Film and Television: Starting from the Journey to Guandong

Chapter 159

In fact, the tragedy of the Soviet-German battlefield was not limited to Stalingrad, the Battle of Lyuban was also quite tragic.

在1942年1月初，德军在列宁格勒的北方集团军群战斗编成内共有2个装甲师、2个摩托化师、3个警卫师、26个步兵师，共计33个师，另外还有2个旅，兵力总数为66.5万人；

There are more than 6000 artillery and mortars; the armored forces were completely lost in the just-concluded Tikhvin Battle. After supplementation, a total of 160 tanks are available for combat;

提供空中支援的第1航空队仅有115架飞机，其中战斗机44架、轰炸机32架、运输机和联络机26架、俯冲轰炸机8架、远程侦察机5架。

On December 1941, 12, the German High Command issued an order to the German troops on the Eastern Front regarding the organization of defense.

All units are required to do their best and fight for every inch of territory. The main task in winter is to defend the occupied areas in order to buy time to gather new reserves and create conditions for relaunching the offensive in the spring of 1942.

The order stipulates that Army Group North must be fortified along the Volkhov River and the railway line leading to the northwest from Volkhov Station, and continue to besiege Leningrad.

The task of Army Group Center is to defend the triangle formed by Rzhev, Bryansk, and Smososk and the two cross-shaped railway traffic of Rzhev-Vyazma-Bryansk and Smolensk-Gzadsk. Wire.

The mission of Army Group South was to hold on to the occupied areas and capture Sevastopol.

In order to hold the line of defense, Commander Loeb of Army Group North readjusted his deployment.

在北部防线的列宁格勒方向，屈希勒尔的第18集团军所属第26军和统帅部直属第50军负责继续围困列宁格勒南部，其当面苏军是坚守城防的第42和55集团军。

在东部战线，从北端的姆加到基里希是第18集团军第1军和北方集团军群唯一的快速机动部队第39装甲军（1941年11月，第39装甲军改由阿尼姆指挥），其当面苏军是列宁格勒方面军第54集团军。

The 18th Army of the 38th Army was responsible for defense along the Volkhov River in the middle section of the eastern defense line. The Soviet army facing them was the right wing of the newly formed Volkhov Front and the Northwest Front of the Soviet Army.

The southern end of the Eastern Front from Novgorod to Demyansk and the southern defense line to Stara Rusa was defended by the 16th Army commanded by Busch, facing the left wing of the Soviet Northwest Front.

This front stretches for more than 600 kilometers. In the hinterland of the defense line, there are 3 guard divisions and 2 reserve divisions responsible for guarding.

On the Soviet side, after winning the Battle of Moscow in 1941, the Soviet high command believed that the German army was in panic and that the German army, which was not prepared for winter operations, would be unable to withstand the Soviet army's continuous assaults.

Once the Soviet army achieved a breakthrough in the German defense line, it would force the German army to retreat in large strides, thus providing a wider space for operations in the spring of 1942.

Accordingly, Stalin prepared to launch a comprehensive counterattack against the German army from Leningrad, Moscow, Ukraine and Crimea.

In early January 1942, Stalin recalled Zhukov from the front line to discuss the general offensive plan.

Zhukov did not agree with the Soviet army launching an immediate counterattack. He believed that to launch such a large-scale attack, a large amount of troops and supplies must be reserved in advance, and the Soviet army currently does not have such strength.

Therefore, he suggested that the counterattack be concentrated in the area west of Moscow, because although the German army had retreated from the direction of Moscow, the battlefield situation was very unfavorable to the Soviet army. As long as the Soviet army in this direction obtained the necessary troops and tanks, it would be able to achieve greater results.

However, Stalin did not adopt Zhukov's opinion, and his final counterattack plan was:

"Carry out the main assault in the west (direction of Moscow) to encircle and eliminate the basic strength of the German Army Group Center; crush the German Army Group North in the northwest; defeat the German Army Group South in the southwest and liberate Donbass."

The troops did not take any rest and immediately launched a counterattack!

