The Rise of the Third Reich

The arrival of the newly appointed Leningrad Front Commander Zhukov, Military Commissar Krementiev, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hozin, Deputy Commander Major General Fedyuninsky and others arrived in Leningrad one day later than originally planned. They set off from Moscow on August 15. Since the Luftwaffe now had air superiority around Leningrad, they took a train to Leningrad. However, the train they took only reached Kalinin City, the capital of Kalinin Region (Tver Region) and was unable to move forward.

It turned out that the German armored forces advanced rapidly and advanced to the city of Chudovo in Novgorod Oblast on the afternoon of August 15, cutting off the Red August railway line from Moscow to Leningrad.

Therefore, they had no choice but to take a plane instead, and on the night of August 16, using the cover of darkness, they took the risk and flew to the war-torn Leningrad.

Before the plane landed at the airport, Zhukov, Krementiev and others could already feel the intensity of the Battle of Leningrad in mid-air. Kotlin Island, where the Kronshtadt Fortress is located, has now turned into an out-and-out hell of fire. The flashes of hundreds of artillery fire from both sides turned the entire night sky red, with clusters of flashing fireballs. It constantly illuminates a dark night suddenly, as if magma from hell suddenly erupts.

But what caught Zhukov's eye the most was not the battlefield shrouded in flames, but the faint firelight that flickered from time to time in the dark place that should be the Gulf of Finland in the distance.

There is no doubt that several battleships or heavy cruisers are currently bombarding the Kronshtadt Fortress with large-caliber artillery on the Gulf of Finland west of Kotlin Island!

"How is the situation? Where is Comrade Voroshilov?"

After getting off the plane and arriving at the Northwest General Headquarters, Zhukov only saw Military Commissar Zhdanov and Chief of Staff Major General Gorodetsky, both of whom looked like they were in imminent disaster. The commander-in-chief of the northwest direction, Voroshilov, was not in the headquarters.

"Comrade Zhukov, the current situation is very bad!" Gorodetsky sighed, "The Germans are making rapid progress on the southern battlefield in Leningrad. The several divisions we sent to resist them suffered heavy losses. The 27th The tank brigade was almost destroyed. Now the cities of Pskov, Luga, Novgorod and Chudovo had fallen, and the German armored group was advancing on Lyuban.

The situation in the direction of Kotlin Island was slightly better. We had a tug-of-war with the Germans, and the city of Kronstadt and the core of the fortress were under our control. However, a German fleet arrived on the Gulf of Finland this afternoon and began bombarding the Kronstadt Fortress and urban area with 280mm cannons. Comrade Voroshilov felt that the situation was critical, so he personally went to Kronstadt Fortress to take charge..."

"What!" Zhukov was startled by Gorodetsky's last words, "Comrade Voroshilov went to Kronstadt? You...why didn't you stop him? He is the commander-in-chief of the northwest direction. Commander!"

"No, Comrade Gorodetsky and I don't agree with Comrade Voroshilov going to Kotlin Island," Zhdanov said with a frown, "But he won't listen!"

The city secretary of Leningrad shook his head as he spoke. In fact, he knew why Voroshilov went to Kronstadt. The red marshal went to seek death!

The world revolution has reached Leningrad, and the German offensive is so fierce that it seems unstoppable. The German armored group on the southern front could not stop it, and the Kronshtadt fortress in the west could not defend itself even in sight. When the time comes, the German battleship fleet will arrive near Kotlin Island and bombard Leningrad with 380mm and 406mm cannons from there. Can Leningrad be defended?

If Leningrad is not defended in the end and Empress Olga comes back to restore power, then Voroshilov, who is in charge of the Soviet military work and is responsible for the defense of Leningrad, will be the number one sinner of the Soviet Union. How can he still live? It would be better to die in Kronshtadt!

"Comrade Zhukov, there is one more thing I want to ask your opinion on."

Zhdanov looked sad at this time and said hesitantly: "When Comrade Voroshilov went to Kronstadt, he said that if the fortress was lost, Leningrad would definitely not be able to hold it. He himself would definitely devote himself to the cause of communism. Yes, but the effective forces in Leningrad still need to be preserved, so he suggested that once Kronstadt is lost, we should start to retreat from Leningrad..."

"What? Retreat?" Zhukov rolled his eyelids and said to himself that luckily Stalin sent him to Leningrad, otherwise the cause of communism would have been ruined by a fool like Voroshilov.

The Kronstadt Fortress might be lost in a few days, and then Leningrad will be abandoned? Is Voroshilov dizzy? How many people can be evacuated in a hurry? Doesn’t this mean handing over Leningrad and more than two million working people to Queen Olga?

