October 2, 1942.

After careful reconnaissance preparations, the 73rd and 298th Infantry Divisions stationed outside Klinchi City fired the first shot of another attack. The engineer troops to which they belonged began to clear the barbed wire and mines laid by the Red Army on the road ahead late on the 1st, while the main attack troops launched a full-scale attack one hour later without artillery preparations (in order to achieve sudden combat) along the safe passage opened by the engineers.

Because the Second Belarusian Front had mobilized many troops by Tukhachevsky before, the combat preparations were not particularly sufficient, and even a considerable number of fortifications were not completed. So in the eyes of the German offensive troops, the defense of the Red Army was just that. Shortly after the battle broke out, the 73rd Infantry Division of the German Army tore a hole in the Red Army's defense line, and the 298th Infantry Division also swarmed in, and the two infantry divisions advanced quickly along the railway towards the Klinchi city.

The front-line combat report received by General Hort on the morning of the same day described it as follows: "Our army's 298th and 73rd Infantry Division had launched an attack at 4 a.m. as planned. Due to the resistance of only a small number of enemy troops, the vanguard of the 298th Infantry Division had advanced to the heights east of Klinchi; while the situation of the 73rd Infantry Division was not so optimistic. It was stubbornly resisted by the Soviet army in the northwest and stopped and has now been summoned to support without any signing."

General Hort was obviously not satisfied with the outcome of this battle. The head of state put a lot of pressure on him. Under the head of state's continuous scolding and orders, he had to reluctantly join the armored forces in order to take down Klinchi in one breath.

The tanks of the 8th Armored Division of the German Army first passed the position of the 73rd Infantry Division. After helping the 73rd Infantry Division to repel the enemy in front of them, the tank troops were ordered to move northwest. Following the 8th Armored Division, the SS's Third "Skeleton" Division was put into battle. The division immediately entered the battlefield and immediately entered the fierce fire with the Red Army. It fought around the 107th Highlands for an entire afternoon.

Among the "Skeleton" division, the most "outstanding" is the newly formed Black Panther Armored Battalion commanded by Major Muchlenkamp. It is worth mentioning that all the crew of the battalion were temporarily "seconded" from the domestic SS left-behind troops and went to the battlefield after only a short-term training.

It is conceivable that the troops that have been temporarily doubling together can have a combat power. Especially when they were driving the early Black Panther A type, which is known for its extremely high failure rate. The whole day, the battalion "fighted" with endless mechanical failures, and it did not really enter the battle until four o'clock in the afternoon. But soon the battalion crashed into the Red Army's anti-tank minefield, and with the roar of several explosions, the group of "temporary workers" had to leave the three black panthers that caught fire and exploded out of the battlefield.

At the same time, on the other side, the two armored battalions and three infantry battalions of the 8th Armored Division have reached the designated assembly area and will be able to directly attack Klinchi from west to east. The 298th Infantry Division has controlled the roads and railways south of Klinchi, and the vanguard is conducting fire reconnaissance on Klinchi. As for the 73rd Infantry Division, it has finally overcome the tenacious resistance of the Red Army and began to advance steadily.

Although the German army failed to take Klinchi in one breath during the first day of the attack, most of the troops arrived at the pre-determined position basically as Hort asked. After a quiet night, the soldiers on both sides would fall into a more cruel battle.

It was four in the morning and the same force again. The second day of the Battle of Klinchi finally arrived. The 298th Infantry Division, which had progressed the most smoothly the day before, failed to continue the good luck of the previous day. It only advanced three kilometers to Klinchi for a whole morning. At two o'clock in the afternoon, under the tenacious counterattack of the Red Army, the division had to temporarily stop the attack. After two hours of rest, the division sounded the horn of the attack again, and as of the time before sunset, it advanced seven kilometers forward in one breath.

Let’s talk about Mulherenkamp, ​​who made all fools the day before, and after receiving support from the division’s artillery, the battalion reappeared. Soon after, Stuka of the Fourth Air Force also came to assist in the war. After a fierce shelling and bombing, the Red Army’s positions were already dusty, and Mulherenkamp knew it was his turn to take action.

With the order of Mulherenkamp, ​​Black Panther tanks that had been warmed up attacked all over the line. The muzzle pointed directly at the Red Army positions on the right wing high ground. The leader of Mulherenkamp was the 1st Company commanded by Captain Shunabel, followed by Lieutenant Furugel's 2nd Company and 3rd Company.

After crushing the first anti-tank trench of the Red Army, the German tanks stopped moving forward and instead provided fire cover for the engineers who were crawling forward. An engineer who participated in this battle vividly recorded their journey:

"After our tanks stopped, Sergeant Sarifen led us to climb towards the Russian position step by step, and carefully searched to eliminate all mines and other obstacles on the road ahead. From time to time, Russian shells flew over our heads. Corporal Senal, who was next to me, was hit by a flying bullet and flowed blood. This was accustomed to me. Almost every time I cleared mines, similar situations happened, and maybe it was my turn one day."

