August 27, 1941. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoUSSR. Bryansk.

The Battle of Moscow began ahead of schedule.

At the moment, the German army is on the Smolensk-Bryansk line, about 300 kilometers from Moscow. In front was the Rzhev-Vyazma defensive area, in front of which there was the Western Front, the Reserve Front, and the Bryansk Front. About 1.5 million people, 1,000 tanks, 8000 artillery pieces, 1000 aircraft.

Having discovered the intentions of the German army, the Kalinin Front and the right flank of the Southwestern Front also joined the battle for the defense of Moscow in echelons.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of Far Eastern and Siberian troops were moving west along the railway.

And the Germans were even stronger.

Army Group Center has jurisdiction over three army groups and three tank groups.

Army Group was the 9th Army, commanded by General Strauss. The 4th Army, commanded by Field Marshal Kruger. The 2nd Army, commanded by General Weix.

The tank cluster is: 3rd cluster, commanded by Admiral Hort. The 4th cluster, commanded by Admiral Hopner. The 2nd group, commanded by General Guderian.

In addition, the Army is supported by the 2nd Air Force.

The entire army has a total of 74 and a half divisions, including 14 tank divisions and 8 motorized divisions. Army Group Center totaled about 1.8 million men, 1,700 tanks, more than 14,000 artillery pieces and mortars, and 1,390 aircraft.

The Germans had an advantage not only in quantity, but also in the quality of weapons, since at that time more than half of the Soviet tanks and aircraft were old-fashioned. The Germans had particular superiority in tanks, aviation, and motorized infantry.

Because of the sudden turn of the German army, the Soviet army was somewhat caught off guard. Because the focus was on the southwest, this attack was changed to the northeast, and soon tore a few holes in the middle of the three groups of the Soviet army, annihilating more than 100,000 Soviet troops within three days.

Unlike in history, the Soviet army had not yet undergone personnel adjustments, and a few days after the German offensive, adjustments gradually began: the reserve front, the appointment of Marshal of the Soviet Union Budyonny as commander. Zhukov took over the command of the Western Front and the defense of Moscow. The commander of the Western Front remained Colonel-General Konev.

Zhukov accepted Moscow's command and quickly made a series of arrangements in the direction of Moscow, in addition to making a more effective arrangement of troops on the western front to block the German attack.

In addition, Zhukov also strictly ordered the Far Eastern army to speed up its march to Moscow, and the arriving troops were assembled in the southeast of Moscow, ready to join the campaign.

Stalin issued an order that the Soviet Central Committee would never retreat and would remain in Moscow. The command of the Soviet troops also did not retreat and remained in Moscow. Moscow's existing industry is no longer retreating, it is stepping up production nearby: although the USSR is big, behind it is Moscow!

Stalin's order served as an inspiration to the confidence of the Soviet troops and the population, and his speech was broadcast everywhere on loudspeakers throughout Moscow. His orders quickly spread throughout the army.

On August 29, the Germans captured Bryansk and annihilated more than 200,000 Soviet troops. The army pursued the Soviets on both sides, and Guderian's tank clusters, ignoring the Soviets, marched along the road towards Moscow.

It was now past the rainy season of early August, the weather was clear, the roads were dry, the ground on both sides of the road was solid, and the German army was advancing rapidly. In the evening, the tank cluster reached the Lukaga Line.

This is the 29th Moscow time, and Yichun is already the early morning of the 30th. Moscow received an urgent telegram saying that Japan had reached an agreement with Germany to fight jointly against the Soviet Union and to carve up the Soviet Union.

Then Yan'an also sent an urgent telegram, the content was basically the same, but there were some more suggestions, suggesting that at this urgent moment, the Soviet Union should focus on the western front, do not hesitate, do not mess up. Meaning: if the deployment is messed up, it's over.

Seeing that the situation was serious, the Soviet intelligence services reported the two telegrams directly to the Political X Bureau.

That's when an urgent call came from Tokyo. The telegram was sent from a secret channel, and it is not known why it was late. The telegram described the basic process of reaching an agreement between Japan and the Soviet Union. There are some inconsistencies in the accounts of the Japanese attack on the Soviet Union, which took about 12 to 48 hours.

While Stalin was reading two telegrams, another telegram came. But he still didn't believe it, and his pipe kept smoking, and after a while, he said: "The Political X Governance Bureau thinks that these pieces of information need to be verified." All departments are requested to do the following things: First, intelligence departments should pay close attention to intelligence collection and study the authenticity of information. Second, the diplomatic department immediately went to probe the truth. Thirdly, the General Staff, depending on the Japanese offensive, may study our countermeasures. ”

The secretary took note of the order, Stalin read it, nodded. This time, he specially signed and officially issued the order.

On the morning of August 30, Moscow time. At this time, it was still the afternoon of the 30th in the Far East. The German tank groups successively drove to the Lukaga Line, and the German Army gradually turned the sharp openings of the tank clusters into wedges with a width of dozens of kilometers.

After the initial defeat, the Soviets soon began to assemble and attack the advancing German troops from the flanks.

This attack lasted more than ten hours, and the German offensive was strong and fierce, advancing smoothly in the morning and being counterattacked in the afternoon. After several battles, the pace of the German army, although slowed down, was steady.

On the night of August 30, Moscow time, in the early morning of August 31, Yichun time.

