"At 7 days to reach the city of Moscow? Erich, are you sure?"

Thinking of not only the Soviets who fought the "World Offensive", Marshal Manstein, commander of the German Central Army Group, also proposed the same idea to Hesman and Guderian on April 10.

He wanted to push the middle line from the area of ​​Lezhev Secchokav Viazima to the city of Moscow in seven days at the end of the muddy season.

In other words, it was 7 days to advance 200 kilometers!

"It's certain," said Manstein. "After getting the seven armored divisions transferred from the Northern Army Group, the Central Army Group had 17 armored divisions, and the number of tanks far exceeded that of the Soviet army in front. So I have the ability to attack from the front and push from the front, so I hope to start the operation on April 20."

This time, Manstein not only had to attack head-on, but also planned to push the ball flat. Ten of the 17 armored divisions would spread out from north to south on the battlefield of 140 to 50 kilometers between Lezhev and Viazima, pressing them over like a roller, which was almost the clumsy tactic.

However, "stupid" also has the advantage of "stupid", which is that the requirements for road conditions are relatively low. Dividing the front of nearly 200 kilometers wide by ten, each armored division can be divided into about 20 kilometers on average, which is enough for an armored division to unfold and advance at a higher density, while avoiding excessive crushing of muddy roads. Although the German armored troops cannot completely overcome the difficulties brought by the muddy season, it can at least allow the German armored troops to maintain an attack of 5-7 days - in fact, muddy roads have not had the greatest impact on Tiger H-type tanks and e-50a tanks. Although they are heavy, they are tracked vehicles after all. As long as the road surface is used reasonably (not necessarily a road), the tanks can still travel a certain distance in the mud.

What really cannot overcome the mud is wheeled vehicles! More than 1 million cars on the Eastern Front battlefield of the German army will fall into the mud and be difficult to move forward.

In this case, like the Soviet army, the German army could only maintain an attack of 5-7 days, and both sides could only fight a weekly offensive.

Of course, Manstein's tactic of "Wednesday Offensive" is also related to the powerful combat effectiveness of the German armored troops. Tiger tanks have become popular, and the e-50a is also equipped with a small amount of equipment. Each armored division has a heavy battalion equipped with 66 e-50a.

"Also," said Manstein, "the Soviets probably wouldn't have thought we would launch a new attack from a 150-kilometer-wide front during the muddy season... They might have mistakenly thought that we were launching a feint with the purpose of mobilizing the Soviet North Line cluster."

Hessman nodded, not saying anything.

Manstein continued: "Based on my understanding of the Soviet army, they will likely use deep defense and night-concentrating forces to counterattack our offensive. And that is our chance to annihilate the Soviet armored forces in large quantities!"

The reason he said this is because the e-50a heavy tank also has a night combat equipment that no tanks have before - all e50a have fg1250 infrared searchlights!

This infrared searchlight allows tanks to fight without light at night. Although the effective use range is 600 meters, it cannot exert the lethality of the l/71 artillery at long distances. However, during the day when the weather is good, the tanks of the Soviet Red Army basically do not sway with German tanks on the Great Plains. Therefore, the 88mm cannon of the e-50a basically has no chance of exerting its power.

It was precisely because the Soviet army had always sought night battles since the second half of 1943 that the German Wehrmacht Army Military Preparation Bureau took out the black technology, infrared searchlights, which had been hidden in the snow, and installed them on the e-50a tank, preparing to "silence" the Soviets in the decisive battle in 1944.

However, the requirement for hitting Moscow in 7 days is still a bit high, unless we take advantage of the opportunity of the Soviet troops on the front line of Lezhev-Viazima that the Soviet Union was empty, and this was Manstein's wishful thinking.

Manstein said: "Now the Soviet army has invested at least 1 million troops on the Northern Line to counterattack, of which at least four guard tank troops were invested - accounting for half of the total number of Soviet tank troops. Therefore, the Soviet army's troops on the eastern front of the Moscow battlefield must be relatively empty. If our Central Army Group can push the front near Moscow in a seven-day offensive operation, the northern line of the Soviet Moscow Front will also collapse... By then, Moscow City will be the last shelter of the main Soviet front."

Moscow is undoubtedly a strong fortification city. Since early 1943, Stalin made the decision to set up defense in Moscow and instructed the People's Committee of the National Defense and the Moscow Prefecture to begin building the "Moscow Fortress".

