On the early morning of April 8, 1944, the third day of the "Red Guards" warriors lurking at the "key point" of the Red Army's detours, Andreapol, the G-speaking soldiers lurking in the "key point" of the Red Army's detours, and the reactionary army arrived. What is even more disturbing is that these new troops are not the White Bandits, which look a little decadent and loose, have low morale, nor are the Polish troops that are very badly disciplined and hateful to the Russians. They are all energetic German troops. Although they are light-equipped troops, they can be seen from their coal-bucket-shaped steel helmets wrapped around the camouflage net, very rare camouflage uniforms and low-gang combat boots that they are elite German paratroopers!

Andreapol is a small town hidden in forests and swamps. The northwest of the town is surrounded by endless forests, the south to the south is a large swamp, and the east is a collective farm. Several key roads pass here, connecting the Great Novgorod to the north, Toropec to the north, Sidwell to the southwest, and Nelidovo to the southeast. For the Red Army that implemented the "Red Guards" plan, the road from Andreapol to the northeast through a large lake and dense swamped Ostashkov area to the Upper Volochok and Bologoye is the most critical.

As long as the Red Army controlled Andreapol and the highways to Upper Volococ and Bologoye, their huge light armored troops could quickly penetrate the German (Alliance) side and threaten the Moscow-Petrograd Railway (the Soviet Union called the Red October Railway). Even if they could not occupy Upper Volocococ and Bologoye (the Red October Railway passed from these two cities), they could seriously threaten the German side and rear, forcing them to shrink or even withdraw completely from Kalinin State.

At noon on April 7, after the Soviet guards' 7th Tank Army captured Nelidovo, which was stationed in only one White Infantry Division (Nelidovo is located in the western part of Kalinin Prefecture, which is not the focus of defense), Andreapol entered Moder's sight.

However, he did not send powerful armored troops to Andreapol because the terrain near Andreapol was not conducive to the development and operation of armored troops. Moreover, there have been Red Army guerrilla activities near the highway from the Red October Railway Line (in order to save fuel, the armored troops of the Northern Army were transported through this railway) to Andreapol (according to German standards, it is a dirt road), and armored troops are prone to ambush.

So Model sent the 2nd Paratrooper Division, which belonged to the Northern Army Group, to Andreapol to defend. On April 8, they arrived at the 2nd Paratrooper Regiment, the 2nd Paratrooper Anti-Tank Battalion, the 2nd Paratrooper Mortar Battalion and the 2nd Paratrooper Engineering Battalion. The commanding this vanguard was Lieutenant Colonel Otto Scholzne, the legendary hero of German paratroopers, who is now the leader of the 2nd Paratrooper Regiment.

Just as Lieutenant Colonel Skorzne led his troops to Andreapol, the vanguard of the 7th Tank Army of the Soviet Red Army also arrived at the small town of Kozlovo, about 9 kilometers south of Andreapol.

The vanguard of the 7th Guards Tank Army was a cluster composed of the 8th Guards Infantry Division and the 18th Guards Tank Brigade, with Major General Panfirov, the commander of the 8th Guards Infantry Division.

The first troops to enter Kozlovo were a battalion-level combat group commanded by Captain Krochkov Tiev, deputy political battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1075th Regiment under the 8th Guards Infantry Division. In addition to the two companies of the 1st Battalion of the 1075th Regiment, it also included the 4th Anti-Tank Company of the 1075th Regiment and the 3rd Tank Company of the 18th Guards (the tank company where Captain Shula and Varnikov were located). There were more than 500 people and 12 BT-7 tanks that could be activated, and 6 57mm caliber Zis-2 anti-tank guns (1943 type).

Before they arrived in Kozlovo, the red flag embroidered with a sickle hammer had replaced the tricolor flag of the Russian Empire, and fluttered over the town. The guerrillas near the town took advantage of the opportunity of the white troops in the town to retreat to Andreapol to recover the town.

So the troops led by Major Tyev took down the town without firing a single shot, but they also got bad news.

The commander-in-chief of Andreapol local guerrillas, the original Andreapol County Secretary, told Major Tiev: "Andreapol has brought at least 3,000 German infantry, who look very elite, and are likely their paratroopers."

Among today's German light infantry, paratroopers are definitely elite troops. They have not only received rigorous training, but also participated in many fierce battles. Although the weapons and equipment are lightweight, they are all carefully designed and manufactured fine products.

