Transmigrated as the Crown Prince

The next day, a group of German bombers once again visited the industrial area in the northeastern United States and carried out another indiscriminate bombing. The entire northeastern industrial area was almost paralyzed, and with dams destroyed by German carrier-based attack aircraft, most cities suffered widespread power outages.

Listening to the secretary's report, President Wilkie's hands trembled uncontrollably. He took out a bottle of medicine from his pocket, poured a few pills into his palm, and swallowed it in one gulp. Recently, his heart disease has become more and more serious. The doctor has repeatedly told him to rest, but how can he rest peacefully in this situation?

President Wilkie couldn't help but blame his predecessor, Roosevelt, for leaving such a mess to him; he also blamed Stalin, saying that he and his generals were a bunch of trash. The United States spared no effort to support both materials and people, but they actually allowed the Germans to fight all the way to the capital. Why are they so useless?

The more I think about it, the more irritated I become, and the more irritated I am, the more uncomfortable my heart becomes. President Wilkie took a deep breath and asked. "Have the Germans advanced to Moscow?"

"Mr. President, the Germans stopped more than a hundred kilometers away from Moscow and began to set up camp on the spot."

President Wilkie couldn't help but wonder. "Why?" The distance is less than a hundred kilometers, so if you work harder, you can get there.

"The Germans are preparing for the winter. I'm afraid they plan to survive this winter and launch the final offensive next spring."

Yannick already knew what kind of virtue this winter would bring, so he naturally did not want to fight in winter. Fortunately, the German army was well prepared for the winter. Starting in the spring, they arranged for prisoners of war from various places to participate in logging; after they captured (East) Ukraine and (East) Belarus, they began to mine local coal mines, plus tons of tons of Oil is transported to the front line to ensure that troops can easily make fires for warmth or heat vehicles even in the wild in winter.

As for the cotton uniforms for soldiers, it was started as early as 10 years ago under Yannick's order. Not only are Germany itself producing them, but it also imports many cotton uniforms from European countries and even from the United States and the Soviet Union every year. I am afraid that no one would have guessed at the time that the Germans were preparing to survive the winter in the war a few years later. In this way, the German army has stockpiled nearly 10 million sets of high-quality down jackets and cotton jackets, as well as a large number of sweater products. Not only can soldiers from various countries on the front line have enough winter clothing, but there is even a lot left as spare supplies.

However, the Germans' pause also made Zhukov, who was in charge of Moscow's defense, relieved. He naturally also saw that the Germans did not want to fight in winter. It seemed that the Germans did not like fighting in winter. The same was true for last year's war against Britain. Although the German army sent paratroopers to Boumare, a small town in Scotland, on Christmas Day, those paratroopers were stationed at Boumare. They did not take the initiative until the German army launched a landing operation in the spring.

Now Zhukov can take advantage of this period to build a stronger defense line and mobilize more troops to surround Moscow.

The defense lines he built were similar to those in the original time and space. The first line was the Vyazma Line of Defense, which was built on the Rzeev-Vyazma-Bryansk line; the second line was the Mozhaysk Line of Defense, which was a A double defense line was established between Kalinin and Kaluga; and finally a triple defense circle was established around Moscow to form the Moscow Defense Zone.

It’s just that these fortifications did not play a big role in the original time and space (because the Soviet army was caught off guard when the Soviet-German war broke out, and it was not until September 27, 1941 that it adopted an overall defense posture). In Vyazma Nearby, the Soviet Western Front and Reserve Front were quickly defeated by the high-speed mobile units of the German 3rd and 4th Armored Groups. The German troops opened gaps in the weak areas of the defense line and quickly drove behind the Soviet defense line. Since the two advance units of the German armor had met at Vyazma on October 10, 1941, this rendered the defense line construction, which was still in the construction stage, useless. Four Soviet regiments (19th, 20th, 24th and 32nd) were trapped in a large "pocket" west of the city.

According to German estimates, the Wehrmacht captured a total of 30,000 Soviet soldiers in various encirclement circles, reducing the Soviet army's strength by 41%. However, the fierce resistance of the Soviet army also significantly delayed the German offensive.

The German army was eventually blocked at the Mozhaisk defense line, 120 kilometers away from Moscow. After breaking through the Soviet defense line, the German Wehrmacht's offensive was slowed down by bad weather. The autumn rains turned the roads and fields into thick mud, seriously hampering the advancement of German vehicles, horses and soldiers. Although the cold winter The arrival and freezing of the ground allowed the German offensive to continue, but they were still held back by Soviet resistance.

On November 30, the leading German armored group advanced to a place called Khimki, less than 23 kilometers (19 miles) away from the Kremlin. The German officers could see some buildings in Moscow with binoculars, but due to weather conditions the Germans Unable to make further advances, it stopped on November 30 and established several temporary defense lines to prepare to defend the newly occupied areas.

After December 1, the lowest temperature had dropped to minus 20 degrees Celsius. Although it was still an acceptable temperature for the Soviet army, it was unbearable for the German army without winter uniforms. In addition, the German army's vehicles were not Designed to operate in such a harsh climate. This resulted in more than 130,000 reported cases of frostbite among German soldiers, requiring the antifreeze to be removed from every round and vehicles to be warmed up for several hours before use.

The German offensive had to be stopped. Guderian wrote in his diary: "The offensive against Moscow failed. We underestimated the enemy's advantages, including his size and weather. Fortunately, I Order the troops to stop advancing, otherwise catastrophe will be inevitable."

Soon after, the Soviet army launched a counterattack. By January 7, 1942, the Soviet army's Moscow Offensive Campaign (December 5, 1941 - January 7, 1942) had ended with a great victory, completely lifting the pressure on Moscow. Although it was a threat, it achieved a major strategic victory, marking the end of the "Typhoon" offensive campaign in which the German army captured the Soviet capital.

The forces assembled in Moscow today are larger than those in the original time and space (the three fronts in the west have a total of 1.25 million troops, 990 tanks, 7,600 artillery and mortars, and 677 aircraft). The number of soldiers alone, including the American expeditionary force, totals more than 3.5 million, and the Far East can mobilize hundreds of thousands or more troops.

Thinking of the Far East, Zhukov couldn't help but frown. Until now, the German troops who destroyed the Trans-Siberian Railway have not been cleared out, and the supplies accumulated in the Far East cannot be transported at all.