Chapter 133 The Star Shines (Part 1)

Time continued to pass in the intertwined situation of the brutal defensive battles in the suburbs of Yelniya City and the street fighting that broke out in some city streets.

Although Zhukov had taken the initiative as Chief of General Staff at the previous Politburo meeting in Moscow chaired by Stalin himself, trying to preserve the position of Marshal Timoshenko, who had lost the war in the direction of Smolensk. .

But now the cruel fact that Zhukov was turned into a reserve front commander by Stalin had to cheer up Marshal Timoshenko, who had lost an important backer in the base camp.

He realized that if the Battle of Yelniya ended in failure again, not to mention whether he would be able to retain his position as commander of the Western Front, judging from Stalin's temper and consistent style, he would lose the battle and lose the city and territory. Frontline generals will never get anything good from this iron man leader comrade.

By then, Pavlov's final fate is likely to be a lesson learned from Timoshenko's mistakes.

Comrade Stalin, who launched a ruthless attack, did not care whether the person he ordered to be shot was a meritorious marshal or an ordinary soldier. The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became. Marshal Timoshenko decided to continue to strengthen the offensive when his troops had already suffered a lot of casualties. ,

After this order, the number of Soviet troops attacking Yelniya City increased instead of decreasing. More and more Soviet heavy artillery, fighter planes and even equipment such as "Katyusha" rocket launchers, which were still secret weapons, began to attack. They began to converge towards the eye of the storm, Yelniya City, with the force of a torrent of steel.

On July 31, General Zhukov, who was beaten to the end by Comrade Stalin, officially arrived at the front line of the theater in the direction of Smolensk, took over the command of the reserve front army, and immediately commanded the troops to enter Smolensk in accordance with the combat order issued by the Supreme Command. direction of the battle.

The battle for Yelnia, which never stopped with the roar of guns and artillery from beginning to end, was soon pushed to August 4th.

At this point in the cruel and aggravating battle that burned out bones, flesh, and overstretched the will, the 1st Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion commanded by Malashenko can no longer be called a "pure heavy tank battalion." .

Fierce fighting for many days and continued deployment to front-line offensive operations after replenishment have caused the First Heavy Tank Battalion commanded by Malashenko to lose a total of more than 60 KV1 heavy tanks, as well as many There are half this number of T34 medium tanks and other light combat reconnaissance vehicles.

Although these Soviet tanks have been repeatedly added to the first heavy tank breakthrough battalion under Malashenko's command, except for a small number of brand-new tanks transported from the rear using railway transportation lines.

The vast majority of them were improvised from skirmishers who were defeated by the Germans or suffered heavy losses and were no longer able to organize effective combat effectiveness. Whether it was in terms of troop coordination capabilities or offensive tactics, such as The original No. 1 heavy tank under the command of Malashenko will definitely have to be discounted when it breaks through the battalion's full strength.

But there is no doubt that these lost tanks and vehicle crews are all units of the Red Army. The combat losses that are becoming more and more heavy day after day are difficult for even the Soviet army, which has never cared much about troop casualties, to withstand. The constant and massive losses of technical weapons, especially precious heavy tanks, gradually began to make the Soviet army, as the attacker, have a stronger need for armored forces, increasingly feeling that it was unable to continue.

On the contrary, it is not only the Soviet army that is increasingly experiencing difficulties in fighting and supplying important technical weapons. The German army, which with an absolutely inferior force has been able to withstand the Soviet army's roaring tsunami bombardments and successive group charges, is having an even more difficult time.

Some combat infantry companies have even been reduced to less than 50 troops in the Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, which is almost on the verge of collapse.

Once again, the block's defenses were overwhelmed by an unknown number of coordinated infantry and tank assaults from the First Heavy Tank Breakthrough Battalion under Malashenko. The Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, which was completely unable to invest in counterattacks to fill the block's breakthrough, finally had no choice but to They chose to withdraw from the neighborhood, shrink the defensive circle, and make concessions to the Soviet siege forces in order to preserve their remaining strength.

The exhausted Grossdeutschland Infantry Regiment, which was already in disrepair, was immediately integrated into the combat order of the SS Imperial Division with the newly arrived 46th Army Reserve to support them, and was mixed into a temporary battle group.

SS Lieutenant General Hausser, the commander of the Imperial Division, served as the battle group commander in order to form a new unified defense line in the Yelniya City theater where the Soviet army was approaching step by step and in a steady stream.

Also on this day, the head of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler, also flew from Berlin, the heart of the empire, to the front line of the Russian theater. In order to personally inspect the magnificent results achieved by the German army, he could hold a combat meeting with the main front-line generals under his command to discuss the next specific action plan and deployment of the German army.

This frontline combat meeting, hosted by Hitler himself, was held in Novo Borisov, where the German Army Group Center headquarters is located.

The German generals who attended this important combat meeting were except for some senior generals who were in command positions and were leading their troops to fight fiercely with the Soviet army.

Including Field Marshal von Bock, commander of the German Army Group Center, General Hermann Huth, commander of the 3rd Armored Group affiliated with Army Group Center, General Guderian, commander of the 2nd Armored Group, and other front-line combat command generals.

As well as the adjutant Schmundt who accompanied Hitler, the director and representative of the Operations Division of the Army General Headquarters, Colonel Hausinger, and other senior figures from the German base camp who came with Hitler to attend the meeting, it is enough to see that Hitler himself was very concerned about this frontline operation. The importance attached to the meeting.

The huge headquarters of the German Army Group Center was packed with seats. The German generals who came to participate in this meeting could be said to be a gathering of famous generals with shining stars. Even if they were randomly pulled out, they would all be famous among the famous German generals.

And at the end of the conference table where these German generals were surrounded like stars, Hitler, the head of state with a trademark mustache, looked very proud because the frontline war was progressing smoothly.

"Gentlemen! Before today's combat meeting begins, I would like to congratulate and sincerely praise everyone here!"

"You have fulfilled the promises you made to the German people with your actual actions. You used the iron and blood of German soldiers to exchange the plows and hoes of our people for fertile land and living space that can be cultivated. This is very worthy of praise. Great honor! Gentlemen!"