In the direction of Leningrad, surrounding the German Army Group North are the Leningrad Front commanded by Lieutenant General Hozin to the north, the Volkhov Front commanded by Meretskov to the east, and the Northwest Army commanded by Kurochkin to the southeast. The total strength of the front armies and the three front armies reached more than 70.

However, the Leningrad Front has to defend the Finnish army in the north. The Northwest Front is at the junction of the German Army Group Northern and Army Group Center. It needs to deal with German forces from both directions at the same time. Therefore, the Soviet army does not have an advantage in the northern battlefield.

In order to implement the major winter counteroffensive order issued by the Soviet high command, under the coordination of the high command, it was planned to assemble the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front and the 4th, 59th and 52nd Army of the Volkhov Front in the Volkhov area. The group army and the 2nd Assault Army commanded by Sokolov participated in the counterattack, with a total force of 32.5 troops participating in the battle.

The specific combat plan is: the Volkhov Front breaks through the German defense lines on the Volkhov River and in the middle reaches, and then attacks Lyuban in the northwest. At the same time, the 54th Army of the Leningrad Front developed an offensive from north to south and joined forces with the Volkhov Front Army on the southern front in Lyuban.

The ultimate goal of the operation was to cut off the connection between the German army southeast of Lake Ladoga and Army Group North and annihilate it.

在苏军反击的地段，当面德军是第18集团军的右翼和第16集团军的左翼，共有13个师，其中包含第39装甲军、第1军主力和第38军一部。

In early January 1942, the situation of the Volkhov Front, which was responsible for the main offensive, was not ideal.

The troops had just finished the Tikhvin counterattack campaign and had not had time to rest and recuperate.

Ammunition reserves are less than 1/4 of what is needed, food reserves are seriously insufficient, and the lost troops of each unit have not yet been replenished.

On the eve of the attack, only one corps of the 2nd Assault Group Army, which was responsible for the main assault mission in the front army, actually reached the starting position of the attack, and the remaining troops were still advancing here.

The situation of the 54th Group of the Leningrad Front in the north was slightly better and was closer to the meeting point of the two armies.

On January 1, the 4th Group Army, under the command of Huo Zin, took the lead in launching a counterattack against the German army.

By the end of the 5th, the attack force of the 54th Group Army fought fiercely with the German 1st Army for two days and only advanced 4 to 5 kilometers. After the subsequent counterattack by the 39th Armored Division of the 12th Armored Corps, it returned to the starting point of the attack. , the Soviet army's first counterattack failed.

Meretskov's Volkhov Front was seriously underprepared, and the Soviet high command agreed to their request to postpone the attack. As of January 1, the front army still had not completed preparations for the attack, and Meretskov had to launch an attack in a hurry under Stalin's strict order.

Along the Volkhov River from north to south between Kirich and Novgorod, the Soviet 4th Army, 59th Army, and 52nd Army crossed the frozen river and began to attack the German army.

The prepared German troops responded with heavy machine gun and mortar fire.

On January 1, the 7nd Assault Group also launched an offensive, but the four armies of the Volkhov Front were blocked on the banks of the Volkhov River and could not continue to advance.

Two days after the attack was launched, Meretskov had to request to postpone the attack again. In his phone call with Stalin, he finalized the time of the attack as January 2.

During this period, Meretskov also dismissed Sokolov, the commander of the 2nd Shock Army. This NKVD general never went to the front line and only knew how to issue unrealistic orders in the headquarters. .

On the eve of the launch of the offensive, Stalin transferred Sokolov, the 2nd Shock Army was replaced by Krekov, the commander of the 52nd Army, and the 52nd Army was assigned to the command of Yakovlev.

On January 1, although the reserves of the Volkhov Front had not yet completed their assembly, the first echelon of its attack troops was already in place, and the tanks and artillery attached to the Front also completed preparations for the attack.

On January 1, the Volkhov Front launched its second all-out offensive.

1月13日，经过15分钟的炮火准备之后，沃尔霍夫方面军4个集团军的第1梯队全部转入进攻。

The 2nd Assault Army began to attack the enemy's 38th Army commanded by Chapupis.

