Time passed bit by bit. Under the blows of the German artillery and air force, the Russian defensive lines suffered grievous losses. Trenches were blasted apart, machine-gun strongpoints and bunkers were destroyed, and the guns at the artillery positions suffered equally heavy losses.
Before the German infantry attack had even begun, the Russian army had already paid an enormous price. At this rate, it would not be long before all their artillerymen were dead.
It was not as though the Russian generals had failed to see this. They simply had no solution. If they ordered the artillery to take cover, the Germans would concentrate all their firepower on bombarding their positions. As things stood, their defensive positions were no different from paper mache beneath the Germans' fierce shelling. If they allowed the German artillery to continue firing, their defensive lines would probably be destroyed before long. What would they use to resist the German offensive then?
It was not only the Russian Western Front that was suffering fierce German bombardment. The Northwestern Front Army in the north, the Southwestern Front in northern Ukraine, and the Southern Front Army, which had already entered Ukraine, were all being subjected to intense German shelling.
The German military, silent for twenty years, had shown the entire world at the very beginning of this World War that its strength had not weakened with the passage of time. On the contrary, it had become even more formidable.
"Order every army corps to prepare for the attack! We must tear open the Russian lines in one burst of momentum!" General Guderian ordered.
In this offensive plan, German Army Group B was undoubtedly richly endowed with troops. It had not only an armored army corps, but also four infantry army corps. In addition, one million troops from the