"Marshal of the Empire, good news, the 48th Panzer Army just captured Volokoramsk. Now they are only 80 kilometers away from the Moscow's periphery."

On the evening of April 25, Hessman, who was about to leave the General Staff of Toxson, received news from Guderian that the 48th Armored Army commanded by General Balk had captured Volokolamsk.

However, this is not particularly good news, because today is the 6th day of the German attack in the middle, but the few assault clusters closest to Moscow have only advanced to a place seventy or eighty kilometers west of Moscow. The defense capabilities of the Soviet Preparatory Front are still stronger than expected by the German General Staff.

Moreover, even more beyond the expectations of the German General Staff, the Northern Front of the Soviet Central Front, which is now established again, is still as still as a mountain!

The investigation showed that the front army, which had at least 10,000 soldiers and thousands of tanks/strike artillery, had not gone south to meet with the Central Front when the rear was seriously threatened, but continued to build fortifications on the spot. It seemed that there was no German armored cluster that was advancing from the west towards Moscow, and would soon threaten their rear.

Because of the "unmoved" of the Soviet Kalinin Front, the Northern Army Group and the Paulus Group of the coalition forces did not launch a large-scale attack on the Soviet army. They were just continuing to attack the Soviet army on the May Day Town-Valdy front line. However, in order to leave some thoughts for the Soviet Kalinin Front, the German attack was not sharp. At present, they only lifted the siege of Valdy and did not capture the May Day Town.

"Maybe we should let Moder and Paulus get more of their efforts," said Hessman. "First capture May Day Town, and then attack in the direction of Kalinin City, forcing the Soviet Kalinin Front to flee to Moscow. The 4th Armored Army launched a side attack and attacked the Red October Railway."

Guderian's eyes turned and suddenly asked, "Why wasn't Hort's army attacking Klin? But it's more than 50 kilometers, and it's possible to attack on the 26th or 27th. In 2 days, more than 10,000 people from the Kalinin Front could not get away at all."

"Encircle the Kalinin Front?" Hessman shook his head, "It is unlikely that it will be successful? Even if Klin is captured, the Kalinin Front can still retreat by detour. They can even retreat to Yaroslavl Prefecture... It would be better to bring them into Moscow."

Yaroslavl Oblast is in the northeast of Moscow Prefecture, and is also a place full of forests and swamps. As long as the Kalinin Front retreats there, it will be difficult to capture it. They (referring to the Kalinin Front) can even retreat all the way to the Volga-Ural region.

In this way, the battle in the Volga-Ural region will become very difficult in the future.

"There is a possibility that the Kalinin Front will succeed," Guderian expressed a different opinion. "As long as the Soviets do not escape themselves, we can surround them."

"Don't run away?" Hessman stared at Goodrian with his eyes.

Guderian shrugged, "In fact, most of the surrounded troops in history have the opportunity to escape... Not escaping by themselves is the biggest reason for being surrounded by the enemy. So I think it is possible to surround the Kalinin Front!"

Hessman nodded. He knew that Guderian was right. Although Hessman was a "water warrior god", it did not mean that he had not studied military affairs carefully for many years. In fact, he spent a lot of time and energy on military research in the past twenty years. He even wrote several military works!

His military god was flooded, but military experts were real. So he knew very well that most of the exciting battle examples that could be reviewed in military works must have made great mistakes.

If no one makes a big mistake, a wonderful battle cannot be fought.

Most commanders who made big mistakes wanted to win a great victory that did not match the military power they had.

"What do you think the Soviet Union wants to do?" Hessman asked Guderian.

"I want to fight to the final battle!" said Guderian. "In the six days since April 2o, our people have not seen a few JS-2 heavy tanks on the battlefield... I think they must be quietly gathering and preparing to give us some ruthless places."

"In Clint?"

When Guderian said this, Hessman couldn't figure it out, and his military research for more than 20 years was in vain.

"There is a 90% chance." Guderian made a gesture of strangling the person with both hands. "If I were the Chief of Staff of the Soviet Army, I would have led General Hot's armored cluster to Klin, and then gambled!"

Hessman thought for a while and asked, "So...will we bet?"

"Gambling!" Guderian said without hesitation, "no matter what he beats, it is better than encountering 1ooo or 2ooo js-2 tanks in Moscow."

...

"Comrade Katukov, how is your army going? Can you take on the glorious mission of fighting the Nazi armored cluster?"

