On June 8, 1943, when the first morning light had just exposed the horizon, the German Northern Army Group, which had been in a state of contraction defense since mid-May, suddenly began a counterattack. Since the start of the Purple Scheme operation, the third large-scale attack of the German army (the first two were the attacks on the Belarusian prominence and the left bank Ukraine) finally kicked off.

And this time the goal will be Leningrad, the second capital of the Soviet Union!

The Liuban battlefield located along the Red October Railway Line in southeastern Leningrad was covered by violent and abnormal artillery fire since the early morning of the 8th, and then there were overwhelming fighter air strikes and tank crushing.

The attack on the 8th was very smooth. Just half a day after the war started, the German Tiperskich group (equivalent to an armored army) broke through the Soviet defense line on all sides. In the main attack direction, it was on both sides of the Red October Railway Line. It was advancing rapidly on the plain area with a width of about 50 kilometers. The Soviet army in front of it retreated like an avalanche.

At noon on June 9, the battle lasted only one and a half days ago. The 21st Armored Division, who was the pioneer of the Tiperskich group, surrounded Chudovo, 35 kilometers southeast of the Liuban. In the evening of that day, part of the 21st Armored Division advanced to the Volhof River, less than 8 kilometers southeast of Chudovo.

Although this speed of advancement is exciting, General Tiperskich and Mandofir, the commander of the 48th Armored Army, were not excited at all.

Because they discovered a "Collective Farm No. 13" in the city of Chudowo. The scene of the expected tank cluster holding a battle in the open plains did not appear, and the Soviet army seemed to have used tank troops to fight the city defense battle with infantry.

And that night, the German armored grenadiers who crossed the Volkhov River for fire reconnaissance made new discoveries. They encountered an unknown number of Soviet tanks on the south bank of the Volkhov River!

Obviously, the Soviet tank troops are progressing! They summarized the experience and lessons of the joint battle and the Battle of the Jessner River, and would no longer easily fight with the German army in any tank cluster... unless they get tanks that can fight against the German Tiger tanks.

"The Soviets are getting smarter and smarter!"

After studying the report sent by the Northern Army Group, Marshal Guderian quickly came to the conclusion.

"The 1st Armored Army encountered the same situation on the Kharkiv battlefield. The Soviet army combined tanks/strike artillery and infantry to use them as pillars of defense."

While the battle on the front line of Leningrad was started, the war in Ukraine on the left bank was also very fierce. Konev, commander of the Southwest Front of the Red Army, was obviously not a good guy to deal with. Like Zhukov, he learned the lessons of the "Jezner Battle" and the "Jesna River Battle" and no longer fought against the German army. He also adopted the tactic of combining tanks/strike artillery and infantry for defense.

Although this tactic cannot beat the powerful German army, it is much better in exchange than in terms of exchange and delays for a longer time.

Therefore, although the Southern Army Group (including the 1st Armored Army) has surrounded many Soviet troops, the annihilation war is not easy. The city of Chernigov, which has two armies (9th and 12th), was not basically conquered until June 7, but the sporadic resistance in the city continues.

In Pavlograd, the gateway to the industrial zone of Donetsk (Stalino Prefecture), (owned by Dneprpetrovsk Prefecture and also a coal mine industrial center), the remnants of the four Soviet army groups that were removed from the Dnepr River defense line were surrounded by the German Second Armored Army (with the Southern Army Group).

Among the besieged troops, there were also several tank troops/mechanized troops, and they also adopted a defensive tactic with tanks/strike artillery as the core. The 2nd Armored Army tried to attack and found it was difficult to deal with, so they had to siege instead, waiting for the subsequent infantry and artillery to go up before attacking.

In addition, the Southern Army Group also found that a large number of Soviet troops were retreating to the Crimean Peninsula. The terrain of this peninsula was quite dangerous, and it was probably necessary to take it down.

Hesman looked at the focus areas with a large number of troops on the map, shook his head and said, "In the left bank Ukraine area, there are three major battles to be fought in Kharkov, Pavlograd and Crimea; in the middle, there are four major battles in Minsk, Smolensk, Bryansk (encircling and annihilation of the 48th Army of the Red Army), Truchevsk (encircling and annihilation of the 30th and 40th Army of the Red Army), and there is also a Warsaw battlefield. Now the Volkhov River on the northern line seems to need a war again, and there is probably a fierce battle along the Pskov-Daluki Railway, and there is also Leningrad..."

