Chapter 835: The Decisive Battle - Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection Issues

"The enemy planes have flown away! Comrades, keep working! Go for it!"

As soon as the dozen German Fw-190s in the sky were lured away, Lieutenant Pavlov was the first to rush out of the hidden woods and waved a small red flag in his hand vigorously.

Then, hundreds of Red Army soldiers holding axes and saws all came out of the woods - they were in the deep forest in the west of Kalinin Oblast, at the end of a simple road opened with axes and saws.

There is actually a road connecting Kalinin City in Kalinin Oblast to Bolshaya Luki City in Pskov Oblast, but most of the roads in the Soviet Union have little traffic capacity. There are very few roads with hard surfaces that are everywhere in Western Europe and Central Europe. The so-called roads are actually dirt roads. When it rains for days, it will turn into muddy land, and the dirt road surface cannot withstand the crushing of a large number of tracked and wheeled heavy vehicles, so the traffic capacity is very limited. Moreover, the road to Bolshaya Luki had long been closely watched by the German and White Russian armies, and it was impossible to launch a surprise attack through it.

So after Zhukov took over as the commander of the Kalinin Front, he immediately dispatched more than 30,000 officers and soldiers from the 11th, 12th and 13th Guards Infantry Divisions to cut trees and open roads in the big forest. He planned to spend two months using axes and saws to forcibly open three simple roads that could be passed by the tank army.

But before the road was cut out, the Germans took the lead in launching an attack on the Belarusian salient. So Pavlov (who now belongs to the 13th Guards Infantry Division) and his comrades worked day and night with axes and saws.

As the road approached the border of the Pskov Oblast controlled by Germany (White Russia), the possibility of them being discovered by the Germans and White Russia became greater and greater. Therefore, we must be extremely careful, not only to pay attention to reconnaissance from the air, but also to send a large number of patrol and guard troops to open an airtight power search curtain in the border areas of Pskov and Kalinin.

On the afternoon of May 1, the reactionaries of the 1st Cavalry Division of the Tsarist Russia, commanded by Colonel Sergei Bunyachenko, had already collided with this Soviet power search curtain.

The sound of gunfire was like popping beans, the dull sound of the Soviet Tokarev M1910 heavy machine gun, and the piercing sound of the MG42 machine gun tearing linen were intertwined. Occasionally, there were also the sounds of mortars, recoilless guns (after the bottleneck of non-ferrous metals was completely broken, the number of recoilless guns owned by the European Community army also increased greatly, and even the White Russian army got a lot of 75mm and 105mm recoilless guns) and other light artillery exploding.

Colonel Bunyachenko, who had served in the Soviet Red Army for many years, immediately became alert when he heard the dense gunfire and artillery fire. Because he knew that the opponent with such firepower and who could fight on equal terms with his elite cavalry could not be a militia or guerrilla. The opponent must be a regular army, and most of them are the elite of the Soviet Red Army.

According to Bunyachenko's understanding of the Soviet army, these Soviet troops sent to the border between Kalinin and Pskov must belong to the Kalinin Front, where Marshal Zhukov is the commander!

The troops belonging to the Kalinin Front did not go to the outskirts of Leningrad, but appeared near Velikiye Luki in the south of Pskov. What did they want to do? Could it be that the main attack direction of the Kalinin Front was not Leningrad, but Velikiye Luki?

Bunyachenko, who felt that the problem was somewhat serious, did not dare to delay the restoration of Her Majesty the Empress, and immediately reported his findings and speculations to the German Wehrmacht Northern Army Group Command in Pskov. Although the troops heading south from Velikiy Luki belonged to the Central Army Group, Velikiy Luki and the entire Pskov Oblast were under the jurisdiction of the Northern Army Group, and Bunyachenko's cavalry division was directly under the Army Group Command.

When Bunyachenko was sent to the Northern Army Group Command, the Army Commander Marshal Küchler was visiting Krom Castle on a cape near the Velikaya River in Pskov. The castle was built in 864 AD or earlier, and now it belongs to the Russian Empress Olga.

Empress Olga arrived at Krom Castle this morning by train from the Imperial Village outside Leningrad. According to the plan, she would stop here and have lunch with Marshal Küchler, and then take a plane to Berlin to meet with German bigwigs.

For this woman who had been the ruler of a fallen country for more than 20 years, this was the most critical moment. Leningrad had been under siege for nearly a year, and the city's supplies had long been consumed. Since April, Soviet citizens with Leningrad household registration have been "expelled" under various pretexts!

