The Rise of the Third Reich

On the afternoon of August 13, 1942, the German Superman, who had been invincible and invincible since the outbreak of World War II, was blocked by his opponent for the first time. Of course, those who stand in their way are not ordinary people, but Soviet supermen made of special materials.

The sound of exploding artillery shells and bombs filled the sky and the earth, roaring non-stop from the early morning of the 13th to the afternoon and evening. Both sides fighting on Kotlin Island had quite powerful firepower, and they all dropped bombs and shells on the other side's positions as if they were free of charge.

On the Soviet Superman side, there are dozens of forts and artillery positions deployed in Petergoff and Lomonosov, as well as fire support provided by various old or small warships on the Gulf of Finland east of Kotlin Island.

The fire support on the German side mainly came from the air. Ju.288 and Do-217 as well as the French Breguet BR.703 attack aircraft, escorted by the Fokker Zero, broke into Kot from an altitude of four to five kilometers. Over Lindao.

Since the main force of the Baltic Fleet was transferred to Molotovsk, a lot of the anti-aircraft artillery units of the Kronstadt Fortress were also transferred (to Molotovsk), resulting in insufficient air defense firepower for the fortress. As a result, the Ju288 , Do-217, BR.703 and Ju87 took advantage of the loopholes.

Among them, the Ju288 and Do-217 both carried remote-controlled glide bombs to destroy the turrets of the Kronstadt Fortress. Those old things before World War I could not stop the 1570 kilogram Fritz X-1 bomb. . Within 10 hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 13, 22 armored forts were blown into ruins!

The BR.703 and Ju87 were circling in groups over Kotlin Island and nearby waters, constantly attacking Soviet ground artillery positions and surface ships, blowing up the Soviet artillery and surface ships. By the evening of the 13th, the number of Soviet artillery shells falling on the German troops landing on Kotlin Island had decreased a lot.

However, the German attack still did not make much progress!

The battle group commanded by Captain Otto Scholz (who took over the group command after his troops merged with Ribbentrop's troops) is still blocked in the area of ​​the Red Navy School, although it has been captured The Western Wall has been destroyed, but the sturdy buildings in the school that were built in the Tsarist era have become fortresses for the Red Army and the Kronstadt militia. Each one of them is a tough nut to crack.

What made Captain Otto Scholz even more depressed was that the opponents who blocked him were not all well-trained Red Army elites, but a "rabble" composed of military school students and Kronstadt citizens.

The other German troops who attacked Kotlin Island also formed two groups, one of which was storming a fortress at the westernmost end of the island; the other had already detoured back to the vicinity of Kronshtadt, that is, behind the naval school. But those "rabble" guarding the naval academy refused to retreat! It will soon be dark now, and German aircraft will soon be unable to provide support. There will be no way to bring in reinforcements before dawn tomorrow, and the Soviet army in Leningrad may massively reinforce Kotlin Island at any time. If by the time Soviet reinforcements arrive, they cannot capture this strong naval school as a support point for the German offensive forces in the middle of Kotlin Island, then the situation on the island may not be very favorable to the German army.

Otto Scholz stood on top of a tall LWS amphibious transport vehicle, staring at the seemingly indestructible buildings in front of him with red eyes, his heart twitching for a while. There are many such houses in the urban area of ​​Kronstadt, and the German troops who came to the island did not have heavy artillery that could be used to demolish the houses! Oh, not to mention the heavy artillery, even the 105mm caliber howitzers and 150mm caliber infantry artillery were not transported over because the captured airport was bombed by Soviet heavy artillery and made it impossible for aircraft to take off and land. It was really frustrating.

When the Nazi supermen were getting angry, someone suddenly shouted: "Transport plane! It's our transport plane! And ******!"

Otto Scholz hurriedly raised his telescope and looked into the western sky, discovering dozens or hundreds of Me323 transport aircraft and Go242. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that those big-bellied Me323 transport planes must be filled with supplies and ammunition, and the medium-sized Go234s were probably equipped with the artillery that Kotlin Island urgently needed.

Red Marshal Voroshilov was almost dying of anxiety now. He already knew that he had made two huge mistakes. He should not have deployed the Luga Defense Line outside Leningrad. And there should be no doubt that Comrade Tributz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, was drunk...even though he was an alcoholic.

