The new Leningrad Front Commander Zhukov, Military Commissioner Kremendiev, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hojin, Deputy Commander Major General Fejninsky and others arrived in Leningrad one day later than planned. They set out from Moscow on August 15. Because the Luftwaffe now has air supremacy around Leningrad, they took a train to Leningrad. However, the train they took only to Kalinin City, the capital of Kalinin Prefecture (Tver Oblast), and could not move forward.

It turned out that the German armored troops advanced rapidly and advanced to the city of Chudovo in Novgorod Oblast on the afternoon of August 15, cutting off the Red August railway line from Moscow to Leningrad.

So they had to take a plane instead, and on the night of August 16, they took advantage of the cover of night to fly to Leningrad in the war.

Before the plane landed at the airport, Zhukov, Kremendiev and others could already feel the fierceness of the Battle of Leningrad in mid-air. The island of Kotlin, where Kronstadt Fortress, is now turned into an unrealized hell of fire. The flashes of hundreds of artillery guns on both sides made the entire night sky turn red, and the flashing fireballs kept illuminating somewhere suddenly, just as magma from hell suddenly erupted.

However, what attracted Zhukov's attention the most was not the battlefield shrouded in the sea of ​​fire, but the faint flames flashing from time to time in the dark place on the Gulf of Finland in the distance.

There is no doubt that there are several battleships or heavy cruisers now bombarding the Kronstadt Fortress with large caliber artillery on the sea of ​​the Gulf of Finland west of Cotlin!

"How is the situation? Where is Comrade Voroshilov?"

After getting off the plane and coming to the Northwest General Command, Zhukov only saw military commissioner Zhidanov and chief of staff Major General Gorodsky. Both of them looked like a disaster was coming. The Northwest General Commander Voroshilov was not in the headquarters.

"Comrade Zhukov, the situation is very bad now!" Gorodsky sighed, "The Germans were progressing rapidly on the southern battlefield of Leningrad. Several divisions we sent to resist them suffered heavy losses, and the 27th Tank Brigade was almost destroyed. Now the city of Pskov, Luga, Novgorod and Chudovo have all fallen, and the German armored cluster is advancing in Liuban.

The situation was slightly better on the direction of Kotlin Island. We fought a tug-of-war with the Germans. The downtown Kronstadt and the core part of the fortress were in our control. However, a German fleet drove to the sea in the Gulf of Finland this afternoon and began to bombard the fortress and the downtown Kronstadt with 280mm cannons. Comrade Voroshilov felt that the situation was critical, so he went to the fortress Kronstadt to take charge... "

"What!" Zhukov was startled by Gorodsky's last words, "Comrade Voroshilov went to Kronstadt? Why don't you stop him? He is the commander-in-chief in the northwest direction!"

"I'm stopping it, Comrade Gorodsky and I don't agree with Comrade Voroshilov going to Kotlin Island," Zedanov said with a frown, "but he doesn't listen!"

Secretary W of Leningrad shook his head while talking. In fact, he knew why Voroshilov wanted to go to Kronstadt, and the red marshal was trying to die!

The world revolution has arrived in Leningrad, and the German offensive is fast and looks unstoppable. The German armored cluster on the southern front cannot be stopped, and the Kronstadt Fortress to the west will not defend. At that time, the German battleship troops will drive near the island of Cotlin, and from there, bombard Leningrad with giant cannons of 380mm and 406mm. Can Leningrad still be defended?

If Leningrad fails to defend in the end and Empress Oliga returns to restore the throne, then Voroshilov, who is in charge of Soviet military work and is responsible for defending Leningrad, is the number one sinner of the Soviet Union. What's the point of living? Why don't you die in Kronstad?

"Comrade Zhukov, there is one more thing to ask for your opinion."

Zhidanov was so sad that he said hesitantly: "When Comrade Voroshilov went to Kronstad, he said that if the fortress was lost, Leningrad would definitely not be able to defend it. He himself would definitely devote himself to the cause of GCism, but the living forces in Leningrad must still be preserved. So he suggested that once Kronstad gains and gains are lost, he would start to retreat from Leningrad..."

"What? Retreat?" Zhukov rolled his eyelids and thought to himself that fortunately Stalin sent him to Leningrad, otherwise the cause of GCism would have been ruined by Voroshilov, a confused insect.

