Chapter 684: Defending Leningrad-Critical
On the afternoon of August 13, 1942, the German Superman, who had been invincible and invincible since the outbreak of World War II, was blocked by his opponent for the first time. Of course, those who stand in their way are not ordinary people, but Soviet supermen made of special materials.
The sound of exploding artillery shells and bombs filled the sky and the earth, roaring non-stop from the early morning of the 13th to the afternoon and evening. Both sides fighting on Kotlin Island had quite powerful firepower, and they all dropped bombs and shells on the other side's positions as if they were free of charge.
On the Soviet Superman side, there are dozens of forts and artillery positions deployed in Petergoff and Lomonosov, as well as fire support provided by various old or small warships on the Gulf of Finland east of Kotlin Island.
The fire support on the German side mainly came from the air. Ju.288 and Do-217 as well as the French Breguet BR.703 attack aircraft, escorted by the Fokker Zero, broke into Kot from an altitude of four to five kilometers. Over Lindao.
Since the main force of the Baltic Fleet was transferred to Molotovsk, many of the anti-aircraft artillery units of the Kronstadt Fortress were also transferred (to Molotovsk), resulting in insufficient air defense firepower for the fortress. As a result, the Ju288 , Do-217, BR.703 and Ju87 took advantage of the loopholes.
Among them, the Ju288 and Do-217 both carried remote-controlled glide bombs to destroy the turrets of the Kronstadt Fortress. Those old things before World War I could not stop the 1570 kilogram Fritz X-1 bomb. . Within 10 hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on August 13, 22 armored forts were blown into ruins!
The BR.703 and Ju87 were hovering in groups over Kotlin Island and nearby waters, constantly attacking Soviet ground artillery positions and surface ships, blowing up the Soviet artillery and surface ships. By the evening of the 13th, the number of Soviet artillery shells falling on the German troops landing on Kotlin Island had decreased a lot.
However, the German attack still did not make much progress!
The battle group commanded by Captain Otto Scholz (who took over the group command after his troops merged with Ribbentrop's troops) is still blocked in the area of the Red Navy School, although it has been captured The Western Wall has been destroyed, but the sturdy buildings in the school that were built in the Tsarist era have become fortresses for the Red Army and the Kronstadt militia. Each one of them is a tough nut to crack.
What made Captain Otto Scholz even more depressed was that the opponents who blocked him were not all well-trained Red Army elites, but a "rabble" composed of military school students and Kronstadt citizens.
The other German troops who attacked Kotlin Island also formed two groups, one of which was storming a fortress at the westernmost end of the island; the other had already detoured back to the vicinity of Kronshtadt, that is, behind the naval school. But those "rabble" guarding the naval academy refused to retreat! It will soon be dark now, and German aircraft will soon be unable to provide support. There will be no way to bring in reinforcements before dawn tomorrow, and the Soviet army in Leningrad may massively reinforce Kotlin Island at any time. If by the time Soviet reinforcements arrive, they cannot capture this strong naval school as a support point for the German offensive forces in the middle of Kotlin Island, then the situation on the island may not be very favorable to the German army.
Otto Scholz stood on top of a tall LWS amphibious transport vehicle, staring at the seemingly indestructible buildings in front of him with red eyes, his heart twitching for a while. There are many such houses in the urban area of Kronstadt, and the German troops who came to the island did not have heavy artillery that could be used to demolish the houses! Oh, not to mention heavy artillery, even the 105mm caliber howitzers and 150mm caliber infantry artillery were not transported over because the captured airport was bombed by Soviet heavy artillery and became pockmarked, making it impossible for aircraft to take off and land. It was really frustrating.
When the Nazi supermen were getting angry, someone suddenly shouted: "Transport plane! It's our transport plane! And ******!"
Otto Scholz hurriedly raised his telescope and looked into the western sky, discovering dozens or hundreds of Me323 transport aircraft and Go242. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that those big-bellied Me323 transport planes must be filled with supplies and ammunition, and the medium-sized Go234s were probably equipped with the artillery that Kotlin Island urgently needed.
Red Marshal Voroshilov was almost dying of anxiety now. He already knew that he had made two huge mistakes. He should not have deployed the Luga Defense Line outside Leningrad. And there should be no doubt that Comrade Terry Butz, commander of the Baltic Fleet, was drunk...even though he was an alcoholic.