"Comrade Voroshilov, what should we do now? The Kronstadt Fortress is at risk of falling! The 1st Marine Brigade, Fortress Brigade and militia troops on the island have suffered heavy losses... If this fortress is captured by the Germans If they do, they can attack Leningrad from the sea and threaten the rear of the Karelian defense line. Then Leningrad will be really in danger.”

Zhdanov, Secretary W of Leningrad City and Military Commissar of the Northwest Headquarters, was speaking to Voroshilov in a complaining tone. He was Stalin's relative, and of course he was also a popular figure in Stalin's power circle. Not only was he the secretary of Leningrad City, he was also responsible for the ideology of the Soviet Union. Voroshilov was in charge of the military preparations for this world revolution, while Zhdanov was in charge of the ideological and revolutionary theoretical work of the world revolution.

If the world revolution really ruins something big, he will be equally guilty as Voroshilov. Once Leningrad falls into a real crisis, it means that the fate of the Bolshevik Party is hanging in the balance. How can the lives of the people of the world continue to be revolutionized?

If the world revolution cannot be carried out, then who should bear the blame? Who made the mistake of adventurism or putschism? This is a mistake, and anyone who gets even the slightest bit of it may be ruined.

"Kronshtadt Fortress will not fall, there will be no problem." Voroshilov took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat on his forehead, "Reinforcements will be ready soon, and they will be ready when it gets dark." There will be troops embarking for Kotlin Island.”

His words were largely intended to comfort Zhdanov, who had failed to send a sufficient number of reinforcements in time in the early morning. And after that, Voroshilov left the headquarters to inspect the defense construction in the south of Leningrad (he deployed a total of three lines of defense outside Leningrad, and the first line of defense was also the Luga Line that had been breached). As for the situation, I didn’t know until the afternoon that something really bad was going on on Kotlin Island.

Although he immediately issued an order to mobilize a division of reinforcements to the island, time was still delayed. The Germans had captured an important fort in the west of the island, and large seaplanes continued to land on the water near Kotlin throughout the day. God knows how many troops were flown in!

Just when Voroshilov and Zhdanov were both a little anxious, Comrade Stalin called.

"What's going on? Why did the German tanks get to Kotlin Island?" Stalin's voice sounded quite anxious.

"Comrade General Secretary, we still don't know how the enemy's tanks got to the island..." Voroshilov should know that Oahu was attacked by Japanese amphibious tanks, but now he is extremely upset. , did not think of it for a moment.

"I guarantee that the Kronshtadt Fortress will never fall!" Voroshilov said to Stalin again. "Now the city of Kronstadt and the entire Leningrad have begun general mobilization, and countless cadres, workers and students have Will take up arms and participate in the battle to defend Leningrad."

The city of Leningrad had carried out a round of mobilization a few days ago, organized five militia divisions, and mobilized millions of citizens to dig trenches outside the city. But this morning, because the German army suddenly landed on Kotlin Island, the situation in Leningrad suddenly became critical. So Zhdanov further expanded the scale of mobilization and called on more people to sign up and prepare to participate in the battle.

"Can Leningrad be defended by the militia?" Stalin's tone was full of doubts.

"There is no problem at the moment..." Voroshilov did not dare to say anything now. The German offensive on Kotlin Island was too unexpected. Just as he was mid-sentence, a staff officer from the Northwest Command quickly walked up to him and handed over a note.

Voroshilov took one look, and his face turned livid on the spot. Here comes the depressing bad news, two bad news at once. The first one came from Kotlin Island. The Germans carried out a large-scale airdrop at 5:30 pm. At least thousands of parachutes fell on the east side of Kotlin Island, and there were dozens of parachutes. ****** landed at the island's airport.

There is no doubt that Germany has sent more troops to Kotlin Island again! There will be a hard fight on Kotlin Island tonight!

The second bad news came from the southern front of Leningrad. The German army had just captured Batetsky, a small town between Luga and Novgorod. This shows that the next target of the German army is Novgorod - this is an ancient city with a very long history, the birthplace of the ancient Russian state, and the capital of the Rurik Dynasty at the beginning. If the flag of the Russian Empire were raised in Novgorod, its influence would be several times greater than the fall of Pskov!

Moreover, 68 kilometers north of Novgorod is Chudovo. After the Germans occupy it, the railway line between Leningrad and Moscow will be cut off. The German army's siege of Leningrad was half complete.