After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the german Army Group North had a clear goal, and the goal was to go straight to Leningrad, planning to capture Leningrad. The German Army Group North can be said to have invested heavy troops, intending to capture the city, and it can be said that the troops it invested could even influence the victory or defeat of the Moscow Campaign in the Battle of Moscow. So why did Hitler throw in such a large army to storm Leningrad, rather than reinforce Army Group Center and capture Moscow as quickly as possible?
The industrial value of Leningrad
The development of Soviet industry was characterized by centralization, and at the beginning of the establishment of the Soviet Union, Russia was in ruins and needed to be built everywhere, while there were few cities with an industrial base
。 But Leningrad, the capital of the former Tsarist Russia, was different, with relatively intact industrial facilities. The Soviet Union therefore gave priority to the development of industrial cities such as Leningrad, of which the Kirov factory in Leningrad was an example.
Originally, the Kirov plant was just a steel foundry that produced artillery shells for the Russian Army. After 1812 the factory expanded its business, switched to the mechanical industry, began to produce steam engines and artistic casting, and participated in the construction of the St. Petersburg area.
In 1868, the Russian entrepreneur Nikolai Ivanovich Puttilov bought the factory from the government,
It was renamed the Ptilov Plant and began to provide business for the production of railroad tracks, locomotives, artillery shells, battleship turrets, turbines, and other large metal machinery.
In the forty years before the beginning of the First World War, the Kirov factory gradually developed into the most important industrial manufacturing center of the Russian Empire.
By the time of World War I, the Putilov plant had become one of the largest in Russia.
After the October Revolution, the Soviet Union nationalized the factory and in 1922 renamed the Puttilov factory the Ptilov factory.
After the economic difficulties of the Soviet Union in the 1920s, factories flourished in both military and civilian industries.
Mass production of tractors, trams, trains, large steam turbines, cranes, subway tunnel boring machines, canal water valves (the Moscow-Volga Canal locks are manufactured by the plant), aero engines, combine harvester engines and various tank armored vehicles began.
In 1934, the factory was officially renamed the Kirov Factory.
At this time, the production capacity of the Kirov plant was extremely large, not only could produce a large number of civilian equipment, but also one of the largest tank factories in the Soviet Union at that time, producing KV series tanks.
This tank was the most powerful heavy tank in the Soviet Union at that time, and even the most powerful heavy tank in the world at that time. Moreover, the production capacity of the Kirov factory was extremely frightening, and the threat to Germany was enormous. Therefore, the first reason why Hitler attacked Leningrad was to conquer the city and seize its production capacity.
The traffic status of Leningrad
For Germany, attacking the Soviet Union was not the same as attacking France. German armies were accustomed to fighting in Russia in these relatively limited areas of Central and Western Europe. But the situation in Russia was completely different, and the Germans would have to conduct extensive mobile operations.
At the beginning of barbarossa's planned attack, the front line of the German army would have to expand like a funnel from more than 1,200 kilometers on the western border of Germany and the Soviet Union to a later line of more than 3,200 kilometers wide. If the Germans were moving too fast, the more than 3 million troops the Germans had invested would have been spread out in an unusually thin manner.
On the other hand, the primitive transportation of the Soviet Union was very poor.
Many of the highways marked on the map were, by the time the Germans arrived, they were simply a rural dirt road. Obviously, such roads were simply not enough for the Germans to use, and the troops would be greatly reduced by these poor roads.
Moreover, the Germans themselves did not understand the distribution of these roads, because the maps in their hands were from the First World War, and the terrain had changed beyond their imagination. Many of the places that were originally labeled as villages are now towns.
If you want to use Russian railways, you will also fall into a huge problem, that is, the soviet railway tracks and the German railway tracks are completely different.
The Soviet Union used a wide gauge of 1524 mm, while Europe and the United States used a narrow gauge of 1435 mm of standard gauge, which meant that German trains could not directly use Soviet rails.
If Germany were to use Soviet rail transport, there were only two ways.
The first is to change the railway to narrow gauge, but this will take a long time. The second option is to modify the bogie, but it will take at least four hours.
