Chapter 984 Starting from Rzhev

Chapter 984 Starting from Rzhev

In April 1944, in the office of Reichsmarschall Hersmann, the head of the German Wehrmacht, a huge map of the battlefield situation around Moscow hung opposite his desk. From this battlefield situation map, it is obvious that a long arc front appears to the west and north of Moscow.

The northern front of the front is roughly along the upper reaches of the Volga River, starting from Uglich and going west along the river (actually northeast-southwest), passing through the cities of Kalyazin, Dubna, Konakovo, and Kalinin , Starica, and after arriving in Rzhev, the front line changed from northeast-southwest to north-south.

Going south from Rzhev are Sechokaev and Vyazma. Since this line is the western gateway to Moscow, the Soviet and German armies fought fiercely on the Rzhev-Vyazma line in history. , a total of four major battles and a series of small battles were conducted!

In this time and space, Rzhev is the junction of the German Army Group North and Army Group Center.

The front from Rzhev to the south to Vyazma is under the responsibility of Marshal Manstein's Army Group Center, while General Hott's 4th Armored Group is the main force of the attack; while from Rzhev to the northeast The front line to Uglich was commanded by Marshal Model's Army Group North. The main force of the offensive force was the 6th Armored Army commanded by General Paulus.

The combined field strength of the German Army Group North and Army Group Center (actually a coalition that includes many European armies and the Belarusian army) has exceeded 2.7 million, accounting for the German (European Allied Forces) field field strength on the Eastern Front. More than 50% of the military strength.

Considering that the three encirclements of Warsaw, Minsk and the Crimean Peninsula also contain a large number of German (allied forces) field forces, the upcoming Battle of Moscow can be regarded as a concentrated blow of the German (allied forces).

Similarly, the Soviet Red Army has also concentrated a large number of effective forces on this large arc front outside Moscow, preparing for the final decisive battle.

For the Soviet Red Army, although Russia is big, they have no way to retreat because Moscow is behind them!

In the early morning of April 5, Hersman, who had just arrived at the General Staff Office from Tsossen's manor, was looking through the war report on the Hawaiian Islands sent by the Japanese Embassy.

Of course, the Japanese reported that the situation was very good. In the previous week (the Japanese reported the war situation to Germany every week, and Germany also reported to Japan every week), the Japanese sank 5 more American aircraft carriers. , including the USS Enterprise and 2 Essex-class ships.

In addition, two Iowa-class battleships and several heavy cruisers were severely damaged, and dozens of small ships and transport ships were sunk.

The number of U.S. carrier-based aircraft and shore-based aircraft shot down reached as many as 500, including dozens of powerful P51 and P47 fighter jets.

Meanwhile, Japan's own losses were less than 500 shore-based aircraft that did not return.

If the Japanese battle reports are to be believed, it was really another great victory.

It's just that the range is not too big. How did the "baby bottle" P47 appear on the battlefield in the Hawaiian Islands? Even if the "milk bottle" is equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, it will be difficult to fly from Midway, Palmyra Atoll and Johnston Island to the Hawaiian Islands to fight, right?

Have the Americans already secured an airport on Niihau Island? If this is the case, the Japanese will be in a lot of trouble.

Because the P47 series in this time and space focuses on the development of interception capabilities, most models are designed according to the standards of interceptor aircraft. Not only does it have superior high-altitude performance, but its firepower is also very powerful. The most powerful P47D type has eight 12.7mm Browning aviation machine guns, which can easily punch holes in the German Ju288. Because of the threat of this aircraft, Junkers had to launch a more robust Ju288 model in early 1944.

In order to compete with the Fw-190 series aircraft used by the Germans to escort the Ju288, the P47 was also designed to be very durable. Even if it was beaten by the Fw-190 with four 20mm aerial cannons and four 12.7mm machine guns, it would often be beaten. You can also return safely.

In order to escape after a successful interception, the Americans also developed a "water injection afterburner" system for the P47D (similar to the German MW50 afterburner system), which can obtain an emergency power of more than 2,500 horsepower at medium and high altitudes.

In addition, because of its powerful firepower and durability, the P47 can also be used as a fighter-bomber to sweep the ground! In addition to eight 12.7mm machine guns, this aircraft can also carry up to 2,000 pounds of bombs - this bomb load is not much different from Japan's baby heavy bomber!

Although this kind of aircraft cannot defeat the Japanese Shiden and Hayate at medium and low altitudes, the eight 12.7mm aviation machine guns can still easily beat down the Japanese "Galaxy", "Swallowing Dragon" and "Flying Dragon" .

For the Me264 used to launch the "Silver Death", the P47D is a great threat!

While Hersman was worrying about the Japanese, the voice of the adjutant Colonel Pipe sounded outside the office door: "Marshal Imperial, urgent report from Army Group North."

"Come in." Hessman put down the war report in his hand and called Piper in.

A copy of the telegram was quickly placed on Hessman's desk. The content of the copy of the telegram was very simple, with only a few lines of text: Early this morning, the headquarters of the 1st Belarusian Army and France on the front line of Rzhev The position of the 3rd Mechanized Cavalry Division was heavily shelled by the Soviet army. As of 7:30, the shelling has not stopped - Army Group North Headquarters, signed: Model.

"Does the First Quartermaster know?" Hersman asked his adjutant, Pipe.

