In fact, it was at this time that the entire Leningrad campaign reached the most intolerable stage for German soldiers, the street fighting stage. In the street fighting, the complex terrain and close combat brought the training levels of the two sides, which were originally very different, to a point where the German soldiers could not accept it. You don't need to observe whether the opponent is wearing ordinary people's clothes or regular military uniforms in street fighting, because they are all enemies. No matter whether the other party is an old man or a pitiful little girl, he can become the culprit of killing you in one second. The only thing you have to do is to kill everyone. Of course you have to do things to appease the people, but you must do so after you are sure that you can control the situation.
Starting from October 6th, the scale of street fighting has exceeded Marshal Loeb's expectations, and the losses caused to the German offensive forces have begun to be unacceptable to Marshal Loeb. Lin Wei had already expected this to happen, and gave Loeb Marshal Bu put forward his own suggestions.
In some neighborhoods controlled by the German army, the loudspeakers on each street have been repaired, and German soldiers who understand Russian are constantly persuading the people who are still resisting. This includes both the current situation between Germany and the Soviet Union, and the surrender of the Soviet Northwest Front. A soldier's letter home. This is not a good approach, and the effect may be very limited, but some people did give up resistance. Of course, these people may be family members of soldiers of the Northwestern Front.
The most important point of Lin Wei's suggestion was that Marshal Loeb did not follow it. This was because Lin Wei's suggestion conflicted with the tradition of the National Defense Forces in the eyes of Marshal Loeb. In fact, Lin Wei's suggestion only had one sentence: "Learn Mongols!" The Mongols conquered most of the world in the 13th century. Why were they not resisted by the people in the occupied areas? Quite simply, they killed all the rebels. Lin Wei's intention is obviously to let the National Defense Forces ruthlessly kill all the rebels in Leningrad, regardless of gender, age or child. Once the troops with formal training want to attack ordinary people, the result is self-evident, even if they kill all The residents of Leningrad could not take Army Group North much longer. But this was unacceptable to Marshal Loeb. Although the cruelty of the battle was now great, Marshal Loeb still could not use the method of massacre against ordinary people. The former is unavoidable in war, the latter is completely *.
By October 7, although the entire urban area of Leningrad on the west bank of the Neva River had been nominally occupied, it was still not completely controlled by the German army. Not only that, with the casualties of Leningrad residents and German soldiers Gradually, the hatred between the two sides is getting more intense. This is not only detrimental to the German army's future occupation work, but also delays the German army's attack on the northeastern coast. The 56th Armored Army, the 18th Army, and the 3rd Armored Army have all been assigned areas for occupation. Now Marshal Loeb The offensive forces in the attack were only part of the Sixteenth Army and the Norwegian Army, but these forces were simply not enough in the face of Zhukov's remaining forces holding on to the right bank of the Neva River.
Marshal Loeb, who is far away in Tallinn, finally discovered the most disadvantageous place in street fighting, which consumes manpower? Although this is important, it is not fatal. The biggest characteristic of street fighting finally emerged, that is, this kind of fighting should not end and takes a lot of time. As we all know, the German army is now very pressed for time. Not only does it have to occupy Leningrad, but the next stage of the plan also involves attacking Moscow. Now it seems that the Battle of Kiev did not have an impact on Germany's launch of the Battle of Moscow. On the contrary, it seems that the adverse effects are gradually fermenting from the northern front to the overall situation. Time is very important in modern warfare, and it is even more crucial for Germany, which plans to prepare for a quick victory.
mud! Now Marshal Loeb finally understands why Lin Wei used this word to describe street fighting. It is indeed very appropriate. For a moment, Marshal Loeb had almost followed Lin Wei's wishes and was ready to take comprehensive measures against all ordinary people. But as soon as this idea flashed in his mind, Marshal Loeb strangled him to death, "You can't do this, this is an act of violence! No one dares to massacre a city under the pressure of public opinion around the world in modern society!" Marshal Loeb said Holding on to the chair, he kept persuading himself.
"Marshal! The situation in Leningrad has not been brought under control for a long time. From a time perspective, it is very detrimental to us!" The speaker was the commander of the 16th Army, General Ernst Busch. Ernst Busch had just left. After returning from the Leningrad front line by plane, General Ernst Busch came to Tallinn because the Sixteenth Army could not make breakthrough progress independently, preparing to personally persuade Marshal Loeb. When he arrived at Marshal Loeb's office, he found that Marshal Loeb was also there. In distress.
"Ernst, you are right!" Marshal Loeb pushed open the window and let the freezing air outside blow in. He shuddered and said, "But I never learned anything when I was in the military academy. How to fight street fighting? To be honest, among the entire German army now, the armed SS are the best at street fighting! But once they enter the battle, there may not be a few people left in Leningrad. The Norwegian Army Group on the northern front moves south At that time, two armed SS divisions attacked the Kirov Islands, killing more than 20,000 island defenders and residents in one day! The SS troops had no trace of chivalry. It exists to kill people!”
"That's the problem!" General Ernst Busch also echoed. The Waffen SS did have units that focused on chivalry, such as the Imperial Division and the Viking Division. Unfortunately, the SS commander on the northern front happened to have the same combat style as Dietrich.
