< World War II – Liberation(Wyzwolenie) (4) >
May 2nd, 1941
Eastern Front
"Ugh, ugh-aaaaah!"
"Retreat, retreat!"
Seven days since the start of Operation Liberation.
With 6,000 aircraft blanketing the sky in rotation and beginning their indiscriminate bombing of a defense line that was already wavering and being pushed back, it only took a mont for the front to begin collapsing.
"Don't fall back! Comrade General Secretary has strictly forbidden retreat— Gack!"
The political officer, shouting himself hoarse to stop the soldiers' retreat, collapsed with the sound of a gunshot from sowhere.
The blood staining his military uniform red was flowing from his back.
As clear holes began to appear in the Soviet defense line, it was the Mobile Army Groups, dispersed across each front, that were faster than anyone in the Allied Forces to find and break through those gaps.
-Advance! Advance! Forward, only forward!
-Focus on the breakthrough! Leave the remaining enemies to the Army Group!
As the armored units of Erwin Roml and Heinz Guderian began to lead the breakthrough, the advance of the armored units was faster than the retreat of the Soviet Army, which was in a panic due to the orders to hold their positions.
The Soviet generals were undoubtedly competent.
But with communications lines torn up by the ceaseless bombing, and orders between units starting to get cut off, the Soviet Army, panicking over the fact that they had allowed a breakthrough, could not be properly controlled by their generals.
"Attack! Freedom for the motherland! Wiwat Polska!"
"Charge! Don't let those invaders escape alive!"
And so, as the Soviet soldiers fell into chaos, panicked, and routed, the Polish Cavalry caught up to them.
"R-Run—"
"Death to the Soviet invaders!"
"Aaargh!"
The Polish cavalryn chased the frantically fleeing Soviet soldiers on horseback, shooting them with guns, cutting them with swords, and piercing them with lances.
Cavalry, though obsolete for this era, proved as effective as in past eras for pursuing and annihilating a routing enemy unit, and the Polish Army, which had suffered so much at the hands of the Soviet Army, showed no rcy.
While the Soviet Army was collapsing in various places, the armored units of the Mobile Army Groups left the chaotic Soviet forces to the pursuing Army Groups and comnced a fierce charge.
In the central region, Roml and Guderian beca the spearhead, penetrating the enemy's gaps, while General Hube's unit in Army Group North and General Model's unit in Army Group South took on the sa role.
But the four armored armies, having broken through the enemy lines at their respective locations, were not satisfied with that and began to converge towards the center, crushing every enemy in sight.
The four armored armies tore through the Soviet formation in real-ti, leaving the chaotic Soviet forces for Army Group North, Center, and South to handle, all while advancing, coordinating the gap between their units, and forming a single, massive offensive line.
It was a feat made possible by the most brilliant armored commanders, the support of the air force that blew away everything blocking their breakthrough, and the cooperation of lower-ranking German officers who could exchange and coordinate their situations through ceaseless radio communication.
It was all according to Manstein's outlandish operation, and although it had pushed Colonel General Kleist to the brink of collapse from frantically coordinating and communicating with each unit to make it a reality, they ultimately succeeded.
As the units led by four of the most competent generals in the German Army moved in sync like a single living organism, General Kleist's army group finally began to fully function as a ‘Mobile Army Group’.
The Mobile Army Group, which had shaken the entire front as if it had no main force, finally beca the main force after breaking through the enemy lines and began a direct charge towards Pinsk, where the Soviet Command Headquarters was located.
-
"Damn it…!"
Georgy Zhukov swept all the operation plans he had painstakingly created off his desk.
At this point, he had erased victory from his mind.
This was no longer a battle of victory or defeat.
The Soviet Army was on the verge of a total defeat, and he wasn't just going to stand by and watch.
"Relay to all units! Imdiately cease all reckless holding of current positions and pull the front back to re-establish a defense line!"
Zhukov bit his lip so hard it could have burst.
This order was in clear violation of the General Secretary's directive.
But if left as is, the Soviet Army would suffer a devastating blow.
He would have an argunt to make if he could at least block the offensive of the enemy's Mobile Army Group rushing toward Pinsk and succeed in stabilizing the front while retaining at least so of the occupied Polish territory.
Zhukov stared vacantly at the situation where the four armored armies, spread across the wide front, had ford a single offensive line through an unbelievable maneuver.
It was a feat the Soviet Army, lacking a proper communication system or capable junior officers, could not even dream of imitating: having four armored armies handle breakthroughs in different areas, only to re-converge them into a single main force to advance.
But for that very reason, instead of splitting his armored units and sending them to each front to be defeated one by one, Zhukov had saved them as a heavy blow to be thrown at the most decisive mont, holding them in reserve until the very end.
So, there was hope.
The German maneuver warfare was certainly a threat, but they too had a chronic weakness.
