Chapter 984 Starting From Rzhev

In April 1944, in the office of Reich Marshal Hessmann, the head of the German Wehrmacht, a huge battlefield situation map around Moscow was hung opposite the desk. From this battlefield situation map, it can be clearly seen that a long arc-shaped battle line appeared to the west and north of Moscow.

The northern part of the battle line was roughly along the upper reaches of the Volga River, starting from Uglich and going west along the river (actually northeast-southwest), passing through Kalyazin, Dubna, Konakovo, Kalinin, Staritsa, and after reaching Rzhev, the battle line changed from northeast-southwest to north-south.

From Rzhev to the south are Sychokaf and Vyazma-since this line is the western gateway of Moscow, the Soviet and German armies have historically fought fiercely on the Rzhev-Vyazma line, with a total of four major battles and a series of small battles!

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

The front from Rzhev to the south to Vyazma was under the command of Marshal Manstein's Central Army Group, while General Hoth's 4th Panzer Army was the main force of the attack; the front from Rzhev to the northeast to Uglich was commanded by Marshal Model's Northern Army Group, and the main force of the offensive force was General Paulus's 6th Panzer Army.

The sum of the field forces of the German Army Group North and the Central Army Group (actually both included many European armies and the White Russian army) exceeded 2.7 million, accounting for more than 50% of the German (European coalition) field forces on the Eastern Front.

Considering that the three encirclements of Warsaw, Minsk and the Crimean Peninsula also tied up a large number of German (coalition) field forces, the upcoming Moscow Campaign can be regarded as a concentrated attack by the German (coalition).

Similarly, the Soviet Red Army also concentrated a large number of living forces on this large arc-shaped 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!

On the morning of April 5, Hersman, who had just arrived at the office of the General Staff from the manor in Zossen, was looking through the war report on the Hawaiian Islands sent by the Japanese Embassy.

The Japanese report of course showed a very good situation. 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 American aircraft carriers, including the Enterprise and 2 Essex-class.

In addition, 2 Iowa-class battleships and several heavy cruisers were severely damaged, and dozens of small ships and transport ships were sunk.

The number of American carrier-based and shore-based aircraft shot down reached as many as 500, including dozens of powerful P51 and P47 fighters.

At the same time, Japan's own losses were only less than 500 shore-based aircraft that did not return.

If the Japanese war report is credible, it is really another great victory.

How could the "Bottle" P47, which has a limited range, appear on the battlefield in the Hawaiian Islands? Even if the "Bottle" is equipped with auxiliary fuel tanks, it is difficult to fly from Midway Island, Palmyra Atoll and Johnston Island to the Hawaiian Islands to fight, right?

Could it be that the Americans have already built an airport on Niihau Island? If so, the Japanese will have a lot of trouble in the future.

Because the P47 series of this time and space focuses on developing interception capabilities, most models are designed according to the standards of interceptors. Not only does it have excellent high-altitude performance, but it also has very powerful firepower. The strongest P47D model has 8 12.7mm Browning aircraft machine guns, which can easily punch holes all over the German Ju288. Because of the threat of this aircraft, Junkers had to launch a more sturdy 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 4 20mm cannons and 4 12.7mm machine guns, it could often return safely.

In order to disengage 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 special durability, the P47 can also be used as a fighter-bomber to sweep the ground! In addition to 8 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 precious heavy bombers!

Although this aircraft cannot defeat the Japanese Zidian and Jifeng at medium and low altitudes, the 8 12.7mm aircraft machine guns can still easily beat down the Japanese "Galaxy", "Tunlong" and "Flying Dragon".

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

Just as Hessman was worrying about the Japanese, the voice of his adjutant Colonel Peip was heard outside the office door: "Imperial Marshal, urgent report from the Northern Army Group."

"Come in." Hessman put down the battle report in his hand and called Peip 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, and 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 the rain and snow only lasted for a few days, we couldn't afford to waste any time, otherwise the sky would 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. Therefore, the German Air Force began to conduct research and development tenders for the "Ultimate Piston Fighter" very early. 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 mid-to-high altitude ultimate 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.

In 1942, Focke-Wulf also launched the F series and G series of Fw-190 fighter-bombers, which were also very popular with the German frontline troops. Now it has replaced the Ju87 and has become the main model of the German ground attack. In early 1944, the "tank killer" series rocket launcher (German rocket launcher) was also installed on the Fw-190F, giving it a more powerful anti-tank capability. If the two fighter-bombers Fw-190F and Fw-190G were allowed to fly, the activities of the Soviet tank troops during the day would be greatly affected.

Therefore, when formulating the "Red Guard" plan, Zhukov and others paid great attention to the threat from the air. It would be better not to take any deceptive feints, but to compress the attack time as much as possible, so that the attacking troops can use the rain and snow to avoid the danger from the air.