Marshal Loeb looked at General Ernst Busch, then at the map of Leningrad, and said somewhat helplessly, "The massacre cannot be done, but according to the current situation, continuing to fight will only make the hatred between both sides worse." It’s getting deeper and deeper, and time is not good for us!”
"Hate!" General Ernst Busch's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said to Marshal Loeb with some gaffes, "Don't we still have the Russian Liberation Army? Let them be responsible for pacifying the neighborhoods where street fighting is currently taking place, and we will draw out our troops to attack the east bank. And the North Shore! Wouldn't this solve the current problem?" Ernst Busch was shocked. The more he spoke, the more he felt that his idea was feasible, and his voice became louder involuntarily.
I have to say that General Ernst Busch's idea can indeed be given a try. After thinking about it for a while, Marshal Loeb ordered his adjutant to call General Kuznetsov over. After a while, Kuznetsov looked a little gloomy. Admiral Zoff arrived at Marshal Bock's office. As soon as they met, Marshal Loeb said straight to the point, "Your Excellency, you must be aware of what is happening in Leningrad now. Tens of thousands of ordinary people die in meaningless resistance every day. These people You have been completely deceived by Stalin and thrown into this meaningless war! Aren't you willing to do something for this?"
"Marshal, what do you want me to do?" Admiral Kuznetsov asked indifferently, "Do you want me to massacre my compatriots?"
"No, General! You misunderstood me!" Marshal Loeb waved his hand and said, "I hope your troops will enter Leningrad to help us maintain local order. You must understand that the people in Leningrad You are deceiving. You will only feel hatred when you see German soldiers. On the contrary, your soldiers are more suitable. From another point of view, you are also protecting the lives of local people by doing so. As a soldier, you must understand that you have not received any training. It is stupid for ordinary people to fight against the regular army. If you don’t want to see Leningrad become a dead city! You should seriously consider my proposal! This is not only good for Germany, but also good for Leningrad!"
"Okay, I am willing to help you occupy Leningrad, but I hope that the lives of ordinary people can be guaranteed!" Admiral Kuznetsov said, "I hope that German soldiers can be friendly to ordinary people who have given up resistance! "
"If you can move faster! I think there is no problem!" Marshal Loeb said as if to remind him, "As we speak, the hatred between German soldiers and Leningrad residents may be increasing in Leningrad. One step forward!"
When the Northwestern Front Army surrendered, it still had a strength of 280,000 people. However, after Lin Wei and General Kuznetsov finished talking, they released the soldiers of the Northwestern Front Army who had been captured earlier from the prisoner-of-war camps. Now the Russian Liberation Army There are already 450,000 people. Although they seem to be powerful, these people are obviously not comparable to the German army. They are completely at the level of the Tsarist Russian army during World War I. Although not to the point where three people share a gun, they still belong to the An army with nothing but rifles. As for the captured Soviet tanks and artillery, they have been used by Germany to supplement its losses, and it is even less likely to equip the troops that were the enemy a month ago.
With the help of the railway now controlled by Army Group North, the Russian Liberation Army troops have been sent to the outskirts of Leningrad within one day. They will replace the German troops on the west bank of the Neva River in the next few days. At 8 o'clock in the morning on October 7th, the first The troops of the Third Armored Army first conducted a handover with the Russian People's Liberation Army. Then they lined up in a row on the Neva River, assuming a posture to cross the river. On the same day, engineers from the Prinz Eugen Division repaired the bridge between the Kirov Islands and the Coastal Highway. At the moment the bridge was repaired, German soldiers and Finnish soldiers on both sides hugged each other.
On the Soviet side, Zhukov concentrated all the remaining troops on Sampsosnivo Street and blew up all the bridges on the east and west banks of the Neva River. At the same time, he sent heavy troops on the east bank of the Neva River to monitor the roundabout Sixteenth Army and The Third Armored Army preparing to cross the river. Putting on a decisive battle stance. Throughout the whole day on October 7, the German Air Force flew over the areas controlled by the Soviet Red Army one after another and dropped tens of thousands of bombs.
Major General Jedinek not only transferred the 7th Air Force, but also the 5th Air Force and the 1st Air Force, which were preparing for the air combat in the Battle of Moscow. The concentrated German air force in the Leningrad area now almost reached 100% of the strength of the German air force. Forty points, all the artillery units of the Northern Army Group also deployed on the left bank of the Neva River. A series of big movements from the Northern Army Group made Stalin feel a bad feeling as far away as Moscow. One can imagine how important this battle is to Germany.
After learning that Zhukov had lost most of Leningrad, Stalin was very angry. In a telegram on October 7, he ordered Zhukov to defend Leningrad at all costs. Stalin's temper had become very irritable. The main reason was not because Zhukov, Zhukov was just angry. Because the Bryansk Front Army was now surrounded, the fierce offensive made the entire Soviet high command almost give up the plan to rescue the Bryansk Front Army. I only hope that the troops of the Bryansk Front in the encirclement circle can hold off the German Army Group Center for a while. Let the Germans slow down their attack.
