Admiral Kesselring's Second Air Force, under Göring's strict order, was transformed from supporting the operations of Army Group Center to an air force that independently supported the armed SS. As a commander, Kesselring The Admiral had every reason to vent his anger. But compared to Goering's dominance within the Air Force, Admiral Kesselring could only knock out his teeth and swallow it in his belly. No one in the Air Force can disobey Air Marshal Göring's will, at least General Kesselring does not have this ability yet.
At eight o'clock in the morning on October 25, just as Lin Wei had just concluded the meeting, General Kesselring finally followed Göring's opinion and, at least for a period of time in the future, exclusively cooperated with the armed SS offensive. In Smolensk, as early as after the Battle of the Portal, the Gestapo commandeered the nearby Soviets to build twelve airfields specifically for Luftwaffe aircraft to support the Moscow Campaign nearby. At this time, the heavy fog that formed in the middle of the night had disappeared. Except for the humidity that made the pilot who had just woken up a little uncomfortable, everything was as usual.
They already knew that their aircraft had been equipped with napalm, although some pilots who had not participated in the Battle of Britain did not know what it was. However, this does not deter pilots who are naturally adventurous from trying it for the first time. Maybe after trying it, they will fall in love with this kind of bomb.
At this time, on the front forming a C-shaped encirclement around Moscow, there were more than 1.8 million German Wehrmacht offensive troops and 1.5 million Soviet Red Army troops slightly less than Army Group Center. The first peace since Japan. On the two-hundred-kilometer front line, whether they were distant reserves or close at hand, they could see each other's forward positions. At least during this period, there was peace between them. This situation will not last long. Everyone from the commander of the Army Group Front to the ordinary soldiers knows that this is just the calm before the storm. The war between the Soviet Union and Germany must end with one side completely falling without any chance of fighting back. Power is the end. To paraphrase Hit? Le's words, "Our struggle can only have two results: either the enemy steps on our corpses, or we step on the enemy's corpses." Although cruel, it is extremely correct.
Marshal Bock and Marshal Timoshenko, Germany's four armored armies and the Soviet Union's eleven mechanized armies are all working hard to examine each other's weaknesses. Once they discover something between each other, more than five thousand tanks, An army of two million people will immediately take action and join this bloody battle.
For Stalin or the Soviet Union, they no longer wanted to suffer the fate of another defeat. Russia has never experienced such a failure, ever! Although Moscow was once occupied by Poland for eight full years, the three partitions of Poland have made the hatred towards Poland disappear. Napoleon's army came fiercely, and finally became the ultimate loser due to Kutuzov's decisiveness. But this time, Germany gathered an unprecedented army, mobilized the industry of more than a dozen European countries, and mobilized the manpower of the entire Europe for this devastating attack, which plunged Stalin into deep despair. Stalin always maintained an optimistic and confident attitude in front of others, but Stalin knew in his heart that he was afraid, he was really afraid that the Soviet Union would lose this war.
Although Stalin was a Georgian, he was a Great Russianist from the beginning to the end. He originally thought that the Soviet Union would dedicate everything to himself and was willing to watch the Soviet Union become stronger step by step. For this reason, Stalin could eliminate those in the army without hesitation. Dissidents and maintain the absolute loyalty of the army. He can brutally blockade and plunder Ukraine, which has the same culture and ethnicity. As long as this country can become strong, Stalin is willing to do anything. But now, the millions of troops he built have been wiped out. Kiev and Leningrad have fallen, and even Moscow is almost undefeatable. Stalin really doesn't know when he will be unable to hold on and will never stand up again.
Moscow must not be lost. Even if it is reduced to ruins, as long as those ruins are still there, Stalin can call on the Soviets to continue to resist. If even Moscow is lost, Stalin will not be able to reverse the situation in this war. Although The Caucasus and Ural industrial zones are still there, but these can only allow the Soviet Union to persist longer, and cannot serve as the basis for the Soviet Union to turn defeat into victory.
From the perspective of the entire war situation, Stalin must buy time. The longer the time, the more beneficial it is to the Soviet Union. Although some railways from Stalingrad in the north and south have been cut off by the German army, reinforcements are still reaching the Moscow battlefield in a steady stream. Stalin believed that as long as he could persist for a month and wait until the heavy snowfall in November, the Soviet Union would have a chance to turn defeat into victory.
