The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 1247 - 922 Smolensk_2

Chapter 1247: Chapter 922: Smolensk_2

Chapter 1247 -922: Smolensk_2

Smolensk and Vitebsk were key railway junctures leading to Minsk. Additionally, there was Bobruisk in the south, with railways running towards Kiev nearby.

However, the issue was that Kiev was already a primary offensive target for the German Army Group in the south, making it nearly impossible for them to support Minsk.

Should Vitebsk and Smolensk, which could potentially support Minsk, become blockaded by the German Army, the Russian supplies and reinforcements would no longer be able to reach Minsk.

The newly appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Western Front Army, Timoshenko, certainly saw through the Germans’ intentions. But the problem was, having only been in command for a few days, the Western Front Army had not replenished its troops and equipment.

The current Western Front Army had only a few divisions, with about 30% of their equipment at hand. This meant, nearly seventy percent of the soldiers in the Western Front Army did not have their own weapons and could only engage the enemy with bayonets if they went into battle.

Would the German Army engage in bayonet combat with the Russian army? Definitely not.

With the advantage of tanks and airplanes, and overall superiority in weapons and equipment, the German Army would naturally not abandon their powerful armaments to engage in bayonet combat with Russian soldiers.

This also meant that either they had to wait for the two Army Groups of the reserve Army Group to be officially reassigned, or for the supplemented troops to be integrated into the military; otherwise, the current Western Front Army did not possess much combat strength.

Seeing the situation clearly, Timoshenko did not insist on defending Minsk, instead stationing his few divisions in Smolensk, and constantly monitoring the movements of the German Army.

With the example of Pavlov’s “pearl” before him, Timoshenko naturally had to be wary of the German Army cutting off his defensive lines and encircling his main forces.

If he were to sacrifice the only forces he had at hand, even as a marshal, Timoshenko would likely not escape Stalin’s punishment.

After Timoshenko strategically abandoned Minsk, the defending forces in the region gradually retreated.

It was a matter of necessity; with no chance of reinforcements arriving, blind resistance would only lead to more casualties and would not stop the Germans from entering Minsk.

In the end, it took the Germans less than three days to successfully occupy the city and officially push the frontline into Russian native land.

The previous war had erupted on what had been Polish territory, but now, tens and even hundreds of thousands of German troops marched into the Eastern European Plain. For the Russians, the real test had just begun.

The forces responsible for the eastward push towards Smolensk were, of course, the very familiar Second German Armored Group led by Guderian’s elite armored troops.

From the open territory south of Minsk, they moved eastwards for approximately several hundred kilometers until they reached the Dnieper River, a famous river in the Eastern European region.

To achieve the best flanking effect, Guderian decisively chose to cross the Dnieper River and pushed northeast towards Smolensk.

In Mogilev, the Second Armored Group encountered a small number of Russian troops.

Because Mogilev was quite far from Minsk, the troops here had not yet retreated but continued to be stationed in Mogilev, guarding the railway junction.

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Such Russian forces, when facing the attack of the German armored group, did not even put up a weak resistance and were quickly eliminated by the German Army.

Guderian, as if he had done nothing exceptional, continued to order his troops to cross the Dnieper River.

To ensure absolute security, Guderian requested the Air Force to scout south along the Dnieper River, confirming the safety from Mogilev to the banks of Gomel.

Although this area was under the Russian Western Front Army, Gomel was very close to the Russian Southwestern Front Army, with only a few hundred kilometers separating it from Kiev.

If the Russian Southwestern Front Army intended to provide support, its mobile units could reach Gomel in two days.

It is for this reason that Guderian had no choice but to guard against the Russian Southwestern Front Army on the lower Dnieper River.

If they were to be ambushed by the Russian army, especially in an air raid, while crossing the river midstream, even Germany’s elite second Armored Group would suffer considerable damage.

The good news is, the situation of the Russian Southwestern Front Army isn’t much better. In addition to facing the offensive of Germany’s Southern Army Group, they also needed to face the attack of the Romanian Army.

Although a significant part of the Romanian military had to deal with South Slavia, they were still able to assemble at least 200,000 troops to cross the river and fight on Russian territory.

After all, if Romania wanted to expand its land, they had only two directions to choose from, South Slavia and Russia Nation.

North lies Slovakia and the Polish Region, to the south is Bulgaria, and to the west is Hungary; these areas and countries are all allies of Romania.

Germany’s Southern Army Group had already captured Vinnytsia and was now majestically heading toward Kiev.

The airport in Kiev had also been subjected to numerous airstrikes by the German Air Force, with most of its airplanes destroyed. Currently, it was facing a lack of tanks and airplanes similar to the Western Front Army.

In such circumstances, it would be difficult for the Russian Southwestern Front Army to lend support to the Western Front Army. After all, for these Russian generals, their first priority was to defend their own theatre of operations and positions.

Having secured safety, Guderian then led his troops gloriously across the Dnieper River and advanced towards the northeastern direction of Smolensk.

After Guderian led his troops across the Dnieper River, Germany’s High Command also issued a final order to the Central Army Group under Guderian’s command. That was to encircle the Russian forces around the West Dvina River and the Dnieper River region, capture Vitebsk and Smolensk, and open the road to Moscow.

According to German intelligence, less than 100,000 troops of the Russian Western Front Army were deployed in this area, with most of the main forces located in Smolensk.

While Russian support was continuously arriving, as long as the German military acted quickly, they could completely capture these cities before the arrival of the Russian reserve forces.

By then, whether to continue the attack or rely on these cities for effective damage to the Russian military would both be good decisions.

It had now been four days since Timoshenko deployed defenses in Smolensk.

The good news was, an army group from Moscow and some weapons and equipment had already arrived ahead of time.

Without any hesitation, Timoshenko deployed this army group to the Vitebsk region and set up a defensive line between the two river areas.

The nearly a hundred airplanes transported from the Moscow Region were deployed by Timoshenko in a hidden area east of Smolensk.

These fewer than 100 airplanes didn’t have much use for the front lines, and Timoshenko wasn’t going to use these airplanes for the time being.

As long as these planes remained unused, the Germans would not know that the Western Front Army had been reinforced with airpower.

When the final battle between both parties came, this surprise attack by nearly 100 airplanes could achieve impressive results.

Finally, it was the patrolling situation around Smolensk and the surrounding areas. Learning from the lessons of Pavlov, Timoshenko didn’t deploy all his troops on the frontline but left a large number of mobile units behind.

The sole task of these troops was to disperse themselves over the vast land behind Smolensk, including Roslavl south of the Dnieper River.

This approach would ensure the security of Smolensk, and even if the German army tried an encirclement like they did at Białystok, the widely scattered mobile units would be able to detect the Germans early on and report back to Timoshenko at the Main Camp.