Failure before Moscow a Red/BW Joint TL

[BlairWitch749]

LEEB'S DOUBTS (CHAPTER 1)

October 1941 Army Group North HQ

GeneralFeldmarschall Ritter Von Leeb rubbed his bald skull in deep thought. This latest order from the Grofraz really bothered him, not that Leeb had the best relations with Hitler. The fuhrer had already retired him from service twice and only the escalation of the war brought him back into the army.

Leeb's army had already advanced hundreds of kilometers and occupied the Baltic states and had now reached the outskirts of Leningrad. Leeb was proud of his men they had accomplished much despite harsh terrain and fanatical Russian resistance. Leeb had failed to break through the outer ring of the Leningrad defenses in his first rush and up to the time this order arrived had been planning another lunge leading with his veteran 4th panzer army under General Hoeppner.

The order was a serious one and Leeb had a big decision to make.

Army Group North is to go over to the defensive and maintain the encirclement of Leningrad and let the city starve. 4th Panzer army is to be transferred as soon as rolling stock allows to the northern most assembly areas of army group center for participation in the drive to Moscow - OKH

Leeb longed to be the man who captured Leningrad since he had just a minor roll in the victory against France. He weighed his options. He could launch the offensive he was prepping for anyway... success would give him forgiveness and the men were ready. Leeb could also count on the personal support of Field Marshal Keitel who was a longtime friend.

Leeb also considered the men he commanded for a moment. He had visited 1st panzer division recently and they and their machines were tired. He would have to not only disregard his orders to send them forward again but disregard his instincts as an officer in favor of vanity. The 4th panzer army needed a few days of vital rest and repair before they could be effective. In his heart Leeb knew that Moscow was the key objective of the campaign. The German possession of the Moscow communication node would turn Russia's vastness normally an asset into a liability because the northern and southern fronts wouldn't be able to support each other and the Germans could defeat them in detail.

"I thought we could take Leningrad in the following spring Moscow was the more vital objective" Leeb would write in his war diary.

The orders went out 4th panzer army to stand down and repair vehicles for 3 days then move onto the left flank of army group center for operation typhoon. All of Army Group North's air support would be coming along as well. The XXXXI and LVI Panzer Corps serviced their tanks and trucks while the troops got some much needed rest there would be big battles ahead.

It would prove to be one of the biggest decisions of the war. The 4th panzer army had a high percentage of seasoned personel and veteran officers who would lead the critical northern thrust towards Moscow.

The remainder of Leeb's army the 16th and 18th infantry armies dug in and let the Leningrad garrison feel the pangs of hunger siege warfare could generate and prayed for the armor to come back soon

to be continued....

hope you all enjoy our cooperative tl

(Ritter Von Leeb who gave up his tanks so the Germans could reach Moscow)

[DuQuense]

?Is there a POD hidden in here somewhere?

[BlairWitch749]

yes Leeb made one last desperate lunge for Leningrad after he had received in his orders to go over to the defensive in otl. This failed miserably and the 1st panzer division in particular and the XXXXI panzer corps overall were completely exhausted. that last operation cost them over 100 tanks and vital days were also lost on the road to Moscow. This prevented critical repair work from being done in the 4th panzer army

in otl the 4th panzer army was the strongest of the German Panzer Armies at the time of Typhoon even in spite of this wasteful offensive. The 4th panzer army despite the losses in the last Leningrad offensive got to within 20 miles of Moscow. The extra hundred or so tanks and slightly fresher units may help them cover that last bit of distance

[DuQuense]

?So how will a earlier digging in around Leningrad affect the Siege? ?Can this close the Lake Ladoga gap?

