Putting aside Guderian's request, at this time, the German High Command was also debating whether to capture Ukraine or attack Moscow. Most of the Wehrmacht generals, including Marshal Blomberg and Marshal Brauchitsch, believed that Moscow should be attacked. Only a small number of people believe that the Southwest Front of Ukraine should be dealt with and then the security of the flanks should be ensured before attacking Moscow. Marshal Rundstedt, commander of Army Group South, and Marshal Manstein, chief of staff, are supporters of conquering Ukraine first. The two plans determine Germany's next phase of offensive goals. Once determined, the impact will be huge. After the two main plans are determined, countless pivots and specific battles will be derived.
As soon as the Soviet-German war began, the Wehrmacht High Command and the Army General Headquarters discussed the assumptions, findings, plans, suggestions and orders regarding the reallocation and use of various army groups. This incident clearly shows that neither the National Defense Forces High Command nor the Army General Headquarters has formulated clear plans, guidelines, principles and orders that all group armies should follow in the Eastern War situation. The High Command of the National Defense Forces and the General Headquarters of the Army have conducted a series of consultations on the future war situation since mid-July, stipulating that unified command of future operations should be strengthened.
If Lin Wei was Napoleon or some military genius in his previous life, he would undoubtedly be able to solve problems without long-term planning for Germany. But unfortunately, Lin Wei is nothing. More than ten years of fighting only made Lin Wei look like a soldier, but in reality In terms of military ability, there has been no progress at all. In terms of grand strategy, it is okay. Once it comes to specific operations, Lin Wei can only rely on the generals of the armed SS to perform freely. But fortunately, Lin Wei clearly knows that he is For any virtue, in addition to deciding the general direction, the specific implementation tasks are left to others. Manstein was involved in the Polish campaign, Guderian was involved in the French campaign, and now Lin Wei is ready to rely on Manstein again. As for Lin Wei's role in positioning himself, it is to ensure that under the premise of the Soviet Union, the armed SS and the Wehrmacht cooperate well. To put it clearly, it is to control the situation.
With General Halder as the platoon, it is believed that the current Army Group Center, the only Army Group that has completed its current tasks so far, should have to move its rapid troops to the north and south, while the infantry troops continue to advance towards Moscow, and provide for Army Group South. A new offensive direction has been established, and the focus of the entire operation will be completely shifted to the southern section in the next step. If the combat situation and supply situation permit, the Third and Second Armored Groups located east of the Dnieper River will be combined into the Fourth Armored Group to capture the Kharkov Industrial Zone with the cooperation of the Infantry Division and the Mountain Division, and then Crossed the Don River and launched an assault on the Caucasus...
General Halder's views were unanimously opposed by Marshals Blomberg and Brauchitsch. The two marshals believed that Army Group Center should immediately advance towards Moscow and strive to capture Moscow before winter arrives, thereby winning the war. Marshal Rundstedt and Manstein opposed the views of General Hader and the two marshals. Marshal Manstein believed that although the Soviet Northwest Front and Southwest Front had been contained by Germany's Northern Army Group and Southern Army Group, However, the situation is still not optimistic. From the northern front, Marshal Loeb's Northern Army Group and the Norwegian Army Group moving south from Finland blocked the Soviet Northwest Front in the middle, but the situation is not foolproof. From another aspect Look, the situation of the Norwegian Army Group is not very safe, because its situation is similar to that of the Soviet Northwest Front Army. It is blocked in the middle by the Northwest Front Army and the Soviet garrison of Leningrad. The current situation on the Northern Front is like this, from left to right In order, they are Army Group North, Soviet Northwest Front, Norwegian Army, and Leningrad Defense Force. Although Germany currently has the advantage, it is still far from time to talk about this.
As for the southern front, it is just a fragile balance. Army Group South has not surrounded the Soviet Southwest Front. Even so far, Army Group South has only achieved a visual advantage. When the Southeast Army Group formed by the Waffen SS arrives, Finally, although Manstein believed that the situation could be improved, it would take time, wouldn't it? If the Soviets suddenly get smart during this period and withdraw Ukrainian troops to Moscow for defense, the German generals will not have time to cry.
Ukraine's Southwest Front Army must be eliminated, but it cannot delay the military strength of Army Group Center, because no matter how bold Manstein is, he will not think that Ukraine is more important than Moscow like Lin Wei. This debate produced many different views, from the High Command to the Army General Staff and finally to the army group commanders at the front.
General Halder's command and staff of the Wehrmacht High Command is on one side, Army Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Brauchitsch and his General Staff are on the other side, and Field Marshals Manstein and Rundstedt are on the third side. No one could be convinced, and the situation seemed to have reached a stalemate.
