Chapter 344: change

Chapter 344 Changing generals

The next battle went smoothly. With four rocket artillery battalions and one artillery regiment, Rokossovsky was even more powerful, and immediately launched an attack on the Red Polyana area.

Red Polyana is a small town located in the northwest of Moscow. The German army began to deploy 240mm K3 long-range artillery on the first day of occupation here.

The German army used the technology of the cone-bore gun in this long-range artillery. Its bottom is 240MM and the muzzle is 180MM. This design makes the gun ejected at a high speed, so it can increase the range as much as possible... Its range reaches 37 kilometers. It is no problem to bomb Moscow, which is 27 kilometers away.

But as Stalin said, this kind of bombing is not of much real significance, because the German army is at the end of its strength at this time, and coupled with logistical difficulties, they simply don't have enough shells to bomb Moscow.

But von Bock was not reconciled. He hoped to "reach" Moscow in this way, even if it was just a few shells. Maybe the Russians would be frightened by these shells and choose to surrender.

However, at this moment Rokossovsky launched an attack on Red Polyana.

Rokossovsky developed a complete offensive plan.

He organized some T26 and KV tanks to attack Red Polyana and invested them all in the first batch.

As the saying goes, "I can't bear to let the child catch the wolf." Rokossovsky knew that if he didn't do this, it would be impossible to lead the German armored regiment out of the town to fight the Soviet army.

Sure enough, the German army was quickly fooled. Their tanks drove out of the town one by one and formed an offensive formation to confront the Soviet troops.

The German army is very confident in winning such a tank battle, especially when the opponents are only T26 and KV tanks.

But what the Germans didn't expect was that the Soviets didn't plan to fight tank battles with them at all.

There was only a "swish" whistling, and a cloud of rockets flew towards the German tank formation, and then there was only a "rumbling" explosion. Before the German army could react, the tank troops were struck by flames and smoke. build.

At this time, the Soviet army really started to attack. After hearing a shout of "Ula", the Soviet army rushed into the town of Red Polyana and successfully recovered it.

The news quickly reached von Bork, who sighed and remained silent.

"Marshal!" said the adjutant, "I'll let them take Red Polyana back immediately!"

Von Bock shook his head weakly: "Our troops have been exhausted from fighting for several months, and the cold weather here is a severe test for them. More importantly... the enemy's resistance has become stronger and stronger. It is getting stronger and stronger, even if we regain Red Polyana, it will be useless!"

"Your Excellency Marshal, you mean..."

"I think the Russian reinforcements have arrived!" Von Bock said: "We have lost our last chance!"

If Stalin heard what von Bock said, he would definitely regret it.

Because it was just to push the German army back from Red Polyana, von Bock was aware of the danger and wanted to retreat.

If the German army retreats at this time, the loss may not be too great. After all, the German army is still attacking at this time and the Soviet army's counterattack is not ready yet.

So, even if the overall situation is unfavorable to the German army, they can still retreat calmly and establish a line of defense 100 kilometers away, which is the line of defense of the Soviet army.

The problem is that Hitler was unwilling to fail, or he couldn't let go of this face... He had already blown out the cowhide, thinking that the German army would soon take Moscow, and he still announced it to the world.

Conceited Hitler certainly did not allow front-line troops to embarrass him in front of the world.

So, without even thinking about it, he rejected von Bock's request to retreat.

"Are you crazy, retreating at this time?!" Hitler said: "Moscow is right in front of you, it is only 30 kilometers away from you, it only takes one day... no, half a day, your crawlers can tear down its walls, we can't Give up at this time!"

"Your Excellency the Führer!" Von Bock said, "The temperature here has dropped to minus 30 degrees Celsius. Many of our weapons have been frozen. The physical fitness of the soldiers has reached its limit. We have no strength to move forward. , even if it's just one step..."

"No, I will never agree!" Hitler interrupted von Bock: "It is only one step away. We have put in so much effort. Months of war are for this moment. The advantage has always been with us. In the past Yes, it is still the same...we only lost 500,000 people, while the Russians lost 5 million people. They are ten times as many as us. If you have no strength to advance, it means that they also have no strength to defend! Fight again Moscow will be taken in one battle, and this is the last moment!"

"I don't think so, Your Excellency the Führer!" Von Bock said: "Because in the battle of Red Polyana, the enemy used a lot of artillery, I think their reinforcements have already arrived in Moscow..."

"They don't have any reinforcements at all!" Hitler interrupted von Bock again: "That's a hypothetical they want you to see. If you retreat at this time, you will be in their arms!"

This is often the case on the battlefield. Sometimes you can't tell who is right and who is not, because both sides are speculating.

Von Bock thinks that enemy reinforcements have arrived is speculation.

Hitler thought this was a tactic of deception as well as speculation.

Speculation cannot beat speculation, so in the end it was Hitler who prevailed.

There was also an episode in which, the commander-in-chief of the German army, Brausch, personally rushed to the Central Group Command for inspection. He was convinced that it was impossible for the troops to continue to attack. If they continued to attack, it would be tantamount to self-destruction. With permission, an order to retreat was secretly issued.

But Hitler immediately revoked the order when he learned the news the next day, and ordered to continue the attack with a roar.

At the same time, Hitler also dismissed Brausch, commander-in-chief of the army, and von Bock, who had been trying to persuade Hitler to retreat, was also removed from his post and was replaced by Field Marshal Luge, commander of the Fourth Army.

"These bastards, these idiots!" Hitler was furious: "Can't they see that victory is at hand?!"

Victory is indeed in sight, but everything has its two sides. The other side of victory is failure, but Hitler has not realized this yet.

Perhaps, Hitler has realized.

Because it is a taboo for military strategists to change generals at this critical moment, and he has changed several generals in a row, which in itself indicates failure.

It's just that Hitler didn't want to admit this fact.

(end of this chapter)