Since the junction battle in 1943, the construction of the "Moscow Fortress" has accelerated. From then until now, millions of people have been working on the fortifications in Moscow and outside the city, regardless of wind, rain or heavy snow.

The entire Moscow city has now become a super fortress covering an area of ​​2,000 square kilometers, with countless fortifications and bunkers.

According to the traitor's rumor, everyone who would stay in Moscow during the defense war, including the Red Army officers and citizens, could hide in solid underground bunkers when necessary. Therefore, the Moscow defenders and citizens were not afraid of bombing and shelling at all, and even if their city was razed to the ground, they could still fight.

Hessman estimated that even if atomic bombs were dropped on Moscow, it would not necessarily force the "Moscows" to surrender.

Therefore, driving the Red Army outside Moscow into the city and surrounding it to eat is actually the lowest cost solution - at least for the German army, this is the best solution.

However, there is also a prerequisite for solving Moscow with siege. The Soviet Moscow Front must be destroyed first. Otherwise, several guard tank armies and assault armies, thousands of JS-2 and T-38/85, and more than 2 million fully armed GC warriors are not a joke. Without a very powerful siege force, it would be troublesome to make the Moscow Front counterattack come out.

Therefore, the decisive battle in the periphery of Moscow is directly related to whether the siege can proceed smoothly.

"Will the Soviet Red Army Command shrink on the northern line at the beginning of the offensive of our Central Front?" Hessman expressed his questions.

"This is very likely," Guderian suddenly said at this moment, "unless there is a large enough bait on the North Line to seduce Stalin, it will make the reaction slow."

"Bare big enough?" Hessman asked, "What is it?"

"The 6th Armored Army!" Guderian replied, "This is a big bait. If the German army can cut off the Red October Railway and put the 6th Armored Army into the pocket, I believe that it will cause Stalin and the Red Army Command to hesitate for a short time... As long as you delay for a few days, the Soviet army's northern line will collapse."

Does Paulus have the fate of being surrounded? Hessman heard Guderian's suggestion and thought to himself that he was surrounded in Stalingrad, but now in Kalinin... But this time there should be no risk, after all, Manstein has 17 powerful armored divisions to use.

"Okay," Hessman nodded, "seeking advice from Model and Paulus." He paused and looked at Manstein again, "Erich, this time the Northern Army Group has made great sacrifices. Can you give Moscow to them?"

Moscow is a big piece of meat!

To make Moder and Paulus fulfill the battle of Manstein against the Lezhev-Sechevka-Viazima, then Manstein must give up Moscow.

"Okay," Manstein thought for a while, "Moscow is solved by the Northern Army Group."

"Then there is no problem," Hessman nodded temporarily, and then said to Guderian. "After completing the Moscow encirclement, the Central Army Group divided the troops into two groups, advancing towards Ulyanovsk and Stalingrad. At the same time, the Southern Army Group also began to advance towards Stalingrad from May!"

...

“Woo woo woo woo…”

Riding in a camouflage net and many branches, the commander of the tank company of Captain Varenikov, who marched with a leaf, suddenly sounded a harsh hand-cranked air defense alarm in his ears.

It is April 12th now, and the days of rain (at the beginning it was rain and snow) completely stopped yesterday afternoon. Now the sky is cloudless, which is a good day for German bombers to depart.

However, the Soviet Guards 7th Tank Army, who was advancing towards Valde, did not give up the daytime march because General Cuikov and General Fejonginsky had just obtained the exact information - Valde, the target of the Guards 7th Tank Army, is now very empty, with less than 20,000 white infantry garrisons, and they could not stop the Guards 7th Tank Army.

Valde is only more than 20 kilometers away from the Red October Railway Line. Once occupied by the Soviet army, the rear route of the European Union (German infantry appeared on the front line on the 9th) that is currently fighting fiercely with the Red Army on Kufsinovo, Torkork and Likuslavl.

Of course, Cuikov and Fei Koninsky dare not think about encirclement and annihilation, but at least they can force the European Union to break through!

This will greatly alleviate the situation on the northern line of Moscow, so Cuikov and Fejninsky decided to take the risk of allowing the Guards' 7th Tank Army to advance during the day. However, during the march, the GCist warriors were still full of vigilance against the enemies in the air.
Chapter completed!