For the next few days, the world's attention was focused on the news of Germany's war with the Soviet Union.

On the morning of June 22, the German Foreign Ministry issued a diplomatic statement, accusing the Soviet Union of opposing Germany's efforts to establish a stable order in Europe, carrying out a series of "sabotage and terrorist espionage activities" against Germany, and conspiring with Britain to "attack the German forces in Romania and Bulgaria." Thus, the Führer ordered "the German armed forces to eliminate this major security threat with all the forces at their disposal." ”

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Finland declared war on the Soviet Union.

On the evening of the 22nd, Churchill made a radio speech in London, promising to give the Soviet Union all possible help.

On the 23rd, the White House issued a statement: "All countries that resist the fascist Axis, including the Soviet Union, will receive help from the United States."

On the 24th, Spain and Norway announced that they had agreed to allow Germany to recruit volunteers in their countries to participate in the fight against the Soviet Union.

On the 25th, Churchill made another speech, in which he put forward for the first time a proposal for the establishment of a broad anti-fascist alliance that included Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.

On the 26th, Lithuania issued a declaration of independence, and Albania declared war on the Soviet Union.

On the 27th, the German army occupied Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and 650,000 troops of the Western Front of the Soviet Red Army suffered a catastrophe, and the door to Moscow was opened to the German army.

On the 28th, Stalin, who had finally recovered from the shock, appointed himself chairman of the National Defense Committee and began to concentrate all the forces of the Soviet Union to fight the Nazis. (PS. Stalin's first order after taking office was the arrest of the commander of the Western Front, General Pavlov, the chief of staff of the Front, Klimovsky, the chief of communications of the Front, Grigoriev, and the commander of the Fourth Army, Korobkov, on charges of participation in an anti-Soviet conspiracy.) ）

The above is just the official information released by governments after the outbreak of war. In just one week, June 22-28, there were so many more stories happening. During this time, reports on the front lines of the Soviet-German war were always the front pages of major American media.

Even the death of the former German Emperor Wilhelm II in the Netherlands, the official dispatch of troops from the United States to replace the British garrison in Iceland, the dismissal of Wavell, the commander-in-chief of the British forces in the Middle East (Wavell was replaced by the Indian commander-in-chief, Admiral Auchinleck, due to the failure of Operation Tomahawk to solve the problem of Tobruk), and the "French Civil War" staged by Free France and Vichy France in Syria have become overshadowed, and they can only be huddled in the small corners of the newspapers in embarrassment.

In addition to these public reports in the media, various gossip has also begun to fly all over the sky. After all, the super-large-scale blitzkrieg launched by the Germans this time was too amazing.

In just one week, Germany and its allies and client states (Italy, Finland, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary) totaled 190 divisions of more than 3 million troops, like a storm, overwhelmingly pressing down on the hinterland of the Red Soviet Union.

For a time, the behemoth of the Soviet Union seemed to have really become what Hitler called a broken house, "just kick the door and the whole decaying building will collapse." ”

Millions of Soviet Red Army troops seemed completely vulnerable and dizzy in the face of roaring tanks and whizzing Stuka. General Pavlov, who commanded the Soviets at the front, had not been able to effectively control his troops until his capture (he sometimes did not even know how many troops he still had, and where those troops were, and he could only understand the situation on the battlefield by listening to the German radio), let alone organizing a defense and counteroffensive.

How strong was the assault capability of the German armored group? Will the USSR be able to survive until this winter? These topics, even in the closed Klebo barracks, are the topics that everyone is most concerned about.

Even senior commanders such as Bradley, Ridgway, and John would get together from time to time in their spare time to exchange some information about the Soviet-German war that they had received, and to express their views on the next development of the war situation.

"John, is there any news on the Russian side?" At lunchtime, Bradley and Ridgway found John again. They all knew that John's sources of information were not limited to the military circles, and that there was always something new that they did not know.

"There is good news, the Germans suffered a little bit in Murmansk and did not manage to take it there." John replied as he ate.

