The effect of the air strike was not an ordinary ideal. It almost blew the German material reserve warehouse upside down, and even brought a large amount of damage. According to the results of the aerial reconnaissance the next day, the air strike also destroyed about fifty tanks, one hundred and twenty semi-track vehicles, and more than 500 cars and motorcycles.

Let me put it this way, the 14th Armored Division, located in the core area of ​​the bombing, not only paid more than 2,000 personnel losses, but also paid a considerable amount of equipment losses. To be honest, nearly one-third of the armored division's equipment was destroyed. So much so that after the air strikes, the German army had to withdraw the division immediately and replenish the division.

Of course, the losses of the 14th Armored Division were only small heads, and even Rokosovsky didn't care much. What really interested him was the losses of the German army's material warehouse. To be honest, these losses could never be counted, because not only the warehouse and the materials in the warehouse were destroyed, but almost all the documents were burned. Even the Germans themselves couldn't figure out how much the losses were.

Guderian looked at the smoke-filled storage area and said to Admiral Klester, who was stunned by his expressionless face, "Let's go, there's nothing good to look at, there's only one way to go for us..."

Guderian did not say which road, but Kleist knew very well that there was only one way to retreat. Without supplies, their soldiers could not resist the Russian attack in the snow and ice. What, what? How did you ask Guderian know that Rokosovsky was preparing to counterattack?

If Guderian could not even foresee this, then he would not be a tank monster, and he would not be worthy of sitting in his current position.

After returning to his headquarters, the first thing Guderian did was to give the Chief of Staff: "Immediately prepare for the entire army's retreat. I will see the detailed retreat plan tonight!"

The second order he issued was: "Notify the Army Group Command and tell Marshal Boke that the materials here have been completely destroyed and there is no possibility of continuing the attack. It is actually impossible to maintain the current situation. I ask him to approve our army to retreat immediately!"

Bock had just woken up when he received Guderian's request. Last night, the Marshal didn't sleep at all. It lasted from 8 pm to 12 pm. Bad news was heard from Bryansk. The large-scale bombing of the Red Army caught him off guard. He knew very well. Once Guderian's only material reserves were destroyed, the next disaster would be awaiting the German army!

Since the early morning, Boke has been waiting for Guderian's report, but he has not responded until he waits for Guderian, so he has a sense of luck. He thinks that Guderian has escaped.

At three in the morning, the Marshal, who could not bear it, glared at the mystery. Who would have thought that bad news would come just after opening his eyes.

This scoundrel made Boke very depressed. After transporting the telegram for a long time, he said in a depressing voice: "Forward to the wolf's den."

Logically speaking, Bok was qualified to order Guderian to retreat, but Bok did not dare to issue this order casually. The reason was very simple. Hitler had great hope for the report of this breakthrough. He once thought that he would defeat the Bolsheviks with unstoppable momentum. He had been dissatisfied with Guderian and Klester's delayed style more than once. Now, the head of state ordered the retreat without asking for instructions. I am afraid that the one who would be furious.

How crazy and terrible the furious head general was. Bock felt his calf cramps just by thinking about it, so he simply sent Goodrian's request to the wolf's skull, which means it depends on how you deal with it.

When Hitler received this telegram, he was indeed furious. The furious head of state almost wanted to destroy everything in front of him. When his study room turned into a mess, the madman calmed down.

"Tell Bock, tell Goodrian and Klester. I approve their request and can temporarily retreat..."

Has Xiaomoushi changed his temper and finally listened to the generals' suggestions? Of course, this is impossible. Xiaomoushi agreed to retreat after weighing the pros and consent. Objectively speaking, Hitler still has a certain level in military aspects, at least he can understand the most basic situation changes. He also understands the actual difficulties faced by Guderian and Klester.

Two precious armored clusters cannot be placed in an extremely dangerous situation, and Hitler felt that stopping the attack was only temporary, and if the traffic route was cleared, the first and second tank clusters were fully supplied. It was not impossible to launch a grand offensive to defeat the Russians.

Although it is a pity to give up the plan to end the war before Christmas, it is better than taking the risk of getting in two main tank clusters. What's more, Hitler felt that the advantage here was still great, so that the troops could take a breath and accumulate strength. It is not impossible to launch a new offensive in February and March next year to destroy the Bolsheviks in one fell swoop.

In any case, it will take three months. In order to win this war, Germany has been waiting for twenty years. What if it can be done after waiting for another three months? Anyway, Hitler is very sure that he is the only one who wins this war!

Moreover, Xiaowang could also notice that his relationship with military generals in the past two months was a little nervous. Although he was not worried that these elm-heads would rebel, it was necessary to appease them for the benefit of the empire.

All this determines Hitler's attitude and also determines that the test Rokosovsky will face in the future will be very serious.