"Marshal Guderian already knows. He is studying the battle situation in the first war room."

Hessmann, the "god of war", has always relied on the wisdom of his subordinates to direct operations, so now the first munitions director Guderian is the de facto commander-in-chief of the National Defense Forces.

"Okay, I'll be there right away." Hessman stood up, straightened his uniform, picked up his hat and closed it on his head, then strode towards the first war room.

When Hersman arrived in the first war room, Guderian was conducting a military flag drill with several German staff elites in straight military uniforms. Seeing Hessmann walk in, everyone stood at attention and raised their hands in salute, but they did not shout: "Hi! Hitler!"

The slogan "Hi! Hitler!" is only used among the SS in the German army. If an SS officer salutes a Wehrmacht officer, he will not shout this slogan.

"How is the situation?" Hessman returned the greeting, walked to the sand table, looked at the pile of wooden models on it and asked.

Guderian shook his head and said: "It's not very good. The terrain in Rzhev is not conducive to us. There are too many forests, rivers and swamps around it. And now it is mud season again, starting today until April 10 "There will be continuous rain and snow in that area, and our planes will not be able to fly."

The central area of ​​the Soviet-German battlefield is actually not a good place for fighting. Although it is also a plain, there are too many forests, rivers and swamps, which is not conducive to the movement of heavy mechanized troops.

In contrast, the steppes between Kharkiv and Stalingrad are a good battlefield.

However, to capture Moscow, a decisive battle must be fought with the Soviet army on the central battlefield where the terrain conditions are not very favorable.

"The target of the Soviet army should be the troops of Army Group North." Hessmann said, "But Marshal Model has already made preparations. He is an expert in defensive warfare and will definitely be able to severely damage the attacking Red Army. This will be crucial for the next step of encircling Moscow. Very beneficial.”

Hersman's judgment was based on the strength composition of Army Group Center and Army Group North. Although the number of troops of the two army groups is almost the same, the troops belonging to Army Group Center are almost all German troops. The combat effectiveness was very strong. Even if the Soviet army devoted all the strength of the Central Front, it would be impossible to defeat Manstein's more than one million German troops.

Because the Northern Army Group is based in Petrograd and moves south, it has a large number of White Russian, French and Polish troops, and its combat effectiveness is relatively weak. The Soviet counterattack has a certain chance of success.

"It's not yet possible to draw a final conclusion," Guderian said with a frown, "Let's see... let the Soviets perform for a few days first, and wait until their intentions are fully revealed before deciding how to counterattack."

Facing the Soviet counterattack, Guderian acted very cautiously and did not make an immediate decision. Hessmann knew that this was a victor's caution - now that Germany's victory was in sight, all it had to do was advance steadily and surround Moscow, which the Soviet army must defend. No need to be too aggressive and risky.

For Germany, the key to the Soviet-German battlefield was to make fewer mistakes and not expose any flaws.

Risky surprise attacks were what the Soviets needed to do.

…

At this time, Marshal Zhukov, Chief of General Staff of the Soviet Red Army and Commander of the Central Front, also gathered with Marshal Pavlov, General Rokossovsky, Marshal Shaposhnikov and others to study the reports from the front. battle report.

This time the Soviet army did not adopt any deceptive feint attack and directly concentrated its forces to attack Rzhev. Because there are only a few days of rain and snow, we can’t afford to waste any time, otherwise the sky will be full of German Fw-190s and Fokker Zero Ds.

These two aircraft are no longer very useful when dealing with American fighters on the Atlantic Ocean, so the German Air Force has long started to conduct research and development tenders for the "Ultimate Piston Fighter". Now the research and development work of the "Ultimate Series" has been completed, led by Fokker -Wolf Company's Ta-152 fighter jet won the bid for the ultimate mid-to-high-altitude piston fighter.

The medium and low-altitude version of the ultimate piston fighter fell into the hands of the Fokker Company, which has great research on carrier-based aircraft. The Fokker 636 fighter (known as Sea Fury in the UK), jointly developed by Fokker and British companies, has won unanimous praise from the German Air Force and Naval Aviation and has become a new generation of medium and low-altitude king to replace the Fokker Zero D.

However, the first ones to be replaced with Ta-152 and Fokker 636 were not the war-torn Eastern Front battlefield, but the relatively calm Atlantic battlefield. Because the Fw-190 and Fokker Zero D are still invincible on the Eastern Front battlefield!

At an altitude below 5,000 meters, no Soviet fighter jet can compete with the Fokker Zero D. And above 5,000 meters, Fw-190A/B/C/D and other models are enough to deal with all Soviet fighter jets.

Focke-Wulf also launched the Fw-190 fighter-bomber models F series and G series in 1942, which were also popular with the frontline German troops. Now they have replaced the Ju87 and become the main model of the German army for ground attack. . By early 1944, the "Tank Killer" series of rocket launchers (German rocket launchers) were also installed on the Fw-190F, giving it more powerful anti-tank capabilities. If the Fw-190F and Fw-190G fighter-bombers are allowed to fly into the sky, the activities of the Soviet tank troops during the day will be greatly affected.

Therefore, when formulating the "Red Guard" plan, Zhukov and others paid great attention to threats from the air. Rather than taking any deceptive feints, the attack time should be shortened as much as possible, so that the attacking troops can use the rain and snow to avoid dangers from the air.