The Rise of the Third Reich

"What? What? The German armored forces landed on Kotlin Island? Comrade Tributs, are you sure you are not drunk?"

When Voroshilov heard the report from the commander of the Baltic Fleet on the phone, his first reaction was that this guy must have drunk too much. How could the German tank cluster fly to Kotlin Island? How did they get on the island?

"No, I'm not drunk!" The commander of the Baltic Fleet on the other end of the phone line almost cried - he didn't have many soldiers! Now the main force of the Baltic Fleet has long been taken to Molotovsk by Kuznetsov to join the Northern Fleet, so his position as commander is empty. In addition to 1 Marine Brigade, 1 Fortress Brigade, dozens of aircraft and dozens of small boats or old ships, there is nothing else.

Vice Admiral Tributs said quickly and anxiously: "Comrade Marshal, I didn't drink, not a drop! Now there are really German tanks on the island... Although I don't know how they got there, they are definitely here, there are hundreds of them, at least a tank brigade! Please be kind and send me some reinforcements quickly, otherwise the Kronstadt Fortress will be lost."

The situation is certainly not as serious as the vice admiral said. Although he has few soldiers, there are still tens of thousands of residents in Kronstadt. They are all Soviet supermen who are very reliable politically and have military qualities comparable to ordinary Red Army soldiers.

"What, what? Hundreds of tanks? A tank brigade?" After listening to the vice admiral's report, Voroshilov suspected that the commander of the Baltic Fleet was drunk. How big is a tank brigade when it is deployed? It can't even be deployed on the small Kotlin Island. If the Germans really want to get a tank brigade on the island, they must have used magic.

As a loyal member of the Bolshevik Party, Comrade Voroshilov was of course a materialist. He did not believe in magic in the world. So he did not make a decision to reinforce Kotlin Island in large numbers, but only sent an infantry battalion to the island, and at the same time asked two trusted staff officers to go with him to find out the situation. This reaction, which can be called slow, should be the second major mistake made by Voroshilov in the Battle of Leningrad.

Yes, it is the second one!

Before that, this red military strategist who was relied on by Comrade Stalin as the Great Wall made another low-level mistake. He hastily arranged a Luga defense line with Luga City as the center on the periphery of the southern line of Leningrad, starting from Shimsk on the west bank of Lake Ilmen in the south, along the Luga River, and to Kingisepp at the mouth of the Luga River in the north. The total length is about 300 kilometers.

It is certainly not wrong to arrange a defense line, but this is a 300-kilometer defense line! It is difficult to guard it even with 1 million soldiers. How many people does Voroshilov have? There were five armies in total, two of which were still scattered in the vast northern region, and another one had just suffered heavy losses from the German army. Only two armies could really be used, and they had to deal with the Finnish army's offensive against Karelia.

Therefore, Voroshilov could not mobilize enough forces to guard the Luga Line of Defense. He could only barely gather 10 infantry divisions (five of which had just been severely damaged and were seriously understaffed), 3 militia divisions and 1 tank brigade, with a total of only 140,000 or 150,000 people and more than 100 tanks. He wanted to rely on this force to resist the German 18th Army, which had twice as many people and several times more tanks/assault artillery.

Moreover, the so-called "Luga Line of Defense" was a non-existent line of defense, because Germany's General Kuchler would not give the Soviets enough time to build fortifications.

When the German Marine Corps' transport submarines sent tanks, amphibious transport vehicles and hundreds of marine commandos to Kotlin Island. Voroshilov's Luga Line of Defense had been partially breached.

The 8th Armored Division and the 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division of the 56th Panzer Corps, commanded by General Ferdinand Charles, had just defeated a tank brigade and an infantry division that Voroshilov had placed in Luga.

In this battle, the Soviet tanks were not only inferior in quality, but also far inferior in quantity. There were as many as five German armored battalions participating in the battle, with more than 400 Type 4H tanks that could be driven. The 27th Tank Brigade of the Soviet side only dispatched less than 100 tanks of various types.

Therefore, when the sky brightened on August 13, the plains outside Luga were full of T-34, KV-1 and KV-2 tanks destroyed or damaged by Type 4H tanks - in the battle that just ended, the German army won an overwhelming victory, and the Soviet 27th Tank Brigade was almost wiped out.

The 1st SS Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion commanded by Panzer Meyer (Kurt Meyer) did not participate in the tank decisive battle that started yesterday evening, but now they are going to set out again, together with a regiment of Russian Guards Cavalry, to search and advance in the direction of Chudovo.