Guderian's movements were unusually fast. He ordered to retreat before he received the order. After the official order from the wolf cave was issued, his preparation for running away was even faster. At that time, Guderian wrote in a letter to his wife: "...This air strike is absolutely extraordinary. The Russians may have accumulated a force, and this force will first attack my troops. After several months of fierce battle, especially the torture in recent times, my troops have suffered serious setbacks in terms of combat effectiveness and morale. Once they are strongly counterattacked by the Russian army, it is difficult to guarantee that they will not collapse... I do not allow this situation, and the only way is to retreat immediately before the Russian counterattack is fully launched!"

Guderian said this and did so. On the third day of the air strike, the 14th Armored Division and the 10th Mofan Division immediately retreated. Guderian told these two divisions: "You must retreat backward at the speed of attack. I hope you will retreat quickly to Pochop and ensure the safety of the bridges on the Sudosti River!"

Guderian's foresight played a role again. He was clearly aware of the importance of the Sudosti River. Once the bridge on the river was destroyed, it would be almost impossible for him and Kleist's armored troops to escape Rokosovsky's backhand punch. Only by quickly passing the Sudosti River and retreating towards Gomel. He and Kleist's troops could avoid being surrounded.

Yes, Guderian has discovered that his troops are very dangerous. Although aerial reconnaissance did not fully discover such danger, he has foreseen: "The counterattack does not necessarily come from our front only. Although the enemy's 21st Army has initially had the strength to counterattack after it arrived on the battlefield. However, according to my observation, the number of frontal enemies is insufficient and the battle is limited, so it is difficult to achieve good results by relying solely on frontal counterattacks. If I were the Russian commander, I would definitely take advantage of our army's disadvantage of going deep into the ground. The troops were drawn to counterattack from the side and backwards, and the front and back attacks could defeat our army in one fell swoop."

Rokosovsky's arrangement was basically consistent with Guderian's speculation. The highlight of his counterattack was not the three armies on the front, but the other two armies entering from Smolensk and Belarus.

At this time, the 12th Army had moved to the Klitchev area, while the 20th Army arrived between the Besseji River and the Ipdi River, not particularly far from Pochop and Unecha. If these two armies could quickly cut in and cut off the enemy's retreat, it would not be impossible to fight an annihilation battle in Bryansk.

Whether it can succeed depends on two points. One is the speed of the 12th and 20th armies, and the other is the reaction of the German army. At the beginning, Rokosovsky was more worried about the previous point. After all, these two armies were relatively tired along the way. No one can guarantee whether they can continue to fight.

As for the German reaction, Rokosovsky was relatively optimistic. The Germans had previously put on a stance of attacking to the end, which fully demonstrated that the enemy's determination to fight was still an attack. Moreover, judging from the information obtained by the intelligence agencies, the wolf cave had repeatedly ordered the strengthening of the offensive. The possibility of the enemy retreating was not lacking, but it was very small.

At least Rokosovsky judged that the German army would not retreat easily. He believed that the Red Army still had time to complete the battle configuration of the annihilation war. It has to be said that when commanding the large army to fight, Rokosovsky still lacked experience. At this critical moment, he made a misjudgment, or was fooled by the more experienced Guderian.

How do you play? It's very simple. Guderian has decided to retreat quickly at this time. According to the general idea, since he wants to retreat quickly, don't wait. Everyone should pack up their fine lines and run away to escape!

But Guderian was not an ordinary person, but a master of tactics. At this critical moment, he kept his mind clear and plotted against Rokosovsky. While ordering the 14th Armored Division and the 10th Motorized Division to retreat quickly, Guderian also issued another order: "Concentrate the 14th, 48, 46th and 47th Motorized Army to launch a large-scale offensive operation, lasting 48 hours!"

Yes, at this critical moment of retreat, Guderian actually ordered the troops to continue the attack! This was completely beyond the norm, and even completely contrary to military common sense. But it was this touch that completely misled Rokosovsky and made him make a wrong judgment.

When the German army was attacked wildly, Rokosovsky was secretly happy, but he did not expect that Guderian was actively preparing for retreat while attacking. After the 48-hour mad attack came to an end, the tank monster decisively ordered Feng Tiaohu!

At that time, Rokosovsky's 6th, 16th and 21st armies were still preparing to resist the enemy's attack, and all the troops were in a defensive posture. After discovering that the German army had run away at high speed, they hurriedly changed their posture and turned to pursuit. To be honest, it was too late!

Rokosovsky sighed: "I am worthy of being a tank geek, I have a good grasp of my courage and timing!"

Of course, this does not mean that Rokosovsky is ready to let the enemy escape. Even if he is so generous, Li Xiaofeng is not so generous. Rokosovsky immediately took out the armored troops that had been ready for the start and threw all the two mechanized armies into the pursuit operation in one breath. Moreover, his order was: "Don't worry about the flanks, just rush forward, and catch up with the enemy's main force at all costs!"