[BlairWitch749]

not without a more active Finnish participation or the return of the panzer armies. the infantry armies alone don't have the strength to crack the Leningrad defensive perimeter. in otl the jump off points for the last try at Leningrad ended up being the point were they held the siege from anyway

[The Red]

PREPARING FOR THE FINAL BATTLE (CHAPTER 2)

This city is a prostitute
She has red spots on her forehead
Her teeth are made of gold
She's fat and yet so lovely
Her mouth falls to my valley
when I pay her for it
She takes off her clothes but only for money
The city that keeps me in suspense




Leeb had a right to believe that the city could be taken, standing between the Wehrmacht and the possible fate of the world were three Soviet fronts formed from battered armies that had been fighting for several months. The forces committed to the city's defense totaled 1,250,000 men, 1,000 tanks, 7,600 guns. The Soviet Air Force had suffered appalling losses of some 21,200 aircraft However, extraordinary industrial achievements had begun to replace losses, and the VVS had 936 aircraft, 578 of which were bombers for the defense of the capital. Even with reinforcements, air strength was a shadow of pre-war strength. Troops and equipment, while equal to the Wehrmacht based on their numbers alone, were poorly located, with most of the troops deployed in a single line, and had few reserves to the rear. Furthermore, many Soviet defenders were seriously lacking in combat experience and some critical equipment, while their tanks were obsolete models.


Even by the Winter the Soviets still had large numbers of the obsolete T-26 defending Moscow

In October 1941, Georgi Zhukov replaced Semyon Timoshenko in command of the central front and was assigned to direct the Defence of Moscow.

Immediately he began constructing extensive defenses around the city. The Rzhev-Vyazma defense setup, was built on the Rzhev-Vyazma-Bryansk line. The Mozhaisk defense line, was a double defense stretching between Kalinin and Kaluga. Finally, a triple defense ring surrounded the city itself, forming the Moscow Defense Zone. These defenses were still largely unprepared by the beginning of Typhoon. Furthermore, the German attack plan had been discovered quite late, and Soviet troops were ordered to assume a total defensive stance only on September 27, 1941. However, new Soviet divisions were being formed on the Volga, in Asia and in the Urals, and it would only be a matter of a few months before these new troops could be committed, making the battle a race against the clock...

[bobbis14]

Intersting ... keep going

[RGB]

Originally Posted by BlairWitch749

The extra hundred or so tanks and slightly fresher units may help them cover that last bit of distance

...and then what?

[The Red]

Originally Posted by RGB

...and then what?

You'll have to wait and see

[BlairWitch749]

Originally Posted by RGB

...and then what?

we had a thread about our first thoughts on this yesterday if you want to use that as a sneak peak

[BlairWitch749]

TYPHOON ON THE FRONT (CHAPTER 3)

October 1941Central Russia


Despite hasty preparations the concentrated might of army group center thundered across the front. The 2nd,3rd,4th Panzer Armies along with the 2nd,4th,9th infantry armies tore into the Soviet armies with Moscow as their goal. Over 500 aircraft of the second air fleet flew sorties to knock out the rail lines and Soviet vehicles.

Various German commanders had misgivings of the last great push towards Moscow. In particular the commander of the 2nd Panzer Army the legendary Heinz Guderian saw several shortcomings.

After the long drive through the Ukraine my troops were tired. Their machines desperately required several days of urgent service. Army Group Center was impatient to launch the offensive in spite of my warnings that we hadn't received replacement tanks and that fuel reserves were inadequate given how far away our objectives were. Nevertheless we stormed forward hoping to get to Moscow before winter


The northern part of army group center experienced rapid success and quickly had a double encirclement of the the central and reserve fronts of the army. The weight of metal the 4th Panzer army was able to put into the battle in particular allowed them to slice through the hastily constructed Soviet positions. The tanks trucks and halftracks wrapped themselves around the trapped Soviet divisions that desperately tried to escape the encirclement. The 9th army tried desperately to overrun the pocket and stampede the Soviets into surrendering. Although many did surrender especially after airstrikes removed a lot of the Soviet transport many Soviet troops sometimes up to the size of a rifle division did escape the trap.

The Bryansk front was encircled by the 2nd panzer army and the 2nd infantry army trying to crush the pocket. Guderian's army didn't have nearly the strength of his northern neighbors. His army was attacked by t-34's of the 4th tank brigade and the relatively fresh 1st guards rifle corps. This created critical battle situations because the ordinary German divisions didn't have any anti tank weapons that could knock out a t-34. Guderian was increasingly relying on airpower as a substitute for artillery and armored striking power. A special commission was sent on Guderian's request to investigate how to create armored vehicles with enough fire power to stop the new Soviet tank.

