Imperial Overlord

For Marshal Loeb, he also wanted to attack Leningrad, occupy the city and clear the rear for his troops.

However, on the one hand, he had to command the troops to attack Moscow and attack Leningrad, which was really overwhelmed.

The strength of the North Army Group was not as strong as the Central Army Group, and now it is even more stretched.

But his front was really too long, so he had to stop and deal with Leningrad in the rear.

"The Führer means to take the lead in occupying Leningrad and turn it into a usable logistics supply base." Loeb stood in front of the map and told his generals the operational intention of the battle.

"When the fox shelled, he had avoided the port on purpose, and the shelling was not too targeted there." He pointed to the inaccurate map of Leningrad and continued.

After all, Leningrad is also an important city. Before the war, it was impossible for Germany not to collect intelligence about it.

But when collecting information about the city, Hitler was not a traveler. Therefore, the intelligence-gathering work on Leningrad is actually very hasty.

First of all, the map is a lot worse, because the preparations are not sufficient, so many battles now are made by the grassroots commanders themselves to try and play.

This increases casualties and increases combat costs ☆ Although Le has time to improve things in this area, he can't go into every corner.

"The number of troops mobilized is not too many. Your Excellency Marshal... The number of troops attacking the Soviet army is only about 200,000. This number does not seem to guarantee victory."

"The troops of the SS will also participate in the war, and the number of them is not small. They can serve as the main attack tasks in some areas, at least 50,000 people." Loeb gave his own explanation.

He would not have been willing to risk attacking Leningrad if it had not been strengthened by the SS.

It's just that the three SS troops that came here are somewhat different from the previous SS troops. These three SS troops, the foreign corps of the SS, were recruited from Estonia and other regions.

Their weapons and equipment can only be said to be average, not the world-famous main force in the SS.

But they are also very effective, because they have long hated the Soviet Union, and the Russians who oppressed them.

"Give them the task of attacking the port, so that we can concentrate and advance from the southeast to the urban area." The chief of staff said a rough plan.

"The Führer rejected the previous plan that required us to besiege Leningrad for a long time, and he changed his mind." When Loeb mentioned this matter, he was very happy.

When the Führer talked about the plan to invade the Soviet Union, he often mentioned the destruction of Leningrad and Stalingrad.

He used a hateful tone to describe his wish more than once: he wanted to destroy these cities and make them disappear from the earth completely.

Ke Loeb knows that destroying a large city is not as simple as destroying a village.

So he was very worried, worried that the Führer was blinded by hatred and forcibly destroyed Leningrad, wasting precious strategic resources.

However, when the Führer re-formulated the operational plan to attack the Soviet Union in September 1940, he never mentioned the plan to destroy Leningrad.

Compared with the previous head of state, he is a lot more rational. He is going to change Leningrad back to its original name and rename it St. Petersburg.

The Führer even admired Peter the Great, and felt that there was nothing wrong with restoring some of the names of places in Russia to their original names.

Sometimes, Loeb even felt that the Führer had really become more and more wise. It has changed the bad mistakes of not asking about details in the past, and has a more strategic vision and is more concerned about the optimization of details.

The former head of state, through Chen Gu, actually issued some orders that were difficult to complete, but today's head of state is more willing to make plans from reality, and has the ability to optimize the details of the plan.

For example, the occupation of Leningrad is the new highest combat goal issued by the head of state after comparing the strengths and weaknesses of the Soviet and German armies on the northern front.

The Führer decided to occupy the city, and then resume the sea transportation, using the Baltic Sea transportation to relieve the transportation pressure of the front-line troops.

As long as this port is occupied, it will be much easier to handle supplies. Even if part of it is damaged, it is easy to restore it with the rotten pier.

Once the transportation function of Leningrad Port is restored, it will save a lot of transportation troubles from Wilhelmshaven to Leningrad directly.

And Leningrad has a railway that leads directly to Moscow. As long as the Germans attack along the railway, they can get supplies in time~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Even a fool knows that this plan is very feasible. Although Army Group North is somewhat scattered, it is possible to take Leningrad as long as it is given a certain level of reinforcements.

This reinforcement to a certain extent was three foreign SS divisions and a new Belarusian infantry division.

The entire 4 divisions had more than 80,000 troops, and with the Finnish and German regular troops, the number was no less than that of the Soviet army.

Moreover, there was a gap in weapons and equipment between the two sides. The German army and its servant army had a clear advantage, and the Soviet army's supplies were also cut off.

Referring to these aspects, in fact, the German army near Leningrad has certain advantages, and taking Leningrad is not too difficult a task.

The only thing that makes the commander Loeb a little nervous is that his advantage is not huge enough to allow him to complete the siege battle in front of him with absolute certainty.

In fact, this is also the point that the German commanders are getting more and more depressed: as time goes on, the kind of battle that is guaranteed to be less and less, and they face more battles where the outcome is unknown.

In the 3rd month of the invasion of the Soviet Union, the German army was no longer as powerful as the first invasion, and they had to think about a problem: how to fight a disastrous battle.

"The strength of our army is about 350,000 people, of which the coordinated troops in Finland and Estonia are about 150,000 people..." The chief of staff counted the strength of his own hands.

"The information obtained by the reconnaissance troops is about 400,000 people in the Soviet army. It may be 450,000, or it may be less." Loeb continued, holding various summarized information in his hand.

"We have to find a way to capture Leningrad and minimize our losses!" He tapped the intelligence paper in his hand and said to his generals.

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