Chapter 584 Grodek

After a night of rapid march, the 1st Mountain Division arrived west of Sudak in Crimea in the early morning of the next day and built a defense line there... It makes sense to arrange the 1st Mountain Division to build a defense line in the mountains west of Sudak. First, they are mountain divisions suitable for fighting in the mountains. Secondly, with them stationed behind the German defense line in Sudak, the retreat of the German 42nd Army will not be chased by the Soviet army and become a rout.

This situation would not happen to the German army. Their retreat would be heavily defended and blocked.

The problem is that the 42nd Army, a unit mainly composed of Romanian soldiers, is the one that performs this task.

Romania is Germany's main oil supplier, but this country has been in a state of vacillation for a long time, that is, on the one hand, it is unwilling to offend the Allies, and on the other hand, it is unwilling to offend Germany. It was not until the defeat of Britain and France that it had to choose sides to avoid destruction.

In fact, this is the fate of small countries, just like Switzerland, Sweden and other countries. No matter how rich they are, they can never become powerful countries. In the face of disputes between major powers, they can only be fat meat on the chopping board and be slaughtered.

Because of this mentality, the Romanian army did not have much combat demand and its combat effectiveness was of course vulnerable.

However, even so, their quality was slightly better than that of the Soviet army... The Soviet army lost about one million troops in the Battle of Moscow. At this time, the Soviet army was full of a large number of untrained recruits, while the Romanian army was at least trained.

Therefore, the Romanian army fought fairly well in the following battles. Two infantry divisions and one cavalry division (the cavalry division was later reinforced to Crimea) covered each other and fought and retreated all the way to Sudak.

The scene in Feodosia was completely different.

The Soviet army rushed towards the German defense line in batches, and fell in front of the defense line in batches... The German army almost did not need to set up mines, roadblocks or barbed wire, because the muddy roads made the Soviet charge very difficult.

Qin Chuan once went to the front line to observe the fighting situation. In the aperture of his telescope, the Soviet army had great difficulty in moving forward, because everything was deeply stuck in the mud. The tanks made a "rumbling" sound in the artillery fire but could not move forward half a step. The cannons were trapped in the rear and were slowly pushed forward by manpower because the car towing the cannons was also stuck.

The faces of those Soviet soldiers were helpless and confused. They were at the mercy of others and had no idea what they were doing or what the meaning of doing it was.

There were neither foxholes nor trenches to hide in front of them. There was no cover on all sides, and there were only bullets and shells fired by the German army.

What was worse was when the Soviet army launched a cluster charge... Perhaps the Soviet army hoped to rush through the German firepower network in this way, but all this was obviously in vain, because more than a dozen artillery positions in Sevastopol and dozens of huge cannons had been used by the German army and pointed at here.

There was a loud rumble like thunder, and a cloud of smoke exploded in front of the German position, completely submerging the Soviet soldiers who were charging.

When the smoke cleared, the bodies of Soviet soldiers and their limbs were lying in various positions on the bright red soil. Many of them had been blown into pieces and disappeared.

Such an attack by the Soviet army was of course stupid. They did not achieve any purpose except consuming the ammunition of the German army.

But this was not the fault of those Soviet soldiers.

It is not difficult to imagine that the Soviet command must have been playing out the scene of remonstrances but being rejected or even directly dismissed by Mehlis without authority. As a result, the Soviet army had to rush forward one by one, stepping on the bodies of their comrades as if they were going to the execution ground.

Qin Chuan didn't need to worry about these. What Qin Chuan needed to worry about was that the Soviet army on the left had advanced 5 to 6 kilometers, and the Soviet army, which could only attack by force in front of Feodosia, suffered heavy casualties and could not replenish its personnel for a while, so a 2-kilometer-wide gap was opened between the 47th Army on the left and the 51st Army on the right.

"The opportunity has come!" Manstein looked at Qin Chuan: "Everything is as you said, Captain. Your analysis is much more accurate than the weather forecast of meteorological experts."

"I fought in Africa, General!" Qin Chuan said: "The Africans there believe in gods more, so there are witch doctors in their army. Before each battle, the witch doctors will tell them on behalf of the gods whether they will win or lose this battle!"

"Hmm, then?" Manstein asked.

"You may ask me whether this battle will be won or lost!" Qin Chuan said.

Manstein was stunned for a moment, then he burst into laughter, and said to Qin Chuan, holding his shoulder: "It's a very interesting joke, Captain, you are very humorous!"

This is a cold joke, but Manstein, who is more traditional and aristocratic, likes this kind of joke.

"But now!" Manstein continued: "I don't need to ask you, the "witch doctor", I believe we will win this battle. Even if we can't reach the end, our spirit will definitely occupy Kerch Port!"

Qin Chuan understood what Manstein meant by this, and he planned to lead this mobile force to carry out the assault himself.

The "spirit" in Manstein's words can be said to be a portrayal of himself, or it can be said to be an encouragement to the morale of the entire army.

This mobile force has a total of two infantry divisions and one armored division.

The German 30th Army had three divisions: the 28th Jager Division, the 50th Infantry Division and the 132nd Infantry Division.

Manstein combined the 28th Jager Division, the 50th Infantry Division and the 22nd Armored Division to form a mobile force... The Jager Division refers to lightly equipped and fast-moving infantry equipped with many sidecars and cars.

In fact, the 50th Infantry Division is similar, because Manstein collected all available means of transportation during this period and even temporarily requisitioned a thousand war horses from the Romanian Cavalry Division.

The remaining 132nd Infantry Division was arranged in Feodosia to continue to contain the German army.

Manstein also gave this mobile force a resounding number: "Grodek" Motorized Brigade.

Qin Chuan didn't know what "Grodek" meant at first. After asking Colonel Slain, he learned that it was a poem written by a poet named Trakl. The poem was about spirit:

Spirit is flame,

And perhaps only as flame,

Spirit is a fleeting thing.

It illuminates and makes things sparkle,

But at the same time it can also constantly devour and turn everything into white ashes.