From April 16 to 20, in the Kalinin area, the war between the two sides was still going on fiercely. The fastest update was on the battlefield in the eastern part of the state, in the Volococ-Udomlia area, the heavy armored troops and mechanized infantry and motorized infantry of both sides fought fiercely on muddy land covered with lakes and swamps.

The European Union side is in a defensive position in this area. Relying on the fortifications built last fall and winter, it invested a large number of mechanized infantry (armored grenadiers) and motorized infantry to carry out resolute defensive operations with the support of the -190 fighter jets and the HS-129 attack aircraft, resisting the increasingly fierce attacks of the Soviet army, and making a move to attack the Soviet army's roundabout forces in the May Day Town-Vadal.

The Soviet army took the initiative to seek a decisive battle, and invested four guard tank armies (1, 2, 5, 6) and a large number of infantry on the front battlefield less than 80 kilometers. They launched a series of strong attacks on the night of the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th. They tried to rely on the opportunity that German aircraft could not be deployed at night, and used powerful JS-2 tanks and T-34/85 tanks as sharp knives to pierce the coalition's defense and completely crush or expel the coalition's Paulus cluster.

However, after accumulating the investment of thousands of JS-2 tanks, T-34/85 tanks and more than 150,000 infantry to take turns to attack, the Soviet army's attacks on Volochok and Udomlia were still defeated. Not only did it fail to break through the coalition's defense, but it also paid more than 500 tanks (including more than 200 of which were completely damaged) and more than 30,000 casualties, and the heavy price of missing.

By the day of April 20, the two armed fronts of Volochok and Udomlia had almost no change compared to the 16th.

The most intense war between the two sides was in the western part of Kalinin (west of the Red October Railway Line) with dense forests and swamps.

While the Soviet heavy troops were blocked by Upper Volochok and Udomliya, General Cuikov's detour cluster was once again strengthened. While Cuikov could organize a large army to besiege Andreapol, he also sent an assault cluster with the 18th Army of the Red Army as the main force, attacking from Kufsinovo and attacking along the Firovo-Ozerki-Vadal line. Both Firovo and Ozerki are towns west of the Red October Railway. If the 18th Army of the Red Army can occupy it, it can open up contact with the 7th Tank Army of the Guards that besieged Vadal, so that Andrepole's gains and losses will be irrelevant.

Starting from the 17th, the 18th Army of the Red Army began to attack north wildly. Hopefully, before the road surface dries, it could take down the two key points of Ferovo and Ozerki. The Soviet attack was relatively smooth at the beginning. The 16th Mechanized Army, the main force of the 18th Army, repelled a Polish infantry brigade guarding Ferovo on the night of the 18th and recovered the city.

However, the next night, the 16th Mechanized Army, which continued to advance, encountered the German army near Ozerki near Bologoye. The Soviet convoy that had a long snake formation that was discharged from 20 to 30 kilometers on the highway was illuminated by the sudden flares, and was then attacked by the No. 4 H-type tank and the "Oliga Hammer" ambushed in the nearby woods. In just a dozen minutes, two or three hundred vehicles were beaten into burning fire balls.

Subsequently, the two sides launched a fierce melee along the muddy highway. Both sides used hundreds of self-propelled artillery and more light artillery that could be quickly deployed (including mortars, infantry artillery, mountain artillery and the zis-3 cannons on the streets of the Soviet army). The infantry of both sides also charged and counterattacked each other along the road. On the edge of the forest and the road, every inch of land became a "key point", and often hundreds or thousands of shells from both sides fell. The two sides changed hands several times before they decided to belong!

Because it was a close fight at night, the casualties were very tragic from the beginning. The German army was obviously fighting and annihilated the 16th Mechanized Army of the Soviet Army, but the Soviet army showed the tenacity and ferociousness of G-speaking soldiers. After the raid, they immediately launched a counterattack, and they also fought their best melee and night battles. In the past two years, especially in 1943, when most of the air superiority was controlled by the German army, the Soviet army had been relying on night battles to deal with the German army. In the meantime, close battles have always been the specialty of the Russians. Even the Tsarist Russian infantry was famous in Europe for their bayonets.

