"I think we should hurry up, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Colonel Lavrentin replied: "This will catch the enemy off guard. We have already reached Tver, and the enemy is vulnerable!"
There seems to be no problem with Colonel Lavrentin's words, because at this time the Soviet army was learning from the German "Blitzkrieg" interspersed.
Interspersion is to rush to the destination quickly and capture it before the enemy is ready.
"This is beyond our expectations!" Rokossovsky said: "We thought that you would be blocked by the enemy, so the 1st Guards Tank Brigade could follow you... But now, you have already
The 1st Guards Tank Brigade has opened a distance of twenty kilometers, and it will take at least two hours for them to arrive!"
"I don't think it's important, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Colonel Lavrentin said: "We can handle it. Like I said... the enemy is so defeated that it may take us two hours to attack.
Go down to Tver, and then the 1st Guards Tank Brigade will be able to join us!"
"Okay!" Rokossovsky said: "Pay attention to your sides and rear, I will let the air force and artillery cooperate with your attack!"
"Yes, Comrade Rokossovsky!" Colonel Lavrentin stepped forward and answered.
This can be said to be a battle that Lavrentyin feels proud of.
Before this, no battle had been able to receive fire cover from the air force and artillery at the same time, but now they were available to Lavrentin at a moment's notice.
Colonel Lavrentin did not think much and immediately ordered to the staff: "Report the position to the air force and artillery, we are going to bomb Tver!"
"Yes, Comrade Colonel!"
As a result, dozens of fighter planes, hundreds of artillery pieces, and rocket launchers bombarded Tver indiscriminately, and then a group of T34 tanks and infantry "rumbled" toward Tver.
But what Colonel Lavrentin didn't know was that his approach played into the hands of the Germans.
This battle was personally directed by Kubiler, the commander of the Fourth Army, because he knew what the Klin Bulge and even Tver meant to the German army... If the German army could always maintain its offensive, then Tver seemed not that important.
But if the German army wants to retreat, then it is the only way for several German armies to pass.
It is true that because the ground is frozen in ice and snow, the troops can move without relying on roads.
The problem is that there will be many uncertain factors without relying on roads and the marching speed will be very slow.
The reason is that the field is not flat, and even due to the battle between the enemy and ourselves, the field is full of craters. In addition, there are mines, barbed wire, roadblocks, ravines, etc., all of which are covered by one-meter-high snow.
Buried, cars can't move in it, tank tracks slip, etc., and even if you are not careful, you will fall into the crater and be buried in the snow.
Therefore, cross-country marching is only for combat or being blocked by the enemy, and it also requires terrain survey.
Therefore, Kubil knew that the enemy's target was Tver the moment the Soviet army launched a counterattack.
Knowing the enemy's target would be easier...Kubil used Tver as a bait to set up an encirclement: he placed two dissatisfied 6th and 7th Armored Divisions on the Tver side and prepared.
Both armored divisions suffered varying degrees of losses on the battlefield, especially the 7th Armored Division. When attacking Volokolamsk, they were first ambushed by T34s, and then some tanks cooperated with the 14th Armored Division.
The motorized infantry was sunk into the lake during combat... This directly caused the division to lose its combat effectiveness.
The blow this caused to Major General von Funke, the commander of the 7th Armored Division, was indescribable. When Lieutenant General Kubiler found him, von Funke was even ready to commit suicide because he had already
I wrote a suicide note and gave it to my assistant to take to my family.
To be precise, it is another form of suicide.
"I hope you will let me go to the front line, Lieutenant General!" Major General von Funk said to Kubiler: "Like other soldiers!"
"You are on the front line, Major General!" Kubile said.
"No, I'm not talking about being a commander!" Major General Feng Funke said: "But as a soldier, walking onto the battlefield with a rifle... I hope I can die gloriously on the battlefield!"
Kubler understood what von Funk was thinking.
As the saying goes, "The higher the hope, the greater the disappointment." Major General von Funk was the one who hoped to defeat Rommel because they commanded the same unit: the 7th Armored Division.
However, the 7th Armored Division was powerful in the hands of Rommel, but in the hands of Major General von Funke, it suffered heavy losses and could even be said to be defeated.
This was difficult to accept for the aristocratic faction who looked down on Rommel's origins, because he suffered a double defeat, defeated by the enemy and at the same time by his own people.
Kubiler was silent for a while and then replied: "No, Major General, if I do this, it will undoubtedly be my dereliction of duty. I think that in the previous battle, you had no problem with your command. So, I will let you
You continue to command the 7th Armored Division, what you need to consider is how to lead the 7th Armored Division to wash away the shame, instead of escaping in this way!"
These words convinced Major General Funk.
As a result, the 6th Armored Division and the 7th Armored Division were transferred to Tver for reorganization... The German army repaired the railway line from the rear to Tver, so Tver had many tanks that broke down on the battlefield and were waiting for repairs. In addition, there were
There are tanks that are replenished from the rear to the front.
The 6th Armored Division and the 7th Armored Division relied on these tanks to restore their combat effectiveness.
Up to now, each of the two armored divisions has about 70 tanks. They even got more warm clothes because they were first in line on the waterfront in Tverskaya.
Regarding the Soviet counterattack, Lieutenant General Kubiler said to the commanders of the two armored divisions: "The enemy's counterattack is likely to be well prepared, so they may concentrate a large amount of artillery fire and air power. We cannot rush to fight... because this
It will cause us heavy losses!"
The two division commanders had no objection to this, because with the current situation of the German army, they could no longer afford another "heavy loss."
"We have to avoid their energy!" Lieutenant General Kubiler continued: "At the same time, we also need time to prepare. You know, our tanks and air force both need more preparation time!"
This is determined by the temperature. Neither the German Air Force nor the Army has experience fighting in such extreme temperatures.
"So, we have to wait for them to attack Tver!" Lieutenant General Kubil said: "When their artillery, air power, and even their tank forces focus on Tver, that's when we attack.