In January 1942, the most terrifying cold current hit Leningrad and Moscow war zones. The ultra-low temperature at minus 40 degrees Celsius made people mistakenly think that it was at the Arctic. The howling wind swept through the granular broken snow and even ice particles, like sharp knives, raging on the northern land!

More than three million troops from the Soviet Union and Germany gathered around the city of Leningrad on the Baltic coast, on the battlefield with a radius of about 30 kilometers. After a whole autumn and half a winter, the Germans' sharpness was consumed, and the fighting spirit of the Soviets was almost collapsed by the fierce current situation!

The extreme cold is a severe test for both sides. Whether it is the German Northern Cluster Marshal Loeb or the Soviet Commander Zhukov, the pressure in his heart is as heavy as a mountain. Not only can't sleep at night, but his energy is consumed more than they did in the first half of their lives!

It was another gloomy morning. It was rare that the snowflakes swept through the strong wind paused, and only the level 4 or 5 cold wind blew across the open battlefield, making a heart-wrenching whistling sound. At the forefront of the encirclement covered by heavy snow, countless German cold-proof nests were poked open one after another. The soldiers wearing thick cotton coats exhaled a thick white air, and struggled to break out a way in the deep snow that had spread across their thighs. But their physical strength could only barely move forward for dozens of steps, and they were so tired that they couldn't lift their legs.

"What a bad weather! If we had known it, we would rather wait until the snow melted this spring before launching a total attack!"

Manstein, the commander of the 41st German Motorized Army, came to the ground from under the thick fortifications along the passage dug out of the snow. Through the purified air, he looked at the unstable and suburban defense line at the end of his vision, and sighed.

Next to him, a Chinese soldier responded calmly: "In that case, maybe it wasn't you attacking the Soviet Union, but they were raided! Moreover, Ukraine's poor soft and moist soil, whether in spring or autumn, is a swamp quagmire, and your armored troops cannot launch lightning strikes! The result may be worse!"

"Who knows?" Manstein obviously did not intend to talk too much about this. Although he did not think that the Russians had the courage to attack the powerful Germany, who made Colonel Luo Zhendong in front of him an observer from China? Although the gap between this guy who temporarily led a strengthened armored regiment was too big than his military rank. Manstein learned from the side that he was actually more promising and had a higher level than the commander of an armored division!

Luo Zhendong was born in Zhu Bin's most direct line. Because China does not have the rank of brigadier general, it is just a colonel for the time being. Otherwise, he would definitely be a real major general, and he would be the most powerful armored force in the world, which would be enough to attract his attention.

In fact, what Manstein hoped was Wang Zhangtang, the most powerful and mysterious commander who defeated the armored forces of Japan, the Soviet Union, the United States and other powers by himself. However, that guy is now said to be the commander-in-chief of the offensive forces in the entire North American theater, and it is certain that it is impossible to conduct military exchanges. It is a pity that he cannot have in-depth discussions with him!

Gently inhaling two cold air and replaced the turbidity that had been afflicted for half a night. He felt that his sleepy and tired body seemed to have radiated strength. Manstein changed the topic and asked: "Col. Luo, I'm very curious. How do you solve the troubles of the cold and wet muddy combat environment? As far as I know, your troops are said to be able to fight all day and all terrain!"

This seemed to be a casual conversation, but it might be the highest military secret.

Luo Zhendong smiled faintly: "Full battlefield reconnaissance and pre-war preparations are the most effective ways to solve the problem! Our weapon and equipment designers must collect data in various harsh environments, and conduct comprehensive analysis based on the opinions of front-line soldiers and commanders. Finally, targeted design and manufacturing were made. Many live-fire drills were carried out. In the beginning, we made three years of preparations to attack the Soviet Far East Army. In short, our equipment and training were all centered on winning the war. Although Germany's technology is advanced and the quality of workers is higher, there are too many artists in it."

"Aren't the artists good? I always think that only the best professionals and the weapons designed and manufactured are the most excellent." Manstein disagreed. How high the quality of the Germans is, this is something that cannot be compared with the whole world. Why did it become a disadvantage in the mouths of you Chinese?

Luo Zhendong smiled and said: "Artists' works are usually full of personal characteristics, but lack compatibility with others, and are more inefficient. In my opinion, if they are willing to lower their meticulous carvings and relax their pursuit of the ultimate complexity, Germany's military production efficiency can be at least doubled. That means there is no need to worry about the lack of weapons, ammunition and medicine on the battlefield. You know, Germany's population is too small after all, and the power to mobilize is limited, while your women rarely enter factories."

Manstein frowned slightly and was stunned.

Like most Germans, he regards it as an advantage. Is it considered a normal thing by the Chinese a flaw? This made him unhappy to accept it from the bottom of his heart.

However, he had to admit that Luo Zhendong was not wrong. All countries that had participated in the war, whether in the Soviet Union or the United States, were mobilized, especially the women's power was exerted to the extreme, which was equivalent to increasing the overall power by at least half or even doubled. If Germany could also replace men with female workers to put them into production operations, at least millions of outstanding soldiers could be liberated.