When Meyer's half-track armored command vehicle passed through the battlefield that had just cooled down, he saw a large number of Red Army prisoners of war, either dejected or numb, walking in the opposite direction under the escort of Russian Guards old white men carrying rifles.

"Major, the Bolsheviks have failed again. It seems that we will be able to enter Petrograd soon." Makarov, who was riding a horse beside Meyer, could speak fluent German. He laughed heartily and looked confident.

"It was indeed smoother than expected." Meier also nodded, and then commented: "They (referring to the Red Army) were a bit reckless. The battle last night was completely in vain. If they play like this, in another week, say Maybe we can get into Petrograd."

"Yes! In another week, we will definitely be able to enter Petrograd!" The elderly bearded Belarusian colonel nodded heavily, then took out a metal wine bottle, drank a swig of vodka, and then laughed.

His and Panzer Meier's optimism is not unreasonable. In fact, the German army has now entered Leningrad - Kotlin Island is under the jurisdiction of the city of Leningrad, so the residents on the island all hold Leningrad weapons. The Soviets who had their hukou registered!

But entering the city of Leningrad is one thing, occupying the city is another.

"Members of the Bolshevik Party, members of the Youth League, the working class of the glorious city of Kronstadt, comrades of the Red Navy family members, now the Bolshevik Party of Kronshtadt calls on you: immediately take up all weapons and fight against those who dare to invade the Soviet Union. Imperialism and its lackeys attack the sacred land..."

Voroshilov's reinforcements have not yet arrived, but the mayor of Kronstadt immediately issued a call to arms to all residents after consulting Leningrad City Secretary Zhdanov.

In the small city of Kronshtadt, all the loudspeakers started playing Kronshtadt W's message to the people of the city over and over again starting from 8 a.m. on August 13.

At the same time, many temporary recruitment points with red flags waving appeared on the streets of Kronstadt. There was a long queue in front of every recruitment point.

This is not the countryside of Pskov, but the heroic Kronstadt! The people who can live here are all Soviets who are extremely loyal to the Bolshevik Party and the cause of communism - those who are not loyal enough have been shot or sent to labor reform!

So not only did the men come forward to join the militia camp, but the women of Kronstadt also came forward and prepared to defend the Bolshevik regime with their blood and lives - they didn't just hear the "Forbidden Magician" singing chants Just the tearful old lady from the collective farm, but the family members of the "red N category" officers who have long been bathed in the glory and kindness of the party. And it is not the "Red N Generation" who will not know what war is a few decades later, but the "Red Generation" and "Red Second Generation" who are full of passion and are ready to liberate all mankind, and Captain Ribbentrop is such a pioneer. The dead German Superman is almost the same breed.

Therefore, after the German supermen captured Kronshtadt Airport and the military camp of the 2nd Marine Brigade of the Red Navy, they were blocked outside a naval officer candidate school 2 kilometers west of the city of Kronshtadt. The teachers and students of the school were originally Red Navy soldiers. When the Germans attacked the airport and the 2nd Marine Brigade barracks, they armed themselves and relied on the school's solid west wall to set up defenses. In order to deal with the German tanks, they even dragged several 85mm and 76.2mm anti-aircraft guns outside the west gate of the school, and successively destroyed two No. 3 tanks and the LWS amphibious transport vehicle.

Although these inconvenient anti-aircraft guns were quickly destroyed by the 75mm short-barreled gun of the Panzer III tank, the attack of the German Marine Commandos was still repelled by the Soviets. When Scholz arrived with two to three hundred airborne commandos, another attack launched by the battle group commanded by Captain Ribbentrop had just been repelled.

"Captain, how is the situation?" Otto Scholz saw Captain Ribbentrop, who was naked and with gauze wrapped around his right shoulder, in a huge crater (blasted by the fortress' 305mm cannon). . The unlucky little Ribbentrop leaned half out of the tank to direct the battle. As a result, he was targeted by a Soviet sniper and shot through his right shoulder blade. However, he refused to leave the line of fire and take the Bv-222 aircraft back to Tallinn to recuperate. Instead, he stayed on the battlefield and continued to command.

"The situation is not good!" Little Ribbentrop replied, enduring the pain in his shoulder. "The main force guarding the naval school is their midshipmen. Everyone is a Bolshevik, very tenacious! And there are still more The militiamen came from Kronstadt to support... There were men, women, and some elderly people among the militiamen, but they were all capable of fighting. Is it possible that everyone was a member of the Bolshevik Party? "