Chapter 991: Reach Moscow in 7 Days?

"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. Divide the nearly 200 kilometers wide front by ten, and on average each armored division can be divided into about 20 kilometers, 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 find it 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 tactic of the "Worship Offensive" 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-50A.

"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 counterattack 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. However, 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.

Hersmann estimated that even dropping an atomic bomb on Moscow would not necessarily force the "Moscow people" to surrender.

Therefore, driving the Red Army outside Moscow into the city and surrounding it to starve it was actually the lowest-cost solution - at least for the German army, this was the best way.

However, there is also a prerequisite for using siege to solve Moscow. The Soviet Moscow Front must be crippled first. Otherwise, several Guards Tank Army and Assault Army, thousands of JS-2 and T-38/85, and more than 2 million fully armed GCist fighters are not a joke. Without a 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 Command shrink on the northern line at the beginning of my Central Front's offensive?" Hersmann expressed his doubts.

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

"Big enough bait?" Hessmann asked, "What is it?"

"The 6th Panzer Army!" Guderian replied, "This is a big bait. If the German army can cut off the Red October Railway Line and put the 6th Panzer Army into the pocket, I believe it will make Stalin and the Red Army Command hesitate for a short time... As long as it is delayed for a few days, the Soviet Army's northern front will collapse."

Is Paulus destined to be surrounded? Hessmann heard Guderian's suggestion and thought to himself that he was surrounded in Stalingrad in history and now in Kalinin Oblast... But there should be no risk this time, after all, Manstein has 17 powerful armored divisions at his disposal.

"Okay," Hessmann nodded, "Ask Model and Paulus for their opinions." He paused and looked at Manstein again, "Erich, this time the Northern Army Group has made a great sacrifice, can you give Moscow to them?"

Moscow is a big piece of meat!

In order for Model and Paulus to help Manstein fight the Rzhev-Sychevka-Vyazma Campaign, Manstein had to give up Moscow.

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

"That's no problem," Hessmann nodded tentatively, and then said to Guderian, "After completing the encirclement of Moscow, the Central Army Group will split into two groups, advancing towards Ulyanovsk and Stalingrad respectively. At the same time, the Southern Army Group will also advance towards Stalingrad from May!"

...

"Woo woo woo..."

Captain Valennikov, the tank company commander, who was riding a BT-7 tank with camouflage nets and many branches and leaves, suddenly heard the shrill sound of a hand-cranked air defense siren.

It is now April 12, and the continuous rainfall (which started as rain and snow) stopped completely yesterday afternoon. Now there are no clouds in the sky, which is a good day for German bombers to take off.

However, the Soviet 7th Guards Tank Army, which was advancing towards Valdai, did not give up the daytime march, because General Chuikov and General Fezuninsky had just received accurate intelligence - Valdai, the target of the 7th Guards Tank Army, was now very empty, with only less than 20,000 White Army infantry stationed, which could not stop the 7th Guards Tank Army at all.

Valdai was only more than 20 kilometers away from the Red October Railway Line. Once occupied by the Soviet Army, the rear of the European Allied Forces (German infantry appeared on the front line on the 9th) who were currently fighting fiercely with the Red Army on the Kuvshinovo, Torzhok and Likuslavl fronts might be cut off.

Of course, Chuikov and Fezuninsky did not dare to think about encirclement and annihilation, but at least they could force the European Allied Forces to break through!

This would greatly ease the situation on the northern line of Moscow, so Chuikov and Fezuninsky decided to take the risk of letting the 7th Guards Tank Army advance during the day. However, during the march, the GCist fighters were still vigilant against the enemy in the air.

"Stop, stop quickly!" Captain Varennikov reacted quickly. He shouted and kicked the driver Shura on the back of the head. The tracks of the 13.9-ton BT-7 tank stopped moving immediately, and the tank came to an abrupt halt on the road that had become very muddy.