But like China, Germany attaches great importance to the traditional culture of the family throughout society, and it is natural for women to take care of the family and take care of the children.

"There is an old saying in China, 'Lions fight rabbits with all their strength'. Since Germany intends to conquer the entire Western world, it must be prepared to devote everything."

It is hard to say that Luo Zhendong is too arrogant, and it is too unwilling to take all the enemies seriously. Look at the past few years after Hitler launched the war, the overall strategy was completely done by hammering the east and sticking the west. On a whim, it opened up a new battlefield. It has too much appetite and too greedy, without considering that their own backbone strength is limited after all. It may be easy to defeat simply, conquer, occupy, integrate and unify, and they have no door!

It's just that the Germans refuse to admit it!

He was sent to the German front line to observe the decision-making and command of the German commander in the war nearby, experience the Soviet Union's combat mode personally, and find that the problems are insufficient to supplement. He must analyze the pros and cons as much as possible, otherwise wouldn't it seem that the level is too low?

Manstein paused, put the annoying topic aside again, pointed his hand at the blurry enemy in the distance, but was obviously ready to move, and asked Luo Zhendong: "If you were to attack Leningrad, what strategy would you take to ensure success?"

Luo Zhendong narrowed his eyes slightly. With his good eyes, he could see clearly that on the horizon in the distance, in the heavy snow, there were a large number of black shadows shaking, which must be Soviet tanks. There were only mechanical equipment made by the Russians, which had surprisingly good resistance to freezing, and had sufficient experience to deal with the damage from the severe cold, ensuring that the performance of the weapon was less affected. Therefore, they must be the ones who moved first.

He also considered and discussed the issue of Manstein before coming. He said bluntly: "Strategistically and tactically, it will not be better than you. However, we will strengthen the competition for air supremacy even more, especially the devastating blow to the Baltic Soviet Navy, which will be put first. The second is to be prepared to destroy the entire city. For a country with a proud history, a city of special political significance, we usually do not expect to occupy it. We would rather destroy it completely in exchange for strategic initiative and ultimate victory."

The German army's attack on the Soviet Union was sudden, rapid, and decisive. However, it was obvious that the harsh environment and the determination of the Russians to mobilize and resist were insufficient, which happened in summer and fall into a quagmire in autumn, and dragged until winter, resulting in a series of passive and bad situations.

The war between two powerful countries. What is most afraid of is this kind of stalemate in the enemy's territory. Attackers with farther supply lines will pay higher costs and actually bear greater pressure on failure.

Manstein was a little proud at first, but soon he was stinged by his later words. No matter how implicit Luo Zhendong said, he could hear something out of the way. Germany's war seemed to be firm, but in fact some of the established goals became constraints.

Hitler hoped to visit the three cities of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad in person and accept the cheers of the citizens, which meant that the bombing had to be limited. The German army traveled a long distance and had insufficient estimates of the difficulties. As a motorized army, he was originally the main force of blitzkrieg who quickly broke through and decapitated with one knife, but was fought here and turned into a protracted war, which was clearly unfavorable!

The attack on the Baltic Sea obviously did not invest enough, which led to the Soviet Navy providing strong support to Leningrad, which contrasted with the shortcomings of the German Navy and the extremely poor coordination between the navy, army and air force!

In modern warfare, the three armies were divided and each fought, and they also caused trouble for Gorene to control all aircraft, causing countless troubles to their precise strategic deployment.

On the other hand, although China's rise lasted for a very short time, its glorious results were undeniable by anyone. Manstein and Guderian and others had personally conducted military observations and exchanges, and knew that the Zhu family army had implemented from the beginning was a so-called "three-dimensional combat" model, and the three navy, army and air force were unified within a combat deployment framework. Senior commanders like him must have their own air force or navy, or other strategic forces under their command, including secret missile forces. When they were put into battle, they would respond flexibly with real-time conditions to catch the enemy.

This is indeed an extremely advanced and avant-garde combat idea. Manstein was deeply inspired, but he didn't even have a goal to implement it in Germany. Although the German Wehrmacht has a long history and high quality, the historical tradition is also synonymous with rigid and rigidity. The German army has a bunch of advanced weapons and excellent soldiers, but it is a pity to cope with the ever-changing war model!

He even envied the formation of troops like Wang Zhangtang. Although there was a nominal division, there were three heavy tank regiments, two artillery regiments, one flight regiment, one army aviation regiment, as well as a reconnaissance regiment, special weapons and so on. If you want to go to the sky, there were heavy transport aircraft brigades, you wanted to go into the sea, and you had amphibious assault ships to serve, and you could be sent to the battlefield no matter where the battlefield was.

Perhaps, after this war, Germany will carry out a revolutionary military change. It is unlikely now.

Manstein didn't think Luo Zhendong had anything to hide, and what he said was the truth. Germany can refer to it, but it is not easy to achieve it.

