Chapter 645 Pavement Tank

The answer is simple. It is the paving tanks used by the German army when attacking Kerch Port.

General Strike reported Qin Chuan's idea to Rommel as soon as possible. Rommel couldn't help but shout excitedly when he received the telegram.

"I knew he would find a way!" Rommel proudly raised the telegram to Hoth and said, "He is my soldier. He solved our problem!"

"He has only been here for a day!" Hoth was a little skeptical.

But after taking the telegram and reading it for a while, he slowly nodded and said, "Yes, how could we forget the paving tanks and only think about crossing the Don River... It's stupid!"

You are right. If the enemy's defense line can be broken through on the front land, who would be willing to force a crossing of the Don River from the side?

So the task was quickly assigned: modify the paving tanks.

Unlike before, the paving tanks this time will not be so simple.

In the Kerch Peninsula, it was because of the simple conditions and time, and the resources that an army group could use on the Kerch Peninsula were also very limited.

This time it was different. This time the entire Southern Army Group was responsible for the Stalingrad attack. As soon as Hoth reported to Marshal von Bock, he immediately gathered all the energy of the entire Southern Army Group for modification.

On the other hand, the Soviet side did not expect to be defeated so badly and so quickly in this offensive war... In fact, the Soviet Union was originally the dominant side. That is, after the Battle of Moscow, they gathered more troops and more resources, so they naturally thought that it was time to counterattack.

The result was that many factories and materials did not have time to withdraw... This was different from the Battle of Moscow. During the Battle of Moscow, the Soviet army retreated in a planned manner, implementing a policy of clearing the countryside while retreating. Therefore, although the German army occupied a large area of ​​land along the way, they could only get some ruins.

The Battle of Stalingrad was completely the opposite. In order to provide sufficient supplies for the offensive troops on the front line, the Soviet army even deliberately moved some industries and materials forward.

As a result, the German army gained a lot. Not to mention the factories and oil fields in the Transcaucasus, many food factories, steel mills, etc. were also seized in the plains of the lower reaches of the Don River.

The steel mill was used immediately.

Rommel was personally in charge of this project. He even urgently contacted Manstein to transfer the technicians who had made paving tanks in the Kerch Peninsula from the 11th Army... This approach is of course correct. Because it has been modified, it is very clear what problems need to be paid attention to or what areas need to be improved.

For example, this time the technicians proposed a very creative improvement, which is to put the paving equipment in front of the tank. The advantage of this is that it can simplify the transportation space of the paving equipment and reduce failures.

The principle remains unchanged, and the only change is that the logs used in Kerch Port have been changed to steel plates.

Compared with logs, steel plates have more advantages, such as logs are not strong enough and easy to break, large size makes paving difficult, and different sizes make it difficult to make.

Steel plates are easy to make. You only need to tell the workers how much width and length you want on the steel plant assembly line. Before long, batches of steel plates of exactly the same size will come out one by one.

Of course, because of the concern that the muddy and wet ones would slip, these steel plates were printed with strips that could increase friction.

After that, these steel plates were strung together piece by piece with steel wires, and the transportation was completed with an external rolling shaft.

Two days later, twenty road-paving tanks modified from "No. 3" tanks were transported to the 21st Armored Division... It goes without saying what the situation was, the main attack mission must have fallen into the hands of the 21st Armored Division.

In the evening of the same day, the defense area of ​​the 21st Armored Division was exchanged with the 24th Armored Division.

This is normal. The Fourth Armored Army has a total of three armored divisions. They always let an armored division rest in the second line, and then replace it with the armored division on the front line every few days, so that they can take turns to rest to maintain combat effectiveness and morale.

Therefore, even if the Soviet army saw this situation, they would not doubt anything. Even if they doubted, they thought that the Germans were preparing to use armored forces to attack again along the original route... Usually a small-scale attack would be organized after a new unit was replaced.

They guessed right. The German army was indeed going to attack, but the main attack direction was no longer the right wing.

The 21st Armored Division retreated from the front line to a village three kilometers behind the defense line.

The Soviet people in this unknown village had all been relocated to Stalingrad by the Soviets... The Soviet Union needed a large number of people to build fortifications around Stalingrad, so they would not miss any available labor.

The 21st Armored Division took the necessary rest here. The tanks were refueled and maintained. After the tank crews were issued water and food, they were ordered to take the time to rest.

The logistics department received a list of equipment, which was the ammunition needed for this battle. They had to go to Zimryanskaya, 37 kilometers away, according to the list to prepare everything and send it to the front in batches.

This task was mainly completed by the Romanian 20th Infantry Division previously assigned to the 21st Armored Division... Although this task was not easy, because the areas just occupied by the German army were full of Soviet stragglers who would spontaneously organize to launch surprise attacks on the German logistics supply forces, it was more than enough to complete it with an infantry division, even a Romanian infantry division with low combat effectiveness.

"The attack is scheduled for five in the morning!" General Strike said to the officers in the conference room: "We will advance along the Don River, and the 297th Infantry Division and the 371st Infantry Division will follow closely to provide us with cover. Once the attack begins, we cannot stop. We will occupy the ports along the Don River, Karachi, Verdach, and then advance to the right to the Yelzhovka area until we see the Volga River. Do you understand?"

This bold plan stunned all the officers present. You must know that it is 100 kilometers to advance to Verdach, and then another 100 kilometers from left to right to the Volga River... The whole journey is 200 kilometers, and it is all behind enemy lines. Any problem, such as the failure of the follow-up infantry to keep up, will cause the 21st Armored Division to be surrounded.

"How do we protect our supply lines?" asked Colonel Olbrich, the commander of the 5th Armored Regiment.

"We don't need to worry about this!" General Strike replied, "Because... once we occupy the port along the Don River, General Paulus's Sixth Army can easily cross the Don River and join us!"