On June 22, 1941, the Soviet-German War broke out. The Germans, divided into three army groups, The North, Center, and South, launched a massive offensive into the heart of the Soviet Union.
It is worth mentioning that the German Army Group Center became the most difficult opponent for the Soviet army to eliminate. Although Army Group Center experienced the test of major battles such as the Defense of Moscow, the Battle of Lezhev, and the Battle of Belarus, the main force of Army Group Center was never completely annihilated by the Soviet Army, which made Army Group Center the most difficult opponent for the Soviet Army to destroy.
So, how strong was Army Group Center, and why did it become the most difficult opponent of the Soviet Union to destroy in the Great Patriotic War? How "difficult" was it for the Soviets to wipe out Army Group Center?
Above_ German forces in World War II
First, the positioning of Army Group Center by Hitler and the German top brass determined that Army Group Center was the most effective army group in the German army and the most difficult group group to completely eliminate by the Soviet Army.
As early as the beginning of the Soviet-German war, Hitler and the German top brass made a relatively clear positioning of the three army groups of the German army, and equipped the three army groups with corresponding troops according to the operational needs.
The operational task of Army Group North was to take Leningrad, although Leningrad was the cradle of the October Revolution in the Soviet Union and its political position was extremely important. However, Leningrad was not the capital of the Soviet Union. This placed the importance of the operational direction of Army Group North in the most important position of the three German army groups, and the total strength of Army Group North was only 800,000 people.
Above_ German forces at the Battle of Kiev
The mission of Army Group South was to take Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and occupy the rich resource areas of the southwest of the Soviet Union (including grain, coal, etc.), thereby suppressing the Soviet Union's war potential. The combat tasks of Army Group South in the three soviet army groups are more important than army group north, but not as important as Army Group Center. Although Army Group South eliminated the entire Southwestern Front of the Soviet Army in the Battle of Kiev, the Soviet war situation was not disrupted by the Germans.
In view of the german leadership and Hitler's positioning of the operational objectives of Army Group South as more important than Army Group North, but less important than Army Group Center, the German army equipped Army Group South with fewer troops than Army Group Center and more than Army Group North. At the beginning of the war, the German army equipped Army Group South with about 1 million troops.
Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was the Fuehrer and Chancellor of Nazi Germany and the leader of the Nazi Party
The German Army Group Center took on the most important combat task - to take moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, and deal a devastating blow to the Soviet Union politically. In order to help the German Army Group Center take Moscow, Hitler equipped army group Center with extremely powerful troops.
At the beginning of the Soviet-German war, army group center had a total strength of 1.25 million people. At the climax of the defense of Moscow, the total strength of the German Army Group Center reached more than 1.9 million people. Due to the large number of weapons of the German Army Group Center, during the Defense of Moscow, the Soviet Army could only give the German Army Group Center an annihilating blow, but could not seriously damage or completely annihilate the main force of the German Army Group Center.
Above_ The Germans in the Defense of Moscow
After the Battle of Moscow, the German Army Group Center was briefly put on defensive. But the determination of Hitler and the German top brass to occupy Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union, never changed.
Because of this, as long as the German army did not completely turn to the defensive and full retreat on the Soviet-German battlefield, the German Army Group Center could attack Moscow again at any time. This allowed the German Army Group Center to maintain the advantage of the largest number of troops and weapons among the 3 Soviet army groups attacking the Soviet Union.
Above_ The Defense of Moscow, Soviet soldiers are fighting
Second, the Army Group North and the Army Group South had the army of the servant country participating in the battle, and the combat effectiveness of the army of the servant country was relatively weak, which objectively brought about a negative impact on the operation of the army group of the north and the south. The Army Group Center, on the other hand, was all germans themselves, and no servant nationalist army joined in, so that the combat effectiveness of Army Group Center remained relatively stable during the Soviet-German War.
The German Army Group North was dominated by the Germans, with Finnish troops participating in the battle. During the Battle of Leningrad, the Finnish army and the German army fought a "downwind battle", and their combat effectiveness could still be exerted. However, as the Soviets dealt a heavy blow to the Finnish army in successive battles after January 1944, after the signing of the armistice between the Soviet Union and the Finnish government in September 1944, the German Army Group North was fully transferred to a thorough defensive operation until it was finally defeated by the Soviets in the Battle of Courland.
