As for why I will explain briefly, after the Mid-Autumn Festival, I caught a cold for the second time, so it was really a bit unsatisfactory. Please forgive me once, but don’t worry, I have no intention of learning from the book The Glory of Germany.
Army High Command was noncommittal about Field Marshal von Rundstedt's ideas. Neither Marshal von Brauch nor General Halder interfered with the combat operations that had already begun. Therefore, the southern wing of Army Group Center, like Army Group South, occupied the starting position after independent and hard fighting. On August 26, the 13th and 43rd armies of the Second Armored Group were moving south, and the other two armies were approaching the Yelniya salient. The headquarters of the 35th Army set out from the Pripyat region and approached Gomel. The retreating enemy offered no serious resistance, so that the army was able to advance on a wide front toward the Desna River without establishing contact with the friendly neighbors 2nd Panzer Army and 6th Army.
The divisions of the 2nd Armored Army—from right to left: the 17th, 134th, 260th, 131st, 112th Infantry Division, and the 1st Cavalry Division—closer to the Desna River, the Soviet resistance The more intense it becomes. This shows that the Soviet army is determined to hold on to the Desna River defense line. Guderian of the Second Armored Group assigned his divisions to attack Chernigov. Therefore, the 260th Infantry Division, which was advancing in the center of the offensive front, received this order on the night of August 29. It forced a crossing of the Desna River on both sides of Kiselevka and established a bridgehead near Vibli.
The 260th Infantry Division ordered the 470th Infantry Regiment to immediately launch an attack from the march. While passing through the Chernich Heights, the troops came under heavy enemy artillery fire. The 2nd Battalion of the 470th Infantry Regiment suppressed the enemy's artillery fire and occupied the river bank in one fell swoop. A young officer spotted a small boat on the other side, so he jumped into the water and pulled the boat over. The 1st Battalion of the 470th Infantry Regiment and the division commander Lieutenant General Schmidt immediately used this small boat to cross the river. The engineers finally arrived. They immediately prepared rubber boats and the 2nd Battalion of the 470th Infantry Regiment crossed the river. Subsequently, the 1st Battalion of the 470th Infantry Regiment also waded through the knee-deep river. The bridgehead on the Desna River was established. Both the enemy and ourselves were deeply surprised by this raid-like operation. Corps headquarters, despite receiving telephone reports of the successful crossing attempt, remained skeptical. Similarly, it took half an hour for the Soviet army to wake up from the shock. Begin to systematically suppress the area with powerful artillery fire.
Before this restless, cool night passed, the heroic infantrymen clutched their carbines and grenades and were ready to take action. The attack began. The infantry rushed through the muddy open area with sparse bushes. Amidst the sound of "Ula", they broke through the enemy's first position and soon entered Vibli. Thus the first larger village on the other side of the River Desna was captured. At this time, no one in the 260th Infantry Division knew that they happened to encounter the peripheral troops on the right wing of the Soviet Fifth Army. The headquarters of the Soviet Fifth Army discovered this dangerous situation and immediately ordered its 15th Infantry Corps to launch a counterattack with the remnants of the 24th and 55th Infantry Divisions. Before the counter-assault, the enemy carried out fierce shelling on the rear area of our army. The Kiselevka Bridge was the only bridge in this area. Because the bridge was blown up, supplies and ammunition could not be forwarded to the 470th Infantry Regiment.
The German army put up a desperate resistance, but failed to stop the Soviet army from advancing towards Vibli. At Vibli, both sides fought a fierce battle and suffered heavy losses. The Soviet army was being strengthened every moment. Before midnight, the Soviet 62nd Infantry Division and the 45th Mechanized Division entered this fierce battle. The Soviet army advanced towards Vibli with the "T-34" tanks, and launched another counterattack at dawn the next day. During the day, the Soviet army launched fifteen attacks on the temporary positions of the 470th Infantry Regiment. The German infantrymen ran out of bullets and could only defend themselves with fence slats, gun butts and shovels. But they did not give in, using this primitive melee tool to repel fifteen large-scale enemy attacks.