While the Germans reduced the pockets a brief snow fell then melted creating unbearable mud all along the roads completely killing off German mobility. The pockets did collapse with the Germans claiming over 650,000 prisoners although later research would adjust this down to about 550,000. This was still an impressive victory and it removed 40 percent of the Soviet manpower in the western theater.

By the second week in October the Germans arrived at the last Moscow defense line. The 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies reached Kalinin and the 2nd Panzer army reached Tula. Tula proved an impossible nut to crack for Guderian... it would have taken a full strength infantry corps with lots of artillery and airpower to reduce the city and he had no such forces in reserve so he was forced to swing wide around the city dropping off his tired infantry divisions to extend his lines. The Germans at this point were slowed more by lack of fuel and poor condition of the roads than by Russian resistance.

By the first week in November both great armies were almost completely exhausted with only the 4th Panzer army making any real progress. Stalin launched several hasty counterattacks which were for the most part beaten off. There was one exception; the 4th infantry army was roughly handled because it lacked effective anti tank weapons. The losses in this formation were especially felt because they were the army directly on the center course for Moscow and their troops would be needed to storm the city.

The second week in November saw a solid frost and then frozen ground which solved the mud problems and restored some of the German mobility. The Russians profited from this time and had set up a triple layered defensive line in front of their capital

The Germans planned an encirclement of the capital with the 3rd, and 4th panzer armies to the north of the city and 2nd panzer army to the south. The northern pincer made more progress with the 1st, 6th, and 7th panzer divisions crossing the Moscow-Volga Canal the last defense line before the city itself.

The Soviets had planned a counterattack with their first shock army but seeing the size of the Germans approaching them they withdrew into the suburbs of the city itself. The panzers rushed into the suburbs screaming into their radios. We are in Moscow! We are in Moscow!. The tanks however were at the end of an extremely thin supply line and their tired infantry forces had no success at all widening the shoulders of their break through. Snow came down and slowed progress even further. The 4th Panzer army's tanks had made the difference but they were in a critical situation. Ammunition was so low that they could only fire in self defense or in an emergency. They had also only broken into a small part of the city and were constantly being counterattacked by the 1st shock army looking to cut them off from army group center.

Farther to the south things did not go so well for the Germans. Guderian's army couldn't supply well because Tula had not fallen. Lack of fuel and poor road conditions off the highway retarded their progress. Guderian's last lunge got him close to Karshira but then a counterattack drove him back. His army was completely spent and extremely vulnerable to the Russian winter.

The 4th infantry army tried to advance up the middle directly towards Moscow on the highway but suffered from a lack of tank and air support and were checked short of the city.

So the northern group had made it into the city's outskirts but the center and southern groups were stuck just short.

Hitler was exstatic on hearing that the 4th Panzer army had reached the capitol and called a conference of his senior leadership to decide how to exploit this. "One more push and the whole Soviet system will collapse"

to be continued...

your thoughts

two updates in one day because YOU deserve it



Erich Hoepner whose panzers were the only ones to reach Moscow off the march

[The Red]

KNOTTING THE NOOSE (CHAPTER 4)

Quite contrary to Hitlers belief of a final push to destroy the Red Army it was the Germans that were in a position of great weakness. By the 1st of December the 4th Panzer Army was facing severe problems and continous soviet probing attacks from the front line and children and old men behind the line armed with shot guns, molotovs, knives and sometimes even bricks were causing them to be running seriously low on ammunition. However it was not Soviet attacks that the Germans were worried about, it was the fact that they had stopped.

Since Autumn, thanks mainly to intelligence by their Tokyo master spy Richard Sorge, the Soviets had been pulling as much as they could from Asia and as much as they possibly could from the Northern and Southern fronts and by December Zhukov had accumulated a 54 division reserve. Every T-34, KV-1 and modern fighter/bomber that could be taken was leaving the Northern and Southern fronts at an all time level of vulnerability however by December the Soviets could claim numerical superiority over the Germans with even 2:1 in more vital areas.


