To this end, the First SS Panzer Corps began a southward assault. Field Marshal von Rundstedt hoped that the headquarters of Army Group South would have full command of this large-scale deep operation planned to annihilate an enemy army. Therefore, the headquarters of Army Group South recommended to the Army General Headquarters that the 1st SS Panzer Corps be assigned to its command. The Supreme Command did not agree to Marshal Rundstedt's request at first because it might cause unpredictability between Army Group Southeast and Army Group South due to the issue of troop affiliation. However, Marshal Rundstedt He insisted on doing this and tried to convince Marshal Blomberg that he could make Lin Wei understand this change of command.
While Lin Wei was still driving the narrow-gauge train to the battlefield in Kiev, Marshal Rundstedt's telegram arrived. The telegram did not conceal the current war situation in Ukraine, which made Lin Wei feel that the battlefield was full of variables. , the sincere words and sincere words made Lin Wei find no reason to refuse. Lin Wei still understood Marshal Rundstedt. If Germany has the only marshal who tells the truth, then there is no doubt that he will It's Rundstedt. He doesn't care about politics at all. He adheres to the ethics and norms inherited by German soldiers since the Prussian era. But if you think that Rundstedt is a rigid person, you are wrong, because Rundstedt Marshal Stadter was a famous eloquent in the German Wehrmacht. In the early days after Hitler came to power, once he encountered military problems, Hitt? If Le and the Wehrmacht disagree, the first person to jump out and talk to Hit? It was Rundstedt who debated, and Rundstedt asked Hitt, who was famous for his speeches? Ledu felt a headache.
What Lin Wei said in the telegram to Rundstedt is true. Judging from the current progress, the command of the First SS Panzer Corps will indeed be better in the hands of Army Group South, because according to the According to the current progress, it will be at least a week before the entire Southeast Army Group enters the battlefield. By then, the South Army Group may have almost done the work. The role of the Southeast Army Group is not to attack difficulties. Not only is this inappropriate, but it will also cause others to I don’t believe that the Southeast Army Group has such strength. The role of the Southeast Army Group is to prevent the two Soviet front armies from breaking out after they are surrounded, because the Southern Army Group does not have the ability to organize them.
"After all, I still want to hand over the elite troops of the SS to others! I really regard my troops as reserve forces!" Lin Wei's tone was quite helpless. Since participating in the Soviet-German War, the armed SS It's like they don't have the trust of others, and the only few elite troops are still commanded by others.
After sighing, Lin Wei still had to call Marshal Rundstedt back and agreed with Marshal Rundstedt's idea. It's just that when someone wants your troops, you have to greet them with a smile. This feeling makes Lin Wei very happy. Is it weird or angry? It’s not this feeling, entangled, yes, it’s this feeling.
After doing this, Lin Wei then took a slow train and rushed to the battlefield instead of building a faster plane. As for why, it was because Lin Wei was afraid of death, and the plane was really unsafe. , Countless countries in World War II did not know how many commanders died because of flying. Lin Wei did not know what his fate was, but it was always okay to be careful. Although this takes some time, in Lin Wei's view, it is not a big deal. As long as Germany can win, it is okay to be an unsung hero. In a war of this scale, personal influence can be ignored, and no one can Can't save the world, so since Germany has made all preparations before the war, Lin Wei only needs to carefully lay a good foundation for others. The German army lacks everything but excellent commanders.
The First SS Panzer Corps, with Dietrich as its commander-in-chief, suddenly turned around and headed south, and the next day it broke into the north bank of the Desna River. Guderian's move south gave the Soviet Supreme High Command the illusion that the 1st SS Panzer Army was trying to encircle and destroy Timoshenko's Western Front and Base Camp Reserve Front, so he ordered Bryankes to The 43rd Army of the Front and the Reserve Front launched a sortie in the direction of Roslavl and Tasrob at the end of August, preparing to attack the flanks of the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Corps. Yelyomenko commanded the 43rd Army of the Bryankes Front and the Reserve Front to launch a powerful counter-assault attack on the front and flanks of Guderian's Corps.
The strength of the 43rd Army of the Soviet Union was more than twice that of the First Armored Corps of the Waffen-SS. Yelyomenko was also a Soviet general who had participated in the Soviet-Finnish War, so it was very difficult to deal with. Fortunately, although Marshal Bock did not They were willing to allow Guderian's Second Armored Army to go south to disperse the strength of Army Group Center, but still ordered Guderian to lead the Armored Group to help the First SS Panzer Army open the way south.
However, the mission of Guderian's Panzer Group is just that, which is to help the First SS Armored Corps break through the siege of the 43rd Group Army. As for where the Armed SS can reach after the breakthrough, then It's not something Guderian can control.