"Soon, the infantry brothers who followed up followed up followed and with their support, we finally could no longer be afraid of the Russian firepower. Soon under the cover of machine guns and tanks, we successfully opened a safe passage in the minefield. When the Black Panther tanks were crushed one by one, my only thought at that time was: This new tank is so tall!"

After receiving strong support from the engineers, Mulchlenkamp's armored troops successfully captured the high ground in front of him, but the tenacious resistance of the Red Army also caused him to lose three precious Black Panther tanks again.

Coincidentally, the 8th Armored Division of the German Army, at the northernmost end of the attack force, was also led by the engineering troops on the offensive another day. Before dawn, engineers from the 1st Battalion of the 66th Armored Grenadier Regiment (a model unit carefully formed by the German army, all equipped with armored personnel carriers carrying various types of artillery, achieving the perfect combination of mobility and firepower) opened a "一"-shaped road for the main force, but it was difficult to move under the suppression of the Red Army's fierce counterattack firepower. In desperation, battalion commander Major Brookney commanded his armored personnel carrier to rush forward regardless of his own safety, swept his bunkers hard at the Red Army's bunkers, and even wiped out the reserves of the car-mounted machine guns twice.

Of course, the Red Army's anti-tank guns were not vegetarians. With fierce shooting, they successively destroyed two German armored vehicles that cooperated with Major Brookney to charge. At the critical moment, the tanks of the 4th Armored Regiment stepped forward to solve the problem.

As the Red Army's position was broken through bit by bit, the tanks and armored vehicles of the 8th Panzer Division were finally able to rumble across the Red Army's defensive positions. The bodies of the dead Red Army could be seen everywhere on the battlefield. However, to the surprise of the German army, they almost did not catch a few prisoners, and most of the Red Army died heroically in the tenacious resistance.

Just when the Germans thought the door to Klinzi had been opened and their 8th Armored Division was moving forward quickly, the Red Army finally used its trump card. The 8th Armored Division was suddenly covered by rockets. The rockets falling from the sky fell on the heads of the German offensive troops from time to time, and no less than ten armored personnel carriers were destroyed. What made the 8th Armored Division feel breathless was that the Red Army's rocket launcher troops were very mobile, and they ran away when they were installed on the full track chassis, making the Black Panther tanks ready to go forward to pursue them were beyond the reach. On the contrary, the Black Panthers caught fire and burned two of them because they were too fierce to drive.

As of October 5, most of the periphery positions of Klinchi's Red Army were captured by the German army, and the German sudden attack also aroused Rokosovsky's high vigilance. As one of the three troikas of the future Red Army, Rokosovsky keenly realized that the Red Army's attack was very unusual. On October 3, he sent a telegram to the Military Commission: "I think the German offensive this time was not a small-scale temptation, but the beginning of a large-scale attack. The enemy invested a considerable number of troops, including a large number of armored troops equipped with Black Panthers and Tiger tanks. The appearance of these elite troops shows that the enemy still wants to capture Bryansk and assault towards Moscow!"

Ubolevic also noticed the unexpected attack of the Germans, and he was very sensitive to the extraordinary significance of the attack. He suspected that this was the beginning of a new large-scale attack by the Germans.

However, the Red Army General Staff was very chaotic at this time. Tukhachevsky's resignation caused a series of chaos. Some officers were unwilling to work and were busy working for the future, while others were incompetent and not enough to stand alone.

More importantly, the previous focus of the General Staff was the Minsk counterattack. Everything was centered on this operation. After Ubolevic came to power, although he immediately stopped the plan, it was inevitable that the plan had already involved too much energy from the General Staff, so that they did not notice the enemy's movements.

Moreover, there were different opinions within the Military Commission on whether the German army would conduct a new large-scale offensive operation. According to the General Staff Intelligence Department, the German army suffered serious losses from December 1941 to August 1942. A large number of armored troops were annihilated. Judging from the domestic tank production in Germany, it is unlikely that they will have the ability to attack again before 1943.

This report is completely opposite to the situation on the battlefield, so who should I listen to? This made the members of the Military Commission a little difficult. Seeing that the Red Army was about to miss the opportunity to fight, at a critical moment, one person changed the trend of the battle and pulled the Red Army back from the cliff.

This person's name is William August Fisher. Many comrades may be very unfamiliar with this name because it is really unfamiliar with it. However, when it comes to another name of this man, it may be much more famous, that is Rudolf Abel! The famous Soviet spy king!

Let me briefly introduce Abel's life. This man was born in Newcastle, England. Isn't he very surprised? A super agent who made a significant contribution to the Soviet Union, who is comparable to 007, is not a native Russian. Well, what is even more surprising is still to come. In a sense, Mr. Abel is not a Russian or Slav.

