The Rise of the Third Reich

"Seven days to reach the gates of Moscow? Erich, are you sure?"

It was not just the Soviets who thought of launching the "Sarah Offensive". Marshal Manstein, the commander of Germany's Army Group Center, also proposed the same idea to Hessmann and Guderian on April 10.

He wanted to use seven days at the end of the mud season to advance the central front from the Rzhev-Sychokav-Vyazma area to the city walls of Moscow.

That’s 200 kilometers in 7 days!

“It is certain,” Manstein said, “After receiving the seven armored divisions transferred from Army Group North, Army Group Center has 17 armored divisions, and the number of tanks far exceeds the Soviet army facing them. So I have the ability to attack and push from the front, so I hope to start taking action on April 20.”

This time Manstein not only wanted to attack from the front, but also planned to push forward - 10 of the 17 armored divisions would move from north to south, covering the 140 to 50 kilometers between Rzhev and Vyazma. Spreading out evenly on the battlefield and pressing them over like a steamroller is almost the most clumsy tactic.

However, "stupid" also has the advantage of being "stupid", that is, the requirements for road conditions are relatively low. Dividing the nearly 200 kilometers wide front by ten, each armored division can be divided into about 20 kilometers on average, which is enough for an armored division to deploy and advance at a higher density while avoiding excessive crushing of muddy roads. Although the German armored forces cannot completely overcome the difficulties caused by the mud season, it can at least allow the German armored forces to maintain an offensive for 5-7 days. In fact, the impact of muddy roads on Tiger H tanks and E-50A tanks is not yet The largest ones, although they are heavy, are tracked vehicles after all. As long as the road surface (not necessarily a highway) is used properly, the tank can still travel a certain distance in the mud.

What really can’t overcome the mud is wheeled vehicles! More than 1 million vehicles of the German army on the Eastern Front battlefield will get stuck in the mud and will be difficult to move forward.

Under this situation, the German army and the Soviet army could only maintain their offensive for 5-7 days, and both sides could only conduct weekly offensives.

Of course, Manstein's "Worship Offensive" tactic is also related to the strong combat effectiveness of the German armored forces. Tiger tanks have become popular, and E-50A is also equipped in small quantities. Each armored division has a heavy equipment battalion equipped with 66 E-50As.

"In addition," Manstein added, "the Soviets probably would not have thought that we would launch a new offensive from a 150-kilometer-wide front during the mud season... They would probably have mistakenly thought that what we launched was an attempt to mobilize the Soviet Union. A feint attack aimed at the army's northern line cluster."

Hersman nodded noncommittally.

Manstein continued: "Based on my understanding of the Soviet army, they are likely to use depth defense and concentrated force counterattacks at night to break our offensive. And that is our opportunity to annihilate a large number of Soviet armored forces!"

The reason why he said this is because the E-50A heavy tank also has a night combat equipment that all previous tanks did not have - all E50A have FG1250 infrared searchlights!

This kind of infrared searchlight allows tanks to fight at night without lights. Although the effective range is only 600 meters, it cannot exert the long-distance lethality of the KwK4388mmL/71 artillery. But during the day when the weather is good, Soviet Red Army tanks will basically not fight German tanks on the Great Plains. Therefore, the 88mm gun of the E-50A basically has no chance to exert its power.

It is precisely because the Soviet army has always sought night battles since the second half of 1943 that the German Wehrmacht Army Armament Bureau took out the black technology that was originally hidden - infrared searchlights and installed them on the E-50A tank, preparing for the 1944 In the decisive battle, do a good job of "shadowing" the Soviets.

However, the requirement to reach Moscow in 7 days is still a bit high, unless we take advantage of the empty Soviet troops on the Rzhev-Vyazma front line, and this is Manstein's wishful thinking.

Manstein said: "Now the Soviet army has invested at least 1 million troops on the northern front to fight back, including at least 4 Guards tank armies - which accounts for half of the total number of Soviet tank armies. Therefore, the Soviet army in Moscow The strength of the eastern front of the battlefield must be relatively empty, and if our Central Army Group can advance the front near Moscow during the seven-day offensive operation, then the northern front of the Soviet Moscow Front will also collapse... By then, the city of Moscow will It is the last refuge of the main Soviet front army.”

There is no doubt that Moscow is a strongly fortified big city. Starting from the beginning of 1943, Stalin made the decision to deploy defenses in Moscow and instructed the People's Commissariat of Defense and the Moscow State to start building the "Moscow Fortress."