At the late night of April 25, Zhukov had already arrived in Klin from Volokoramsk by car, who was almost blown into ruins by German bombers. He met General Mikhail Yefimovich Katukov, commander of the Guards' 1st Tank Army, who came from Kalinin City, in the headquarters of a collective farm outside the city.

Those who can become the commander of the 1st Tank Army of the Guards are of course very proficient in tank warfare. This General Katukov can be said to be the commander of the Soviet Union's most brain-wrenching tank troops! When the world revolution broke out, he was just a brigade commander of the tank brigade. He first led his troops to participate in the Battle of Lviv (it was almost the same as the Battle of Warsaw, but the intensity was much worse), and later he was transferred to the commander of the 1st Tank Army. He was promoted to the commander of the 2nd Tank Army in January 1943, and participated in the battle of the junction that year.

Although his tank army suffered a crushing defeat in the joint battle, the troops suffered less losses than the other army groups participating in the battle. In addition, in previous battles, he always performed better than other officers of the same level, and even if he lost the battle, he was not very ugly. Therefore, he was ordered to command the crushing tank cluster in place of General Vatujing and joined the Southwest Front.

After that, he led his troops to Ukraine, and it was not until late autumn of 1943 that he led his troops to retreat to Stalingrad. At this time, the troops he commanded actually had more than 30,000 people and more than 100 tanks that could be activated!

Because of such a record, after leaving the Ukrainian battlefield, he received attention from Marshal Pavlov and was appointed as the commander of the newly formed Guards 1st Tank Army.

In the "Klin Tank Battle" that was about to begin, Katukov was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the "Northern Line Tank Cluster" (also known as the Katukov Cluster). He will be responsible for commanding the selection of a large number of elite troops from the guards' 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th tank armies to attack the left wing of the German army.

"The situation of the troops is not very good," said General Katukov in the face of Zhukov's question. "The four heavy tank armies of the Kalinin Front have suffered certain losses in the battle for many consecutive days. Currently, there are less than 800 JS-2 heavy tanks that can be activated, and less than 9000 T-34/85 tanks that can be activated."

"There are 17oo cars..." Zhukov nodded, "It should be enough."

Unlike the four heavy tank armies of the Kalinin Front, the 3rd and 4th armies of the Guards Tanks that remained in Moscow were all new forces. Zhukov also drew many tank brigades from other synthetic armies to strengthen the two armies. Now they can also take out about 17oo of js-2 and t-34/85.

In other words, in the upcoming Klin Tank Battle, the Soviet army can invest up to 34oo js-2 and t-34/85 tanks. Of course, the integrity rate of Soviet tanks has always been low. Now 34oo can be started. When it really comes to the battlefield, it is common to get a 20% discount. However, more than 27oo js-2 and t-34/85 are not missing...

...

“How many e-5o and 'cheetah' can be activated now?”

In the evening, Guderian, who had discussed with Hessmann to bet with the Soviets, was on the phone with Marshal Manstein on the front line.

“There are more than 67o e-5o,” Manstein replied, “There are more than 16o Cheetah tank destroyers.”

The e-5oa tank and the Cheetah tank destroyer are the two trump cards in Manstein's hands. However, since the attack on April 2o, until today, no matter how fierce the front line is, he has not put the e-5oa and the Cheetah into the battlefield.

Because ace should be used at the most critical moments!

"How many can join the 48th Armored Army immediately?" asked Guderian.

"Join the 48th Armored Army?" Manstein asked on the phone, "Do you want Balk (the commander of the 48th Armored Army) to fight Klin?"

Manstein immediately guessed Guderian's intention.

"Can you do it?" Guderian asked on the phone.

"Now there are only 11 heavy armored battalions and 3 heavy tank destroyer battalions that can join the 48th Armored Army immediately." Manstein did not answer directly, but talked about the situation of the troops. "There are definitely no 4oo e-5o that can be activated (44o units are fully equipped, and the intact rate is also impossible to reach 1oo%). The 'cheetah' can operate up to 11o vehicles.

The 48th Armored Army can concentrate up to 2 armored divisions and 2 armored grenade divisions for assault on Klin. These troops have been consumed, and the total number of tanks/assault artillery/tank destroyers that can be activated is definitely not 15oo, and the total force is less than 60,000.

In addition, because the roads are muddy, it is difficult for the troops to keep up with the oil supply, and it is a bit difficult to support a large-scale tank battle."
Chapter completed!