"Huh? Should I take the initiative to help? Or should I wait for Marshal Manstein to ask for help?" Lin Wei immediately began to weigh the pros and cons. The icing on the cake is not as good as the icing on the cake. The latter is not only easier to remember than the former, And you can retain your own strength to the greatest extent. But the problem is not that. In the war, charcoal is not so easy to give away. After comprehensively analyzing the tiny trends in the battle situation and making the most favorable judgment, even if Lin Wei has the support of later generations' memories, he dare not say that he can win everything. , if Lin Weishi leads the troops unexpectedly, the Southwest Front Army has already retreated, God knows how the big guys in the Supreme Command will deal with him, and Gustav may not be able to protect himself by then.
After thinking for a long time, Lin Wei felt that this matter was still difficult to handle. However, in order to make some preparations for the future battle situation, Lin Wei still felt that he should communicate with his division commanders, "Let the division commanders come to the conference room for a meeting!" Lin Wei Wei shouted something to the outside, and then started to get dressed without saying a word. The military police guarding outside would definitely pass on the news.
After washing up, Lin Wei walked out of the hotel arranged for him in Romania. When Lin Wei walked out of the hotel door, his driver had parked the car under the steps in front of the hotel. Although the weather in July and August was a bit hot, Lin Wei enjoyed it immensely. In his heart, Lin Wei wished that the weather in 1941 would stay warmer for a longer time. However, the reality immediately made Lin Wei stop having fun. God would not give a golden finger to him as a time traveler. In 1941 The winter in Russia is destined to be the coldest in Russia in a hundred years. I only hope that the country can really prepare winter clothes for Germany before the winter starts.
During Lin Wei's half-month stay in Romania, in terms of Army Group Center, after the Battle of Minsk, the Second and Third Armored Groups of Guderian and General Huth took advantage of the aftermath of victory and strode forward into the interior of the Soviet Union. , its leading troops have already pushed out to the Dnieper River, Berezina River and West Dvina River, aiming directly at Smolensk, an important town in the western Soviet Union, known as the "Gateway to Moscow". Smolensk, capital of Smolensk region.
Smolensk is close to Belarus to the southwest and less than 400 kilometers to Moscow to the northeast. The railway connecting Minsk and Moscow passes through the city, making the city an important transportation hub in the western Soviet Union. Although the Western Front was rebuilt, the new commander-in-chief Sergei Kon Timoshenko was really about to become a "simple commander" at this time. The marshal's forces on paper were forty-nine infantry divisions, six motorcycle divisions, 11 tank divisions, two The airborne brigade plus about 2,100 river sailors totaled 580,400 troops. However, some units had already been lost in previous battles. The 13th, 4th, 3rd and 10th Group Army were no longer in name only and had to retreat to the rear to rest. Replenish.
The strength and equipment of most divisions is only equivalent to 10%-30% of the establishment, and only a few units can exceed 50% of the establishment in artillery and tanks. There are only approximately 200 tanks and 370 aircraft responsible for these. Troops provide support. Facing the Soviet Southwest Front, it is the powerful German Army Group Center, plus the six divisions under Army Group North, with a strength of no less than 1.2 million people, including 12 armored divisions and 7 motorized infantry divisions. There are about 3,300 tanks available for other relatively independent mechanized units. In addition, the Stuka dive bombers of the 2nd Air Force and the 8th Air Force will pour death at any time in the sky that is firmly controlled by the Germans.
But the Armored Group Army is not without problems: the Red Army, which was previously besieged in Belarus, has contained nearly thirty divisions of German troops. This has made the German troops who have reached the Sivina and Dnieper rivers, including Guderian and Hoth's 3rd The 2nd and 3rd Armored Groups only have a few forward troops of the 9th and 2nd Group Armies, totaling 29 divisions. In other words, although the Soviet Union and Germany have very large data on paper, the number of troops that can be used in the war is only a small part of them.