Stalin could see it, and Lin Wei could naturally see it. As November approaches, the expected cold winter is bound to come, and no one is willing to fight under the conditions of minus 40 degrees Celsius. Therefore, Lin Wei kept useless napalm bombs, chemical bombs, and nerve agent bombs, which flashed in Lin Wei's mind more than once. In the end, the deadlock on the Garden Ring Road led Lin Wei to use napalm bombs first.
The SS troops near the Garden Ring Road have been ordered to retreat secretly. In Lin Wei's eyes, this kind of very dangerous bomb naturally does not want his troops to be accidentally injured. If he is burned to death by napalm bombs, it will definitely be painful. Extreme things. For this reason, Lin Wei even issued several orders, requiring all soldiers near the bombing area to never stay outside and to hide in buildings. Because napalm and incendiary bombs are used to bomb a certain area on a large scale, the power is definitely about the same as that of atomic bombs. The high temperature of one thousand to two thousand degrees Celsius can burn anything. Even if there is no open flame, the rushing heat wave can burn you to charcoal in an instant. As long as it is stained by the solid gasoline in the gasoline bomb, even a stone will continue to catch fire until the solid gasoline is burned out. Burning stones is definitely not an alarmist term here.
"Be sure to hide. If any soldiers are touched by the napalm bomb, the soldiers next to them must kill them immediately!" This is Lin Wei's last defensive order against napalm bombs, because after the napalm bomb explodes, The napalm splashed on the human body is like lard ointment, which is thick and resistant to burning. If a person slaps it with his hands, the fire will get bigger. If he rolls it on the ground to extinguish the fire, the whole body will be on fire. And once it catches fire on a person, it will be more serious. People on the side should try to stay away from the person on fire, because the struggle of the person on fire can easily throw the burning oil onto others, causing a secondary killing effect. For this reason, Lin Wei must issue this cruel order.
Lin Wei's order even caused a certain amount of panic among the soldiers. Almost all the soldiers near the Garden Ring Road were frightened by their leader's order. Although they did not know the specific effect of the upcoming air raid, in some cases Under the guidance of the military police within the offensive force establishment, they remained calm and hid in a safe area.
However, before the air attack, General Paul Hausser believed that there was still some time to conduct an artillery bombardment on the Red Army's position. This would not only cause a certain amount of damage to the Red Army, but also draw some Red Army soldiers out of the surface position. The most important thing is that shelling can eliminate the suspicion of the Red Army. Why did the German SS on the opposite side not attack today? Thus dispelling the doubts in their minds.
Lin Wei also had to admit that Admiral Paul Hauser was more thoughtful than himself. Decades of military experience are not something Lin Wei can compare to. At ten o'clock in the morning, the artillery units directly under the Fifth SS Group conducted a long-term artillery bombardment on the Red Army on the Garden Ring Road. The shelling lasted for an hour, and the SS artillery fired almost ordinary shells. When the shelling stopped, the Red Army positions guarded there had been riddled with holes, and their original appearance could no longer be seen. .
Many soldiers thought that the SS would attack immediately after the shelling, so they rushed out of the fortress as soon as the shelling stopped and ran to the position to stand ready. However, half an hour passed and the Red Army did not wait for the SS's attack. attack. Almost everyone, including Kremlin security commander Major General Spiridonov, believed the shelling was just a routine SS act.
However, they will eventually regret why they did not figure out the SS shelling. At 12 noon, although the sky is not clear, it is still a good weather suitable for taking off. Four of the twelve airports in Smolensk have already The plane was packed. More than 500 Heinkel He111 bombers are parked on the runway waiting to take off. The Heinkel He111 bombers that historically made the world remember them during the Coventry bombing are now preparing to show in Moscow that they are not inferior to the Coventry bombing. force, escorting them were more than three hundred Messerschmitt Bf109 fighter jets.
As one plane after another slowly took off, these birds of prey with the Iron Cross logo painted on their wings began to fly toward Moscow in a swarming state. Perhaps the Red Army soldiers on the Garden Ring Road at this time did not know that they would become the victims of the harvest of napalm, an inhumane bomb that matured.
What are the Red Army doing at this time? They were urgently repairing the fortifications bombed by the SS artillery force. Although the SS did not attack immediately after the shelling, who knows when they will come back? It’s always good to be prepared.