While Army Group Center under the command of Marshal Bock was encircling the main force of the Soviet army in Belarus time and time again and siege cities and territories, Army Group South under Marshal Rundstedt was also sweeping through the vast and fertile Ukrainian region.
Like Bock, Rundstedt was also a famous German general who had been entrusted with the important task of army group commander level since the Polish campaign.
Among the commanders of the three army groups in the north, south, and center in this battle, apart from Le Bu, Bock and Lundstedt were both proven veterans.
The main goal of Rundstadt's battle was to capture the historic city of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine and known as the "Mother of Russian Cities".
This reminds me of Napoleon, the famous figure in the last Eastern Expedition.
He once said: "Occupying Kiev is equivalent to grabbing Russia's feet." It can be seen that Kiev has a very important strategic significance in the Soviet Union. It can be said that Kiev is the third largest city in the Soviet Union after Moscow and Leningrad.
A big city is an important political, technological, industrial and cultural center, and the surrounding area is also a famous granary.
Kiev is located at the confluence of the Dnieper and Desna rivers, with land, water and air transportation extending in all directions. It is not only a transportation hub in the southwestern region of the Soviet Union, but also the only way for Germany to seize the Donets Industrial Zone and the Caucasus oil fields.
Manstein, who advocated massive destruction of the Soviet Union's effective forces, proposed using the Battle of Kiev to eliminate the Soviet Southwest Front entrenched in Ukraine, and then launch an attack on Moscow.
Speaking of this, there is an interesting thing that interests Reinhard very much.
As a time traveler, Reinhard once studied Manstein's memoirs and discovered that Manstein initially favored the strategy of the Army General Headquarters in his memoirs, which was to go straight to Moscow.
For this reason, Manstein specifically blamed this mistake on the previous mustachioed head of state in his memoirs, listing a lot of mustache's faults. Only in the later stages of the war did Manstein turn to the idea of annihilating a large number of Soviet troops.
An effective and flexible defense strategic approach.
However, in this life, Manstein advocated the elimination of the Soviet army's effective forces.
The difference is probably that in his previous life, Manstein served in the 56th Armored Corps of Army Group North, but in this life, the 56th Armored Corps was commanded by Lieutenant General von Wojtander Tate.
He got the job of commanding the extremely large 11th Army from the very beginning.
The 1st Army Group belonged to Army Group South, so Manstein's suggestions at this time were naturally biased towards the strategy proposed by the Army Group South headquarters.
This may be a special personality of Manstein, or a distinctive character.
Manstein would be extremely concerned about his unit and strive for all benefits for it.
In the original time and space, Manstein was accused by the headquarters of Army Group Center of not caring about the overall situation and only focusing on the local interests of Army Group South because he always fought for supplies and equipment for his Army Group.
Therefore, it is not surprising to Reinhardt that Manstein's views were considered by the Army Group South headquarters in this life.
In Army Group South, Lundstedt used the 1st Armored Army commanded by Lieutenant General Kleist as the vanguard and the 20 divisions of the 6th Army commanded by General Paulus as the main attack.
With the air cooperation of General Er, they attacked the city and broke the formation all the way. In mid-July, they had actually reached the right bank of the Dnieper River and Kiev.
At the same time, Army Group Center also attacked Kosmolensk, and Bock's army had advanced to the direct north of Kiev.
From the map, this presents a wonderful situation. The armored units of Army Group South Kleist and the armored units of Army Group Center are advancing side by side on the north and south wings of Kiev like two arrows.
If Army Group Center detaches a powerful armored force and motorized infantry, and cooperates with Army Group South to attack Kiev in two directions along the right bank of the Dnieper River, an extremely huge encirclement will be formed, which can not only encircle Kiev, but also encircle the entire Soviet Union.
The troops from the Southwest Front moved in.
Although he was at the southernmost end of Army Group South's front, Manstein, who had been paying close attention to the battle situation, certainly saw this golden opportunity.
Since Reinhard intended to cultivate Manstein as the future "Commander-in-Chief on the Eastern Front," he also deliberately provided him with an overall situation report.
Historically, Manstein was also a person who paid passionate attention to and influenced the overall situation. During the French Campaign, 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 a group army and the commander of a "small army group" such as the 11th Army, Manstein was even more interested in making suggestions for the overall situation.
He directly sent a report to his old superior, Rundstadter's Army Group Headquarters, and to the headquarters where the head of state was located: "If the mobile forces of Army Group Center and Army Group South can form an encirclement in Kiev, it will be an unprecedented scale.
The largest war of annihilation in history. If the Soviet Union's most powerful Southwest Front Army can be defeated in one fell swoop, it may be a fatal blow to the Soviet Union."
Manstein's point of view is easy to understand - if the entire Southwest Front of the Soviet Union can be annihilated, why let it slip away?
Unfortunately, this plan requires borrowing the German mobile troops of Army Group Center, and I'm afraid there will be great resistance.
First of all, Army Chief of Staff Brachychi may not be able to pass this test, not to mention that Bock and Guderian also strongly advocated attacking Moscow.
After receiving coordination arrangements from Reinhardt from the headquarters, Manstein learned that the Führer had found a compromise plan for him.
Army Group Center detached Spanish and Italian mobile units to complete Army Group South's Kiev encirclement and annihilation strategy. The German troops of Army Group Center could fight according to their own Army Group's strategy.
It can be supported by 1 Spanish German armored division, 2 Italian semi-motorized divisions, 1 Italian rapid division, and 3 main Italian Blackshirt Army regiments that are extremely mobile and equipped with a large number of L3 light tanks and transport vehicles.
This is equivalent to obtaining a mobile force of approximately 10 divisions.
In addition, Army Group Center also promised to use all 154 aircraft of various types sent by Italian Prime Minister Rossi to support the Italian army moving south, as the air force allocated by Army Group Center for the encirclement and annihilation of Kiev.
With a force of this size, a large-scale siege of Kiev is enough to succeed!
