Chapter 728: German-Soviet War (58)

That day, Yannick convened a high-level military meeting to discuss the situation on the German-Soviet battlefield.

"200,000 Finnish troops have approached the northwest defense line of Leningrad." Marshal Rundstedt couldn't help but sighed as he looked at the Finnish army's movements marked by the combat staff on the huge battle map. "The combat effectiveness of the Finnish army is not inferior to ours. If they were not small and sparsely populated, they would probably be a very difficult opponent."

Yannick nodded in agreement. He knew that Finland was a ruthless master who could punch the Soviet Union and kick the German army.

However, after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in the original time and space, although the Finnish army also joined the German army to attack the Soviet Union, they were only to recover the territory occupied by the Soviet Union in the Soviet-Finnish War in 1940. Therefore, as soon as they reached the previous border, the Finnish army stopped to defend. No matter how Germany persuaded, Finland did not move forward until the end of the war, but only confronted the Soviet Karelia Front along the border between the two sides.

At this time, the backbone of Finland, Marshal Mannerheim, who strongly opposed Finland's joining the Axis in the original time and space, had already passed away (Chapter 340). Finland also joined the European Union and naturally declared war on the Soviet Union. In order to avenge Marshal Mannerheim, who died of overwork in resisting the Soviet invasion, the Finnish army, from generals to soldiers, shared the same hatred and fought bravely. In terms of morale, they were better than the Soviet army. In addition, most of the Finnish army's weapons were advanced German equipment, which made the Soviet army retreat step by step.

"200,000 Spanish troops are approaching the southwest defense line of Leningrad. In addition, 300,000 Italian troops and 300,000 foreign legions have also approached the southeast defense line. A joint fleet will arrive in the Gulf of Finland soon to bombard Leningrad."

"Very good." Yannick nodded with satisfaction.

Leningrad, as the cradle of the October Revolution and the birthplace of Bushivik, is the second largest city in the Soviet Union and an important industrial center and transportation hub. Therefore, in the "Barbarossa Plan" of the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Leningrad was a city that Germany had to capture. The little mustache also clamored, "Leningrad must be wiped off the face of the earth!" The German army marched forward with great momentum and launched a full-scale attack on Leningrad.

Facing the German army approaching the city, the commander-in-chief of the Northwest Front of the Soviet Union called on all soldiers and civilians to "block the enemy's way forward with our chests at the gate of Leningrad!" Under the situation where all the soldiers and civilians in Leningrad were united in hatred of the enemy and fought with their backs to the wall, the German army could no longer move forward. With the transfer of the German Fourth Armored Division to Moscow, the German army began to change its strategy and planned to besiege Leningrad, trying to make the soldiers and civilians in the city run out of ammunition and food.

What's more fatal is that when the German army bombed Leningrad, several incendiary bombs hit the Badayev warehouse where a large amount of daily necessities were stored. Although it was rescued vigorously, this warehouse that could sustain more than three million residents for half a year was still burned out.

In July 1941, each worker could get 800 grams of bread, and their family members could get 400 grams of bread, less than two kilograms of bread a day, and this was based on one day's labor. By the beginning of October, only half of the bread was left. By the end of November, it was even worse, with workers only getting 250 grams of bread a day and others only getting 125 grams.

Not only was there less and less bread, but the quality was also getting worse and worse. From the original wheat bread, it became black bread later. In order to make more bread, even the edible fiber in the waste of the printing factory was put into the black bread. Since November, people have been starving to death. Within a month, 11,000 people have died, and by December, 53,000 people had starved to death. And winter is coming again, which has exacerbated the plight.

Stalin, who learned about the serious situation in Leningrad, ordered the Moscow Special Aviation Brigade to airdrop supplies to Leningrad. But even if this air transport team transported supplies day and night, it was not enough for the millions of people in the city.

And the food obtained should be supplied to the army first, after all, only when the soldiers are full can they have the strength to fight and continue to defend the city. The remaining food was distributed to civilians. The number of people was very different from the supplies. Many people had no food before they saw it. It was really like returning to the pre-liberation period. In order to survive, the Soviet people began to look for anything edible.

They ate sparrows, pets, and even mice. In the winter of 1941, more than 600,000 people died in the entire Leningrad city, nearly half of whom died of hunger. In 1942, nearly 100,000 Leningraders starved to death almost every month.

The brutal siege lasted until early 1944, when the Soviet counterattack forces broke through the German encirclement and delivered food to the citizens of Leningrad who had been besieged for two and a half years.

According to statistics after the war, Leningrad was besieged by the German army for more than 900 days, during which 1.5 million Soviet soldiers and civilians died of hunger alone, and more than half of the residents died in this protracted siege.

Compared with other battles in World War II, the death siege of Leningrad was definitely the most cruel, and the death toll far exceeded the subsequent explosions of the two atomic eggs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima (the total casualties of the two explosions were 390,000). In a public cemetery in Leningrad, nearly 500,000 people were buried, which shows the cruelty of this battle.

Leningrad used unimaginable losses to hold back the German Northern Army Group, one of the three armies of the "Barbarossa Plan", and all the Finnish troops participating in the war, creating conditions for victory in other battles on the Eastern Front.

However, the army attacking Leningrad this time is as many as 1 million, plus more planes, artillery and tanks, which is several times more than the original time and space. Yannick is confident that he can capture Leningrad in the shortest time.

"After I capture Leningrad, I will change the name."

Marshal Rundstedt asked. "Your Highness, do you plan to change it back to St. Petersburg?" Leningrad was originally called St. Petersburg, which originated from Saint Peter, a disciple of Jesus, and is directly translated from the German "Sankt Peterburg".

After the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, anti-German sentiment emerged in Russia, and the Tsarist government changed St. Petersburg to Petrograd. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, in order to commemorate the leader Ulyanov who launched a revolution in the city during the October Revolution, after Ulyanov's death in 1924, the city name was changed to Leningrad. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, the original name was restored to St. Petersburg, which also marked the end of the Soviet era.

Yannick shook his head. "I plan to change the name to St. Fredericksburg." Frederick refers to Frederick II, a generation of iron-blooded emperors in modern European history, who personally built the Kingdom of Prussia into a modern emerging military power. "As for Stalingrad, it will be renamed Hohenzollerngrad." After saying this, Yannick couldn't help laughing. Would Stalin be furious if he heard it?