Chapter 537 Castle (14)

After listening to Letel's ideas and requirements for the overall campaign concept, Zhukov had a general idea. After thinking about it, he said: "Your campaign concept is generally positive, but I need more information to support it. One thing, tonight all radio stations must try their best to contact front-line comrades and tell me the exact battlefield situation; tomorrow morning I need to take a plane to observe the enemy's situation and see what the situation is like; I have to adjust my strategic assumptions about the double-layer encirclement. It doesn’t matter what people say, it must be discussed collectively by the General Staff.”

"So..." He emphasized his tone, "At present, other troops can be concentrated on Tambov, but the two flanking troops cannot be withdrawn. Even to buy time for Tambov's defense system construction, they cannot withdraw too early!"

"Yes, I completely understand."

The roar of artillery continued all night, but at 11 o'clock in the night, the fighting finally subsided, and both the Soviet Union and Germany, who had been fighting all day, temporarily went to rest.

The Smolensk headquarters was brightly lit, and Hoffman was reading the messages from the front one by one. There were good news everywhere. Zeitzler reported with joy: "Führer, the first day of the battle was a major success. We broke through the defense lines of the two Bryansk Front armies and divided and surrounded them. Currently, General Rudolf Schmidt's 2nd The Armored Army is attacking Michurinsk. General Reinhardt's 4th Armored Army has successfully cut off the railway line between Tambov and Borisoglebsk and is currently encircling and suppressing the enemy's 40th Army...

The overall battle progress is 16-24 hours faster than the battle plan. It was originally planned that we could break through the first line of defense tomorrow, but because everything went well, the troops advanced much faster than planned. If tomorrow's battle can be as smooth as today, on the 27th In the morning we can lay siege to Tambov. "

Hoffman nodded with satisfaction: "What difficulties or unexpected situations are the troops currently facing?"

"The supply is slightly out of sync. Because the fight is too fast, the logistics convoy cannot keep up, so the battle has stopped on the spot. We are currently trying every means to send the supplies up. It is expected that the whole thing will not be completed until after 8 o'clock tomorrow. The Fourth Air Force commanded by General Alexander Lehr has complete control of the air situation. He said that if the ground forces need it, the Air Force can urgently airlift a batch of supplies. "

Among the front-line commanders of this Castle Battle were two fellow Austrians. One was Rouse, who commanded the Armored Group Army, and the other was Leer of the Fourth Air Force.

Hoffman frowned slightly, but after thinking about it, he thought it was normal, and warned: "You can discuss the logistics matters. If it is not completed by 8 o'clock tomorrow, the attack time can be postponed further."

At 6 o'clock in the morning, Zhukov risked his life and flew a Pe-3 heavy fighter into the sky. Letel strongly opposed him doing this, but after persuading him all night, Zhukov could not be defeated and had to let him go. In order to protect its safety, Leutel not only selected the best 24 fighter jets from the fighter division reinforced from Moscow to provide escort, but also asked the Air Force Group to take off three additional Pe-2s (Pe-3 and Pe-2 (very close in appearance) bombers provide cover.

Zhukov took up the position of the machine gunner in the back seat and glanced at the battlefield from the air. The more he looked at it, the more surprised he became:

At dawn, it was the moment when the German army's supply reached its peak. Seeing the huge supply truck team and the endless tanks below, he immediately deduced that the German armored force was not small in size. The so-called 2000-2500 tanks were reported completely. He was not talking nonsense; he had overlooked the situation near the first line of defense from a high altitude, and it seemed that there were very few traces of fighting. Combined with the information that the radio call received only few responses last night, it showed that after a day and night of fierce fighting, the two armies A total of about 180,000 troops had been basically wiped off the battlefield - the strong combat effectiveness of the German army surprised him extremely.

If we extrapolate based on this combat effectiveness, if the German army continues to launch a fierce attack this morning, the two armies on Tambov's left and right flanks may soon be unable to protect themselves. Once these two armies are lost, the 3rd Guards Tank Army and the 6th Army will be left alone. It is impossible to defend Tambov, not to mention that the tank army has deducted two tank corps to reinforce the left and right wings, leaving Leutil with even fewer available troops. If these two flanks are not defended and the German army is allowed to attack Tambov, he does not think that the city with weak defense capabilities can hold on for long - the distance between the two is generally only 50-60 kilometers, which is half the armored force. Attack time in the afternoon.

At 8:15, the fleet he was in was finally discovered by German fighter jets. Although the German pilots could not figure out why there were only 4 Soviet bombers but more than 20 fighter jets were escorting them, this did not prevent them from ferociously attacking. The escort aircraft immediately separated Half entangled the German aircraft, and then asked Zhukov's heavy fighter to quickly leave the battlefield. Under the desperate cover of the Red Army pilots, Zhukov left the Tambov theater in embarrassment and flew straight to Moscow. He didn't know how lucky he was: just because the Fourth Air Force was busy dispatching bombers and transport planes to deliver supplies to the front line, a large number of fighter jets were dispatched to escort, otherwise he would definitely have a narrow escape.