The Desna River is the only way for the Waffen SS to move south. Because Guderian's Panzer Army and the Waffen SS First Armored Army acted together, it gave Moscow the illusion that Stalin did not fight like in Ukraine. The above thought, but because the armored forces of Army Group Center want to break through from here, annihilate the Soviet troops in Moscow in a roundabout way, and create conditions for attacking Moscow. Therefore, General Yelyomenko worked very hard on sniping on the Desna River. For this reason, Stalin specially mobilized more than 200 tanks to Yelyomenko, asking him to defeat Guderian here. Stalin may never have imagined that Army Group South was actively planning a large-scale annihilation war, and the targets of annihilation were the 1.2 million troops of the Soviet Southwest Front and Southern Front in Ukraine.
In the northeast of Ukraine, the Soviet 43rd Army commanded by General Yelyomenko is still fiercely attacking the Second Armored Army and the 1st SS Panzer Army. To the north, the Sixth Army of the Southern Army Group is seeking a larger The progress of the Sixth Army further north, the Southeast Army Group has been deployed along the southern direction of the Central Army Group's advance. Once the Southeast Army Group is fully deployed and presses southward, the Soviet Red Army units in the entire Ukraine will be unable to escape. But the most important thing is whether the First SS Panzer Corps can circle back to the rear of the Soviet Southwest Front as planned and cut off their retreat.
On August 26, Linwei, who had transferred from the Northern Front to Minsk, sent a telegram to the 1st Panzer Corps of the Waffen-SS. Two days earlier, Dietrich and General Paul Hausser had It is already known that the affiliation of his unit has been transferred from Army Group Center to Army Group South.
Dietrich, who was resisting the Soviet 43rd Army in the Desna River Basin, received a telegram from Lin Wei. The telegram said, "From now on, the command of the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Corps will be solely under the command of Dietrich." I hope that the two generals can understand that at this stage of the combat mission of the First SS Armored Corps, an indomitable fighting spirit is more important than anything else. In order to accurately annihilate the two Soviet front armies, we can pay any price. No matter how heavy the casualties are, I hope the two generals can help Dietrich complete this arduous mission!"
When Dietrich saw the telegram, Paul Hausser also saw it, and he said, "Since the leader has arranged it this way, it is settled, but the two of us will do it again after we break through the Jesna River." I hand over command to you!"
"Two generals, I will definitely study hard!" Dietrich rarely bowed slightly to General Paul and General Hausser, because during this time, Dietrich has been impressed by their commanding skills. , so he put down his airs as deputy commander-in-chief and concentrated on learning from these two people.
After a brief interlude, the First SS Panzer Corps was still intercepted in the Desna River Basin. With the strength of the Soviet 43rd Army, within a few days, Guderian and General Paul Hausser simply Yelyomenko cannot be defeated. Therefore, if the First SS Armored Corps wants to complete its plan, it still has to wait.
At this time, Field Marshal Manstein suggested to the Army General Headquarters that in order to coordinate with the Sixth Army and the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Corps, the Seventeenth Army should start from the bridgehead being formed near Kremenchug and pass through the Ruble Within, the assault should be carried out to the northwest, while the 1st Panzer Army should attack north between the Volskla River and Psiol in order to meet up with the 1st SS Panzer Corps. Field Marshal Manstein believed that the offensive of the 1st SS Panzer Corps and the offensive of Army Group South from the Kremenchug area might make the Sixth Army's advance easier. Field Marshal von Rundstedt and his chief of staff estimated that the Soviet forces would retreat toward the Sula River and would only be able to fight again once they reached that point. The Army General Headquarters took a different view. Seeing that the enemy was retreating everywhere, it ordered that the 1st SS Panzer Corps should halt its advance. The Army General Headquarters believed that the strength of Army Group Center must be preserved for the final large-scale attack on Moscow.
Therefore, after Marshal Manstein and Marshal Rundstedt exchanged opinions, they made another suggestion, that is, after the Seventeenth Army successfully crossed the Dnieper River, it should cooperate with the southern flank of Army Group Center. . Army Group South drew up the first plans for the offensive. These plans take special account of the changing seasons. In order to minimize the time required to break into the Soviet rear from south to north, the First Armored Army, which had just captured the Dnipropetrovsk bridgehead, should not launch an attack from here, but from the Kremenchug area. The Seventeenth Army was ordered to expand the bridgehead in Kremenzug. The First Armored Army would start from the bridgehead and assault in the direction of Lubne. The infantry division was responsible for ensuring the flank security in the direction of Poltava.
