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While Bock commanded Army Group Center to fight Zhukov in the area around Smolensk, and Rundstead led Army Group South to advance towards Kiev, Army Group North under the command of Marshal Loeb also broke through to the Baltic coast and marched towards Leningrad with the cooperation of Finnish troops.

Lelingrad, also has a very beautiful name, called St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg is located in the northwest of Russia, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, at the mouth of the Neva River, is the central municipality of Russia, the capital of the Leningrad Region, the central city of the entire northwest region of Russia, the most important water and land transportation hub of the Soviet Union, and the northernmost city in the world with a population of more than one million, also known as the "northern capital" of Russia. It was nicknamed the "second capital of the Soviet Union".

The architecture, paintings, and sculptures are considered art treasures, as well as its monuments, beautiful parks, and museums. More importantly, it was an important city renamed Lelingrad in honor of Lenin, and it occupies an irreplaceable and important place in the hearts of the Soviets.

As long as the city can be captured, it is very important in both strategic and psychological senses. Strategically, Army Group North could complete the meeting with the Finnish army here, then take control of the Neva River communications, further capture the Soviet Baltic Fleet, and free up the Panzer Heavy Corps to attack Moscow.

In this way, the forces that can be used to attack Moscow will have an additional army group. Then taking Moscow is simply easy.

On the other hand, psychologically, the capture of Leningrad was undoubtedly like the capture of the second heart of the USSR. The second heart is lost, and the first heart of Moscow is also difficult to protect.

In July, Loeb, in cooperation with the Finnish army and a small number of the Norwegian Expeditionary Force, sent armored units along the Luga-Leningrad road, but was strongly blocked by Soviet forces in the Luga area.

The 41 Panzer Army was repulsed 40 km. The 18th Army, which attacked the Estonian capital Tallinn, was also met with stubborn resistance from the Soviet 8th Army and could not continue to advance.

After that, although the German-Finnish and Norwegian coalition forces surrounded and annihilated part of the main Soviet army in the Ladoga Lake area. However, after the Finnish army received the land lost in the Soviet-Finnish war, it began to send only some of the most combat-ready and poorly equipped troops to continue their advance southeast across Lake Ladoga.

In the face of the blatant perfunctory response of the Finns to the tasks assigned to them by the Allied military bloc, Lebu did not say much. He is still honest, and the Finnish Army has also sent troops, so it is not that he refuses to attack, so it is really hard to blame anything.

You said that if Finland did not send a single soldier, it would not be possible to force the Finnish army to send troops. They can come up with some people and share a little pressure, but it's better than watching from the sidelines.

As a result, Army Group North could only continue to assault Leningrad with a smaller Norwegian expeditionary force with a group of Finnish troops with the least combat effectiveness.

Reinhardt was naturally very dissatisfied with the situation of Army Group North, and he personally flew to the front line to supervise the battle, and found Field Marshal Mannerheim of Finland to lose his temper: "You promised me that after the war began, you would follow us closely and launch the most powerful blow against the Soviet Union. But in reality? Except for the battles at the beginning of the war, you don't care anymore. I really doubt that the Finnish army that is fighting now is really the same stubborn army that fought in the Soviet-Finnish war? ”

"Your Excellency the German Führer, we have done our best, this is an undeniable fact. Of the four armies of our Finnish army, none of them suffered losses of less than 15 percent after the start of the war. We've done enough! Mannerheim did not bow his head, but with the help of an interpreter, he argued with Reinhardt.

Compared with history, the German army's support for the Finnish army in this life was indeed much less, which also led to a sharp increase in the Finnish army's casualty rate in the early stage. And now, under the authority of Reinhardt Body, the Finnish army did not refuse to move forward after recovering the lost territory, as in history, but more or less took out some remnants of the troops and continued to complete the battle arrangements explained by the Germans.

If the Finns can do this, it stands to reason that Reinhardt should be content too. Not to mention anything else, in the early stage of the counterattack, the Finnish army at least took all the territory west of Vyborg for the Allies, and this alone cost the Finnish army tens of thousands of casualties.

Originally, Reinhardt arranged for the Finnish army to bear the damage in the early stage, in order to use the Finnish army to the extreme at one time. After that, he didn't expect much of a difference from the Finnish army. And Mannerheim was now able to keep some Finnish soldiers fighting, more than Reinhardt had expected.

However, things are not as simple as Reinhardt expected.

Maybe it was because there were too many changes after the crossing, or because Reinhardt transferred Manstein, who was supposed to be the pioneer of Army Group North and played a huge role, to Army Group South to fight. This led to the lack of such generals who could take on great responsibilities.

"And you, Marshal Lebu,...... Look at the other marshals, the armored corps of Bock and Rundstedt have completed a lightning advance, taking Smolensk and Kyiv, and only you are still entangled here. ”

"Führer, our front here is stretched too long, and the offensive of the Finnish army is beginning to weaken. Moreover, my troops were not as strong as the armored corps of the other two army groups......" Loeb, who was already a little old, counted his difficulties on his fingers.

(10-minute update)

Originally, Reinhardt arranged for the Finnish army to bear the damage in the early stage, in order to use the Finnish army to the extreme at one time. After that, he didn't expect much of a difference from the Finnish army. And Mannerheim was now able to keep some Finnish soldiers fighting, more than Reinhardt had expected.

However, things are not as simple as Reinhardt expected.

Maybe it was because there were too many changes after the crossing, or because Reinhardt transferred Manstein, who was supposed to be the pioneer of Army Group North and played a huge role, to Army Group South to fight. This led to the lack of such generals who could take on great responsibilities.

"And you, Marshal Lebu,...... Look at the other marshals, the armored corps of Bock and Rundstedt have completed a lightning advance, taking Smolensk and Kyiv, and only you are still entangled here. ”

"Führer, our front here is stretched too long, and the offensive of the Finnish army is beginning to weaken. Moreover, my troops were not as strong as the armored corps of the other two army groups......" Loeb, who was already a little old, counted his difficulties on his fingers.

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