Stalin's nightmare was far from over. When Germany was formulating a plan to launch an offensive in the strategic direction of Moscow, it planned to launch a powerful assault from the Dukhovshina and Roslavli areas toward the general direction of Vyazma to break through the Soviet defenses and encircle the Soviet Union. And annihilated the Soviet army in the Vyazma area, and then launched an attack on Moscow. For this purpose, the German army concentrated the basic forces of the "Center" Army Group east of Smolensk, Marshal Kruger's Fourth Army, General Strauss's Ninth Army, Kleist's First Armored Army Group, Marshal Guderian's 2nd Panzer Army, General Hoppner's 4th Panzer Army.
The corresponding forces of the Soviet Union are: the Western Front (commanded by General Konev) has the 22nd (commanded by Major General Yushkevich), the 29th (commanded by Lieutenant General Maslennikov) , the 30th (the commander is Major General Khomenko), the 19th (the commander is Lieutenant General Lukin), the 16th (the commander is Lieutenant General Rokossovsky), the 20th (the commander is Yershakov Lieutenant General), a total of six armies, occupied a 340-kilometer line east of Andreapol, east of Yartevo, and west of Yelnya. The reserve front army (commanded by Marshal Budyonny of the Soviet Union) consists of two armies, the 24th (commanded by Major General Rakutin) and the 43rd (commanded by Major General Sobennikov), on a front of 100 kilometers wide. Cover the direction of Roslavli, and the 31st (commander is Major General Dolmatov), 49th (commander is Lieutenant General Zakharkin), and the 32nd (commander is Vishnevs The four armies (Major General Ji) and the 33rd Army (commanded by Brigadier Onupriyenko) occupied positions behind the Western Front along the lines of Ostashkov, Olenino and Yelnya. The task of the two front armies is to prevent the German army from breaking through in the most important direction, namely the direction of Moscow, and to buy time to form and concentrate new reserves here.
Judging from the number of armies, the Soviet Union has a clear advantage, but the organization of Germany and the Soviet Union is not the same at all. The number of German soldiers in Army Group Center now exceeds the three major Soviet front armies defending Moscow. The Germans had a great numerical advantage, especially in the direction of Roslavli (twice as many men, eight times as many tanks, and six times as many artillery and mortars). The Soviet army was severely short of anti-aircraft guns and anti-tank guns. The defense is of a basic point nature and does not have much depth.
On October 2, the German Second and Fourth Armored Groups switched to the offensive. On the same day, they broke through the Soviet defenses in both directions of Dukhovshina and Roslavli and advanced thirty kilometers. Starting from the morning of October 3, the commanders of the two front armies took measures to eliminate the breach, that is, they carried out counterattacks with the front army reserves and group army reserves. However, they failed to complete the assigned tasks, thus forming a series of German tank groups. There are real threats to the Vyazma region in the north and south. On October 5, the headquarters of the Supreme High Command approved the determination of the commander of the Western Front, General Konev, to withdraw the troops to the Rzhev-Vyazma defensive area. However, this maneuver could not be realized under the conditions at the time. The rapidly advancing German tank groups met near Vyazma on October 7, cutting off the retreat of the four Soviet armies, the 19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd armies.
When the offensive troops completed the encirclement plan and annihilated the Soviet Red Army, the troops in the rear had already begun to receive winter clothing shipped from Germany, preparing to occupy Moscow in one go. What followed was a lot of dilly-dallying along the way, with constant stops for inspections and inspections. Lin Wei inspects the troops.
At the train station in Smolensk, Marshal Bock waited for Lin Wei, who had become the commander-in-chief of the German Army on the Eastern Front. When Lin Wei got off the train, he was shocked to see a group of people of different ages calling him uncle waiting for him, so he hurried on "Uncle Bock, how dare I ask you to wait for me here? Father knows better than to beat me, let's leave now!"
"Little guy, you are the commander-in-chief now! Of course I will wait!" Marshal Bock smiled as he and Lin Wei entered the car parked aside. The battle in Smolensk has ended for more than two months, and the entire city has gradually returned to calm. Only some areas that were the focus of the battle at the time still have traces of the war. Some Soviet people were walking in a hurry on the street. Although they didn't see any scenes of enthusiasm with the German soldiers, at least they couldn't see any hatred. "People are indeed forgetful!" Lin Wei commented secretly in his heart.
"Little guy, what did you bring this time?" Marshal Bock asked easily.
"Ha, there are too many!" Lin Wei leaned back and said from a comfortable position, "Half a million Jewish workers, two hundred thousand foreign legions, and a hundred train guns with a caliber of more than 280 mm! Yes! When I passed through Warsaw, I also talked with some former commanders of the Polish army. They seemed to really hope to avenge the Polish officers who were massacred. I have handed over this matter to Heydrich, and I plan to use it in The weapons captured by Britain and France rearmed the Poles. According to Heydrich's efficiency, 200,000 Polish soldiers would appear in the Battle of Moscow in a month. Turkey has begun secret mobilization. As long as Leningrad is captured, they will He will fulfill his obligation and declare war on the Soviet Union! Oh haha..." Lin Wei was obviously very proud of his results, and he didn't care about the few days of delay in between.