What is the situation of Enemy at the Gates?

The heroic city of Leningrad is not only called "the second capital of the Soviet Union" politically, but also the largest industrial center in the Soviet Union economically, and its military position is also very important. It is the second largest transportation hub in the Soviet Union, with 10 railway lines passing through it, especially the October railway line connecting Leningrad with Moscow and other parts of the Soviet Union, so it is of great significance in national defense. Hitler believed that only after ensuring the completion of the occupation of Leningrad, "can we continue to fight the offensive war of occupying Moscow, an important transportation hub and national defense industrial center." Therefore, in Hitler's war against the Soviet Union, he regarded the occupation of Leningrad as a "top priority".

In order to ensure the capture of Leningrad in one fell swoop, Hitler appointed Marshal von Leib, who had commanded the Germans to break through the French army "maginot line", as the commander of the "North" army group, commanding 700,000 people, equipped with 1200 aircraft, 1500 tanks and 1200 artillery pieces, and ordered Leib to follow suit. Hitler even arrogantly declared that he would not only go to the Palace Square in Leningrad to inspect the army, but also hold a grand "Zhu Jie" banquet at the astoria Hotel in Leningrad.

At dawn on June 22nd, 194 1, among the stars that gradually darkened after a short summer night, a "new star" never seen before flashed in the distant western sky of the Soviet Union. These are some exceptionally bright stars. They are colorful and quickly drift eastward. It is accompanied by the roar of the engine. After a while, the noise of the engine suddenly increased. Finally, the colorful starlight crossed the invisible air border. 1000 more than one plane with Nazi symbols on its wings broke into Soviet airspace like lightning, and rained bullets on airports, military headquarters and transportation centers in the hinterland of the Soviet Union. Then, more than 7000 guns of various calibers fired at the target that had already been aimed at. Suddenly, the western border of the Soviet Union was filled with guns, smoke and flames.

The earth is shaking, the mountains and rivers are shaking, the war is burning, blood shed is sweeping the whole Soviet Union ... Hitler's "Barbarossa" plan has begun.

Among them, the "North" army group under the command of Leib, with the support of a large number of aviation, launched an attack on the Baltic coast of the Soviet Union from Konigsberg in East Prussia on June 22. As soon as the battle started, the Germans easily crossed the water barrier Neman River and went straight to the hinterland of the Soviet Union.

On the vast northern front, the 56th Motorized Army, the vanguard of the German "Northern" Army Group, went deep into the Soviet Union for more than 40 kilometers within 24 hours after the war. On June 25, German tank troops advanced to Utina, which is only 70 kilometers away from Taugpir. On June 26th, the vanguard of the German Panzer Group was almost less than 8km away from Taogevpils, the main railway center between Vilnius and Leningrad. So far, in just four days, the German armored forces crossed the mountains and occupied the city, pushing for 300 kilometers to the hinterland of the Soviet Union.

In order to win a large highway bridge and a railway bridge in Taogefupier intact, so that the follow-up troops can quickly cross the Wiener River in West Germany, a German "Brandenburg -800" special force, driving four captured Soviet-made military vehicles, wearing Soviet military uniforms and speaking fluent Russian, sneaked into Taogefupier and unexpectedly occupied the two bridges, enabling the German mechanized troops to cross the river smoothly. The fall of Taogepires completely exposed the Ostroff-Pskov-Luga-Leningrad defense line to the Germans, because it lost its natural barrier.

1 In July, with the accession of Latvian Soviet socialism and the fall of Riga, the capital of China, the situation in Leningrad became more and more sinister. On July 4th, the Germans broke through Stalin's defence in Ostroff-Pskov. On July 9, after a bloody battle, the Soviet troops defending Pskov had to give up the city and retreat to Novgorod. Thus, Hitler's fascist hooves finally set foot on the border of Leningrad after breaking into Russian land.

Just as the "Northern" Army Group was advancing to Leningrad in an all-round way, two Finnish Army Groups deployed on the Finnish side of northern Leningrad, in order to cooperate with the German "Northern" Army Group in attacking Leningrad, also launched a fierce attack on the Soviet "Northern" Army Group in Petrozavodsk and Vyborg at the end of June, in an attempt to complete the siege of Leningrad with the Germans from the north and east.

