Since the German Army Group Center marched toward Moscow in October 1941, millions of people in Moscow and its gateway cities of Tula and Ryazan began to evacuate eastward.
The Central Committee of the CPSU, most organizations, and all foreign embassies were evacuated to the "temporary capital" Kuibyshev.
For this evacuation, most of the companies in Moscow were closed, and key workers and production equipment were transferred to the Ural region on a large scale. Including the famous Moscow Metro, many of its lines were suspended, and construction of unfinished ones was suspended without restrictions.
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There were also more than 800,000 residents who were unwilling to leave. They donated their belongings, such as gold jewelry and gems, to fund the Patriotic War. They transformed the buildings in the city into fortifications, and manufactured weapons and ammunition in the newly established arsenal for direct transportation.
To the troops outside the city to block the enemy.
Most government officials moved to Kuibyshev, except Stalin, who issued the order "not to take a step back", which applied to everyone, including himself.
Whether it was to protect the morale of the soldiers or for more than half a year after the victory of the battle, Stalin unswervingly carried out the orders he issued. He stayed in the Kremlin and continued to work.
The German ground operations were never able to reach the urban area of Moscow. Especially in mid-August 1944, during a counterattack to seize Rzhev and Vyazma, the German army failed to achieve a breakthrough. During the same period, Army Group South
The group simply fell into a stalemate in the battle for Stalingrad and the surrounding areas. Not only that, the German army in the south was in the Don River Basin and in the Caucasus Mountains, and the resistance of the Soviet army was becoming more and more tenacious.
After achieving the strategic goal of capturing Southern Russia in a short period of time, Mustache's plan has gone bankrupt.
If the German army wants to win, they have only one way, and that is to compete with the Soviet Union for attrition. Even a corporal with a mustache knows that if they insist on doing this, the German army's attrition will be unprecedented.
The situation is not bad, it is just that the situation is not satisfactory. Optimism spreads in Wolfsburg, because whether it is the north or the south, the strategic initiative is always in the hands of the German army.
But the northern counterattack failed. All the generals of the German General Staff agreed that this failure once again proved that Model was a "fool for offensive operations." It is said that the man was very good at fighting defensive warfare, but his troops did not
They were able to defend Rzhev, but even more so they lost Vyazma.
He made so many mistakes, but he was still highly regarded by Hitler.
Why is this? Many generals from the Weimar Republic period believed that Model was like a shepherd dog, supremely loyal to his master and nothing more.
The ground counterattack failed, and the result of the battle was that the Soviet army obviously paid a greater price, but the strategic situation was that the German army actually retreated. The troops were further away from Moscow, so that the Smolensk area faced greater defensive pressure.
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The German Air Force launched a retaliatory operation!
After the collapse of Operation Sea Lion, the German air force on the western front began to mobilize on a large scale to the eastern front, so that 70% of the air force's combat strength was placed on the eastern front. At present, most of the air force participated in the offensive in the Don River Basin, and was even ordered to capture the Caucasus
Manstein in the mountainous area and the fighter jets he could command slowly mobilized towards the Don River defense line.
The German army used almost half of its air force to compete with the Soviet army for Stalingrad. The sky above the Don River was full of wingtip airflow cutting through the smoke. From time to time, smoking fighter planes fell like meteorites. On the ground, more than two million people
The combat troops are fighting fiercely on a front that is 300 kilometers long. The life of an individual is just a number, whether it is the German army or the Soviet army.
A company soon suffered heavy casualties and lost its ability to fight. The following troops stepped on the corpses of their predecessors and either continued to attack or fought to the death.
The German army could no longer provide the Sixth Army with more fighter planes, especially Model, the commander of the Ninth Army. He suddenly believed that continuous air strikes could continue to weaken the strength of the Soviet army and was also retaliation for it.
His ideas coincided with Air Marshal Göring's.
Originally, the air strikes against Moscow had never been interrupted, and the purpose of the air strikes had changed from "an important means of assisting the ground offensive" to a simple "psychological deterrent." No one would have expected that the continued air strikes on Moscow would frighten the Soviets. Instead, it would frighten the Soviets.
The shot in the arm for the German army was to tell soldiers and citizens of the country that the air force could still continue to attack the capital of the Soviet Union, and victory would eventually belong to Germany.
However, there is some discrepancy with Gobert's propaganda. The danger of German air strikes is increasing day by day. The sky above Moscow is full of dangers. A large number of air defense balloons have exaggeratedly risen to 3,000 to 5,000 meters. The German bombers have to fly higher before dropping bombs. Pure
Only one out of ten low-drag inertial bombs can fall within city limits.