The faster and sharper their breakthrough, the more their flanks, which they had to defend, would expand exponentially, and their defense would naturally beco vulnerable.
Aiming for that, Zhukov finally played the card he had saved until the very end.
-
The armored units composed of Enrique Líster's and Vasily Chuikov's T-34s received Georgy Zhukov's order and struck the flanks of the Mobile Army Group from the south and north.
And the main force, the units of Generals Model and Hube responsible for the outer defense of the Mobile Army Group, confronted the armored units of Líster and Chuikov, respectively.
"Deploy quickly!"
"Yes, sir!"
Clens Fleck barked out the order urgently, the mont he leaped from the armored vehicle, and his chanized infantry unit began to deploy hastily.
Clens turned the armored vehicle he arrived in into cover and combat support, anxiously watching as the 88mm Anti-aircraft guns and Pak 40 anti-tank guns they had towed were being set up.
His adjutant, Vinrich Behr, who was listening to the radio, shouted.
"Major, they'll be here in under 30 minutes!"
Clens suppressed the urge to tear his hair out and yelled.
"Goddammit! ‘Almost no more life-or-death situations on the front lines,’ my ass!"
As if the desperate urgency of the rush to form an offensive line with the other armored army group after breaking through the enemy's defense line wasn't enough, now he had to block an enemy armored unit striking their flank.
Is this a joke or just horseshit!
I know the military is a place where you just do as you're told, but there's a limit! Do they think the army is just chess pieces they move with their own hands?!
"Hey, the angle over there is wrong! If you set up the cannon like that, the lines of fire won't overlap! Don't you know crossfire, crossfire!"
"S-Sorry, Battalion Commander!"
Clens, moving so frantically his head was spinning, ran around the makeshift defense line being hastily constructed, giving orders to his chanized infantry unit.
"Distribution of Panzerfausts to each platoon is complete, Battalion Commander!"
"Don't screw this up like in training!"
"Yes, sir!"
There was a limit to a makeshift defense line that could be built in just 30 minutes. The only thing he could rely on was the new weapon Dietrich had finally tossed their way.
The fact that this new weapon was a real piece of work, painstakingly completed after countless trials and errors, was none of his business, and Clens swallowed dryly.
"General, a report from the reconnaissance unit! The enemy T-34 armored unit has arrived! They will reach here soon!"
At Vinrich Behr's final shout, Clens took a deep breath and roared.
"Prepare for battle! It's not our first ti, you bastards! Move your asses! You didn't ask for it, but you're the German Army's super elite unit! Doesn't that sound fucking cool?! If you don't want to beco undignified remnants of a defeated army, be worth your na!"
Seeing the n snickering, Clens pulled out his canteen and chugged from it.
Soon, the heavy barrels of the 88mm Anti-aircraft guns spewed fire, and the sounds of explosions began to erupt from the defense line.
Countless T-34s surged toward their defense line, only to be hit, explode, and burn.
Clens thought of Karina, who had so enjoyed the cuisine he had made for her.
"Don't you die, you bastards! Because I'm going to survive, no matter what!"
The battle for the unit tasked with the fiercest role in the operation had begun.
-
When he encountered the enemy unit while attacking the flank of Kleist's Panzer Group, Enrique Líster shuddered.
The enemy, as if they had precisely predicted Líster's offensive, had already set up a defense line and were responding quickly.
Unfolding before his eyes was the very formation and movent he had studied ti and ti again, poring over and dissecting combat records.
Just by seeing the enemy unit's movents and response, Líster realized who his opponent was.
Walter Model.
The very man who had blocked his path and dealt him a crushing defeat at the Battle of Brunete during the Spanish Civil War, the last hope of the Republican faction.
The man who had forced him to flee, leaving behind the subordinates who had trusted and followed him to the very end in a burning city, was once again blocking his path in the most decisive battle.
Líster was seized by the illusion that the burn that had left a deep scar on his arm was flaring up again.
That fla threatened to engulf not just his arm, but his entire body.
But that fla, that hatred, could not seize his mind.
He could not repeat the sa mistake.
He had to be different from those 'colonels'.
Líster remained perfectly calm and attacked, probing the enemy's weak points with his hand: the T-34 armored unit.
Although they were taking losses from bombing due to having lost air superiority, compared to the enemy whose formation was in disarray from their headlong breakthrough, his side had been patiently waiting for just this one opportunity to land a heavy blow on their flank.
The enemy's chanized infantry was inflicting considerable losses on his T-34 unit with new man-portable rocket-type anti-tank weapons, but it was only to the extent of dealing so damage.
The enemy was clearly being pushed back, and his unit was striking deep into their flank.
However, Enrique Líster could not hide his suspicion.
There was no sign of urgency in the enemy's movents.
For an armored unit to be hit on the flank during a breakthrough was its most vulnerable point, and it was the enemy's greatest weakness, one the Germans had already fallen for twice.
