Chapter 877 There Are No Good People in Leningrad (Second Update)

When the reactionary leaflets fell from the sky, Kuznetsov, the second secretary of Leningrad City W, was seeing off his wife Zinaida Dmitrievna and several children at a long-distance bus station next to a dense forest in the northeast of the city. Kuznetsov's wife and children were of course on the list of those to be evacuated, not because Kuznetsov had any selfish motives, but to show his absolute loyalty to the Central Committee.

All senior party, government, and military cadres who remained in Leningrad must now send their wives and children to Moscow!

Therefore, today, along with Kuznetsov's wife and children, there are also hundreds of family members of senior party, government, and military cadres in Leningrad. In addition, a group of family members, cadres, military academy students, naval factory personnel, and sailors of the Red Navy in Leningrad (Kronstadt) also left today with the families of senior party, government, and military cadres.

When the German planes came to drop leaflets just now, everyone hid in the woods. Although the German planes have left, people have not come out of the woods because the convoy to pick them up has not arrived yet. Instead, he stayed in the woods and said goodbye or something else.

Kuznetsov was about to say a few more words to his wife - he always had an ominous premonition in his heart, as if the separation from his wife would become a farewell forever! So he wanted to talk to his wife more while he could still talk to her.

But looking at his lover who had been with him for many years, he didn't know what to say at this time.

And at this moment, he suddenly heard someone discussing reactionary things nearby!

"My dear, New York is so prosperous and rich, better than Leningrad and Moscow. If I have the chance, I really want to take you there."

"Better than Leningrad and Moscow? But I heard that it is a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor. We don't have much money, can we live in New York?"

"A hell for the poor? I don't think so... But there should be a lot of rich people there, and the streets are full of cars, and there are often traffic jams."

"Traffic jams?"

"It means that cars are lined up on the road, crawling slower than turtles... Ah, that is a very wide road, wider than Nevsky Avenue."

"Really? I must go and see it if I have the chance..."

The speakers should be a young man and woman. From what they said, Kuznetsov knew that they must be people from the Red Navy. After the siege of Leningrad was relieved, the relevant personnel of the Red Navy became the object of headache for Kuznetsov and the Leningrad Internal Security Department.

Because many Red Navy personnel who had been to New York entered Leningrad, these people not only brought many American products, but also spread the prosperity of New York and the rich living standards of the American people.

They dared to spread rumors that there were millions of cars in New York, that Americans' food was openly supplied, that they did not need rations to eat and drink, and that they did not need tickets to buy various industrial products!

Kuznetsov and Abakumov, who had just arrived in Leningrad, were furious when they heard these rumors, and immediately decided to set up a special task force to investigate. However, before the task force started working, the anti-GM elements who spread the rumors were going to Molotovsk. And they had to go with Kuznetsov's wife and children - in fact, Kuznetsov's wife and children still needed the protection of these anti-GM elements of the Red Navy to arrive safely in Kirovsk...

So now Kuznetsov had to hold his nose and endure the reactionary remarks he heard with his own ears... It was impossible to keep the Red Navy personnel to carry out the purge!

Because the Red Navy was about to go out to fight side by side with the US Navy, how could they have time to carry out the purge at this time? The navy is not the army, just being able to walk is enough. If the navy is purged, where can we find so many people to sail the ship in a short time?

Therefore, Kuznetsov had no choice but to write a report to Stalin, and at the same time suggested that Stalin settle the score at the right time.

Kuznetsov, who was thinking about how to write the report, suddenly saw his deputy in Leningrad, Peter Sergeyevich Popkov, walking quickly, holding a leaflet picked up from somewhere in his hand.

"Comrade Secretary, look at this." Popkov handed the leaflet to Kuznetsov.

"This is..." Kuznetsov took the leaflet and looked at it, his face immediately became ugly. The leaflet he saw was of course the same as the leaflet Kaminsky saw!

"Comrade Secretary," Popkov said in a low voice, "the current problem seems to be very serious!"

"Not many people will be confused by them," Kuznetsov said, "we should believe that most Leningraders love the Soviet motherland."

"It's not that," Popkov said, "it's that the enemy knows our situation very well, and immediately..."

It hit the nail on the head!

Kuznetsov already understood that Popkov meant...the enemy knows the situation in Leningrad very well, which means that there must be their people inside the city of Leningrad, and their level may not be low, maybe it's a group!