His father and mother (Henry Fisher and Liupof Fisher) were both Russian Germans. His father Henry was an old Bolshevik. During the Tsar period, Henry studied in St. Petersburg with Lenin and engaged in revolutionary activities. In 1896, he was arrested and exiled for opposing the Tsarist regime. Then he fled to England in 1901.

Fisher can be said to be a hardcore Bolshevik. Even during his exile in Britain, he tried his best to support comrades in China, such as sending weapons back to China through secret channels.

It has to be said that the revolutionary activities of the old Fisher had a great influence on the young Abel. Since childhood, many revolutionaries who spoke English, Russian, German, French and Polish have been active in Abel's family. The exchanges with these revolutionary heroes have also led Abel to the path of revolution. Of course, the most important thing is that these uncles, uncles and aunts gave Abel the most valuable language ability to have rich language.

When he was a child, Abel quickly learned the most authentic languages ​​from these predecessors. This little genius was able to speak English, French, Russian, German, and Polish without accent after becoming an adult. In an idiom, it was vivid. Moreover, Abel had talent in music and painting, especially his photography skills, and these would be the most valuable weapons in his future agent career.

In 1921, after the Soviet Revolution was already victorious, Abel returned to Moscow with his parents. He first worked as a translator at the Communist International, later joined the KGB, and later was elected as the candidate for the Gestapo because of his Germanic descent.

In history, Abel successfully entered the Gestapo and played a major role. In this historical time and space, with the addition of a certain immortal, Abel's weight became more important. In 1942, he became Himmler's adjutant and was able to access the core political and military secrets of the Third Reich.

After Hitler decided to launch a new round of offensives, as Himmler's adjutant, Abel soon learned this important information. However, what made Abel depressed was that in order to achieve the suddenness of the attack as much as possible, Hitler implemented a high-level isolation policy for all personnel who learned of the new offensive plan. Even Himmler could only stay in the wolf's den and accompany the head of state to wait for the battle to begin. Naturally, Abel could not leave either.

Fortunately, after the battle started, the relevant confidentiality policy was terminated. Abel, who had regained his freedom, immediately found his contact person and fed back to Moscow with the complete combat plan named Hitler "Red Beard".

So when Li Xiaofeng walked into the conference room of the Military Commission with a full set of "Red Beard" related plans, the end of this offensive operation that Hitler had high hopes for was also destined.

"It's crazy!" This is the sigh that Ubolevic made after reading the "Red Beard" plan.

It is not surprising that Ubolevich was surprised, because the head of state's plan was indeed a brain-opener. In order to gather enough armored troops, Hitler almost pulled out the armored troops on other fronts and concentrated most of the tanks in Gomel's direction. Such behavior was completely contrary to military common sense. Of course, Hitler will use this brain-opener tactic more than once in the future, such as the Ardennes counterattack, and the South Wind Operation in Hungary, which are examples of demolishing the east wall and filling the west wall.

"No wonder the General Staff Intelligence Bureau made a wrong estimate," Yegorov also spoke. However, he was saying good things for the General Staff Intelligence Bureau. "If we follow normal strategies and tactics, the German army does not have the ability to counterattack!"

Why did Yegorov say good things for the General Staff Intelligence Bureau? The reason is very simple. The General Staff has been tortured by Tukhachevsky's resignation. This period of time can be said to be in danger. At this time, the General Staff Intelligence Bureau made a big mistake again because of the "Red Beard" General Staff Intelligence Bureau. If they are scolding or punishing them, the General Staff will probably be really pills. So even if the General Staff Intelligence Bureau made a mistake and almost misled the Military Commission, Yegorov must say good things for them. It's nothing else. He really can't do anything anymore.

Li Xiaofeng also knew this truth. In fact, he did not mean to scold the General Staff Intelligence Bureau because their mistakes were understandable. Before, because Tukhachevsky's interference, most of their attention was in the direction of Minsk, so it was normal for Gomel's intelligence to be missed.

So Li Xiaofeng also said with the flow: "The key issue now is not to hold the person responsible, but how to deal with the German army's 'Red Beard' plan. Judging from the existing intelligence, the enemy has completed combat preparations and has put into the attack. On the contrary, the Second Belarusian Front Army was not ready for combat. In order to prepare for the Minsk counterattack, the front army was frequently mobilized, the troops lacked rest and had no reliable defense line to resist the enemy's attack."

Everyone here understands people. The situation in Rokosovsky is indeed not good. The second Belarusian army has few troops and the previous battles consume a lot. The ability of this army alone is probably not enough to resist the German army. Reinforcing Rokosovsky is an inevitable choice.

"Transfer the 37th, 38th, and 5th and 26th Army to the direction of Bryansk, and also order the Second Front of Ukraine and the First Front of Belarus to draw some forces to move closer to Gomel. We must not let the enemy open a hole in the center of our front line!" Ubolevic said firmly, "We not only want to smash the enemy's offensive plan, but also fight another annihilation war to strive to annihilate the enemy's large number of vitality. It is best to sculpt the enemy's newly formed armored forces in one pot!" (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!