Starting after the Battle of the Junction in 1943, the construction of the "Moscow Fortress" began to accelerate. From then until now, no matter it is windy, rainy or snowy, there are millions of people on the fortification sites in Moscow and outside the city. People are doing construction.

The entire city of Moscow has now been transformed into a super fortress covering an area of ​​2,000 square kilometers, with countless fortifications and bunkers.

Based on the traitors' informants, everyone who will be stranded in Moscow during the defense war, including Red Army officers and soldiers and citizens, can hide in strong underground bunkers when necessary. Therefore, the Moscow defenders and citizens were not afraid of bombing and artillery fire at all. Even if their city was razed to the ground, they could still persist in fighting.

Hersman estimated that even dropping atomic bombs on Moscow would not necessarily force the "Muscovites" to surrender.

Therefore, driving the Red Army outside Moscow into the city and surrounding them with food is actually the lowest-cost solution - at least for the German army, this is the best way.

However, there is a prerequisite for using siege to solve Moscow. The Soviet Moscow Front Army must be disabled first. Otherwise, several Guards tank armies and assault armies, thousands of JS-2 and T-38/85 vehicles, and more than 2 million fully armed GC communist fighters are no joke. Without a fairly strong siege force, it would be troublesome for the Moscow Front to counterattack.

Therefore, the situation of the decisive battle outside Moscow is directly related to whether the siege can proceed smoothly.

"Will the Soviet Red Army High Command shrink the northern front in the early stages of our Central Front's offensive?" Hersman expressed his doubts.

"This is very possible," Guderian suddenly said at this time, "unless there is a big enough bait on the northern front to seduce Stalin, which will slow down Stalin's reaction."

"Big enough bait?" Hersman asked. "What is it?"

"The 6th Armored Group!" Guderian replied, "This is a big bait. If the German army can cut off the Red October railway line and pocket the 6th Armored Army, I believe it will create a short-term conflict between Stalin and the Red Army Headquarters. Hesitation... As long as we delay for a few days, the Soviet northern front will collapse. "

Was Paulus destined to be surrounded? Hessmann heard Guderian's suggestion and said to himself that in history he was besieged in Stalingrad, and now he is in Kalinin... But there should be no risk this time. After all, Manstein has 17 powerful people in his hands. of armored divisions available.

"Okay," Hessmann nodded, "Seek the opinions of Model and Paulus." He paused, then looked at Manstein, "Erich, this time Army Group Northern has put in a lot of effort. A big sacrifice, can we give Moscow to them?”

Moscow is a big piece of meat!

If Model and Paulus were to allow Manstein to fight the Rzhev-Sychovka-Vyazma battle, then Manstein had to give up Moscow.

"Okay," Manstein thought for a while, "Moscow will be solved by Army Group North."

"Then there is no problem," Hessmann nodded tentatively, and then said to Guderian, "After completing the encirclement of Moscow, Army Group Center will divide into two groups and head toward Ulyanovsk and Stalingrad respectively. Advance. At the same time, Army Group South also began to advance towards Stalingrad in May!"

…

"Woooooooo..."

Captain Valennikov, the tank company commander who was marching in a BT-7 tank hung with camouflage netting and many branches and leaves, suddenly heard the ear-piercing sound of a hand-cranked air defense siren.

It is now April 12th, and the continuous rain (rain and snow at first) completely stopped yesterday afternoon. The sky was cloudless now, and it was a good day for German bombers to dispatch.

However, the Soviet 7th Guards Tank Army, which was advancing towards Valdai, did not give up its march during the day because of this, because General Chuikov and General Fedyuninsky had just received exact information - the 7th Guards Tank Army's The target Valdai is now very empty. There are only less than 20,000 White Army infantry garrisoned, which cannot stop the 7th Guards Tank Army at all.

Valdai is only more than 20 kilometers away from the Red October railway line. Once occupied by the Soviet army, the European coalition forces currently fighting the Red Army on the front lines of Kuvshinovo, Torzhok and Likuslavl (German infantry in 9 If Japan appears on the front line), its retreat may be cut off.

Of course, Chuikov and Fedyuninsky would not dare to think about encirclement and annihilation, but at least they could force the European coalition forces to break out!

This would greatly ease the situation on Moscow's northern front, so Chuikov and Fedyuninsky decided to take the risk and let the 7th Guards Tank Army advance during the day. However, during the march, the GC communist soldiers were still wary of enemies in the air.

"Stop, stop!" Captain Varennikov reacted quickly, shouting and kicking the driver Shura in the back of the head. The tracks of the 13.9-ton BT-7 tank immediately stopped moving. The road that had become very muddy came to a screeching halt.