The Third Reich in Desperation

As a time traveler, Reinhardt, when studying Manstein's memoirs, found that Manstein's memoirs were initially biased towards the strategy of the Army General Headquarters, that is, going straight to Moscow.

For this reason, in his memoirs, Manstein specifically attributed this mistake to the previous mustache head of state, listing a lot of mustache faults.Only in the later period of the war did Manstein turn to propose a flexible defense strategy to annihilate the active forces of the Soviet army in large numbers.

However, in this life, Manstein insisted on eliminating the vital forces of the Soviet army.

The difference is probably that Manstein served in the 56th Armored Army of the Northern Army Group in his last life, but in this life, the 56th Armored Army was commanded by Lieutenant General von Vojend Tate. At the beginning, he got the good job of commanding the super-large 11th Army.

The 1st Army Group also belongs to the Southern Army Group, so Manstein's proposal this time is naturally biased towards the strategy proposed by the Southern Army Group Command.

This may be a special personality of Manstein, or a distinctive personality.

For his own troops, Manstein will be extremely caring, and strive for all benefits.

In the original time and space, because Manstein was always fighting for supplies and equipment for his own army group, the headquarters of the Central Army Group accused Manstein of disregarding the overall situation and only knowing to value the local interests of the Southern Army Group.

So in this life, Reinhardt is not surprised by Manstein's point of view and the consideration of the Southern Army Group Command.

In the Southern Army Group, Rundstede took the 1st Armored Army commanded by Lieutenant General Kleist as the vanguard, and used the 6 divisions of the 20th Army commanded by General Paulus as the main attack. With the cooperation of General Er in the air, he attacked the city and broke the formation all the way. In mid-July, it actually went straight to the right bank of the Dnieper River and Kiev.

At the same time, the Central Army Group also attacked Kesmolensk, and Bock's army had advanced to the north of Kiev.

From the map, this presents a wonderful situation. The armored units of the Southern Army Group Kleist and the armored units of the Central Army Group are advancing side by side on the north and south wings of Kiev like two arrows.

If the Central Army Group splits out a powerful armored force and motorized infantry, and cooperates with the Southern Army Group to attack Kiev along the right bank of the Dnieper River, it will form an incomparably huge encirclement circle, which can not only encircle Kiev, but also encircle the entire Soviet Union. The Southwest Army uniform went in.

Although at the southernmost end of the Southern Army Group's front, Manstein, who has been paying close attention to the battle situation, of course also saw this golden opportunity.

Since Reinhardt intends to train Manstein as the "Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Front" in the future, he also deliberately provides him with an overall situation report.

Historically, Manstein was also a person who paid close attention to and influenced the overall situation.In the Battle of France, as the commander of the army, he influenced the entire western front combat plan and proposed the famous Manstein plan.

In this life, as the commander of the group army, and the commander of the "small group army group" such as the 11th group army, Manstein is more keen to make suggestions on the overall situation.

He directly and at the same time sent a report to the army group headquarters of the old superior Rundstede and the high command where the head of state is located: "If the mobile forces of the central army group and the southern army group can form an encirclement in Kiev, it will be an unprecedented scale. The largest annihilation battle in history. If it can eat up the Southwest Front Army with the most powerful troops in the Soviet Union in one fell swoop, it may become a fatal blow to the Soviet Union."

Manstein's point is easy to understand—if he could wipe out the entire Southwestern Front of the Soviet Union, why let him slip by?

It is a pity that this plan will borrow the German mobile troops of the Central Army Group, and I am afraid that there will be great resistance.

First of all, the chief of the army's general staff, Brahich, may not be able to pass the test, not to mention that Bock and Guderian are also strongly advocating the attack on Moscow.

After Manstein received the coordination arrangement sent by Reinhardt from the High Command, he learned that the Führer had found a compromise plan for him.

The Central Army Group separated the Spanish and Italian mobile forces to complete the Kiev encirclement and annihilation strategy of the Southern Army Group.The German troops of the Central Army Group can fight according to their own strategy of the Army Group.

Can get 1 Spanish German armored division, 2 Italian semi-motorized divisions, 1 Italian fast division, and 3 main Italian black shirt army corps with strong mobility and equipped with a large number of L3 light tanks and transport vehicles. It is equivalent to getting a mobile force of about 10 divisions.

In addition, the Central Army Group also promised to use all the 154 aircraft of various types sent by Italian Prime Minister Rossi to support the Italian army going south, as the Central Army Group allocated air force for the encirclement and annihilation of Kiev.

With a force of this size, a large-scale siege of Kiev is enough to succeed!

Text 775 Reasons why Zhukov went to the Western Front

In fact, just in mid-July, a lot happened.

For example, the German Southern Army Group advanced towards the Dnieper River with powerful armored forces, broke through the defense line of the Soviet Southwest Front Army, and surrounded the Soviet Army's 26th, 6th, and 12th Army Groups.Although the Soviet army scattered the main forces of the 6th and 12th armies out of the encirclement after fierce fighting, the main force of the Soviet army in the lower bend of the Dnieper River south of Kiev lost its cover.