Indeed, they were resisting fiercely, but they were gradually being pushed back.
If the flank of a unit that was advancing after breaking through the Soviet defense line collapsed like this, it ant they would be encircled in the middle of the Soviet forces.
And yet, their movents showed no sign of panic.
Líster imagined a German general with a monocle sitting across from him, looking down at an identical operational map.
The image of an enemy, thoroughly restrained and cool-headed, who would not be shaken in any situation.
This man had always put up an iron wall of defense in Italy and Belgium, even when at an overwhelming disadvantage.
That must have been why he was tasked with covering the flank of the main force this ti.
Líster narrowed his eyes and looked at the map as if trying to gauge the enemy's intention, and then had a realization.
Had they ever rely held their ground in a defensive battle?
At least, as far as he knew, Walter Model's defense could be described in one phrase: Offensive Defense.
In all the scenarios he had simulated against him, ti and ti again, there was never a situation where he passively received his offensive like this.
Líster quickly turned his eyes to the kill reports.
There were few new model Panzer IVs.
Most of the kill reports were for older Panzer IVs, or StuG IIIs. If not that, they were at best infantry units or armored vehicles.
Where were their new model Panzer IVs?
Where was their core main force, rated as equal or superior to the T-34?
If their main force, the spearhead, didn't have the latest tanks, then where—
"G-General!"
Líster whipped his head around at his adjutant's call.
"The enemy! The enemy has raided our flank!"
"What… did you say?"
The T-34s of Enrique Líster and Vasily Chuikov, which had plunged into the flank of the rapidly breaking through German Panzer Group, seed to be succeeding at first.
However, Walter Model and Hans-Valentin Hube put on a show, reorganizing and detaching units while joining the offensive line of Guderian and Roml, who had broken through the enemy lines from their initial positions and were leading the vanguard, to protect the flanks.
The offensive of the T-34 armored units was defended by chanized infantry and supporting armored units, and while they were being pushed back, the new model Panzer IVs that had been redirected to bypass them slamd into the flanks of the T-34s that were in the midst of their charge.
Model's and Hube's units were not simply the anvil to protect the flank. Their units were both the hamr and the anvil.
The Soviet T-34 units, having no experience in a proper engagent with German forces where new model Panzer IVs were concentrated, began to rout, belying the prowess they had shown until now.
In terms of tank specs, the German Army had a slight edge.
But the German Army had the flexibility of a living, breathing force, thanks to their competent junior officers and radio coordination, and the airstrikes from the supportive Luftwaffe continued without end.
The Soviet Army, plagued by supply problems and low will to fight, had none of these.
Líster's and Chuikov's units, which had plunged in to attack the enemy's weakness, were instead hit on their own flanks and forced to retreat with massive losses.
-
While Model's and Hube's units were holding back Líster's and Chuikov's forces, the German armored units—the spearhead of Guderian and Roml—advanced at a speed faster than the retreat of the crumbling Soviet Army.
And they encountered the direct command reserves that Georgy Zhukov had saved and committed at the very last mont.
"Charge, charge! For the Motherland!"
"Ura!"
The powerful armored unit, composed mainly of heavy KV-1 tanks with armor difficult to penetrate even with the main gun of a new model Panzer IV, charged with a burning will to fight that was high even for the Soviet Army, but their fate was a tragic one.
"E-Enemy air force!"
"You've got to be kidding !"
The Soviet tank commander in the KV-1, terrified at the sight of the Luftwaffe flying in with such force they seed to blacken the sky, slamd the hatch shut and went inside.
The Ju-87 Kanonenvogels, true to their nickna 'Cannon Bird', rcilessly slamd the vulnerable top of the tanks with their massive autocannons.
The powerful armor of the KV-1 still held.
It would have, had it been one or two.
But the aircraft sent by the Luftwaffe took turns in rotation, continuously striking them.
They rcilessly fired their machine guns in a strafing fire, shot their autocannons, and perford dive bombings.
Until finally, the armor that could no longer endure was pierced, or the tracks were thrown, or a bomb by sheer bad luck made a direct hit on the top armor and blew it apart.
The KV-1s that sohow endured the Luftwaffe's airstrikes were then showered with shells fired from the 15cm heavy barrels of the Freiheit Self-Propelled Guns that were closely following the new model Panzer IVs.
The KV-1s that were lucky enough to survive even after all that were in tatters, barely clinging to life.
There were almost no tanks with their main gun, engine, and tracks all intact, and the tank unit that Zhukov had trusted as his last bastion t its end, being battered senselessly by the swarm of new model Panzer IVs led by Guderian and Roml.
Far in the rear, sitting with his legs crossed in a room thick with the acrid smoke of cigarettes, Erich von Manstein leisurely appreciated the carnage on his map and took a savory drag from his cigar.
He leisurely blew out the smoke, a smirk twisting his lips as he murmured.
"Checkmate."
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