The Soviet plan, focusing on the junction between Army groups North and Centre between Lake Seliger and Rzhev, would drive a gap between the two German army groups and cut off all forces who had crossed the Moscow-Volga Canal. A second Kaluga to the south-west of Moscow, it was then intended that the two offensives converge on Smolensk, trapping the large part of Army Group Centre. The plan for the offensive was bold and the build up was largely dismissed by the OKH as maskirovka to try and force a German retreat from the city as bad German intelligence had told them that Soviet reserves were exhausted and that what was left of them were inside the city.

The German Army never realised how big a mistake they were making...

[RGB]

Well, just getting into Moscow doesn't mean you've taken it, and they did spend all that extra effort...

[lonewulf44]

Originally Posted by The Red

[b][i]

The German Army would never recover from this mistake...

Bummer, does this mean the city's salvation is certain?

[The Red]

Originally Posted by lonewulf44

Bummer, does this mean the city's salvation is certain?

No not in the slightest but there will be a Soviet offensive.

[Avalon1]

Waht role would the Japanese play? Would they be emboldened to carry out Otsu?

[The Red]

Originally Posted by Avalon1

Waht role would the Japanese play? Would they be emboldened to carry out Otsu?

Attacking Siberia still isnt a very good idea for Japan it wont give them the oil and rubber they need and they would be attcked in late autumn when the harshest weather is about to begin.

So they'll still attack Pearl Harbour.

[BlairWitch749]

Japan has behaved as otl and thus the Russians could still move the Siberian divisions to the West. The main pod we have done is the sparing of the 4th Panzer Army from the last Leningrad offensive. This allowed the Germans to reach the city on the Northwestern front. The 1st shock army also didn't attack the German spearhead in the open but instead withdrew into the city creating a bloodbath

The butterflies should be pretty interesting

[BlairWitch749]

PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET (CHAPTER 5)

December 1941 Central Russia

A quick conference was held at Army Group Center HQ at Smolensk. The 4th Panzer Army was into the northwestern districts of Moscow. The other formations were stopped just short and in terrible conditions due to the weather and lack of rest.

The spearhead was absoultely dead despite the propaganda reels showing the 1st Panzer division with the Kremlin in the background of their front. Intense street fighting was beyond the German tankers at this point. Every building was a potential death trap as trained soliders and heroic citizens of Moscow poured automatic weapons, anti tank rifles, grenades and even satchel charges from every window.

The 1st, 6th and 7th Panzer divisions who had lead the vital charge to the city were a shadow of even their pre typhoon strength. They lacked the necessary infantry to storm the great concrete buildings of the capitol and a lot of their artillery was stuck on the wrong side of the Moscow-Volga canal. The heavy nature of the building in Moscow created problems. Tank fire would not break them up and air strikes were extremely limited due to the terrible weather conditions and swarms of Soviet fighters trying to defend the skies.

Supply over the canal proved almost impossible with only the absoulte bearest essentials reaching the 4th Panzer Army.

Hitler's conference tried to remedy this:
Present were: Hitler, Halder, Von Bock, Guderian, Von Kluge, Hoth, Stauss, Weichs and Hoepner

Hitler: We must give reinforcements to the 4th Panzer Army we are at our moment of triumph. One more push and the whole Bolshevik system will fall apart and the East shall be ours
Halder: We have no theater reserves left to committ my fuhrer. The harshness of the campaign has taxed our replacement system to the bone and none of our new formations are yet ready for deployment
Hitler: I wish to hear no excuses. We shall transfer divisions from the other formations nearby to finish our victory. Guderian; you will transfer 3rd, 4th Panzer and 10th Motorized to the 4th Panzer Army so they can help capture the city.
Guderian: I must protest my fuhrer. My front is stretched extremely thin and the 2nd Panzer Army has no available reserves to make up for the transfer of an entire panzer corps. We are allready being stung by Russian countering attacks and have no winter quarters. I am losing more men from frostbite than from Russian attacks. The infantry of my army desperately require the panzers to backstop them from attacks.
Hitler: You are too far from the city still to give a major contribution to the critical battle my mind is made up. I will have 2nd army transfer 2 of their infantry divisions to help flesh out your front.
Guderian: This is a great folly my fuhrer I cannot stand by whilst my men are made to suffer in this regard we cannot take the city in these horrible winter conditions. I therefore resign my commission

