Hitler's Spanish Legion: The Blue Division in Russia in WWII by Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs

Author:Gerald R. Kleinfeld & Lewis A. Tambs [Kleinfeld, Gerald R. & Tambs, Lewis A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Military, Non-Fiction, World War II
ISBN: 9780811713917
Google: fZRiAwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0811713911
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2014-04-30T23:00:00+00:00

Eleventh Army would take over all divisions from Oranienbaum eastward to the Neva. Lindemann’s 18 Army retained the Schlüsselburg-Lipki salient and the Volkhov front. Von Manstein arrived breathless on 27 August and set out reconnoitering the front south of the metropolis, which seemed to lie “within clutching distance.”66 The city heart was only 20 kilometers away.

The field marshal’s binoculars swept eastward from the Pulkovo shipyard on the Gulf of Finland, past the silhouette of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, the pointed tower of the Admiralty, and the fortress of Peter and Paul, to the huge Kolpino works near the Neva, which was still turning out tanks. The siege lines stretched along high ground. Between them and the city in the distance lay a vast peat bog, curving around the southern suburbs from the gulf to the river. The flat, open pasture was crisscrossed with a whole net of field works which were distributed in depth and offered a formidable barrier. It looked far more difficult than Sevastopol.

Intelligence estimated that the Red garrison totaled nineteen rifle division, one rifle brigade, one frontier guard brigade, and one or two independent armored brigades. These could be speedily reinforced by militia from the factories. Manstein would dispose of just over thirteen divisions. However, since two divisions would have to be retained on each flank—Oranienbaum and Schlüsselburg—only about nine and a half could be employed in the assault. None too much. Still, he would have powerful support—the heaviest siege guns in the world, von Richthofen’s VIII Air Corps, and several of the new Tiger tanks.67

The day after his arrival, von Manstein paid his respects to von Küchler at the latter’s headquarters train concealed in a pine forest near Bal. Zaborov’e. Bending over the map table, von Küchler detailed the deployment. His L Corps under Gen. Phillip Kleffel was laid out in a broad arc between the Gulf of Finland and the curve of the Neva; 225 and 58 Divisions faced Oranienbaum, while 215 Division, 2 SS Infantry Brigade (Dutch, Norwegians, Reserve Police, Letts, and Flemings), 121 Division, and SS Police Division held Peterhof, Panovo, Pushkin, Pavlovsk, Krasni Bor, and Nick-ol’skoe. General Wodrig’s XXVI Corps (227 Division, part of 12 Panzer, and 5 Mountain Division), in the Schlüsselburg-Lipki salient south of Lake Ladoga, would come under von Manstein when the attack opened. The two additional corps headquarters (XXX and LIV) and the assault divisions from the Crimea were on their way. Two divisions were available from Führer reserve: 250 and 3 Mountain.68

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