Empire in Progress

Chapter 411: Battle of Moscow

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"I'm leaving tomorrow!" Lin Wei stood blankly on the top floor and looked down. He didn't find the scenery of Berlin very beautiful from here before, but now he suddenly felt a sense of superiority about himself. Subconsciously, Lin Wei knew that this feeling was not good, but just like a cigarette addiction, Lin Wei just felt happy looking at Berlin like this.

"Oh, really?" Louis turned around and said, "Every time I look at the ant-like people underground from here, I think of myself! In fact, ordinary people don't care about nationalism. They are very realistic and think that war can help them If their lives are good, they will support them. If not, problems will arise! Lampard, Germany cannot bear another defeat!" At this time, Louis was full of sincerity. The two had known each other for more than ten years, and Louis had already grown up from Lin. Wei's most trusted vest has become a thought leader.

"If everything goes well, three months!" Lin Wei didn't know whether he understood the meaning of Louis' words, or whether he understood the meaning but didn't answer. In short, he didn't answer Louis' meaningful question, "I'm leaving. I'll leave tomorrow." Going to the Eastern Front! I will come back with news of victory!" Lin Wei patted Louis on the shoulder and walked into the stairs without looking back.

Lin Wei understood what Lewis said. But thinking about it carefully, it seems that since I was born in Germany, I have never thought about ordinary Germans for even one minute. The motivation for joining the war was just to avoid Germany's defeat. The main reason was that I was afraid of the power of the Juncker landlords after the defeat. Uprooted. If Germany would have won this war, I must be a dandy now! With strange thoughts flashing through his mind, Lin Wei walked out of the SS headquarters as if sleepwalking.

"Leader! Where should we go next?" Crawford's words brought Lin Wei back to reality.

"Next..." Lin Wei looked like he was thinking, "Let's go home. You can also find a place to relax. We will set off tomorrow!" As he spoke, Lin Wei gave out a heart-warming smile. Regarding his adjutant, Lin Wei still tried his best to give himself the real side.

After sending Crawford home, Lin Wei got into the car and unknowingly began to fall into memories again. It was nothing more than the aftereffects of what Louis had just said. Thinking about it carefully, since he became one of the most prominent figures in Germany Later, it seemed that he and Louis were becoming increasingly distant. When did this situation begin? As the speed of the car became faster and faster, the scenery on both sides of the road quickly moved backwards, as if cooperating with Lin Wei, making him fall into memories.

Many things that had almost been forgotten reappeared in my mind. I was indifferent to Himmler's development, I chose to give in when faced with Röhm's aggressiveness, I didn't forget that I couldn't kill everyone when I was fighting for power with Goering, but I don't know what Since then, he has made sacrifices for the sake of the country. This sentence has become Lin Wei's most frequently quoted sentence. The relationship between him and Louis is estranged, but the relationship with Heydrich is getting closer and closer. Many times, some extremely dirty plans come from the minds of the two people. When did this start? Battle of Poland? Battle of Norway or Battle of France? These memories were not that long ago, but Lin Wei couldn't remember when he started to become a little cruel and ruthless.

"Leader, we have arrived!" Lin Wei, who was walking towards the thinker, was awakened by the harsh sound of tires scraping the ground.

Why do you think so much? I’m not old enough to write a memoir! Lin Wei, whose thoughts were interrupted, shook his head fiercely, opened the car door and walked out. To hell with any mercy, there is nothing more important than war right now.

Marshal Bock already knew about Lin Wei's appointment as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army on the Eastern Front. Marshal Bock already knew why the Supreme Command was abolished. Although Marshal Bock had some ideas, he never reached out. Like Marshal Loeb, commander of the Northern Army Group, Marshal Bock was even more What matters is the current war, not domestic politics. Only Marshal Manstein of Army Group South made a rough guess, but he only told his partner Marshal Rundstedt that the battle of Kiev was over, and only Kiev, which was defended by Admiral North, was still alive. After taking it down, the urban area of Kiev has a vast and complex structure. Marshal Manstein will not order a strong attack on Kiev until the last moment. This is because Marshal Manstein feels that it is not worth it.

Regarding the Battle of Moscow, Marshal Manstein still had his own ideas. The Battle of Kiev successfully annihilated five Soviet armies, annihilating one front army and severely damaging another front army. Now the Southern Army Group escaped and went to a group of the Southern Front, occupying an absolute advantage. , not to mention the troops of the Southeast Army Group. It is a huge waste to have so many troops staying here. There are three options now in front of Marshal Manstein. The first is to attack the border between Turkey and the Soviet Union, attack the Soviet troops deployed there from behind, and maybe get support from the Turkish army. The second is to attack Stalingrad and the Transcaucasus region, destroy the Soviet industrial zone in Stalingrad and cut off the oil lines in the Caucasus region. The third is to mobilize troops to go north to participate in the Battle of Moscow. As for which of the three options has a higher success rate, obviously heading north to Moscow and attacking Stalingrad and the Caucasus have the highest risk, because it is already October, and even Marshal Manstein himself is not sure that he can do it within two months. Hit the Caucasus within.

