Eight Hundred Fifty-Two Difficulties

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Now that the general plan of the attack has been determined, the remaining things are the affairs of the Army General Staff and the various armies. (Baidu search website is the fastest and most stable update) Akado hopes to know the details of the attack on Stalingrad. After all, this is the basis for the subsequent Battle of Kursk and Baku.

"Our army has already crossed the Karitwa River on the front. Because the bridge is still well preserved, our army's crossing speed is not slow." Guderian reported to Akado the position of his G Army's attack : "Although the Soviet defenders were tightly fortified, our army still quickly captured the Chir River and occupied a large area in the northern part of Rostov Oblast."

He pointed to a vast area on the map, then glanced at Brauchitsch and other generals, and said: "The important towns on the Chir River, Bokovskaya and Sovietskaya have been Our army is in control. Our forward troops have already approached Surovikino. Although the Soviet army resisted steadily, they did not invest any decent troops."

The main force of the German army, Group G, is advancing towards the Don River, and it is advancing in a devastating manner. The defensive positions carefully arranged by the Soviet army were easily crossed by the German special forces and paratroopers. This moment caught the Soviet commander and troops by surprise. Effective counterattack.

Rokossovsky deserves to be a well-known hero of the Soviet Army. While ordering his two armored divisions to retreat to Karachi, he increased his troops along the Don River, hoping to use the wider Don River to defend against the Germans. attack. Surovikino was already within the scope of his abandonment, and was abandoned cleanly.

Although the German army on the southern front said that the supply conditions were better than those of the central cluster, it was only better. In fact, Guderian only has one main transportation line in his hands, connecting Donetsk to Surovikino in one go. Because the German army ensured the smooth flow of this transportation line during the offensive, it was able to use the railway to ensure the transportation of materials for the frontline troops when the mud came.

Guderian pointed to this important and fragile transportation line, and said to Akado: "My head of state, so far, there is no problem with the transportation. Within three days, our army will be under the cover of the air force. Next, raid Karachi and break through the Don Line of the Soviet defenders."

In fact, it was because of careful preparation, and because Manstein's troops were better at fighting under water-covered conditions. Manstein's troops had now captured various important positions along the Don. He first led the army to capture Bataysk and dealt a heavy blow to the Soviet army defending the Caucasus. Then he did not rush south, but went east all the way, eating up many areas where the Soviet defenders were seriously insufficient.

First of all, he set out from Aksay and captured the important cities along the Don River, Bagayevsky, Semikalayelsky, Konstantinovsk, and Ust Donetski. The 13th Panzer Army, the main force under Manstein's command, has threatened Volgodonsk and Timlyansk.

The Manstein Group Army going south was in full swing, successively captured Azov, an important port near the Sea of ​​Azov, and then captured another port, Yeysk, and controlled the entire area of ​​the Yeya River Basin. The southernmost troops have entered Salisk, completely disrupting the strategic deployment of the Soviet army near the Caucasus.

Just before the meeting started, the M Group Army, which did not stop, launched an attack on Voshold, and occupied it after more than an hour of fierce fighting. The Soviet army routed southward to Yuzhne, but the German grenadiers followed. At this moment, the German army had already occupied Yuzhne, and took Velikis Orlovka and Damar without firing a single shot. Tenovka.

The Red Flag Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Union has almost no place to stay. If the momentum of the German army's continued southward movement cannot be stopped, then these Soviet combat ships deployed in the Black Sea will be dumped by the German army on land, and they will inevitably be destroyed.

After Guderian finished talking about the offensive plan of the G Army and sat back in his chair, Manstein stood up and briefly talked about his army's offensive plan. He walked to the front of the map, pointed to the Kerch Strait and said: "My head of state, the next offensive plan of Group M Army will be to open up the Kerch Strait to shorten our army's supply line. line, my army group will shorten the supply line by hundreds of kilometers, which will make it easier to launch the next action plan.”

Then he rowed his hand to the east along the Kerch Strait, and continued: "Our army will fully occupy the Krasnodar Krai, and then sweep across the entire Caucasus along central Georgia. Finally, it will start to attack Baku and complete the entire Caucasus Raiders battle."