The Soviet Far East called directly to the People's Commissariat of Defense: the Japanese army launched an attack on our country from several different locations. The defense of the border received a severe blow. Our side has demonstrated fierce retaliation. At present, it can be determined that the Japanese army has launched an all-out offensive, focusing on three places: Hailar, Heihe and Vladivostok.

The Kwantung Army launched an offensive on the Soviet Far Eastern Front!

In the past few tens of hours, all parties in the Soviet Union have urgently mobilized, and the results of intelligence gathering have indeed shown that Japan's performance is abnormal. Although there were also many indications that it was impossible for Japan to attack the Soviet Union, the General Staff believed that it was a deception.

At the same time as receiving a telegram from the Far Eastern Army, the Japanese embassy in the USSR went to the USSR Foreign Ministry and urgently asked to see the Foreign Minister. After the meeting, the other party read a note from the Japanese Foreign Ministry, and after saying a lot of nonsense, it was clearly stated that Japan would launch a full-scale attack on the Soviet Union at 6 a.m. on the Manchurian-Mongolian border on August 30.

The USSR was furious!

While the Foreign Ministry protested, the Politburo picked up the telegram from Yan'an. That telegram advised the Soviet Union to focus on the Western Front and not to panic.

The troops transferred from the Far East were still going to the Urals, and only part of the army reached the vicinity of Moscow. To be transferred back to defend the Far East, not only can the Far East not be protected, but on the way, the Far East will fail, and it is likely that Moscow will not be able to protect it either.

To defend Moscow firmly.

The order was immediately issued for the intensification of the movement of troops to defend Moscow.

Originally, the scheduled time for the offensive was August 30, because the Hailar direction was really not ready and was postponed for a day. At six o'clock in the morning of the 31st, the offensive began. The first shot was fired at the Tiger Head Fortress in Dongning.

Tiger Head Fortress is the fortress with the most complete artillery configuration of the Japanese Kwantung Army.

The Japanese military department specially equipped the Tiger Head Fortress with the largest land-based heavy cannon in Japan at that time: a 41 cm caliber howitzer, as well as a highly mobile 9O 24 cm caliber cannon gun, which was the only one in all the fortresses.

Tiger Head Fortress also has 2 howitzers of 24 cm and 30 cm caliber, 8 howitzers of 10 cm caliber, 6 cannons of 15 cm caliber and other heavy artillery.

The powerful artillery fire of the Tiger Head Fortress opened fire together, and the Soviet pillboxes on the opposite side were in flames, and the fortifications were blown up one by one. After an hour of bombardment, most of the fortifications on the front line of the Soviet line were destroyed, and artillery fire was extended.

At the same time as the artillery was fired, dozens of planes flew to the airfield on the opposite bank, and in a burst of bombing, almost all the aerial bombs were dropped on the airfield. After the first round of bombing, more than an hour later, the planes flew into the USSR again, bombing railways, stations, fortresses, barracks.

The artillery fire on the other side of the tiger head was continuous, and thick smoke billowed everywhere.

Artillery fire from Dongning, Suifenhe, and the newly annexed North Hamgyong area of Manchuria was opened together.

More than two hundred planes flew over Vladivostok, bombing airfields, fortresses, railway stations, docks. Several Soviet warships docked on the dock were blown up and caught fire, and one warship was detonated with ammunition and destroyed its hull, slowly sinking.

In the direction of Heihe, Shengshan Fortress, Heihe Fortress, Aihui Fortress, etc., several batteries fired together.

Although the heavy artillery here is not as good as the tiger's head, there is no problem at all in covering the entire urban area of Hailan on the opposite bank, and the Soviet fortresses along the river are completely covered by artillery fire.

Hailar direction. Japanese tank and artillery units were also pulled to the border.

Originally, the design of the Hailar Fortress was defensive, as it was built in Hailar, almost equidistant from the border between Outer Mongolia and the Soviet Union, and could cope with an attack from either direction of the Soviet Union. However, this time it was an active attack, so infantry, artillery, tank crews drove to the border of Manchuria and opened fire on the Soviet Union.

A while ago, the tank troops in Zhengjiatun arrived here, and after the Guan special performance ended, they did not leave, and after the border friction, they simply did not leave, and now it comes in handy.

Here also hit dozens of aircraft, attacking the territory of the USSR, bombing airfields and seizing air supremacy.

The situation here is different from 1939.

In 1939, in order to deal with the Japanese army, the Soviet army specially mobilized a large number of army, air force, and armored troops, dispatched a large number of fuel trucks, a large number of transport vehicles, and almost the entire Far East served this campaign. In addition, at that time, Stalin personally focused on winning a local war of strategic significance.

And now, most of the troops in this area have been transferred, the planes are gone, and the armored forces have only a dozen tanks. Heavy artillery is also not very much. Under the sudden blow of the Japanese soldiers, it was simply a falling flower.

In the morning, a cluster of Soviet aircraft took off in the direction of Vladivostok, and the appearance of about thirty dozen aircraft, to say a cluster, is a little shabby.

The Soviet aircraft group went straight to the border fortresses of the Japanese army, and soon several Japanese barracks, fortresses, airfields of communication lines were bombed.

A full-scale war in the Soviet Far East and the Japanese army began with the USSR being seriously ill-prepared.