Lin Wei, who had finished handling the affairs of the Supreme Command, received a telegram from Marshal Manstein and considered the risks of the three options. In his final reply to Marshal Manstein, he requested Army Group South to become the commander of the Battle of Moscow. The reserves of the German army are obviously the result of risk considerations. Attacking Moscow has the lowest risk. Because the German army now has the upper hand, the southern front should adopt a defensive posture to defend against possible Soviet counterattacks. Lin Wei has always had a deep fear of the Soviet Union's mobilization efficiency, so naturally he would not go out and pretend to be stupid when it was time to conserve his strength.

After boarding the train to Moscow, Lin Wei received another good news. The Battle of Kiev was completely over. Kiev had been controlled by the German army. The reason for this dramatic result was because of one person. This person was the SS. Skorzeny, commander of the army's special forces. Since the beginning of the war, Skorzeny had secretly crossed the border from the southern front, like many small units. But unlike others, the task Skorzeny gave himself was not to destroy some trivial facilities. He set his sights on the big target from the beginning, which was Kiev. But Skorzeny's mission was not smooth, because until mid-August, neither General Kiel nor Marshal Budyonny had their headquarters in Kiev. This was different from Skorzeny's. Erzny envisioned something very different. So after entering Kiev, Skorzeny sadly discovered that there were almost no important targets for him to attack, and those government officials were not even as important as a soldier in Skorzeny's eyes.

For half a month, Skorzeny's team has been wandering around the city of Kiev. They are simply wearing the uniforms of the Soviet Internal Guard. Usually no one comes to check, and sometimes they are usually regarded as the original troops. Overshadowed by the rout at the border. During this time, Skorzeny's squad even enjoyed the treatment of a true Soviet NKVD for a short time, as they were integrated into the NKVD in Kiev. It can also be seen from this that Skorzeny's team was able to deceive even the real KGB.

By late August, the battle had become increasingly unfavorable to the Soviet Union. At this time, Marshal Timoshenko and General Kiernos became Skorzeny's targets, but it had been planned for a long time. Ni sadly discovered once again that it was almost impossible to ensure the success of the plan and to escape successfully. Let alone whether it could escape the heavy guards and approach the two people, even if it was successful, as long as the Soviet troops blocked the bridge, Skorzeny's team would He had to be stopped on the right bank of the Dibennie River, and his final fate could really be imagined with his toes.

Two consecutive defeats did not make Skorzeny give up. The opportunity finally came. The unfavorable battle situation caused Kiev to fall into chaos. Skorzeny waited for the opportunity he wanted, but Marshal Timoshenko Skorzeny was disappointed to escape the encirclement by plane, but it didn't matter. Admiral Kiir was still in Kiev. Due to the large number of high-ranking officers fleeing, something unexpected happened to Skorzeny. Admiral Kiernos actually entrusted Skorzeny with an important task, allowing Skorzeny to join the remaining inner circle in the city. The guard troops form a supervising team.

When the German offensive troops invaded Kiev, Skorzeny even cheered loudly, but his reason told him that he could not do so because he could not determine the final result yet. As Skorzeny expected, the attack The German army was unwilling to suffer heavy casualties in street fighting, so in the following days, it only carried out continuous sieges and used artillery and air force to bomb Kiev.

But when Kiel was about to blow up the Kiev factory by Admiral North, Skorzeny finally couldn't sit still, because this time Skorzeny's mission was largely to ensure the safety of the industrial zone here. , because after Germany occupied Kiev, it must immediately establish it as a reliable rear area instead of a useless scorched earth.

When Skorzeny was pulled out his pistol by Admiral North in Kiel, Admiral North in Kiel never imagined that the subordinate he had entrusted with such an important task and who spoke Russian fluently was actually a German.

"To be precise, my ancestors are indeed Slavs. After the battle, Admiral Kiernos ordered the tired soldiers to surrender!" In the office that has almost become a battle fortress, Skolz Ni said with a smile while raising his pistol.

The end of the battle on the southern front means the beginning of a new battle. At least it is far from the time to slack off. At least the battle situation on the northern front and the center is still anxious. When Lin Wei boarded the train, he had already informed Marshal Bock, commander of the Central Army Group. A telegram was sent, requesting Army Group Center to begin the Moscow Campaign immediately. As winter approaches, time is running out. Marshal Bock obviously understood this, so he acted immediately and issued the attack order on September 28th. This time was two days earlier than in history. The Waffen SS Armored Division still arrived in the required two days. When participating in the battle, General Huth's Third Armored Group was still attacking Leningrad, and the First Armored Group of Army Group South was being replenished due to the Battle of Kiev, so it was not the same. Therefore, it is still Marshal Guderian's Second Armored Group that breaks through the front as a sharp-edged force. This is also the only armored group currently in the hands of Marshal Bock.

