Chapter 539 Castle (16)

At the dawn of Meretskov's reckless waste of artillery shells, the German army launched a fierce attack on the Red Army from both the north and south wings at the same time. After the first embarrassing supply, the German supply operations began to go smoothly in the next few days, basically in line with the troops. The advance was kept in sync, and there was never again a situation where the attacking force was kept waiting.

The assault troops of the two armored armies bit the enemy in front of them like two big pincers, while the follow-up troops continued to press towards Tambov, trying to build an encirclement of the city.

Although there was a clear order to withdraw and he was decisive in executing the order, Leutel found that it was not easy to withdraw the troops under German artillery fire. In order to cover the retreat of the main force, one Red Army soldier after another The infantry division rushed forward desperately to block the German armored forces, trying to buy more time for their comrades, but this effort and struggle was destined to be in vain. In the face of the three-dimensional German air-ground offensive, these even the number of 76.2mm anti-tank guns was insufficient. Ordinary infantry divisions melted quickly like hot soup and snow poured on them, and the attrition rate was basically one division per hour.

What made Leutel even more distressed was that due to the German tank troops' dual advantages in quantity and quality, the two tank corps he sent to reinforce the flanks were more than half damaged in just over a day. When the retreat was finally completed late at night on the 27th, they retreated into Tambov's total strength is less than 110,000. The 40th Group Army, which suffered heavy losses last year, suffered even more heavy losses this time. Only 4 infantry divisions still maintain their basic structure (the personnel integrity rate exceeds 80%), and the rest of the troops have suffered casualties. heavy.

In the worst division, only one and a half companies escaped. From the division commander to the battalion commander, all officers with a higher rank than the captain were either killed in battle or captured. Leutel had no choice but to temporarily hang up these divisions with only names and replenish the incomplete personnel to other divisions - this kind of zombie divisions with only numbers but no people suddenly increased by ten. More than one.

Together with the remaining units in the rear and the two armies that retreated to Tambov in advance, the overall defense strength is nominally 4 armies (3 infantry armies, 1 tank army), but the strength is not the more than 300,000 originally expected. There are less than 260,000. Among these 260,000, there were nearly 20,000 lightly wounded. Except for a few high-ranking officers, the seriously wounded basically remained in the German encirclement.

During the four-day battle, the Bryansk Front of the Red Army lost a total of more than 280,000 people. The German army lost just over 17,000 people. Among them, only more than 4,000 people were killed in battle. The loss of tanks (destroyers) was less than 200. However, the Red Army destroyed several tanks, including There were more than 800 armored vehicles of various colors, including tanks, and the exchange ratio was astonishingly high, which also made Hoffman feel relieved.

On the morning of May 28, Meretskov finally got accurate information and found out that all his counter-artillery fire preparations were in vain. Instead of launching an attack, the expected German Army Group East had moved more than 150 meters eastward. kilometers, preparing to join the Bryansk Front Army in the direction of encircling and annihilating Tambov. He was shocked and immediately reported to Moscow.

"The situation is not good..." Looking at the staff marking the latest enemy and friendly situations on the map, Vasilevsky frowned and said to Zhukov, "The Tambov encirclement is forming, and the defensive forces and technical weapons inside are far away. Less than expected; Comrade Meretskov's counter-artillery preparations were in vain again. Now the main force of the enemy's Army Group East is rushing towards Tambov. Comrade Leytel sent me three telegrams in the morning asking for reinforcements. His tone became more anxious every time.”

Zhukov silently looked at the situation and really couldn't think of a good solution: if the main force of Army Group East really joins the siege of Tambov, then at least 400,000 troops will be put into the battlefield - the number of troops in Tambov's encirclement will increase to 800,000. It is said that only half of the front army is currently defending small Tambov. Even if the entire front army is well-organized, it may not be an opponent of the German army. The German troops that have already surrounded Tambov and are about to encircle it are more than the Kiev encirclement, but the number of troops inside The quantity and quality are not as good as during the Battle of Kiev.

But Tambov could not give up at will. Once the city fell, the German army not only directly cut off the communication line between Moscow and Stalingrad, but also faced the Steppe Military District. He did not think that Konev's new recruits could stop it. Can withstand the wolf-like German Panzer Army.

"Can Comrade Meretskov be allowed to attack Orel from the Tula line?" He hesitated as soon as he said the words: there is at least one armored group of the German army that has not moved. Although he does not know its exact location, his intuition Tell him that this part of the force has been deployed near the central battlefield. Once the Western Front attacks and the Germans seize the opportunity to flank, the situation will be even worse.

Vasilevsky shook his head: "You can't do this. There are at least 100,000 German troops in the direction of Orel, and there is a solid defense line. The offensive operation cannot be defeated by 300,000 troops..."

"Then we must send reinforcements to Tambov. We can't count on the Steppe Military District. Let's use the air force."