On the left wing of Krekov's 2nd Shock Army was the 52nd Army, which he once served as commander, which crossed the Volkhov River north of Novgorod and launched a auxiliary attack against the Germans;

On the right wing of the 2nd Shock Army was the 59th Army, which crossed the Volkhov River south of Gruzino and developed an attack to the west. The 54th Group Army on the northern front also set off from Bogostye and headed south that day to start the second round of offensive.

Just like when the German army attacked Tikhvin two months ago, the forested and swampy terrain in the southeast of Leningrad was very unfavorable to the attacker.

Although winter swamps were no longer an obstacle, the widespread forests, waist-deep snow, and open marshes became natural barriers to German defense.

After the Soviet army crossed the Volkhov River, the 2nd Assault Army was faced with a vast forest. For fear of falling behind and getting lost, the soldiers had to hold hands together and grope forward. In doing so, they became hidden in the forest. The forest was an excellent target for German machine gun fire.

At this time, Soviet soldiers, including grassroots commanders, still lacked actual combat experience and had rigid tactics during the attack. They would only ask the soldiers to charge blindly and did not know how to use the terrain to conceal themselves during the attack, resulting in heavy casualties to the troops.

直到1月17日，第2突击集团军才突破了德军2个步兵师组成的第1道防线。

北面的第54集团军当面是德军1个师的防御阵地，战斗开始后不久，德军北方集团军群增援部队第12装甲师和第223、第291步兵师就及时赶到。

By January 1, the army was once again forced to stop the attack because of exhaustion of ammunition.

The offensive on the southern front continued, but in front of the tight German defense line, the Soviet offensive was very slow.

On January 1, the 25nd Shock Army and the 2th Army on the right finally found the German weakness in Spasskayapolis and achieved a breakthrough.

Subsequently, Meretskov put the 13th Cavalry Corps directly under the front command into the breakthrough, and at the same time ordered the 2nd Assault Army to follow the cavalry army into the breakthrough. The Soviet offensive situation improved.

On both wings, Meretskov ordered one of the 59th and 52nd armies to attack both sides of the breakthrough to expand the width of the breakthrough and ensure the safety of the flanks of the breakthrough.

The troops of the 13th Cavalry Army and the 2nd Assault Army that entered the breakthrough progressed smoothly in the next few days. By the end of January, the Soviet 1nd Assault Army had advanced more than 2 kilometers and moved Novgorod to Lenin. The railway line between Gullah was cut off.

On the German side, von Loeb, commander of Army Group North, had been dismissed by Hitler, and he was replaced by Küchler, commander of the 18th Army.

In order to block the breakthrough, Kuchler mobilized part of the 18th Army that surrounded Leningrad and changed its direction to block the Soviet arrows.

同时，为了挤压突破口的宽度，德军在第2突击集团军的右翼展开了第225、第212、第254、第61、第215步兵师、党卫军警察师，共计6个师的兵力；

On the left wing, the 285th Guards Division, the 126th Infantry Division and the 20th Motorized Division were deployed. The above-mentioned troops continued to carry out counterattacks against the Soviet army to contain the Soviet offensive momentum.

After that, the German army successively transferred the first part of the 8th Armored Division, the 58th Infantry Division, the 2nd SS Brigade and other units to the left flank of the breakthrough.

The battlefield situation at this time is very delicate. If the Soviet 2nd Assault Army can join forces with the 54th Army to the north, it will divide the German Army Group North into two parts and surround the German 1st Army and the 39th Panzer Army. This part The German army will face the danger of being surrounded and annihilated.

The 2 troops of the 13nd Assault Army and the 10th Cavalry Corps in the Soviet breakthrough had penetrated deep into the hinterland of the German defense line. They faced a siege of more than 20 German troops.

The Soviet army in the breach has actually been firmly surrounded by the superior German forces. Once the root of the breach is cut off, the 2nd Assault Army and the 13th Cavalry Army will be completely surrounded by the Germans.