Army Group South is actually only responsible for ensuring the security of the right wing of the key army group. Now, the Army General Headquarters has clearly realized that Army Group South has hardly played the role of ensuring flank security as originally envisaged due to the poor progress. . If Army Group South continues to attack *, it must first change the unsatisfactory combat posture of the northern flank and establish contact with Army Group Center. At the end of July, there were two possibilities for solving the joint problem. The first possibility is that the Southern Army Group leaves the Dnieper River assault headquarters and attacks in the northeast direction of Kharkov-Kursk. In this way, the Army Group can not only rely on its own strength to cross the Dnieper River with its northern flank, but also cover the southern flank of Army Group Center as planned. The second possibility is that the two army groups launched a simultaneous attack to merge their forces east of the Dnieper River, thereby solving the Pripyat problem. In this way, it may be possible to build a starting base from which the two army groups can finally launch a direct attack on Moscow.
Regardless of which of the three parties, they subconsciously excluded the armed SS when discussing the issue. As a result, Lin Wei, who had already arrived in Romania, was not clear about the current domestic situation. In the end, it was Heydrich who The debate during this period told Lin Wei. After thinking about it, Lin Wei felt relieved and figured out why he ignored the armed SS, or it should be called the Southeast Army Group now. In fact, it is very simple. The armed SS has only six divisions that participated in the French campaign. The troops with combat experience including the Northern Mountain Division only have seven divisions. Among them, the Imperial Division and the Viking Division are on the central front, and the Northern Mountain Division and the European Division are on the central front. The Prince of Roots Division is in Leningrad on the northern front. Although the number of armed SS troops assembled in Romania is very large, nearly one million, the decision-makers of the Wehrmacht have not forgotten the biggest problem with the millions of SS troops, that is, the huge number of On the southern front, the Waffen SS only had three military police, police and skeleton divisions with combat experience, and the rest were complete recruits? son. Facing the armed SS with a recruitment rate as high as 90%, Lin Wei himself would not trust them to put his hope of attacking important locations above them.
"You don't take me seriously!" After arriving in Romania, Lin Wei originally planned to pay a visit to General Antonescu, and then enter the Soviet Union to meet with Manstein, but now he is not in the mood at all. Are the more than 1,000 Panther tanks of the Southeast Army Group fake? Lin Wei thought depressedly.
Lin Wei originally wanted to send a telegram to the Supreme Command, but after thinking about it for a while he gave up the idea. The opinions of the three parties were already confusing enough, and Lin Wei was adding to it, not to mention whether Lin Wei himself had the qualifications. Even if he did , it is unwise to make remarks at this time. The only way is to choose one of the three parties' opinions that is similar to your own, and make countermeasures in specific battles. After thinking for a long time, Lin Wei decided to support Marshal Manstein's views in the name of the commander of the Southeast Army Group.
For a time, the support of the Commander of the Southeast Army Group forced the Supreme Command to face up to Marshal Manstein's ideas. After compromise and exchange of views between all parties, the Supreme Command issued the latest combat order at the end of July. The Northern Army Group The group was about to assault Leningrad alone without the support of the 3rd Armored Group. Army Group Center prepared to march on Moscow, while Army Group South continued its current combat mission of annihilating the Soviet Southwest Front. The Southeast Army Group temporarily serves as the reserve force of the Southern Army Group. Once important losses occur on other fronts, it will immediately provide support. Although the combat order was very polite, Lin Wei still clearly understood its meaning. The Supreme Command was still skeptical about the combat effectiveness of the armed SS, and even regarded the Southeast Army Group as the general reserve force.
The only thing that made Lin Wei happy may be the progress of the Northern Mountain Division and the Prince Eugen Division in Leningrad. On July 22, one month after the Soviet-German war began, the two divisions Very smooth. Among them, the Northern Mountain Division occupied the Kamare Building, an important stronghold on Karl Marx Street. Prince Eugen's division advanced slowly along the coastal street along the Neva River. They were frantically blocked by the Soviet Sixth Guards Militia Division. Although these militiamen had no tactics at all in the eyes of the Germans, the bullets they fired from the surrounding buildings greatly hindered the progress of the Germans. For German soldiers, they can charge in the face of the opponent's hail of bullets, but they cannot bear to be inexplicably knocked down by a bullet fired from nowhere. All well-trained soldiers do not want this.
Plus they lack effective heavy weapons cover. Therefore, the speed of these German troops is not too fast. The 7th Armored Regiment of the Prince Eugen Division has made particularly huge progress. Not only did they occupy the 'Serafimov Memorial Cemetery' but their reconnaissance battalion, led by their battalion commander Major Buck, also occupied the Kirov Building, the most important building in the northern part of the Soviet Union. This twenty-four-story reinforced concrete building is the most important commanding point in northern Leningrad, adjacent to Kirov Island. Through this building, you can directly see all the movements of the Soviet army on Kirov Island. The occupation of this building means that the German army can control everything on Kirov Island through artillery. Although, the Red Army organized a counterattack. Two regiments of the 227th Infantry Division were directly mobilized and launched a counterattack against the building. The counterattack lasted all night, but the Germans miraculously held the place. And persisted until his main force arrived here.