At the initial stage, Guterian's vanguard was counterattacked by a Soviet force composed of a tank division and a motorized infantry division. The T34 tanks in the hands of the Soviet army caused a lot of losses to the German army. Fortunately, the Panther tanks of the 1st Armored Corps of the Waffen-SS that followed later showed great power. Although they also suffered some losses, they were still compared with the T34 tanks. During the confrontation, Guderian gained an absolute upper hand, which made Guderian's eyes light up. At the same time, he hoped to get more Black Panther tanks. It is said that Guderian's request has been recognized by the Supreme Command, but it can only be done with each tank. It was delivered to Guderian at a speed of one hundred and twenty vehicles per month.
Guderian's Second Armored Group launched an attack from the Orsha, Mogilev and Novybekhov lines south of Smolensk, with the main targets being the Soviet 20th and 13th Group Armies; however, this plan was There are flaws. Since large infantry units are not in place, this plan will leave the 2nd Armored Group on the flanks without cover, but these are obviously no longer among Guderian's considerations. All he is focused on now is "advance -" . Hott will command his Third Armored Army to launch an attack from Vitebsk, north of Smolensk, with the purpose of removing the Soviet 22nd Army, the nail between the German Central Army and the Northern Army.
In July and September, the combat plan was implemented. The Second Armored Army first launched an attack on the Mogilev and Orsha areas in the middle and southern sections of the Dnieper River. However, it was frustrated by the stubborn resistance of the Soviet army, so Guderian It was decided to bypass this hub of resistance and cross the river from Rogachev to three ferries north of Shklov, because here the Red Army had only one division of troops to defend it. The forced crossing went smoothly. The German motorized infantry on assault boats braved the fierce Soviet artillery fire to force the crossing of the Dnieper River. Due to the weak Soviet defense in these areas, the German army quickly made progress. After occupying a small landing site, the engineers quickly A pontoon bridge was set up on the river. A few hours later, German tanks began to cross the river. Early the next morning, more than a thousand German tanks, tens of thousands of motor vehicles and hundreds of thousands of troops appeared at the crossing point. As a result, both sides of the Dnieper River were covered with The German mechanized troops and infantry units could not be seen. The German troops who succeeded in forcibly crossing the Dnieper River did not pay attention to the Soviet arrival hub in the south of the Dnieper River, but quickly advanced in depth. Guderian's Second Armored Group was divided into three groups. The 24th, 46th, and 47th Motorized Corps rushed towards the Proboisk-Roslavli road respectively; Molensk Highway; Hoth's 3rd Armored Group divided into two groups, and the 39th and 57th Motorized Corps inserted into Vezhili and Polotsk respectively.
At this time, the defense line of the Soviet Western Front was in chaos from south to north: the 22nd Army could not resist the attacks of the German 9th Army and the 57th Motorized Army and began to retreat in the direction of Velikiy Luki. . The situation of the 20th Army defending the front from Orsha to Smolensk was even worse. This army was unfortunately sandwiched between two powerful German armored groups. In order not to be "made dumplings", the commander Lieutenant General Kuroshkin had to order a retreat. This move played into the German army's ambitions. The German 47th Motorized Corps took advantage of the situation and launched an assault in the direction of Smolensk from the original Soviet position. They bumped into the Soviet Sixteenth Army that had just arrived from Ukraine. The errant army was ordered to defend Smolensk, but it only had two mechanized divisions without tanks, and two dissatisfied ones. The infantry division with 100,000 soldiers had only a little more than one division at full strength. However, even if the German army in front of it was defeated by 220%, its strength would be twice that of the Soviet army.
The entire Smolensk front was in danger at this time. The commander of the Soviet Western Front, Timoshenko, had to go to each unit in person under Moscow's strict order, threatening and scolding the commanders who were already highly nervous. To regain their lost ground at all costs. Therefore, starting from July 12, the 16th, 19th, and 20th Army Groups of the Soviet Red Army began to launch a fierce counterattack against the German troops near Smolensk and Orsha. The Soviet officers mustered up as much courage as possible. , regardless of heavy casualties, he led his already exhausted troops and collided head-on with the German armored troops that were charging at high speed.
Lin Wei, who was sitting in the back seat, changed into a comfortable position and leaned back. I have to say that the beautiful environment of Bucharest, the capital of Romania, is very charming. The banyan trees and chestnut trees beside the streets and roads are dense and green; the roses in the park in the middle of the street , dianthus are colorful; the plum trees and cherry trees between the residential buildings are full of fruits; the lawns inside and outside the courtyard are lush and lush. It is said that every time the lilac trees bloom, you can smell the fragrance in a moving car.
