Chapter 974: Classic

Army Group A’s main armored force was the Wehrmacht’s 2nd Panzer Corps, a veteran unit of the Wehrmacht with formidable combat strength. It was also assigned two SS Panzer Divisions: the 1st SS Panzer Division and the 13th SS Panzer Division. In addition, this army group had two Heavy Panzerjäger Battalions, the 501st and the 503rd.

In Guderian’s armored forces, the 502nd Battalion was the spearhead of the attack. In General Rundstedt’s armored forces, the 501st was likewise a factory for producing undefeated aces—the commander of this battalion’s 1st company, Michael Wittmann, was the number one ace of the German armored forces, with a kill record 41 higher than Rein’s crew.

And he was now the only super-ace in the entire German armored force with a record exceeding 200 tanks. What did this record mean? Based on German organization, a tank battalion at full strength had about 45 tanks. By this calculation, Wittmann himself had written off about five armored battalions.

Of course, this record was padded. After all, the German armored forces had only truly met their match for a brief period on the Eastern Front. Nearly half of Wittmann’s kills were achieved in Poland, France, and Britain. But no matter how padded, this record was still absolutely terrifying.

What’s more, Army Group A had another young ace, Carius, whose kill count was only a few behind Rein’s, and even more impressive than Markus’s. The overall quality of the tanks in Army Group A was also slightly higher—after all, most of this unit’s tanks were of a later issue, much newer than those of G Army Group.

It was for this reason that, purely in terms of the combat capability of its armored forces, Army Group A was undoubtedly another of the German army’s main forces, in no way inferior to G Army Group. And this unit’s fists, Wittmann and Carius, were also far more powerful in the art of tank warfare than the combination of Rein and Markus.

So, where were the German armored forces? At this very moment, Wittmann lowered his binoculars and shifted his gaze back to the convertible parked beside his tank. “Have the reconnaissance units push forward. I need to confirm the exact location of the enemy forces.”

“Yes, sir! First Platoon, Reconnaissance Company, all units, start your engines! We’re moving out now!” The NCO in the car saluted, then signaled his driver to start the vehicle. Behind this car, a four-wheeled light armored car also started up, followed by two motorcycles produced by BMW.

German reconnaissance soldiers in long trench coats, their rifles slung over their backs, sped past Wittmann’s tank on their motorcycles. The thick antenna of the high-powered radio on the armored reconnaissance car swayed back and forth with the bumping of the vehicle.

Further in the distance, several armored personnel carriers were parked on the side of the road. Grenadiers were munching on biscuits and stale fried noodles. Some were leaning against the armored cars, smoking. On the high ground of the small town, there were snipers on watch, and several sappers were setting up a frontline radio command post by a barn.

The tank company under Wittmann’s command was parked nearby. These heavy tank battalions had long since been re-equipped with the King Tiger. After all, this new German tank was very convenient to produce. Its production volume had, in a short period of time, surpassed that of the Tiger and the Panther, becoming the easiest tank for Germany to replenish.

“Confirm our current position! The map is very inaccurate…” the battalion commander said, standing beside an armored car. He held a handset in one hand and pressed an earpiece to his ear with the other, loudly confirming his position with a neighboring friendly unit, re-gridding his battle map.

“Confirm which reservoir this is! Will! Take your men and scout the area. Grab some locals and find out which reservoir this is!” Tossing the handset aside, he walked towards Wittmann’s tank while shouting at the group of resting grenadiers.

“Yes, sir!” The platoon leader called Will quickly stood up, then pointed to a dozen of his men. Carrying their weapons, they walked off into the distance. On the other side of the road, a vast reservoir could be faintly seen, but there were several reservoirs in the northern part of Moscow. The confusion on the map made it impossible for the German army to be certain where they were.

The battalion commander walked to the side of Wittmann’s tank, looked at the surface of the reservoir in the distance, squinted his eyes, and asked with his hands on his hips, “It seems we’ve advanced a bit too fast. It’s estimated we may have crossed the Staritsa a day earlier than expected.”

“Are you saying we’ve already reached the area west of Redkino, and Tver is not far to the north?” Wittmann was also startled by his own speed of advance. It seemed that since the Battle of France, the German army’s advance had never reached such an astonishing pace. After all, their opponents were getting stronger, and the Führer was also concerned about losses and had deliberately restricted the advance speed of the armored forces.