Since the Western Front has been annihilated by Marshal Bock's Army Group Center, Marshal Loeb's life is much easier now. Although he cannot march directly towards Leningrad, he can bypass the Soviet Northwest Front, which is still stubborn to the end, and march towards Leningrad. In fact, Marshal Loeb did exactly this. The six divisions currently deployed are nervously marching towards Leningrad. This is also the maximum available force of the Northern Army Group in addition to maintaining the encirclement.
At this time, the situation in Ukraine has changed for Germany, although it is extremely limited. The Soviet Fifth Army, which had been blocking the advance of the German Sixth Army, finally began to retreat and was forced to retreat towards Korosten and Marin. As the German army once again turned to the offensive near Berdichev, the First Armored Army finally gained freedom of maneuver again. The Third Motorized Corps began an assault on Fastov. The 14th Motorized Corps advanced towards Bialatserkov, while the 48th Motorized Corps launched an assault towards Kazak via Erdichev. Since the Seventeenth and Eleventh Armies were far to the west and the First Armored Army had penetrated behind the northern flank of the Russian defenders, a particularly favorable situation emerged on the battlefield.
The German First Armored Army received an order to assault southward and encircle the enemy in front of the Seventeenth and Eleventh Army. At this time, the task of blocking Kiev was undertaken by the Sixth Army Headquarters.
Field Marshal von Reichenau's army had not yet established contact with the neighboring armies of Army Group Center. The gap between the two armies was 250 kilometers wide. The three infantry corps and three tank corps of the Soviet Fifth Army are still in this gap. Therefore, they must be driven back before crossing the Pripyat Swamp to establish contact with friendly neighbors. On July 17, the Army Group South headquarters ordered the Sixth Army to launch an offensive in order to push the Soviet Fifth Army towards the Dnieper River.
The Sixth Army launched an attack on a wide front, but progress was very slow due to the clever and tenacious Soviet defense. Army Group South then ordered the Sixth Army to stop the offensive and switch to defense on August 9. As preparations for the largest decisive battle at this time were reduced, the Sixth Army even had to transfer the Fourth Army to the First Armored Group.
Based on the favorable position of the forward assault armored group, the Army General Headquarters ordered the First Armored Group, which had reached the west bank of the Dnieper River, to continue its attack on Dnipropetrovsk and Nikolaev. At this point, the High Command intervened. He ordered the cessation of large-scale deep operations and replaced them with operations in a limited area in the direction of Uman.
In view of this, Manstein ordered the Eleventh Army to occupy the Bug River section between Vosnessensk and Pervomys, and then capture Krivoy Rog.
Seventeenth Army: Capture Kirovgrad, and then Krivoirog or Dnipropetrovsk, depending on the situation.
1st Armored Army: Assault in the direction of Alexandria, and then capture Zaporizhia-Dnepropetrovsk, or Kremenchug-Dnipropetrovsk.
The Sixth Army: Clear out the enemies near Korosten, occupy the western and southern areas of Kiev, then cross the Dnieper River and assault in the direction of Poltava.
The leading troops of the 9th Armored Division and the 1st Mountain Division marched continuously for a week in pouring rain and under the scorching sun. At the same time, they continued to fight against crazy enemies and overcame numerous difficulties caused by inferior roads. Finally, on August 2, They met on the banks of the Sinica River in Japan. The Uman circle closed.
Lin Wei and the entire Southeast Army Group were waiting boredly. As for what they were waiting for, no one in the entire Southeast Army Group knew. What Lin Wei often does now is listen to the radio and learn about the status of each group army.
"As the special report announced - the German army in Ukraine, with the heroic cooperation of the Hungarian army, achieved a great victory. In the Battle of Uman, the Soviet Sixth and Twelfth Group Armies and the First Section of the Eighteenth Group Army were annihilated. A total of 23 infantry divisions, mountain divisions and tank divisions captured more than 103,000 people, including the commanders of the Soviet Sixth and Twelfth Group Armies. Three hundred and seventeen armored combat vehicles and eight artillery pieces were captured. One hundred and fifty-eight, 242 anti-tank and anti-aircraft guns, 5,200 trucks, 12 railway trains, and countless other combat materials, the enemy's casualties exceeded 200,000."
Bang... Lin Wei turned off the radio casually, causing the newscaster to disappear before he could express his eloquence. Fortunately, there was no ratings issue now. Facing the bright sunlight that filtered through the window, Lin Wei pushed open the window. His eyes were unfocused and fell in the distance. Although he was in a lifeless state, Lin Wei's brain did not stop working completely. "Army Group Center has marched towards Moscow again. Guderian and Holt's armored armies have not come. Help Army Group South, Army Group North also has its own affairs. Although the Battle of Uman was victorious, the losses of the Soviet Northwest Front were not significant. Army Group South still has difficulty in defeating them. Who can help Army Group South?" Thinking of this, Lin Wei laughed silently. There was only the Southeast Army Group in the entire southern part of the Soviet Union. Unless Manstein believed that the Romanian army was stronger than him, the Battle of Kiev would definitely involve the Southeast Army Group.