Imperial Overlord

"The Army Group Center has already penetrated deep into the Russian hinterland. If the two flanks do not move forward, they will easily fall into the flank of the Russian army." Standing in front of the huge map, Marshal Bock said to Brauchitch worriedly.

Unlike history, Marshal Bork served as the commander-in-chief of Army Group South, while the commander-in-chief of Army Group Center in history was Marshal Lundstedt, commander of Army Group South.

Li Le entrusted the offensive task to Lundstedt, and let Bock command the defensive operations in the early days of the Soviet-German war.

This time, the change of horses made the Central Army Group show a more courageous side when it attacked. In just a few days, they advanced to Brest.

Although it was different from what was expected, the time to attack Brest was a little slower, but the results of the German army's horizontal breakthrough were very gratifying.

The Germans captured Lyubomli and Ratheno, Tobinka and Verhovic.

Now, although Brest has not been occupied, the city has been surrounded, and a Soviet marshal is now a turtle in a urn.

However, worries also followed. The distance from the central breakthrough was getting farther and farther, resulting in the disconnection of the two wings, and as time went on, it became more and more serious.

You must know that in the northernmost region, in the three Baltic countries, the German attack has not yet begun, and the Soviet and German armies are still in the confrontation stage.

At the same time, in the Romanian theater on the south side, Germany and its allies, Italy, and the Romanian army are also defending the border, barely taking a step forward across the border.

As the commander of Army Group South, Bock very much hopes that he can lead his troops to advance. Like Army Group Central, he rushed into the Ukrainian plain and made a pleasing record.

As the commander-in-chief of the German Army, Brauchitch is really a mixed blessing. The happy thing is that his troops really did as planned and made an impressive record.

The worry is that Germany's offensive speed is so fast that in the previous assessment, the most feared logistical supply was in difficulty, which appeared earlier than expected.

"In the central region, where roads and railways are the most complete, our army's advancement has been severely restricted... At this time, if the troops launch an attack on the southern flank, the supply will be further chaotic..." Brauchitch had to say He tried to convince other generals of his own concerns.

It can be easily seen from the map that there are not many railway lines in Ukraine. It has always been a grain-producing area of ​​the Soviet Union, and heavy industry is not dense.

Russia's heavy industry is concentrated in Stalingrad and further east, which is also inaccessible to German bombers.

As the commander of Army Group North, Marshal Loeb, who was sitting in the conference room, was not too worried about this phenomenon.

The direction of his troops' attack was a relatively dense area of ​​the Soviet railway line. In this area, the German armored troops and infantry could be supplied more conveniently along the railway line.

"I think the counterattack in the north can be launched immediately... There is no need to wait for the Russians to leave the line of defense." Loeb said, launching an attack for his army group and fighting for a chance.

German generals were convinced that it was a shame to sit at home and wait for victory. They prefer to be in the war, to fight and to claim their own victory in person.

"The attack from the north can be launched. The Supreme Command of the Führer, Marshal Keitel also gave similar advice." Brauchitch still has his own plans for this matter.

The German attack in the north, on the one hand, can stabilize the flank of the central army group, on the other hand, it can also open up another battlefield to annihilate the enemy.

I don't know if I don't attack, and when I attack, I am startled, Brauchitch has been shocked by the vast territory of the Soviet Union and the huge army.

What he did not expect was that the Germans would run into more than 3 million Soviet troops at the beginning of the first phase of the offensive.

Even if Marshal Lundstedt defeated the Soviet army of about 1 million, there were still 1 million enemy troops on the flanks and in front of the Central Army Group...

If the encirclement cannot be formed as soon as possible and the living forces of the Soviet Union cannot be quickly annihilated, then the war is likely to fall into a stalemate, and the stalemate happens to be the state that the German army dislikes the most.

"You can go to the front today, Marshal Loeb." Brauchitch pointed to the map and began to explain the follow-up attack plan: "The North Army Group will attack Riga, capture the three Baltic countries, and get through to Leningrad. direction of the road."

Of course, after saying this, he pointed down again and gave Loeb a more important order: "Then the main force of your army group will go south, and the central army group will encircle the western front of the Russian army."

Fighting a large-scale encirclement and annihilation war is the only goal of the German army at this stage.

