In addition to tanks, the Ming Moscow Attack Group also had thousands of armored vehicles and tens of thousands of body-barreled artillery pieces of various calibers as a support force. www.biquge.info In order to strengthen the city's street fighting capability, Zhang Cheng specially transferred four combat engineer brigades that had received special street combat training and were equipped with a large number of street fighting weapons from the strategic reserve under the Supreme Command, and urgently sent them to the front line to join the Moscow attack cluster to strengthen the attack force on the city.

Air support for this massive attack group is a powerful army aviation force of more than 4,000 aircraft, which is the largest air force in a single battlefield. The fighters belonged to several air wings under the Five Air Armies, and they almost completely dominated the airspace near Moscow.

The Central Army Group of the Ming Army is incomparably powerful. Even when a large number of troops were divided to fight south in the Volga River valley and many troops were divided to besiege the heavy Russian army group near Ryazan, it was still possible to draw so many troops to launch a powerful offensive near Moscow.

In fact, if it were not for the fact that the logistical supply line was too long, if it were not for the fact that the Ming army failed to fully grasp the Volga River and the line of the Don River for large-scale water transportation. That with the power of the Ming Dynasty, twice the number of troops can be taken out. The power of the Ming Empire is not comparable to that of the Third Reich.

At this time, the Ming army was already overloaded with logistical supplies for troops on the Russian battlefield. Because the mechanized Ming army has too high requirements for logistics supplies. Moreover, the logistics line on the land of the Ming army is so long, so long that it is desperate. Fortunately, the troops in the southern region could be supplied by sea transportation, which greatly relieved the logistical pressure of the Ming army on the entire battlefield.

Zhang Cheng also had the consideration of reducing the logistical pressure on the central front by sending a large number of troops south to fight along the Volga River from the Central Army Group. At this time, in order to be able to provide sufficient supplies to the troops on the front line, Zhang Cheng had already mobilized the airship troops directly under the Supreme Command to transport materials.

The airship is slow and has little to fight back against an attack from an aircraft, but it transports a lot of money. Under the condition that the army aviation has air supremacy, the airship unit of the Ming Dynasty has the use of professional transport airships that can load hundreds of tons of materials at a time to send various materials to the front line in large quantities at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour. In recent years, Zhang Cheng's airship factory has provided more than 2,000 transport airships for the Ming army!

These huge air carriers are the real reason why the Ming Central Army Group has been able to maintain its current size and be able to receive sufficient supplies. These airships, which can fly in the sky for days on a shelf, can transport up to hundreds of thousands of tons of logistical supplies from the mainland to the front line at one time. This powerful transportation capability was decisive for the powerful offensive launched by Zhang Cheng at this time.

The millions of troops on the front line of Army Group Center also consume at least tens of thousands of tons of various supplies every day. Relying solely on long railway lines for transportation may barely be enough to meet the minimum needs of the troops, but it is impossible to stock up on enough supplies for large-scale campaigns.

Every week, Daming's airship troops would load various supplies from Guanzhong and the Central Plains in batches, and fly to important material hoarding points in the rear of the front line at a speed of more than 100 kilometers per hour. Because of the strength of the Ming Army, this mode of transportation can even be compared with the volume of railway line transportation.

On August 20, 1942, the forward units of the Sixth Panzer Army of the Ming Army had approached the Orekhov Zuyevo area to the east. This is the edge of the vast forest sea in the east of Moscow. Further east from Orekhovo Zuyewo is a large forest as far as the eye can see. It is actually a satellite city of Moscow, with several important factories and an oil refinery that was aided by the Americans before the war. At the moment, these factories were drowned in artillery fire along with the city.

The Sixth Armored Army was still the Ninth Armored Corps under the command of He Wenzhao. The force was adequately replenished during a few days of recuperation. The Ming army's logistics units transported tanks and other heavy weapons directly from Kazan on large flatbed trailers, while the replenishment of recruits arrived directly to the front line by landing transport planes.

Compared with the fully mechanized Ming army, most of the Russian soldiers who were the opponents of the Ming army relied on their own feet to walk and march. At this time, when the railways and highways close to the front line were almost completely destroyed, the huge disparity in national strength suddenly became apparent.

When the 6th Panzer Army was operating, the 11th Panzer Army, which was responsible for outflanking Moscow from the west, was not idle. From Lukhovetsy, they attacked westward along the road outside the city of Moscow, intending to encircle Moscow with the Sixth Panzer Army.