Marshal Manstein made this suggestion because at this time, the Dnieper River line was firmly in the hands of Army Group South. The first phase of the offensive was finally over. Now, the officers and soldiers were waiting for the second phase. However, no one knows how this phase of the operation will be carried out and in which direction it will develop. The cartographic departments of divisions, corps and army groups are rushing to produce maps. Because the maps issued by the military map surveying department of the Army General Headquarters and the General Staff to the field troops were only enough to reach the Dnieper River, when the troops arrived at the Dnieper River, there were no maps needed for the next step. This was yet another evidence of the haste in planning the campaign. Only the propaganda work went smoothly in this war situation. Under this circumstance, the cartography department had no choice but to convert and reform the maps from the Tsarist era that were seized or obtained through other means from forty years ago for emergency use. Of course, these maps were riddled with errors and were simply unusable. These maps show fewer roads, villages, and railway lines than the new Soviet maps, which were made purely intentionally to produce many errors.
The game between Army Group South and the Supreme Command did not delay Goebbels from conveying the good news from the front to the Germans who were paying close attention to the war situation. After Germany transferred to the wartime system, the Germans' life suddenly became very difficult. Few, but from the victory news one after another on the front line, the workers who have worked hard for a day can still feel a sense of satisfaction. After all, their exhausting work is also for the soldiers on the front line to fight without any scruples.
After work every day, sitting in front of the radio and listening to battle reports from the front line has become what ordinary Germans do. "As the special report announced, the Armored Group Army commanded by General von Kleist has won the battle after hard work. The Dnepropetrovsk bridgehead and the city were captured on August 25. Some of the enemy forces still making their last resistance on the west bank of the Dnieper River near the mouth of the Dnieper River and in the south of Kiev have been defeated in close combat." This is the Imperial Propaganda Department, we will bring the latest news tomorrow! ! The broadcast ended with the sound of the German national anthem.
On August 25, the 13th Armored Division captured Dnepropetrovsk. Its motorized infantry used the damaged raft bridge to quickly cross the 1,000-meter-wide river. The next day, the 60th Motorized Infantry Division completed its crossing of the river, replacing some of the troops of the 13th Armored Division. At the same time, Marshal Manstein issued the latest order for the Seventeenth Army to survey and seize a ferry with favorable terrain in the Kremenchug area so that the First Armored Army could set out from here to attack northward.
The situation in Ukraine has made Stalin a little angry. Both the commander of the Southwest Front, General Kirponos, and Marshal Budyonny are passively avoiding the war. This is especially displeasing to Stalin. For this reason, Stalin believes that Budyonny's passive avoidance of war was no longer enough to serve as the commander-in-chief of the southwest direction, so he was dismissed and replaced by Marshal Timoshenko, the commander-in-chief of the western direction and commander of the Western Front, to take over his command. This is because Stalin believes that although the current situation in Ukraine is somewhat unfavorable, it is far from the time to retreat, and the German progress is still within control. The idea of the two fronts abandoning Ukraine without firing a shot, in Stalin's view It's really unforgivable.
In his office in Building 1 of the Kremlin, Stalin was holding his iconic big pipe in his mouth and observing the situation in Ukraine. Now Germany's progress has also fallen in Stalin's eyes one by one. Army Group South plus With the actions of the Southeast Army Group, the situation of encircling the two Soviet front armies has become very obvious, but Stalin is still full of confidence. The Ukrainian front army is the most powerful front army of the Soviet Union. The two front armies have a total of 80 divisions and 1.2 million people. , Stalin had absolutely reason to believe that he could deal a fatal blow to the German army. Moreover, Ukraine was rich in resources and had no shortage of anything. Even if it persisted, there would be much to do.
Just as Stalin was thinking about the situation in Ukraine, the door to his office suddenly opened. Stalin knew that only one person could enter his office without permission, and that was his fellow Georgian Beria, the controller of the Soviet KGB. But even if he knew about it, Stalin was still quite surprised, because Beria was very cautious in front of Stalin and would not come in without saying anything.
So when Stalin saw Beria coming in, he asked, "Beria, what happened? It's not your style to come in like this!" Stalin quite appreciated Beria, a fellow countryman, so he didn't Say multiple words.
"Comrade Stalin!" Beria said in a cautious tone in front of Stalin, "We have discovered something bad at the place where General Kuznetsov lives!"
"What happened to the Northwestern Front Army?" Stalin had always had a problem with the Northwestern Front Army being surrounded, so he had always been dissatisfied with General Kuznetsov. However, since the entire Soviet Union was at war now, he did not Fa is concerned about the situation there. Now that I saw what Beria said was so serious, I suddenly realized that something seemed wrong.
"These were taken by people from our committee in a manor in Estonia!" From Beria's serious tone, Stalin took these photos. Stalin almost lost his temper when he saw them. The people in the photos were very familiar to Stalin. , this person had been to the Soviet Union a month before the war started, and had a conversation with Stalin in this office. Stalin looked at the person in the photo intently, who is this person if he is not Lin Wei
Stalin hated Lin Wei with a passion. Judging from Germany's preparations, the attack on the Soviet Union must have been prepared for a long time. Under those conditions, Lin Wei dared to come to the Soviet Union. It was extremely bold. Now Stalin recalled that scene and insisted that he felt like a fool.