143 Desperate situation

At this time in Leningrad, the weather was gradually getting warmer, which made the situation of the citizens a little better, but for the soldiers stationed near the swamp, it was too difficult. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoEven if there is Yelena's Chinese medicine, it does not guarantee that everyone will not get skin diseases, or dysentery, etc., because they can't get out of there, and the medicine can only relieve their pain, but this is very short-lived, and it can only guarantee that it will not worsen, but if the fundamental problem is not solved, the warriors will continue to suffer. Not only that, but the soldiers also received extremely insufficient food, and ammunition was even more scarce, which was fatal for the Soviet army, which was superior to itself in all kinds of weapons and lacked fuel. And what is even more fatal is that the Soviet army lacks sufficient heavy weapons, the fighting quality of officers and soldiers, and the surprise is insufficient, so to speak, they will not be able to fight yet.

The inhabitants of the city were made even more difficult by the fierce fighting outside the city, and after that, the whole city was barely sustained by the ice transportation line on Lake Ladoga. It's a road of life, and every day from morning to night, there are trucks on the ice line on the road with a difficult trek. Although the weather in Leningrad was cold, the ice holes blown up by the German bombing were easy for trucks to fall into, and at night, the trucks also needed to turn on their headlights, because without these light sources, more trucks would fall into the ice holes than were blown up by the Germans. Trucks can only hold up to two tons of supplies. This is very dangerous.

At the end of February, Yelena was finally able to leave the little girl in the care of others, and she took some people to sneak out of the city to steal potatoes from the German-occupied areas. This may sound ridiculous, but every day they can get back four or five hundred catties of potatoes and soybeans, or wheat that has not been harvested, with wheat stalks, they can even hunt some prey, a deer or a wolf, a wild boar, can save countless people, because of this, it also makes the people of the Military Commission begin to pay attention.

At first, Yelena thought that she could go to the ice transport line to find some opportunities, but she soon found that the danger factor was too high, because there were many people coming and going, and the defense of the port was very strict, and anyone who didn't want to be closed couldn't be there. Yelena had to think of something else. In those days, Yelena was really anxious.

Victor is very worried about Yelena's situation, which involves Yelena's life and death, he may not care much about others, even if it is the life and death of the entire city residents, Victor can remain sane, but it is about Yelena, which makes him unable to be calm. He did whatever it took to save his sister, he tried to get in touch with Volkov, in fact, Volkov was also looking for a way to contact him, and the two got in touch through an intermediary, Victor used the content of the American radio program to send a message to Volkov, and Volkov asked the intermediary to send some seemingly unrelated content on the Soviet radio. After discussion, the two of them could only find a way to get a few transport planes, fly to Leningrad, and airborne the supplies, preferably directly to land, so that at least the food could be directly handed over to Yelena, and it would be better if Yelena could be picked up.

Volkov not only provided Viktor with some useful information, but also tried his best to provide all kinds of help to the Second Assault Army, but at this time he was engaged in a fierce battle with the German army in the direction of Vyazma, which was an action that he did not approve of and was not optimistic about, but he was a soldier and knew that he could not do it! You can imagine how entangled he was. Yelena made her even more worried, he couldn't even get in touch with Yelena in the days that followed, he only called once, and knew from the director of the hospital that Yelena didn't work much at this time, because of the relationship between her body and the child, she could only rest at home, and at this time Yelena didn't have much food around her, and the dean was very clear, because when he went to move supplies, he also went, he knew that Yelena was at most a little fuller than others at this time, but the situation was also very bad. Volkov even wanted to send someone to pick up Yelena, but Mussorgsky reminded him that if he did, he would soon be demoted and possibly even court-martialed. Volkov is full of ambitions, but it is difficult to carry them out!

Victor sent three groups of men during this time, a total of six large military transport planes and ten fighters, but there were many difficulties, and the American planes went directly to Leningrad, and they had to pass the German pass first, and they also had to pass the Soviet pass. Three times supplies were delivered, four planes were lost, and the city only got food on two planes, which was only 50 tons of grain, butter, milk powder, and medicine. The other four transport planes were shot down, Yelena didn't know which side was responsible, and the fighter was lost, which led Yelena to stop Victor's private rescue operation.

Yelena was inspired by the smuggling of supplies from some villages on the outskirts of the city to deliver supplies to the city, and although the farmers in the suburbs were not having a good time, their food crisis was less urgent. At this time, the brilliance of their humanity made Yelena feel very warm.

Yelena approached Korsakov, who worked in the police department, and chose him not for nothing, firstly because he had a good impression of himself, and secondly, because he also owed himself a favor. This is the third! It's easy to explain, interests. He is also a person who lives on quota rations, and his wife, like most married women in the Soviet Union, is unemployed, which is also because Korsakov has a good position in the police department, but at this time, he can only be like most people, his wife and children, and his mother are all people who do not have food quotas, and for them, he is also willing to take risks with Yelena.

When Yelena came to him and told him about it, Korsakov hesitated, because he knew that Yelena was pregnant, but who Yelena wanted to convince, it was not a problem at all, so the first action was done by the two of them together. At night, Yelena put on body armor, a helmet and night vision goggles, carried a long sniper rifle with a muffler, a bullet clip and a pistol around her waist, and in addition, carried a grenade, which was hung on the military belt on her body, Korsakov came to Yelena's house as agreed, and when he saw Yelena's equipment, he had already fully believed in those legends, Yelena was a master of fighting, a sharpshooter, and had been on the battlefield. He put on the equipment that Yelena had prepared for him, and Yelena also taught him how to use night vision goggles and how to measure and aim. How to find the Germans in the shadows. In addition, Yelena's grenade gave him was not just a function, there was an anesthetic in it, and it was a powerful anesthetic, which made him understand why he was wearing a mask. The two men arrived outside the city in Yelena's jeep with weapons and bags ready for food. Under the cover of night, little by little like a wooded area, this time, their target was the prey in the forest, and there were German troops here, so the two men had to hide the gunfire to avoid detection.