In the sky were thousands of German fighters and bombers, and on the ground were Guderian's densely packed Armored Army tanks. With deafening explosions, the German attack on Moscow began. The defending Thirteenth Army and the Fiftyth Army of the Soviet Red Army tried their best to resist. Soviet Red Army soldiers in many areas even rushed towards the tanks with explosives. The Soviet artillery covered a large area of the area where the two sides were fighting, not caring whether it was there or not. There are also our own soldiers. This situation put the Second Armored Army under tremendous pressure. Many tanks were destroyed by Soviet artillery. If the Second Armored Army had not just been replenished and repaired a large number of captured Soviet tanks, perhaps such resistance would have allowed the already The Second Armored Army, which had few tanks left, completely lost its offensive power.

But even so, Guderian still found a breakthrough. The troops of Guderian's Second Armored Group broke through the weak defenses of the 13th Group Army and the 50th Group Army, began to bypass the Bryansk Front Army from the north and south, and advanced out of the other side. Basic force rear area.

Therefore, the headquarters of the Soviet Supreme Command ordered the First Guards Infantry Corps to be deployed in the Mtsensk area, and an aviation group was established to launch an assault on the German tank group rushing to the rear of the Bryansk Front. However, this had been expected by General Kesselring, the commander of the Second Air Force. When he learned of the dispatch of the Soviet Air Force, General Kesselin smiled coldly and ordered all fighter formations of the Second Air Force to take off for combat. In this way, above the Second Armored Group Army, the German Air Force and the Soviet Air Force staged a life-and-death fight. Both sides understood that this was the outpost battle of the Battle of Moscow, and they could not afford to lose. At this time, if the Soviet and German soldiers fighting on the ground Looking up, you can see the battle scene between the air forces of both sides. Planes painted with iron crosses and hammers and sickles are constantly rolling, chasing, and shooting in the sky, and finally hit the ground with fierce smoke.

Despite fierce Soviet resistance, the Germans managed to break through the defenses. Although the Soviet counterattack delayed the German advance, it failed to stop its attack. In the direction of Vyazma, the Western Front and the Reserve Front fought hard defensive battles in the direction of Vyazma and Spasdemensk.

One day later, Army Group Center occupied Orel and advanced along the Orel-Tula road, but was blocked by units of the 1st Guards Rifle Corps supported by the 6th Reserve Aviation Group of the Soviet Supreme High Command headquarters and the front aviation. live. In these battles, Colonel Katukov's 4th Tank Brigade showed a particularly tenacious spirit and ability to fight against numerically superior German forces. The ambushed tank troops launched a sudden and powerful fire attack on the German column and quickly retreated to the new area. The German army was forced to stay on the Belev and Mtsensk lines. On the one hand, it was to mobilize new reserves, and on the other hand, it was raining and the muddy roads hindered the advancement of the armored group army. No matter what methods the German soldiers used, they could not succeed. It was impossible to move the armored troops stuck in the pit forward. At this time, the Central Army Group encircled the 50th (commanded by Major General Petrov), 3rd (commanded by Major General Kreiser) and 13th Army of the Soviet Bryansk Direction Army in the north and south areas of Bryansk.

For this reason, Marshal Bock, commander of the Central Army Group, sent a message to Lin Wei, who was on the way, "The rainy weather continues, making it impossible for the Armored Group Army to continue to expand its results. For this reason, I believe that the current task is to annihilate the Soviet Red Army in the encirclement, and wait for When the weather turns cooler or clearer and the ground becomes hard, we can launch an attack on Moscow, which may take two weeks!"

When Lin Wei received Marshal Bock's telegram, he almost didn't have the strength to smile bitterly. It seemed that he had encountered such a thing. Could it be that God was not on Germany's side in the Soviet-German war? There are always problems appearing in front of Lin Wei one after another. Waiting for Lin Wei to solve it, when will things go smoothly? Lin Wei knew that it might snow immediately after this rain. German soldiers also have to accept the test, but they have no solution. It is very simple. It is the same as William II's illness. This is God's will, which can only be overcome but not defeated. Could it be that if Lin Wei goes to the Vatican to find the Pope to say a mass, will God make it sunny here? This is obviously impossible.

After thinking for a long time, Lin Wei replied, "I agree with the marshal's idea, and the domestic winter clothes are coming soon. In order to prepare for the upcoming winter, I still hope that Marshal Bock can overcome the difficulties and consume as much Soviet Red Army troops as possible." Strength, this way our pressure will be reduced a lot in winter operations!" In fact, just behind Lin Wei, there are already dozens of trains filled with winter clothes driving along the Minsk Railway. The Northern Army Group on the northern line is due to The most northerly, so the winter clothes were received first. The SS winter clothes in Leningrad were transported by sea and land. The rest is the turn of Army Group Center in front of Moscow. As for Army Group South, due to the temperature difference between the north and south of the Soviet Union, it will be replenished at the end, about ten days later.

For Marshal Bock, things are not too bad. At least the First Armored Army, which was transferred from Army Group South, has now begun to accept tanks shipped from China, including a small number of Panther tanks. After the replenishment, It can greatly share the pressure of Guderian's Second Armored Group.