Chapter 614 Order No. 227

The 392nd and 394th Soviet Infantry Divisions could not stop the attack of the German 11th Army.

This was also partly due to the German 7th Airborne Division airborne into the Caucasus region behind the Soviet Army... This almost cut off the logistics of the two Soviet divisions. If they did not retreat, they would be surrounded and annihilated like the previous four divisions.

As a result, the 11th Army entered the relatively open Transcaucasus region through Tuapse and Sochi.

Qin Chuan rode in an American Willys Jeep and advanced with the troops.

This jeep was seized on the way to Sochi. It fell over in the mud on the side of the road. Perhaps because they were in a hurry to escape, the Soviet officer who owned it abandoned it.

The German soldiers dragged it out of the mud, and there was no problem when it was started... The quality of the American things in World War II, especially the equipment used for military purposes, was beyond reproach.

The German soldiers who pulled up the jeep did not take it for themselves... This is clearly stipulated in the German military discipline. The spoils must be handed in and distributed uniformly by the superiors.

In fact, this rule is not so strict, especially when fighting or chasing the enemy. Does it mean that if you snatch a rifle from the enemy, you must hand it in and then come back to fight? So many times they turn a blind eye.

These German soldiers are more "law-abiding". They don't know what to do with the car. It happened that Manstein's jeep passed in front of them, and one of them came forward to ask: "Marshal, we seized a jeep, but none of us are officers!"

"Very good!" Manstein replied, and then asked: "Do you know the 'legendary sergeant'?"

"Yes, Marshal!"

"He is not far behind me!" Manstein said: "You can give this car to him!"

"Yes, Marshal!"

So Qin Chuan got a jeep, an American Willys Jeep.

In Qin Chuan's imagination, the United States and the Soviet Union should be two mortal enemies, so it is very awkward to see American equipment, especially American jeeps, on the Soviet battlefield, but he owns one. If he wears a pair of sunglasses on his nose and holds a cigar in his mouth, it will be no different from what he sees in the movies.

But Qin Chuan is not thinking about these.

Perhaps because he has a better view from the car to the jeep, Qin Chuan saw people with fear and resentment in their eyes along the way...Georgia is Stalin's hometown, and most people here are proud of this. The vast majority of people stand firmly on the side of the Soviet Union, unlike Latvia, Poland, and Ukraine occupied by the German army before.

The German army's results should be said to be quite good. They captured cities one after another along the way. Three days later, they joined the 7th Airborne Division. The battle with the Soviet army almost became a kind of march.

But everyone knew that the battle would not end so easily, because the Soviets' retreat was obviously planned... The civilians who could be evacuated were evacuated together, and the materials that could be moved were moved. Those that could not be moved were blown up and burned, and they would never be left to the Germans.

This made it difficult for the Germans to seize anything in the following period of time.

"They hope to drag us down!" Eberhard, who was sitting next to Qin Chuan, looked at the map and said: "The Caucasus Mountains are more than 1,200 kilometers from west to east, which means that our supply line will exceed more than 1,000 kilometers. In fact, we can even say that we have no supply line!"

Qin Chuan understood Eberhard's words.

The German 11th Army did not have a supply line, because the supply had to go from the Kerch Peninsula to the Taman Peninsula and then to Novorossiysk to enter the Transcaucasus region.

But the German army had actually abandoned the Taman Peninsula and attacked the Transcaucasus region with all its strength due to insufficient troops. In this way, the German supply line from Kerch to the Transcaucasus had actually been cut off.

It should be said that the German army has two supply lines. One is to transport from the port to the Black Sea, but this does not work because the German army has almost no large transport ships in the Black Sea, and the Black Sea is full of Soviet ships and submarines, which can attack German transport ships at any time.

The other is to transport by air transport planes... This is also the main supply method of the German army at this time. They occupy airports wherever they fight, and then use their strong air advantage to protect transport planes to transport supplies.

However, the transport capacity of transport planes is very limited, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, the main source of supply for the German 11th Army is actually the Soviet supplies seized in several cities such as Novorossiysk and Sochi Port.

"We are playing another game!" Qin Chuan replied: "Do we defeat them first, or do they drag us until we have no supplies!"

"Did you expect this situation to happen from the beginning?" Eberhard looked at Qin Chuan in confusion.

Qin Chuan acquiesced.

"And you still plan to do this?" Eberhard asked, "I mean, I suggest Manstein to attack Transcaucasus!"

"What else can we do?" Qin Chuan asked back.

Eberhard rolled his eyes. He couldn't understand the idea of ​​the young major sitting next to him... This battle was actually risking the entire 11th Army, including himself.

But what Eberhard didn't know was that it was not surprising that Qin Chuan would take this risk, because in his mind... If things were allowed to develop, the German army would definitely suffer a disastrous defeat in both the Caucasus and Stalingrad.

The disastrous defeats in these two directions determined that the German army no longer had the strength to compete with the Soviet army, because the German army lost 1.5 million people in these defeats, and a considerable part of them were troops with good quality and strong combat effectiveness. Since then, the defeat of the German army has been doomed.

(Note: Some people also believe that the turning point of the Soviet-German War was the Battle of Kursk later)

Therefore, Qin Chuan believed that it was worth taking any risks, otherwise no matter what he did, he would not be able to reverse the situation.

Eberhard was right, and General Chulenev on the other side planned to do so.

Because Stalin gave him a death order to defend Baku.

In fact, Stalin's order was not given to Chulenev alone, nor was it just for Baku.

Because at this time, the Soviet army also suffered a disastrous defeat in the other direction, that is, Kharkov, and the German army had launched a full-line counterattack against the Soviet army.

In order to stop the German offensive, Stalin issued the famous Order No. 227: No retreat allowed. Anyone who retreats will be considered a traitor to the motherland. The Soviet mother country will not shelter traitors!