"Comrade Voroshilov, what should we do now? The Kronstadt Fortress is at risk of falling! The 1st Marine Brigade, Fortress Brigade and militia troops on the island have suffered heavy losses... If this fortress is captured by the Germans If they do, they can attack Leningrad from the sea and threaten the rear of the Karelian defense line. Then Leningrad will be really in danger.”
Zhdanov, Secretary W of Leningrad City and Military Commissar of the Northwest Headquarters, was speaking to Voroshilov in a complaining tone. He was Stalin's relative, and of course he was also a popular figure in Stalin's power circle. Not only was he the secretary of Leningrad City, he was also responsible for the ideology of the Soviet Union. Voroshilov was in charge of the military preparations for this world revolution, while Zhdanov was in charge of the ideological and revolutionary theoretical work of the world revolution.
If the world revolution really goes wrong, he and Voroshilov will be blamed. Once Leningrad falls into a real crisis, it means that the life of the Bolshevik Party is hanging by a thread, how can the lives of the people of the world continue to be revolutionized?
If the world revolution cannot continue, who will be held responsible? Who made the mistake of adventurism or blind activism? This is a mistake of Marxism, and anyone who is involved in it may be ruined.
"The Kronstadt Fortress will not fall, there will be no problem." Voroshilov took out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "The reinforcements will be ready soon, and the troops will board the ship to Kotlin Island by dark."
His words were largely to comfort Zhdanov because he did not send enough reinforcements in time in the early morning. And after that, Voroshilov left the headquarters to inspect the construction of fortifications in the south of Leningrad (he had set up three lines of defense outside Leningrad, and the first line of defense, the Luga line, had been breached). It was not until the afternoon that he learned that something was really wrong on Kotlin Island.
Although he immediately issued an order to mobilize a division of reinforcements to the island, time was still wasted. The Germans had occupied an important fortress in the west of the island, and large seaplanes continued to land on the water near Kotlin Island throughout the day. God knows how many troops were airlifted here!
Just when Voroshilov and Zhdanov were a little overwhelmed, Comrade Stalin called.
"What's going on? Why did the German tanks land on Kotlin Island?" Stalin's voice sounded quite anxious.
"Comrade General Secretary, we still don't know how the enemy tanks got on the island..." Voroshilov should have known about the battleships on Oahu that were attacked by the Japanese army with amphibious tanks, but now he was extremely upset and didn't think about it for a while.
"I promise that the Kronstadt Fortress will never fall!" Voroshilov said to Stalin again, "Now the city of Kronstadt and the entire Leningrad have begun a general mobilization. Countless cadres, workers and students will take up arms and participate in the battle to defend Leningrad."
The city of Leningrad had already carried out a round of mobilization a few days ago, organizing 5 militia divisions and mobilizing millions of citizens to dig trenches outside the city. However, this morning, because the German army suddenly landed on Kotlin Island, the situation in Leningrad suddenly became critical. So Zhdanov further expanded the scale of mobilization and called on more people to sign up to participate in the battle.
"Can the militia defend Leningrad?" Stalin's tone was full of doubts.
"There is no problem at the moment..." Voroshilov did not dare to say anything definite now. The German offensive on Kotlin Island was too unexpected. He was halfway through his words when a staff officer from the Northwest Command walked up to him quickly and handed him a note.
Voroshilov took a look and his face turned pale on the spot. What came was frustrating bad news, and two bad news came together. The first one was from Kotlin Island. The Germans carried out a large-scale airdrop at 5:30 pm. At least thousands of parachutes landed in the eastern part of Kotlin Island, and dozens of planes landed at the airport on the island.
There is no doubt that Germany has sent more troops to Kotlin Island! Tonight, there will be a hard battle on Kotlin Island!
The second bad news came from the southern line of Leningrad. The German army had just captured the small town of Batetsky between Luga and Novgorod. This means that the next target of the German army is Novgorod - this is an ancient city with a very long history. It is the birthplace of the ancient Russian state and the capital of the Rurik Dynasty at the beginning. If the flag of the Russian Empire is raised in Novgorod, its influence will be several times greater than the fall of Pskov!
And 68 kilometers north of Novgorod is Chudovo. After the Germans occupied it, the railway line between Leningrad and Moscow would be cut off. The German army's encirclement of Leningrad was half completed.