The rumbling armored army immediately poured out like a flood that opened the gate. It has to be mentioned here that the Red Army's armored assault is very different from the German army. The Red Army's armored assault is even more rapid. There is also an indomitable castration. The group of cavalry generals trained in the civil war are particularly good at this kind of rushing rushing without a complete front.

In fact, Guderian was shocked. The time he fought for through confusion was not enough to completely offset the speed of the Red Army's armored troops' advancement. Moreover, he did not expect that the enemy who seemed dying actually hid such a powerful armored unit.

"This fully demonstrates that the enemy has been preparing for a comprehensive counterattack since the start of the air strike. It is conceivable that if our army remained in place, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

At this time, Guderian was also in a cold sweat, and he couldn't help thinking. What would have happened if Rokosovsky had seen through his trick of attacking openly and secretly using this powerful armored force to attack and attack from the beginning?

The tank monster admitted in his diary: "I'm a little arrogant, but fortunately the enemy didn't see through my tricks, otherwise I will destroy the first and second tank clusters..."

Fortunately, there was no such thing as Guderian who had succeeded in his plan, but he also knew that he would never allow the enemy's armored troops to pursue them so relentlessly. Compared with the enemy who was full of energy and supplies, his troops were tired and hungry. Moreover, the equipment was quite depleted. If the enemy pursued them like this, the troops would collapse sooner or later.

Under extremely difficult circumstances, Guderian ordered the 24th Motorized Army to cooperate with the 25th Armored Division of the 3rd Motorized Army of Klester to stay behind the temple and make sure to gain some time for the main force to cross the river.

At the end of the road, the German army also had great combat effectiveness. Three armored divisions, one motorized division and one cavalry division blocked the two mechanized armies of the Red Army. The fierce tank fight went on in a daze. According to post-war statistics, the two sides lost a total of more than 600 tanks in this fight.

A considerable number of the old T-26s of the Red Army were consumed, and the Germans suffered heavy losses. Under the joint attack of the Red Army's air-ground, two armored divisions were destroyed, and the motorized divisions and cavalry divisions had to get off the horse and get off the car, almost becoming pure infantry.

Of course, for the German army, such sacrifices were not meaningless. This bought time for the main force of the first and second tank clusters, and now time means survival or death.

The mechanized army's unsuccessful progress soon attracted Rokosovsky's attention, but he did not have many ways to deal with the tenacious and desperate German army. In addition to strengthening air support, he could only cheer up the two commanders.

"Just cheering up is useless," Li Xiaofeng shook his head and said, "If we want to annihilate the enemy, we must take practical actions. Judging from the current situation, the enemy has also realized that this is the moment of life and death, and it is already in a hurry to jump over the wall. Faced with these mad dog-like enemies, we must remove the firewood from the bottom!"

Cut off the firewood from the bottom of the cauldron?

Rokosovsky didn't understand how to remove the firewood from the bottom of the pot, because there was no card at all on hand. He had no other moves except urging the Mechanized Army to strengthen its offensive and issued death orders to the 12th and 20th Army.

"We have a way," Li Xiaofeng said seriously. "In addition to ordering the troops to accelerate, we can also try our best to cause trouble for the enemy, let the air force strengthen air strikes, and destroy key nodes on the enemy's escape route, such as bridges..."

Rokosovsky smiled bitterly. He thought of this move, but it was not effective. In order to avoid air strikes, the German army hid in the daytime and went out at night, and arranged a large amount of air defense firepower at key traffic nodes. More importantly, according to the reaction of the Air Force, their German colleagues have also started to go crazy these days, and they are simply covering the ground forces at all costs. The fierce battle in the air is no easier than on the ground.

"This fully shows that our air power is not strong enough!" Li Xiaofeng stood up and said seriously: "Give power to the Military Commission, inform us of our actual difficulties, and ask the Military Commission to draw more fighter jets to support us..."

Li Xiaofeng's request made the Military Commission and the General Staff very embarrassed. As mentioned earlier, the Air Force is undergoing large-scale dress-up changes, and it is very tight in any direction. In order to support the Bryansk thunder rolling operation, other fronts have already bleeded. Now someone wants more planes, how can this be done?

Anyway, Tukhachevsky did not have many solutions, but this time, Trotsky stood on the side of a fairy. After Lao Tor learned the news, he personally called Tushuai: "Comrade Mikhail, the war in Bryansk is a major turning point. This is the first step for our army to change from passive defense to offense, and it is to get rid of the previous passive key battle. We must win this battle at all costs. If we can wipe out the enemy, the situation on the battlefield will be completely rewritten. Even if we cannot wipe out the enemy completely, as long as we can severely damage the enemy, it will be a major victory. For this major victory, no matter what difficulties we have, it must be eliminated. You must solve the problem of the aircraft. This is a political task and there is no condition to talk about!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!