Guderian then stormed out of the room and nobody made any attempt to stop him. His departure would create a critical command vaccume on the 2nd Panzer Army's front

Hitler: Now that issue is settled. I want the 3rd Panzer Army and 4th army to push together along the central axis and break into the core of the city proper. This must be launched as soon as possible. Ruthlessly strip other parts of your front so you can achieve the necessary concentrations along the highway gentlemen. The 9th army is to send 3 divisions across the canal to supplement the tankers and I want the city in our hands for Christmas. This conference is over!

Hitler had made several critical mistakes in these choices. He was reinforcing a dead front. He had allowed his most talented armored commander to resign. He had also put all his eggs in one basket sending more troops across the narrow penetration over the canal. Supply was hard for the 3 divisions already there and 6 more made things unbearable. The cold did terrible things to the exposed troops of the 4th Panzer army. Tanks had to have fires lit under them before starting. The cold warped every battery around. Butter froze so completely that it had to be cut with a saw. Machine gun bolts froze closed so only single shots could be fired. Anti tank rounds had to be scrapped with a knife because the packing grease would freeze to the ammuntion.

The 9 divisions made no progress further into the city over the next 10 days. Cold, lack of fuel, and lack of ammuntion never allowed a true offensive to develop again. This was the last lunge of a dying animal. The Russians profited by this and saw an immense opportunity as the Germans froze to death in the ruined suburbs.

to be continued.....

your thoughts?


Heinz Guderian who saw the folly of attacking Moscow in the middle of Winter.

[The Red]

HAR MEGGIDO (CHAPTER 6 PART 1)

"What is happening?" he asked one day of his great-grandson.
"It is el Harb - the war"
"Who makes this war?"
"El nussara - the infidel"
"Against whom? And why?"
"It is infidel against infidel. Who knows why?"



"To the beginning of December the parity of forces at the front essentially has changed. The Germans troops are exhausted and weakened. At the same time the Red Army has received a significant reinforcement from formations thrown from the Siberia and from the Far East. They are well equipped and trained divisions, distinguished of high fighting capacity. We have reserved them for the counter-offensive, even per the heaviest days, when on approaches to Moscow the badly armed regiments and cadets of the Moscow military schools perished."

From the War Diaries of Marshal Georgy Zhukov

On December 5, 1941, the counteroffensive started. Hundreds of thousands of shells and rockets erupted from the Kalinin front and smashed into German lines. The Soviets began to break through all over the line as the severe lack of ammunition and bitter cold began severely disrupt German defenses. A daylater Hitler signed his directive number 39, which ordered the Wehrmacht to assume a defensive stance on the whole front. However, German troops were unable to organize a solid defense at their present locations and were forced to pull back to consolidate their lines. In the north, Klin and Kalinin were liberated on December 15 and December 16, as the Kalinin Front drove west. The Soviet front commander, General Konev, managed to reach Rzhev and finally managed to crush the German defense of the city by the 20 th of December.In the south, the offensive went equally well, with Southwestern Front forces relieving Tula on December 16, 1941. The Luftwaffe was reinforced, as Hitler saw it as the only hope to "save" the situation. However despite the Luftwaffe's best efforts, Soviet air superiority managed to stop them from the hampering the Red Army's pursuit of the German Army. In the center, Soviet troops liberated Naro-Fominsk only on December 8, Kaluga on December 18, and Maloyaroslavets on December 22, after days of violent action.

By mid-December, OKH was becoming an increasingly frantic place as they tried to find some way to save Army Group Centre from encirclement as it's flanks were hammered by the two Soviet prongs...