The first time, perhaps by luck, perhaps by no one who was able to hit the cunning gift, they hit a very large stag, but he did not notice that the antlers of the deer were missing. In addition, they also caught four pheasants and two rabbits. In addition, on the way back, he found some potatoes in the roadside farmland, Korsakov didn't believe that there would be food here, but Yelena said that maybe they could try, so the two of them smeared and acted separately, and the better it was, they were only separated by two hundred meters. An hour later, Korsakov had a harvest of more than fifty potatoes, and Yelena was carrying more than twenty potatoes and some soybeans, all with snow. Poor Yelena, I don't know how much effort has been wasted. Not only did he have to hide his tracks, but he had to bury potatoes and scatter bean stalks, the deer were pulled by climbing plows, and potatoes and pheasants could only be carried on his back, and although Korsakov could not eat enough, he had moral support, and except for Yelena's strong, sweet cup of coffee, which gave him strength, and he didn't feel very cold.

In the days that followed, Yelena came a few more times, and then the Military Commission specially found someone to do this. They were going farther and bypassing the German barbed wire. Even at the risk of being discovered. But their gains are not small.

It wasn't until spring that the weather became warmer, the ice convoys were interrupted, and the soldiers and civilians in the city had a harder time. The Soviet high command was also extremely anxious about this. Therefore, it has begun to prepare troops and develop an attempt to liberate Leningrad, at least to break the blockade.

At this time, on the front line, because it could not achieve greater results, the Soviet army could only go on the defensive. The Germans immediately seized the opportunity, and in the first three months of 1942, the German High Command successively replenished Army Group "North" with six divisions from France, Denmark, Yugoslavia and the French mainland.

Having received reinforcements, Quchelel transferred five divisions to Aspaskayapolisti to the east and to the west to Zamohiye, on both sides of the breach. Germany, with the help of superiority in personnel and technical equipment, rushed at the units of the 52nd and 59th armies, which were guarding the breakthrough. The Soviet Red Army failed to withstand the German offensive, and on 19 March, the German 38th Army and the 1st Waffen-SS Army converged in the area west of Myasnoibor, marking the complete closure of the breakthrough by the Germans and the cutting off of the line of communication on which the assault 2nd Army relied for survival and fighting.

The situation is urgent. Meretskov personally came to the 59th Division of the 372nd Army and directed the troops to reopen the breakthrough and restore the lines of communication. The fighting on both sides of the line of communication was extremely intense, and the Soviet Red Army opened the line of communication three times, and was closed by the Germans three times. At the height of the battle, Meretskov even threw into battle the last bit of combat strength in his hands - the personnel of the second lieutenant training team and the junior commander's training company. It was only after the transfer of a newly replenished infantry division that the Soviet Red Army was able to basically control the situation in the area of the breakthrough and deliver grain and ammunition to the assault 2nd Army. The 2nd Shock Army was linked to the front, but the army was still in danger of being semi-encircled, and the Germans could still close the breach again at any time. On April 23, the Volkhov Front was merged into the Leningrad Front, with Colonel-General Khotzin as commander. At the time of his departure, Meretskov suggested to the base camp that, since the 2nd Shock Army was exhausted, it could neither attack nor defend with its current formation, and its lines of communication were under the threat of the enemy, either send elite troops to strengthen the army group, or immediately withdraw the 2nd Shock Army from the forest swamps, otherwise there was a danger of total annihilation. But Khotzin did not heed this advice, and still wanted the 2nd Shock Army to advance with its existing strength, and the 2nd Shock Army was only a surprise in name only, and it had difficulty even implementing defenses, let alone crushing the strong resistance of the German army. Replenishing it through the choke point was again blocked by the Germans, and after suffering a setback, Hozin had to abandon the offensive and decided to withdraw the 2nd Shock Army to replenish and recuperate.

On May 21, the base camp approved Khotzin's plan, but due to the lack of reserves and the delay, the Germans discovered the attempts of the Soviet Red Army, so the Germans brought in new reinforcements and switched to the offensive on May 30.

So, what was Volkov doing? From the end of the Battle of Moscow, Volkov began to serve as commander-in-chief of the Kalinin Front and the Western Front, both of which did not have enough troops and weapons to advance westward. The Supreme High Command has already used all of its reserves in several other strategic directions, so it is not in a position to help. Therefore, the commander-in-chief of the western direction, General Volkov, had to make a painful decision. Fortifications were built to defend the gains made in December and January, and the respite was used to prepare for summer operations. However, despite the extremely cold weather and the lack of additional troops, Volkov made a limited advance in the direction of Orel and Vyazma on certain sections of the front.

At 23 o'clock on the 23rd, the Soviet Red Army began to move, and fierce fighting lasted all night. In the early morning, a corridor was again opened along the railway line, but by noon the Germans took control of the railway again. In the evening, the troops of the 59th Army once again opened the corridor, and after fierce fighting between the two sides, the final result was that the Soviet 2nd Shock Army suffered a fatal blow in this German encirclement: although 16,000 men stood out from the encirclement, 6,000 were killed, 8,000 were missing, 32,759 were captured, 649 artillery pieces and 771 tanks were lost.

In any case, the battle still had some significance, and through this battle, the Soviets forced the enemy to switch to a defensive battle, pinned down the main forces of the German 18th Army and Army Group North, and crushed the enemy's plans to launch a new offensive against Leningrad. This result disappointed everyone, but it was precisely because of this failure that Stalin decided to send Volkov to save the city once again.