"Comrade Military Commissar, we must not give up Leningrad, this is not even considered!" Zhukov said extremely firmly, "Comrade Stalin will never agree! And the entire Leningrad people will not agree to Empress Olga ruling them. ...No matter what brutal weapons Nazi Germany uses, we must resolutely defend Leningrad until the last man!"

…

In the early morning of August 17, 1942, in the officer's lounge of the armored ship Deutschland, Marshal Guderian, the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front of the German Wehrmacht, was holding a telescope and looking at the island shrouded in fire and smoke in the distance.

"Marshal, my men probably won't be able to defeat Kronstadt." Standing side by side with Guderian was General Stuart, commander-in-chief of the airborne forces. He personally commanded the Kronstadt battle. .

What was put on the island was the "Sassman Assault Group" commanded by Lieutenant General Sussman of the Airborne Forces. The original plan was to invest a total of 10,000 troops, including Airborne and Marine Corps personnel, and There are dozens of No. 3 tanks and more than 200 various artillery pieces (including howitzers, recoilless rifles, mortars, anti-tank guns, etc.).

There were not many people, but they adopted the imaginative "submarine + tank" sneak attack tactic, and Ju288 and Do217 dropped Fritz-X bombs to destroy the fortress's fort. Therefore, both Stuart and Sussman believed that they could catch the Soviet army by surprise and capture the Kronshtadt Fortress within 24 hours.

But during the fight, it was discovered that the Soviets in Kronshtadt were all "combatants" and they were armed and joined the battle in a very short period of time! The participation of these Kronshtadt militiamen ruined the plan to quickly capture Kronshtadt. Therefore, on the 15th and 16th, Stuart had to continuously increase the number of troops on the island. More than 25,000 troops were sent to Kotlin Island, but progress was still slow. Now only half of the island has been taken, and the Kronshtadt fortress and urban area are still in the hands of the Soviet army.

On the afternoon of the 16th, Guderian and Stuart simply took the armored ship sent by the navy to bombard the Kronstadt Fortress (because the fortress's artillery was basically destroyed by remote-controlled gliding bombs, the armored ship was able to take action) Deutschland went to the front line to watch the battle.

"Can't we get it? How about investing more troops?" Guderian put down his telescope and asked loudly to the accompaniment of the rumble of cannons.

"No, we can increase our troops, and the enemy can also increase our troops... The dock of Kronstadt Military Port must be full of ships from Leningrad now." Stuart shook his head and said, "The Soviet Union People control the military port facilities, and we cannot match the speed of troop transport. The number of Soviet troops on the island must exceed 50,000 now, and they are still relying on fortress cities, so we cannot defeat them. "

"There are 50,000?" Guderian smiled and nodded, "There are really that many, and our goal has been achieved... Moreover, the Soviet army's attacks on Lviv have stopped in the past few days. Their Southwest Front Army is likely to attack Withdrew."

"Transfer troops from the Southwest Front?" People at Student's level certainly knew that the current attack on Leningrad was futile, and the purpose was to attract Soviet reinforcements. He frowned, "It's a pity that we didn't mobilize troops from Poland and Belarus."

"It's a war," Guderian laughed. "How can everything go as planned? Generally speaking, the enemy will not do anything we want the enemy to do. So it is normal for Stalin to mobilize troops from Ukraine instead of the near, but this is convenient for the Southern Army Group. Now it’s up to Manstein and Bock.”

Manstein now holds the rank of general and serves as commander of Army Group North. Marshal von Bock is the commander of Army Group South. According to the latest adjusted counterattack plan, the major counterattack will be launched by the Northern and Southern Army Groups.

"However, this time there was something relatively smooth. Kuchler's 18th Army fought smoothly... annihilated tens of thousands of Soviet troops and captured 20,000 prisoners. The 1st SS Army The division will probably be able to advance to Kirovsk today."

"Kirovsk? So smooth?" Student was surprised. "Wouldn't this mean that Leningrad is surrounded by us?"

"Yes, it went unexpectedly smoothly."

Guderian shrugged and said with a smile: "Probably all the troops of the Soviet Northwest Front (the Germans don't know there is a Leningrad Front yet) have been attracted to Kotlin Island, so the east of Leningrad is very empty. Moreover, the Soviet army in the direction of Karelia is also retreating, and it seems that it will soon retreat into Leningrad. This way our 18th Army can join forces with the Finns, so that we and the Finns' 600,000-strong army can join forces. Leningrad can be surrounded, so the sacrifice of the airborne troops and marines on Kotlin Island is valuable... Let them hold on for a few more days."