The Rise of the Third Reich

Khrushchev took over the task of leading the Indian revolution, and was going to liberate all kinds of bitches in India with a bunch of Brahmin revolutionaries who had to have their butts wiped by others. Although it was a difficult task, it was better than half a dozen The boss of Ukraine and the drudgery of the military commissar of the South-Western Front are better. So I was in a good mood when I left the Kremlin. It can be said that my face was full of spring breeze.

However, Pavlov and Shalashnikov were not in such a good mood. Stalin and the political situation denied their deployment in the central battlefield and the southwest battlefield, which actually overturned the People's Commissariat of Defense and the General Staff's decision on 1943. The overall layout of the operation - the general idea of ​​this layout is to attack in the north, defend in depth in the middle and south, and reserve a strong reserve group under the control of the Supreme Command. Although it is relatively conservative, it is a very stable plan.

In the repeated war games conducted by Pavlov and Shalashnipov, the worst-case scenario was nothing more than the successful liberation of Leningrad + the German army occupying the Kharkiv and Stalino regions after paying a heavy price. Approaching Moscow in the center.

Although such an ending will make the entire Soviet Union very uncomfortable, there is no crisis of collapse. The war will enter 1944 in a tug-of-war between the middle and southern roads. Moreover, it was impossible for Germany to capture the strengthened defenses of Leningrad and Moscow at the same time in 1944.

In other words, the Soviet Union could persist until Japan was defeated by the United States no matter what. By then the Soviet Union will be invincible!

However, Comrade Stalin was not satisfied with this solid but very conservative plan.

"Comrade Pavlov, Comrade Shalashnikov, what's wrong with you? Today's meeting..."

When Pavlov and Shalashnikov arrived at the People's Commissariat of Defense building together, outside Pavlov's office, they saw Marshal Zhukov, who had come back from the siege of Leningrad.

Zhukov was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and promoted to Marshal after his victory in the "First Battle of Leningrad" - the so-called "First Battle of Leningrad" was actually the "First Liberation of Leningrad" war".

The result of this battle was "the siege has not been lifted, and the city has not fallen." In terms of lifting the siege, it is of course a defeat, but in terms of defending the city, it is certainly a victory.

Therefore, Zhukov, who had done an outstanding job in defending the city, became the marshal and received the order to report back to Moscow a few days ago.

"Comrade Zhukov, you arrived so soon, it seems like it's been a smooth journey, right?" Pavlov hugged Zhukov, and then smiled a little.

Zhukov smiled bitterly and said: "The plane took off before dawn. The German Fokkers were all asleep. How about a smooth journey?"

After the three people exchanged pleasantries, they walked into Pavlov's office together. As soon as they sat down, Zhukov asked: "By the way, how was the enlarged political meeting today? Was the plan passed?"

Zhukov actually participated in the formulation of the 43-year combat plan, and he was responsible for the "Leningrad Siege Rescue" part. According to Zhukov's vision, the siege relief campaign should not just focus on Leningrad, but should look at the overall situation of the northwest battlefield.

The German army built a very strong encirclement outside Leningrad, building a defensive zone stretching for more than 200 kilometers, during which countless minefields, trench areas, fortification areas, anti-tank strongholds, and armored troop assembly areas were deployed. , infantry assembly areas and artillery positions. The total number of troops deployed is expected to exceed 1 million. Although there are not many armored troops, the anti-tank firepower is sufficient, and the tank cluster cannot be used to hit it.

In the first Leningrad siege relief battle, Konev, who did not know how powerful he was, suffered a lot, losing thousands of tanks and more than 200,000 troops. However, Konev did not lose his position because of this, because the Kalinin Front regained most of the Novgorod region that had been abandoned by the Germans in the process of relieving the siege of Leningrad. So he was promoted to general and now serves as the commander of the Southwest Front Army.

After learning from Konev's lesson, Zhukov was ready to adopt a plan to relieve the siege of Leningrad without fighting in Leningrad. Let the Kalinin Front launch an attack on Pskov Oblast, and after recovering the southern part of the state, continue to advance into the Polo territory to threaten the retreat of the German army group surrounding Leningrad.

To implement this plan, the Kalinin Front Army must be greatly strengthened and equipped with enough tank corps and mechanized corps. Only in this way can it fight decisively with the German armored group on the plains of Pskov Oblast.

"The plan did not pass," Shalashnipov whispered, "but there is no problem with the part you are responsible for."

"The higher ups don't agree to deploy deep defenses in Ukraine?" Zhukov immediately guessed where the problem lay.

Shalashnipov nodded and added: "The Minsk-Smolensk line must also be appropriately strengthened to prevent the enemy from approaching Moscow."