In this case, General Hepner, the commander of the German Fourth Armored Army, proudly declared that he would get the key to Leningrad as long as he broke through the Lougarre River in one fell swoop. However, the heroic defenders of Leningrad will never hand over this glittering "key" easily.

194 1 July, the night sky in Leningrad was full of anti-aircraft balloons. 10 In July, the Soviet High Command appointed Marshal voroshilov as the highest military officer of the "Northwest" Command and zhdanov as a member of the Military Commission, instructing them to command the operations of the "Northwest" Army and the "North" Army in a unified way. At the same time, the headquarters urgently mobilized millions of Leningrad residents, built a 300-kilometer Lugar defense line around the Lugar River, centered on Lugar City, starting from Simsk in the south, passing through Lugar and reaching Jinjishep in the north, and deployed a Lugar battle cluster consisting of four infantry divisions and 1 tank divisions on this defense line. Its main task is to stop the Germans from advancing and try to get as close to Leningrad as possible. That is, strive for as much preparation time as possible for Leningrad.

On July 1 1, German tank troops broke through Borhoff, the outer stronghold of Lugar defense line, and pounced on Hinsk. At the same time, the Lugar battle group is fighting to the death with the superior German army. In order to relieve the pressure of the Lugar battle cluster, the Soviet high command ordered the 1 1 army belonging to the "Northwest" army to leave the front line of Old Russa and go to the Solce area in the southwest of Xinsk, and carried out a powerful counter-assault on the flank of the German Fourth Armored Army. The Germans lost more than 400 planes, tanks 120, and casualties 10000, forcing the commander of the German "North" Army Group Leib to suspend the attack in July 19, and had to stay on the Lougarre River for more than a month, which won extremely valuable preparation time for the soldiers and civilians in Leningrad.

On the morning of August 8th 10, the Germans first stormed the Soviet army from the lower reaches of the Luga River, and the German artillery aimed at the Soviet positions in the torrential rain. Suddenly, the Luga River was raining cats and dogs. Despite the bad weather, the No.4 1 and No.6 tank divisions of the German 4th1Motorized Army galloped towards an open area south of the Leningrad-Kingisheep-Narwa railway line.

In the early morning of August 9, after a day of fierce fighting, the German 1 Tank Division occupied Izvoz. 10, the German army, with 1 tank division as the guide, continued to advance near the Mo Losco Witz station in Leningrad, which made it possible for the German army to cut off the railway traffic from Gachner to Narwa at any time, and put the three Soviet battle clusters of Narwa, Kingiheep and Estonia in an extremely difficult situation. To this end, the Soviet "Northern" Army urgently ordered the newly formed 1 Guards Division in Leningrad to fight in this area. 12 In the early morning of August, after a long journey, this militia force fought fiercely with the German army before it had time to rest. Later, due to the lack of heavy equipment and inability to resist the fierce offensive of German heavy tanks, the militia division retreated to Kingishep after heavy casualties to the Germans. On August 3, 65438+, fierce fighting continued in the Kingishep sector. After being hit hard, the German army broke through the defense line held by the 1 Guards militia division at 3 pm that day, occupied the Mo Losco Witz station, and cut off the railway and highway lines from Jinjishep to Leningrad.

On the left side of the Soviet defense line in the upper reaches of the Luga River, the Germans began to attack the Simsk region on August 1 1. On June 5438+02, the Germans stormed Novgorod, the seat of the Soviet "Northwest" Army Command, along the west bank of Ilmen Lake. After three days of fierce fighting, the Soviet troops began to retreat, and the railway line from Luga to Novgorod was also cut off by the Germans. At this time, the Germans can vaguely see the tops of many buildings in Novgorod with the naked eye. On August 15, at about 6 pm, German infantry broke through the first line of defense of the Soviet Union under the cover of tanks and advanced to the suburbs of the city. /kloc-on the morning of 0/6, the Soviets were forced to withdraw from Novgorod. The fall of Novgorod not only made the Soviet troops defending the Lugar arc zone fall into a difficult situation between Scylla and Charybdis, but also made it possible for the Germans to advance to Chudovo, thus cutting off the 10 railway line from Leningrad to Moscow.

