Seven Hundred and Fifteen 1 Group of Idiots Plan

In the telescope, one shell after another fell on the high ground in the distance, setting off patches of black soil. The German army invested a large number of cannons on the Crimean Peninsula, and the calibers were very strange. There were large-caliber artillery of the Belgian army. There are also war behemoth railway cannons shipped from France. These cannons blasted huge craters one after another on the land of the Crimea, devastating the Soviet defenders here with rumbling loud noises.

In fact, the Soviet Red Army in the Crimea was not only being tested by the uninterrupted artillery fire of the German army, but also devastated by the cold. Although the temperature here is warmer than that in northern Ukraine, but after all, it is New Year's Day, and it is still cold and windy here.

And because Khrushchev and Voroshilov supported themselves in the Crimea, Stalin in Moscow did not provide winter cotton clothes to the Soviet Red Army under the command of these two people, so these Soviet Red Army had to think for themselves Ways to cope with the cold winter——Most of these Soviet Red Army huddled inside the fortress, wearing thin clothes and listening to the rumble of artillery overhead.

"General, why is the head of state so eager to attack the broken place in the Crimea? Just because of those broken Soviet ships that can't go to sea?" A colonel stood behind Manstein, frowning and asked: "You know, if we appear behind Admiral Liszt, it will be more beneficial to the battle situation."

Manstein heard the complaints from the people behind him, so he stood up straight from behind the artillery mirror. He turned around, patted the man on the shoulder with a smile, and said, "You are Marshal Brauchitsch. Son, he sent you to me to teach you what I know. I heard that you graduated from the Imperial Military Academy, and you are the favorite student of those old stubborn people."

While talking, he walked back to the table set up in the trench. It was different from other generals' combat headquarters. This table was not covered with a messy combat map, but a clean lunch tablecloth. The blue checkered tablecloth makes this semi-submerged front-line headquarters look very emotional, and the whole room is so clean that it makes people feel that this is a vacation cabin in the forest.

Unlike other generals, Manstein has his own unique commanding habits. He likes to prepare the plan as detailed as possible before the battle begins, draw up the order and direction of the attack, and then after the battle begins, he doesn't care much about it. How his subordinates will complete the plans he has drawn up - those plans will come naturally to him, and there is no need for him to personally supervise them.

He was wearing a decent general's uniform, spotless, and even the leather boots under his feet were cleaned up. Compared with the sloppy Rommel and Guderian who had been on the front line of the army all year round, Manstein seemed like a A gentle and elegant gentleman.

Accompanied by the sound of rumbling shells, he walked to the edge of the table and sat on the comfortable-looking chair. Because the large-caliber shells exploded in the distance, the table trembled slightly, causing the porcelain cups on it to make a slight collision sound, which was very pleasant to hear.

Brauchitsch's son stood behind Manstein,

Still staring at the shells falling to the ground and blooming not far away, he thought in his heart that if these shells could support Admiral Lister's E Group Army, then such heavy losses on the northern front would not have occurred. However, as a traditional Junker aristocrat, he still did not interrupt Manstein's words, and quietly waited for the commander of the m group army to express his thoughts with his hands behind his back.

"The entire battle plan on the Eastern Front, from the attack more than half a year ago, to what it looks like now, is me and your father, and the great head of state plus countless staff members of the Supreme Command and generals of the General Staff, A battle plan was drawn up together." Manstein picked up a cup of coffee placed on the table, stirred it with a spoon twice, then blew and continued: "You don't think this is a group of idiots. The idiot plan we got together to make?"

He looked at Brauchitsch's son, his eyes full of teasing, and without waiting for the other party to speak, he continued: "In March and April, we can obviously continue to attack—even if we don't attack forward, then Taking Minsk from Timoshenko's hands is absolutely easy, you haven't thought about why we played a prominent wedge in the south, but let the Soviet Marquis on the northern front continue to control the rich Belarus What about the area?"

"..." Brauchitsch's son was taken aback for a moment, and then suddenly realized that he was just worried about the current war situation, but forgot to analyze the root cause of this war situation - why the German army could continue to attack the Belarusian region in April , but left this land to the fragile Soviet Red Army at that time.