"That's the only way." Vasilevsky thought for a while, "Deploy the 17th Air Force Group Army from the Southwest Front to him!"

Kuznetsov, who had been listening in, was shocked: "Didn't we just agree to transfer this army group to Comrade Bagramyan?"

"This..." Vasilevsky was in trouble. In the morning, he kept sighing at the slow-moving Central Front Army: After discovering the gathering of the Red Army's Central Front Army, the German Air Force's Fifth Air Force launched continuous air strikes to delay the Red Army's advance. The actual losses were not great, but Baghramyan's assault group could not advance any faster. It had been walking for two days and had not yet exchanged fire with the Italian troops in the direction of Karachi. In order to change this passive situation, the general The General Staff had just decided to transfer troops from the southern flank to strengthen air power in the area.

"No! Give Tambov direction first." Zhukov said, "The city must be defended, and the air force is an important part of it. If this place is lost, the German army's 800,000 troops will be free. No matter which battlefield these troops join, we will Can’t afford it!”

"Then send them reinforcements..." Kuznetsov said anxiously, "Planes alone may not be enough."

Unexpectedly, the other two people shook their heads in unison: "We can't reinforce the ground troops. Once they do, they will fall into the German trap - they are waiting to encircle the point for reinforcements."

"Alas!" Kuznetsov had no choice but to go to the confidential staff to change the troop deployment order.

In the early morning of May 29, the Battle of the Castle had been going on for five full days. The German 2nd and 4th Armored Groups encircled Tambov with a pincer offensive two days ahead of schedule. However, the encirclement was not tightly constructed. A 30-kilometer-wide gap remained on the east side of the city, tempting the Red Army in the city to retreat.

Leutel would not really be fooled into retreating from this opening: the number of trucks and tanks of the front army is now insufficient, and the two-legged infantry cannot outrun the German tanks and car wheels. What's more, the sky is full of German aircraft, and it will be difficult to escape Encountering a pursuit all over the mountains and plains, no matter whether infantry or armored troops, facing an air attack in the Great Plains is simply asking for death. Moreover, he sadly glanced at the deployment of troops around him and found that not even a decent response force could be sent from the rear. The Prairie Military Region soldiers The strength there is worse than that of his troops, and it is completely impossible to expect them to respond. The only thing he expected was that the Western Front would send reinforcements, but the General Staff refused to say anything. He was so angry that he cursed in the headquarters all day long!

Finally, the General Staff did not give any reinforcements at all. After his repeated calls, he finally gave an air force group - the 17th Air Force Group. Nearly 1,000 aircraft were deployed from the south wing overnight to assist in the defense.

Unfortunately, the mood that had just improved suddenly evaporated after the battle in the air. In order to compete for regional air supremacy, the reinforced Red Army aircraft fleet and the original troops worked hard to launch a counterattack against the Germans in an attempt to regain air supremacy. This played into the hands of Alexander Leer. He dispatched three fighter wings and nearly 900 fighter planes. More than 800 fighter jets were mobilized, and the two sides fought in the air. The fierce air battle started in the early morning and continued until the sun went down.

Generally speaking, the number of fighter jets on both sides was close, but the result of the battle was a complete defeat of the Red Army: those rookie pilots simply contributed to the German army. Although the equipment in their hands had basically been replaced by La 5 and Yak 9, they faced the German Fw-190 and The air combat formation formed by the Bf-219 combination is always at a loss to deal with it.

In terms of dogfighting capabilities, the Bf-219 is better than both the La 5 and the Yak 9. In terms of speed and BZ tactics, the Fw-190A is better than the Red Army aircraft. Red Army pilots often fall into a fatal circle in combat: when they try to use dogfights to deal with them When Fw-190A, the Bf-219 will give them a fatal blow; when they try to attack the BF-219 with a dive, the Fw-190 dives directly from high altitude and plays the role of the oriole behind. This theoretically feasible strategy can be effective when executed alone, but it is difficult to implement in a large formation melee. Instead, it continues to lose troops and generals.

What's even more terrible is that the Bf-219's range and stay in the air are much longer than those of the Red Army aircraft. It is clear that the number of fighter jets put into battle by both sides is generally similar. However, due to problems with stay in the air and refueling, the number of Russian fighters in the air at the same time is far less than that of its opponents. If he is not as skilled as others, he always seems to be beaten by enemies twice his size.

The Red Army lost nearly 500 aircraft in the first sky battle, and the German army lost more than 100 aircraft. The Red Army lost more than 300 aircraft in the second sky battle, and the German army lost more than 40 aircraft. By the third day, although the 17th Army of the Red Air Force still wanted to continue Fight again, but they have less than 50 fighter jets left on hand. After two days of fighting, this air force group with nearly 1,000 aircraft was completely crippled, with less than 30 combat aircraft remaining (the rest were bombers).

Following the Army Group, the Air Force Army also became a two-day battle.