At this time, the Soviet army in the breakthrough had consumed most of its offensive power. Meretskov put forward his opinion to the headquarters:

If the attack on Liuban continues, the base camp should provide the necessary new forces to the Volkhov Front; otherwise, it is recommended that the Front should withdraw the Soviet troops in the breakthrough to the starting point of the battle;

The last plan is for the 2nd Assault Group Army to organize defense on the spot and wait for reinforcements to arrive before switching to the offensive.

The Soviet high command adopted the first plan proposed by Meretskov, but his request for additional new troops was allowed to be deployed within the Volkhov Front.

Throughout February, the Soviet Army High Command was busy directing Soviet counterattacks on various fronts.

The difficulties faced in the Volkhov direction were not fully understood, or it could be said that the Soviet army had difficulties in counterattacking on various battlefields at that time.

Stalin, who was eager to change the situation on the battlefield, constantly urged the frontline generals to step up the offensive. In the direction of Volkhov, he ordered Meretskov to capture Lyuban before the spring came;

At the same time, Huo Jin's 54th Group Army was strictly ordered to resume its offensive in the north and join the 2nd Assault Group Army in Liuban.

At this time, the 2nd Assault Army penetrated deep into the German defense line, the front was stretched, and logistical supplies became more and more difficult. The ammunition and food needed by the front line were often interrupted.

In order to meet the requirements of the headquarters, Meretskov transferred a division from the 4th Army to reinforce the 1th Cavalry Army in the breakthrough, and added troops to the 13nd Shock Army.

At the end of February, the Soviet army advanced to Red Gorka, 2 kilometers southwest of Lyuban. The 15nd Assault Army, whose offensive power was once again exhausted, had no way to advance towards Lyuban.

2月27日，德军组织了一次局部反击，第18集团军的第291、第215和第61步兵师插入到第2突击集团军锋线部队的左侧翼，在苏军第327步兵师和第80骑兵师后方发起进攻。

After five days of fierce fighting, the German counterattack was contained. The Soviet army also ran out of ammunition and food and was forced to go on the defensive.

Throughout the Soviet counteroffensive in the winter of 1941, the offensives on all fronts failed to meet campaign expectations, and the high command was extremely dissatisfied with the results achieved on the front lines.

To this end, the Soviet high command dispatched Marshal Voroshilov to the Volkhov Front headquarters to coordinate the operations of the various fronts.

However, after learning the actual situation on the front line, Voroshilov also believed that the current situation was very unfavorable to the Soviet army. He bluntly stated: "Volkhov is a dangerous place."

On March 1942, 3, Vlasov, who had performed outstandingly in the Battle of Kiev and the Battle of Moscow, was appointed deputy commander of the Volkhov Front. He also ushered in the most important turning point in his life.

On March 3, Huojin's 15th Group Army finally broke through the German defense line and advanced 54 kilometers south, only 22 kilometers away from Liuban.

The only connection between the German 1st Army and its own troops was a narrow strip of less than 30 kilometers on both sides of the Lyuban-Leningrad railway line.

In order to prevent the Soviet army from closing the encirclement, Kuchler put all the troops that could be mobilized into the battlefield. The resting troops in the rear, the SS and the Latvian puppet troops were organized into battalion and company-level units, and were gradually put into the battlefield. A leaky line of defense.

At the same time, the German high command deployed three divisions from other battlefields on the Eastern Front to reinforce Army Group North.

Due to the lack of input from cutting-edge forces, the Soviet offensive could not be continued. With the arrival of German reinforcements, the balance of strength between the two sides on the battlefield was undergoing a qualitative change.

As early as early March, Küchler, commander of the German Army Group North, was planning a counteroffensive in the spring of 3. In addition to ensuring the necessary troops to continue the siege of Leningrad, his primary goal was to destroy the prominence of the Soviet 1942nd Assault Army. department.

For this reason, Kuchler decided to form two assault groups, concentrated at both ends of the protrusion of the Soviet 2nd Assault Group Army.

The northern assault group consists of one SS police division and two infantry divisions of the 1st Army. The assault group is equipped with 1 artillery batteries and 15 tanks, with the SS police division serving as the main attack;

The southern assault group consists of two infantry divisions of the 38th Army and is equipped with 12 artillery batteries and 8 tanks, with the 58th Division serving as the main assault.