Through these Leningrad citizens who "betrayed" the Soviet motherland, the empress learned that Leningrad had almost become a hell of hunger. All edible things were used to fill the stomach, and the rations of ordinary citizens were so few that they were not enough to survive. People starved to death every day, and the bodies of the dead would "disappear" inexplicably. Since 1943, even the soldiers in the city began to starve, and morale had dropped to the extreme. Everyone was looking forward to the end of this disaster as soon as possible...even if the city became Her Majesty's loyal Petrograd!

Once Petrograd surrendered, Olga would no longer be an exiled monarch who was on the verge of death.

And the commander of the German Northern Army Group, Marshal Küchler, wanted to take Leningrad just like the Empress - this might mean fighting for one or two more years for Germany, but for him, it was a great achievement that would make his descendants proud.

Of course... as the savior of the Romanov dynasty, real benefits are indispensable!

Just as he happily returned to his headquarters from Krom Castle, Bunyachenko's report had been delivered.

"What? They fought with the Red Army's infantry in the woods near Velikiye Luki?" Marshal Küchler saw the report handed over by Lieutenant General Tippelskirch, the chief of staff, and his brows immediately frowned.

"Marshal, the Soviet Red Army may launch a surprise attack on Velikiye Luki." Lieutenant General Tippelskirch had already studied this intelligence with his staff.

"A surprise attack?" Kuchler thought for a while, "How many troops can the road east of Velikiy Luki support?"

"One infantry army is no problem," said Tippelskirch, "If the Soviets are prepared in advance, they may be able to deploy a few hundred more tanks. Now the main force of the 4th Panzer Army is still in Velikiy Luki, and of course they are not afraid of the Soviets' surprise attack. But if the troops of the 4th Panzer Army all go south and cross the Velikaya River, then the area around Velikiy Luki will be a bit empty."

The "Purple Plan" formulated by Hersmann and Guderian pays great attention to "energy conservation and environmental protection", and basically deploys them in a fuel-saving way. So the 4th Panzer Army was placed in Velikiy Luki, and the railway from Leningrad to Ukraine just passes through here. And this road also intersects with the railway from Moscow to Riga in Pskov.

The personnel, equipment and supplies of the 4th Panzer Army, which uses Velikiy Luki as a major offensive base, can be transported directly from the Baltic States or even Germany via the railway line, which is not only very convenient, but also does not require the consumption of precious fuel.

The distance from Velikiye Luki to Smolensk is less than 200 kilometers, and there is also a railway connection, but it was cut off due to fighting. Once the German 4th Panzer Army occupied Smolensk, the railway from Velikiye Luki to Smolensk would be restored in the shortest possible time.

By the way, the problem of different railway gauges in the Soviet Union and Germany at this time and space did not cause much trouble to the German army invading the Soviet Union. Because the railways in the German Baltic States are 5 feet in gauge, just like the Soviet Union.

This is because the Baltic States (Republic) used to be the territory of the Russian Empire, and most of the railways there were built by Russians. Moreover, before Germany obtained Poland and Lithuania, transportation between Germany and the Baltic States (Republics) mainly relied on sea transportation. At the same time, the Baltic States (Republics) had long served as a transit station for Soviet export materials, and the scale of trade with the Soviet Union was extremely large. Therefore, the government of the Baltic States (Republics) did not change the railway gauge standard until the outbreak of the Soviet-German War.

Because of this history, the German Baltic Railway Department has a large number of 5-foot gauge locomotives and wagons (the trade between the two sides was very large before the Soviet-German War), and there are ready-made sea + rail transportation routes, which are very convenient for transporting materials.

Therefore, in this "Purple Plan", the German 4th Panzer Army, which is fighting south from Velikiye Luki, is actually the main force of the German Central Army Group. The Pskov Oblast is the rear of the 4th Panzer Army. Once the Soviet Army breaks in, it is impossible for the 4th Panzer Army to be surrounded (this army is too powerful and it is impossible to be surrounded), but the logistics and transportation of the 4th Panzer Army will definitely have problems, so it will be difficult for the army to continue its operations after capturing or encircling Smolensk.

Kuchler thought about it and issued an order: "The 1st SS Panzergrenadier Division, the 7th Paratrooper Division, the Russian Guards Infantry Division, and the 1st Russian Armored Brigade will be transferred to the south of Velikiye Luki, under the command of SS General Hausser, and called the 'Hausser Group'. In addition, the Russian 1st Cavalry Division and the 60th Infantry Division, which are already in Velikiye Luki, will also be under the command of the 'Hausser Group'. With 3 German divisions, 2 Russian divisions and 1 Russian armored brigade, the Soviets' plot should be crushed."

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