On this basis, the strategic goals of the German army in the first stage were set in Minsk and Kyiv and other areas, and did not go too deep into the hinterland of the Soviet Union.

The new Barbarossa plan, without energy and economic constraints, became a purely military plan for defeating the Soviet Union.

Hitler's admirable and unbearable theory of the political economy of war for German marshals actually has its own helpless limitations.

In the real history of World War II, Germany lacked strategic resources, so it could only go south as far as possible, focusing its operations on the southern Soviet Union, where roads were inconvenient.

Passing through Ukraine, a large farm that was squeezed out by the Soviet Union, entering the remote Caucasus region, and fighting a war of attrition with the Soviet Union, this was Germany's last resort.

But now, Germany has discovered a large-scale oil field in Libya, and it no longer has to travel thousands of miles to think about the Caucasus oil fields of the Soviet Union.

And compared to Germany, which lacked long-range strategic bombers in history, the current Third Reich has the JU-188, the German version of the B-17, as a killer.

Li Le's plan is very simple. Even if it continues to develop according to the real historical trend, as long as his troops advance to the vicinity of Stalingrad, they can take off long-range strategic bombers and carry out devastating blows on the strategic targets of the Soviet Union.

As long as the easily damaged Baku oil field is blown up, as long as the Soviet factory near the Ural Mountains is blown up, the war potential of the Soviet Union will be completely over.

Therefore, in the new Barbarossa plan to attack the Soviet Union this time, the strategic goals of Germany from top to bottom are highly unified, that is, to blitz the Soviet Union and capture Moscow!

"Once Army Group North and Army Group Center have encircled the Western Front of the Soviet Union, they can go hand in hand and attack Moscow." Pointing to the prominent Moscow on the map, Brauchitch raised his chin.

Launching an attack in the north, where roads are more complete, and engaging the most elite German armored forces in combat is a German dream of fighting.

Once the initial campaign advantage was formed, the Germans could rush to Moscow in a short period of time, and hit the city of Moscow before the Soviet Union completed its mobilization.

"At the latest in September, our armored forces will crash into Moscow and destroy the Soviet command center." Brauchitch drew a circle near Moscow with a pointer and expressed Germany's strategic intentions.

...

Standing next to the map, Li Le was also talking about his strategic ideas to Keitel. He proudly mentioned his plan to blitz Moscow, ready to take the capital of the Soviet Union in one fell swoop.

The majestic Moscow military parade will not be seen again, nor will the feat of troops heading straight to the front after the much-talked-about Red Square military parade.

The German army will take down Moscow with lightning speed and avoid the dilemma of street fighting in the Soviet Union.

According to Li Le's judgment, creating chaos in the Soviet command system~www.wuxiaspot.com~ can effectively prevent the Soviet army from using the city to resist in a planned and purposeful manner.

After the capture of Moscow, it was a matter of course to move south to attack Stalingrad.

"As long as our attack is fast enough, Stalin has only two options." Li Le boasted to his chief of staff, Marshal Keitel.

He stretched out two fingers: "The first option, if you die in Moscow, the Soviet Union will be destroyed with his death..."

"The second option, when he leaves Moscow, the aftermath of the Great Purge will break out, and our subsequent battles will become easier." The Fuhrer seems to be satisfied with his strategy. After saying this, he looked at Keitel.

Keitel frowned cautiously, nodded and said: "I have no way to prove that your plan has obvious loopholes, which shows that the plan itself is operable."

"The second option, when he leaves Moscow, the aftermath of the Great Purge will break out, and our subsequent battles will become easier." The Fuhrer seems to be satisfied with his strategy. After saying this, he looked at Keitel.

"As long as we don't change our strategic goals, our army can avoid detours!" Li Le had no interest in going south to Kyiv, and said to Keitel: "In this way, enter the city before winter to avoid the harm caused by winter. , it's a matter of course."

Keitel frowned cautiously, nodded and said: "I have no way to prove that your plan has obvious loopholes, which shows that the plan itself is operable."

"As long as we don't change our strategic goals, our army can avoid detours!" Li Le had no interest in going south to Kyiv, and said to Keitel: "In this way, enter the city before winter to avoid the harm caused by winter. , it's a matter of course."