Chapter 186
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To put it simply, the Soviet army planned to launch the Battle of the Dnieper River in order to liberate Ukraine, Donbass, and Kiev on the left bank of the Dnieper River, and to seize the landing sites on the right bank of the Dnieper River.
The German army, which had already switched to a defensive strategy, had not received any notification from the Supreme Command, whether it was Manstein, Model, or Marshal Weichs.
Because August was estimating how to deal with the Soviet offensive.
He knew that the Soviet army had to take action to ease the current situation, but now the German army needed time to rest and could only hold its position temporarily.
On the contrary, the Soviet army has gathered the Central Front, Voronezh Front, Steppe Front, Southwestern Front and Southern Front in the Dnieper River area with the cooperation of the guerrillas behind the enemy lines, ready to go.
For this operation, the Soviet army mobilized a large number of troops, and the commanders sent were General Rokossovsky, General Konev and many other senior generals. The total force mobilized by the Soviet army this time was more than 4 million people, more than 60,000 artillery and mortars, more than 3,000 tanks and self-propelled artillery, and more than 10,000 combat aircraft.
At present, the main attack target of the Soviet army in the first phase is to attack Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper River and Donbass.
In order to prevent the strong resistance or counterattack of the German army, the Soviet army arranged defense lines in the Desna River, Sozh River, Dnieper River, Molochnaya River and other areas; established an indestructible defensive strategic position, the purpose is to prevent, if encountering a counterattack by the German army, to block these places.
Now that he knew the Soviet strategy, August also made corresponding arrangements, because he knew very well that once the positions along the Dnieper River were occupied by the Soviet army, the German army would lose granaries, iron ore, and rare metals such as manganese.
Without these, the German army's production capacity would be reduced by more than half.
The so-called replacement strategy became empty talk.
After all, Ukraine, which they currently occupied, can be said to be the most important resource source base.
It almost gathered nearly 30% of the German army's resources.
Once lost, it would be a huge loss for the entire local resource supply. Moreover, the situation in Sicily Island has entered a white-hot stage. He cannot withdraw too many troops to support the Eastern Front, so facing the battle of the Dnieper River, August actually did not have much confidence in his heart.
In the past two days, August has been worried, frowning and not smiling too much, because he has to estimate whether the Second Eastern Front can hold these important resource bases.
Although some cities can be given up, some important resource cities must not be given up, which is related to the future of the empire.
August soon made up his mind to let the 9th Army of Model's group, the 2nd Army Group, and 200,000 vassal troops first step up the construction of fortifications along the Narva River, Vitebsk, Orsha, Sozh River, Dnieper River, and Molochnaya River; establish a strategic defense line called the"Eastern Barrier", and focus on the Dnieper River.
The main task of Model's group is to stop the aggressive Soviet army.
If Model's troops cannot stop it, they must evacuate immediately, and they must not let all the soldiers die here.
Model was very excited and excited about August's order, and he agreed immediately. He had wanted to fight for a long time. He couldn't sleep because there was no fighting this month. Only war could make him sleep.
Fortunately, Model was not idle during this period. He built a very strong multi-zone defense strategic position where the Soviet army might cross the river.
Especially in a series of areas on the left bank of the Dnieper River, Model's group built hundreds of bridgeheads with powerful firepower. These bridgeheads were equipped with bazookas and a large number of mortars. The purpose was to kill as many Soviet troops as possible and block the enemy's advance.
At the same time, solid fortifications were arranged in areas such as Kremenchug, Zaporizhia and Nikopol, and the newly assigned armored divisions were transferred to prepare for the Soviet tank forces at any time.
Model's group had just been arranged here. On the other side, the Soviet army, in accordance with the combat requirements, mainly based on the Steppe Front, captured Krasnograd and Upper Dnieper as quickly as possible, and quickly occupied all the crossings such as the Dnieper River.
As for the Voronezh Front's combat mission, it was to attack Kremenchug, and the Southwestern Front was to attack Barvenkovo, Pavlograd, Zaporizhia, and Pologi and other front-line German positions.
The goal is to surround the Model Group as much as possible. The last time they besieged the Model Group, they were broken by Guderian's armored group.
This time, in order to completely eliminate the Model Group, all the main forces were moved to the vicinity of the Model Group. The goal was to eliminate this annoying group at one time.
"My God, the Soviets are so ambitious that they want to swallow us all in one go."Model stared at the map, which marked the latest Soviet military operations. After reading it, he couldn't help but take a breath.
"Once the Soviets completely capture all areas along the Dnieper River, their next target will certainly be the entire Ukraine, and then we will be finished."
Without Ukraine, it means that the three million troops on the Eastern Front will lose their logistical supplies. War is a battle of national strength and logistics. Without food, there is no point in fighting. It won't take long for them to starve to death. So Model immediately woke up.
"Commander, we need help. Our group alone may not be able to stop the Soviet attack. We may even be surrounded and annihilated."
"I know, let me think about it."Model waved his hand. Although he knew the situation was critical, he still felt that there was a way to solve the current problem.
After thinking for a while, Marshal Model gritted his teeth and said decisively:"Give me all the assets. Whether we can win this battle depends on us."
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