Chapter 551 Castle (28)

Due to the tight seal of information, Zhukov himself did not know the news of the surrender of the Bryansk Front. All his attention was on the attack on the northwest front and the maintenance of the central front, and he had no time to distract him.

Kirchner's attack on the front lines of Tula and Ryazan also effectively contained the Red Army's attack on the Vyazma front line, forcing the counterattack plan code-named "Little Mars" to advance very poorly. The participating troops in the Battle of Little Mars Although it included the Northwest and West Fronts, due to the containment of the southern wing and the formation of the Moscow Front, a large number of troops were mobilized. The total number of troops actually put into combat was less than 800,000, with more than 10,000 artillery pieces and more than 1,300 tanks.

Meretskov attached great importance to the combat effectiveness of the 9th Army, and mobilized more than twice the strength of Scherner's unit in terms of both military strength and technical weapons. However, during the execution of the specific campaign, the front-line commander still underestimated the German army. Defensive tenacity and counterattack capability - the 9th Army has been guarding the Vyazma front line for more than a year. It not only knows this battlefield well, but also has a very complete defense system.

Scherner, who was a mountain infantryman, relied on the terrain to build a defense in depth, built towns and villages into fortresses to support the defense line, and accurately deployed a crossfire network to kill and break through the enemy. At the same time, in view of the large number of swamps and narrow attack channels on the Vyazma front line, he gave up taking the initiative and concentrated on ambushing various anti-tank firepower for counterattacks. One Assault tank destroyer destroyed 23 tanks in one day. The T-34 finally escaped unscathed, achieving jaw-dropping results.

After the battle began, Scherner not only received the support of two additional aviation wings, but the General Staff also continuously dispatched follow-up troops to him. In addition to the 2nd Armored Division at the beginning, the 10th Armored Division and several reserve infantry divisions in the 3rd Armored Army were handed over to Scherner, keeping the strength of the 9th Army at around 300,000. More importantly, the German army firmly controlled the air superiority over the battlefield. When the problem of Tambov's encirclement was basically resolved, all the main forces of Rouse's 3rd Armored Army began to move in the direction of Vyazma.

The 39th Army of the Northwest Group of the Red Army launched a diversionary attack in the northwest and stalled after breaking into the German defense line for 10 kilometers. On the east side of Vyazma, the 20th and 31st Group armies of the Western Front, with a total of 200,000 officers and soldiers, launched a frontal attack with the support of 500 tanks. After three days of fierce fighting, the 31st Group Army was unable to shake the defense line held by the German 102nd Infantry Division. , unable to move forward. The first attack wave of the 20th Army broke through the German forward defense line. The second attack wave composed of the 6th Tank Corps and the 2nd Guards Cavalry Corps immediately advanced in depth, preparing to cut off the German lifeline - Rzhev-Via. Zima Railway.

However, these Red Army troops, who had gone to great lengths to break through, encountered dotted German strongholds along the way and were intercepted by fire from all directions. The troops exposed to crossfire suffered heavy casualties. The German 2nd Armored Division and the 78th Infantry Division advanced north and south along the railway, launching fierce counterattacks and cutting off the enemy's retreat. On the evening of June 10, the breakthrough Red Army had to abandon its original plan to break out to the east and return to its own defense line after a bitter battle. After seven days of fierce fighting, the group army suffered more than 30,000 casualties and lost 200 tanks, and was unable to fight again.

The 41st Group Army deployed by the Northwest Front in the northeast performed slightly better. The 1st Mechanized Corps broke through a gap of 20 kilometers wide and broke into 40 kilometers of the German defense line. Together with the 22nd Group Army and the 3rd Mechanized Corps, they broke through a gap of 8 kilometers wide. , a gap 15 kilometers deep. But what is unexpected is that the German defense line that was breached was very elastic. Scherner continued to direct the troops to bend backwards, but kept the defense line from breaking. Although the German 246th Infantry Division was heavily encircled, it relied on solid fortifications to respond calmly and attracted a large number of Soviet reserve forces. The Soviet 1st and 3rd Mechanized Corps, which broke through, were fiercely attacked by the German 10th Armored Division and were struggling.

By June 14, the day before the Bryansk Front surrendered, the Soviet army had made some progress on the east, north, and south sides of Vyazma, but they were all exhausted due to the tenacious deep defense of the German army and had to Turn offense into defense. Seeing that the Soviet offensive was at its end, Scherner immediately seized the opportunity to make a comeback. On the 15th, the main force of the 3rd Armored Army, which had been secretly mobilized, under the leadership of Rouse, counterattacked the 41st Army of the Red Army, which had penetrated the deepest. It consisted of 2 armored divisions, 1 armored grenadier division, and 4 infantry divisions, totaling more than 120,000 people. The powerful forces of the Soviet Union launched a pincer offensive on both sides of the salient held by the Soviet army. The next day, they penetrated the joint position of the Red Army's entry points and realized the two lines of troops joined forces. 60,000 Soviet troops were surrounded.