In other words, in the Uman area south of Kiev, the Southwest Front Army Command is also unable to go south to support.Before the mobile units from the Central Army Group went south, the Southern Army Group's own 1st Armored Group and the 17th Army had already joined forces in Wuyi City, Ukraine, and completed the battle against the Soviet Sixth and Twelfth Army in the Uman area and the 6th Army. The encirclement of part of the 12th Army.

After the mobile troops from Italy and Spain set off, the German Army Group South had ended the Battle of Uman, annihilating 20 divisions of the Soviet army, capturing 10.3 people, and capturing 317 tanks and 858 artillery pieces.

This is the junction of the Southwest Front Army and the Southern Front Army of the Soviet Army, but the two major Soviet Front Armies are unable to solve this problem.

At the same time, a series of fierce battles have already been launched outside Kiev. The armored vanguard of the Southern Army Group has broken through to Zhitomir outside Kiev. It is only because the infantry regiment has not kept up with the lack of strength that it has not attacked Kiev. The axis launched a general attack.

From the perspective of the Soviet Army, many main forces of the heavily damaged Southwest Front Army were encircled by the German army, and the main force of the German Army Group Center may go south at any time, forming a north-south pincer attack on Kiev. In that case, all the main forces of the Southwest Front Army would have to be encircled .

Southwest Front Army Command.

Commander Kirbonos and the new Chief of Staff Tupikov are listening to the report and recommendations of the Minister of Operations, Colonel Baghramyan.

Kirponos was called back from Siberia by Zhukov, and was called back together with him, and Puerkayev, the former chief of staff.

Unfortunately, on the second day after arriving in Siberia, Puerkayev contracted a serious illness due to unsuitable soil and water, and later died of a serious illness on the train returning.

For this matter, Kirponos already had a knot in his heart with Stalin, but it hadn't been seen by anyone yet...

At this moment, the Minister of Operations made a bold but also helpless suggestion for him.

This method will preserve the remaining main force of the Southwest Front Army as much as possible under the most unfavorable circumstances, and make sufficient preparations for the defense in depth.

"There is no way to do this, but it's better than being wiped out by the German army." Colonel Bagramyan spread his hands and said very bachelor.

However, Kirponos was very hesitant about this. He knew that under the current situation, if he proposed to abandon the defense and shrink the defense, it would definitely touch Stalin's nerves. Kuznetsov, the commander of the Northwest Front, was half a month ago. He was dismissed by Stalin for advocating shrinking defenses.

And he himself, because he made this claim before, was directly thrown by Stalin to Siberia to fend for himself.

His old partner Pu'er Kayev also lost his life in the Far East...

Thinking of this, Kirponos couldn't help clenching his fists, trembling slightly with anger.

"Comrade Commander, the current situation is at a critical moment. The armored corps of the German, Italian, and Spanish armies closed and encircled them very quickly. Our troops suffered heavy losses. Among the four armies, some divisions and regiments Only one-half or even one-third, and some troops simply leave only one serial number.”

The new colonel minister was a little excited: "If we delay again, the consequences will be disastrous, and we will be responsible for the lives of hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers!"

Kirponos just sat there quietly, listening to Baghramyan's speech.Once upon a time, I was so similar to this new minister, and I was so passionate.

It's a pity that the freezing Siberia is too cold, so cold that it has already drenched his hot pulse and boiling blood...

Immediately afterwards, Colonel Baghramyan talked about the plan to shrink the defense, and repeatedly pointed out its importance.

Kirponos' new chief of staff, Tupikov, was persuaded by the young man: "Okay, I'll send a telegram to Comrade Stalin's leader. However, I'm afraid to ask for a retreat at this time... In short, we Be prepared with both hands.”

Stalin's answer was quickly sent back that afternoon.It was an unusually simple telegram: "Defend Kiev."

as expected!Kirponos couldn't help but sneered while reading the contents of the telegram.

In the headquarters of the Southwest Front Army, everyone fell into silence again.

Seeing that everyone was silent, Kirponos sighed, and finally spoke: "Let me send a telegram to Georgi Konstantinovich Zhukov, and let him persuade Comrade Stalin."

Hearing this, everyone immediately thought of Zhukov who had returned to the General Staff. They believed that the most famous general in the Soviet military would have a solution.

After Zhukov received the report from the Southwest Front Army, he carefully studied the movement of the German army and the remaining troops of the Southwest Front Army, and fully believed that Kirponos and his conclusions were correct.The German army will concentrate its main force to attack Kiev, seeking to annihilate most of the Southwest Front Army and the South Front Army here.

Zhukov was heartbroken. He stayed at the General Staff in mid-to-late July and was not sent to support the Western Front. He immediately called Stalin and asked for an interview.

Later, he came to Stalin's office alone, bringing a map of the strategic situation, a map of the proven deployment of the Allied Powers, and other relevant materials.