Zhukov hurried to the General Staff Headquarters as soon as he got off the plane. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted: "The situation is very bad... The Bryansk Front is in danger of being completely destroyed."

"Ah!" Vasilevsky thought he heard wrong and said in disbelief, "They have more than 500,000 people and more than 800 tanks. They have only been fighting for one day and they are going to be completely wiped out?"

"Yesterday the German army launched two armored armies to attack. I inspected the battlefield and found that the enemy situation was not exaggerated. There were indeed 2,000-2,500 tanks. Early this morning I ventured deep into the war zone to observe the situation. There were densely packed trucks and tanks below."

Kuznetsov interjected: "Then blow them up!"

"Exploded?" Zhukov said with a bitter smile, "You think they don't want to? When I set off today, 24 fighter jets protected me. Later, I was bitten by the Germans. Nine of them were shot down in just a few minutes. What I took away yesterday was the most technologically advanced fighter. Good fighter pilots, if they are bombers, how long do you think they can survive such a ferocious German attack? Of course, these are not the key, Comrade Leutil proposed a new plan..."

Zhukov pulled Vasilevsky in front of the map and gave a general introduction to Letel's plan.

"Do you agree with this plan?"

"I agree with half of it! I agree with withdrawing the troops back to Tambov, but I'm afraid it's not that easy to send troops from the north and the south to attack at the same time." He pointed in the direction of the Kremlin with his hand, "There is no problem in using the Central Front Army, we have agreed in advance However, there is a big problem with using the Western Front - it won't work if you draw too few troops, but if you draw too many, what if the Eastern Army Group really goes straight to the Orel line? Moreover, intelligence has always shown that the enemy's Central Army Group is still there? There is an armored group, and they are not moving at the moment."

Vasilevsky nodded: "According to the intelligence, the enemy's Eastern Army Group will launch an attack at dawn tomorrow. The enemy is now making intensive preparations. Comrade Meretskov has gone to Tula to take charge. His troops cannot be used easily for the time being. If 500,000 of the Western Front troops are really taken away, there will be only a little over 600,000 troops left. What if Model comes over from the Rzhev-Vyazma line?"

"Although the idea of ​​building a double encirclement is inappropriate, Tambov still needs to actively defend, and at least find a way to attract two enemy armored armies." Zhukov's finger crossed Tambov and continued to move south. "My idea is that the Central Front Army Don’t go north for the time being, let alone try to open up the connection between the two front armies. They should attack decisively and attack..."

"You mean to attack Karachi?" Vasilevsky frowned and thought for a while, "This is an idea, but it may not be effective so quickly."

"Report, Comrade Bagramyan, commander of the Central Front Army, sent a telegram: ... reconnaissance shows that the main force of the armored group army in the enemy's Hot Cluster has basically moved north to attack the direction of Tambov. Our army plans to use part of its forces to attack the direction of Tambov. Move to protect the flanks and use the main force to attack Karachi, which is garrisoned by Italian troops and has relatively weak combat effectiveness and fighting will."

Vasilevsky laughed: "It seems that Comrade Bagramyan has the same idea as you and is eyeing the Italians."

Zhukov helplessly spread his hands: This was also forced. The Germans were too powerful to beat, so they had no choice but to beat the Italians. Once Karachi is captured, it will cut off the connection between the German Voronezh and Army Group South. This is the same as the German idea of ​​attacking Tambov to cut off the north and the south.

The key to this adjustment is who is faster - if the German army quickly captures Tambov, the troops left on the flanks of the Central Front Army will immediately be quickly eaten up by the German troops starting from Tambov, and then further threaten the Central Front Army's retreat, and even The front itself will be in danger; and if the central front can quickly capture Karachi and eliminate or mostly annihilate the Italian troops, the Houth Group's retreat will be cut off, and the flanks will naturally lose cover. Not only will the siege of Tambov If it can be lifted quickly, the situation on the entire southern flank battlefield can be improved, which is great for the entire front to return to its original starting point.

However, Vasilevsky was still a little worried and asked Zhukov: "Do you think the Central Front Army can complete this task?"

"I think there is still a lot of hope to complete it. 70% of his front troops are cutting-edge troops transferred from the Far East. They have relatively strong combat effectiveness. Based on my understanding of Comrade Bagramyan, he will definitely use this part of the troops to attack. And leave the new reinforcements on the flanks."

"Call back to Comrade Bagramyan and agree with his ideas and deployment adjustments. We must be resolute and fast when attacking!"

Zhukov thought for a while and added: "Comrade Letel will hold on to Tambov until the comrades of the Central Front win!"