Compared to the Sixth Panzer Army, which marched rapidly along the outer edge of the forest, the 11th Panzer Army, which was attacking from the densely fortified area of the Russian army, was much slower. After all, the Russian army is not dead. In addition to the Russian troops gathered in the area near Moscow. The Russian army is mobilizing troops from all directions to rush to Moscow to participate in the campaign. Even the Russian army has constantly asked the allies to send troops to Moscow for reinforcements.

Under these circumstances, Zhang Cheng was not willing to let the 11th Panzer Army take risks. Zhang Cheng adopted a steady and steady tactic, step by step to seize important areas on both sides of the highway line. After the 11th Panzer Army passed, a large number of Ming mechanized infantry behind quickly followed to provide flank cover for the armored troops, while constantly expanding outward to attack and increase the position.

The lines of the Russian army are constantly being broken through. One unit after another, which hurried to Moscow from all over the country, was mercilessly sent by Zhukov to plug the bullet holes. It's really to plug the guns. At this time, the Russian army no longer had a strong armored force near Moscow, and in the face of the steel torrent of the elite armored forces of the Ming army, Zhukov could only continue to fill the position with infantry. In the face of the flood of armor of the Ming army, usually an infantry division can only withstand for a few hours.

Zhukov knew very well in his heart that now the Russian army has suffered heavy losses. Most of the armored forces that can be used are concentrated in the Volga and Don valleys, and there are also strategic reserves near St. Petersburg. Not to mention whether these armored units can be mobilized to fight in Moscow. It takes a long time to travel such a long distance alone. Judging from the offensive of the Ming army in front of them, by the time they came, the Ming army had already surrounded Moscow.

As for the troops of those allies. These so-called allies, who were stationed all over Russia and enjoyed the supplies saved by the Russians through gritted teeth, had been playing soy sauce for the past few years, and now it was rare that they had finally fought desperately against the Ming army, but they were all monkey spirits. These allies all saw that the Ming army's offensive against Moscow was irreversible, and at this time, no one would send their troops to Moscow, a doomed encirclement, at the request of the Russian army.

Most of the main armies of the allies stationed in Russia were in the Volga valley and the Caucasus at this time, and fierce battles were raging with the Ming army. The only ones who could really be put into the battlefield in Moscow in a short period of time were the 300,000 units of the British Expeditionary Force that had been stationed in St. Petersburg since the landing. And the shrewd British have not sent this unit to the battlefield for several years, and now it is natural that they will not rush over stupidly at this time.

All the allies, and even quite a few senior commanders of the Russian army, believe that Moscow is no longer able to hold out. They all used Moscow and Zhukov's forces as bait to pin down the heavy army group of the Ming army. After urgent deliberations, the Allies decided to fight the Ming army in the Volga Valley and the Caucasus, inflicting heavy losses on the Ming army's heavy army group and thus breaking up the Ming army's ferocious offensive. Moscow was naturally abandoned and became an outcast to contain the Ming Army's Army Group Center. After all, the Allies could not afford to fight the Ming army on two battlefields at the same time.

At this time, the only reinforcements Zhukov could get were the Russian strategic reserve from St. Petersburg. After all, the Allies may be able to ignore it, but the Russians themselves cannot afford to give up. But before the strategic reserves rushed over, Zhukov could only rely on himself to guard the transportation hub.

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhukov was determined to put the last of his armored forces on hand on a counterattack against the Ming 11th Panzer Army. After all, there are no more goals to pay attention to in the east of Moscow. Moreover, the road conditions over there are not good, and the advance speed of the Sixth Panzer Army of the Ming Army will definitely be affected by terrain factors.

On the contrary, the 11th Panzer Army of the Ming Army in the west was different. To the west of Moscow there are flat plains with good lines of communication, and this terrain is ideal for a large-scale assault by armored forces. Moreover, the western side was also an important link between the Moscow garrison and the rest of Russia. Once all transport hubs are captured, the entire Moscow region will be encircled.

Just as Zhukov was preparing for a counterattack, the forward units of the Ming 11th Panzer Army were approaching Vyazma, an extremely important area west of Moscow, at high speed.

Vyazma is the only way from Smolinsk to Moscow and is the intersection of several important railway and road lines. At this time, when Moscow, the most important transportation hub in the whole of Russia, was about to be surrounded, Vyazma and Smolinsk became the most important passages connecting the northern and southern territories of Russia.

Zhang Cheng naturally saw this, and he directly changed the original plan of the General Staff from the Kaluga region to the north to encircle Moscow from the Vyazma region. To this end, Zhang Cheng also deliberately greatly strengthened the strength of the 11th Armored Army to cut off the Russian army's transportation links. (To be continued.) )