Chapter 25 In the Name of the Head of State

As the middle-aged man with the rank of SS group leader shouted loudly, a young man in the same dark and neat SS officer uniform immediately turned sideways and pushed open the wooden door of the office and rushed in.

"I just received a call from the front line, General Dietrich. The Soviets have begun to act! Countless heavy artillery is bombarding our outer defense positions and fortifications. The front-line defense forces have retreated to the second line of defense and the safe area in time. The current losses are not great!"

Hearing the report from his personal adjutant in front of him, the middle-aged SS man called General Dietrich breathed a sigh of relief.

"Very good, it seems that General Kleist's inference is correct! These Ivans with vodka in their heads have always advocated the supremacy of artilleryism. As long as we grasp this point, I think they should not be difficult to deal with."

With his hands behind his back, he paced back and forth in the office that was still slightly shaking, as if thinking about something. After a moment, Dietrich, who seemed to have a sudden flash of inspiration in his mind, immediately turned around and spoke immediately.

"Alfred, go and tell the regiments on the front-line defense positions by phone. Tell them that once the shelling stops, Ivan and his men will go crazy. Aerial reconnaissance shows that Ivan has mobilized five mechanized armies with more than 2,000 tanks to eat us up!"

"These Soviets are superior to us in terms of local troop numbers and equipment quality, so we must not take it lightly! Without my order, no troops are allowed to leave their positions and launch counterattacks without authorization. Do you understand?!"

After hearing these harsh words from his direct superior, the young adjutant, who knew what he should do now, immediately raised his hand and waved.

"Yes, I understand, General. I will faithfully carry out your will and ensure that it is implemented truthfully!"

Looking at the hurried back of his adjutant trotting out, Dietrich, with a gloomy face and a cold smile, couldn't help but grin and talk to himself.

"Come on, Ivans, every drop of your blood will make my medal of honor more dazzling!"

In fact, neither Malashenko, who had returned to his car and was preparing to warm up and start it, nor the division commander Cherniayev and Major General Rokossovsky, who were in charge of the command in the rear division headquarters and even the 9th Mechanized Army headquarters, knew that.

The troops stationed in Brod Town, with only one division of troops to resist the entire Soviet 9th Mechanized Army that was about to attack, were not others.

It was one of the three main ace forces of the German Waffen SS during World War II, which was recognized in the evaluation of later generations. The elite SS Royal Guards unit, which was named by the Führer, was named the first "Adolf Hitler" Guards Flag Armored Infantry Division of the Waffen SS.

The current division commander was the German Führer Hitler's favorite confidant, Joseph Dietrich, who was awarded the rank of group leader (equivalent to Lieutenant General of the Wehrmacht) in the SS organization.

As the elite "Royal Guard" unit of the SS, which was ordered by the Führer, the "Adolf Hitler" Guards Division, from the division commander Dietrich to the most ordinary combat soldier, all officers and soldiers of the division were the most fanatical and loyal believers of Hitler himself.

In the battles of the past, these SS soldiers who swore to dedicate their souls and everything to the Führer could only be described as crazy.

In traditional concepts, the armies of Western countries often face large numbers of troops surrendering when the battle situation is unfavorable or in desperate situations. It seems that there is no tenacious unit like the Chinese and Japanese armies in the East who fought to the death until the whole army was sacrificed.

But this seemingly wide-ranging traditional concept does not apply to this Guards Division.

Thanks to the fact that the unit was named after "Adolf Hitler" himself, all officers and soldiers of the Führer Guards Division have a strong sense of honor and determination to die rather than surrender. In the two-front battles across the entire World War II, they forged great military exploits with their own and the enemy's blood, and fulfilled their oath of allegiance under the flag of the spicy party.

Regarding the real combat performance of the Führer Guards Flag Division in actual combat, General Patton, a legendary American general who had fought against it, once described it this way.

"Although I don't even want to say this, I have to admit it. Compared with this group of fanatical lunatics, our guys are just a group of farmers and guerrillas, but they are more like a "professional army." "

Although at the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, the Guards Flag Division is not yet the ace unit that has experienced the dual wars of the Soviet Army on the Eastern Front and the Allied Forces on the Western Front. The combat experience and actual combat command capabilities of the combat units at all levels below the division are still lacking, and it is not enough to be called a top ace unit.

But the iron-clad fighting will and morale brought by the fanatical faith of the officers and soldiers at all levels of the division are beyond doubt.

No matter what the final result is, for the entire Soviet Ninth Mechanized Army to which Malashenko belongs, a fight with fanatical believers with the world's top weapons and equipment will definitely not be an easy battle to win.

Malashenko, who had returned to his position as gunner and commander in his car, was quietly waiting for the moment when his artillery preparations would end, knowing nothing about the fact that his frontal enemy was the German SS ace unit, the Guards Leibstandarte Division.

It is worth mentioning that in addition to the ten T34 tanks that Cherniaev had previously approved to be strengthened for Malashenko's command for the sake of Political Commissar Petrov.

In order to consolidate the offensive strength of this spearhead of the entire division, Division Commander Cherniaev, who finally reached an agreement with Political Commissar Lieutenant Colonel Petrov after discussions, also transferred four of the few KV2 heavy tanks in the 20th Tank Division to Malashenko's command to ensure that it could crush the German army's stubborn resistance with the most powerful firepower in the offensive battle.

For the KV2 heavy tank, a powerful steel behemoth weighing 52 tons, Malashenko, who had a deep understanding of the armored forces of the Soviet and German armies during World War II, naturally knew its performance as a time traveler.

First of all, in terms of firepower, as a heavy assault tank designed and manufactured for the purpose of breaking through the enemy's permanent fortifications, the KV2 was unprecedentedly equipped with a 152mm caliber M-10T heavy howitzer at that time when the German Panzer IV tank was still using a 75mm short-barreled tank gun as a fire support weapon.