The Kronstadt Fortress may have to be thrown away within a few days, and then I will give up Leningrad? Is Voroshilov dizzy? How many people can he evacuate in a hurry? This is not the same as handing over Leningrad and more than two million working people to Queen Oliga?

"Comrades of the Military Commission, we must never give up Leningrad, this cannot be considered at all!" Zhukov said extremely firmly, "Comrade Stalin will never agree! And the entire Leningrad people will not agree to Queen Oliga to rule them... No matter what kind of cruel weapon Nazi Germany uses, we must firmly defend Leningrad until the last one!"

...

In the early morning of August 17, 1942, in the officers' lounge of the USS German armored ship, Marshal Guderian, commander-in-chief of the Eastern Front of the German Wehrmacht, was holding a telescope and looking at the island shrouded in the distance by a flame and smoke.

"Marson, my people are likely to be unable to defeat Kronstadt." Standing side by side with Guderian was General Student, the commander-in-chief of the airborne troops. He was commanded by himself.

The "Susman Assault Cluster" commanded by Lieutenant General Susman of the Airborne Force was put into the island. The total number of people was 10,000, including the airborne and Marine Corps personnel, as well as dozens of No. 3 tanks, and various artillery (including howitzers, recoilless guns, mortars, anti-tank guns, etc.) had more than 200.

There were not many people, but because of the "submarine + tank" sneak attack tactics that were open with a brain-opening "submarine + tank", and there were also ju288 and do217 to drop Fritz-x bombs to destroy the fortress. So Student and Sussman both believed that it could catch the Soviet army off guard and that it would be possible to capture the Kronstadt Fortress within 24 hours.

But when we started fighting, we found that the Soviets in Kronstad were all "combat nations" and they were armed to participate in the battle in a very short time! The participation of these Kronstad militias made the plan to seize Kronstad to be ruined. Therefore, on the 15th and 16th, Student had to continuously increase the strength of the island, and the troops sent to Kotlin Island had exceeded 25,000, but the progress was still slow. Now that half of the island has been taken, the Kronstad Fortress and the city are still in the hands of the Soviet army.

On the afternoon of the 16th, Guderian and Student simply took the navy to bombard the armored ships of the Kronstadt Fortress (because the artillery of the fortress was basically destroyed by remote-controlled gliding bombs, the armored ships could take action). The Germans came to the front line to watch the battle.

"Can't take it down? What about more troops?" Guderian put down his telescope and asked loudly with the accompaniment of the rumbling cannon.

"No, we can increase our troops, and the enemy can increase our troops... Now the docks of Kronstad military port must be full of ships from Leningrad." Student shook his head and said, "The Soviets controlled the military port facilities, and we cannot match the speed of transporting troops. Now the number of Soviet troops on the island must exceed 50,000, and relying on the fortress city, we cannot defeat them."

"There are 50,000?" Guderian nodded with a smile, "There are so many, and our goal has been achieved... and the Soviet attack on Lviv has stopped in the past few days, and their Southwest Front is likely to retreat."

"Deploy troops from the Southwest Front?" Of course, people at this level of Student knew that the attack on Leningrad is empty now, and the purpose is to attract Soviet reinforcements. He frowned, "It's a pity that it was not to mobilize troops from Poland and Belarus."

"War," Guderian laughed, "How can everything go well? Generally, we hope that the enemy will not do what we do. So it is normal for Stalin to send troops from Ukraine to seek far away, but this will make it easier for the Southern Army to act... Now it depends on the ability of Manstein and Bock."

Manstein is now in the rank of general and serves as the commander of the Northern Army Group. Marshal Feng Boke is the commander of the Southern Army Group. According to the latest adjusted counterattack plan, the major counterattack will be initiated by the Northern and Southern Army Groups.

"However, there is a relatively smooth place this time. Qushirel's 18th Army fought very smoothly... After annihilated tens of thousands of Soviet troops, the captured 20,000 prisoners. The 1st SS Division will probably be able to advance to Kirovsk today."

"Kirovsk? So smooth?" Student was surprised. "Will Leningrad be surrounded by us?"

"Yes, unexpectedly smooth."
Chapter completed!