The Rise of the Third Reich

The counterattack on the northern front...of course needs to be paused.

Otherwise, why did Zhukov just say so many "defense-friendly" things to Stalin?

"Comrade General Secretary," Zhukov said, "the northern cluster should now turn to defense, because the goal of counterattack has been fully achieved."

"Goal achieved?" Stalin asked with some dissatisfaction.

The hundreds of thousands of German troops who are now besieged have not been eliminated, and the German reactionary named Paulus has not been captured alive. The enemy has not even begun to break out... or to be more precise, the enemy's Paulus cluster has not been truly surrounded. Because to the east of the Red October Railway, a road junction named Borovichi was still under German control. Through there, the Paulus Group could maintain contact with the main force of the German Army Group North.

Paulus was surrounded or something... the Germans don't know that now. Is this considered the goal achieved?

"Achieved," Zhukov replied with certainty, "and it's even better than originally imagined."

"Is it better?" Stalin looked at Zhukov with wide eyes, "What's so good about it?"

"Fortunately, the Germans launched a hasty attack in the middle," Zhukov said. "The Germans' original plan was definitely not to attack in April. They have too much heavy equipment and a long logistics line, so attacking during the mud season is extremely disadvantageous. ”

Zhukov was right about this. Without Moscow's northern counterattack, it would have been impossible for the German Central Front to march towards Moscow on April 20. Although Manstein adopted the route of dividing his troops and pushing the troops flatly and the tactics of worship offensive, it still caused a lot of unnecessary equipment damage.

"Moreover, attacks in the muddy season are more conducive to our infantry's defense." Zhukov added, "Mud roads are always beneficial to lighter troops. From April 5 to the present, the German army's relatively successful defense on the northern front, It’s proven that we’re using the same tactics now.”

"Use infantry to defend tanks?" Stalin shook his head, "But tanks can still defeat infantry, but the losses are greater. And Germany can now bear the loss of a large amount of equipment, right?"

Of course, the total fuel production of the European Community countries is about 1.8 times that of the Soviet Union, and the supply of non-ferrous metals is also very sufficient. Therefore, the output of military industry and the amount of commonly used heavy equipment are far greater than that of the Soviet Union!

If it weren't for the fact that the German Wehrmacht led by Hessmann liked to use European coalition forces and reduced the number of authentic German troops on the Soviet-German battlefield, the Soviet army's northern counterattack would have definitely failed miserably - the French army, the Polish army, the White Russian army, The combat effectiveness of the "servant armies" such as the Little Russian Army (Ukrainians) and the Hungarian Army cannot be compared with that of the German army. Moreover, there are many conflicts between the Polish Army, the White Russian Army, and the Little Russian Army, making them very troublesome to use.

However, the German Army Group Center is not that mixed. Except for the foreign volunteers of the SS (their combat effectiveness is very guaranteed), they are all German troops.

"Comrade General Secretary," Zhukov didn't know...or he deliberately ignored the moisture problem of the "German Army" on the northern front. Now he can only treat the German Army Group Center as the same thing as Army Group North. "Whether the German army can bear losses depends on how much damage we can inflict on them. If we let them lose 2,000-3,000 tanks on the western front of Moscow, I think the Battle of Moscow will be won."

In fact this number is not enough!

Zhukov does not yet know the specific size of the German armored forces. Although he knows that Germany has 25 armored divisions and 20 panzergrenadier divisions, wartime troops are usually not fully equipped. So Zhukov doesn’t know how many tanks and assault guns Germany invested in the Soviet-German battlefield?

"2,000-3,000 vehicles?" Stalin was silent for a while after hearing this number, "Can it be done?"

"Yes." Zhukov said, "I believe Marshal Konev has such ability. He and the reserve front army will definitely defeat the German attack west of Moscow!"

Konev's performance in the 1943 battle was acceptable. Although he still lost Eastern Ukraine, that was not his fault, but the inevitable result of the disastrous defeat in the Joint Battle.

However, Konev still found time to carry out scorched earth operations in most areas of Eastern Ukraine. Most of the factories in Eastern Ukraine were bombed or burned to the ground, and the autumn harvest of 1943 was also significantly reduced due to the war.

Therefore, Germany and the European Community, which occupied the entire Ukraine, still faced great pressure on food supply in 1944 and had to import large quantities of food and meat from Argentina and Uruguay. This is also an important reason for Germany's strong intervention in South America. Without seizing the coastline of Brazil, Germany cannot establish a blockade to stop American submarines and break-up fleets from going south, which will prevent Europe from getting enough food - if there are not so many Big Russians, Little Russians, and Belarusians There is enough to eat, but in order to integrate Russia, the European Community now has to feed many Russians, so the food supply is very tight before Russia's agriculture recovers.

