Author: World War II Pretty Lady (Without permission, it is forbidden to copy the full text and carry it privately!) ）
After the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the offensive goal of the German Army Group North was very clear: the sword blade pointed directly at leningrad, an important city of the Soviet Union!
Germans in World War II
First, unlike Leningrad, the capital of former Tsarist Russia, which had few cities with an industrial base, there were relatively intact industrial facilities.
Secondly, the traffic situation in the Soviet Union at that time was also very poor, and many highways marked on the map were only a rural dirt road when the German army arrived there. But the traffic situation in Leningrad is completely different: Leningrad itself is a seaport city, at the top of the "Baltic Sea".
If the Germans could capture Leningrad, it would be tantamount to completely controlling the "Baltic Sea" and using the port of Leningrad to transport supplies, thus eliminating the need for long and difficult ground transportation.
Once Leningrad was captured by the Germans, the Germans could be integrated with Finland, and the winter operations would be much easier for the Germans. Because on the Finnish side, there are already 100 battalions that are good at winter combat to fight! The situation in the Soviet-German winter operations will be reversed.
Finally, politically, Leningrad is also a very valuable place: because the city was the birthplace of the Russian Revolution, and it is named after Lenin. Hitler believed that if the city could be captured, it would mean that the morale of the Soviet military and civilians would be greatly reduced.
The Germans had invested 40 divisions, 4,500 artillery pieces and 1,300 aircraft, and nearly 700,000 troops to attack Leningrad. Of course, the Soviets also understood the importance of "keeping Leningrad". After all, by holding Leningrad, it also guarded the confidence of the Soviet Union and the strategic supplies of the Soviet army.
So the Soviet side also invested 39 divisions, the Baltic Fleet and the cadets of various military academies, in addition to a large number of garrison militia, a total of nearly 900,000 people to take on the heavy responsibility of the defense of Leningrad.
After the defense of Leningrad began, the two sides fought brutally on various battlefields in the city, and the Soviet guards tried to counterattack the German army several times, but they were "fruitless"!
No matter how much the Soviet army in Leningrad "rushed left and right", it was never able to break through the encirclement of the German army. As the battle progressed, there was less and less food in Leningrad, and Soviet casualties became worse and worse!
At this time, not to mention the ordinary officers and men guarding Leningrad, even the supreme commander of Leningrad, Marshal Voroshilov, once had no confidence.
By August 1941, Leningrad was still surrounded on three sides by german forces, and the Soviet commander-in-chief Voroshilov had already begun to plan a retreat. He demanded that the remaining warships of the Baltic Fleet be fitted with explosives and that all of them would be self-destruct when Leningrad fell.
Stalin and Voroshilov
It seems that Voroshilov was ready for the worst! Even after Zhukov quickly "parachuted" to Leningrad, Voroshilov was still making a series of preparations for abandoning the city.
Later, however, Zhukov's excellent command made people believe that Voroshilov really climbed up only by "loyalty", and that he was really inferior to Zhukov in terms of war. The terrible situation in Leningrad also made Stalin suspicious and distrustful of this loyal subordinate who seemed to be "handy".
So Zhukov came at the most dangerous moment in Leningrad! Stalin summoned Zhukov and entrusted him with a heavy responsibility, hoping that he would quickly go to Leningrad to clean up the situation. But Leningrad was already surrounded by Germans, and Under the heavy artillery fire of the Germans, Zhukov could not enter Leningrad by land.
Zhukov
So, in the end, Zhukov had to be escorted by a squadron of fighters and "parachuted" to Leningrad in a fighter. What makes people even more sweaty is that Zhukov intercepted and pursued German fighters twice on the way to the airborne landing, but fortunately, in the end, they were "thrilling".