“This should be it,” the battalion commander said with some pride, pointing to a huge reservoir on the map. “Now it’s up to the Marshal’s orders, whether to have us attack Tver or to have us cut across to Redkino.”

Wittmann nodded, then, after a moment’s thought, said, “I’ve looked at the general map countless times. There’s a railway bridge near Redkino. Whether we want to protect our rear when we attack Tver, or if we want to directly cut off the Soviet southward route, we have to take that bridge first…”

“What you’ve said is exactly what I wanted to do,” the battalion commander laughed. To have subordinates who understood his tactical intentions was undoubtedly a fortunate thing for a commander. He nodded and said, “After we find our direction, we will advance on Redkino at full speed, striving to capture that place and cut off all transportation before the Soviets can strengthen their defensive system there.”

“I understand!” Wittmann grabbed his headset, put it back on his head, and then contacted the tank at the very rear, which was on security and covering duty. He asked, “Hey, Hans… have the fuel supply trucks arrived yet? We don’t have much time. We need to refuel as soon as possible and continue our advance.”

“Boss! You’re in luck. I just saw them… four trucks, and probably some canned food,” the commander of the rearguard tank replied with a laugh in the headset. Everyone’s mood was generally very good right now, the reason of course being the incredible ease of the battle.

Due to a lack of forces, the number of troops the Soviets had deployed on the outskirts of Moscow’s main front was pitifully small. They had no ability to stop the German advance, let alone to counter-attack and threaten the German flanks. These units, after a slight resistance, had quickly collapsed and had withdrawn towards Moscow, which was also the tactic that had been planned from the beginning to deal with a German armored assault.

And so, after the infantry had broken through several of the almost unmanned defensive nodes on the side of Moscow, the German armored forces had begun their long-range raid. These tanks, under the cover of the panzergrenadiers and mechanized infantry, advanced rapidly and, with incredible speed, had cut into the area north of the Ivankovo Reservoir, north of Moscow.

The mission of this northward-advancing armored force was very simple: to cut off the roads leading to Moscow from the northern region and, in coordination with the pursuing E Army Group and the Finnish Group, to encircle the 570,000 southward-advancing Soviet infantry. These Soviet infantry were moving slowly and were being harried at their rear by List. Their daily speed of advance was very slow.

A heaven-sent opportunity, I must seize it. This was Rundstedt’s thought. With the war having reached this stage, the opportunity to annihilate a large number of the enemy’s effective strength in the open field was already very rare… Since the Soviets had delivered themselves to his door, the German army could only “accept with reluctance and a sense of shame” and gobble them up in one bite.

In coordination with the reservoir and the surrounding terrain, the German army prepared to use its assault force to first capture Tver and to annihilate the entire southward-advancing Soviet formation in the open field, cutting off Moscow’s last hope of a well-organized rescue. For the German army, to finish off this force in the open field was much more profitable than to let it enter Moscow.

The German army was advancing through the region north of Moscow as if it were an uninhabited land, rapidly advancing and capturing one after another of the small towns that were defended by almost no troops. Sometimes, after the German army had entered a village, they would find that there wasn’t even a decent man there. A group of old women and women, holding their children, watched in terror as these German soldiers in gray uniforms and M35 steel helmets carefully crossed the fences and set up machine guns behind the low walls.

“There are no more soldiers here… sir… not even any men,” an old woman said, walking on the road with a basket, watching the German soldiers who were crouching on both sides of the roadbed, not daring to easily show their heads. She muttered with a hint of sorrow. Unfortunately, no one could understand her words, so the German army still followed their ingrained battlefield habit of surrounding the entire village.

On the road, the sight of Panther tanks, paralyzed due to breakdowns or mechanical failures, had finally reappeared, a sight that had been rare since France. This rapid advance had tested both the men and the equipment, but the reliability of the German equipment was trustworthy, which was also a credit to the Führer.

Soon, everyone discovered the exhaustion of the Soviet war potential. In the villages around Moscow, it was rare to see a man between the ages of 18 and 40. Even the women of this age group were excessively scarce. It was as if they had entered one after another of kindergartens or villages for the elderly. The German army could only see the traditional Russian women and the children with their big, curious eyes.

At the end of May, the German army, with a classic deep-penetration raid that had not been seen for a long time, and with an unprecedented speed of advance, had launched the Battle of Tver against the southward-advancing Soviet formations.

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