Although the German counterattack was not strong, this was the maximum amount of troops that Kuchler could mobilize from the front at that time. During this period, the strength of the 1st Air Force attached to Army Group North was strengthened, and they would provide air support for the German counterattack.

On March 3, the day the Soviet 15th Army achieved a breakthrough, the German Northern Assault Group also began a counterattack.

On the first day of the offensive, the German 1st Air Force dispatched 263 aircraft sorties and launched a fierce air attack on the Soviet 2nd Assault Group Army. Subsequently, ground troops began to advance.

In the first few days of the German offensive, the Soviet resistance was fierce, but as troops from other fronts arrived on the battlefield, Kuchler had more mobile forces at his disposal.

During this period, the German 1st Air Force played an active role. They dropped 3 tons of bombs during the entire March counterattack. Under the fierce attacks of the German Air Force, the Soviet troops on the front line often became confused and lost their positions. Retreat backwards.

3月19日，得到极大加强的南线突击集群在第2突击集团军的根部达成突破，两翼的第1军和第38军在亚斯诺伊博尔会合，将第2突击集团军四面包围。

The situation was extremely urgent. Meretskov personally came to the 59nd Division of the 372th Group Army. Taking advantage of the unstable German front line, he commanded the troops to reopen the breakthrough and restore the communication line. The fighting on both sides of the traffic line and highway was extremely intense. The Mao Xiong Red Army opened the traffic line three times, and was blocked by the Germans three times.

When the battle was at its most tense, Meretskov even used the last bit of combat power at his disposal - all the personnel of the second lieutenant training team and the junior commander training company - into the battle.

After a newly replenished infantry division was mobilized, the situation in the breach area was basically controlled, and supplies and ammunition were transported to the 2nd Assault Army.

In the following months, the army was in a dangerous situation of being semi-surrounded, and the German army might still close the breakthrough again at any time.

At this time, Meretskov, the commander of the Volkhov Front, was facing criticism from all sides. Hozin, the commander of the Leningrad Front, blamed the passive situation of the Soviet army on the lack of unified command of the Soviet army. He told the Soviet commander-in-chief The Ministry proposed to merge the two front armies and give them unified command.

Stalin agreed with Khozin's opinion and appointed him as the commander of the merged Leningrad Front. At the same time, he appointed Vlasov, whom he admired very much, as the commander of the 2nd Shock Army, replacing Krykov and continuing to command the operations of the salient. .

On April 4, the Volkhov Front was officially merged into the Leningrad Front. Hozin handed over the city defense of Leningrad to Govorov and went to Volkhov to continue commanding the battle in the Liuban direction.

Meretskov was transferred to the Western Front and served as Zhukov's assistant. He was soon demoted to become the commander of the 33rd Army.

When he left office, he suggested to Hotzin:

"Because the 2nd Assault Army is exhausted, with its current formation, it can neither attack nor defend. Its lines of communication are also under threat from the enemy. Either elite troops will be sent to strengthen the army, or the 2nd Assault Army will be immediately moved The Assault Group Army withdraws from the forest swamps, otherwise, there is a risk of the entire army being annihilated."

However, Huojin did not listen to this suggestion and still wanted the 2nd Assault Army to advance with its existing strength.

At this time, the 2nd Assault Army was only attacking in name. In fact, it had difficulty even implementing defense, let alone crushing the strong resistance of the German army.

By the end of April, the Battle of Liuban had lasted for three and a half months, and both sides had suffered extremely heavy losses. The Soviet army had suffered 4 killed on the battlefield and more than 3 wounded;

The German 18th Army alone suffered more than 10 losses.

Hojin tried to add troops to the 2nd Assault Group, which was almost surrounded on all sides, so that it could continue its attack on Liuban, but his attempt was blocked by the Germans at the beginning of its implementation.

After suffering a setback, Huojin had to give up the attack and decided to withdraw the 2nd Assault Group Army for rest and recuperation.

On May 5, the Soviet Army High Command approved Hozin's request, and he immediately issued an order to retreat to Vlasov.