Although the beautiful scenery can be pleasing to the eye, it cannot change the current overall situation. Although the atmosphere of war is still not felt in the center of Bucharest, Romania's victory with the German army some time ago has also greatly increased the favorability of ordinary Romanians towards Germany. , but the war atmosphere is still so close to Lin Wei, only one suburb away. Since the Southeast Army Group has no combat mission yet, the armed SS troops affiliated with the Southeast Army Group are all stationed in Romania. , the headquarters is located in the eastern suburbs of Bucharest. Just after leaving the city center, there were more armed SS soldiers along the way. However, it seemed that these soldiers got along well with ordinary Romanians. It was easy to see the scene of the two parties greeting each other, even if they didn't understand the language. It has not become an obstacle to their communication. It seems that as long as they have the desire to communicate, nothing will be a problem.
Sand..., with the friction between the wheels and the ground, Lin Wei came to the field headquarters of the Southeast Army Group. Although there is nothing related to field operations in the Southeast Army Group, some command structures still need to be set up. The field battle in front of him That's what the headquarters is like.
Although the headquarters is not big, it is easy to find a conference room that can accommodate dozens of people. Although the place where Lin Wei lives is comfortable, if a meeting is held there, the confidentiality will drop by more than one level. For his Soviet colleagues Lin Wei has always been in awe of their subordinate agents and will never let them take advantage of any loopholes.
After sitting down, Lin Wei couldn't help but feel ashamed when he looked at his unfamiliar subordinates, because most of them did not know their division commanders, or had only met them a few times, and there were only a dozen or so familiar division commanders. This was because of these new commanders. The divisions he organized were all recruited from all over Europe at once. When selecting division commanders, Lin Wei only selected a few, and later let people at the headquarters recommend them. He never took care of this matter again. After all, it was a matter of expansion. Lin Wei can't manage eight or nine million people by himself. As time went by, Lin Wei forgot about this matter, so today's embarrassing situation emerged.
After digging through the memories in his mind, Lin Wei finally sadly discovered that Lin Wei could only name half of the people. Coughing slightly to cover up his embarrassment, Lin Wei said without blushing or whitening, "Although you may be a little strange to me and have never even met me, it doesn't matter. We will all fight for a long time in the future." Together, there's plenty of time to get to know each other! I don't care who your unit is made up of, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Dutch, Belgians, French, here you are just Waffen SS. There will be no discrimination as we are all comrades who fight together!"
In order to expand the size of the SS, Lin Wei's unscrupulous recruitment methods will definitely bring sequelae. This is the price of quick success, but Lin Wei is absolutely unwilling to see racism among the soldiers of the armed SS. These words are also a shot in the arm for these teachers and commanders.
"According to the order of the Supreme Command, our Southeast Army Group has no major operations for the time being!" Ignoring the disappointed eyes of these people, Lin Wei continued, "But according to my estimate, it will take at most half a month, that is, August. , we will have a heavy task, so I am ordering you now to keep the troops below in the best condition, and to be ready for the war at any time!"
"Yes, leader!" Lin Wei responded with a uniform voice. Of course, it would be better if the sound of the leather boots was smaller.
"Leader, the high command is calling!" Crawford hurriedly walked in from outside and said.
"Read..." Following Lin Wei's order, Crawford read, "In view of the fact that during the attack on Moscow, we may encounter an unprecedented sniper attack by the Soviet Red Army, it is necessary to strengthen the offensive power of Army Group Center, so we specially mobilized The Southeast Army Group participated in the battle to attack Moscow in order to strengthen the offensive force against Moscow. Therefore, the commander of the Southeast Army Group, General Lampard Krupp, was ordered to mobilize at least three divisions of troops to join the Third and Third Armored Groups to supplement the above two Attrition of Panzer Army in the Battle of Minsk!”
