Unlike Kilponos, the Soviet army on the southern front who actively chose to attack with attack, Voroshilov also chose to lead his troops to launch an offensive in the north after discussions with Zhukov.
However, Voroshilov's current attack position is much smaller than at the beginning of the war. It is not even an attack position. He has only a second-line position left.
In the first few days of the war, the German Army Group North used a continuous counterattack to penetrate 80 kilometers deep into the Soviet Union and occupied the Dubisa River crossing near Alogala. This could have become the Voroshilov Army Group
An area of solid defensive front.
If Voroshilov orders the blowing up of the large highway viaduct near Ailogala, the German counterattack forces will inevitably stall in this area, and the Soviet army will also be able to gain defense time and organize on the steep high ground on the other side of the river.
defense.
However, the German army only used one corps, the 56th Armored Corps, which consisted of the 8th Armored Division, the 290th Infantry Division, and the 3rd Motorized Infantry Division. Together, the three divisions broke through the Memel River and attacked all the way to
Exit Dinnerburg.
"Damn it, no one can stop the Germans?"
Inside the headquarters, Voroshilov looked anxiously at the battle diagram and roared.
"Marshal, the total speed of the German armored forces is too fast, and we can't stop it at all!" A general with the rank of major general reported Nono amid Voroshilov's roar.
Voroshilov, the Field Marshal of the Soviet Union and recipient of the title Hero of the Soviet Union, has always been considered one of the core figures who leads the entire army in combat.
His elite cavalry unit once recaptured Ukraine from the Polish army. It was one of the few elite Soviet cavalry units that was not afraid of the Polish cavalry.
However, such a general who once shone brilliantly in the Civil War was now helpless against the German army's tactics.
Since his understanding of war is still in the cavalry era in some aspects, and he has insufficient understanding of new situations in contemporary wars, it seems that his results are very average and cannot be highly praised as he was in the previous civil wars.
Coincidentally, Voroshilov's opponent, General Loeb, commander of the German Army Group Northern, was also a general who had little contact with armored tactics.
Although he was appointed by Reinhard to command the German Army Group North because of his stability and reliability, the highest position he held before Lebu was the commander-in-chief of Army Group C on the Western Front, which was responsible for the feint attack in the French campaign.
When he took command of Army Group C on the Western Front, he only had some basic infantry divisions and reserve divisions under his command. The latter still had to be mobilized. Their equipment and training were not very strong, and they did not have the armored units that the famous German generals usually liked most.
Can be directed.
Army Group North governs two armies and a tank group, with a total of 25 infantry divisions, 3 motorized divisions and 3 tank divisions. It is the one with the smallest strength among the three Wehrmacht army groups other than the SS at the beginning of the German Eastern Front.
And its mission is quite small. It is to advance from East Prussia to eliminate the Soviet troops along the Baltic Sea coast, seize the Baltic Sea ports, and then seize Leningrad and Kronstadt, causing the Baltic Fleet to lose its base.
At the same time, in accordance with the "Barbarossa Counterattack Plan", Army Group North also responded to the rapid corps of Army Group Center that would later attack Smolensk, dividing its forces in a timely manner to provide support.
Therefore, the Barbarossa Counterattack Plan stipulates that the retreating Army Group North should try to advance forward first with a powerful right-wing rapid corps in order to advance to the Opochka area as soon as possible and prevent the Soviet army from retreating from the Baltic Sea coast, setting the stage for the future
Create conditions for a rapid attack on Leningrad.
But the war zone faced by Marshal Loeb had the most unfavorable terrain on the entire battlefield. The outline of the established Soviet-German border forced the troops of the entire army group to retreat, and they were densely concentrated near the East Prussian border and the lower reaches of the Niemann River.
On both sides of the Taiwan Strait, it was completely impossible to implement a planned encirclement of the Soviet army directly from the deployment area.
In front of him were the elite Soviet troops of Marshal Voroshilov of the Soviet Union. Although they suffered heavy losses in these days of attacks, the total strength was still greater than that of the German Army Group North.
Under this circumstance, General Loeb, who was also commanding armored forces on a large scale for the first time, obviously did a much better job than Voroshilov of the Soviet army.
Yes, Lebu was indeed not an excellent armored commander, but he was an excellent strategist and a qualified army group-level commander.
Even though he did not fully understand the combat effectiveness of the armored forces, Le Bu analyzed the battle situation and concluded that only by creating very favorable conditions could his Northern Group Army achieve a breakthrough from a relatively southern direction.
Surround the Soviet army and destroy it before it retreats.
Therefore, Lebu concentrated on using the armored forces at hand to liberate the three Baltic countries in one fell swoop, and then went 80 kilometers deep into the Soviet Union's hinterland in just a few days, completely completing the transformation from strategic defense to strategic offense.
"The commander on the Soviet side is called Voroshilov, right?" After receiving the news that the Dubisa River crossing near Aylogala had completely fallen into our own hands, Lebu looked at the commander in the headquarters with great interest.
The operational staff commented with a smile: "He will probably be very aggrieved at this time, right?"
After careful planning, Lebu had ordered General Busch's Sixteenth Army to launch an attack on Daugavpils and its north along both sides of the Ebenrod-Kaunas road, leaving General Küchler's Sixteenth Army to attack.
The Eighteenth Army carried out the main assault on Riga along the Tilsit-Riga road, and ordered General Hepner's Fourth Tank Group to advance north of the lower reaches of the Neman River toward Fensk and the West Dvina River to seize all crossing points.
, Attack on Apoka.
The result of this arrangement was that Army Group North quickly broke through almost every Soviet defensive position and captured the strategic location of Riga. Then it reached the West Dvina River and defeated the last Soviet resistance here.
.
At the same time, the Fourth German Tank Group swept through the countries along the Baltic Sea. With the cooperation of the resistance organizations in the Baltic Sea countries, they cleared the Soviet troops in the southern areas of the Baltic Sea coast at lightning speed, and also liberated the Baltic countries.
In this round of combat alone, Lebu annihilated and captured nearly 300,000 Soviet troops, and became the German general who had liberated the most countries so far in World War II.
Sure enough, with this record and the international reputation of liberating the three Baltic countries, Lebu heard a special announcement on the radio about the liberation of the three Baltic countries by the German army, and received a personal message from Reinhard regarding Lebu's promotion.
Telegram for the German Field Marshal!
Sincerely, Lebu officially became the fourth field marshal in the German Wehrmacht, following Brauchitsch, Bock, and Rundstedt.