At dusk, the other two regiments of the division finally arrived. The 480th Infantry Regiment entered the battle from the right side of Vibli, and the 460th Infantry Regiment entered the battle from the left side of Vibli. It was only then that the enemy stopped attacking. Lieutenant General Schmidt said to his heroic soldiers: "The Army Group has given up hope on you, but I report to it with full confidence that my Swabian soldiers are a nation of Germany, from ancient Swinburne. Evolved from ethnic groups, mainly living in the upper reaches of the Neckar and Danube rivers. They can hold their positions." The brave actions of the 260th Infantry Division won the starting position for the Second Army to launch a large-scale battle.
The 2nd Panzer Army had assumed its starting position a few days earlier. This was one of the few blessings in the war that the German officers and soldiers achieved with their fearlessness, decisiveness and bravery. Lieutenant General Model's men seized this favorable opportunity and occupied a favorable position. At dusk on August 25, the 3rd Armored Division arrived at the outskirts of Novgorod-Seversky. The Desna River here is eight hundred meters wide. Lieutenant General Model was wounded by shrapnel while advancing with the vanguard of his armored division. He ordered a cessation of night attacks on the city, which had many churches and monasteries. In the darkness of the night, it was impossible to capture the enemy-occupied city.
At dawn that day, the 3rd Armored Division launched an attack on Novgorod-Seversky with two battle groups. At 3:45 a.m., the advance detachment of the northern battle group—the 1st Battalion of the 6th Armored Regiment, the 1st Battalion of the 394th Infantry Regiment, the 3rd Company of the 394th Armored Infantry Battalion, and the 394th Engineer Platoon After leaving the starting position and launching an attack, the tanks and personnel carriers braved enemy artillery fire and drove across the Roman Bridge, breaking through the Soviet frontline anti-infantry obstacles and overpowering the enemy's machine gun positions. The enemy put up tenacious resistance, forcing our infantry to jump off the personnel transport vehicle three and a half kilometers away from the city in order to drive the Soviet troops off the road. Soon they reached the north of the city of Novgorod-Seversky. Tanks and personnel carriers stopped advancing. A splendid scene appeared in front of me: to the left was a wide tributary of the Desna River, and in front was a city with beautiful architecture perched on many hills. Behind it is a 700-meter-long tall bridge, on which carriages, cars and trucks are constantly coming and going.
Lieutenant Colonel Faupel, the commander of this small battle group, excitedly ordered: "Tanks advance!" The German troops quickly entered the city. They dispersed the enemy with a few rounds, destroyed the enemy's trucks, and then crossed the square. A Russian prisoner was forced to lead Lieutenant Colonel Faupel and his lead tank through the city towards the bridge. It was exactly ten o'clock when the battle group approached the high bridge supported by four pairs of piers.
The Soviet troops guarding the bridge resisted, and Lieutenant Colonel Faupel ordered his leading armored forces to approach the bridge in a wide frontal formation. Second Lieutenant Stecker, the engineer platoon leader, took a personnel transport vehicle and rushed to the bridge despite enemy machine gun and rifle fire. Not far from the bridge, the second lieutenant and four engineers jumped out of the vehicle. After they boarded the bridge, they began to search the bridge deck for explosives set by the Soviet army to destroy the bridge. The Soviets discovered their attempt and opened fire on the bridge with artillery, small arms and machine guns. The engineers sometimes hid quickly, sometimes jumped forward, and finally found the first explosive package, and then found the second, third, fourth, and fifth. They pulled the explosives out of their hiding places and threw them into the water beneath the high arched bridge. The enemy opened fire again, and the engineers had to take cover again. Enemy shells could hit the explosive charges at any time, blowing the bridge to pieces.
