Steel Soviet Union

Hitler, who was supposed to be Guderian's "Bo Le", has now gone further and further away from the soul of the German armored forces who said "This is exactly what I need!"

"My order has been issued, and you have clearly heard everything I said just now! If you can't implement the order, then I will find someone else, Guderian! I guess you know what I want from What kind of answer do you get here, right?”

Faced with Hitler's unmoved stubbornness, Guderian, who had already lost most of his heart, had no other choice but to express his attitude to Hitler by raising his right arm diagonally upward and saluting at attention.

This incident, which lasted for less than a week, was the most serious crisis since the German army launched Operation Barbarossa. But even though things have developed to the point where they should have come to an end now, more serious crises and their terrible consequences have followed closely.

Time turned to the afternoon of September 5th. Hitler, who had just woken up from his nap, suddenly changed his attention as if he had been inspired and awakened from a dream, and decided to suspend the fighting on the northern and southern fronts and resume his campaign in the direction of Moscow. Attack, and immediately ordered the summoning of almost all the top German officials in Berlin, including Air Force Commanders Goering and Brauchitsch, as well as Halder.

"Bock and his Army Group Center must take action immediately within eight to ten days! Regroup their powerful fists at lightning speed to resume the offensive in the direction of Moscow!"

"We must surround them, defeat them, and crush them completely! The dirty Bolsheviks and Stalin, the evil dictator, will be permanently erased from history. This is an order that has been decided! No one is allowed to question it!"

After hearing Hitler's gritted orders, the bloated Marshal Goering, who smelled strongly of French perfume all over his body, just waved his hands expressionlessly to indicate that he had no objection and could cooperate with any strategic plan of the German Army at any time. Change and dispatch air force support.

Brauchitsch and Halder, who were relieved, breathed a sigh of relief. It was just early September and at least it was not too late for them.

Hitler, who changed his mind faster than a Sichuan opera, subsequently made a series of strategic changes. He agreed to Guderian's proposal that he had previously rejected, and ordered Guderian's 2nd Armored Group to be relocated from the southern Ukrainian theater. Come to Army Group Center and participate in the upcoming Moscow Operation offensive.

After some thought, Hitler felt that Guderian alone might not be enough. He added an additional order, requesting that the tank corps commanded by Reinhardt be transferred back to Army Group Center from Marshal Loeb's Army Group North on the Leningrad front. Strengthen the armor strength, intending to reproduce the German army's usual powerful armored blitzkrieg offensive and capture Moscow, the heart of the Soviet Union, in one fell swoop.

At the end of the meeting, Hitler expressed his high expectations for this attack on Moscow and personally named it "Operation Typhoon", intending to sweep the Soviets like an unstoppable typhoon and fight on the front line of Moscow. This final battle of annihilation wiped out all the most elite forces of the Red Army used by Stalin to defend Moscow, completely defeating the Soviet Union's last resistance.

The Typhoon plan, which was rapidly condensed under Hitler's personal supervision, finally gathered extremely powerful offensive energy.

After specialization and reinforcement, the German Army Group Center has a total of 75 fully equipped combat divisions with 1.8 million men, more than 1,700 tanks and various types of self-propelled artillery, more than 40,000 various types of large-caliber artillery and light mortars. gun.

Marshal Göring, the commander of the German Air Force, who was ordered by Hitler, also mobilized a total of 1,400 aircraft of various types to be assigned to Army Group Center. The commander of the Second Air Force, Kesselring, provided unified deployment and command on the front line.

After this reinforcement, the powerful German Army Group Center was more than half as powerful as when the war first started. Three of the four armored groups deployed on the Soviet battlefield were put into the Typhoon plan to launch attacks. Hitler's ambition for Moscow was bound to be justified. This is evident.

On the other hand, the Soviet troops deployed on the periphery of Moscow's frontier were exhausted troops that had just experienced a failed battle. The Western Front, Reserve Front, and Bryansk Front were what the Soviet Union used to deal with the German attack at this time. All defensive power.

These three incomplete fronts have a total of 95 under-organized combat divisions with a total strength of 1.25 million people, 990 tanks and other combat vehicles of various types, and 7,600 light and heavy artillery pieces. They are extremely important fighter aircraft used to compete for air supremacy and support ground combat. It is even more pitiful that there are only 677 aircraft. In terms of quantity, it is less than half of the German army, and in terms of quality, it is far inferior.

Faced with such a severe frontline situation, Stalin, who sensed that Hitler was about to launch a general attack on Moscow, once again thought of the invincible name that represented victory, and immediately sent a telegram from Moscow to the distant Leningrad Front headquarters.

"Leave your job as commander of the Leningrad Front and other matters to Chief of Staff Hozin, and you can fly back to Moscow immediately."

After receiving Stalin's order, Zhukov did not dare to hesitate and immediately boarded a plane back to the Moscow base camp. What did the large-scale southward mobilization of German armored groups that had been detected by Soviet reconnaissance planes in the direction of Leningrad mean? For Zhukov, the battle-hardened Red Army god of war, this is all too clear.

When Zhukov got off the plane in the evening of October 7 and rushed to the Kremlin in the dust, Stalin, who was sitting alone in his office and staring at the map on the wall in a daze, was obviously not in good health.

The loving father Comrade Stalin, who was a little weak from the influenza, nodded immediately when he saw Zhukov's arrival, and spoke softly in a hoarse voice while pointing to the location on the map.

"Look here, Zhukov. The situation on the Moscow front is very bad now. I can't get a detailed report from the Western Front about the real situation. Many troops have been dispersed by German tanks, and we can't contact them at all now."

"I need you to go to the Western Front headquarters immediately to understand the situation. Once you get there, don't use telegrams. Keep in touch with me by phone at any time. Remember to report to me the most realistic situation of the Western Front."

After retracting his index finger from the map, Stalin paused for a moment with a gloomy expression. Due to the overall decline and defeat on the front line, Stalin was still unable to judge the true strategic intentions of the Germans. He immediately asked Zhukov a question with some uncertainty.