The Third Reich in Desperation

Before setting off, Baghramyan silently inspected the queue, looking at the faces of the soldiers.Everyone is very tired, but fortunately, they are all young and relatively energetic.

Although Bagramian also knew that it would be good for these young people to rest for a while, but they didn't have a minute. Before nightfall, they had to reach the combat position.

Baghramyan quickly laid out the task for everyone and forewarned them that the situation was going to be difficult.

"But I believe that none of you will embarrass the Red Army!" Baghramyan encouraged after the explanation.

But immediately, even he himself lowered his voice silently and gradually became silent.

When he fell silent, a young soldier with a thin black ribbon on his head said: "Don't worry, Comrade General, we will not disappoint you. It's a pity that Moscow's approval has not yet come down. Everyone I don’t know, is it the right choice for us to try our best to break through and go back?”

This question made Baghramyan's heart sink.

Yes, what can I do if I break out of the encirclement.If Stalin did not recognize Kirponos' good intentions in the end, then the people who broke out, perhaps, just died in another place.

Wasn’t the Pavlov core command of the Western Front sent to Siberia by Stalin’s order?

If it weren't for these front-line officers of the Western Front who were forced to jump over the wall and surrendered to the German army endlessly, what awaited them would be nothing more than a trip to Siberia without light.

"Sorry, I can't answer your question. But I can assure you that our current choice is at least responsible!" Baghramyan sincerely looked directly at the young soldier who asked the question.

The young man still wanted to say something, but at this moment, a correspondent rushed over to report the information: "A large German motorcycle convoy came from Mellieha. It forcibly crossed the Mnoga River Afterwards, we repelled the small detachments of our army occupying those high grounds, and they are about to break through! The column of the headquarters is very dangerous now!"

Baghramyan was then ordered to personally lead his team to attack the German army, capture the high ground, and seize the bridge over the river.

His mission changed all of a sudden, from flanking to the first echelon.

However, at any rate, he was commanding 150 young and strong soldiers with combat effectiveness. After all, Baghramyan commanded his troops to break through the German blockade before dawn. Although he did not seize the bridge, he also captured two bridges near the bridge. the highlands.

It's a pity that the large force of the Southwest Front Army Command, which was supposed to follow up, was divided behind.

The column of the Front Army Command was strongly blocked by the Germans and could not join Baghramyan's detachment. The column had to march northward, and crossed the Mnoga River near the village of Voronki. A grove.

There are more than 1000 people in the column of the Front Army Command, 800 of whom are officers.

They were accompanied by General Kirponos, member of the Military Council of the Front Burmistenko and members of the Military Council, Division Political Commissar Lykov, Dobykin, Danilov, Panyukhov, 5th Major General Potapov, Commander of the Army Group, Members of the Military Council of the Army Group, Members of the Divisional Political Commissar Nikishev and the Military Council, Political Commissar of the Brigade Kalychenko, Chief of Staff of the Army Group Major General Pisarevsky and other leading figures of the Soviet Army .

It can be said that the essence of the entire Southwest Front Army is in this forest.

There are only 6 armored vehicles, 2 anti-tank guns and 5 quadruple anti-aircraft machine guns that can march to this forest with the column.

The grove was cut in half by a canyon.Vehicles and personnel were concentrated on the edge of the grove, and combat vehicles took positions on the edge of the forest.

But unfortunately, this team has exposed the weakness of poor organization.Occupying the defenses was only a small number of troops from the 5th Army Headquarters Guards, and many officers went to the farmhouses in the town without permission to wash their faces, find food and take a break.

The German army can almost be said to have benefited from this, and easily discovered the Southwest Front Army Command that disappeared at night.

As soon as the morning fog cleared, Kirponos scouts reported to him that German tanks were approaching from the east and northeast.Scouts from the southwest also said that German motorcycles and tanks were also approaching in this direction.

After about 20 minutes, the German army really attacked the grove from three sides.The Germans dispatched first-class Panther tanks, artillery and machine guns, followed by submachine gunners.

Among the thundering cannons and the rattling of machine guns, there was also the sparse firing sound of two Soviet artillery pieces. The number of artillery pieces was pitifully small, and the Soviet army still cherished every shell. The resistance effect can be imagined.

The German motorized infantry who arrived by car later also entered the battle.

They spread out from the march into a skirmish line, and rushed towards the grove under the cover of tank fire.When they reached the edge of the forest, the besieged, under the leadership of Kirponos, Burmistenko, Lykov, Tupikov, Potapov, and Pisarevsky, were still tenacious. maintain resistance.

It's a pity that Kirponos couldn't change the situation by his own willpower after all.His leg was injured, and several soldiers hurriedly carried him to the spring at the bottom of the canyon.Subsequently, Army Commander Potapov, who was seriously injured by shells, was also sent here.

Meanwhile, General Pisarevsky, Potapov's chief of staff, had died on the battlefield.

Minutes later, a mortar shell exploded next to Kirponos.Kirponos fell to the ground without saying a word. He suffered chest and head wounds and died two minutes later.

Around Kirponos, generals Dobekin, Danilov, and Panyukhov were also killed by shells.

Lieutenant Colonel Glebov and Chief of Staff Tupikov and his party did not die here. They were killed in a confrontation with the German army near the town of Ovdiyev, 2 kilometers away from the Shumeikovo grove.

In this way, Zhukov’s mainstay colleagues who stayed in the Southwest Front Army and used to guard Ukraine lost the best breakout time because of Stalin’s foolish adherence to orders, and became a group of meaningless battlefield cannon fodder...