Therefore, although the German army succeeded in ambushing on the evening of the 19th, it obviously underestimated the Soviet army's determination and ability to fight night and close combat. After a hard battle, it was unable to defeat the Soviet army's 16th mechanized army. In the end, it could only retreat around 2 a.m. the next day, leaving behind corpses and damaged equipment, and gave the victory to the Soviet army.

However, the winning Red Army suffered even more heavy losses. The 16th Mechanized Army suffered more than half of the casualties. On the 30-kilometer highway and on both sides of the road, there were destroyed Soviet vehicles and dense corpses.

The entire 16th Mechanized Army was almost completely crippled, and the attack on Ozerki had to be postponed.

At the same time, the competition for Andreapol is also in full swing. Because starting from the 12th, the weather conditions allowed German aircraft to take off and support operations. Therefore, the Soviet army's competition for Andreapol could only be held at night, and at night it is conducive to German paratroopers to exert their anti-tank firepower and individual firepower. German paratroopers not only equipped with many "doll" rocket launchers with a range of up to 300 meters, but also the g42 paratrooper rifle is standard. Therefore, the individual firepower and individual anti-tank firepower are far superior to the Soviet infantry.

Moreover, paratroopers have always been the elite group of the German army, and are not comparable to ordinary infantry of the Soviet army. Therefore, Andreapol fought until April 20 and was still firmly in the hands of the 2nd German Paratrooper Division.

...

"What happened? A small Andreapol can't fight until now! What does the 8th Tank Army of the Guards do for? A tank army can't even get tens of thousands of German paratroopers!"

During the day on the 20th, Marshal Zhukov, who was in the underground command center of the General Staff, suddenly felt a little irritated and got angry at Pepekov, who reported the battle situation of Andrebol to him.

"Comrade Chief of Staff," Pepekov looked at his immediate boss with some surprise. "The counterattack on the northern front is going smoothly now. Although Andreapol cannot get it, we fought smoothly on the Fiforo-Ozeelki line. It is expected that Ozeelki can be captured within a few days, so that the troops in Vadal-May Day Town can get enough support and victory is still expected."

The "promising victory" that Pepekov said certainly does not refer to annihilation of the Paulus cluster. Now is not the period of the Stalingrad defense war in history. It is completely impossible for the Soviet army to eliminate as many as 500,000 and 600,000 people. The Paulus cluster with thousands of tanks/assault artillery. Although Stalin had fantasies about this, Pepekov, a chief of staff whom Zhukov relied on, would not be so stupid.

Pepekov believes that victory is actually to force the Paulus cluster to break north. As long as the Paulus cluster retreats to Okulovka, north of May Day, the cluster will be 380 kilometers away from Moscow, which basically does not pose a threat.

"But what about the Western Front?" Zhukov looked back at Pepekov. "Where do you think the armored divisions drawn by the Germans from the Northern Front went?"

"It's the middle," Pepekov replied, "that is, the western front."

There is no doubt about this, because since the beginning of the Soviet-German War, the German army has always followed the principle of "concentrating superior forces". Their superior forces will always be gathered on a battlefield.

Now the battlefield where the German army concentrates its superior forces is undoubtedly Moscow!

Therefore, the Soviet General Staff could guess with his eyes closed that the outline of the combat plan in the drawer of Hessman's desk first surrounded Moscow, and then the Volga-Ural region or the Caucasus region.

Moscow has not been surrounded yet, so the elite German armored clusters will not leave. The reason they were transferred from the northern line is definitely because it is more advantageous to attack from west to east. The terrain north of Moscow is indeed not as favorable as the west and south of Moscow, which is conducive to the attack of mechanized troops. As long as people with common sense of military knowledge know this.

"There is no big problem with the Western Front," Pepekov said. "Martyr Konev's reserve front has taken over the position. He has adopted a tactic of defense in depth to ensure that the German army cannot make a breakthrough in the short term. If the German army wants to detour south, we have enough troops to block it. And it is still muddy season, and the road is not conducive to the German army. Their attack will most likely start in May, so we still have time."

Since I guessed the possible deployment of the German army (in fact, there were only a few moves coming and going), the Soviet army naturally made targeted arrangements.

"So the victory on the Northern Line is still expected," Pepekov said. "What we should do now is to invest more troops and attack Volochok, Udomlia and... report!"

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by a report. A staff officer rushed to Pepekov and Zhukov like a gust of wind.
Chapter completed!