Lin Wei became more and more depressed after hearing this order. The Supreme Command really used the Southeast Army Group as a general reserve force. This is simply ignoring myself. I have been preparing for the Soviet-German war for so many years, but in the end I just ended up with the results of the reserve commander? wrong? Join the Panzer Army of General Huth and Field Marshal Guderian
Lin Wei suddenly thought of the number of troops to be mobilized, three divisions? Don’t we have exactly three divisions, namely the gendarmerie division, the police division, and the skeleton division? The Supreme Command asked itself to send the only remaining elite troops to the Armored Group Army. Thinking of the Smolensk Battle that is still not over, the Supreme Command must want to supplement it with its own troops.
"Holy shit, this is impossible!" Lin Wei finally suppressed the swear words in his heart because he was watched by many division commanders. But I have made up my mind and want to use my only three remaining divisions, but there is no way. All three armored divisions were transferred away, and it was a waste of time to fight in Kiev. Watching Marshal Manstein and Marshal Rundstedt's Army Group South perform well.
You want my three most elite armored divisions, but I won’t give them to you. I’ll give you my three crappiest divisions. Lin Wei made up his mind, looked at the division commanders with different ideas, and said slowly, “You all Did you hear that? Army Group Center needs to be supplemented, so that the 13th Waffen SS Division Holy Knife, the 29th Division Italy, and..." Lin Wei paused at this point, sighed secretly and said, " The Eighth Florian Gale Cavalry Division, go to Army Group Center to join the offensive troops in the center to join the battle!" The Florian Gale Cavalry Division is absolutely different from the first two fish belly divisions mentioned by Lin Wei. This is an armed Although the Eighth Division, the earliest cavalry unit of the SS, was lagging behind the first seven armored divisions in terms of heavy weapons, its combat effectiveness was not bad at all. Lin Wei only retained four of the newly expanded armed SS units. A division wearing black military uniforms. As we all know, there are no troops mainly wearing black military uniforms. Distinctive military uniforms also represent specific troops. Only troops with truly superb combat effectiveness are qualified to wear black military uniforms. At least Lin Wei thinks so. Of the more than forty divisions of the Waffen-SS, only eleven wore black uniforms, and the Florian Gale Cavalry Division was the only cavalry unit.
After all, Lin Wei did not disobey the military orders of the Supreme Command to the end and sent the Florian Gale Cavalry Division to the central front. As for the Supreme Command's final response from above, Lin Wei was not interested. Anyway, the armed SS The army is different from the Wehrmacht. The Wehrmacht belongs to the state, while the Armed SS is no different from Lin Wei's private army. No one can command it except Lin Wei.
Major General Fegelein, commander of Florian Gale's Cavalry Division, and three other division commanders stood up and solemnly accepted Lin Wei's order. With Lin Wei's approval, he began to retreat outside. At this time, Lin Wei suddenly seemed to remember something and said, "Major General Fegelein!"
Major General Fegelein stopped in confusion and said, "Leader, what are you calling me for?" In Major General Fegelein's view, since the order has been issued, it should be finalized. I don't know what the leader is calling me at this time. What are you doing
Lin Wei had no time to figure out what Major General Fegelein meant and said seriously, "You follow Marshal Guderian's armored group to attack Moscow. The route must not bypass the gateway to Moscow, Smolensk. When you get there, you must Pay attention to look for a forest called Katyn. After you find it, send electricity to Admiral Heydrich in the country and let the Gestapo investigate there. As for why, you have to worry about it. Just do as I say! "The Katyn Massacre!" ? Once this article is done, it will definitely have an unexpected effect. Lin Wei's move is definitely not for justice. Whether those Polish soldiers die or not has nothing to do with Lin Wei. This is mainly to discredit the Soviet Union in public opinion as early as possible. As long as Poland is allowed to re-establish their country and requires their original soldiers to join the war, Poland can become Germany's most loyal ally in an instant. You know, it is 1941. As long as the operation is done properly, the Poles can be mobilized. Well, because in history, when Germany discovered the Katyn Massacre, the war situation was no longer in its favor. The Poles would naturally not be so stupid as to fall out with the Soviet Union over this matter, but it is different now. It was very difficult to drag Poland into the water in 1941. A simple question, Lin Wei is ready to let Poland, the European stepping cloth, give the Soviets a good smoke.