Text 782 North

When Bock commanded the Central Army Group to fight against Zhukov in the area around Smolensk, and when Rundstede led the Southern Army Group to advance towards Kiev, the Northern Army Group commanded by Marshal Loeb also broke into the Baltic Sea. With the cooperation of the army, march towards Leningrad.

Lelingrad, also has a very beautiful name, called St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg is located in the northwest of Russia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Neva River. It is a central municipality directly under the Central Government of Russia and the capital of Leningrad Oblast. It is the northernmost one of the ten million cities, and is also known as the "Northern Capital" of Russia.Known as the "second capital of the Soviet Union" nickname.

Many of the buildings, color paintings, and sculptures here can be called art treasures. Its places of interest, beautiful parks, and museums are also what the Soviet people yearn for.More importantly, it is an important city renamed Leningrad in memory of Lenin, and it occupies an irreplaceable important position in the hearts of the Soviets.

As long as the city can be captured, it is of great significance both in the strategic sense and in the psychological sense.Strategically, the Northern Army Group can join forces with the Finnish army here, then control the traffic on the Neva River, further capture the Soviet Baltic Fleet, and liberate the heavy armored corps to attack Moscow.

In this way, there is an extra army group that can be used to attack Moscow.Then winning Moscow is simply as easy as pie.

On the other hand, psychologically, taking Leningrad was certainly like taking the second heart of the USSR.The second heart is lost, and Moscow, the first heart, cannot be guaranteed.

In July, with the cooperation of the Finnish army and a small number of Norwegian expeditionary forces, Loeb sent armored troops to advance along the Luga-Leningrad road, but was strongly blocked by the Soviet army in the Luga area.

The 41 Panzer Army was repelled 40 kilometers.The 18th Army that attacked Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, also encountered stubborn resistance from the Soviet 8th Army and was unable to continue advancing.

Since then, although the three-nation coalition forces of Defino have surrounded and annihilated some of the main Soviet forces in the Ladoga Lake area.However, after the Finnish army gained the land lost in the Soviet-Finnish War, it began to send only some of the most combat-capable and least-equipped troops across Lake Ladoga and continued to advance southeast.

In the face of the Finns blatantly and perfunctorily coping with the tasks entrusted to them by the military group of the Allied Powers, Lebuo didn't say much.He is quite honest, and the Finnish Army has sent troops, and it's not that he refuses to attack, so it's hard to blame him.

You said that if Finland did not send a single soldier, it would be impossible for Le Bu to force the Finnish army to send troops.They can come up with some manpower to share a little pressure, which is still better than watching from the sidelines.

Therefore, the army of the Northern Army could only continue to assault Leningrad with a smaller number of Norwegian expeditionary forces under the support of a group of Finnish troops with the worst combat effectiveness.

Naturally, Reinhardt was very dissatisfied with the combat situation of the Northern Army Group. He personally flew to the front line to supervise the battle, and got the Finnish Marshal Mannerheim to lose his temper: "You promised me that the war began. In the end, you will follow us closely and launch the most powerful blow to the Soviet Union together. But in reality? Except for the battle at the beginning of the war, you have never cared about it. I really doubt that the Finnish army that is fighting now, Is it really the army that fought tenaciously in the Soviet-Finnish War?"

"Honorable Head of State of Germany, we have done our best. This is an undeniable fact. Of the four armies of our Finnish army, none of the armies lost less than 15.00% after the war. We have put in enough effort! "Mannerheim did not bow his head, but with the help of a translator, argued with Reinhardt.

Compared with history, the support of the German army to the Finnish army in this life is indeed much less, which also caused the early casualty rate of the Finnish army to rise sharply.And now, under Reinhardt's power, the Finnish army did not refuse to take a step forward after regaining the lost ground as it did in history, but more or less took out some defective troops to continue to complete the German Combat arrangements explained by people.

If the Finns can do this, it stands to reason that Reinhard should be content.Among other things, in the early stage of the counterattack, the Finnish army at least won the entire area west of Viborg for the Allies. This alone cost the Finnish army tens of thousands of casualties.

Originally, Reinhardt arranged for the Finnish army to bear the damage in the early stage, in order to make full use of the Finnish army at one time.After that, he didn't expect the Finnish army to play much role.And Mannerheim can continue to let some Finnish soldiers continue to fight, which has exceeded Reinhardt's original expectations.

However, things are not as simple as Reinhardt expected.

Perhaps it was because there were too many changes after crossing, or because Reinhardt transferred Manstein, who was supposed to be a pioneer in the Northern Army Group and played a huge role, to the Southern Army Group to fight.This led to Lebu's lack of generals who could take on important responsibilities.

"And you, Marshal Lebu,...Look at the other marshals, Bock and Rundstedt's armored corps have completed lightning advances, taking Smolensk and Kiev, only You're still tangled up here."

"Führer, our front line here is too long, and the Finnish army's offensive has begun to weaken. Moreover, my troops are not as strong as the armored corps of the other two army groups..." Le Bu counted his difficulties on his fingers.

Reinhardt interrupted Loeb in front of Mannerheim: "I don't want to listen to the bad situation. I give you two armies and an air force, and I give you the glorious opportunity to occupy the second capital of the Soviet Union. Is it just to hear you explain how the Russians are indestructible? You are the German Marshal, how can you find reasons to avoid war like the Finns?"

Hearing what the translator said, the face of the veteran Mannerheim couldn't help but twitched.