The German front, the Manstein cluster command, Manstein was looking at the report on the progress of the battle given to him by his subordinates.

The table in front of him was covered with a white tablecloth and beautiful ornaments. The whole office looks very elegant, and there is even an oil painting of the Führer hanging on the wall.

"In the vicinity of Hospital No. 1, our troops lost about 1,000 men, and the enemy defended very stubbornly, but in the end we captured the nearby area." The officer standing in front of Manstein's desk reported.

Manstein nodded, still reading the report on paper. There is the consumption of ammunition on it, and there is also the loss of soldiers.

The battle was fiercely fought between the two sides, and Manstein knew that the Soviets would not give up such an important place easily.

But now, it was he who won the victory, captured the First Hospital, and took control of the triangular area between the Shetong and Lamenka rivers.

"Let the artillery belonging to the cluster enter this area and create a full-fledged artillery position...... As for the arms, don't move forward yet, the Soviets may carry out artillery strikes here! Manstein opened his mouth to command, and when he saw the other man salute, he walked out of the office before grabbing the phone in his hand.

"Marshal Rundstedt......" he commanded with a calm face, and then waited patiently.

After a long while, the phone was finally connected, and Manstein said, "I have taken the first hospital...... Yes, the casualties were heavy, but the Soviets had no way to retake the place. ”

Because of the river guard, it is unlikely that the Soviet counterattack will take place near here. This also means that this newly captured triangle is actually a very safe bridgehead.

On the other side of the phone, Field Marshal Rundstedt happily complimented: "Very good, General! Take Moscow, maybe you will be the next marshal! ”

In fact, the Germans on the front were attacking quite quickly, and after capturing the Spark Stadium, the Germans were advancing along the Mozhaisk road.

The Germans, at the forefront, had taken control of the intersection of the Mozhaisk highway and the Rublev highway, where they had established strong defensive positions.

The battle at the Vostriakovo cemetery was also raging, and the German attack from west to east left the Soviets exhausted.

Farther north, the Soviets were holding on to the other side of the Moskva River, barely holding on to their already crumbling lines.

Because of the Moskva River, the German armored forces could not cover the infantry attack, and the Germans were afraid of casualties, so they could only stop the attack.

With the Moskva River defense line, the Soviets barely withstood the advance of the German army and fixed the defense line.

But in the south, because the Moskva River runs diagonally through the center of Moscow, the Soviets have no barrier. The attack in the south was very smooth, and the Germans had already occupied all the areas south of Balaclava Street.

The results of Army Group North were also very noticeable, they had already captured Bibilevo, compressing the Soviet defense line from the north.

In fact, most of the elite Soviet troops were deployed on the western flank, that is, on the defensive line of Moscow directly opposite the German side.

The forces on both sides were relatively weak, which was also related to the direction of the main attack of the German army before the formation of the encirclement.

In this case, the collapse of Soviet troops on both flanks was especially fast. Konev is focusing on consolidating the defensive line in the north, so the south is weaker.

Hanging up the phone, Manstein knew that this battle was almost a battle of his own proof. If he successfully takes Moscow, then the Führer will really give him a marshal's scepter.

It's a pity that it depends on whether the Soviet army gives him this opportunity to be the first to storm the Kremlin and complete the most important victory of the German army against the Soviet Union.

……

Below the Kremlin, in the underground air defense fortifications of the Soviet army, Konev was explaining to Khrushchev the state of the defensive line on all sides.

The easternmost line of defense was the weakest and safest. The German troops on this side could only rely on motor vehicles to transport supplies, so there was no sign of an offensive for the time being.

The Germans to the south were changing their guards, and although they were carrying out some attacks, they were generally manageable.

The most dangerous, in Konev's view, is the northernmost battle situation in Moscow. In the battle in the Bibilevo area, the Soviet army was simply without resistance.

This is only an area, and if the Germans continue their offensive to the south, the area near the Yauza River will fall.

At that time, the space of the Soviet army was compressed to a limit, and any deployment would have to risk being suppressed by German artillery fire, and the entire urban defense line would be in a precarious position.

"Yesterday, we lost about 20,000 people, although many of them were civilians, but the rate of loss is unbearable." Konev said to Khrushchev.

Then he opened his mouth and gave his own advice: "Give the line of defense to the regular army, Comrade Khrushchev, the civilian guards have wasted a lot of ammunition and let our reserves deplete faster." ”

"Civilian armed forces at least have the courage to fight back! But you only know how to retreat! Khrushchev snorted reluctantly.

The battle had reached this point, and he could only ask his men to encourage civilians who didn't know anything to fight back against the Germans and try to retake their positions.

True commanders of troops know that a blind counterattack will only increase casualties, so they disobey the order to counterattack, and even many sensible political commissars are unwilling to carry out the unreasonable tasks of their superiors.

Unfortunately, there are still some people in Khrushchev who still think that it is a reasonable option to use civilian arms to consume the German army.

In order to achieve the goal of depleting the German army, Khrushchev distributed 100,000 rounds of ammunition in one go, organized 20,000 civilians, and launched a large-scale counterattack on the western flank.

As a result, 100,000 rounds of ammunition and 20,000 lives were completely lost after consuming one round of ammunition from the Germans.

Only about 3,000 people retreated to where they had started, and most of those who fled brought back their weapons and ammunition.

"Now, any counterattack will be in vain! Comrade Khrushchev! We can only endure and fight the enemy in the city with limited forces. Konev advised: "This is the most correct thing we can do." ”

"Comrade Konev! We have lost the war...... At this time, we should do the most dignified thing, not the most correct thing! Khrushchev replied coldly.