in many cases, the correct deployment and firm determination at the military level are often not enough to make up for the huge mistakes made by the top leaders in strategic orders.

It's like you didn't take the right direction in the first step. It's a road without light that leads to a dark dead end. How can you walk out of a sunny road? As the saying goes, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam will be crooked. If the upper decision is not made well, no matter how the people below play, it is often useless. The German army in the entire East Prussian theater is facing this situation.

A large number of elite field main forces gathered on the front line, leaving the permanent defense fortifications and strong cities that have been operated for many years in East Prussia, the ancestral "dragon's rise place", unguarded, to play a strategic decisive battle with the Red Army and go out of the city to fight field battles.

To put it bluntly, Vatutin even felt privately that he should thank the Germans, who were his enemies, for issuing this supreme strategic decisive battle order. Those who could issue this order were truly "anti-fascist heroes" and "anti-German heroes".

The reason for this is very simple. This order not only saved the Red Army from a lot of trouble in siege operations, but also reduced the overall casualties of the Red Army, which were originally expected to be very high.

At this point in the 44th year of the war, some things are actually very obvious.

You three Germans insisted on fighting street battles and solid position defense battles by defending the city and putting more than 200,000 troops than in the existing history into the front line defense. To be honest, it was really a headache for the Red Army.

Even if the total force and technical weapons were superior, and the Red Army Air Force, which was already overwhelming in strength, was assisted, it would still be enough to give people a headache to gnaw on East Prussia, the super turtle shell that had been managed by the Germans for so long, and of course it was quite time-consuming and laborious.

But if you Germans now abandon the city and the defensive positions and fight a strategic decisive battle with the heavy troops, the situation will be completely different.

Apart from other things, the large number of manpower losses and casualties in the frontal field battle alone cannot be compensated by the German army cluster in East Prussia.

After the land and water links with the rear of Germany have been completely cut off by the Red Army and surrounded, the German army cluster in East Prussia can only rely on itself no matter what it does, and all the consequences of winning or losing must be borne by itself, and don't expect to get any support.

You say that if you really win, it's okay. No matter how big the losses are, as long as the Red Army is forced back and the encirclement is lifted, it will not be in vain. In the future, you can also revitalize the entire strategic situation and get some reinforcements. These are not a problem.

But if you Germans can't win, what kind of situation will it be?

To put it simply, even those fortified cities and permanent fortifications that had been carefully prepared and operated for many years may not have enough troops to defend, let alone strengthen the defense.

The German army clusters in front were cut into pieces, and some large and some small were surrounded by the Red Army and could not move. They lost the ability to continue the attack, let alone retreat to the rear to regroup. At the same time, the solid defense lines in the rear that could have played a big role became empty decorations, waiting for the Red Army to swagger over and occupy them.

This is not a fantasy or a nonsense, but a real battlefield situation that is very likely to happen in the near future.

You can even say that the current East Prussian German army cluster is not far from such final destruction. Regardless of whether the German army itself is aware of this situation, objective facts are always happening and ongoing regardless of people's subjective will. The first death knell for it was the leader division led by Malashenko.

The 41st Armored Corps was surrounded and could not move. After losing its strategic mobility, it was impossible to retreat and block the leader division's interlaced and roundabout actions. This is the first.

The second is the German armored divisions that were singled out in the surrounding fronts and war zones. Even if there are really idiots who are ignoring the fire in the front yard to intercept and block the leader division. To be honest, can these independent armored divisions sent by you, San Dezi, to intercept the leader division really beat Malashenko, the notorious "Iron Butcher"?

You can't even beat them, so what the hell are you talking about retreating and intercepting?

This is not called putting out a fire in the rear, this is called a meat bun fighting an old horse and never coming back. It is simply giving meat to the leader's division to add to the battle record. If there really is a medal for "Hero of the Anti-German War", it would be a pity not to give it to you, San Dezi, and give it to yourself.