"We must speed up the reorganization of Leningrad's militia (in fact, it has been reorganized into the regular Red Army)," Kuznetsov said, "When I return to the city, I will discuss this matter with Comrade Vlasov and Comrade Abakumov."

...

"Reorganize the militia?"

At the Leningrad Front Headquarters, Vlasov and Abakumov (who was also a member of the Military Committee) looked at each other and showed some helplessness when they heard Kuznetsov's suggestion.

"What's the matter?" Kuznetsov saw that the two people looked a little strange, so he asked, "Isn't it time to reorganize now?"

Vlasov shook his head and said with a wry smile: "The troops transferred to Leningrad now are all from Siberia..."

"So what if they are from Siberia?" Kuznetsov didn't figure it out for a while.

"Many people used to be labor camp prisoners!"

"Labor camp prisoners? Are they... criminals?" Kuznetsov asked.

Abakumov smiled bitterly: "Where are there so many criminals in the Soviet Union? They are all political prisoners!"

Beria's confidant now feels like he has fallen into a fire pit! Before he came to Leningrad, he didn't know that a considerable part of the reinforcements sent by the Supreme Command to the Leningrad Front came from concentration camps.

As General Vlasov had just become the commander of a front, his influence in the Supreme Command was not strong enough (the Kalinin Front was led by Zhukov, the commander of the Central Front was Yeremenko, who was Stalin's confidant, and the commander of the newly established Reserve Front, Klimosovsky, was Pavlov's man), so he had no choice but to accept these "bad elements" - it was better to have reinforcements than not, right?

"That has to be done!" Kuznetsov stamped his feet, "Break up the two groups and mix them together, and then organize them into various infantry divisions in battalions or regiments. Each infantry division can have at most two unreliable regiments... This should be more reliable, right?"

General Vlasov nodded, "That's the only way... Fortunately, in the upcoming Fourth Battle of Leningrad, our Leningrad Front is not the main force. The battle will mainly rely on the Kalinin Front. As long as they win, we will have enough time to adjust."

Leningrad is not expected to be attacked by the German army... This is the unanimous judgment of the Soviet Supreme Command, and it is also the view of Vlasov.

However, the commander of the German Northern Army Group, Marshal Küchler, has a different view.

In the first few days of June, the strength in the hands of Marshal Küchler suddenly expanded. Every day, a large number of troops and equipment were transported to Pskov or the outskirts of Leningrad by rail.

By June 6, the main force that Küchler had been expecting, the 48th Panzer Corps, led by Hasso von Manteuffel, had all arrived outside Leningrad. This Panzer Corps had the 21st Panzer Division, the 22nd Panzer Division, the 10th Panzer Grenadier Division and the 11th Panzer Grenadier Division, and was very powerful.

When the 48th Panzer Corps arrived outside Leningrad, Küchler also transferred the 19th Motorized Corps (with the 9th Panzer Grenadier Division, the 1st Hungarian Panzer Division and the elite 1st Infantry Division) originally stationed near Pskov to the vicinity of Leningrad, and organized the 48th Panzer Corps and the 19th Motorized Corps into a combat group, and recommended Tippelskirch, the former chief of staff of the Northern Army Group, as the commander of the group.

"Kurt," Kuchler said to the newly appointed commander of the combat group, Tippelskirch, on the afternoon of June 6, "We must strike first! The situation around the Leningrad battlefield determines that whoever strikes first will have a certain advantage. I estimate that the Soviets are also preparing for an offensive, and their offensive direction is likely to be near the city of Pskov... and we only have infantry near the city of Pskov now, so you must strike first and launch an attack from Lyuban (southeast of Leningrad, along the Red October Railway) to Chudov (also along the Red October Railway), the sooner the better. So I don't plan to wait for the Polish army and French reinforcements to arrive."

The Polish Army Group reorganized by the Polish Defense Force is now arriving one after another, and the French also promised the Russian Empress a mechanized army that will arrive in mid-June. However, Kuchler was worried that the Soviet army would attack before that, so he didn't dare to wait too long.

"I understand." Tippelskirch answered confidently, "I understand the current situation... I will launch an attack on the 7th, or at the latest on the 8th, and seek a tank decisive battle! My troops have more than 1,500 tanks, tank destroyers and assault artillery, including 88 Tiger tanks and 5 battalions of Rhino tank destroyers. So the tank decisive battle is a sure win!"