At this time, the mobile strength of the German army was held back by a large part of the occupied area, and Army Group South, which could have provided reinforcements, was forced to return because the Soviet Caucasian Front and the Steppe Front suddenly joined forces to attack Stalingrad, although Manstein successfully won again and captured more than 100,000 Soviet troops, but Guderian's Army Group Center did not hold out until the spring of 1944 thawed, and the frustrated Guderian had to admit to the mustache that "we lost the war", the "father of blitzkrieg" As a result, it was once idle

However, Guderian's retreat was fairly well organized, avoiding greater losses, and thanks to the inadequate training and inexperience of the Soviet troops. Even so, the number of German casualties still exceeded 100,000, and another 70,000 or 80,000 were taken prisoner, and if the servant army is included, the total losses exceeded 300,000, and the number of wounded was even greater, and the strategic intention of the German army to capture Moscow was not realized. The defeat of the Germans in the Battle of Moscow was therefore irrefutable, although the losses were greater on the part of the Soviets

In the Battle of Moscow, the number of Soviet troops permanently attrition was close to 400,000, while the number of wounded exceeded 500,000, which is even greater than the historical battle of the same name. In addition, most of the fuel and ammunition in the Soviet army's reserves were also consumed, which directly led to the lack of stamina of the Soviet army's pursuit in the Zuihou phase of the Battle of Moscow and the release of a large number of German troops

However, even so, the victory in the Battle of Moscow gave great encouragement to the Soviet military and civilians and even the entire Allied camp, and Roosevelt even predicted that it would be a turning point in the Soviet-German battlefield. However, the current Soviet army obviously cannot boast of it. Soon after, Zhukov personally planned the "Battle of Mars" (this is the code name of the battle, the Soviet Union liked to use the nine planets to name the Great Battle at that time, for example, the historical Battle of Stalingrad was codenamed "Battle of Uranus"). Defeated by the Germans' excellent mobile defensive tactics, the Soviets lost more than 200,000 killed, missing, and captured, and no less than 300,000 wounded, while the Germans suffered a permanent attrition of only 40,000 men, and of course, the casualties of the servants and even the allied armies were never counted

The fiasco at the Battle of Mars disgraced Zhukov, whose prestige had increased after the Battle of Moscow, but fortunately Stalin did not shake his trust in him, otherwise he would have regretted it even more. The Germans achieved more than just a victory. There is also a general star who has shown outstanding military talent, the commander of the 9th Army, Walter Brown. Moder. To the delight of the mustache, not only did Moder possess superior military prowess, especially in defense, but he was also an ardent Nazi, despite his irascible temper and overconfidence, which led him to often fight against him. But in the eyes of the mustache. Moder was clearly more trustworthy than the noble officers of the Wehrmacht

It must be stated. The reason why the Soviet Union was able to squeeze out hundreds of thousands of mobile troops to counterattack Germany despite the cumulative losses being much greater than in history was that the Soviet Union was able to transfer more troops from the Far East and Central Asia to the European part because of the rise of China and its friendship with the Soviet Union, and another important reason was that the defense of Leningrad had not yet begun.

In order to prevent Germany from repeating the mistakes of history. Hu Weidong once conducted a war game with the German generals about the imaginary defense of Leningrad, and the results of the deduction made the proud Germans look like dirt

Hu Weidong believes that because of the city's special location, complete fortifications, and the unity of the military and civilians, Leningrad can be said to be the most difficult city on the planet to completely occupy. As long as Moscow did not fall into the hands of the Germans, Leningrad would never have been defeated; And even if Moscow was captured by the Germans, Leningrad could not be defeated; Unless Germany has the spare strength to draw more than a million elite troops (only Germany's own troops and the Nordic army can meet the requirements) to besiege Leningrad specifically and cannot take care of reinforcements (it cannot be completely besieged, as it has done in history). Otherwise, Zuihou will definitely be defeated, but the problem is that if Germany really has that spare strength, the Soviet Union will definitely be completely finished, so Hu Weidong's conclusion is that Leningrad can only be solved by Zuihou, and if it attacks when the Soviet army still has strength, it will definitely run into blood

First of all, Leningrad is at a very high latitude and has a long and cold winter, which is undoubtedly a huge challenge to the German offensive. Then, Leningrad was in a more remote position, and a German attack on the city would inevitably lengthen the supply lines. Moreover, although Leningrad was a large port, the water depth was quite shallow, and it was difficult for the new German battleships with a deep draft to sail into the harbor and threaten the most central areas of the city. What's worse is that the Soviet Union's own old Gangut-class battleships can pass freely because of the shallow draft, although its main gun caliber is only 305 mm, far inferior to the current new battleships, but for the German ground forces besieging the city, it is enough to cause a devastating blow, and it is worth mentioning that the Gangut-class main turret is four triple-mounted, a total of 12 guns, just in terms of the ability to pour ammunition, it may not be much worse than the new battleship.

And the most important thing is that because the water depth is too shallow, even if the German army dispatches the air force to sink the 1-2 Gangut-class battleships that should be in the harbor, it will run aground in the harbor and will not sink, not only is it easy to pick up and repair, but even if it is not salvaged, it can be used as a turret to continue to provide fire support to the defenders in the city, only by destroying several of its turrets can this threat be completely solved, but the turret as a target is much smaller than the entire warship, even if it is the historical Rudel, It was also difficult to hit accurately, not to mention that it was simply an impossible task to kill all four main turrets while the Soviets could repair them nearby.

As long as the Gangut-class battleships in the harbor can still play a role, the heavy artillery that the German army relies on when attacking fortifications will not dare to use it at all, and can only fight street battles block by block, you must know that street battles have always been extremely cruel, and the fortification of Leningrad's city defense is rare on Shijie, and at the same time, there is a Shijie-class strong fortress not far from the city to form a horn trend, and more importantly, as a "Lenin's city", the residents of Leningrad are extremely loyal to the Soviet Union, and in the face of foreign invasion, The Nazis were also ideological mortal enemies, and the local soldiers and civilians were bound to be more united in hatred of the enemy and would rather die than surrender, and with all the people in the army and sufficient weapons and ammunition, the underpopulated Germany could hardly bear the huge casualties of street fighting. Even with the help of cloudburst bombs, it is unlikely to fundamentally change this outcome, because Leningrad is too large and the capacity that Germany can spare to produce cloudburst bombs is too small (to be continued......