To destroy a city, you must first have the means to destroy all buildings. Leningrad and other cities have many buildings and stone structures. Ordinary artillery bombs are smashed to pieces. At best, the space below is enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of enemy troops to attack and confrontation. If there are bombs with huge power in China, it may be possible. Germany has now even thrown airborne torpedoes, but the effect is not very good.

Hitler had never thought about obtaining China's super bomb, needless to say, was rejected without hesitation. It's understandable to think about it. That thing is too dangerous. One thing goes down, and a small town is gone. What if the Germans learn to crack and upgrade and transform, and go to war with China and throw it to their own heads. What kind of thing is your own fault?

This doesn't work, what about other ways? Manstein asked in confusion: "At the beginning of the attack, we invested thousands of planes and tens of thousands of cannons. Do you think it's still not enough?"

"Not enough!" Luo Zhendong shook his head flatly, "If we attack with conventional weapons and tactical means, there is no upper limit for the number of aircraft. Based on the capture of air superiority, there must be at least 500 professional attack aircraft, carrying 1,000 pounds or more or more ground attack bombs, accurately bomb each building, and completely collapse them! Then arrange at least 1,000 heavy artillery more than 150mm to destroy any building more than two floors blocked with armor-piercing bombs. With more than 500 heavy armored main battle tanks as the tip, with more than 100 large-caliber assault guns, and the same number of infantry fighting vehicles, a large number of infantry soldiers advance forward at the fastest speed, and wherever they pass, there must be no cover for hiding people."

Manstein took a breath, it was so cruel! After doing this, wouldn’t it be left with only one rubble? Thinking about the historical ancient city of Leningrad becoming a ruin no more than two stories high, the scene was simply the end of the world!

This fighting method is difficult for the Germans to accept. They generally love art and have a natural hobby and collection habit for historical ancient cities and cultural relics. They are not unavoidable and reluctant to destroy it. The purpose of their war is also conquest, not simply destruction.

Of course, their thinking is useless. War is an act of releasing the desire to destroy itself. In order to scare the enemy, any excessive damage is normal. Obviously, the Germans did not implement Clausewitz's theory thoroughly!

"What a group of lunatics! It seems that they won the war, not a lucky chance!" Manstein complained in his heart, but he would not speak rudely.

At this time, a rumbling explosion began to sound in front of him. The besieged Soviet army began to launch a counterattack again. However, the intensity was obviously much lower than last year. On the battlefield covered with snow, it was impossible to see where the enemy was from a distance. This was just a temptation.

Leningrad was surrounded, the largest industrial city in the Soviet Union and the second largest transportation hub, and its geographical location was too dangerous. After Zhukov arrived, he mobilized various resources to achieve optimal allocation. The staging defense array formed was effective, which not only stabilized the morale of the army, but also survived the most difficult time with the frozen Ladoga Bay Lake passage.

With the withdrawal of several German armored clusters and some air forces, the frontal pressure in Leningrad has been greatly reduced and it can make a small counterattack.

Don't look at Hitler calling, "The purpose of our army is to surround this city, and to razend it to the ground with shelling and continuous air bombing. Any requirement to take over this city will not be considered, because the survival of the residents of the city and the supply of their food cannot and should not be solved by us. In a war for survival, we do not want to retain even a part of the population of such a big city."

In fact, he and the German army had no way to truly destroy this place, and they did not realize that the importance of Leningrad was far greater than Stalingrad and Moscow! His eagerness to capture Moscow and force St. Dalin to surrender was wrong!

But no one could point out his mistakes to him. The generals of the National Defense Forces who were used to executing orders obviously had no way to change all this. The battle after winter was actually showing signs of fatigue.

Manstein recalled Luo Zhendong's words again and sighed secretly. He did not expect the help of the Shanghai Army. Under the leadership of Churchill, the British Navy gave up protecting the land and even gave up the North Sea, but all of them were put into battles in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and the strength was even better. Even the sea wolf of Denitz could not be drawn.

Although the Air Force can withdraw a large part of its power from the Western Front, it is not so conspicuous on the battlefield on the Eastern Front that is only leaning on. The German army urgently needs strength to break through. Air bombing is obviously a way, but facing the iron barrel formation set up by Zhukov, Hitler's clamor seemed so weak.

Manstein and Loeb were obviously aware of the trouble of dragging on. After careful consideration, they decisively requested to transfer all Chinese-made heavy bombers and attack aircraft to launch a full-scale bombing of Leningrad from high altitude with heavy gliding bombs! Several E100 giant rats, P1000 super giant rats, and a large number of heavy armored tiger tanks were also summoned.

However, they did not expect much hope for all of them. Goring, the damn bastard, would only mobilize the air force to places that he didn't need in order to please Hitler. He only had Moscow in his eyes. He pursued an unprecedented shocking victory too much, and ignored that the Soviet Union was a powerful country with a territory, population, military power and resources that were enough to compete with him. The resilience of the Russians had long been hard to destroy in the long history of fighting against nature.
Chapter completed!