However, due to the lack of reserves and the delay, the German army quickly saw through the Soviet army's intentions, so the German army mobilized new reinforcements.

德军在北部投入了第61、第254步兵师；在西面展开第291步兵师；南部德军有第285警卫师，第58、第126步兵师，西班牙蓝色师，第20摩托化师，党卫军第2步兵旅。

A powerful combat group was also formed with the six battalions of the 20th Motorized Division as the backbone.

至6月6日，德军彻底将第2突击集团军的7个师6个旅包围。

When he learned that the 2nd Assault Army had not broken out of the encirclement, Stalin was extremely dissatisfied with Huojin's command ability.

On June 6, he dismissed Khozin as commander of the Front and also re-split the Front into the Leningrad Front and the Volkhov Front.

Interestingly, Khozin's new position was the commander of the 33rd Army of the Western Front. He succeeded Meretskov, who returned to Volkhov and resumed his duties as commander of the front, Leningrad Front. The commander formally appointed Khozin's assistant, Artillery Lieutenant General Govorov.

At this time, the German army was stepping up its efforts to eliminate the Soviet troops in the encirclement.

Meretskov urgently detached 3 infantry brigades and 1 tank battalion, organized this meager force into two clusters, and ordered them to open a corridor 1 to 2 kilometers wide and cover both sides of the corridor. To ensure the withdrawal of the encircled troops.

At dawn on June 6, the above-mentioned cluster launched an attack.

By evening, the Soviet attack failed. After that, Meretskov once again organized forces to attack the external front of the German encirclement.

By June 6, the 19th Tank Brigade and the following infantry finally broke through the enemy's defenses and joined forces with the 29nd Shock Army, which was attacking from west to southeast.

6月21日，从东西两面沿丘多沃至诺夫哥罗德铁路线打开了一条宽300～400米的走廊，突击第2集团军一大批负伤的指战员撤出了包围圈。

However, the troops of the 2nd Assault Group who retreated behind the wounded did not follow the order to hold the corridor with the reinforcements. Instead, they followed the wounded to the rear. At this time, in the encirclement, there were still a large number of people who had fought side by side but had not had time to evacuate. comrades.

The next day, the German army concentrated its aviation and artillery firepower and stormed the corridor. The Soviet Red Army supporting the corridor could not withstand the German attack and finally gave up this lifeline.

After that, Meretskov decided to find another breakthrough. He ordered the left-wing 52nd Army to attack from the west and the 2nd Assault Army from the east to attack each other along the railway line.

He specially ordered to assault the 2nd Army troops, destroy all heavy equipment, integrate all drivers and other professionals into combat teams, carry out the assault to the end at any cost, and set the time for a concentrated breakout at 6:23 on June 23.

On June 6, the besieged Soviet positions had been greatly reduced under the pressure of the German army.

当天晚上11时30分，第2突击集团军开始突围。沃尔霍夫方面军则以第29坦克旅接应，同时第52、59集团军也动用了全部火力轰击德军阵地。

In the early hours of the next morning, the Soviet 29th Tank Brigade opened a narrow corridor along the railway, and some troops began to rush out along the corridor.

That night, Vlasov ordered the troops to start to disperse and break out. His headquarters was divided into three groups. The military committee, including himself, was covered by a submachine gun company and prepared to join the 3th Infantry Division at 23:46. .

But on the way, they discovered that no one knew where the division was. After that, the front command lost contact with Vlasov.

On the morning of June 6, a Soviet officer who broke out reported that he had seen Vlasov.

Meretskov immediately sent his adjutant, Captain Boroda, commanding five tanks to go to the rescue. Four of the tanks hit mines, and the last one rushed to the headquarters, but no one was found.

At 9:30 that day, the German army had finally closed the narrow corridor, and this time it was completely closed.

The 2nd Assault Army suffered a fatal blow during the German encirclement.

During the breakout, the Soviet army suffered 6000 killed, 8000 missing, 32759 prisoners, and lost 649 artillery pieces.