In fact, it is. After the Germans occupied Novgorod, they immediately advanced to Chudovo in the northeast. At the same time, some troops are preparing to cross the Volga River, occupy Tikhven and cut off the railway traffic links between Leningrad and the Soviet Union.

In the middle reaches of the Luga River, although the Germans attacked Luga at 4 am on August 10 with the strength of two divisions, many attacks ended in failure under the tenacious resistance of the local Soviet army. Manstein suggested that the 3rd Motorized Division should be moved to the lower reaches of Luga River, so as to enhance the offensive ability there and speed up the March to Leningrad. After the proposal was approved, Manstein marched north at 15. At the same time, the Germans continued to use the 50th Motorized Army to contain the Soviets in Luga.

Just as the Germans launched an all-out attack on Lugar Line, the Finnish army north of Leningrad also tightened its encirclement with three divisions, reaching Lake Ladoga, and frequently attacked the flank of the 23rd Soviet Army defending the isthmus of Kareli in southwest Kekosgoring.

Leningrad at this time can be said to be in a crisis of being attacked on three sides. In this case, in order to weaken the German offensive, the Soviet High Command ordered the 34th Army of the "Northwest" Army to take advantage of the gap of more than 80 kilometers between Old Russa and Holm caused by the northward movement of the German 16 Army, and go out from Old Russa along the railway line to carry out a powerful counter-assault on the Deno area where the German 16 Army Command is located. Leib, commander of the German "Northern" Army Group, was very surprised by the sudden fierce attack of the Soviet Union. He had to re-order manstein, who was going north, to go south to clear the besieged troops of 16 Army in the old Russa area.

On August 2 1 day, the Germans occupied Chudovo and cut off the October railway from Leningrad to Moscow. On 22nd, German 16 Army, reinforced by manstein's 56th Motorized Army, not only relieved the danger of being almost surrounded by Soviet troops, but also advanced to the Lovati River southeast of Old Russa.

On August 25th, the 34th Army of the Soviet Union finally had to withdraw from the Lowati River because of the disparity in strength. At the end of August, the Germans suffered heavy losses in front of the Lugar line, and then advanced to the Lutsk-Corpino area, only 20 kilometers south of Leningrad.

Although Hitler was not happy that the "North" army group failed to win Leningrad as scheduled, he was secretly pleased that Leib could advance into Leningrad at the end of August. In order to strengthen the strength of the "Northern" Army Group, he ordered the 39th Motorized Army, which was fighting in the direction of Moscow, to attack Leningrad in the north.

After the German "Northern" Army Group was strengthened, it quickly attacked Leningrad with nine divisions. At this time, the Gestapo troops closely followed the army in order to "quickly restore order" after the German occupation of Leningrad. They even printed special passes for all kinds of vehicles to enter and leave Leningrad. On September 8, the Germans occupied Fort Licher, completely cutting off all communication lines between Leningrad and the Soviet Union. The defenders of Leningrad are in a more difficult situation. Now they can only keep limited contact with other places in the air through Lake Ladoga.

16 September, Pushkin, located at 18 km south of Leningrad, was once the summer resort of the old czar and fell into the hands of the Germans. 17, Alexander Rovka, the terminal of a tram line in Leningrad, fell. At this time, the Germans are only 14 km away from the Palace Square in the center of Leningrad, and German artillery can directly bombard the urban area of Leningrad. It's a veritable "Enemy at the Gates".

The situation is extremely critical! But the heroic people of Leningrad did not give in. Marshal voroshilov, commander of the "Northwest" Army, and zhdanov, a soldier, issued an emergency mobilization order to 3 million Leningrad soldiers and civilians:

"Leningrad is in danger, and the fascist bandit troops are approaching our glorious city-the cradle of proletarian revolution. Our sacred duty is to block the enemy's way forward with our chests at the gates of Leningrad! "