"Where?" Because John had food in his mouth, Bradley and the others didn't hear which city he was talking about. However, when the Soviet Union was losing ground, there were still places to organize effective defenses, which made them all interested.

"Murmansk, northern part of the Kola Peninsula." John swallowed the food in his mouth and explained to him: "It is the only ice-free port in northern Russia, the station of the Red Navy's North Sea Fleet. ”

According to the "Barbarossa" plan, the German army attacked the Soviet Union in three directions. On the northern route, Field Marshal Wilhelm von Loeb commanded Army Group North from East Prussia and launched a fierce assault on Dirkit and Pskov, aiming directly at Leningrad.

In the center, Army Group Center (51 divisions) under the command of Field Marshal Fidel von Bock launched a massive pincer offensive from north and south of the Bialystok salient. The 3rd Panzer Group (Colonel-General Hermann-Hort) and the 9th Army broke through into enemy depth from Suvauki in East Prussia in the north, and the 2nd Panzer Group (Colonel-General Guderian) and the 4th Army advanced from the Brest-Rytovsk area in the south along the northern edge of the Pripyat marshes.

On the southern route, Marshal Jed-von Rundstedt commanded Army Group South into the USSR from between Lublin and the Korpathian Mountains, launching an offensive in the direction of Kiev in Ukraine via Zhytomyr.

It's just that in the week since the start of the war, most of the attention has been drawn to the brilliant victory of Army Group Center in Belarus. The two armoured armoured groups led by Guderian and Hort stretched out like the arms of a giant iron pincer to the rear of the Soviet army, and finally closed their jaws in Minsk, 250 miles deep in the Soviet territory, and ate the Soviet Western Front into the stomach. With such a good performance, it's hard not to get people to pay attention.

In contrast, Marshal Jed-von Rundstedt, who attacked the Great Plain of Kiev in Ukraine, was a little more unlucky. Because of its flat terrain and moderate climate and temperature, it was very suitable for lightning operations, so it was also the focus of the Soviet Red Army's defense. Su Dalin deployed 64 divisions and 14 armored brigades there, and large-scale exercises had just been held in the first half of the year. Therefore, the resistance to Rundstey's military campaign was far more fierce than that of Marshal Bock.

As for the northern route, the main forces of Army Group North in Leningrad, which was targeted, went well. Moreover, they were also helped by the Finnish Karelian Army and the South-Eastern Army, which also dispatched a total of 15 divisions and 3 brigades. The Finnish unit launched an offensive against the Soviet Red Army from east of Lake Ladoga and directly north of Leningrad in retaliation for the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939.

And in Murmansk, it was a partial division of Army Group North - Army Group Norway - that suffered a small loss. This force launched an attack on the Soviet Union from northern Finland, with the goal of capturing the stations of the Red Navy's Northern Fleet, Murmansk, the only ice-free port in northern Russia, and the entire Kola Peninsula.

"It is said that the Germans had expected to take Murmansk within three days, and they had even appointed the city defense officers. However, they were blocked by the sailors of the Red Navy on land. John continued to play around with the news he had received from Donovan.

"Sailors? Isn't it the Marines? Li Qiwei couldn't help but ask.

"It's not the Marines, it's the sailors." John said with a smile: "It is estimated that they never dreamed that the combat effectiveness of Soviet sailors on land was actually stronger than that of the army." ”

"How is this possible?" Bradley also thought it was incredible.

"The Soviet Red Army should have been purged before Stalin, and its combat effectiveness had declined greatly. Lacking experienced officers, they struggled to fight the Finnish, not to mention the Germans. John explained: "But unlike the Red Navy, they suffered relatively small losses in the Great Purge, and the sailors were generally much more combat-literate than the Army." Coupled with the naval artillery support of the Northern Fleet, even on land, the Germans could fight for it. ”

Bradley and Ridgway both nodded in realisation and didn't say anything more. In their opinion, the battle in Murmansk was just a minor episode that had nothing to do with the bigger picture. They were more concerned about whether the German Army Group Center would be able to break through the Dnieper River, take Smolensk and open the door to Moscow.