In addition, Konev's defensive operations on the Crimean Peninsula also achieved certain successes. The troops under his command repelled several attacks by the Ukrainian Defense Forces from November 1943 to March 1944, and also sent more than 150,000 troops to the Taman Peninsula through the Kerch Strait to join the Caucasus Front (Croatian Front). The Rimean Peninsula was not completely besieged, and the German blockade of the Kerch Strait had many loopholes).

Because of these two achievements, Konev's rank of Marshal and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union are worthy of the name. Zhukov and Pavlov were therefore optimistic about Konev's ability, transferred him from the Crimean Peninsula, and recommended him to serve as the commander of the Reserve Front Army (Orel Front Army).

"What is Comrade Konev going to do?" Stalin asked about the specific deployment. He actually recognized Konev's ability and believed that the Red Army would definitely win the defensive battle in the west of Moscow.

Zhukov said: "Comrade Konev will adopt defensive counterattack tactics to defeat the German army on the battlefield west of Moscow!"

"Use infantry and mechanized infantry to defend first?" Stalin then asked.

"You are right," Zhukov said. "The current deployment of the Reserve Front Army is a large-depth deployment. The front-line troops are not strong. The main force adopts a defensive method of gradually strengthening the defense and placing it in the deep zone. Try to use muddy ground The resolute defense of roads and infantry weakened the German army. After the goal of defensive operations was achieved, the General Staff planned to deploy a powerful tank group on the western front of Moscow to conduct a counter-assault to attack the exhausted German armored group.

Therefore, the General Staff recommended that the counterattack operations on the northern front be suspended, and the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 6th Guards Tank Armies used on the northern front be transferred out and deployed together with the 3rd and 4th Guards Tank Armies. Go to the outer defensive position in the west of Moscow. "

"What about the northern cluster?" Stalin asked.

"While the tank armies are withdrawing, the infantry stops attacking and stands firm." Zhukov replied, "Only in this way can we prevent the two German army groups from launching an assault on Moscow at the same time."

…

While Zhukov reported to Stalin Moscow's Western Front defensive counterattack plan, Marshal Konev, who had a shaved head and looked very majestic, was watching the battlefield situation from the bell tower of a cathedral in Sychevka.

Through the eyepiece of an American telescope used by Konev, the vast, muddy, and somewhat desolate plains were visible. The forward positions belonging to the First Red Flag Army are just outside the city of Sychovka, extending to the south and north of the city respectively. Although it was a "deep deployment" and the first line was just a "cannon fodder line of defense", the Soviet army spent a long time preparing for the Battle of Moscow. Therefore, the defense line outside Sychovka has obviously formed a complete defense system. There are layers of minefields, barbed wire, anti-tank traps, anti-tank ditches, trenches, anti-tank strongholds, and infantry anti-tank bunkers. All personnel and equipment movements are carried out through the communication trenches, so at first glance, it seems that no one is defending the position.

A round of German artillery bombardment had just ended. The artillery shells made countless mud pits at the front of the Soviet position, but it did not cause too many casualties. A dozen gray-painted fighters also appeared in the sky, which were nasty Fw-190F/G fighter-bombers.

Beginning in the second half of 1943, this kind of fighter-bomber gradually became the mainstream of ground attack aircraft on the Eastern Front battlefield, replacing the original Ju87 dive bomber. Together with the German Hs-129 anti-tank attack aircraft, it became every The nightmare of a Red Army soldier.

The 1st Red Flag Army transferred from the Far East had not been harmed by German aircraft before, so it did not have much experience in air defense. It used DShK anti-aircraft machine guns to shoot into the air without waiting for the enemy aircraft to descend to a low enough altitude. As a result, the target was exposed prematurely. , attracted a rocket attack. Clumps of white smoke slowly rose above the Soviet defense zone...

It seems that many communist fighters from the Far East have died heroically!

Konev sighed softly and pointed the telescope at the farther end of the horizon. German tanks and assault guns had already appeared there, spitting out black smoke and staggering forward at a very slow speed. It seemed very strenuous.

It seems that the mud in April is indeed not conducive to the attack of tank groups!

Konev stared for a while longer, but did not find the Tiger or the legendary E-50A tank. He only saw some Grizzly assault guns and No. 4 H tanks - this combination is basically what the German Panzer Grenadier used to attack the enemy. Standard combination.

The Grizzly cannon approached the enemy position and shot at the enemy position. The No. 4 H tank covered the Grizzly and attacked the opponent's tank destroyers and anti-tank fire points. The following armored grenadiers were supported by the Grizzly assault gun and the No. 4 tank. A strong attack.

Konev knew that the Red Army coming from the Far East could not stop these powerful German troops. However, as long as a steady stream of cannon fodder was filled in, coupled with a 200-kilometer defense depth, the German offensive kinetic energy could still be exhausted.

Then it depends on the strength of the Red Army Guards Tank Army!