Zhukov is not a man who gives up easily. Facing the bad news coming from all fronts, he looked extremely tenacious and ordered Meretskov to put the last two armies of the Western Front into the attack in an attempt to encircle the intruding Rouse's troops and rescue the besieged Red Army. The 20,000 officers and soldiers and 350 tanks of the 5th and 6th Tank Corps of the Red Army stormed the solid German defense line on a front only 4 kilometers wide.

Rolls used the Tiger heavy armor battalion and the tank destroyer battalion to stand on the front line, allowing the armored battalion to launch attacks from the side. The key highlands changed hands several times. The battlefield was full of burning tanks and destroyed artillery. The Soviet tank troops even had seven Eight tanks rushed out together, risking their lives to get close to the German tanks. At the closest point, they were only more than 100 meters away from the Tiger defense line. The successive waves of attacks were like waves hitting the rocks, but they were smashed into pieces before the solid German defense line and the precise fire of the 88mm artillery. By the evening of that day, the Red Army had lost more than 140 tanks, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, and the attack group had lost its combat effectiveness. Two of the four Guards Tank Brigade commanders were killed, one was seriously injured, and one was slightly injured.

Although Zhukov and Meretskov still refused to let go, everyone knew that this battle no longer needed to continue - the German army still had at least two armored armies available on the central battlefield. If they were to mobilize again, , the remaining more than 500,000 Red Army troops on the Vyazma front line will be completely destroyed.

That night, Zhukov, who was at the frontline headquarters, was urgently recalled to Moscow to meet with Stalin. Before he entered the office, he felt that the atmosphere was not right. There were armed internal affairs troops everywhere around him, but he still walked in without fear.

"How is Vyazma doing on the front line?"

"The German army has reinforcements. Our comrades fought very hard. We have firmly attracted their attention and the losses are a bit heavy. However, this can reduce the pressure on the central battlefield. After the German armored cluster near Tambov leaves, I decided Let Comrade Tolbukhin assist the Bryansk Front in breaking out..."

"No need..." Stalin's tone was full of exhaustion.

"This... although there are not many comrades left in Tambov's encirclement, if a front army is completely wiped out by the Germans, the impact and shock will be too bad." Zhukov considered his words and carefully avoided saying anything that might intensify the conflict. .

"You really don't know?"

"what happened?"

"Let's read the telegram." Stalin flicked a piece of paper over.

After reading the telegram about the surrender of the Bryansk Front, Zhukov was like a thunderbolt, his eyes were in disbelief, and he was speechless on the spot. It took him a long time to react and cursed angrily: "Asshole, bastard, this damn bastard! I still want to save him, this weakling..."

"What are you going to do now?"

"The war ceased on the Vyazma front, and the Volkhov Front moved south to defend the southern flank of Moscow. The Moscow Front went to block the enemies in the direction of Tambov, and then transferred 500,000 troops from the Far East and Central Asia to form a new front to block the southern part of the central front. "Gap." Zhukov pondered for a while, "The offense is no longer possible, and we must switch to full-line defense."

By this time, he had wisely not mentioned "armistice negotiations" again.

"Deploy it quickly." Stalin waved his hand. "The Political Bureau will hold a meeting in three days. You should prepare a special report on the military situation."

After Zhukov left, Beria slowly walked out of the inner room and asked respectfully: "Do I need to continue to stare at him?"

"Let it go first." Stalin frowned and asked, "Have you investigated the situation clearly? Tell me everything. Don't hide anything or reserve anything."

"There are indeed calls for armistice negotiations at the grassroots level, but they are not mainstream...Zhukov's relevant opinions are his own. He probably only communicated with Vasilevsky, Kuznetsov and others. There is no evidence that there is a front commander First-level generals are in contact with him, and there is currently no evidence that this claim is related to members of the Political Bureau... Of course, it may be that he is hiding deeper, and we still need to dig deeper," Beria reported carefully. It is the era of great purges, and this must be a good opportunity for the Ministry of Internal Affairs to cause trouble. But now the military pressure is so huge, and there are constant defeats on the battlefield. Even the Ministry of Internal Affairs feels that a disaster is imminent, so it does not dare to add fuel to the fire.

Stalin was obviously relieved when he heard that no Politburo members were involved. What he feared most was that someone was conspiring to seize power. The "armistice negotiations" were false, and it was only true that he had to be taken down. Sometimes, intra-party struggles are more difficult than The Germans face to face are even more powerful.

His mind was spinning rapidly, but on the surface he calmly ordered Beria: "Continue to keep an eye on him, don't expose any flaws, and don't interfere with normal military movements. Observe more."

Along the way, Zhukov felt cold sweat on his back. The scene in Stalin's office just now was really scary: he could guarantee that if he had not handled it properly just now, countless officers and soldiers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs who had been ambushed in advance would immediately pour out. , he was going to spend the night in the Ministry of Internal Affairs prison tonight - he had been there and knew exactly what it was like.

But now he has no time to think about Leutil's choice. He must quickly deploy and adjust his troops. Once the nearly 400,000 troops of Army Group East are liberated, the consequences will be disastrous...