Before dawn, tens of thousands of artillery pieces from both sides of the enemy and ours fought against each other for more than an hour. Since the quality of the artillery on both sides was relatively high, the losses were similar.

In the first stage of artillery counter-preparations launched by Army Group Center and Army Group South, the Central Front, Don Front, and Voronezh Front commanded by Zhukov suffered heavy losses.

However, when the artillery battle between the two sides entered the second stage, the Red Army used its numerical advantage to make up for its disadvantage of striking later.

The more than 1 million Red Army troops participating in the first wave of attacks were divided into multiple directions. When the artillery battle ended, the lines of the vast majority of the attacking troops were intact.

Only a handful of troops were hit head-on by German artillery fire and were unable to continue the attack, so they had to give up temporarily.

For example, the 67th Guards Division of the 6th Guards Army directly in front of Major General Karl.

Because of the capture of two tongues, the position of the 67th Guards Division was controlled by Major General Karl. During the artillery counter-preparation stage, the 67th Guards Division suffered heavy losses.

The Young Guards of the Western Expeditionary Army are still the vanguard of the attack in the direction of Kharkov.

The artillery firepower in Zhongxia was stronger and the level of training was higher. The German artillery fire was quickly suppressed. The Western Expeditionary Army launched a large number of J-5 and J-2 aircraft at the same time. Soon, the artillery counter-fire preparations of the Southern Army Group were advanced.

Stopped.

As the sky gradually lightens, fighter jets and bombers begin to play their role.

At 3:30 in the morning, Mustache was woken up by Marshal Busch, commander of Army Group South.

He personally came to the Central Army Group Headquarters and personally paid attention to the dynamics of the frontline battlefield.

In the report of the senior staff officer, Mustache gradually became clear about the current situation.

He was extremely surprised and gratified by the artillery counter-preparations launched by Marshal Busch. In this way, the German side gained an advantage before the all-out battle began, which would be beneficial to the future development of the entire war situation.

Time passed by, and the artillery battle finally ended.

As the artillery battle ended, the atmosphere in the headquarters of Army Group Center also became solemn.

Various types of staff officers hurriedly gathered various types of battle reports into the hands of Marshal Busch.

The headquarters of the Army Group was in Kiev in the rear, so Mustache was not able to witness the spectacular and shocking scene of tens of thousands of cannons from both sides bombarding each other.

At around 7 o'clock in the morning, Marshal Wu received reports from various group armies. The Red Army or the Central Xia Western Expedition Army in front of them had launched a mighty counterattack, and the frontline troops were under tremendous pressure.

The position is like a sailboat on the sea, and there is always the possibility of falling apart in the rough waves.

The enemy's attack was very powerful. They were supported by air fighters. The attacks came one after another. The 4th Army and the 9th Army began to suffer a large number of casualties.

The situation is not optimistic!

It was at this time that Chinese fighter jets and bombers began to appear over the city of Kiev.

The city has been bombed many times, and major military facilities are in a semi-paralyzed state.

When the shrill air-raid sirens sounded, Mustache's brows furrowed slightly. He walked to the window in person and looked up at the Zhongxia fighter planes approaching from far away.

Marshal Busch was afraid that the leader's whereabouts would be exposed and that overwhelming Zhongxia fighter planes would come to attack him. He had to pull his thoughts away from the complicated battlefield and said to Mustache sincerely:

"Head of State, for your safety, you must leave Kiev. I will have someone prepare the car in advance!"

The current situation was that it was no longer safe to leave by plane. Marshal Busch planned to ask Mustache to leave Kiev by car and transfer to a military aircraft further back.

Mustache takes his own safety very seriously, and Marshal Busch will definitely evacuate if he comes.

But this time Marshal Busch thought wrong. The head of state shook his head resolutely, stared at the approaching plane with cold eyes, and said without any room for negotiation:

"I won't leave!"

"The people of Zhongxia are at ease in the Eastern battlefield and the European battlefield, and they are unstoppable. But I haven't seen with my own eyes what the army looks like this time. I won't leave this time!"

Not only Marshal Busch heard what Mustache said, but many senior generals and staff officers behind him also cast surprised glances.

The head of state was resolute and seemed to be planning to burn the boat.

For safety reasons, many people still hope that the head of state will withdraw from the battlefield.

But if the head of state can stay with them all the time, they will actually be very excited.

Mustache felt this keenly and strengthened his determination to stay.

..

The Kremlin and Comrade Stalin are also concerned about the progress of attacks from all directions.

He didn't sleep all night, but there was no trace of fatigue in his eyes, which were still so determined and profound.

Marshal Vasilevsky showed the progress of each unit on the battle sand table.

Judging from the sand table, the offensive of the Central Xia Western Expedition seems to be the fastest and smoothest.

In just two hours, they had broken through the first line of defense built by Manstein, and the Panzer Army was still advancing.

In addition, the attacks of the First Tank Army, the Third Tank Army and the Fourth Tank Army also went relatively smoothly.

Vasilevsky never received any reports of frontline troops encountering large-scale enemy tanks.

All tank armies were covered by armed helicopters, and the Germans may have withdrawn.

Although the battle only lasted for more than two hours, some aspects were already showing an anxious situation.

Vasilevsky frowned slightly. It seemed that the strength of Army Group Center of the Third Reich was still very strong.

But he was not in a hurry, the snowstorm mentioned in the weather forecast was coming soon.
Chapter completed!