It is very difficult for the air strike formation to fly over the city. With a large number of new Soviet fighter jets, with the help of mobile radar vehicles, and even emergency reports from Kalinin's frontline troops, the Soviet army can always learn about the German army at least half an hour in advance.
Air raid.
The German army's attack success rate is getting lower and lower, and its fighter losses are gradually increasing.
On August 18, seeing that the counterattack was fruitless, the German air force bombed the Soviet frontline assembly area in Vyazma, causing heavy losses in Soviet personnel and material. The German army did not launch another counterattack, but instead used the time gained by the air raid to
In retreat.
On August 19, the German army continued its air raids, this time targeting Moscow.
All senior German personnel, including Mustache, knew that Stalin himself was in the Kremlin in Moscow. What was very bad was that the Kremlin and surrounding areas were covered with camouflage, and the Soviet authorities built a fake one in an area of the city.
Kremlin architecture. To this day, no one knows exactly where Stalin works. They only know that in the huge city of Moscow, the bearded man hides in a small house and continues to issue orders to the nearly 100 million people under his control.
On August 19, the Soviet army launched the largest air raid on Moscow in 1944.
A total of ninety Henschel bombers were dispatched, and nearly two hundred FW190 fighter jets were escorted.
All the Soviet fighter planes stationed around Moscow took off, including La 5, Lago, and even ground attack aircraft such as the IL, to participate in the aerial dogfight. The Soviet army dispatched more than 300 fighter planes to participate in the blocking.
However, they failed to prevent German bombers from flying over Moscow.
Air defense sirens sounded everywhere in the city, and a large number of air defense troops climbed onto the roofs of buildings. Anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns were pointed at the blue sky. New air defense balloons were urgently inflated and launched into the sky, and existing balloons continued to rise to the limit of five thousand meters.
Workers in various factories suspended their work, shut down their machines, and all evacuated into air-raid shelters, especially the huge and deep Moscow Metro, which became the largest air-raid shelter.
So when the German Air Force flew over Moscow, they faced the bombardment of anti-aircraft guns and dropped bombs.
Some of the bombs successfully fell into the city, and houses around the bombs collapsed.
Casualties occurred, almost all from the Homeland Air Defense Force, whose losses were minimal as most civilians went underground.
"Coward, your bombing is pointless."
In the real Kremlin, in a small room on the second floor of Building 1, Stalin wiped the dust off his manuscript.
For a year, the German air raids have been carried out almost every week, and this time the air raids were obviously more violent!
The secretary hurriedly opened the door: "Comrade Leader, you should go to the basement immediately."
"Don't panic, the air raid is about to end. I will sit here and not go anywhere." He continued to smile, "Continue to do your thing and answer the call from the guerrilla movement headquarters. If the phone line is blown up,
I sent someone to run to his office to deliver my order, asking the commander-in-chief to come see me immediately."
...
The air raid killed more than 300 people in the Soviet Union and injured more than 400 others. Many buildings collapsed, and cleaning up the building debris required a lot of manpower and material resources. City residents have long been accustomed to this. They will not complain that the army did not destroy the enemy before the bombing occurred.
air raids, their anger was completely directed at the invaders. The air raids would not destroy the morale of the Soviet Union, but would only make everyone share the same hatred, because everyone knew that their leader was guarding the city and would live and die with the entire alliance.
A bomb exploded near the telegraph office, where wires were densely packed and some important telegraph poles collapsed. The consequence was that a large area of the city's telephone network was paralyzed.
Stalin wanted to personally call Ponomarenko, including calling some agencies and units that had not yet been evacuated, but it would not be possible within a few days. Fortunately, the guerrilla movement headquarters was always located in Moscow, so he ordered him to rush there himself.
Reporting does not take time or effort.
The citizens and the army were trying their best to recover from the wounds caused by the air raid. After receiving the order from the leader, Ponomarenko immediately drove to the Kremlin.
There was a lot of rubble in the city, and medical personnel were searching for injured people in the rubble and loading the dead onto trucks.
"Oops, our air defense measures were not done well. Our losses were also relatively large."
"But the war situation is not bad for us, comrade."
Ponomarenko nodded and continued to ask the secretary who sent the message: "The leader should not be injured. I mean, it is not as advertised, the leader is indeed healthy."
"certainly."
"That's good. This is the people's great fortune."
Moscow is no longer the administrative capital of the Soviet Union for the time being, but it is the eternal capital in the hearts of the people. Stalin's decision to stay here is in line with this popular sentiment. The people are not afraid of air strikes, but if something happens to the leader, the German army will try to attack the Soviet Union
The ambition of the people will be realized.