After Zhukov successfully arrived at Leningrad at great risk, he rushed to the headquarters of the Front as soon as he got off the plane. There, Zhukov simply handed a note to Voroshilov and said solemnly, "This is my letter of appointment!" ”
The fierce Zhukov
Zhukov then demanded to Voroshilov: "It is forbidden to blow up warships, and 40 bases of ammunition are guaranteed!" Voroshilov, on the other hand, was stunned with the urine in his hand, and when he heard Zhukov say this, he became even more stunned and frightened.
When Zhukov came to the front, he found that the Soviet military discipline was very poor, and he believed that "just by doing ideological work, it is impossible to pull back." The officers and men of the Soviet army guarding the city originally thought that General Zhukov would bring a lot of reinforcements, but they did not expect that Zhukov alone "parachuted" to Leningrad, and at this time everyone's heart became more panicked.
Soviet Internal Affairs Unit
After Zhukov saw the situation, he resolutely decided that the first thing to do was to "strictly enforce military discipline," and he issued a strict order: Those who violate military discipline and retreat without authorization will be killed without mercy. If there has been a serious violation of military discipline before, once it is verified, it will also be punished accordingly! This order was issued to temporarily stabilize the once chaotic Leningrad Line.
Of course, just a "kill" word can't really "reassure people's hearts." As Zhukov surveyed and gained insight into the front, he removed all the incompetent officers to the rear, and quickly promoted capable men in the troops to take their places with incompetent commanders.
Zhukov also shouted a few very loud slogans at this time: "It is not Leningrad who fears death, but death that fears Leningrad!" Never think about what to do after leningrad falls, because Leningrad will never be lost, never will be lost! ”
After Zhukov took command of the Leningrad garrison, Voroshilov's warships, which he had planned to blow up, finally came in handy: the large-caliber naval guns on the top were so powerful that Zhukov ordered all the warships to remove the self-destruct explosives installed and then fire intensively with the naval guns on them to support the battle on the ground, while the sailors who had lost their ships all came ashore with rifles to continue fighting the Germans.
On the other hand, Zhukov also ordered all the Soviet anti-aircraft artillery units in the city to be deployed in every dangerous area, and the use of anti-aircraft artillery against German tanks was very effective. Zhukov also mobilized the whole city of Leningrad, and all the Soviet men in the city who could hold weapons were thrown into battle!
As a result, military cadets, university professors and students were all incorporated into independent infantry brigades, and 80,000 residents in the city were organized to quickly build a 25-kilometer-long two-line defense line, 6 defensive areas, 17,000 firing holes and 4,000 fire points in the urban area.
Zhukov took only 17 days to complete this series of excellent defensive arrangements. It was under Zhukov's "riotous operations" that the Leningrad defensive line quickly became "impregnable", and the morale of the Soviet army was revived from the panic, and even began to launch a counterattack against the German army in some areas.
The German army, which originally thought that victory was "just around the corner", suddenly found that the resistance in Leningrad was becoming more and more tenacious! When they inquired later, it turned out that the Soviets had "changed their commanders on the spot": "parachuted" a Zhukov who was "terrified"!
After such a "trade-off" of the fighting power of the two sides, the Germans' confidence in the capture of Leningrad began to decline. Eventually, after losing 60,000 men, the offensive against Leningrad was finally forced to stop.
Leningrad was besieged by the Germans for nine hundred days and nights, and the city had too many people dead, too much blood shed, and was almost "crumbling" in the fire and death. But in the end, under the hard work of Zhukov and the whole army and people of Leningrad, it was successfully defended!
From the Battle of Leningrad we can see how important the influence of a brilliant general on the whole situation is! When Voroshilov commanded the defense of Leningrad, he was "overwhelmed by heart and insufficient strength"! He almost buried Leningrad, an extremely important city, to the Nazi German army.
After Zhukov "parachuted" into Leningrad alone, he successfully broke the German blockade, encirclement and seizure attempts with only a few small "clever tricks". This also confirms the old saying: "Soldiers bear one, will bear a nest!" "A good commander's influence on the battle, and even the outcome of the war, is "self-evident"!
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