(When the train is going to enter a railway with a different gauge.) First use the jack to lift the entire carriage. Then drag the bogie underneath away. Replace the bogie with the corresponding gauge. Obviously, in such a situation, even the railway is not very convenient.
But Leningrad is completely different, Leningrad itself is a seaport city, at the top of the Baltic Sea, if You capture Leningrad, then it is equivalent to completely controlling the Baltic Sea,
Once the Germans captured Leningrad, German freighters could use leningrad ports directly to transport supplies, thus eliminating the need for lengthy ground transportation.
Of course, this also requires the shipment of goods from Leningrad to various places,
But Leningrad itself was the transportation hub of the Soviet Railways, and trains from here could sail anywhere in the Soviet Union. This greatly reduced the transport time of the German army and greatly improved the logistical support capabilities of the German army.
Iii. The Significance and Strategic Value of Leningrad
Of course, from a political point of view, Leningrad is also a place of great value, because it is the birthplace of the Russian Revolution.
The soviet union started in Leningrad, and if it were to capture here, it would politically mean that the Soviet Union had lost its place of origin, which would cause a significant decline in the morale of the Soviet army and civilians. Strategically, therefore, the capture of Leningrad was no less politically significant than the Capture of Moscow, the capital of the Soviet Union by the Germans.
Of course, because Leningrad is so important, the Soviet army will not let the German army capture here, so the Soviet army will inevitably send troops to defend Leningrad to the death.
Although it was possible to hold Leningrad, it also meant that the Soviets had to spend considerable troops to defend Leningrad.
Although it is said that the defenders of Leningrad were able to pray for the containment of the German Army Group North, thus achieving the goal of protecting the flank of Moscow. Conversely, this also meant that soviet forces would be greatly dispersed.
During the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet army defended Moscow with only 1.2 million troops, mainly because a considerable number of troops were sent to Leningrad and its surrounding areas.
On the contrary, because of the geographical location of Leningrad, once Leningrad was captured, the German army could be connected with Finland, and the winter operation would be much easier for the German army.
Because Finland would have a hundred battalions that were good at winter combat, the situation of Germany and the Soviet Union in winter warfare would be reversed in an instant.
Conversely, it is impossible for the Soviets to retake Leningrad.
Because Leningrad was facing the sea on one side, Finland on one side, and Lake Ladoga on the other, the direction of the Soviet counter-offensive was very limited, and the German army needed very few troops to defend Leningrad.
The Soviet army had to take the initiative to attack in the case of insufficient technical equipment, which was bound to cause heavy losses to the Soviet army.
After the fall of Leningrad, the situation of the Soviet army was extremely unfavorable. For once Leningrad was captured, germany's mighty Army Group North would be liberated. At this point, Army Group North had two options as their next course of action.
The first option was for the troops to immediately move south and attack Moscow together with Army Group Center, which would be a great strategic threat to Moscow's defensive posture. The second option was more radical, with Army Group North holding the flank of Army Group Center, but not joining the offensive against Moscow in 1941. After that, regardless of whether the Battle of Moscow was won or lost, Army Group North would join Finland in attacking Murmansk in 1942. The aim was to completely take Murmansk in 1942, cutting off the Soviet Union's northern shipping lanes and cutting off one of its routes to American material aid.
Whichever did both would be a devastating blow to the Soviets.
epilogue
From the above point of view, Leningrad is indeed a very important target, and its strategic value and status determine that it will be a key attack direction of the German army in the Barbarossa plan. Hitler, however, did not notice the importance of Leningrad, or that he did not fully understand its strategic value and significance. This led to the fact that when the situation in Leningrad was at its most tense, Hitler suddenly transferred the main force of Army Group North to join the attack on Moscow, which led to the failure of the attack on Leningrad. This has to be said to be the luck of the Soviet army, which saved them from a bitter defeat. For the Germans, they missed an opportunity to win the war and sowed the seeds of defeat.
Reference: Memories and Reflections
The Soviet-German War
World War II Declassified