The leader was taking a risk by staying in Moscow. Not only was the city facing air raids, but there were also German spies in the city.
The spies sent by the German army to infiltrate were mainly to spy on all kinds of intelligence, and also to carry out assassinations when necessary. Although the city entered a state of martial law in October 1941, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs has been searching for spies, there are still fish that have slipped through the net.
The car drove into a military zone. Even Ponomarenko must undergo a comprehensive inspection before entering here.
The guards carefully checked his documents and temporarily confiscated his gun before releasing him.
The war has been going on for more than a year, and the German army still does not know the exact location of Stalin's workplace. Ponomarenko is about to enter the Kremlin, but from the outside, the palace has completely changed its appearance.
There are many camouflaged wooden buildings on Red Square, Basil's Cathedral has also been added with some debris, and a large area, including the Kremlin, is disguised as a residential area.
The guards even checked the soles of Ponomarenko's shoes, as well as those of his secretary and driver, and even the car itself.
After 15 minutes of tossing, the guards did not let him go until they were convinced that the visitor was correct and that he did not have any weapons.
After more than ten minutes, an unattractive wooden door appeared in front of Ponomarenko.
He knocked on the door...
"Is that you? Panteleimon Kondratievich?"
"it's me."
"Please come in quickly."
Stalin read Ponomarenko's birth name and patronymic, which was a very high courtesy. The reason for this was that many guerrilla groups in the occupied areas jointly carried out a successful campaign, that is, the "Battle of Gomel"
", and greatly supported Zhukov and Konev's strategic counterattack.
As the commander-in-chief of the guerrilla movement, Ponomarenko enjoyed the honor of victory.
There was a desk between the two of them, with Ponomarenko standing upright. Stalin put down his pipe and saw that the visitor was safe and sound after the air raid, so he explained his intention straight to the point.
"Now I think the time has come and I have thought it over clearly. Lieutenant General Belekov, commander of the 6th Army, must return to Moscow. He must come back as soon as possible."
"I'm glad you finally made your decision."
"That man is a lucky eagle. For our country, this man's value is beyond description. We need him! Now, the war situation in the north has begun to enter a relatively stable stage. At the same time, the guerrilla republic has also greatly attacked the German forces in southern Belarus.
.This kind of period is exactly what I want to see, and we should use this period to make some strategic arrangements."
"Your decision is very wise." Ponomarenko said enthusiastically: "To be honest, I have only seen Comrade Belekov's face in the ID photo. It is obviously an oriental face. I have actually met some Chinese people.
, but from that person’s photo I saw confidence, and some... um..."
"Some mental outlook that is different from other Chinese people?"
"Yes! Just like the technological achievements he has accomplished, I really can't imagine that such a strange man actually came from the south of the Amur River."
"You reminded me. I have read some reports. Pugachev, the first commander of the 84th Division, deceived the army to keep this man who was not related to him. If another officer were replaced, I am afraid that our Beleko
General Fu has been executed as a Japanese spy. We almost lost this lucky man. Now I trust this man very much and I want to summon him personally."
"So..."
"By the way." Stalin raised his head, "Berekov and the Partisan Republic were the main force in the success of the Battle of Gomel, but several other large guerrilla groups also contributed a lot. All guerrilla commanders are heroes, and they also
Going to Moscow."
In line with the thoughts of many senior officials, Stalin initially did not believe that the guerrilla movement would make much progress. At most, the guerrillas would launch small-scale sneak attacks, and at most, they would blow up railways and weaken the enemy's logistical capabilities. What really determines the outcome of the war must be
Victory on the frontal battlefield.
A unique force suddenly sprouted in the Pripet Swamp. The guerrillas there were centered on the remnants of the 84th Division. They were organized and disciplined. While relying on their own efforts, their military operations were highly targeted and planned. When the guerrilla movement was in the most difficult period of 194
In the first half of the year, only the guerrillas under Berekov's leadership continued to develop while fighting.
Nowadays, Berekov is no longer unique in the brutal war.
In the "Gomel Battle Report" submitted by the guerrilla movement headquarters a few days ago, Stalin learned these names: Boumazhkov, Kovpak, Pavlovsky, Liguschkov
wait.
Such as Kovpak and Boumazhkov, they are becoming the "Second Guerrilla Republic".
In addition to these large guerrilla commanders, the character "Liguschkov" mentioned in the document is the director of the Arsenal of the Guerrilla Republic. The report makes it very clear that this person is based on the information provided by Belekov.
drawings, and manufactured a rocket launcher with a range of five to forty kilometers. (To be continued)