Chapter 806: Mobilization

Of course, not all infantry anti-tank equipment can meet Manstein's needs to win this battle.

For example, anti-tank guns and rocket launchers can be regarded as infantry anti-tank equipment, but their role on the battlefield is very limited... Anti-tank guns can only sneak attack under normal circumstances, and can only penetrate the armor of T34 tanks at close range, not counting ricochets. Rocket launchers have low accuracy and short range.

The ME63 can not only effectively penetrate the target armor, but also has a range that is simply amazing... one thousand meters or even farther, which is even beyond the range of enemy tanks, so it will form the advantage of "the German army can hit the Soviet army, but the Soviet army can't hit the German army". Only in this way can the German army stop the Soviet army's "steel torrent" on the battlefield.

In fact, the situation is more serious than Manstein and Qin Chuan can imagine.

Because at this time the Soviet army has invested in a batch of new fighters: "Il"-2M3, "La"-5, "Yak"-9 fighters.

Among them, the maximum speeds of the La 5 fighter and the Yak 9 fighter are 648 kilometers and 672 kilometers respectively, which are not much different from the 710 kilometers per hour of the German BF109.

More importantly, with the large-scale assistance from the United States, the Soviet Union's industrial production has been restored, and these fighters have been put into production at an astonishing speed. For example, the La 5 fighter produced more than 1,000 in just five months, an average of 200 per month.

But Qin Chuan believes that this situation will not last too long.

The reason is that the United States and Britain have not yet launched a large-scale battle with Germany. If there is any battle, it is a small fight in Africa.

Therefore, the United States can support the Soviet Union more instead of investing resources in its own battle.

If the United States and Britain opened a second battlefield in northern France, then the United States would have to fight Japan on the one hand and Germany on the other hand, and at the same time, it would have to assist the Soviet Union.

Therefore, the United States' aid to the Soviet Union would inevitably decline exponentially.

At this time, the Soviet Union mainly relied on the assistance of the United States and Britain... The loss of the Baku oil field caused it to lose most of its energy. At this time, the Soviet Union was afraid that it had exhausted its energy reserves for the Kursk War.

In other words, if the Soviet Union could be hurt in this battle, it would soon be in an embarrassing situation of insufficient energy. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to regard this battle as Stalin's last attempt.

The order was issued soon, and the 4th Panzer Army was ordered to be transferred to Kharkov. After all, the defense of the Caucasus region was more infantry and mountain troops, and the armored troops and mechanized troops did not play a big role here... In fact, it was more important to reinforce the Central Army Group, otherwise it would be completely necessary to place an armored army in such an important place as the Baku oil field.

However, the 4th Panzer Army's transfer this time was a bit troublesome, because the traffic in the North Caucasus region and its northern areas was all destroyed and not repaired, and there were also scattered Soviet troops in the north, so it was obviously not possible to transfer it in this way.

In the end, it could only go to the Crimean Peninsula, that is, from Transcaucasus through the Kerch Strait into the Crimean Peninsula and then to Kharkov.

The whole journey is nearly 2,000 kilometers, and many areas (starting from the Crimean Peninsula) are covered with heavy snow. If it is a normal march, it may take several months to reach the destination.

Fortunately, the Transcaucasus and Crimean Peninsula areas are the rear areas. In order to facilitate transportation to the front line, railways were built and transport trains were put into use after these places were captured. Therefore, the army and even tanks can be mobilized by train transportation, but there are some troubles when crossing the Kerch Strait. However, this trouble is also reduced a lot because of the amphibious landing ship.

Qin Chuan and other first infantry regiments certainly don’t need to go around in such a big circle. They took a helicopter to the west to Solyony, and then flew across the Sea of ​​Azov to Kharkov... This is done to avoid the sneak attack of the Soviet scattered soldiers in the Caucasus Mountains as much as possible. Although this possibility is very small, the Soviet soldiers above will either be frozen to death or starved to death. Even if there are still a few alive, they will not even have the strength to pull the trigger.

But there is a saying that "it is better to be safe than sorry". You must be cautious when you should be cautious on the battlefield. After all, these are excellent soldiers on fragile helicopters.

The temperature dropped sharply after the helicopter arrived in Solyon... This is the first feeling after leaving the barrier of the Caucasus Mountains. However, the soldiers seemed to have gotten used to it, and each took out a cotton coat from their backpacks and put it on.

"I think I will miss Fort Kinov!" said the baker, "At least it's warm there!"

"I'm already starting to miss it!" said Werner.

"Oh, of course!" Alfredo responded, "This period should be your happiest days, leading the team to receive countless cheers and applause!"

"By the way!" Qin Chuan thought of the competition after hearing this, and asked, "Werner, did we win the championship?"

"No, Lieutenant Colonel!" Werner replied somewhat embarrassedly, "We only won a runner-up, and the championship was taken by the 92nd Infantry Division!"

"What's the matter?" Qin Chuan asked.

"This..." Werner replied, "They have more professional baseball players!"

"Uh-huh!" Qin Chuan said, "Have you told them that we will see you on the battlefield in the future?"

"Of course!" Werner replied.

"In fact..." Kuhn said, "Werner told them with his fists and bat!"

"Oh?" Qin Chuan looked at Werner in confusion.

"It's not my fault!" Werner spread his hands: "They fouled, and the referee was obviously biased..."

"Did you win?" Qin Chuan interrupted Werner.

"Of course!" Werner replied.

"Very good, Werner!" Qin Chuan said: "This is more important than the championship, let them know that the 21st Armored Division is not easy to mess with!"

A proud laugh came from the cabin.

The helicopter flew in a snow-white wilderness, and occasionally a military train dragging a long carriage passed below, and everything seemed to be frozen.

Qin Chuan looked back at the Caucasus Mountains in the distance and couldn't help feeling mixed emotions.

In fact, Qin Chuan was reluctant to leave the Caucasus, which was like a safe haven for the cold world outside, although there were battles there, and the casualties were no less than those in other places.

But as the baker said, at least there was warmth there. And other places... Large areas of the Soviet Union were either covered with ice and snow or muddy. When these had not completely subsided, there were tanks, artillery shells and piles of corpses.

It is difficult for Qin Chuan to find anything good here.