The commander of the 2nd Shock Army, Andrei Andreevich Vlasov, was eventually captured. Soon after, he surrendered to the German army while being held in a concentration camp, becoming the most shameful traitor during the Great Patriotic War.

The Second Army of the Mao Xiong Assault was a tragic force in the Great Patriotic War. They undertook the same offensive mission twice in 42, but failed miserably in the same way, with the entire army almost destroyed.

However, the Second Assault Army fought bravely after its reconstruction, avenging its past humiliation and moving from Liuban's defeat to victory in the Great Patriotic War.

After the outbreak of the Patriotic War in 1941, the Soviet Army High Command rushed to form troops across the Soviet Union to make up for the huge losses caused by the collapse of the western defense line.

On October 1941, 10, according to Instruction No. 24, the Volga Military District began to form the 004097th Reserve Army, the predecessor of the Second Assault Army.

The group army was affiliated with the Soviet reserve force. It conducted a month of basic training in the rear and rushed to Moscow to participate in the war on November 11.

As members of a team were all new recruits and had only undergone short-term training, the Second Assault Army did not perform so well in its first battle.

After a round of battles, the group army initially had 7 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry divisions. By mid-December, when it was reorganized into the Second Assault Army, only 12 infantry divisions were left.

Of course, these are not all battle casualties. In fact, many officers and soldiers were transferred by the Soviet command to strengthen other units.

At the end of December 1941, the Soviet high command launched a massive winter counterattack. The Second Assault Army was transferred to the Volkhov Front to participate in the battle. Their task was to drive the German troops across the Volkhov River and establish a defense on the west bank of the river. Bridgehead, then advance towards the Lyuban area, join forces with the Soviet 12th Group Army, which is counterattacking on the northern flank, and surround the German Volkhov Battle Group.

Then continue to move westward to recapture the Mga Railway Station, open up the passage from Volkhov to the Neva River, and then surround the German Schliseli Fort Battle Group, thus forcing the German Army Group North to retreat on a large scale.

This mission goal sounds beautiful, but it is actually very difficult to execute, because it means that the Soviet counterattack force must advance a hundred kilometers in a straight line, not to mention that the counterattack force has to continue to expand after cutting into the German position. troops to block the German counterattack, and the Soviet counterattack forces will be continuously dispersed in the process.

The Battle of Lyuban officially started in January 42. The Second Assault Army broke through the German offensive within a week and successfully established a foothold on the west bank of the Volkhov River.

Although the 54th Army, which counterattacked from the north, was slightly slower, they successfully broke through the German defensive positions and advanced towards the Lyuban area.

However, the offensives of the 52nd Army and the 59th Army, which were responsible for ensuring the security of the two wings of the Second Assault Army, were blocked. They lacked sufficient heavy weapons and technical equipment and were unable to break through the German defense lines along the river.

At this time, the Second Assault Army had penetrated more than 30 kilometers behind the German positions, leaving the two troops responsible for flank support far behind.

Lieutenant General Kuzmic and Lieutenant General Hojin, who commanded the group army, did not discover the hidden danger and continued to attack blindly. As a result, the Germans cut off their retreat with a counterattack.

In order to save the encircled Second Assault Army, Lieutenant General Vlasov, deputy commander of the Volkhov Front and expert in Soviet breakout warfare, volunteered to enter the encirclement, replacing the sick Lieutenant General Kuzmich and Lieutenant General Hozin. Commanding the troops to break out, the first thing Vlasov did was to restore the organizational discipline of the group army and count the personnel, weapons and ammunition.

Vlasov then ordered the dead horses to be made into emergency rations and distributed them to the soldiers. He also applied for aviation supply support from Zhukov and Meretskov.

However, the air transport capabilities of the Bear Air Force at that time were far inferior to their air combat capabilities. Therefore, most of the supply boxes dropped by the Soviet Army into the encirclement were filled with "multi-purpose" vodka. The ammunition coming in is very low.

The Second Assault Army successfully opened a breakthrough in the German encirclement in late March. The two sides fought for this breakthrough, which was less than two kilometers wide, until April. In nearly two weeks, a total of about 4 people Several Soviet officers and soldiers escaped from here and returned to the bridgehead position of the Volkhov Front.