Fierce battles are really one after another!

Moreover, it is not the first year of the Soviet-German War, and the Soviet Red Army has also been trained, so it is not easy to destroy them.

"It can always win," Guderian said with a smile, "Now the initiative of the middle and southern lines is completely with me. The northern route is in a decisive battle, and we can definitely win. The Tiperskich cluster has the ability to win, and the French 1st mechanized army is almost in place."

Hessman nodded. Tiperskirch's cluster could most likely defeat the Red Army in the Holvov River. As for the 1st Mechanized Army of France, he didn't have much hope. Although this army has three backup armored divisions with the German Armored Division, the French Armored Division has never been on the battlefield after a 40-year armistice (French-German Armistice). I am afraid that it will not be much cheaper when I meet the veterans of the Soviet Red Army.

Therefore, if you really want to be foolproof in the battlefield near Leningrad on the north road, you have to draw a few armored divisions and armored grenade divisions from the southern battlefield where the overall situation has been decided...

When Hessman was about to discuss with Guderian to draw armored troops from the southern line to join the Northern Army Group, General Zeitzler, the director of the Operations Bureau of the General Staff, walked in anxiously.

When Guderian saw him in a hurry, he asked, "Kurt, what happened?"

"Report from the South American Front," Zeitzler said with a frown, "the Air Force Command of the South American Front reconnaissed a rather large American fleet that highlighted the Caribbean Sea and entered the Atlantic Ocean!"

"American fleet?" Hessman was also stunned, "Has the plane sent to bomb?"

"Sent," Zeitzler said, "36 Ju288 and 32 He219 were sent from the Air Force's Cayenne Base... But the air strike group encountered an interception of high-altitude fighters that might have been improved with Spitfire fighters. Eight Ju288s were shot down, seven were injured, and two He219s were shot down! The air strike operation was completely failed, and no American ship was sunk or injured..."

"What?"

Hessman and Guderian exclaimed at the same time. The air strikes launched by Ju288 and He219 have not encountered interception by American carrier-based high-altitude fighters in the past, but have never suffered such heavy losses and have gained nothing.

This shows that the advantages of ju288 and he219 and remote-controlled gliding bombs constitute the air anti-ship measures of the air German air, which have been severely weakened.

Now, the U.S. Navy can return to the Atlantic battlefield!

...

"There are two things that can be confirmed now. One is that the Americans have developed a carrier-based high-altitude interceptor with relatively superior performance...mostly one-time aircraft; the other is that a very large American fleet broke through our blockade and entered the Atlantic Ocean, and we don't know what its purpose is yet?"

Less than an hour after receiving the emergency report from the South American Front Command, the leaders of the German Navy and Air Force had gathered in the conference room of the General Staff of Tsosen and began to hold an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

Marshal Raidel, commander-in-chief of the Navy, first reported what he had, and then said to Hessman: "But we don't have to worry too much, because our European Combined Fleet has enough strength to defeat the American Atlantic Fleet!"

The European Combined Fleet is now considered strong and powerful. The new battleships that can be used to fight the Americans to fight the fleet are 2 Hindenburg, 2 Bismarck, 4 Venetto, 3 Richelieu, and 11 of them. There are also 1 Barbarossa, 1 Schánhorst and 2 Dunkirks.

The European Combined Fleet also has a large number of fleet aircraft carriers. The large fleet aircraft carriers alone now have 2 Zeppelin-class and 3 Prussian-class (e-ship).

In addition, after conquering the British mainland, the shipbuilding capacity of the European Community has reached a new level, so the shipbuilding plan has also been expanded.

At present, there are three large battleships under construction in France, three Italian "Duke of Alexander" class, and four "Schletcher" class that started construction in the UK are actually British lion class. They are now purchased by Germany and are named "Schletcher", "Hersman", "Herstein" and "Longdsted".

The above 10 super battleships will be completed and put into service before the end of 1945!

While building battleships, the German Navy did not forget to start construction of aircraft carriers.

Among them, the "Zeplin" class was regarded as a German "dumpling ship". In addition to the two ships that have been in service, there are as many as 8 ships under construction.

Four large-scale fleet aircraft carriers of the "Prussian" class (which is a 70,000-ton aircraft carrier) that were converted from the hull of the H41-class battleship have also started construction and will be completed and put into service by the end of 45 years.
Chapter completed!