Lieutenant Colonel Faupel could not wait any longer. He ordered the tanks to rush across the bridge. The tank rumbled onto the bridge and rushed past the engineers at work. Sergeant Borovcek drove his P-IV tank to the south bank of the Desna River first. At 11 o'clock, the German tanks arrived on the other side of the bridge. They immediately reported the achievement via radio to the regiment and division. Lieutenant Colonel Schmidt-Ott, commander of the 6th Armored Regiment, immediately ordered his units to move toward the bridge. Shortly thereafter, Lieutenant General Model arrived at the bridge. He saw strategic benefits to the raid. Then he ordered the expansion of the bridgehead to capture as much area as possible.
At dawn on August 27, the 3rd Armored Division continued to advance, crossed the Kiev-Bryansk railway line, and occupied the high ground west of Voronezh. Another battle group of the division established a second bridgehead near Pirogovka, south of Novgorod-Seversky. To the southwest of it, a battle group of the 10th Motorized Rifle Division commanded by Major Plagmann established a third bridgehead and captured Oberonye. The third platoon of the 40th Company crossed the river in a rubber boat.
The Second Armored Group Army captured three important locations in a surprise attack, creating conditions for continuing the assault southward. Guderian hurriedly rushed to the 24th Motorized Corps. He wanted to take advantage of this favorable opportunity. The 24th Motorized Corps seemed to have wedged itself into a gap in the enemy's territory, preparing to push forward and achieve a breakthrough.
But Guderian's hands and feet were tied. He only had two corps at best, and among them, the 47th Motorized Corps had to be responsible for covering the eastern flank of the 24th Motorized Corps to resist the enemy's increasingly strong counterattacks. From the beginning, he wanted to move forward His 46th Motorized Corps, but this proposal was rejected by the Army Group Center Headquarters and the Army General Headquarters. When he advocated attacking the enemy east of the Desna River rather than defending it, the Army General Headquarters The headquarters even criticized this time-tested armored commander. The Army General Headquarters and the Army Group did not agree that "Guderian's combat actions in the run-up movement are like the boosting movements before explosive movements in sports, so he got this "Name." - This is their name for the combat operation planned by Guderian. It was not until August 31, when Guderian once again pleaded for the 46th Motorized Corps to be handed over to him, that the Army General Headquarters gave in and sent the Grossdeutschland Panzergrenadier Division to Novgoro. De-Seversky moved the 1st Cavalry Division and the SS "Reich" Division to the right flank of the 24th Motorized Corps.
On the last day of August, the XXIV Motorized Corps of the 2nd Armored Army captured a large bridgehead that stretched from Novgorod-Seversky, via Sobich, to Korop. The corps' armored strength declined rapidly due to successive attacks and increasing enemy resistance. The 3rd Armored Division has only more than thirty operational combat vehicles left, and the 4th Armored Division located in the Novgorod-Seversky bridgehead has more than 50 vehicles left. The forward movement of the powerful 1st Anti-aircraft Artillery Corps (General von Axtelm Anti-aircraft Artillery) was a timely and powerful reinforcement of the 24th Motorized Corps. When resisting the impact of Soviet tanks, heavy anti-aircraft artillery batteries were often the last resort.
At this time, the Sixth and Seventeenth Armies of Army Group South and the First SS Panzer Corps had already occupied the starting area that could drive directly into the heart of Eastern Ukraine. Behind the Sixth and Seventeenth Armies, the large Southeast Army Group was following up. In this way, the German Army completed the plan for changing the direction of the main attack drawn up by the High Command on August 21. It is hoped that this will determine the outcome of the battle in one fell swoop. Marshal von Rundstedt and General Guderian were effective implementers of this directive from the High Command, but Marshal von Brauch and General Halder were still unsure whether this directive would be feasible. Express doubt.
However, the plan of the German High Command was finally implemented by a person who no one expected, that person was Stalin. Stalin and his General Staff discovered at the end of August that the German army seemed to have given up the assault on Moscow and turned its attack direction towards Ukraine. The newly formed "Bryansk Front" commanded by Lieutenant General Yereomenko was strong enough to hold the left flank of the Moscow defensive circle extending far to the west. Since August 26, the front has launched continuous assaults on the eastern flank of the German Second Armored Group.