"Are there any tanks?" asked Major Diev.

Now the German airborne troops still have the organization of parachute armored battalions, each battalion is equipped with 45 "Little Leopard" reconnaissance tanks.

"No discovery," the guerrilla commander-in-chief reported, "at least no reports have been received in this regard."

...

"Have the 7th Guards Army arrived in Kozlovo?" Zhukov was quite satisfied with the progress of the "Red Guards" combat on the afternoon of April 7. After learning that Kozlovo was recovered by the Red Army, he told his deputy Rokosovsky: "In less than three days, the 7th Guards Army advanced more than 120 kilometers, and the progress was even smoother than expected!"

The Soviet army's "Red Guards" attack has been clearly divided into two big arrows from the map. One is a "circumcision cluster" with the 7th and 8th Tank Army as the blade. In addition to the two guard tank armies, there are three synthetic armies including the 16th, 18th and 56th Army (the tank brigades and tank destroyers belonging to these three armies are also equipped with bt-7, su-57), with a total force of up to 600,000!

Another big arrow is the "front cluster" composed of the 1st Guards, 2nd Guards, 1st Guards, and 2nd Assault Army. Although the total force is only 400,000, it has a large number of heavy tanks, so its attack power is more powerful than the "circumcision cluster".

Although the accident occurred as the "Oliga" tank destroyer, overturning many "Stalin" tanks, the Soviet army's "front cluster" operation was also smooth.

On April 5, the junction of the two German armies (in the area of ​​Lezhev) was tore open, and the detour cluster was successfully launched. Then the front cluster took on the task of feinting attack to attract the attention of the German army and began to advance towards Kuvshinov and Torjok in the north of Lezhev (Torjok was also along the Red October Railway).

As of noon on April 7, the 1st Armored Army of the vanguard in the front cluster of the Soviet army had assaulted Barno, a small town less than 50 kilometers away from Kuvshinov and Torjok.

It can be said that the counterattack in the past two and a half days was a bit beyond Zhukov's expectations.

However, there are also bad aspects when the counterattack is too smooth, that is, the whereabouts of the powerful German armored cluster are unknown. It is precisely because the German armored cluster has not appeared in the past two and a half days that the Soviet army's actions are extremely smooth.

But these unspoken German armored troops will definitely not disappear out of thin air. They must be waiting for the order to counterattack somewhere!

Zhukov pressed his hands on the edge of the map platform, stared for a moment, and asked Rokosovsky: "Have the troops infiltrated behind enemy lines ever encountered German armored forces?"

"No," Rokosovsky shook his head, "they only met the French mechanized cavalry (actually mechanized infantry) and the German armored grenades."

Now the German armored grenades and armored soldiers are very good at distinguishing between them. The former does not have Tiger tanks and e-50 tanks, while the latter has a large number of Tiger and e-50s.

The German Red Brigade Commando and the Polish People's Army Commando, which were in trouble behind the German army (Alliance Force), have never seen Tiger Style and E-50 so far.

This only means that the German armored troops were not on the front line, so where are they? When will they launch a counterattack?

Zhukov's concerns are not unreasonable, because the "Red Guard" operation he commanded is actually hovering on the verge of a crushing defeat. Model's previous action to shrink the front-line armored forces was not actually trying to fight a defensive counterattack arranged in a large depth, but he was just worried about unnecessary losses in the mobilization of expensive heavy equipment during the mud season.

So he pulled the 10 German armored divisions that were originally scattered behind the front-line troops to the "Red October Railway" and placed them on the line of Vorochok Bologoye Okulovka. The 10 armored divisions pulled out a 150-kilometer long snake formation (actually very densely arranged), just in the position where the Soviet Guards 7th Tank Army was preparing to encircle.

In other words, Model and Paulus don’t have to do anything now. Just cover their heads and sleep, their 10 armored divisions can also kill a Soviet guard tank army!

After all, the strength of the two sides is too different. Now a German armored division has more than 470 units (full group). There are more than 470 main tanks and tank destroyers for the Tiger, No. 4 H tank, E-50a tank, Rhino tank destroyers, and Scholar Tank Destroyer (with armored grenade regiments under the armored division). There are more than 4,700 main tanks and tank destroyers for the 10 armored divisions that can fight the frontal decisive battle. Even if the Soviet 8 guard tank armies come up together, they will still be defeated.

But as Comrade Lenin taught: the enemy will not sleep!
Chapter completed!