Chapter 464: Counterattack! Counterattack!

Guderian did not hesitate at all in response to Marshal Bock's calm question, and blurted out the question in the same tone.

"Five degrees below zero, Marshal, this is the temperature just delivered half an hour ago."

Guderian's answer seemed somewhat expected, and Marshal Bock, who was still very calm, finally gave Guderian a slightly helpless order.

"Pause the offensive, Guderian, but don't retreat yet, this is something that only the Führer can decide."

December 5 was a decisive day for the Battle of Moscow and the entire Soviet Union.

On this day, all German offensives on the front line, including Guderian's Second Panzer Group, were stopped in the semicircular position surrounding Moscow 300 kilometers outside the city. The German army's last hope to end the war in 1941 was completely shattered and turned into a bubble. The Kremlin standing on the snow-covered land was like a star within reach, but in fact it was far away in the sky.

Guderian, who was still determined, at least did not show too much pessimism, but other German generals of the same level as Guderian on the front line were not like this.

Marshal Kluge, commander of the Fourth Army, said pessimistically to his chief of staff Blumentritt: "From now on, we will become sinners in German history, at least in the history of 1941."

In response to Marshal Kluge's pessimistic words, Blumentritt, chief of staff of the Fourth Army, wrote pessimistically in his diary summarizing today: "Our last hope of defeating Russia in 1941 has completely vanished at the last minute."

In his recollection of the Battle of Moscow many years later, Guderian mentioned: "This This is the first time in my life that I have to make such a decision. Nothing could be more difficult or worse. Our attack on Moscow has failed. All the sacrifices made by our heroic troops and the torment endured in the ice and snow have been in vain. We have suffered the most tragic defeat. "

From November 16 to December 5, when the last wave of strategic cluster-level general offensive against Moscow was launched, a total of 50,000 officers and soldiers of the German Central Army Group were frozen to death, killed in battle, and missing. In terms of technical weapons, more than 700 tanks were lost, and various types of light and heavy artillery and fighter planes were countless.

The powerful offensive that Hitler boasted as a decisive typhoon had completely died down on December 5. In contrast, General Zhukov, who was strategizing, was planning an unprecedented counterattack that would make the German army never forget the Soviet winter of 1941, and he was ready.

It was exactly the same as what Marshal Bock guessed when he talked to Guderian on the phone.

When the rising sun just passed over the horizon in the early morning of December 6, the Soviet battle group-level field artillery units that had been prepared overnight began to tilt their firepower crazily. Various heavy artillery including the 203mm Stalin Hammer made the German army feel the most passionate fire in the cold winter. The Soviet counterattack troops, shouting the slogan "Ura", came like a flood.

Also on the morning of December 6, Malashenko, who received the order from Comrade Lao Zhu to launch a full-scale counterattack the night before, was not surprised. After all, according to the original historical time node, it was almost recently. From the decline of the German army, Malashenko had already sensed the coming counterattack and was ready.

The remaining four infantry divisions that came to reinforce overnight, joined forces with Malashenko's troops and the three undermanned infantry divisions that launched the counterattack earlier, with a total of seven infantry divisions plus a front-level guards heavy tank breakthrough regiment, and launched a fierce attack on the Great German Infantry Regiment and the remnants of the 4th Armored Division, who still had no idea how much their opponents had been strengthened.

The formation of seven Soviet divisional artillery regiments firing at the same time was earth-shaking. The huge rumbling sound of the artillery was so loud that even Malashenko, who was making the final preparations for departure in the tank, was shocked. Malashenko, who had long expected that the artillery attack would be very fierce, was still a little surprised by the current situation.

"I've never seen such a fierce bombardment, comrade commander, it can almost deafen people's ears."

Some of his tinnitus ears pricked up to hear clearly what Iushkin, whose mouth kept opening and closing, was saying. Malashenko, who was checking the onboard radio in his position as the commander, immediately raised his voice and spoke loudly to Iushkin in a high-decibel voice.

"The firepower of seven divisional artillery regiments is nothing. You should go to the counterattack direction north of Moscow to see that the army's direct artillery battalion has been mobilized there. The 203mm B-4 howitzer has a large amount of ammunition. One shot can make the Nazi fascists feel the greatness and enthusiasm of communism."

It is necessary to use a relaxed and happy atmosphere to adjust psychological pressure before the war.

Hearing the relaxed and joking words from Malashenko's mouth, the other three crew members who were originally a little nervous in the rumbling of the artillery all smiled at the same time.

Seven artillery regiments of the division were ready to fire at full force, but after an hour, the artillery finally died down. The surviving German soldiers who staggered out of the shelter had no time to stand firm before the roar of the tsunami-like "Ura" overwhelmed the cold wind in the early morning and followed closely with the roar of diesel engines.

"Oh, damn! Russians, Russians are everywhere! Stop them!"

The surviving soldiers of the Great German Infantry Regiment on the front line were trying their best to resist the crazy Soviet army. In the field command post in the rear, Colonel Horning, the commander of the Great German Infantry Regiment, who had not even buttoned his shirt, held a telescope in his hand and stared at the surging red wave in his field of vision with a twisted expression that was about to twist his eyebrows into a knot.

"Damn it! Who can tell me how these Russians turned out so many troops overnight!? Yesterday's air force reconnaissance report said that there were only three understaffed infantry divisions and at most one armored regiment moving towards us. What about now? Take a telescope and take a look for yourself! Are there three understaffed infantry divisions written on the steel helmets of those Russians!?"

In a rage, he smashed the binoculars in his hand to pieces. Colonel Horning, who felt that he was deceived by the air force, felt that his head was about to smoke.

None of the other officers and staff in the command post who were busy with their work dared to answer the furious Colonel Honing. Anyone who dared to go up and offend him at this time would be courting death, even if the Russian bayonet was already at their nose.