Now, Stalin made a major decision that played a decisive role in our army's victory in the Battle of Kiev. At the end of August, he ordered the "Southwestern Front Army" to immediately stop retreating. The troops must return to their original positions and defend the Desna, Sula and Dnieper River defense lines at all costs. Supplies that are being evacuated to the eastern Donets region must be transported back to the western region resolutely. It is necessary to mobilize urban and rural residents to go to the front to repair fortifications. Group after group of teachers came from far-flung parts of the Russian Empire. They would enter the area of the Great Salient between the Desna and Dnieper rivers, at the top of which the fortress city of Kiev was situated.
So far, a total of twenty-eight corps have been sent to this area by Stalin with orders to strengthen the "Southwestern Front". What Stalin did not know was that these twenty-eight corps would cease to exist in less than three weeks.
At this time, the Southern Army Group Headquarters made the following analysis of the situation: "It seems that the command of the 38th, 26th, and 5th Group Armies of the Red Army's Southwest Front is still orderly and strict. To the west of the Desna River is The Red Army in the northwest area of Zernigov, driven by the advance of the 1st Waffen SS Panzer Corps, was exerting increasing pressure on the northern flank of the Sixth Army's Dnieper bridgehead. In addition, the Red Army wanted to hold on for as long as possible It is also one of the reasons why the Sixth Army and the First SS Panzer Corps suffered tenacious resistance. One of the operational intentions of this Army Group is to firmly contain the stronger enemy forces on the Desna River. Downstream.”
Army General Headquarters was very worried that the plan to attack Moscow would be in vain. Marshal von Rundstedt understood this very well. But he believed that, despite this, the Battle of Kiev must be fought first so that the assault on Moscow could be continued without threatening the flanks. On the same day, he sent a more detailed situation analysis report to the Chief of the Operations Division of the Army General Headquarters and the Central Army Group Headquarters, and made detailed suggestions for the implementation of the Kiev battle.
This situation analysis report stated that the 1st SS Panzer Corps and the 2nd Panzer Army of Army Group Center should not only advance to the Desna River, but should continue the offensive across the river. At the same time, the battle should be carried out within the formation of Army Group South. The Priluki-Romne line is the tentative target of this southward attack. The situation analysis report particularly emphasized that: “…if the enemies in Eastern Ukraine are not annihilated, neither Army Group South nor Army Group Center will be able to carry out operations smoothly… The operations that Army Group South has already started and the operations of Army Group Center South will The corresponding actions of the wing have made considerable progress. It seems too late to switch to Moscow operations at this time... "
At this time, both Germany and the Soviet Union turned their attention to the war situation in the southwest, but they did not know that there was a place where great changes were brewing. This was the Northwest Front surrounded by Estonia. On September 1, they were just about to leave. Lin Wei from Minsk was preparing to go south to join the large forces of the Waffen SS and participate in the Battle of Kiev. However, a man suddenly came to his door and said that he had something important to report. The man revealed a little bit about himself. After coming from Estonia, Lin Wei immediately postponed his plan to go south to meet the visitor.
After an absolutely strict inspection, Lin Wei met with the visitor at the residence arranged by him in Army Group Center in Minsk. This person was General Kuznetsov's adjutant Allred. He sat down. It didn't take long for Lin Wei to know Allred's intention to come and negotiate terms on behalf of Admiral Kuznetsov. With a slight turn of his eyes, Lin Wei knew that Stalin must have known that he had met with General Kuznetsov. According to Stalin's nature since the beginning of the Great Purge, he would take action without investigating. Now Kuznetsov There is only one possibility for General Zov to send people, and that is that Stalin has already taken action against General Kuznetsov’s family.
"Successfully forced Stalin to rebel against Kuznetsov, does this count as a successful counterattack?" Lin Wei suddenly began to think wildly.