Until most of the Second Assault Army was annihilated by the Germans on June 1942, 6, Soviet officers and soldiers opened breakthroughs four times. A total of about 20 people survived, leaving precious seeds for the reconstruction of the Army.

In July 1942, the Second Assault Army entered the reconstruction phase. However, because the German army attempted to use the forces of the Southern Army Group to strengthen the offensive of the Northern Army Group, the Soviet high command planned to launch an initiative in the direction of Leningrad and Volkhov. Attack, stop the German army's attempt, and rebuild the ground passage to Leningrad by the way. The Second Assault Army, which has not yet completed the reconstruction, went into battle again.

This time, the second episode of the sudden attack took on almost the same tasks as the Lyuban battle. However, the Soviet command headquarters made some optimizations to the battle deployment. The 55th Group Army on the Leningrad front would launch an attack from the direction of the Neva River to attract the Germans. attention.

Then Volkhov's 8th Army will enter the battle before the Second Assault Army to open up the German position, and finally the Second Assault Army will complete the task of assaulting the Neva River.

However, this time General Meretskov's opponent was the wily German general Marshal Manstein. The Soviet army's offensive intention was quickly discovered by Manstein. The offensive direction of the Second Assault Army seemed to be similar to that of the Liuban Battle. It was no different, and Manstein's counterattack completely reproduced the tactics of the German army in the Battle of Lyuban.

With the great cooperation of both sides, the Second Assault Army repeated the mistakes of the Liuban Battle, with only more than 7 people escaping.

If Meretskov hadn't saved it, the army might have been disbanded.

By 1943, the Soviet army finally stabilized the situation on the entire Soviet-German battlefield and gained a certain amount of initiative on the southern front.

The Soviet high command planned to continue the offensive in the northern region, reverse the situation of the entire war, and drive the Germans out of the Leningrad area in one fell swoop. For this reason, the Second Assault Army, which had suffered two consecutive heavy losses, went into battle again.

At this time, the Second Assault Army had been expanded into a huge army with 16.5 troops, equipped with more than 42 artillery pieces of various types and more than tanks. It was far more powerful than when it participated in the Liuban Battle in .

This time their mission was to break through the German defense lines, establish a bridgehead, and then occupy several villages and towns controlled by the Germans. It seemed that the Soviet high command did not dare to let them continue to carry out large-scale assaults.

In order to ensure that they would not repeat the same mistakes and successfully complete their mission, the Soviet high command arranged them near the shores of Lake Ladoga so that their flanks would be safe.

The Second Assault Army was as brave as ever in this battle. It broke through three German defense lines in the shortest time and successfully occupied several villages controlled by the Germans. They also surrounded a German artillery unit and captured several German howitzers.

Subsequently, the Second Assault Army encircled another German unit on the Sinyavinsky Heights, avenging last year's revenge.

Soon after, they also participated in the Battle of Oranienbaum Bridgehead, successfully consolidating the ground access to Leningrad, and completing the task that they failed to complete in 42 years.

In January 1944, the Second Assault Army participated in the successful liberation of Leningrad. They followed the large forces and completely drove the German troops out of the Leningrad and Novgorod areas, and restored the front line to Estonia.

Soon after, they participated in the Battle of the Narva Bridgehead. The Second Shock Army held on in this less successful battle and was one of the few Soviet units to successfully consolidate the bridgehead in the first Battle of Narva. The 42th Army, which suffered heavy losses along with the Second Assault Army in 8, also avenged its humiliation in this battle.

These two armies that had been severely damaged by the German army captured more than ten German fortresses in one fell swoop during the Second Battle of Narva. In the following months, they drove the German army all the way into Poland, and then drove the German army from Poland. Rush back to Germany.

The 1945nd Shock Army participated in the East Prussian Campaign in . They followed the nd White Front to capture Chechanov, Osterode, Elbing and Danzig and finally captured Anklam, Schloss The cities of Tralsund and Grafswald completely wiped out the German die-hards in Pomerania.

(End of this chapter)