The railway line that enters the Caucasus crosses the entire Georgia from the middle, and is an important supply line that runs through the Caucasus. Manstein has studied countless ways to occupy Baku. As a result, he chose to attack quickly along the railway line. preferred way.

There are two routes, one is to walk along the north to Grozny and then go south, and the other is to enter Georgia, cross the entire region and go straight to Baku. Because of his sufficient strength, Manstein adopted a two-pronged attack method, advancing side by side to open up the situation.

This arrangement is based on the fact that the German army has a strong military force and its combat quality is significantly higher than that of the Soviet army. Manstein's M Army has more than 400,000 troops, and 70% of them fought in the Crimean Peninsula. A veteran of World War II, he believed that these units could crush the Soviets outnumbered him, and intelligence supported him.

The Soviet army has a total of 330,000 troops in the southern Caucasus, which is less than the troops in Manstein's hands. Most of these troops are recruits, and more than half of them have never fired. What is even more desperate is that almost 100,000 of these troops were deployed along the Kerch Strait in order to prevent the German army from landing from Kerch.

Then there were no more than 250,000 Soviet troops standing in front of Manstein, which can be said to be no match for the German Army Group M at all. No matter which route the Soviet army wants to stop the attack of the German army's almost 200,000 troops, it is tantamount to fantasy. Of course, in fact, the Soviet army still had an elite reinforcement force, and the German army didn't know it at this time.

"Although our army's attack speed is very fast, the Caucasus region is really too big. I am worried that even if the Soviet army cannot defend the Caucasus, they will still have time to destroy oil depots and oil production equipment." Manstein Pointing to Baku in the distance, he said: "I think if we want to subsidize domestic crude oil consumption, we must at least start preparing for emergency repair personnel and equipment from now on."

"Personnel and equipment have been prepared a few months ago. In fact, you were still in the Crimea at that time, and Guderian was still in Ukraine." Akado glanced at Manstein and said in a calm tone : "This emergency repair team can be dispatched at any time. The number exceeds 3,000 and there are many large-scale equipment. If there is no problem with the railway line and the Baku oil field is not completely damaged, then we are sure to repair it within six months to a year. "

"My Führer, at such a distance, I really cannot guarantee anything, I can only say that if I were Rokossovsky, then as soon as a striker of my troops crossed Yevlakh, I would order Blow up the Baku oil field." Manstein said helplessly: "As long as I have some shells and explosives, I can destroy the entire Baku in a few days, and at that time, my troops can only advance To the Ujare area."

"I don't know how the actual situation will change, I just want to ask if, I mean if, I drop paratroopers near Baku while your troops advance to Yevlakh, occupy Baku , can we better change the situation of the battle and reduce the loss of the oil field?" Akado looked at the map, then wrapped his hands around his chest, as if he was thinking about something.

"With all due respect, it is impossible to raid Baku by relying solely on paratroopers or even special forces and helicopters. If it is an assault and destruction, then the Air Force can do it, but occupation and protection are not for paratroopers. strengths." Air Force Admiral Catherine sitting on the side said: "General Student's troops will be wiped out, and the Baku oil field will be turned into rubble by the war. This is not the ending we want to see."

"Even if the paratroopers are successfully airborne, I don't have the strength to make continuous assaults. I will push the infantry to Baku within two days and let the paratroopers stand alone behind the enemy for a week... I think you, the head of state, know what this means." Mann Stein also spoke persuasively.

Akado nodded. He has indeed developed a large number of ultra-modern arms for the German army, and he has also developed and enlightened many new combat ideas, but he cannot change the limitations of technology in this era on warfare, nor can he force a certain Troops do things they are not good at.

If the paratroopers were thrown into a certain area and simply defended for a few days or even a dozen days, Student might be able to do it regardless of the loss, but even if he did, during the battle between his paratroopers and the enemy, that The area is reduced to ruins—an inevitable consequence of paratroopers holding their positions, and they will smash the city into ruins and then hold an inch of ground in the ruins.

But there is Baku, an oil-producing area that the Germans want to snatch. After it is smashed into rubble, how can production be resumed? Even if it was destroyed by blasting, the German army did not want the entire Baku to be completely turned into ruins like Smolensk.