Seeing that the officer's son seemed to have realized something, Manstein laughed, took a sip of coffee, nodded and continued: "We have set up a huge trap in Belarus waiting for the Soviets to get in. So now I just need to concentrate on capturing the Crimea, right?"

The territory of Russia is very vast. If you don't understand the vastness of this land, you will be overwhelmed by the terrifying feeling when you come here for the first time. How vast is this territory? When the vast Ukrainian plains are covered by dark clouds and snowflakes are floating, the sky over the Crimean Peninsula is extremely clear, and there are not even many clouds.

So the air support that Liszt had been looking forward to for a long time but could not be dispatched was a different scene over the Crimean Peninsula. While Manstein was speaking, dozens of Stuka bombers were facing a The ground turret swooped down, dropping large bombs with a whistling sound, blowing up the target area into ruins.

At the same time, in his wolf lair, Akado received Marshal Brauchitsch, who had rushed to report the situation on the Eastern Front. He listened carefully to the results of the front-line battle, and reconfirmed the current positions of the various armies.

He looked at the map, turned around and looked at Marshal Brauchitsch, and said slowly: "Our preparations on the Eastern Front can be said to be very comprehensive, and the entire campaign plan is also perfect. In fact, Guderian's current offensive The direction going north is also part of our plan, and when our real ultimate move is used, maybe our enemies will be shocked."

Brauchitsch nodded, shook his head again, and said quite unbearably: "They will indeed be taken aback by our attack, but in order to prepare for this attack, we will pay a very heavy price. ——It can be said that it is not an exaggeration to call it the worst in history.”

"My marshal! There will always be rewards for hard work, right? At least we can make the war on the Eastern Front develop in a direction that we can control. This is worth our risk, and it is worth our sacrifices to complete this plan!" Ah Cardo firmly said to Brauchitsch: "For the future of all the people of Germany! We do not allow failure! Never allow it!"

"Yes! My head of state!" Marshal Brauchitsch stood at attention and saluted, and replied loudly.

...

Hearty laughter came from an office in the Soviet Red Army Command Headquarters in Minsk. Zhukov and a group of his staff were talking and laughing, making this kind of laughter from time to time. After such a large-scale battle began, The coach can still make such a laugh, which is definitely something that reassures his subordinates.

"Congratulations, General, you were commended by Comrade Stalin!" A staff officer of the Soviet Red Army was very happy that Zhukov was commended by Stalin, and said loudly.

"Guderian wanted to attack my flank in a roundabout way, thinking that going north to Kharkov would force me to return to the rescue. He made a wrong calculation! Or, all the German generals made a wrong calculation! I didn't have any I plan to rescue Kharkov, or there is no need for rescue there!" Zhukov said proudly pointing to the map.

Another Soviet general nodded and said: "Yes, in order to stabilize the rear, we strengthened the fortifications near Kharkov as early as 3 months ago. No matter how powerful Guderian's armored forces are, they fell into urban warfare. There will be no good way. We have prepared 300,000 defenders in Kharkov, just waiting for the Germans to crash in!"

Zhukov looked at a huge map hanging on the wall, which marked the entire Kharkov city, densely packed fortifications, as well as the minefields and underground passages arranged, nodded and said: "Kharkov It’s a huge trap, just like the trap the Germans prepared for us in Kyiv! I have enough soldiers who dare to attack this trap in Kyiv. If the armored troops in Guderian’s hands dared to crash into Kharkov , I guarantee the Germans will lose their elite tank force. At that time, we will win!"

While Zhukov was looking forward to Guderian's attack on Kharkov, Guderian and his assistants were on the edge of a collapsed house in the small town of Lozovaya on the eastern front, next to an armored command vehicle listening. Working together to unfold a combat map, he looked at the markings on it, then at the tank troops rumbling forward on the road in front of him, and gave a confident smile.

He closed the map in his hand, then gave it to his assistant, and immediately ordered Frick, the division commander of the 3rd SS Armored Division beside him: "General Frick, I order you to continue Attack to the north! Follow the road to the north! Fight as far as you can! I want you to capture the important town of Shebelinka in the area south of Kharkov as soon as possible. Can you guarantee it?"

"Your Excellency, General!" Frick stood at attention and saluted: "The SS will do its best to capture Shebelinka!"