Rise of Australia

Chapter 916: Fierce Battle between Germany and Russia

In terms of actual tank combat capability, Russia is currently lagging behind mainstream European countries.

There is no way around it. The fear and blockade of Russia by European countries is understandable, as is why the development of Russian tanks has been so slow.

In addition, the industrial foundation of Tsarist Russia was relatively weak compared to other powers, its equipment research and development capabilities were poor, and there were frequent incidents of withholding research and development funds and passing off inferior products as good ones.

Under such circumstances, it is already quite difficult for Russia to develop tanks and mechanized equipment that can truly be used on the battlefield.

Russia's Defense Industry Administration, the agency that developed armored forces, was only established in 1924, just 13 years ago.

During these 13 years, Russia's tanks have evolved into the second generation, or two and a half generations to be precise.

The first generation of tanks was the T-12 tank. This generation of tanks laid the foundation for the development of Russian tanks. It was also because of this generation of tanks that many famous tank series were born.

The second generation tank was the T-26 light tank that Pavlov disliked because it did not have much armor protection.

However, the Russians have obviously also seen the current layout in terms of tanks, and they have also developed an improved tank for this purpose, named BT-7 fast tank.

Back to the war on the front line, no matter how hard Russia tried in terms of tanks, they would not be able to catch up with the tank development of mainstream European countries in a short period of time.

If we only talk about Germany, it didn't take them long to develop armored forces. But the problem is that Germany at that time was a huge union after annexing many countries. The military production and research and development capabilities of Germany, Poland, Austria, Belgium, and the Netherlands combined were naturally not comparable to those of an ordinary country.

The gap in the actual performance data of the two sides' tanks, as well as the gap in ideas about the actual use of tanks, resulted in a huge gap in the combat effectiveness of the two armies.

The entire 4th Army of the Western Front did not resist the German 2nd Panzer Group for long before it was quickly wiped out by the German armored forces.

A large number of armored units crossed the Bug River and cut a gap in the Russian infantry army, and then the army continued to advance further east towards Pinsk and Baranovichi.

It is obvious that the target of this armored group is not only Brest, but also Pinsk and Baranovichi behind Brest.

Behind these two cities is the real Russian territory, Holikhorsk and Minsk.

After the armored forces made a breakthrough, it was now the turn of the German Army to occupy the entire city of Brest.

Soon, the German army, which was charging forward, collided with the somewhat confused Russian army. The two sides engaged in a fierce battle, and the first shot between the German and Russian infantry units was officially fired.

Although the Russian army was on the defending side, the terrain advantage occupied by the Russian army was wiped out because the German armored forces had already cut a hole in the Russian army.

Their defensive positions were not at all complete, and some were even easily broken through by the German army.

In fact, there was no way around it. Even the day before the war broke out, people in Russia were still spreading the word that it was impossible for Germany to declare war on Russia.

Since the government has promoted it in this way, how could the people and the military not believe it?
This also caused the front-line troops to be somewhat lax about the German army. When they were suddenly faced with an attack from the German army, they were somewhat at a loss for a moment.

An interesting incident occurred during this period. The German eavesdropping department intercepted a telegram from the Russian army, which came from the Russian front-line troops and the rear command.

"Our unit is under artillery fire, requesting instructions!" the Russian front-line troops reported truthfully.

"Are you crazy? Why use plain text telegrams?" This was the answer from the Russian rear staff.

From this aspect, it can also be seen that the German army's surprise attack on Brest-Litovsk when the Russian army was completely unprepared was indeed an unexpected surprise for the Russians.

There is a huge gap between the two armies in terms of combat ideas.

The plan of the German Central Front Commander-in-Chief Bock was to have two armored groups advance from the south and north with Brest as the boundary, cut through the Russian army, advance deep into the enemy territory with the momentum of encirclement, and threaten Minsk, Russia. The advantage of doing so was that it could avoid positional warfare with the Russian army and prevent the Russian army from using human lives to delay time.

Of course, achieving their goal is also a test for the German armored forces. Because in order to achieve hundreds of kilometers of cutting, it is necessary to ensure that the German armored forces have sufficient combat effectiveness, and the German tanks must also have reliable performance and excellent stability.