"This is not a problem," Zhukov said. "As long as Pskov wins the battle or even draws, there will be no danger in Smolensk. However...I am afraid there will be problems in Ukraine, and the focus of the German attack is likely to be in Ukraine. ”

"There is no other way but to strengthen the Southwest Front Army," Pavlov said with a frown. "Focus on the defense of the meander area of ​​the Dnieper River, and at the same time reserve enough counterattack force. However... If we want to strengthen the Southwest Front Army, the Reserve Front Army The Kalinin Front can only be weakened."

After speaking, he looked at Zhukov. Zhukov is now the coach of the Northwest Front, and his opinion must be sought to reduce the strength of the Kalinin Front.

"If the Germans focus their main attack on Ukraine, then the Western side can attack with fewer troops." Zhukov thought for a moment and said, "If the Kalinin Front is to be weakened, then the second Leningrad relief operation can only be postponed. The time to initiate the battle is to wait until the main direction of the German attack is known.”

"But if it's postponed...can Leningrad persist?" Pavlov was very worried about the situation in Leningrad. The city had been besieged for nearly half a year, and there were more than two million residents and soldiers in the city. Every day The necessary material consumption is a staggering number.

"There is a way," Zhukov said calmly. "Comrade Comrade Zhdanov, the military commissar, has a way. There will be no problem until July. It won't work any later..."

He didn't say what the solution was, so naturally Pavlov and Shalashnipov wouldn't ask.

Marshal Pavlov nodded and said: "Okay, then postpone the launch of the northwest battle to June 1."

…

In mid-April 1943, when the Americans were busy repairing the canal locks, a group of Japanese "Showa Staff" who were somewhat brain-dead were busy messing around. While the Soviets were preparing a plan for the decisive battle in 1943, the Chief of Staff of the German Wehrmacht, He The Marshal of the Ottoman Empire focused most of his energy on the plan for a decisive battle with the Soviet Union.

The plan for the decisive battle has long been in place, and it is the plan code-named "Operation Blue". The biggest difference between this plan and the historical "Barbarossa" plan was that it had a clear strategic goal - to capture the coal, steel and oil centers of the Soviet Union, and then force the Soviet Union to sue for peace or have a civil war.

To achieve this goal (referring to seizing the coal, steel and oil centers of the Soviet Union), the main targets are Ukraine and Southern Russia.

However, since the Soviet-German negotiations had begun in secret for several months, and during the negotiations the German side had already put forward the conditions for ceding left-bank Ukraine, the Soviets, no matter how slow they were, would surely be able to guess the main target of the German army. Therefore, there will definitely be elite troops on the left bank of Ukraine standing ready.

Therefore, the previously drafted sub-plans for breaking through the Dnieper River from the front are obviously not feasible. Although with the current combat power of the German army, they should be able to win by storming the front, the casualties will definitely not be small.

Under this circumstance, Marshal Guderian, who was transferred from the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front to the First Munitions Director, and Hessmann began to formulate a new plan, code-named "Purple Plan."

By the way, because the Soviet Union is the only enemy left on the European battlefield. Therefore, the Eastern Front Headquarters was abolished in March, and the army groups on the Eastern Front were directly commanded by the General Staff. Marshal Halder, the original First Director of Munitions, became the commander of the Indian Front, and the British Governor-General of India Mountbatten and the British Montgomery, the commander-in-chief of the Indian army, went to India to fight against the Brahmin revolutionaries.

In fact, the purple plan is not that difficult to come up with - Hessman, the "fake military god", has now experienced it and knows how to command an army with a large number of people and well-equipped equipment.

"Heinz," he said to Guderian who was looking at a map in a war room in the General Staff of Zossen, "the Soviet Union must break the siege of Leningrad on the northern front, and defend Eastern Ukraine on the southern front. Then the Minsk-Smolensk salient in the middle should be the weakest area. We can fight a salient battle first, severely damage the Soviet troops in the middle, and then drive them into Minsk and Smolensk to siege, and then move our troops. Move south to Irkusk, Belgorod, Vorozhne and Luhansk to encircle the Soviet Southwest Front."

"1200-1500 kilometers... this detour is a bit big." Guderian frowned slightly.

"Is there a problem?" Hessman said, "We now have a lot of cars, tanks and assault artillery, and we have also concentrated 15,000 aircraft of various types on the Eastern Front battlefield. It's enough to blow up the Soviet army until it can't move!"

"The problem is fuel! Now our mechanization level is very high, the number of tanks and cars is huge, and there are many airplanes. These things are all oil guzzlers." Guderian said, "A long detour of 1,200-1,500 kilometers, and it is still This journey is not easy on Russian soil and will consume a lot of fuel. Marshal of the Empire, how much fuel have we prepared now?”