Above_ Kiev Defensive Campaign
The German Army Group South was dominated by German forces, but included the armies of vassal states such as Italy, Romania and Hungary. During the Battle of Kiev, the armies of the German Army Group South (which included Italy, Romania and Hungary) fought a tailwind battle, annihilating 660,000 men of the Soviet Southwestern Front. But during the Battle of Stalingrad, the downwind battle of Army Group South became a headwind battle.
After the Soviet counteroffensive at Stalingrad, the positions of the Romanian, Hungarian and Italian armies were directly breached by the Soviets, and the armies of the three vassal states did not exert their due combat effectiveness.
By 1943 and 1944, countries such as Italy, Romania, and Hungary had either surrendered to the Allies or had political changes within their borders, with the new government falling to the Soviet Union and the German army defeated the Soviet Union on the Southern Front.
Above_ Battle of Stalingrad
There is also a more direct figure that reflects the inevitability behind the collapse of Army Group South, which has a total strength of 1.5 million troops at its peak. However, the total strength of the several army groups of Romania, Italy and Hungary was 700,000 people, and the total strength of the servant army accounted for nearly half of the total strength of the German army group South, and once the Romanian, Italian and Hungarian armies were defeated by the Soviet army, the German army group South could not save the war even if it had the strength to return to heaven. Manstein's command of a unit of Army Group South to rescue the German 6th Army ended in failure.
Not only did the German Army Group Center not participate in the war, Hitler also equipped the Army Group Center with extremely powerful troops and generals who were good at fighting.
The elite German forces included the German 2nd Panzer Group and the 3rd Panzer Group. Outstanding German generals included Guderian, the father of blitzkrieg warfare, Modell, the master of defensive warfare, and Holt, a famous German armored general who participated in the Polish and French battles. Guderian and Hot are good at attacking, and Modell is good at defense. Whether the Soviets attacked Army Group Center or defended against Army Group Center, the Germans had excellent generals to deal with.
Heinz Wilhelm Guderian (17 June 1888 – 14 May 1954) was a German Army general and founder of Blitzkrieg
The strength of Army Group Center made the Battle of the Soviet Army Group Center extremely difficult.
The Battle of Moscow was the first battle in which the Soviets defeated the German Army Group Center, but Army Group Center lost 800,000 troops, but did not deal a devastating blow to the German Army Group Center.
In January 1942, the Famous Soviet General Zhukov concentrated his 2 million troops to attack the German Salient of Lezhev. The two sides fought fiercely at the Lezhev salient for a year, and because Modell was very good at fighting defensive battles, the Soviet army suffered 1.5 million casualties in the Lezhev salient, and failed to completely crush the German army under Modell's command.
Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1 December 1896 – 18 June 1974) was a famous Soviet military figure
The heavy casualties of the Battle of the Lezhev Salient made the Soviet Army Attach great importance to the elite unit of Army Group Center, and on June 22, 1944, the Soviet Army concentrated 1.4 million troops, 31,000 artillery, 5,200 tanks and more than 5,000 aircraft on the Four Fronts to launch the Belorussian Campaign. After fierce fighting, the German Army Group Center lost more than 400,000 troops and still had a certain strength.
By early 1945, the Soviets launched the East Prussian Campaign, and the remnants of Army Group Center were devastated by the Soviets. However, the officers and men of Army Group Center escaped from the Soviet encirclement and were completely annihilated by the Soviet army in the Battle of Berlin and the Battle of Prague.
Author: Military Handsome Guy Correction/Editor: Lilith
Resources:
[1] "Eastern Front? The Downfall of the Army Group Central" Zhu Shiwei Chongqing Publishing House
[2] "Painting the Soviet-German War of World War II" Xu Yan Machinery Industry Publishing House
[3] "Collision of Giants? A new history of the Soviet-German war" David? Grants, Jonathan? M. House Jiangsu Phoenix Literary and Art Publishing House
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author