However, considering the Germans' more rigid and rigorous character, the probability of problems with German armor may be the lowest among all the armored forces of various countries.

In addition to the fighting in Brest, a war between German and Russian armies was also going on in the north of Brest, in a city called Grodno.

There was bad news for the Russian army. The German army's attack was too fierce, and the large-scale indiscriminate bombing by the air force had obviously destroyed the communication and command system of the Russian Western Front.

Many shallowly buried telephone lines were directly blown off, not to mention the telephone lines exposed on the surface, which were visited many times by German paratroopers and were even cut into several pieces.

Pavlov, who was in the Western Front headquarters, was also very anxious at this time. In a recent call with the Russian General Staff, Pavlov had promised that he would not let the German army break through the Western Front's defense line.

But judging from the current fighting in Brest, the German army has clearly broken through the Russian army's defenses and is even capable of threatening Pinsk and Baranovichi.

At this time, Grodno, where the Western Front's headquarters was located, was also facing an attack from the German army. In addition, contact with the Tenth Army at the front had been lost. This battle was undoubtedly a severe test for Pavlov.

In order to contact the Tenth Army in Bialystok, Pavlov decided to go to a city dozens of kilometers to the west in person.

When he arrived there, Pavlov found that Bialystok was in chaos and the situation was very bad for the Tenth Army.

"Grubev, didn't you receive my call?" Pavlov immediately asked the commander of the 10th Army, Grubev.

"No, Commander. The Germans have already cut off our telephone lines, the oil depots are out of oil, and even the tanks are gone. The Germans still have tanks and planes. Damn it, what are we going to use to fight?" As Grubev explained, his words were filled with despair about this war.

"Order No. 3 from the Supreme Command requires your troops to launch an immediate counterattack and occupy important positions such as Osovets, Wisna and Bielsk." Pavlov conveyed the order from the Russian Supreme Command, but from his expression it could be seen that he did not quite agree with this seemingly outrageous order.

You know, the current Tenth Army is being suppressed by the German army. To ask such a suppressed army to counterattack immediately is like asking them to die.
"Damn it, what did you say?" As expected, the commander of the Tenth Army, Grubev, stood up instantly and looked at Pavlov with anger and disbelief.

"It's an order from the Supreme Command, General Grubev. Obviously, this is an instruction from a group of officials who don't understand war at all. I'm just conveying it on their behalf." Pavlov shook his head, indicating that this was not his opinion.

"These damn officials, do they want my soldiers to die?" Grubev slammed the desk hard, and all the debris on the desk shook up a few centimeters.

"Let's organize the soldiers to defend first. At least, we can't let the Germans break through Bialystok. As for the counterattack, there is no need to rush. I will report to the Supreme Command. At least before the supplies arrive, I will allow you to rest temporarily and only need to carry out strategic defense." Pavlov patted Grubev on the shoulder and said comfortingly.

Compared with other ethnic groups, Russians are larger and stronger, with more developed limbs. But at the same time, they are also simple-minded and think in a simplistic way.

Pavlov believed that if he insisted on ordering Grubev to lead the Tenth Army to counterattack at this time, based on Grubev's angry performance just now, he would probably directly refuse to execute the order.

Because this was not a reasonable order at all, it was directly sending Grubev's troops to die. More importantly, this death was meaningless to the entire war. Even if they were willing to sacrifice for the country, they would not sacrifice in this way.

Hearing Pavlov's words, Grubev's anger eased a lot. He nodded and said to Pavlov: "I understand, Commander. Please rest assured that as long as the Tenth Army is still in Bialystok, the city will never fall into the hands of the Germans."

When he said this, Grubev's eyes flashed with determination and enthusiasm. For a soldier, the highest honor is actually to devote everything to the country on the battlefield.

Even though the Supreme Command had just issued an outrageous order, it still could not affect Grubev's patriotism. For Grubev, this order only proved that there were idiots who did not understand war in the Supreme Command, which did not affect Grubev's decision to sacrifice everything for this country, even his life.

　The second update of 3000 words, please vote for me and support!

　　Day 9/10 of 6000, it has been updated to 10000/ today. Please vote for me and support!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)